Virtual Work

It may be hard for some people to get a handle on, but there are many people I work with on a daily or weekly basis whom I've never met in person. It's been this way for most of my career, but even moreso the past couple of years. I'm actually the only one on my team in my location, everyone else is around the world - from the 'locals' in Texas, Illinois, New Jersey and North Carolina, to those farther afield in Belgium, France, Germany and Singapore. Occasionally this means a road trip for me, or a meeting later in the evening, but mostly we're able to manage with email and calls at the beginning or end or our regular day.

The team I currently work on is a little different than some... it really does feel more like an actual "team". It may be that we're led by a woman, or that there are a lot more women on the team than ever before in my professional career, but it really does seem to extend to everyone. When I was so sick last month I got many Instant Messages, emails, and phone calls to see how I was doing - not just about the work!

Anyway, once a month we have a team meeting - via video conference. It's a way to at least get a feel for what people look like when it may be months or a year before you get to meet them in person. I was planning to skip the video portion of this month's meeting and just attend by phone, but it was highly suggested that I attend in person. Well, it seems the team had something up their sleeves! In addition to me presenting a nice side view of my "belly ball" as Norah has taken to calling it, a surprise package arrived in the conference room! It seems they got together and sent us a diaper cake for Brudder! What's a diaper cake, you may ask? Well take a look below - I removed the overwrap for a better photo.
The other cool thing was that the gang all contributed bibs from around the globe! There are a few more yet to arrive, but here's a small sampling. Pretty cool eh?