A Wise Man Once Told Me...

Most of us have probably all been the recipient of the saying, "In a hundred years, who's going to care?" And like many, I've nodded along with the wisdom and then promptly turned around and continued worrying over whatever it was that prompted the proverb.

But you know...it's true. If you don't believe me, take a vacation; preferably a long one.

Before we left for our week of sun and fun (read: misery and hell), I had a handful of projects I was busily trying to get done before I left. Most of them involved a good deal of writing and according to the project's owners, were of "uber importance." I got some of the projects done on time, others I completely had to blow off. This didn't stop me from worrying over them both before, during and after my vacation.

Yesterday I returned to work and do you know what I found? Yep, I found that it didn't take a hundred years for the projects to lose their urgency--in fact, it only took a few days. Oh, they are still important and they still need to be done, but forcing the people who were pushing me to step back and wait, only served to prove how very unimportant their artificial deadlines were.

Since I've been sick for the last few days, my yard has also gone unmown, I haven't gone to the gym, and I haven't done a lot of other things I would have normally done. It's tough, but I just have to keep reminding myself, "In 10 years, nobody is gonna care." Life goes on, with or without you.

Random Thoughts

I was up later than normal last night (11 p.m.) because I got hooked on a movie and didn't want to turn it off. The problem with this is that by the time my brain shut off and I drifted off to sleep, it was nearly 11:30 and "that baby" woke up at 4:30. So now here I am, with about 5 hours of sleep, and I have a crap-load of creative work to do at the office and my muse just wants to go back to bed...
So, today's blog will be more like random thoughts that I couldn't stop thinking about last night:

A. A hacker named "Gabriel" claims to have penetrated Rowling's publishing house and has leaked the details (here) to the last Harry Potter book. A couple of thoughts here:

1. I find it interesting that this so-called hacker chose the same name as the antagonist in the new Bruce Willis Die Hard movie due out any day now. And I SO wanna see this movie.
2. Whoever this "Gabriel" hacker is, he's either nearly illiterate, or English is not his native language because even having read the ending, I'm still not 100% sure I know what happens. This might also be because I'm not totally into the franchise and don't know all the characters.
3. Due to the fact that I work at a network security company, the way he claims to have gotten this info is totally plausible. All it takes is one village idiot in a company to open you up.

B. The movie I was up watching late last night was "Mindhunters." I watched it because I recently re-watched the movie "Hackers" both for it's relation to what I do for a living, and because it's actually an enjoyable flick (and you get to see what Angelina Jolie looked like with about 15 extra pounds and pixie-short hair). Johnny Lee Miller plays in both and he's a good actor and when I saw he was in Mindhunter, I checked it out. Surprisingly, Val Kilmer is in it, as is LL Cool J and Christian Slater. How did this movie NOT do well? Probably because it's a bit of a horror flick, but a very good one actually. I highly recommend if you're bored.

C. I've thrown out all the hard liquor in the house, and since having done so, I may not have lost any weight per se, but it looks like I have. My skin is clearer (course, I've also gotten over a sinus infection and that does wonders for the old complexion) and I'm not retaining nearly as much water. But I have to admit that there are times when I long for a nice night-cap. Especially at times like last night when I can't sleep.

Well, must get ready for the old job. Have a great day all!

Well, we're movin' on uuuuppp...(movin' on up...)

This blog has nothing to do with the Jefferson's unfortunately; although that was a really great theme song for a show. Nossir, this blog is about everyone's second favorite thing to complain about--work! (the mostest favoritist thing of course being each person's own insane family).

And, it's not so much that I think I'll be moving "up" at work, so much as just "movin'". Let's recap.

• I've been head-honcho writer-guy for about two years now.
• Called outta the blue by old boss to come back to work for him with great new responsiblities and a promise of a "team" of my own in the very near future.
• Deal done, I'm back on board.
• Wait! Re-org within the organization. Boss-man isn't really my boss anymore and the "team" I was brought on to support has been disbanded and spread out among multiple divisions.
• What to do with me? Oh I know, let him fend for himself (and the chorus girls sing, "Hallelujah!")

So, now here I sit with a good bit of work to do, but no real structure to my reporting organization and lo' and behold, wouldn't ya know it. Here comes the marketing group (teeth bared, claws in waiting, I watch...)

Now, let's examine why I feel this way:
A) Could it be because my old boss-man and I discussed certain working situations (e.g., my wife travels and I need to work from home on occasion, AND I need flexible working hours like 7:30-3:30)
B) Because I enjoy a certain amount of anonymity that I just know the manager of Marcom doesn't allow.
C) My old boss was a "hands off" kinda guy as long as the work was getting done, and I just don't see that happening over in the marketing dept. (this is sorta like B, but I felt it worth repeating)
D) If I move over into marketing, I can kiss off any chance of having my own team anytime in the near future.
OR
E) ALL OF THE ABOVE

So then one must ask, is all the stress really worth the 12% raise I got taking my new job? Well some would say, "But Chris, Company X is a huge company and you can always do something else within it."

But see, you're wrong. I'm a writer because I wanna be a writer. I've been a network engineer and I spent nearly eight years hating every minute of it. I don't wanna go be something new. So you see my quandry? Of course, this whole thing could play out totally different, but right now, this is the path I see my career taking and it's not very attractive.