Six-Month Followup March 2014

Ryan Companies

The other day another "ex" commented that the only thing they missed were the parties.  Not being much of a party-guy I cannot say that that's been a vacuum.  As I pondered his comment I thought about what I did miss and foremost would be a limited number of people.   The professional collaboration and personal exchanges with "those missed" has left a bit of a loss.  Creating solutions, solving problems, sharing updates on families, outside interests, a laugh and a knowing smile is tough to replace.

On a professional level I'm working on a few projects, the most interesting of which is a national collaboration solution for IT people in the construction industry.  Commercial construction remains when of the least progressive in technology deployment and investment and as such, committed IT workers in that industry often find their careers flat at best.  Every company operates as an island, doing the same research, struggling with the same decisions and most often each make the same poor choices.  We've put together a small group of interested parties to work creatively on some innovative solutions and that's exciting.

Personally I've been busy catching up on a lot of things set aside over the past two, almost three decades.  I've worn out one paper shredder and the second one is making weird noises.  Logic prevailed and I could come up with no reason for saving things like every flex spending form I'd ever filed.  On a practical level I've found that a good shot of WD-40 right in the jaws of the shredder allows for a slightly longer life.

My daughter and wife's cafe business continues to grow and I do get sucked into that on a fairly regular basis.  I attempt to develop no skills there with the goal of them never calling me.  A month or two ago they called and asked me if I could make a catering delivery which I jumped on in hopes of getting a $10 tip.  After I carried in four or five boxes of box lunches into a large conference room, led and directed by the twenty-something office manager I sort of lost focus.  Looking around the room I saw the AV equipment and thought I should check that before the meeting started, looked for the podium and wanted to go get a feel for the view from the front of the room, thought about a few welcoming comments, perhaps with a little humor and put some words together to create enthusiasm for the agenda and goals and outcomes for the meeting.  The I heard the office manager ask 'is there anything else?"  Oh, I thought, that's right.  It's not my meeting.  I'm just delivering box lunches.  There was no tip.

My son and daughter-in-law were here for the holidays and have returned to Denmark, enjoying the opportunity to visit many countries that I've not yet seen.  My plan is to get to Denmark during the summer when my son tells me the Danish stay awake for long periods of time, alternating caffeine and alcohol, and of course smoking.

You work hard, focused on the goals, real and abstract, of an organization because you believe in the mission and the people...and of course you get paid.  It's easy for that to become a big part of your life, perhaps to the distraction of focus on other parts.  One of the thought-provoking references I've enjoyed has been Life Reimagined.  I'd recommend it for everyone, even those less hair-color and hair-follicle challenged.  On a lighter note and more in the vein of the closeted artist creative person I think I am I've enjoyed the work of a young artist turned writer Austin Kleon.

I've passed on a couple of interesting "job" opportunities primarily because I want to have a bit more control and land in a spot (or spots) that fosters good innovative accomplishments and which is an environment of creativity, investment (and profit), progressive professionals and of caring people, with a sense of humor, humility and compassion. 

For the time being I'm working on creating the next opportunity, actually opportunities.  I'm interested in a lot of areas and simply need to narrow the focus a bit.  I'll keep you informed periodically.

As a closing note:

• change is good
• each day a clean palette; one can never regret that
• when you are not going to a "job" you don't have to set an alarm
• when you are not going to a "job" you can stay up as late as you did in college..one of these nights I'm going to stay up all night
• Starbucks, Caribou and Dunn Brothers are really a bore when you don't have to be somewhere; I don't think any real work is done there
  
• there is no commuting "hassle factor" when you work at home
• every day is "casual day"
• lunches are a lot cheaper
• Facebook is more lame than you thought, but you do use it
• Google apps, the Chromebook and anything Bluetooth is good
• you don't have to use headphones to listen to good music
• your neighbor's dog(s) barks a lot more than you remembered
• change is good
  

Regards