during christmas breaks, i come home to visit my two families - my natural family and my high school family. my high school family is the close friends i grew up with since i was 10 years old, and christmas/new years never feels complete without hanging out with the guys till 4am every other night. ironically, we've been doing nothing but the same thing the past decade either. yesterday, wayne bet that we would still be doing the same thing 30 years from now. this is the tradition:

- play poker (except steve)
- play video games
- eat at hoagie haven
- watch a sappy movie (as in, dave and wayne or dave and steve go watch alone)
- gamble in AC (where derek somehow pulls a straight flush every year)
- crash dave's family's annual christmas party (and eat all their delicious food)
- visit new york (and freeze our ass off)
- comments on how fat i got

it sounds boring, but it has been our tradition for as long as i can remember. i'm not exactly sure why we go through the same exact routines every year the past 10+ years, especially when it's so rare that this many high school friends keep in touch for this long, so here are some possible theories:

1. we are very restless people and constantly need to be doing something. the concept of sitting around in a bar or restaurant and talking is just boring.
2. we are all very immature
3. it's simply tradition, nothing more

regardless of the reason, having the guys together is still something that i look forward to every year. however, now with some of us getting engaged/married or moving away, things are changing. there has been a lot more focus on the significant others and real family, as there should be, but the question is how they dynamics of the group will change. better yet, i wonder what's going to happen when we start having kids... probably neglect our children to stay up all night playing dr. mario or super smash bros.

alright, a lot of career talk on people's blogs lately. after seeing jason's comment, reading dave's entry , and steve's entry , i realized that nobody really knows what i do either. not that anyone cares, but hopefully it will give you an idea why i love my job.

when i started at my company, i was in charge of anything related to numbers. if it had anything to do with reporting, analytics, metrics, budget, marketing research... it was my responsibility. the nerd in the back with the calculator, yes, that's me. and proud of it. i thought it was awesome that so early in my career, i had the responsibility to make very important decisions. recently, i've been given the opportunity to have more responsibility - managing our entire frequent flier program. so along with all my previous duties, i now have to manage anything that has to do with our 3 million member plus program, including relationships with all our partners (credit cards, car rental companies, etc.), the brochures that you pick up at the airport, the membership kits you receive when you get your card, handling all the problems with our website, e-mails, revenue line items, another budget, etc. etc. etc. so from a career standpoint, it's great because i am probably the youngest person with this role in my industry. i'm learning a TON, and can probably leverage my experience really well to whatever other profession i choose to move to.

but here's the real reason why i love my job (aside from the people i work with) - and i think the same goes for dave and steve. our results are visible and have a relatively quick turnaround... or in other words, we make a noticeable difference. whenever i make a decision, it is a very public decision that effects many people. the same goes for steve - he makes/fixes/resurrects buildings and bridges, which is also very public. it is also relatively quick, and you can literally see the progress being made. with dave, his results are not only visible, but dramatic as well.

there is of course, the x-factor that has not been discussed - personality. it is very possible that someone in a similar position as ours is not satisfied... so maybe it's just that the three of us has learned to be content in life. maybe it's the other way around - people with our type of personalities fit into our type of work best. so in summary, steve is dumb.

something i miss about my old position is the analytical work. that's why i was brought into the company, and thought it was what i would be doing. i was dead wrong. the last few weeks have been complete hell - solving problem after problem, traveling city after city, returning call after call, and deleting e-mail after e-mail. i have already come to the point where people need to call me three times before getting a response from me (except for my coworkers of course). the number of people that i have to deal with and manage has grown exponentially, which also means my dependence on other people to complete my work has also grown just as much. by the end of this month, i will have traveled to chicago, orlando, philly, and dallas... oh, and ny/nj for vacation.

the point is, even though i'm in a new role and despite this long whine session - i still love my job and hope to stay here for a while (despite the pay... sorry aileen). someone in my industry, at my age, given the opportunity i have been given is really awesome. the lesson is, the more responsibility you are given, the more you depend on your instinct to make decisions and less on spreadsheets. and you better be right, most of the time.

the next lesson learned is nobody really cares about this entry.