1. Photo session for Eddy this weekend. He was a bit of a fireball and somewhat disagreeable with all the posing and stuff, and did manage to spray pee and poop all over everything. Good job, kid! We’ll have pics in a few weeks and I’ll be adding them to Flickr and posting some here, too.
2. Bikey bikey. Saturday, I went over to Erik’s to get a few things I needed and was horrified at how much it cost to pay retail for bike stuff. I hadn’t paid retail since before 1999 — seriously. For three 24 oz. water bottles and 4 packets of Gu, it cost $31. Jeebus. I remember when a Shimano 105 rear derailleur cost less than that.
Last time I said this, I was polite about it. This time, not so much: if you do something in front of my car that nearly results in either you, or both of us being killed, don’t fucking smile and wave at me. That you can so callously disregard your own imminent demise doesn’t annoy me — that you can so callously disregard ruining my life by dying on the hood of my car and possibly killing or injuring me in the process fucking infuriates me to no end.
So please stop. The smile-and-wave attempt at bonding with me over a shared experience is insulting — I won’t validate your inattentiveness, nor your stupidity, by returning the smile and wave and acting like it’s all okay. Because due to the laws of probability, someday it won’t be, and you’ll be a big red smear on the pavement, or I’ll have a large chunk of your car embedded in the side of my head, or whatever. Not cool.
Maybe instead of your stupid little song-and-dance “oh gee, it’s so funny that I nearly caused a wreck, ha ha, now we’re friends” bullshit, maybe you could pay attention to the road, follow the rules so as to be predictable to the rest of us around you, and maybe start thinking of the people around you instead of being a selfish ass? Is that too much to ask?
Today marks the last day at my current job. I started here in February of 2008, on a six-month contract, as the economy was tanking. I’ve outlasted that contract and numerous other full-time employees who fell victims to downsizing. It’s also the longest block of time I’ve spent at a single employer since the start of my adult life (provided you don’t count that block of Army/Reserves/National Guard time as a single job).
I won’t miss the desk nor the actual environment. The consulting company I worked for, however, is top-notch, and their founder is the kind of boss I always wanted to work for. But that can’t keep me in my current role. There’s things I need to be able to do in my career that I can’t get as a contractor at a Fortune 100 company. I need to grow in responsibilities, contribute to a company in a meaningful way, and feel like I’m part of a team. I also need variety in my day-to-day tasks, which is something I don’t really have right now.
So I’m moving on. I’ve got a new gig, I start Monday, and I’m extremely excited about the opportunity.
Looking back on these past four years, though? Some of the best of my life:
Items accomplished in February: 1 Total items accomplished: 28/101 Percentage complete: 27.7%
Items Completed in February: 8. Earn more than $100K in a calendar year.
I didn’t count this because I didn’t get my final W-2 until February 2nd. But yes, I did great last year.
Items Underway in February:
27. Log data about the entire year of 2012 as part of personal data logging project, see what I can learn.
49. Complete the 100 push-ups program.
51. Get my six-pack abs back.
52. Keep my weight under 185 pounds.
54. Stop drinking soda.
57. Plant a small garden on the deck.
74. Find a cool time-lapse subject, make video.
80. Create — and release under the GPL — three WordPress themes. (0/3)
95. Set up a hummingbird feeder on the deck.
Yeah, so I haven’t posted in quite some time. Apparently, having a kid will kill your free time — who knew?
What’s to report? Well, here’s the list:
Eddy is chugging along. Healthy, happy, and as babies go, pretty easy. He’s discovered his lungs and man, when this kid gets to screaming, which is pretty seldom, he can bring the noise.
I’m in my last week at 3M. Hard to believe that I’ve been here for four years. So very excited about moving on to my new gig next Monday. In the meantime, though, I’m blowing through the last of my to-dos and putting a nice wrap on a solid four years.
Thinking about a new theme for this site. I’ve tried a few, but haven’t had much luck with pre-canned ones. Thinking I might hash something out quick-like over the weekend.
So yeah, I haven’t mentioned it here yet, but Eddy came home last Thursday night. And holy crap, what an adjustment. I can now change a diaper faster than I can field-strip an M-16A2 rifle. I can’t do it blindfolded yet, nor do I relish the idea of trying. He’s been a barrel of laughs and the D-SLR has been getting quite the workout.
In other news, I accepted a new job and resigned from my current job today. Nothing like throwing another log on the Fire of Change. I’m very, very excited about the new gig, in which my title will be “Client Services Manager”…the money is better, the benefits are good, and it’s an excellent career step at a company that’s been growing strongly and is regarded as among the best small companies to work for in Minnesota. Who can argue with that?
Reading is plugging along nicely. I’m back in the habit where I’m reading multiple items at once, which is usually what happens when I’m reading something deep or dry or really involved. Simultaneously, I’m reading a bit of philosophy (Machiavelli), a pregnancy book, a book full of articles by renowned scientists and thinkers, and a science fiction novel. Normally, I would prefer not to do such things, but it’s actually going pretty darn well.
Finally, let me cut out with Chris Cornell covering Dolly Parton’s1 masterpiece, “I Will Always Love You”.
1. Partial ownership of this song claimed by that artist who just died recently, whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken™.
