What is the metric equivalent to the word “mileage”? Kilometreage sounds dreadful and kludgy, but I’m not entirely sure what the appropriate analogue would be.
Month: May 2011
Yesterday was my last day at $OLDJOB. Monday will be my first day at $NEWJOB. In between, I have five days where I don’t have any real obligations on my time, for the first time I can remember.
It’s 11:30am, and I’ve yet to get dressed. I keep thinking “I should do something with this lovely day, but being utterly indecisive about something even as simple as “Where should I go for lunch?”
Ah well. I think I’ll just go out and wander around for a while. Maybe something interesting will occur to me as I do. 🙂
Today at 4pm, I walked out of my office.
For the last time.
About six weeks ago, a former co-worker caught up with me as I was out on one of my constitutional walks around the parking lot. He wanted me to know that his company might have a new position opening up that he thought would be perfect for me, and he knew I had been thinking of looking for a new gig. After listening to the particulars, I sent him my resume, and told him to let me know. A couple of weeks later, he pinged me back to ask me when I’d like to set up an interview.
Two weeks ago, they offered me the job, and I submitted my resignation to my current employer. This was certainly a surreal experience. I went to work for this company fifteen years ago, when it was still a tiny startup and the Internet was only just starting to explode. As I leave, it is a well established player in its corner of the market, and in no small part it’s success is because of work that I’ve done for it. I’m very proud of what I helped to build, and it’s strange to think that as of today, I’m no longer an active part of it.
But the truth is, whatever my frustrations with my job are, the biggest motivator for me is wanting to seek new challenges. I’m going to be working in a market sector that is, I think, going to be exploding over the next few years*, so it’s an exciting time to be joining it, and while there’s a certain satisfaction that comes from being at the top of the game and the guy everyone comes to for all the answers, there’s also something to be said for getting into a new one and mixing it up with a new team where you have something to prove.
My 40th year has been one of great changes. Some of them good, some of them less so, but I’m certainly going to emerge a different person to the one I entered as. I’m looking forward to the future.
This past weekend was the Atlanta area housefilk, which very nearly snuck up on us, but we were reminded of it in time to make plans to attend, which was a goodness. Last year we decided to drop back to quarterly housefilks rather than monthly, in the hopes that people would make more of an effort to attend if they were held less often. So far, this plan has been working out quite well, as the last several have been very well attended. I didn’t make an official count, but there were at least 15 people gathered at Dave and Signe’s house to make some music.
I don’t recall all of what I played, but here’s a partial list:
Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner (Warren Zevon)
The Queen of Air and Darkness (Poul Andersen)
Sam’s Song (Zander Nyrond)
Follow That Road (Anne Hills)
Brain Damage (Pink Floyd)
We got to hear a couple of new songs from catsittingstill, which is always a treat, and Harry did a lovely Viking song that I’d not heard before. thatcrazycajun and singing_phoenix arrived just before we were leaving, so we didn’t get to hear either of them sing anything.
Sunday, I treated myself to a bit of imported nostalgia. The Taco Stand was already an institution in Athens when I moved there in 1989, and I had many a tasty meal there. It’s one of the places I’d make a point to visit when I was back in Athens since moving away 13 years ago. Saturday, while returning from picking up some things at the tailor’s, I spotted a Taco Stand sign in a shopping centre on Old Alabama Connector, so I stopped and asked them if they were connected to the ones in Athens. I was told they were, though this one was independently owned. Good enough for me. I took a menu with me and told them I’d return.
The Taco Stand is what I affectionately call “college food”. Cheap, abundant, simple, and very tasty if it’s the sort of thing you enjoy. It’s the sort of thing I enjoy. I had the deluxe burrito and a quesadilla, and kitanzi had the chicken tacos. It was a delightful meal.
All in all, a good weekend.
