Being a better... BA/CM/PM/SM... anything, really

A few years ago around the time of my annual review, I started a series of posts about being a better business analyst and that quickly turned into needing to understand what my strengths and weaknesses were as a business analyst.

I don't want to go into that much in this post, you can read about my thoughts in the business analyst posts on this blog.

Since then, after discovering that I was in fact a strong business analyst, my career has ... expanded, if you will.

I am currently employed as a Project Manager/Business Analyst, and am actively working on picking up Change Management skills as well. In addition, I've renewed my Service Management (ITIL) training, and am remembering again things I thought long forgotten about Product Management and the Application Lifecycle.

This year, I was introduced to the concept of maturity models, and while they are primarily applied in measuring an organization's maturity level, I feel that they can be effectively applied to a personal/professional development plan as well.

Most maturity models I've found have 4-5 levels, and the one I relate to most (Kerzner's) looks like this:

1. Common Language
2. Common Processes
3. Singular Methodology
4. Benchmarking
5. Continuous Improvement

For further reading, Google any of the following:

• Kerzner's Project Management Maturity Model
• Organizational Maturity Model
• Project Management Maturity Model

Celiac Disease

Before I get into my rant about celiac disease and how I'm not handling it...

I'm really glad I have a blog called "Things I think about". It makes it really easy for me to just spill my guts about whatever is uppermost in my mind.

Ideally, no one reads what I write here, but if they do... meh. If it's helpful or interesting to me, it might be to someone else. And if it just puts a smile on someone's face when they come across it, that's fine by me too.

And now,  back to this really dumb thing that I'm struggling with right now.

Celiac (or Coeliac) Disease.

Argh.

And before I go much further, allow me to say that generally, I've become sort of okay with the idea, and I'm kind of glad that all these random things about my health that I've never been able to explain now have an explanation... but today, I'm just feeling mostly "ARGH!"

Also, I should clarify - I've had the blood test done, and it came back positive, but I did not go the next step and have an intestinal biopsy done to prove conclusively that I am celiac.

However.

The list of things that are explained by my intolerance/allergy to gluten is as follows:

• Scalp irritation/hair loss
• Acne (all-over, body acne... lovingly referred to as "chicken skin" which is thankfully?? somewhat hidden by my multitude of freckles)
• Migraines
• Leg cramps (largely explaining my intense dislike -- "hate" is a very strong word for me -- of running and very flat shoes)
• General digestive discomfort... bloating, irregular bowel movements, occasional bloody discharge... you get the picture. If you need/want more detail than that, google it.
• Also, I blame some of my weight, or at least my absolute inability to lose weight on it, although the jury is still out on that.

Since I finally decided to deal with my health, had the test done, and stopped (mostly) eating gluten, I have to admit there are a few good things that have happened:

• My scalp is not irritated.
• I rarely get headaches/migraines
• I have better skin (mostly, but hormones are also annoying...)
• I've lost 20 lbs (so far)

But today, when I'm sitting at my desk, having gotten to work 1/2 an hour late because of an unanticipatedly long session on the toilet this morning, a still recovering scalp, hair falling out as though I was shedding a winter coat, and having been sleeping restlessly from sore legs for 3 days now... all because of a gluten binge last Saturday... (4 days ago!!!)

I just feel very annoyed at it all. And at myself for binge-ing (having binged?) in the first place.

Argh.

Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management

I bought this book at a used bookstore a few years ago - it made me smile, and I have a serious weakness for random things that tickle my funny bone.

This year, being the first time in four longish years that me and all my stuff has been in the same place and has had room to be unpacked, I've begun an exercise in sorting. Even downsizing, although I'm not sure that what I'm accomplishing can really be called downsizing...

I did manage, this past weekend, to go through 4 of my bookshelves and take out a whole box of books. Plus I created a pile of "books to be reviewed" which is just a fancy way of saying...

"Read them in the next 6 months or they're gone next go-around." 

I have not yet managed to convince myself to get rid of any of my cookbooks, or any of my coffee table books, and it is truly debatable which pile Mrs. Beeton's instruction manual belongs in.

Originally published in 1861, it is now approximately 74 chapters and 2000 pages long.

Yesterday, staying home sick from work and taking the opportunity to attempt a monthly menu plan, I looked at all my cookbooks, and was distracted by a chapter on veal and how incredible a mother cow's instincts are...

847. THE COW GOES WITH YOUNG FOR NINE MONTHS, and the affection and solicitude she evinces for her offspring is more human in its tenderness mid intensity than is displayed by any other animal; and her distress when she hears its bleating, and is not allowed to reach it with her distended udders, is often painful to witness, and when the calf has died, or been accidentally killed, her grief frequently makes her refuse to give down her milk. At such times, the breeder has adopted the expedient of flaying the dead carcase, and, distending the skin with hay, lays the effigy before her, and then taking advantage of her solicitude, milks her while she is caressing the skin with her tongue.

The Book of Household Management, Mrs. Isabella Beeton

Also, there is a whole section that has meal plans (including table setting layouts for each course) for a variety of meals - casual family dinners up to 12-course meals... for a whole year!!! The more I think about it, the more it becomes a coffee table book.

Thoughts on deli meat

I'm refocusing on my  diet yet again, and contemplating doing an almost whole30, but while I get ready for that I bought sliced turkey and a Kale salad mix for lunch today.

Imagine my consternation when I noticed that the turkey is 21% meat protein.

This led me to examine the packaging in more detail, and this is what it boils down to: a 53g serving (3 slices) equals 12g of protein and 1g of fat.

My instinctive reaction is that I should never eat deli meat again because it's almost as bad as lettuce for filler vs substance.

Before I commit to that, my second I stint is that I need to do more research. Because maybe, just maybe, a turkey weighing
5lbs only contains 1.5lbs of protein...

I'm a little sceptical, but very curious now about meat packaging processes!!