Tag Archives: work
Today marks the ten-year anniversary of walking out of work for the last time. When I did, I thought I’d return for the occasional visit to see how old friends were doing. The reality is that I haven’t been anywhere near the place since. I’m glad to have at long last shed my corporate cloak, glad to have finally escaped.
I’ve very much enjoyed being retired. Finding something to do has never been a problem for me. Quite to the contrary, I’m delighted to have all the time to pursue my hobbies and interests.
And it’s done wonders for my overall mood and outlook on life. I’m a much happier person being out of the “rat race”.
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14 Comments | tags: corporations, retirement, The Company, work | posted in Life
The old grindstone!
It has been creating delightful occasions of frisson. After putting in a full work week, one enjoys the weekend, a bit of time off before returning to work. Except that this weekend lasts forever. This is not time off before returning to the grindstone, because that grindstone no longer hangs around my neck!
I promise to stop going on (and on and on) about this Real Soon Now. Quite a number of friends have expressed their jealousy (in mild jest, I hope). Just keep in mind that I jumped ship pretty early pension-wise, so how well this works out for me remains to be seen.
And you’ll have to bear with me if I blather on about work (or retirement) a bit longer. It’s a pretty major life change!
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5 Comments | tags: Bob Marley, frisson, grindstone, Marriage, relationships, retirement, Soylent Green, work, yardsticks | posted in Life
A few hours ago I walked out of work for the last time. (Actually, it’s likely I’ll visit again, which of course involves both walking in and out, but that will be as retiree come back to visit. (Or possibly a consultant come back to save their ass, but that seems somewhat unlikely on several counts.)) Yet in the poetic sense, it was the last time.
It wasn’t quite as weird as one might think. I’ve been leaving in my head and heart for a while. Today was more like a wheel that’s been slowing down finally coming to a stop. A final turn. Answering one last email, and then out the door.
Today marked the end of an era.
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25 Comments | tags: no questions, retirement, sleep, work, Wrigley Field | posted in Life
Only four more days remain of my career at The Company! It’s hard to believe (and not a little weird). The only thing in my life that’s lasted longer than this career is my life itself. I’ve never lived in one place anywhere near that long (and my romantic relationships have all been famously short).
This week we sort of edged part of the data chain into production this past week. Supposedly the rest is being pushed there this weekend. I’ve got four days to test in production, wrap up a career, and then I walk out the door!
As you might imagine, my mind is really not in the blogsphere right now!
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10 Comments | tags: bosses, retirement, work | posted in Life
Thursday and Friday of this past week were days 10 and 9 in [big booming voice] The Countdown to Retirement. I’m taking Mondays off in June (no more Monday mornings!), so I have two four-day weeks remaining in my 33-year career at The Company.
And it’s a good thing I decided to stay through June. The project I’ve been working on since last September still hasn’t hit production (through, I stress, absolutely no fault of mine).
This week we finally got to the point of end-to-end testing in the QA environment, and I’m anticipating we’ll start testing in production next week. Talk about taking it down to the wire!
As you might imagine, rather than lazily basking in the last remaining weeks of my career, I’m instead working my ass off!
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18 Comments | tags: Bruce Willis, Looper, Mariano Rivera, Minnesota Twins, retirement, work | posted in Baseball, From My Collection, Life, Movies
A bit over a month ago I wrote that, after six months of effort and three weeks of idly waiting for others to complete work, maybe things would finally start moving on my data integration project. And I haven’t posted since (other than the Rick O’Shay post later that same day).
As it turned out, things did finally take off, and the month got very busy. Things got even busier when they dumped an urgent “can you help with this” project in my lap. (I’ve also spent the month struggling with whether I wanted to continue blogging, and if so, whether to change my approach.)
Today I thought I’d post an article about all that (and the Minnesota Twins).
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11 Comments | tags: Minnesota Twins, retirement, work | posted in Life, Rant
Go pound sand, TC!
This is just a running-at-the-fingers marker post, a diary page for the weblog. I have a special Sunday post almost written, but it involves some (great Americana) artwork by a living artist, and I’d like to use more than small “fair use” thumbnails.
I would probably be within fair use using the low-res versions I want to use, but these pieces are so meaningful to me that I want to be as respectful to the artist as possible.
So — hopefully — you’ll be seeing that article down the road one of these Sundays. I’ll just give you a one-word clue for now. It’ll be a giveaway for anyone familiar with the works in question and likely utterly useless for everyone else (at least those not motivated to Go Ogle for it). The word is: Hipshot.
Instead, I thought I’d ramble on a bit about work and what I do for a living.
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8 Comments | tags: anger, data integration, restless leg syndrome, retirement, work | posted in Life, Rant
I’ve been encountering a bit of blog blah recently, and it’s tempting to go on another hiatus until I retire and don’t feel the work pressure and negative energy. But I have a growing backlog — new ideas keep popping up — and I really do enjoy the writing.
Things are returning to normal around here; page hits are finally back to their low numbers. The party has died down considerably, and that lets the host leave the remaining guests so he can whip up some new treats (and maybe open that bottle of wine I’ve been saving).
Speaking of which, I meant to open two bottles this weekend, but life did one of those unexpected detour things. I’ll pour both those articles very soon, but today’s snack catches up on some things.
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16 Comments | tags: blog, blog blah, BOOL, hiatus, retirement, Sun, sunshine, Versatile Blogger Award, Winter Solstice, work | posted in Life
Today, of course, is the last day of September. For a variety of reasons, it’s always been one of my favorite months, and it’s always bugged me slightly that September — having only 30 days — is one of the short-changed months. August around here is usually hot, muggy and buggy, so I’d be fine with Congress passing a law to give one of August’s days to September.
And pity poor February! Not only stuck with being the shortest month (a month frequently dark and very cold), but saddled with the responsibility of having to keep an eye on the calendar to even know how many days it has!
Perhaps Congress could also declare February to be National February Month!
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44 Comments | tags: abacus, Bab's Dairy, beauty, German, high school, Hostess Honey Bun, jobs, milk, raw milk, work | posted in Life
I had my first real interview yesterday, and I thought it went very well. Since The Company Gobsmacked me in early August, I’ve applied for 29 different positions. I’ve been casting a wide net, and I know I’m not a good fit for a lot of them, but you never know. The position I found in 2004 under similar circumstances came from just such a wide cast, and it was one of the best I’ve had at TC.
So far, I’m 13-16 on those applications (it was 16-13, but this morning’s email reversed the score). Sixteen have come back with, “Gee, thanks, but you’re not the one.”
Yesterday’s interview was for one of the 16 13 that are still pending. As I said, it’s the first actual interview, although I had two “Information Interviews” a couple of weeks ago. (An information interview is when you sit down with the person who would offer the job and find out a bit about the job — and they about you — but it’s not a real interview. Call it a preview interview.)
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20 Comments | tags: Babylon 5, Häagen-Dazs, ice cream, Ode to a Mouse, Oolong, Pontiac, vapor lock, work | posted in Life, Philosophy
Logos con carne 