Up North (& Out There doing it)

Will D understand 'Work' at all?

I've been working from home quite a bit in 2010 so I'm always curious what this concept will translate to as D and G get older (this wasn't even remotely a possibility when I was growing up and in fact, just talking to Dad during the business day was a big deal).

But D is funny. He asks me what I'm doing that day and then does a spot check against what I'm wearing.

For example, today he asked "Are you working?" (I didn't yesterday because G was sick) and I said 'Yes'

To which he said, but you are wearing that (t-shirt and cargo shorts).

To which I said, true, but I'm just working from home today.

"Oh, OK"

"But sometimes, when you go to work at the office, you wear those shoes"

The shoes he is talking about are my green cap toed Stan Smiths. Which is true, I used to work with a friend who was a sneaker head and he got me into really expanding my desire for Stan Smith shoes (picked these up at Undefeated) and so on Fridays I would often wear jeans, collared shirt and my Stans.

So funny that D notices these things.

Even crazier, if I say that I went to the City and am not wearing pants -- another 'red' flag that he calls me out on.

Freezing

When you get away from where you know, its easy to notice the little differences.  I'm in the Dublin Airport after a red eye --- and its freezing cold in here.  Probably a much smarter heating strategy than typically you find in the States, but I think its a little uncomfortable.

I could use a pair of long underwear.

Someone has a case of the Mondays

New Gig, New Offices, Temp Space.  Not ideal, but what can you do.

Walking down the hall, walked past a woman who looked exceptionally grumpy on this Monday morning.

It was not lost on my that she works for 'Sunny Days, Inc.'

The Day Flew by

I'd say that's a good sign. The day absolutely flew by and couldn't believe it was time to get home.

I hope that feeling sticks around for a while.

Back in the Saddle

When its time, its time. After a wonderfully refreshing and recharging 5 months since I left my position, its time to get back into the mix. And it feels right. The time off was really a lot of fun, some amount of stress but overall refreshing to say the least. Certainly one of the problems was unlimited possibles with the overhanging problem of finding a new job. You never knew quite how much time you should spend looking for the new vs. enjoying the rare opportunity of free time.

In terms what I accomplished between gigs:

* #1 certainly is have another baby.
* Worked on getting my knee better (still not quite there) * Painted D's room (5 coats unfortunately) * New Hot Water Heater * Organized the Attic * Cleaned up our House * Went back to Rockefeller State Park * All of the stuff I blogged about

Making the final call between jobs was a tough one that took about two weeks of thinking, reviewing, negotiating, and discussion. Both opportunities put out very compelling offers and it felt great to be wanted by two companies (actually 3 I guess). It also really sucked turning one of them down because it was a good opportunity, one just had some nuances that made the difference.

However, I feel good about picking SaNaAaCa (same thing as before, remove the A's). Not much is at their website, but you can see more for an idea of what they do at www.mayasanaaacasa.com (same thing, strip out the a's) I'm technically the 8th employee but there really are only 5 of us. The key for me was the CEO. We met back in December, and I just wanted to get him in my network and as it turns out, I did.

What really felt good was as soon as I officially accepted and signed the paperwork, his immediate response was "Welcome aboard. I'd like to meet Shannon. When can my wife and I take the two of you out to dinner.". This spoke volumes to me and felt great. So 7 days later, we were meeting for dinner, Up North even, and had a wonderful time, not talking about work at all. The dinner ended and as we were leaving he gave me a basketful of snacks (get it?) with one snack that really caught Shannon's eye -- a bottle of Dom Peirgnon. What a wonderful touch and it really felt great.

So, you hate to over index too much on the positive because you never know how things play out, but I'm feeling good about this opportunity and am looking forward on how it will play out.

Flying and me just don't mix

Caught a flight to Orlando this evening. What a wacky place, but I disgress. I'm just not into this trip. Love the conf, just not into being away from D. Also rediscovered something about myself that I had forgotten. I get extremely sweaty while sleeping in on an airplane. Not sure why, but I'm basically talking about sweating thru a shirt worse than going for a run in it.
its so strange. Not really sure the root cause but it really messes withme and I can't stand it. When I woke up this time, I literally wanted to take my shirt off. Now I'd been to the Dr. to have this checked out before and it was nothing, but just so strange. Really mkes flying a drag.
I'm just so tired and ready to get to Micky Mouse land.
Meanwhile, I'm sitting next to a couple on 'The Greyhound of the skies', Jet Blue, who are watching Jeff Foxworthy and laughing, laughung, laughing.
At the same time, I'm watching some 'mechanics of 9/11 show' that is probably somewhat screwed up to be watching on a flight (you know, along the same veins that 'Die Hard' is never the inflight movie). Can't help it. The show is really interesting.

After 5 years, I've finally 'arrived'

After 5 years in the Big Apple, I've finally found myself working in mid town. After being a strictly Downtown and Uptown guy, it's a little overwhelming. Times Square was something that I read about, went searching for some destination occasionally or zipped underneath via the subway. I was never actually going there because I had to.

Well, that changed today. We moved offices, only 7 blocks north but into the heart of Midtown and it's nuts. Lunch is nuts, the lines are long and the sidewalk is packed. Now, it wouldn't be nearly as bad as it was just packed with fast walking people, but it's not. For some reason, people want to stroll as soon as they hit 34th st. Why is that?

It's going to take some real getting used to.