while raking leaves...
man walking dog: "Do you know who's cat this is?"
me: "No. It's weird. I don't like it"
man walking dog: "Yes. It acts odd. I don't like odd cats."
me: Pointing to a house. "There's a nice cat that lives there."
man walking dog: "That cat is a lot of fun."
We all like the cat that is fun. All of the neighbors like him. We disregard the "on a leash" regulation because he's just a nice cat, even when he climbs in the car or walks into your house uninvited. The weird cat is owned by some weird neighbors. How appropriate.
at Menard's buying doors...
me: "I could use some help with doors."
geezer employee with cane: "OK. What doors do you need?" Grabs cane an starts hobbling toward doors.
me: "The cheap ones. The ones on sale for $29. The six panel with the fake wood grain. I'm confused about rough openings."
geezer with cane: "Show me what you have."
me: We go over the size and swing side. He immediately memorizes the 8-digit part numbers and calls for assistance an rattles off the part numbers to two Asian guys on a fork lift. "Are you sure those are right?"
geezer with cane: "Yes. That's what I do. Let's go back to the desk and I'll give you an invoice. You can pick up the doors at Door #2."
me: After receiving invoice..."How do you like working here?
geezer with cane: "It's great. John Menard sends every employee a give on every holiday. He knows that he asks people to work on days they would prefer to have off.
me: "That's pretty thoughtful."
geezer with cane: "It is thoughtful. It's not normally an expensive gift but he has at least 10,000 employees. He has nine employees working full time just to manage the gift program."
me: "That's great. How long have you worked here?"
geezer with cane: "Sixteen years. Home Depot wanted me to manage the Woodbury store when they opened it. They had a phone interview system with their headquarters in Atlanta. After doing that interview I decided they could never pay me enough to work there."
me: "Menard's must be happy with you.
geezer with cane: "They put up with me now. I have all sorts of leg problems and work part time. They are good to me."
me: "That's a good relationship to have. You have a good weekend and thanks for your help."
me: At Door #2 picking up my doors. I'm staring at them.
forklift Asian guys: "Would you like help with those doors?"
me: I could handle it myself but ... "Yes, that would be nice."
forklift Asian guys: They make two quick trips each. I thank them.
me: I drive to the renovation location. I break a ceiling fixture in the lobby when carrying in the second door. When taking the third door up the elevator I accidentally pop the suspended ceiling out of the elevator and am clueless how to put it all back together. I pondered just throwing it away in the onsite dumpster. Finally I get it to stay in the ceiling but it's definitely not right.
at Marianne's Kitchen...
patron: "So, John, how are you and have you decided what you are doing next?"
me: "I had planned on taking off the month of October. I did that and I took off November, too. I'm feeling now like the transition is in process. Early on I don't thing I had let go."
patron: "It takes a while."
me: "I'm going to re-focus on this after the first of the year but I am going to make a trip to Denmark in late February or early March."
patron: "That sounds like a great plan. You should use the time when you have it."
me: "That's what I'm thinking. Some of the things I was focused on initially are morphing a bit and I thing giving that more time will help bring things into focus. I want to market myself with clarity not because of loss or recent departures or changes."
at the computer...
Thoughts & plans continue, but right now I am going for a taco. After the taco I'll work on my marketing plan again. I would also like to make progress on Ruby on Rails.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Friday, November 29, 2013
58
This evening I attended a get-together with people I've know for 40+ years. Most if not each of them has had more or less successful careers in private industry and government and a couple worked in professional services or started consulting firms.
All of them looked older if not old. Other than the few that really have not worked I was the only person technically unemployed and considering another gig. Lengthy conversations with three was interesting since those three were all within twelve months of just being done working. Only one seemed to have a good reason and that was a longstanding plan to spend two years overseas.
It's a talented group. I'm very happy to have known them for so long and for them to have been inclusive. They've been friends so long I'd forgotten that I had worked with about half of them in the 1970s.
All of them looked older if not old. Other than the few that really have not worked I was the only person technically unemployed and considering another gig. Lengthy conversations with three was interesting since those three were all within twelve months of just being done working. Only one seemed to have a good reason and that was a longstanding plan to spend two years overseas.
It's a talented group. I'm very happy to have known them for so long and for them to have been inclusive. They've been friends so long I'd forgotten that I had worked with about half of them in the 1970s.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
On Being Sixty-Two + Day Fifty-Seven + Thanksgiving
The Cows Have Left The Barn
.JPG)
Cows have not been in the Groningen Barn for at least twenty-five years. It still smells a bit like cows and miscellaneous equipment lays where left. Perhaps next year we'll have a couple of steers that can eat from the pasture. It's time for livestock to return.
I use the main floor for storage and I'm starting to store too much. Now when I walk it it appears that something is actually happening, that all this 'stuff' is of some value. The corn hanging upside down is broom corn. It's ornamental. These stalks are drying and I'll retrieve the kernels for seed...or the various inhabitants of the barn will eat it.
The hay loft reminds me of some many things. I go up there and listen to the wind and once in a while take a swing on the ropes. It's not clear why a farmer would not have a stairway to the hay loft. This requires climbing up a ladder and entering the loft through a trap door. Often we do things the way they have always been done, not the easier way.
Obviously the hay loft serves no purpose now that hay is put into 1500 pound round bales rather than 90 pound rectangular bales. I've thought about producing small bales which are half the size of the rectangular bales. Hobbyists and gardeners like the small size of seedless straw for, well, hobby things and garden cover. This seems like an obvious small business opportunity. I'm moving that to the list for 2014.
Space and Time
I'm work structuring my space and my time. It's a wonderful blank palette to have after all these years.
.JPG)
I use the main floor for storage and I'm starting to store too much. Now when I walk it it appears that something is actually happening, that all this 'stuff' is of some value. The corn hanging upside down is broom corn. It's ornamental. These stalks are drying and I'll retrieve the kernels for seed...or the various inhabitants of the barn will eat it.
The hay loft reminds me of some many things. I go up there and listen to the wind and once in a while take a swing on the ropes. It's not clear why a farmer would not have a stairway to the hay loft. This requires climbing up a ladder and entering the loft through a trap door. Often we do things the way they have always been done, not the easier way.
Obviously the hay loft serves no purpose now that hay is put into 1500 pound round bales rather than 90 pound rectangular bales. I've thought about producing small bales which are half the size of the rectangular bales. Hobbyists and gardeners like the small size of seedless straw for, well, hobby things and garden cover. This seems like an obvious small business opportunity. I'm moving that to the list for 2014.
Space and Time
I'm work structuring my space and my time. It's a wonderful blank palette to have after all these years.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Day 55 too late in the day
Preface
Day 55 & 56 were a mess and I think I missed my day 55 post. Day 56 is almost over and I'm dragging so I'm going to post this and embellish and polish them both up in the AM, Thanksgiving morning.
I did upgrade my internet service and spent the last 90 minutes dealing with that. Strangely enough I had some excellent support from CenturyLink. The fact that I'm even saying that is a good indication that I need sleep.
Update Following Sleep and Caffeine
Day #55
Not going to a standard job does cause one to lose the rhythm of the week. The original plan was to head 'up north' on Monday, Day #54, but in cleaning up my 27 year backlog the entire day was spent dealing with issues and mail from 2012 and early 2013. At a minimum the census bureau will quit calling me daily regarding my agricultural filing. Voice mail is full of messages from them. It's possible I've actually memorized the 888 number and my case number without ever writing them down.
Not only did Day #54 evaporate but so did the first half (daylight) of Day #55. Leaving after lunch put me in sunshine but a rock solid 18 degree (Fahrenheit) road trip. Following a stop at 'the barn' for insulating covers I headed out to wrap up a couple of bee yards for the winter. In the fall you steal all the honey that you can and then you feed your colonies sugar water to ensure their survival in the MN winter. Smart beekeepers take all the honey, put the hives on a road trip to OK or TX and let the bees be street people for the winter. I wrap mine up and hope for the best.
At 30 degrees they will fly about. Normally at 18 they are going to be quite slow to move and unlikely to go airborne. Working in the fall one does not need to 'suit up' in protective gear which is required certainly at 95 plus degrees. During the cold months the bees go into a winter cluster, an eliptical mass of bees where they snuggle to keep warm. When I popped the cover on the last hive they apparently had not received the memo regarding "winter cluster time" nor had they paid attention to the temperature. What they paid attention to was the guy wearing a black coat (bad), sunglasses (bad), a black hat (bad) and no protective gear (bad).
That was the highpoint of Day #55. In 1964 we did 'vocational notebooks' in middle school. This must have been for the purpose of helping us plan our lives. My three occupations of choice were fire protection engineer, nuclear engineer and beekeeper. At the time the teacher ridiculed my inclusion of a beekeeper career. It's fifty years later and I'm still muscling heavy colonies about and having bees in my face most of the year. Despite my ongoing internal debate regarding my future in beekeeping it must have been a better choice than the other two.
Day #56
Day #56 was Wednesday. During this 'up north' trip I was supposed to pick up supplies that were needed 100 miles south Wednesday AM. In the schedule in my head I was going to head south in the PM. This resulted in two trips and an extra 150 miles. The planned Day #56 actually started about noon after I took care of the ... actually this is all confusing. I lost track of the days.
.JPG)
Early winter is upon us and I've been burning a lot of wood. There's not much snow so I did haul another load of logs and spent some time cutting a previous load up. For those not familiar with the process you are always working a year or two in the future and typically you have to move whatever renewable resource (logs) at least two or three times before getting any heat out of them with the exception of getting hot moving things about. I guess I could just move wood all winter in lieu of burning wood.
You also need to have sort of an animal sense about when it's going to snow and prevent all this moving about. When that happens you need to have t where it needs to be. This supplements propane and oil which also are problematic. Despite the simple meters which tell how much is remaining it's easy to forget or write a note an lose it. This becomes part of a social movement with hundreds if not thousands of other winter dwellers also failing to read their meters or forgetting to order until it's an issue. There are a lot of hours spent waiting for the "the propane man" and the "fuel oil man" to arrive.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Last year I was thankful for having a job. This year I am thankful for not having a job and hopeful for another in the future. It's all good.
Day 55 & 56 were a mess and I think I missed my day 55 post. Day 56 is almost over and I'm dragging so I'm going to post this and embellish and polish them both up in the AM, Thanksgiving morning.
I did upgrade my internet service and spent the last 90 minutes dealing with that. Strangely enough I had some excellent support from CenturyLink. The fact that I'm even saying that is a good indication that I need sleep.
Update Following Sleep and Caffeine
Day #55
Not going to a standard job does cause one to lose the rhythm of the week. The original plan was to head 'up north' on Monday, Day #54, but in cleaning up my 27 year backlog the entire day was spent dealing with issues and mail from 2012 and early 2013. At a minimum the census bureau will quit calling me daily regarding my agricultural filing. Voice mail is full of messages from them. It's possible I've actually memorized the 888 number and my case number without ever writing them down.
Not only did Day #54 evaporate but so did the first half (daylight) of Day #55. Leaving after lunch put me in sunshine but a rock solid 18 degree (Fahrenheit) road trip. Following a stop at 'the barn' for insulating covers I headed out to wrap up a couple of bee yards for the winter. In the fall you steal all the honey that you can and then you feed your colonies sugar water to ensure their survival in the MN winter. Smart beekeepers take all the honey, put the hives on a road trip to OK or TX and let the bees be street people for the winter. I wrap mine up and hope for the best.
At 30 degrees they will fly about. Normally at 18 they are going to be quite slow to move and unlikely to go airborne. Working in the fall one does not need to 'suit up' in protective gear which is required certainly at 95 plus degrees. During the cold months the bees go into a winter cluster, an eliptical mass of bees where they snuggle to keep warm. When I popped the cover on the last hive they apparently had not received the memo regarding "winter cluster time" nor had they paid attention to the temperature. What they paid attention to was the guy wearing a black coat (bad), sunglasses (bad), a black hat (bad) and no protective gear (bad).
That was the highpoint of Day #55. In 1964 we did 'vocational notebooks' in middle school. This must have been for the purpose of helping us plan our lives. My three occupations of choice were fire protection engineer, nuclear engineer and beekeeper. At the time the teacher ridiculed my inclusion of a beekeeper career. It's fifty years later and I'm still muscling heavy colonies about and having bees in my face most of the year. Despite my ongoing internal debate regarding my future in beekeeping it must have been a better choice than the other two.
Day #56
Day #56 was Wednesday. During this 'up north' trip I was supposed to pick up supplies that were needed 100 miles south Wednesday AM. In the schedule in my head I was going to head south in the PM. This resulted in two trips and an extra 150 miles. The planned Day #56 actually started about noon after I took care of the ... actually this is all confusing. I lost track of the days.
.JPG)
Early winter is upon us and I've been burning a lot of wood. There's not much snow so I did haul another load of logs and spent some time cutting a previous load up. For those not familiar with the process you are always working a year or two in the future and typically you have to move whatever renewable resource (logs) at least two or three times before getting any heat out of them with the exception of getting hot moving things about. I guess I could just move wood all winter in lieu of burning wood.You also need to have sort of an animal sense about when it's going to snow and prevent all this moving about. When that happens you need to have t where it needs to be. This supplements propane and oil which also are problematic. Despite the simple meters which tell how much is remaining it's easy to forget or write a note an lose it. This becomes part of a social movement with hundreds if not thousands of other winter dwellers also failing to read their meters or forgetting to order until it's an issue. There are a lot of hours spent waiting for the "the propane man" and the "fuel oil man" to arrive.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Last year I was thankful for having a job. This year I am thankful for not having a job and hopeful for another in the future. It's all good.
Monday, November 25, 2013
54 54 54 54 54 54 54
Battery Maintenance
March is only a few months away but yet I'm pulling 12v batteries out of everything. It seems that disconnecting things that tend to drain them and hooking up trickle chargers is the way to go. Of course I've bought a lot of trickle chargers and it appears as I dig through this 27 year backlog I have more than I thought I had and certainly more than I need. There was even a box of wire and connectors that I purchased at least four years ago that I was going to jump several batteries and connect them to a single trickle charger. That seemed like a good idea. Of course there are at least two or three bigger chargers, too. It's probably a trade-off. I have enough extra chargers to have purchased a few batteries.
.JPG)
Mice...Computer Pointing Devices
My best work is done at my desk which has at least three desktop computers functioning. There's a standard Microsoft three-button mouse that's been there as long as there have been three button mice. There's also a Microsoft mouse with a rolling part the size of a golf ball. This seems to be a logical device for graphics work. It's been there (connected and functioning) for five years. I've used it three times.
The most frequently used PC is a Samsung Chromebook which is a forebearer of the future of computing and is used only with web apps, cloud solutions and was $249. The more powerful Thinkpad accompanies me when I need some "off the grid" horsepower. Each of these notebooks and my "up north" notebooks have pointing devices that are good for basic operations but not for graphics.
I began a search for a mouse that I could throw in my traveling briefcase. The home office yielded a new in the box Logitech wireless mouse which I purchased to replace my wired mouse shown in the image. Of course the wired mouse works fine so the Logitech sat on the floor gathering dust. In a box of cables and connectors I found three two-button mice and in the trunk of my car I found three wired three-button mice. There's no logic to why they were in the trunk but there are also four umbrellas and two boxes of latex gloves there, too.
Progress
This was a progressive day. The agricultural census from FEB was returned so hopefully the federal government will quit calling every day. I also increased my DSL speed seven-fold for a 20% reduction in cost and found that I can actually go to70mb for about what I was paying for 3mb. This is a deep, deep 27 year hole.
This evening I'm re-visiting a few job boards and working on some personal vision statements. It's good.
March is only a few months away but yet I'm pulling 12v batteries out of everything. It seems that disconnecting things that tend to drain them and hooking up trickle chargers is the way to go. Of course I've bought a lot of trickle chargers and it appears as I dig through this 27 year backlog I have more than I thought I had and certainly more than I need. There was even a box of wire and connectors that I purchased at least four years ago that I was going to jump several batteries and connect them to a single trickle charger. That seemed like a good idea. Of course there are at least two or three bigger chargers, too. It's probably a trade-off. I have enough extra chargers to have purchased a few batteries.
.JPG)
Mice...Computer Pointing Devices
My best work is done at my desk which has at least three desktop computers functioning. There's a standard Microsoft three-button mouse that's been there as long as there have been three button mice. There's also a Microsoft mouse with a rolling part the size of a golf ball. This seems to be a logical device for graphics work. It's been there (connected and functioning) for five years. I've used it three times.
The most frequently used PC is a Samsung Chromebook which is a forebearer of the future of computing and is used only with web apps, cloud solutions and was $249. The more powerful Thinkpad accompanies me when I need some "off the grid" horsepower. Each of these notebooks and my "up north" notebooks have pointing devices that are good for basic operations but not for graphics.
I began a search for a mouse that I could throw in my traveling briefcase. The home office yielded a new in the box Logitech wireless mouse which I purchased to replace my wired mouse shown in the image. Of course the wired mouse works fine so the Logitech sat on the floor gathering dust. In a box of cables and connectors I found three two-button mice and in the trunk of my car I found three wired three-button mice. There's no logic to why they were in the trunk but there are also four umbrellas and two boxes of latex gloves there, too.
Progress
This was a progressive day. The agricultural census from FEB was returned so hopefully the federal government will quit calling every day. I also increased my DSL speed seven-fold for a 20% reduction in cost and found that I can actually go to70mb for about what I was paying for 3mb. This is a deep, deep 27 year hole.
This evening I'm re-visiting a few job boards and working on some personal vision statements. It's good.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
11/24/2013 53
Channeling...moving from -27 to +27
There has been significant progress on physical, electronic and psychological transition from the past 27 to the next 27. Thinking of past work people, tasks, responsibilities...well everything was taking too much time. There was no positive, progressive outcome to those backward looking thoughts but when you think about an organizational network every waking hour for 27 years it's a tough cycle to break.
Rarely do I have trouble going to sleep and if I turn on the radio sleep comes within moments. After a few nights where backward thoughts delayed that transition I had an idea. I think about a lot of things but trying to transition at those more frustrating moments to thinking about any of a lot of things did not work so I made a mental list of three topics that I enjoy. Now I just switch on the "three things" list. This working well and is part of +27.
My personal network of other employees, owners, vendors and contractors has also been sort of a -27 disappointment. I'm focused now on new people, new connections. It's entirely possible that the key to +27 lies not in the past network (sorry LHH) but more in the future. It's entirely possible that that is what LHH has been saying but it's taken a while to hear it.
Prior to 1982 I did not own any computers. Most of us just went to work to do computer sorts of things (like programming). Over the years a lot of PCs ended up here. During the month of SEP I recycled all the dead, ailing and old computers and monitors and a cubic yard or two of power adapters and miscellaneous cables and drives. That was good but I keep finding more.
In 1982 I spent no time at home doing computer things. Now I spend hours per week, actually probably per day, doing real tasks, looking things up, writing (like this), managing money, etc. I'm not sure I like this. It detracts from things like outside activities, good books, stacking firewood, etc. I'm seriously considering some sort of off-grid time. It's really more an off-PC and/or off-smartphone time than off-grid but I did not want to load up Gimp ( a free sort of Photoshop tool) and create a new graphic. I'll do that tomorrow after checking the job boards, making a few more connections on LinkedIn, tracking world events on Twitter and sharing pointless information and links on Facebook. How much off-grid time do I need. My former neighbor, a retired architect, was obsessive about his yard work but took Sundays off. I might try a day a week. Perhaps off-grid time would include time doing thing like this, writing. Longhand is too tedious and I disposed of my typewriter probably in 1984, about two or three years into my PC life.
I'm increasingly committed to +27. The opportunities and rewards look much greater than -27.
There has been significant progress on physical, electronic and psychological transition from the past 27 to the next 27. Thinking of past work people, tasks, responsibilities...well everything was taking too much time. There was no positive, progressive outcome to those backward looking thoughts but when you think about an organizational network every waking hour for 27 years it's a tough cycle to break.
Rarely do I have trouble going to sleep and if I turn on the radio sleep comes within moments. After a few nights where backward thoughts delayed that transition I had an idea. I think about a lot of things but trying to transition at those more frustrating moments to thinking about any of a lot of things did not work so I made a mental list of three topics that I enjoy. Now I just switch on the "three things" list. This working well and is part of +27.
My personal network of other employees, owners, vendors and contractors has also been sort of a -27 disappointment. I'm focused now on new people, new connections. It's entirely possible that the key to +27 lies not in the past network (sorry LHH) but more in the future. It's entirely possible that that is what LHH has been saying but it's taken a while to hear it.
In 1982 I spent no time at home doing computer things. Now I spend hours per week, actually probably per day, doing real tasks, looking things up, writing (like this), managing money, etc. I'm not sure I like this. It detracts from things like outside activities, good books, stacking firewood, etc. I'm seriously considering some sort of off-grid time. It's really more an off-PC and/or off-smartphone time than off-grid but I did not want to load up Gimp ( a free sort of Photoshop tool) and create a new graphic. I'll do that tomorrow after checking the job boards, making a few more connections on LinkedIn, tracking world events on Twitter and sharing pointless information and links on Facebook. How much off-grid time do I need. My former neighbor, a retired architect, was obsessive about his yard work but took Sundays off. I might try a day a week. Perhaps off-grid time would include time doing thing like this, writing. Longhand is too tedious and I disposed of my typewriter probably in 1984, about two or three years into my PC life.
I'm increasingly committed to +27. The opportunities and rewards look much greater than -27.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Day #52 more, more motivation...
My Previous Job/Career in Four Boxes...
Yesterday and today I decided to unpack the residue of my more recent job. During the weeks before I left I went through all of my files (paper and electronic) and drawers and aggressively deleted and recycled most of it. It was an interesting process. I'd look at something and decide if it was immediate trash, if it was something I needed to think about or look at again (delayed decision) or if it was something that my successor might want of need.
When I left I did leave several tidy piles of budgets, personnel files, strategic plans, contracts, organization charts and memos on various topics for my successor. He has done with them what I would have done with such a treasure. He's ignored it all. Good for him. History is meaningless I've been told, and my vision of the future certainly is of no value to your vision of the future. On this particular topic I did fail to take my own advice about leaving things for your successor which is based entirely on About Schmidt, a movie I frequently recommend.
After numerous iterations it came done to just a few files and a few boxes. As I've opened them I've chuckled a few times and I've also looked at things and wondered why I brought it home. I did find four toothbrushes and four brand new tubes of toothpaste in my desk. You know, the kind that dentists always give you after a checkup. There were always good intentions of brushing my teeth at work but apparently I cycled through quite a few cleanings, x-rays, discussions of gum issues, etc., without ever brushing my teeth...at work.
At my home working locations I have my favorite pens, miscellaneous items of distraction, nail clipper, dental floss and who knows what. The boxes I brought home contain from my previous work 'working' location my favorite pens, miscellaneous items of distraction, nail clipper, dental floss and who knows what. There is some duplication and yet some unique items but I don't want those work working location items at my home working location. They worked where they worked. At home they are misfits.
As of Day #52 I really care little about my past work, increasingly focused on my future work. I'll recycle the four empty boxes.
Online...
LHH has a lot of good ideas about selling yourself and penetrating the networking world and making progress on job searches. Today I ignored part of their advice and found another great position which is an IT leadership position (good), which is a large company initiative on small business (good) and which is about 3500 feet from my house (good). This is worth pursuit.
The other most recent online application had a succinct response which was in total as follows:
Hello John,
Thank you for your interest in employment at XXXXXX, Inc.. If your qualifications match our needs, we will contact you to learn more about your fit in this position.
Thanks again for your inquiry.
Was this a bot response? Should I follow up with a phone call? Should I email them? They are also looking for an HR person so I probably cannot call their HR person. I know a lot about HR. Perhaps I should apply for their HR position along with the other position. It seemed that there were quite a few positions at their organization that would be a fit. If none of my qualifications meet any of their needs I'll have to shrug off any thoughts of "you are a misfit for for all kinds of jobs you think are right for you!" I'm good in bad weather so I'm going to shrug (or shake) that premonition off.
Motivation...
Writing motivation seems to be a roadblock to many people, often. Bill Holm provided quite a bit of motivation for me when I realized you could write pretty much about anything. It's not clear why it took so long for me to figure that out. In the visual arts it was clear long ago that you could drive to the mountains to make so-so images or you could work within a fifty foot radius of where you happened to be standing an creatively look at mundane objects and package them with interest. With the right purpose our words can do the same.
As motivation my son sent me this link to an interview of David Sedaris. I'm sure I've listened to him on MPR and I'm not sure that I've read any of his work but I did order Naked not because of the title but because of his thirty-five year writing career of describing and sharing normal events in his life.
My daughter reads this, too. She's different in her commentary and feedback. The other day she said "you are a mess." When I asked why, she said the blog posts seemed to indicate...that I was a mess, but she went on to say that there seemed to be some clarity, some balance emerging. She's right. This is an adjustment and it's not a twenty minute oil change.
Writing every day is good. It's probably improving my spelling and sentence composition. There does need to be some focus on style variation. My typing has been about the same for a long, long time. In earlier posts I'm sure I've given tribute to Miss Ruth Woods my 8th grade typing instructor (1964?). "Don't cross your ankles!" She speaks to me when typos become frequent. I also keep a wooden 12" ruler in my middle drawer. She carried one and whacked us with it. I have one at my home 'work' location. I never had one at my work 'work' location. That might have been what was missing.
JFK...
There are a lot of memories. He was a great President to be the first President for a young person to be aware of. He was bright, had a differentiating accent and spoke to all of us, encouraging us to be be hopeful and to be part of the future.
Yesterday and today I decided to unpack the residue of my more recent job. During the weeks before I left I went through all of my files (paper and electronic) and drawers and aggressively deleted and recycled most of it. It was an interesting process. I'd look at something and decide if it was immediate trash, if it was something I needed to think about or look at again (delayed decision) or if it was something that my successor might want of need.
When I left I did leave several tidy piles of budgets, personnel files, strategic plans, contracts, organization charts and memos on various topics for my successor. He has done with them what I would have done with such a treasure. He's ignored it all. Good for him. History is meaningless I've been told, and my vision of the future certainly is of no value to your vision of the future. On this particular topic I did fail to take my own advice about leaving things for your successor which is based entirely on About Schmidt, a movie I frequently recommend.
After numerous iterations it came done to just a few files and a few boxes. As I've opened them I've chuckled a few times and I've also looked at things and wondered why I brought it home. I did find four toothbrushes and four brand new tubes of toothpaste in my desk. You know, the kind that dentists always give you after a checkup. There were always good intentions of brushing my teeth at work but apparently I cycled through quite a few cleanings, x-rays, discussions of gum issues, etc., without ever brushing my teeth...at work.
At my home working locations I have my favorite pens, miscellaneous items of distraction, nail clipper, dental floss and who knows what. The boxes I brought home contain from my previous work 'working' location my favorite pens, miscellaneous items of distraction, nail clipper, dental floss and who knows what. There is some duplication and yet some unique items but I don't want those work working location items at my home working location. They worked where they worked. At home they are misfits.
As of Day #52 I really care little about my past work, increasingly focused on my future work. I'll recycle the four empty boxes.
Online...
LHH has a lot of good ideas about selling yourself and penetrating the networking world and making progress on job searches. Today I ignored part of their advice and found another great position which is an IT leadership position (good), which is a large company initiative on small business (good) and which is about 3500 feet from my house (good). This is worth pursuit.
The other most recent online application had a succinct response which was in total as follows:
Hello John,
Thank you for your interest in employment at XXXXXX, Inc.. If your qualifications match our needs, we will contact you to learn more about your fit in this position.
Thanks again for your inquiry.
Was this a bot response? Should I follow up with a phone call? Should I email them? They are also looking for an HR person so I probably cannot call their HR person. I know a lot about HR. Perhaps I should apply for their HR position along with the other position. It seemed that there were quite a few positions at their organization that would be a fit. If none of my qualifications meet any of their needs I'll have to shrug off any thoughts of "you are a misfit for for all kinds of jobs you think are right for you!" I'm good in bad weather so I'm going to shrug (or shake) that premonition off.
Motivation...
Writing motivation seems to be a roadblock to many people, often. Bill Holm provided quite a bit of motivation for me when I realized you could write pretty much about anything. It's not clear why it took so long for me to figure that out. In the visual arts it was clear long ago that you could drive to the mountains to make so-so images or you could work within a fifty foot radius of where you happened to be standing an creatively look at mundane objects and package them with interest. With the right purpose our words can do the same.
As motivation my son sent me this link to an interview of David Sedaris. I'm sure I've listened to him on MPR and I'm not sure that I've read any of his work but I did order Naked not because of the title but because of his thirty-five year writing career of describing and sharing normal events in his life.
My daughter reads this, too. She's different in her commentary and feedback. The other day she said "you are a mess." When I asked why, she said the blog posts seemed to indicate...that I was a mess, but she went on to say that there seemed to be some clarity, some balance emerging. She's right. This is an adjustment and it's not a twenty minute oil change.
Writing every day is good. It's probably improving my spelling and sentence composition. There does need to be some focus on style variation. My typing has been about the same for a long, long time. In earlier posts I'm sure I've given tribute to Miss Ruth Woods my 8th grade typing instructor (1964?). "Don't cross your ankles!" She speaks to me when typos become frequent. I also keep a wooden 12" ruler in my middle drawer. She carried one and whacked us with it. I have one at my home 'work' location. I never had one at my work 'work' location. That might have been what was missing.
JFK...
There are a lot of memories. He was a great President to be the first President for a young person to be aware of. He was bright, had a differentiating accent and spoke to all of us, encouraging us to be be hopeful and to be part of the future.
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