May 10, 2014 ... Seven Months & Ten Days

Nothing Else Matters
A few years ago, probably seven years ago, I'd reached my life quota of commuter driving.  When our children were young it seemed there were many reasons to drive rather than take the bus.  Dropoffs and pickups at daycare, school events, sport practices, etc. were all logical reasons that one  might have to get up and go.  There was a brief time when that all ended that taking the bus seemed logical and I was about to do that.  My mother's living situation and increasing challenges with things like the thermostat in her apartment, questions over received mail and requests to stop by kept me in the commuter car.  Adding good music helped but I found that I would listen to the same CD or half-dozen CDs for months at a time.  Once in a while I'd think that knowing a half-dozen CDs very well would be good if I was ever thrown into a prison in a foreign country.  A car change led to Sirius Radio which provided more stations than I can imagine.  I settled into about six that kept me sane for the last few years of the commute.  Of course sane means listening only to the Pearl Jam channel for the past 2.5 years.

One of my co-workers could be enticed to ride with me if I had adequate music and for a period of time so I added Metallica because "Nothing Else Matters."  

Humiliated
This evening as I avoided serious work...writing...I fell to a new low and found myself listening to Miley Cyrus on Oprah HQ.  Clearly I need a job, or at least more focus and less distraction.  My excuse for the Miley/Oprah experience was running through every Joan Jett clip on youtube.

Challenge-Knowledge Project
I have this rather abstract project centered on knowledge sharing in the commercial construction IT space.  IT groups in even large commercial construction firms tend to be small and the challenges of technology and investment are huge.  It's widely acknowledged that commercial construction is very poor at IT investment and innovation and process improvement.  Every firm makes the same knowledge mistakes.  There is little advantage to early adopters.  The opportunity is for all companies to share and not make the same mistakes.

I was part of a local group and perhaps one of the founders of a metro area group that met a few times per year and shared experience, ideas, innovation, problems, etc.  We have a LinkedIn group and there is a certain level of activity there.  It's been my plan to take that local experience and role it into a national knowledge sharing venue.  So far even the local group has indicated that there are other organizations doing the same thing.  Having looked at those I find them lame.  There are more than enough reasons to drop this idea but that's how a lot of good ideas die.

Seven Months More or Less ... April Fool's Day +30

Time Constraints...

Today I believe I have about 60 minutes that is not booked.  This was the day I going to meet w/ my LHH coach but I'm going to switch that to next week.  I've been talking to a number of professional services contacts and have some ideas for project work.  LHH has some good resources for online learning and credentialing and I want to take advantage of that over the next few months.

The small business is consuming a lot of time.  That's good and that's bad.  We now have an online presence.  The product's labelled Marianne's Kitchen are ours.  This is a simpler approach than the Amazon store route I was going to go.  We'll see how it works out.

Legacy Life Activities...

Starting FRI afternoon I'm embarking on a spring weekend known to a very small group as "Bees and Trees" weekend.  This includes planting about 250 trees and driving two hundred and fifty miles round-trip to get some new bees and then hive them.  I could drive two miles down the road from my home to pick up bees but the guy is so unpleasant I'd rather waste a day than half an hour.  Perhaps I should tell him that.  So between FRI at 1:00 PM and MON at 11:30 AM I'm booked non-stop and will, as my son tells me they do in Denmark, rely on an ongoing combination of caffeine and alcohol.

Networking...

This evening I'm getting together for dinner with a colleague from my former gig.  I'm looking forward to an evening of not talking or thinking about my former gig with a former gig guy.  While setting this up he asked how I was doing.  "I'm 63 years old with no hope of getting a job like I had, have no income at the moment and am transitioning from a position of executive control and authority to I don't know what.  Sure I'm fine.  Read my blog and you'll see my focus and accomplishments.  I cannot even tell a joke this week.

Telemarketing...

During the last 30 minutes I received three telemarketing calls.  For a bit of a retro experience I'm using my father-in-law's Princess phone which is at least forty years old.  The first call started with "Hello senior..."  I hung up.  The second call asked for my wife.  "She died yesterday" was my response.  The third was pitching the Pioneer Press.  "The Pioneer Press is such a worthless rag of a paper, both in print and online, that you could not pay me to take it."  "We have a special promotional offer that includes..."  I know that telemarketing workstations do not have phones, just headsets and scripts on a screen.  It's apparent that some of them must also block out responses from the receipient.

 

Day #201 (more or less) Whistles ... April Fool's Day + 22

Professional...

• national IT in Construction project
• conference call re
• solicited participation from Twin Cities companies
• created LinkedIn group
• registered Blogger name 

• reviewed Skillport certificiation options

• contacted LHH consultant...set date

•  professional writing
• multiple LinkedIn posts and commentary
• Inc. Magazine article commentary

Personal...

 
...more or less 4:00 AM...

About 4:00 this morning the nearby rumbling of diesel locomotives pulling long freight, the tanker cars from the North Dakota Bakken oil fields shortened my sleep. That was not all bad since I was in the midst of some sort of dream

where an intruder was in the house and I could not get free of my L.L Bean flannel sheets. Over the course of more than an hour the trains continued. In the daylight hours there are at least five trains per day, westbound, often 100+ tankers. Having grown up about 100 feet from the Rock Island tracks where the ever-passing freight trains and Rock Island Rocket passenger trains defined the boundaries of my childhood backyard playground and safety zone, I like the sounds, the rumbles, the track noise and the long and short of warning train whistles, and the awareness framed by an empty track, of something coming.

It's almost six. I'm going back to bed until the next series of whistles. Later today I'll undoubtedly be waiting on Victoria or Lexington, watching a passing freight, reading the manufacturer's and maintenance shop dates on the cars, interpreting the artwork and messages of far-away taggers, enjoying the sights and sounds, a delay for some, a show for me.

...more or less 3:33 PM...

Here's the Lexington Avenue prediction.

 

...4:55 PM...

This is on Snelling, 1/2 mile west of Lexington.  The car carriers were followed by tankers.

 

 

...and so it goes...my prediction of waiting on Lexington and Victoria was correct...Snelling was a bonus

 ...6:10 PM...this is a never-ending train day...

Day #197 - What's on your mind? - April Fool's Day + 19

What's on your mind?

Facebook is becoming increasingly annoying with all the ads, promos and requests for this and that that I'm not really interested in, but I guess they do have to turn it into a money producing environment at some time.

This has been another long week, manifested in challenges to body, mind and soul.

A few days ago my Facebook post was the following:  "The floating carcasses from this winter's fish kill have formed the image of a large rabbit (as seen from the air) at the north end of the lake. How timely is that?"  My initial draft suggested that the floating carcasses looked like Jesus on the cross.  We all see the work of God (whatever your belief is) in many ways, but certainly someone would be offended.  I made this up.  What happens now if I actually do see Jesus in the windblown spring thaw?  No one reads this, so who, who would be offended?

Regardless of one's spirituality and belief index, inclination or lack thereof, this time of the year, if no other, is an opportunity to rejoice in rebirth, hope and forgiveness.  In that reflection 'rejoice' perhaps is the challenge, the charge.   I'm leaving further comments until after review of the following:

Day #195 -- "I got plenty of nothing." --April Fool's Day + 17

What's you plan...

My standard response over the past couple of months when asked about my plans has been "I'm working on that."  Frankly, that's become an increasingly lame and shallow response.  Certainly I've been working on a couple of writing projects but have not submitted anything for publication or review.  I repeat...that is lame.

Diligence is in order.

Plenty of nothing...

My better half referred to me the other day as someone with a little bit of free time on their hands, more or less.  That caught me off guard because I've been really busy.  March 15th through April 13th might have been deceptive because I was working on accounting/taxes full time, certainly with many more hours during that period than a FT position.  At the conclusion of that month, the point of sending off tax returns to the appropriate treasury offices I commented that I could work part time for any tax service next year.  A couple of months in the dead of a MN winter would be an appropriate time.  I'll check and see if there is any money in it.

Folk Art Projects...

Quite a bit of work is "in process" but in creative activities it is about ideas, techniques and seat time but it's
also about bringing closure.  The rooster standing over the ear of corn is great but far more salable with the envisioned hen on a nest.

Diligence is in order.

Scheduling Issues...

I like to write when it is quiet...with some music in the background.   There is plenty of quiet here in the morning, but now it's 1:00 AM and this is working pretty well.

I like to work on art projects "up north."  Currently that is about 25% of the time I'd like to commit.

Small business.  I'm totally sucked into the whirlpool.  It's a sea anchor...and another good opportunity.

Day #191, more or less...April Fool's Day + 13

Major Distraction Tonight For Writing...

Despite a short break "up north" for some quiet writing/creative time I've made the mistake of accompanying those tasks at the moment with a really good AC/DC tribute bank on the Satellite TV.  Bonfire is causing me to act a bit like...I say this reluctantly...an AC/DC concert attendee.

April 15th...

Forty-seven years of filing taxes is a challenge.  Thinking back to my first return in 1966 when I worked two jobs (Dairy Queen & Berglund's Sporting Goods) it seemed complex to complete the forms, not making any mistakes and attaching the W-2s.  Thinking back, now I believe that you completed two forms, one for yourself.  Once again hard to believe but that was before convenience copiers, actually those were the days of mimeograph machines and ditto masters.

This year was the most complex of all of them in part because I also did a year's worth of business accounting, federal and state business filing and federal and state personal filing.  In my quest to be something different I think I'm going to get a temp job doing taxes next year since I probably have broader knowledge that most twenty-somethings who do that.  

The Depth of Commitment...

After several weeks of tax stuff I found that I was staying up too late, waking up early with thoughts of something I missed or had to check out (curses to TurboxTax for the 1099-B Box E form unavailability).  Mornings seemed to demand caffeine despite my attempts to cut back.

Is 5% good?  What if 5% honesty, 5% sincerity or 5% commitment were the mainstays of our individual character.  That would be pretty lame.  Wide receivers or NBA forwards operating at 5% would soon be seeking other employment or venues.  

Defining goals and making concrete plans to get there or at least make progress requires much more than a 5% effort.  Obviously I'd not planned on April Fool's Day being the mid-point of a year-long transition.  I'd not thought of it.  Had I thought of it it would have been a good benchmark.  Figure out your new life by April Fool's Day.  I'm going to give myself until the middle of May or so to have a concrete plan.  Taxes, teeth and miscellaneous have been important prerequisites.

Day #185, more or less A.K.A. April Fool's Day +7

Maybe A Coat Day, Maybe Not...

The snow is disappearing but now the eight to ten feet of frost is oozing up like an overflowing pot of boiling pasta.  One wishes it would stop but the only way to make that happen is to commit to a mess.

While in the sun the coat came off but it was back on when the wind blew or while on the non-sunny side of anything, including big leafless trees.  Daylight remained at 8 PM but that needed a coat.

Overbooked on WED...

Small business responsibilities dominate the majority of the day tomorrow but am spending the evening with a potential consulting client

Tax Time Is Winding Down...

Despite a few quirks I am an advocate of TurboTax Business and personal software products.  Doing your own work allows you to be creative about the past and the future.  Those avoiding this part of business are missing out.  It's much like having someone else think creatively for you or asking them to read a book of interest (to you) and asking them to re-cap it for you.

I should be done by SAT PM.  Whoo hoo.

LHH & My Dentist...

The dental office called.  Obviously they are working the insurance side of this and want to get started that tooth #20 crown.  Crown is probably a regal-sounding name for something that eliminates tooth substance and commits you to something that will, at best, last 15 years.  New jobs and most jobs these days last about three years.  At 63 I'd like a job for exactly three years.  Apparently I am of attitude and chronological age that puts me at a perfect spot.  I'll call the LHH guy next week.  I've been pondering the kind of job I want and ...