My colleague needs a lot of help

Earlier this year, I trained a woman who was supposed to replace a writer. It turned out that this woman was equally as bad. Our manager decided to terminate the first writer's contract.

This second woman's birthday is three days after mine. Yet, we are so different on so many levels. I call her the fake Cancerian, as she does not express a whole lot of empathy towards anyone and doesn't exhibit any traditional Cancerian traits. Everything is also centred around here, which is not Cancerian in nature, either.

I noticed during training that she was not good with details. She followed steps 1 through 4 in a procedure, skip a few, then do steps 7, 9, and 12. I found her lack of following sequential steps to be odd.

My manager recently gave her a task to create a document from scratch. I would be supervising. 

She isn't the best communicator. When we had our first demo session on the application, I asked questions. She didn't.

When I looked at her first draft, it was incomplete. She was given a playground to create and delete items -- literally play around with the application in a safe environment. She never did that. She simply used the data that others had provided. 

I noted a typo in a screenshot and asked her to replace it. She couldn't create a new item to fix the typo. It was almost as if she was intimidated to explore.

She called a meeting with the software developer who provided the demo. He called a few other folks. She didn't ask any questions. It's her downfall.

I have provided constructive feedback on her first draft. I have yet to see her incorporate my changes. I don't get her. I don't know why she is reluctant to make the changes.

She just sent her second draft out. She claimed that she included all topics. I didn't see that. Neither did the developer.

Our manager revealed to team leads yesterday that there will be a staff reduction. She is the one who will be let go. It's mainly because she does a mediocre job with tasks and she has poor communication skills. She is also under contract.

I don't know when he will break the news to her that she will be out of a job. Perhaps she knows that her time with our department is coming to an end. She applied for a job with the company in Ottawa.

I know the hiring person. I hope that she seeks an account about this candidate from me or my manager. She will face the same issues with this writer as we are.

It's interesting that this post was not the one that I had intended to post. It is nice that I have this outlet to share some weirdness going on. It also motivates me to write here more frequently.

New writers and thoughts about them

For nearly three weeks, I have been training two new writers who have joined our team. Both are contractors. One is a young man. The other is an older woman.

It's like night and day with these two. The young man is curious and learns quickly. I see him fitting in well and doing a great job in his role.

The older woman has issues. The first is comprehension. I will mention specific details in an e-mail and she will miss reading them. Something as simple as our manager saying to not come into the office did not register at all in her mind.

I had this brief text chat yesterday, for instance:

I noticed going through her work that involved reading a report that she doesn't pay attention to details. She asked me whether we had an answer when we barely read through it. It makes more sense to me that she does not read carefully -- that she jumps from section to section -- almost as if she's in a rush or is impatient.

She didn't read this exercise carefully. I've noticed this issue with the previous three.

Her third exercise was interesting. She missed step 5. She managed to change step 9 when it wasn't called for. She didn't bother doing steps 10 and 11. Yet, she said that she was done and that her output was the same as her male peer in our training session.

Um, no.

I remember asking her, rather politely, why certain steps were omitted or missed. Typically, when you are following a procedure, you do each step sequentially. I asked if there were too many concepts presented to her. She said maybe. Hmm.

I have concerns about her. I don't think that she'll do well because she can't grasp simple concepts expressed in exercises or messages. She jumps all over the place when reading text and almost seems like she can't focus.

It's weird.

I have both new writers on my team. I get to continue to work with them, which is a breath of fresh air with the young man. However, it requires more effort on my part to work with the older woman and her omitting key details in whatever she is working on.

It's be interesting.

Eye appointment, cafe stop, and writing advice

I visited my ophthalmologist yesterday. All went well. I go back in six months, in my usual monitoring mode. I'm happy.

I got to visit my favourite cafe next door. I was so happy getting a raspberry white hot chocolate and an albacore tuna sandwich. Yum and yum!

A fellow writer at work in California reached out to me asking for advice. I'm not sure how she found me. I hope to ask her that question next. She's apparently new to her project.

Introducing me to a new employee

Thursday was a busy day at work. I could write about tons of small, but significant details. I will need to spread it out.

Our team has a new software developer. Sharky, who is the manager of this team, made us all huddle around the new employee and introduced him to us, one team member at a time.

When it came down to me, I got this introduction:

"This is Cutiebootie. She is our writer. She is demanding, but she's pretty good," he said.

I looked at him.

"Just joking," he said to me.
"That's the nicest thing that you have ever said to me!" I exclaimed.

Our entire team laugh. My job is done.

Thoughts about a shift in my career

I write for a living. I also train new employees and students who join my department. I like the mix.

The problem for a while is that I tend to do the workload of two people. I am also tired of my boss scaring the main writer on my little team. When that person quits, I end up picking up the slack and doing my old job responsibilities, as well as the current ones on my plate. This scenario is what I am going through. I've been down this road so many times that it's old hat, which it shouldn't be.

Now and again, I get recruiters asking me whether I'm interested in a number of job opportunities. I got one for a technical trainer. I decided to ask more about it. Let's see what happens.

It would be interesting if I did take on a full-time trainer role. It would be a shift in my career, rather than having a foot in two different doorways.

Dreadful Diva is gone... yay!

Tuesday was the day. It was dreadful diva's last day with the company.

I worked from home that day. I suppose that I was lucky to not be in the office. I was in a four-hour conference call that started at 07:00.

My manager had his regular one-on-one meeting with her. It was different, though. He had one human resources (HR) person with him, and another HR person on the phone.

On Thursday, I held a regular weekly meeting with my two writers. I have one writer who has been on our team for just over a month. I also have a student who has been with us for just over two months.

Although I wasn't expecting a bit of a therapy session, it happened. We are all so comfortable talking to one another that I am glad that it happened.

They expressed how uncomfortable it was to hear dreadful diva (DD) complain and vent about various aspects of her job. Although someone had reported to my manager that negative comments were directed at a number of folks, including me, the writer on our team indicated that there wasn't anything aimed directly at me -- that it was more process and more towards our manager.

My student missed a deadline by a day, which was unusual. She admitted that she was affected by the negativity coming from DD. She felt sluggish. I get it.

It was a good conversation with them, with all of us sharing our observations and concerns. It's over, thankfully.

I had a talk with my manager after we had finished conducting an interview on Thursday. He had indicated that DD was confrontation from the start when she first entered the meeting room and saw the HR person.

DD apparently cited that my manager had indicated during her interview that she would be a team lead, taking over my job. Um, I don't recall any of that. If she did, it wouldn't happen a month after starting. She could barely use our authoring tool.

She has selective hearing. In her interview, we had mentioned our new authoring tool. During her first week in training, she constantly referred to that tool. We haven't moved over to it yet!

My writer pointed out that during her interview that she did not hear our manager mention that she would be taking over a lead role. You are given such a role when you have proven that you are competent. My new writer, who is essentially my mini-me, is perfectly competent. It's the reason why she is taking over my writing duties.

DD said that she is planning on suing the company for being misled. The suing part doesn't surprise me. Before she joined the company, she had her lawyer go through the benefits package. I knew that she would be a difficult person right from the start. My manager nodded in agreement.

He also noted that she pointed out that she had quit her previous job to take this one. Well, that's life. You decide whether you want to take the plunge and try a new job. Sometimes, it works out. In this case, it didn't.

We are all relieved that she is gone. Sadly, she caused some grief after she was led out of the office and building. She had our IM app on her phone. She apparently used it to say goodbye to folks. She also asked someone to go out for lunch.

If I were in her shoes, I wouldn't have done any of that on a corporate tool that you shouldn't be using once you are terminated. Instead, I would leave, go home, think, and then write goodbye e-mails to folks instead.

My manager had IT terminate her session at a server level. It's incredible how stressful Tuesday was for our team.

I am so glad that this nightmare is over. I'm not sure how the suing-the-company saga will unfold, but she doesn't have a case when her performance was the main cause of her termination.

Turfing the diva... yay!

My manager and I had a confidential talk about our troublesome new writer. Before I dive into those details, this writer decided to indicate that she was taking a sick day on Thursday.

Having her away from the office felt good. None of us had to deal with her diva-like tendencies.

My manager indicated that he had spoken to his manager about this writer. They both agreed that she needs to be canned. She has her own agenda, doesn't listen, and is a loose, unproductive cannon.

Her workload won't go back to me. Rather, the other writer who has already taken over a portion of my work will take over her work. Essentially, this writer is my mini-me. She works well and she is okay with taking on my workload, minus the other lead tasks that I do.

That's good. I can continue working on processes and other details.

My boss got word from another colleague that the diva has been saying negative things about both of us. I asked him not to tell me what they were. I don't need to know.

My view is that whenever someone has something negative to say about me, not only is it untrue, but it signals insecurity. The diva gives the impression that she knows everything. She doesn't. Instead, she needs to say horrible things about folks to make her feel better.

She also seems to buy her way to being liked. We recently had a colleague from Brazil visit for three weeks. Although the diva didn't know her, she bought her a parting gift last Friday. Odd.

During her first week, she said that she would buy me a tea. The following week, she did the same thing. She never did. Perhaps she was waiting for me to make the first move. I don't fall for such a trap.

Anyway, my boss is planning to can her either on Friday or Monday. The latter looks more promising. Either way, I feel a weight being lifted.

The diva has been a bad influence on a number of writers. I have noticed this week that as soon as either my boss or I walk into the lunchroom in which she is in, she immediately looks, gets up, and leaves. Ah, such maturity!

The diva is closer to my manager's age. I am wondering whether she feels threatened by someone like me, who is equally as seasoned of a writer, but who is far more competent, be her team lead.

My manager describes her as a poison. I agree. I actually said to him that she is toxic. I avoid toxic folks at all costs.

Drama with the new diva

The new writer, who is supposed to be seasoned, is causing quite a bit of drama. She's a diva.

On Monday, her desk didn't have a chair. Instead of looking for one, she decided to sit at another desk in a different area.

In our office, we have various neighbourhoods. You belong a specific neighbourhood. She went into a completely different one. The manager there had to ask my manager who she was.

She has since sat there all week. She didn't tell anyone why until my manager asked her. He figured out that she had moved due to her chair disappearing.

He told her that he got a chair. She didn't move back. She then cited that it was dark over in our area and she needs natural light.

Then, there is the review process. I have told her that her work goes through a peer review first (me) before it goes to a technical person. She doesn't seem to get it. I have gone through this procedure numerous times.

My manager has told me that he is seriously considering canning her. I told him last week that she's not the right fit for us. The burden will hit me yet again. Instead of doing what I need to do, I will probably continue to do development work.

This new writer is actually causing more grief than needed. She disappears for a couple of hours each day and has dragged a number of folks to join her.

Tomorrow is a new day. Let's see what happens.

Stressful Friday and a reflective, relaxing Saturday

On Friday, there was drama with the new writer on my team. She isn't working out.

I gave her a task to update a crucial page in our documentation. The details were outlined in a PowerPoint presentation. Our manager also got involved.

Before our meeting on Friday, we had had three previous meetings. Each time, we had changes that needed to be made.

Just before our meeting, my manager asked me whether I had reviewed her work. I indicated that I hadn't seen the link to it. Instead, we did a bit of an analysis.

In the meeting, it started out okay, except that her attention started focusing on something else. Figures. Her attention span is all over the place.

The meeting got worse when my manager and she confronted each another. What rubbed me the wrong way was that she found out through another writer on our team that my manager and I had reviewed her work beforehand. She claimed that it was still work in progress, which was the whole point of the meeting.

I didn't feel great about being accused of prematurely looking at her work at first. However, when you do go into a review meeting, it makes sense to review what is currently there. Is that crazy?

The changes are pretty straightforward. She ends up doing her own thing while not paying attention to important details. This page details what versions of various application can work with our software product. It's important. You can't make stuff up as you go.

She has a ton of issues. Whenever she gets a task, she has the need to meet the person and hold meetings. The rest of our team does not understand why she makes things more complex than they should be. You are giving a document. Just do the work. Why do you need to meet that person immediately?

She isn't the right fit for us.

It is unfortunate that we cannot fire her, which my manager has hinted. We have yet another hiring freeze and he cannot afford to throw me back into development work.

I feel much better today. It helps to have a decent night's sleep to unwind.

My team and my guy - thoughts

I have three folks on my team. Two are full-time writers and the third is my student.

Technically, all three are new to my team. On a good note, they all get along. It's an interesting dynamic.

My student and I get along well. She does not hesitate to do any task that I give her. She does require an occasional trigger word to get her on track on a few tasks. Otherwise, she completes them with quality and I am pleased.

One writer is essentially my mini-me as far as work ethic goes. She is a self-starter and simply runs with whatever tasks are available. She is a fast learner and does have a lot of experience with an authoring tool that we will be cutting over to. She's great, her work is close to being perfect, and is taking over roughly have of my development work.

The concern is with the other writer. She is the oldest member of the team. I tell her information. It goes in one ear and completely out the other. I feel like I am a broken record.

She also does not read e-mails carefully. Often, she doesn't read them at all. She prefers instant messaging over e-mails. I am the complete opposite. I find the former distracting.

When I do work from home, I put myself into do-not-disturb mode these days. It means that you see me online, but I won't accept instant messages.

Both the student and the younger writer understand that I get a ton of e-mails. They also know that I am completely accessible through e-mail. The other writer seems to be all over the map.

She told me the other day that she felt that she was doing student work. She does have an issue with status, indicating that she is a senior writer. It's funny. She doesn't give me the impression that she is.

Perhaps it's me. I am also in that same senior writer as far as experience goes, although she has more of it. However, I do not label one task as being for a student and another for a senior writer. I do tasks that need to be done. Period.

Over the last few weeks, it occurred to me that I have a ton of knowledge. Even older technology that I have to resurrect from the dead comes to me naturally, which has been the case for the past few days. It's funny that I acquired this knowledge mainly through trial and error. I don't see any initiative with the older writer when it comes to self-learning. It's there with the younger one. The student has it, too.

My concern is that the older writer, who is supposed to take over the other half of my development duties, won't be able to hack it. She is set in her ways, which is a red flag.

The good news is that I am taking Friday off. I will be seeing my guy, so it will be a good, relaxing time away from work.

Changes at work and my upcoming interview

Monday turned out to be a decent day. Changes are happening to my team at work, which I didn't see coming.

My manager decided to move a colleague from one team to mine. This writer and I get along. We have the same sense of humour and similar work ethic.

The idea is for a new writer, who is joining my team next week, and this colleague, to take over most of my work. I can then try and focus on process and analytical work that I haven't had a chance to tackle.

I still have training and will be working closely with everyone, including my student. It's crazy to think that I do the work of at least two people -- possibly three.

On a interesting sidenote, my interview on Friday has been confirmed. I am meeting with the manager to see if I am a good fit. We'll see what happens there.

A compliment on my nail colour goes a long way

As crazy as work is these days, I find that the new folks that I have welcomed and trained recently bring a smile to my face when I least expect it.

I was in our regular team meeting on Thursday. I don't normally bring my laptop into these meetings because I don't like being distracted. However, I had another meeting after this one that required my pulling up information that I had prepared on my laptop.

My manager posed a question to me that he should have known the answer to. He had booked the meeting, for heaven's sake! So, I answered it and continued to listen to him.

A new writer (NW), whom I interviewed and helped train with one of my co-op students a few weeks ago, shot me an instant message. As of late, our corporate instant messaging systems causes me stress when folks pick my brains.

I enjoyed this brief exchange:

NW: Hi, Cutiebootie. I love your nail colour!
Me: Thanks, NW! I thought that I needed a bright colour to liven up our workplace. =)
NW: I agree

All it takes is a small compliment to make someone's day. I have a cheerful berry colour polish on my nails. She made this meeting far more bearable!

New hires, training, and my eye

It has been a busy workweek, which isn't surprising considering how crazy my workload can get. However, there are quite a number of exciting changes.

First, my longest-serving student is training two new students and a new technical writer this week. It is odd that I am not fully doing the training. My student doesn't know all her stuff, so I need to fill in the knowledge gaps. As a result, I still need to be a part of the training sessions.

I always find meeting new hires to be exciting. I get to know them and understand how they learn. We haven't scared them, which is great. They are also good at asking questions. So far, so good.

My manager has odd expectations that my student will train and I will provide support, meaning that I don't have to do much. However, we both know that his assumption is false. He is pretty worried that I will be away for more than two weeks. It is new territory for both of us.

My guy and I talked the other day about my being away. He says that my manager should be worried. He is dependent on me. I have hinted that he is far too dependent, particularly being his go-to person for team expenses. My being on vacation for a longer period shows my point to be the case.

Today, I have my second eye injection for my eye stroke. I find that I am seeing a bit better. However, I can't tell if the drug injection is working, time is helping to clear up some of the blood in my central vision, or my eyes are simply adjusting to my eye's current state. I can only hope that my vision improves as much as possible.

The good news is that I no longer get dizzy when I look at objects. When it first happened, looking around made me so dizzy that I would have to either close my eyes or look down. The latter works because I don't see the blood and my vision is clearer that way.

I am working from home afterward my appointment. It simply means that I am on a conference call, listening in on my student training and following her presentation, and my taking over when there are gaps.

There are plenty of gaps. It's not unexpected. I am more a part-time trainer this week.

My student is doing a pretty good job for her first attempt. It simply means that there is room for improvement as she acquires more experience.

Work frustration, but comforted by a sore bottom

It has been a while since I have ranted about work. Unfortunately, the cycle has restarted.

Back in November of last year, we hired two contractors. My manager fired the male contractor a month later, as he was highly unproductive. The female contractor showed promise. She was eager to learn and was hard-working.

She and my manager do not get along. My manager insisted that she start work with the rest of her agile team. She prefers to start work at 07:30. Only one other person is in the office at that hour and that person does not work directly with her. She didn't compromise with my manager. Instead, she still comes in at the same time, but takes more breaks and leaves work half an hour later.

My manager has set up team lunches every Friday, so that we can all bond. No team member is obligated to attend all of them, but these invitations caused stress for the contractor.

Late on Monday, my manager forwarded an e-mail from this contractor, who essentially resigned and said that this week would be her last with the company. Frankly, I don't think that she can give less than a week's notice. It's just not classy.

I had suspected that she would jump ship. Being sick for a week was my tipoff. On Monday, she cited getting her basement attended to in the morning due to flooding. She was adamant that she would be away in the morning, but would resume work from home in the afternoon. I have a feeling that she knew that she no longer wanted to come into work.

So, my manager has yet again asked me to step in and take over a departing writer's tasks. I am frankly sick of bailing people out. One writer goes on vacation and I am the only one who ended up subbing for her. Another writer quit a year ago. I picked up her slack. What about last December when two writers could not get their act together and do their jobs? Another writer and I slaved away to get the job done under tight deadlines.

I need to seriously consider finding another job. I feel, yet again, that my career is stagnant. I do not want to be filling in for folks who quit.

Apparently, we have three positions open. I can only hope that they all get filled so I can do what I enjoy doing these days, which is teaching folks how to write rather than being taken for granted as someone who can save the day when we are short-staffed. However, I still need to see what jobs are out there. Perhaps I can find one that is close to home and that I find challenging.

I will continue regularly scheduled fun posts soon. Yes, my backside is still sore from my recent spanking. It makes me feel loved that my guy would spank me after a long day of travel.

Work and the weekend

Work is never dull. Unfortunately, a lot of the work that I had planned to complete didn't happen this week.

It was a short week, but it still felt long.

I had to help out a writer who does not know what he is doing. He isn't even on my team! I spent two hours on Tuesday working with him on something fairly straightforward.

In December, he tampered with a graphic for some reason, which caused a bunch of errors. I asked him to fix the issue, but he never did. I didn't realize until today that his actions caused a PDF document to not generate properly. It opened up a single blank page. I fixed the issue and asked that he consult with me in future if he plans on editing a graphic that my group of writers has worked on. I wasted an hour troubleshooting and fixing the issue.

My students are great, but they need tons of guidance. My manager says to let them run loose. I did that on Tuesday and it was disastrous. Nope, they aren't ready to fly.

I am happy that my week is over and that I can unwind. I enjoy sleeping in on weekends. It's just a nice way to relax and destress.

Art, students, and learning

Things are good, but busy. My guy and I continue to chat on Skype while he is away on business, which makes us less miserable while we are apart.

Today's post is different. Since early May, I have been working closely with two co-op students. I have trained them and guided them through a number of work tasks.

Perhaps I am in the wrong field. Part of me is thinking that I should have become a teacher. Instead, I drifted from being a mathematician, to a computer scientist, to a writer.

It's funny how things happen. I have no regrets about being a writer. I enjoy it. I also get to explain in writing how to do tasks, which benefits the reader.

I have been told that I am a good teacher by my last two student interns. It's a nice feeling.

This internship is the first one that I have supervised in which we have two interns. It has been wonderful seeing their progress and how they have become stronger writers.

One impressed me so much that I decided to nominate her for an intern award. She finally got the word last Friday. She wrote a lovely, heartfelt e-mail to me. It is one of those e-mails that you want to print out and never delete.

The other intern showed how giving she is. She had a number of tickets to various tourist sites. However, she couldn't go. She offered them to me. This past Tuesday, I decided to book the day off and go to an art exhibit that I have wanted to attend for a while.

I was thankful that she asked me if I wanted to go. Although it would have been nice if she had the opportunity to go to the museum and see all the art exhibits, I bought her a book showing all the beautiful artifacts that I had experienced. The book also came with a DVD. She was elated.

It's nice to make the day of folks that you work closely with. They have also taught me so much in return. The learning experience has been enriching for all of us.

Appointments, work, an incompetent co-worker, and my guy

This week is one of those weeks. Three different medical appointments take place within four days.

Well, on Monday, I went to the lab to do bloodwork. On Wednesday, I am back at the dentist's office to fix a filling. On Thursday, I am leaving work early to go see my family doctor about my bloodwork results. So much fun!

I had hoped to book an appointment to see the doctor on Friday. That way, I would have been able to have lunch with my guy, take him to the airport, and then drive to my doctor's appointment. I would basically start my weekend early. Instead, I will do all that with my guy and return to the office.

Hey, it could be worse. I am thrilled to see my guy and to spend some time with him.

For now, things at work are good. The interns are coming along nicely with their work. I decided to arrange a farewell lunch for the incompetent writer. Unfortunately, I have had to ask her where she would like to go for lunch. She is incredibly indecisive, but I finally got an answer from her.

As for incompetent writer's workload, it is thankfully not going to me after she leaves the company. Instead, a writer who transferred from another country will take over. I have full confidence that this writer will do a decent job. She is a quick learner and tries her best. You don't see any of that with the incompetent writer.

I had a talk with a friend today about this writer who is about to leave. I feel that any writer can fill her shoes and probably do a much better job than she has. Most of the time, I feel sad when a writer leaves. I don't with her. She is replaceable, which I don't say often about anyone I have worked with.

I truly feel bad for her new employer. Her new manager and colleagues will inherit the issues that this writer has shown while at my workplace. She isn't there for a career. She's there to collect a paycheque and leave promptly when it's quitting time. To me, this attitude that she possesses is sad.

Her attitude is toxic. Being around her is toxic. I wish that next Tuesday were here, which will be her last day with the company.

I trained her roughly 2.5 years ago and had high expectations. They fell short. All I can do is wish her the best. However, I don't want to ever cross paths with her again professionally or otherwise.

I don't normally have these feelings towards co-workers. This experience is a first. It will be nice to be less frustrated seeing her struggle to understand what she is doing.

In the meantime, i am looking forward to Friday and seeing my guy.

Busy week and a chat with my guy

This week at work has been busy, but in a good way. Two new interns and a writer who is transferring from one location to ours have all arrived. I have been training all three. It has been good so far.

Next week, my guy is in the office to train a different batch of employees. I admire what my guy does for a living. I only do this sort of training when we have new hires. So, it happens quarterly for me, and continues being both fresh and interesting. With my guy, it happens every other week, it seems.

He has told me that he feels like he is a broken record. He delivers the same content. I suggested that he spice it up a bit. He told me that I'm not in any of his classes to make that happen.

"You can join my department and work under me," I hinted.
"I'd like to be on top of you," he said with a smile.
"I bet you would. You could sleep your way to the top," I suggested.
"Yes. I would mind being on the bottom, either."

He could. It wouldn't surprise me. I'd like all of that, too.

My guy misses me and vice-versa

Normally, I am the one who tells my guy that I miss him. With my being on vacation, my guy is missing me even more than he normally does.

While he doesn't flat out say that he misses me in e-mails, the frequency of receiving them says a lot. He writes one to me daily. They are fairly detailed. It's a sweet gesture on his part. It's nice to be loved and missed.

Today was a good day. My former professor has been living in Ottawa for the last four years. I met up him for the first time since he moved away from the greater Toronto area. It was great catching up with him for five hours.

We went to a cafe to talk first. We then changed venues and visited a Chinese restaurant for dim sum. The food was delicious. I showed him how to use chopsticks. He did well. The teaching session reminded me of teaching my guy how to use chopsticks.

I think of my guy often. It'll be great seeing him next week.