A New Day

You never know how a day at work will go. A funny thing happened on the way to lunch the other day, I got called into a meeting and was summarily dismissed! Ten minutes after arriving at work one Monday I was back standing in the parking lot with Rocky, the head of maintenance, who was shaking his head as he helped me load two half filled boxes into my car. Those two boxes and a couple of pictures amounted to the sum total of physical assets I'd amassed at The Selling Source, Inc. - my freshly minted previous employer.

I won't bore you with "my side of the story" as I'm sure there were plenty of reasons to part ways with little ol' me. Chief among them being the old stand by, 'you see, [insert name here], we can do without you now.' I learned early in my work-a-day career that any business is better off with the attitude that no one is indispensable. Far be it from me to break a good axiom.

So, there I was, pulling out of my covered and assigned parking spot (#10), wondering what the next move would be. (as I drove off I'm sure dibs on the patch of pavement had already been completed and the new owner was idling just out of sight ready to claim the prized possession.)

Not 20 minutes before I had no idea it was about to be my turn to play!

In that moment, I got something that not many people get at any time in life and especially not at my advanced age ;). By way of a combination of a number of more or less random events I get to start over. I mean really start over. Last December I could say I was happily married for 17 years. Then my wife was taken by cancer. Over the next 15 months or so I found that pretty much all I could muster the energy to do was work - so work I did.

Anyway, back to Monday. Quickly taking stock of my situation: single, 2/3 a country away from family and non-work friends, a non-gambler in the gambling capital and a techie in a city that doesn't have much tech work. I knew I needed to get out of this place.

Fast forward three months later and I'm just getting settled in Venice, Ca with a job seven miles away in Culver City. I've changed just about everything in the last 2 years.

Married ---> single
3BR House with private pool ---> 1BR apartment (with shared ocean)
Cody ---> Jasper (ok they're both pure bred Samoyeds)
Run from the heat ---> stroll on the beach
Lots of semi-expensive cars ---> one 1987 BMW 2 door (as soon as I sell the truck)
287---> 229

And on the work front...
400 person financial company---> 20 person ".com" startup
Meeting and more meetings ---> conf. call the client and then code it yourself
At your desk 7am sharp ---> please call if you're going to be in after 11:30!
Fly to Kansas ---> bike-cycle to Culver City

We'll see how it goes from here...