Lopez Family blog

On a recent business trip I heard about a very unique bet between two of my coworkers. As with most bets, this one started after a few drinks had been had and it was clearly not fully thought out. The bet: Martin (not his real name) bet Joe (someone’s real name but not his) that he would have a certain NBA superstar over for dinner to eat his famous Chicken Parmesan before the end of 2010.

Clearly you don’t make a bet like that unless you think you have a good chance to win it. And of course Martin has an in, a connection if you will, with said superstar. You see his wife went to the same high school as this NBA player and, not only that, he’s got the yearbook to prove it. So we asked him if his wife and Mr. NBA knew each other. And they sort of did, the NBA guy was in the basketball team and Martin’s wife was in the drama club… so I’m sure they must have been really close friends.

We’re not sure what his plan is but he seems pretty determined that he’ll come through. Given what they’ve bet I think he’ll go to any extent that he can in order to make it possible.

I’ll keep you updated as to how far Martin will go in order to get this guy over to his house for Chicken Parm.

I’ve been at my new job for a week and yet I feel like I haven’t really started yet. Because of the birth of Gabriela, my new job gave me the opportunity to work from home during my first two weeks. These weeks are typically dedicated to learning about the company and the job. Since it is mostly presentations and videos that can be watched anywhere, this works out well for me, I can be at home with the family while getting up to speed with my knowledge.

The one thing I have noticed is that I don’t quite feel connected to my job yet. I’ve been to the office once and I’ve joined several meetings over the phone but that’s about it. It’s a rather odd feeling. Not that telecommuting is new to me, at my previous job I used to do it two days a week but it feels different. Maybe it’s the fact that I have yet to form relationships with my coworkers so I don’t quite feel like I’m a part of it quite yet.

I’m actually looking forward to working in Cambridge, my desk is in a nice part of the office with a great view of the city.

But more than the city and the great view I’m ready to get to know my new coworkers and get this new stage of my life going for real.

When it comes to life changes there are two schools of thought, do them one at a time or get them all in at once. Getting them done one at a time gives you time to assimilate the change before a new change comes along. A friend of mine believes in the other theory, that of many changes all at once. She feels that if you are going to make changes in your life, you might as well make them all at the same time to just get them over with. We, as a family, find ourselves in the midst of some life changing events that have us testing out that second theory first hand.

Our second daughter was born two weeks ago and as of this past Friday I no longer work at Gomez, the place I have worked at for the last four years.

Life at home with two little ones is not something to be taken lightly. I’d forgotten how hard it is to only sleep two hours at a time and then try to go on about your work day. One thing that I have noticed is that Gabriela seems to sleep a lot better and is able to tolerate a lot more noise than Natalia ever did. Which is good given that Natalia, who is just over two and and a half, has a voice that only comes in one volume setting… really loud!

When Natalia was born we used to think that we had no time for anything else other than taking care of her. Now that Gabriela is here, we realize how much time we did have to ourselves.

And while the home life seems to be getting settled, the work life is in full flux.

Lisa is applying for new jobs and I have a new job.

I have had a great time at what is now my old job. I’ve met great people who have thought me a lot, both personally and professionally. Four years ago when I first applied to work at Gomez, most people had never heard of it, and to be honest neither had I. It was a small 80 person company that monitored the internet. Four years on Gomez had gone on to become the leader in web application monitoring and is now part of a 5000 people corporation called Compuware.

During my time at Gomez I made many friends and came to admire many people, none more than Bill Scerra who thought me so many things, primarily how not to travel, you can read that story here.

We’ll see how the new work life works out, so far I’ve been at home reading about the company’s history and doing the overall background learning necessary for my job. Once I start going into the office we will really see how life will change. I’m sure no matter what, we’ll work out a way to keep having the great family life we’ve had so far as well as keeping our careers going.