Reboot: Now in Austin

A letter to myself in July 2015 from July 2016:

Dear sir,

This is your future self speaking.  Don't question and go all 'Dr Who' on me, just listen.  

Your life is about to change.   You've worked at Lexmark for 16 years unofficially.  You're looking forward to that congratulatory "15 years of service" email you'll get on June 4th, 2016.  

You'll never see it.  Let me explain a bit what's going to transpire:
  1. The company will "explore strategic alternatives" beginning in October.  I still can't tell you much about what happens after that, legally.  
  2. You'll start getting signals it's time to go from above.
  3. The company will announce a voluntary exit program with 'N' weeks of pay and benefits.
  4. You will accept this offer on the last possible day you could, March 4th.
  5. You will exit the company on April 1st.
  6. You will have job offers locally, but you'll turn them down in favor of rolling the dice in Texas.
  7. You'll finally accept a job with Amazon in Austin, Texas.  By the way, Amazon has a development team in Austin, TX.
  8. You'll sell your house with it only 2 days on the market.
  9. You'll be technically out of work for 3 months.  Yes, you'll survive that somehow.
Signed, 
Future You.

* * *

So, yeah....down here in Austin.  So much to say, but I'm so woefully behind on blogging that it'll require some effort to catch up.  Work is great.  Our (rental) house is like a big apartment.  Austin is great so far.  Today begins my 3rd full week of work in Austin, 4th week at Amazon overall.  

Quite a change :)  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The Southeast Christian Church Easter Pageant

Easter Pageant?! What is this, amateur hour? Who cares about some piddly church passion play? What's next, "Best Little Christmas Pageant Ever"? How's this for Piddly: Two professional composers, a 9000 seat auditorium, 75,000 tickets over a month-long run, a 300 person chorous, two IMAX-size video screens. Traditionally, Southeast's Easter Pageant has been the biggest theatrical production in Louisville. They took a year off to retool and rework it, comissioning a rework from the ground up. Whereas the previous iteration had been a "cast of thousands" broadway-style production, they wanted something...different. Hoo-boy, it was different. Let's talk about "theatre" that is 1/2 movie, 1/2 live action. Apparently, they shot it at a quarry during last year's drought, and it looks pretty good. Still, I didn't like it...distracting and interrupts the flow. Likes It's not the same program they've put on for...
Read more

Rant On getting smacked down...

Image
So, you live in an organization for 10 years, and you acquire a certain rep. A reputation as a maverick, a guy who's not too wrapped-up in procedure, kowtow'ing, and career. You've said some things in meetings that were career-limiting, but damn it, they were the RIGHT THINGS. Sure, you broke into someones computer once to get their hard drive so you could deliver the code she REFUSED TO CHECK IN before going on vacation. Sure, you telnet'd in to a running test server to see if your hack worked and could save everyone working the weekend (it didn't, you hosed the test run, and you worked round the clock that weekend). Sure, you've slapped your head at stupidity (both in others and your own), and welcome anyone who'll do the same. However, 10 years, several promotions, two kids, a mortgage, and a car payment tend to make you forget who you are. For one sparkling moment this morning, you remembered. You asked an innocent email question last night to a te...
Read more

"Spiderman 3"...WHY?!

Spiderman 3 is a boring mess. The story is a mishmash of plotlines, centering around the three (yes, THREE) villains -- Goblin Jr., Sandman, and Venom. Overlong, the film languishes in its many plots, opening with Spidey wounding his friend Harry Osborne, now the reborn Green Goblin, then sauntering to the Sandman, and the Venom super-spidey suit. There's no discernible momentum until Mary Jane calls it quits with Peter, who's been quite an ass, though she herself has been a needy baggage for 4 reels. In any case, this sets off a battle between Harry and Peter, and FINALLY some action. Had the movie begun here and run for a tight 85 minutes, cutting out the Sandman character altogether, it would've been awesome. As it stands, this bloated ($300 million) mess has probably killed its franchise. * * * Also, I need to remind myself that I get sick if I eat too much popcorn.
Read more