Mark Time

A bit of a round-up

Hello, readers.  I have been neglecting you lately.

Here's a bit of a round-up on things going on with me at the moment.

Job Search - I think I'm going to stop counting days on the blog.  I've been making good contacts in the last few weeks, and today I have my first meeting with a "hiring manager" (someone who is in the right position to potentially hire me).  It's not an interview - just a meeting.  The search is going slower than I'd like, but apparently reasonably on track according to my outplacement coach.  The economy and general financial crisis aren't helping.

Church - This part of my "non-work" life is busy.  My deacon work is adding a little time to my Sunday mornings, plus I'm serving as the "e-mail reminder" person who sends a note to the deacons scheduled for a particular Sunday.  My youth work is keeping me busy as well - the time commitment is a bit higher than last year because of some schedule changes for the Sr. Highs, but it's completely worth it to me.  I was asked to be the webmaster for the church website, and I'm investigating how much time that actually takes - it might be too much.  Project Open Door is moving along nicely to the end of our chartered work - we brainstormed issues surrounding hospitality, visitors, relations with the community, and inactive members last week.  In our next meeting we'll brainstorm solutions, and then start writing up the report to the Session to be delivered in January.  I'm looking at starting spiritual direction.  Aside from a minor dust-up this week, all is well in this department.  I will admit to my faith taking a beating due to my job situation, though.

Home - All is well.  Carolyn is a conservative spender by nature, and I am one when the situation calls for it.  We've pulled way back on our discretionary spending and even made some more economical choices with our necessary spending.  This is setting us up well for a long siege if necessary.  The lack of a job hasn't hurt my relationship with Carolyn that I can see.  The cats love having me home more often.  The homefront is safe and stable right now, and financially prepared for a while.  Carolyn is still taking next week off from work (a Smith family vacation including my parents and siblings was planned for Orlando - we have to miss it for financial reasons), and I'm taking our anniversary on Wednesday off from job searching.

Ham Radio - I'm still participating a little.  I haven't been able to purchase equipment beyond an HT (walkie-talkie-style radio) and accessories.  I saw the trouble in the economy coming even before I knew that I'd be laid off, and chose not to spend in this area.  I am staying involved with some emergency management and public safety events, and I'm still attending the club meetings.  I think I'm qualified now to get a key to the club's radio shack and will pursue that soon - they have LOTS of equipment for club member use there.  Unfortunately, ham radio activities tend to be scheduled at the same time as church events, and between the two church wins.

That's about it.  As always I welcome any comments, and assistance in my job search.

Job Search - day 9

Last Friday, I had an excellent meeting with my outplacement coach.  He and I seem to have highly compatible personalities and communication styles.  We talked about the choice between corporate IT and something more non-profit or church-based, and came to the conclusion that I should target both tracks simultaneously for this search and see what happens.

Today I'm working on my resume.  It was reasonably close to what the outplacement folks like, but needs some work.

Job Search - day 6

(This is about yesterday.)

On Wednesday, I headed up to the local church camp to talk to the chaplain about my job situation.  Lorelei is one of those "mother to everybody" people at camp and is trained in spiritual direction.  We talked about the options related to taking a church-based or non-profit job.  In the end, we circled around the ideas that:  1)  I shouldn't make too radical a change in work assignments right away - an IT job in such an organization might be a good start, 2)  I'm not hearing a call to ministry at the moment, 3)  I'm not sure that working at a church-based or non-profit organization would pay well enough to avoid a major change in lifestyle all at once.  One note that surprised me was the idea that I am moving towards working with people more than in the past.  My recent work experience bears that out - I've been less interested in fighting with the computer and more interested in working with and through other people.  Hmmm.

In the afternoon I was able to do some networking with former camp staff colleagues from years ago because Family Camp was going on.  I talked with a bunch of old friends, and one in particular is in my local area and might be able to help.

Finally, returning to a place where I get to be myself helped in the healing process after a job loss.

No solid conclusions yet, but I feel like I'm getting closer to figuring out what I want to do.

Job Search - Day 4 - Your Assignment

Today I went through the orientation seminar at the outplacement firm.  I have a one-on-one meeting with my coach/counselor on Friday morning.  In the mean time, I have a big discussion set up with someone who understands my non-work side - to talk about the possibility of getting my job to better match my values, interests, etc.  I also have a few teleconferences from the outplacement firm, and a lot of thinking to do.

Here's where you can help.  I'd like my blog readers (either folks who know me well from outside of the blog, or long-time/high volume readers) to answer one question for me:

What profession/job do you see me working at in the future?

The answer could be vague, or it could be a description of something that doesn't have a succinct name.  Or it could be a very specific title.  It might be something that is very close to what I was doing last Monday, or it could be far afield.  The only restriction is that it must be a job that you can see me wanting to do, as opposed to a job that you want me to do or feel I should do.

Please answer without reading other comments first.  I want to hear your answer - not the answer that you heard someone else say that sounded good.  And please let me know who you are, or at least describe how you know me.  I'm going to take your thoughts into account knowing how much you know my work and non-work sides.  Folks who still work for my former employer - I want to hear your thoughts as well.

Please feel free to send your ideas to me via e-mail - there's a link over on the left side of the blog that says "E-mail me".  Comments work fine too.  A Facebook note or wall post will also work.  Tie your idea to a well-trained pigeon if that'll work.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Job Search - day 3

Yesterday and today have been relatively idle days.

Yesterday, I took the advice of the severance release document and talked to an attorney about my situation and the document.  My church was able to refer me to three members who are attorneys and the one that I'm working with is doing the work pro bono.  We are waiting for the final release agreement to be mailed to me next week before deciding what course to take.

Also yesterday, the outplacement firm called.  I have an appointment with them for Monday morning for an orientation session.  Today I am gathering documents to get ready - resumes, performance appraisals, etc.

I'm still trying to figure out the direction to take.  Do I want to stay in IT, in a medium to large corporation?  Do I want to try a small company or a non-profit?  Do I want to take my project skills and find a position outside of IT?  All of these questions are things that the outplacement firm will apparently be discussing with me.

I appreciate all of the notes of support that I've received so far.  I can see in my blog statistics that I have several different visitors from my former colleagues - please feel free to send an e-mail to the address in the left column.  This process is very difficult for me emotionally.  My self-confidence is taking the greatest beating right now.

Please continue to keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

No Job

I was laid off from work as part of a restructuring this morning.  Several IT employees lost jobs.

Bad News

I got some bad news at work.  Most of it is "company classified", but there is one piece that I feel pretty free to share.  No raises this year for anybody.  No layoffs yet either ... for now.

This left me in the unfortunate position of having to send an e-mail to our church's "guy who tracks pledges" reducing my budget pledge for the year (but not the capital pledge - I already paid that in full).  In the fall we had been exhorted to pledge boldly (even recklessly) believing that God would provide.  One of the stewardship team actually made that his Minute at the beginning of worship.  He talked about how when his personal finances were stressed he chose to pledge boldly and how God provided good financial news later in the year.  Let's just say that it hasn't happened for me yet - it's going the other way.  So I have to take back the 20% pledge increase over last year and give at last year's rate for the rest of the year.  Even so, I know that other families in the church are hurting more.

We're not in dire financial straits yet.  We are still saving at the same rate, but the "unbudgeted" savings that resulted from the times that the paycheck was bringing in more than expenses (minus the planned savings) aren't happening.  A surprise bonus from work (from last year's project work) and the tax refund both went in and out of the checking account at such speed that other papers were sent flying in their wake.  We're not quite at the point where we need to reduce the saving rate, but we are at the point where the rest of the budget is just breaking even.  I've already taken the step of eliminating an expensive hobby (flying) and I'm holding off on buying ham radio equipment for the new hobby.  We're right at the point where we've reduced discretionary expenses as much as possible, and if things get worse (pay cut, job loss, even more expensive food or gas) we'll need to start making lifestyle cuts.  There is still a lot of room to make lifestyle cuts before we reach the point that some families are in - mainly because Carolyn and I (mostly Carolyn) are VERY conservative with money.  Our mortgage is fixed at a very comfortable rate and we have ZERO credit card debt (thanks, Mom and Dad for teaching fiscal responsibility).

I think we'll survive the downturn intact and probably better than most, but only because we're prepared.

But it still hurts.  If we're feeling the pinch, how much worse can it be for those who didn't collect their nuts for the winter?  (Or even those whose nuts were stolen by others?)

Carolyn's badge

(Before I go any further, I want to note that Carolyn gave me permission to put this on my blog)

Yesterday, Carolyn (my wife) made a trip to the Ladies' Room.  At her office this is her own private domain - they had to build it for her specially when they moved her and a few other engineers out to an office in the factory.  She's the only woman working in that building.

While doing her business, she noticed something on her shoe (dust, lint, who knows?).  She bent forward ...

She wears her badge on a lanyard.  The badge descended below the seat at which point she realized and sat up.  The badge got caught on the seat and popped off the lanyard.  It didn't fall into the water in the toilet but rather laid there on the porcelain.

However .... it was at this point that the urge to pee overtook her.

She reports that the badge looks fine after being rinsed off.  As of last night she hadn't checked to see if the little smart chip on it still worked on her laptop.

Her co-worker is reported to have said, "I'm not going near your ID badge again!"

Malaise

I'm sorry I haven't written lately.  I've been busy at work, busy outside work.

I'm also having one of those weeks (heading towards months) where everything is going just a little wrong.  Nothing is seriously wrong.  Nothing is seriously right.  Everything is just a bit off kilter.

Work - as I've noted previously, the company is up for sale.  Just today I heard two different rumors listing different companies that want to buy us - one possible and one unlikely.  The senior management committee that approves IT projects just deferred a decision on a major technology change that we want to make.  If they turn that down completely, I probably need to either find a new job or resign myself to being caught in a technical cul-de-sac (like COBOL programmers were 10 years ago).

Home - Home is generally OK.  I wish that Carolyn and I shared more common interests - so that we'd end up spending more time together.  I don't want to grow in the wrong direction.  Finances are being pinched just like everybody else between tiny raises and huge cost increases in everything else.  As I said - pretty much completely OK but with a few signs of wear.

Church - I'm serving as a "Visit Steward" for the capital campaign.  I'm getting the feeling from conversations with people that folks are really unhappy with the way that the campaign is being run.  Most people agree with the need for funds and support most of the projects involved in the campaign, but there's a lot of disaffection with how it's being run.  Also, the consultant sent to us by the PC(USA) Church Financial Campaign Service is really turning people off.  There has to be some way to let the people in Louisville who sent her to us know what a terrible job she's doing.  We had our campaign visit training this past week.  The handout was clearly cludged up from other campaigns and included references to things that we aren't doing in our campaign (like 2nd and 3rd visits, household information cards, etc).  One of the biblical references for stewardship actually came out against giving to the church if you read the next verse.  Oh, well.  I did make my pledge as required (all visit stewards were told to turn in their pledges as part of the commissioning ceremony yesterday, with less than a week's notice) and even included a check for the entire amount.  As soon as I do my 3 visits with members I'll be done with the campaign.  Here's the hard part - one of my visits is to a family where one breadwinner is jobless.

"In Deuteronomy we are told to give 10%.  Jesus tells the rich man that he should give everything.  So the amount that we should pledge is somewhere between 10% and everything." - no, this wasn't a joke.

Youth group is another area that is fine, but still not quite right.  We had one youth make a life decision that will greatly negatively impact her choices in the future and it's hitting me harder than I expected.  Our attendance is rather spotty - we see a decent number of youth at each meeting but the list of attendees is different most weeks and we don't really get to connect with them regularly.  As I said - things are mostly OK.  Youth Sunday is next week and we really have our act together in advance for a change.  I am looking forward to going to Montreat for Week VI this summer.

Then there is the team that I co-chair.  At our last meeting I got called a racist - under the theory that any white person is automatically a racist.  This was said by a white person to a room full of white people - all of whom are well-intentioned in mind and as far as I can tell in practice when it comes to racial issues.  I'm not looking forward to our next meeting two weeks from today.

When it comes to church I'm at a crossroads.  I want to either become more involved or less involved.  I don't think continuing my current level of involvement is feasible - it's gonna have to go up or down in the fall.  I'd really like to be more involved, but in a meaningful way in a position where I can help the church change for the future rather than in a "pair of willing hands" way.  I don't mind doing the necessary, but it seems so much of church work is maintaining the old ways rather than working for the new.

Hockey - the Trenton Devils finished 6th out of 7, with the lowest number of wins in the entire history of the franchise.  Enough said.

So malaise is the word of the day.  Judging from the economy it might be the word of the entire country.

So what's up?

So what's going on, Mark?

I'm glad you asked.

This week has been eventful.

Earlier in the week, we got the news that the company is looking into some form of ownership change for all or part of the company.  I've already written about that.

Today we actually got good news.  IT has gotten permission to give an allowance to IT employees who are required to be on-call for support issues.  The department will pay up to $75 of our home broadband Internet and cell phone charges.  For me that means $40 for Internet access.  My cell phone usage for work is minimal and always within my plan.

At church I got the Project Open Door meeting scheduled for next week - we'll be going over inactive members and how to interview them gently.  I had a good Sr. High youth evening last Sunday and a great Youth and Young Adult council meeting on Tuesday.  The YAYA council actually reduced the amount of logistical stuff that we go over to focus on the substance and theology of our program.  We're going to be more intentional about linking our activities to our theology in the future.

Hockey - there are 3 games this weekend.  I'm going to tonight's game with Carolyn, and tomorrow night's game with Carolyn, my sister and a friend of hers.  Sunday's game will get skipped - 3 in a weekend is too much.

Ham Radio - I got voted in as a member of the Delaware Valley Radio Association last week. Last weekend I went to their radio "shack" and got an orientation on the building, antennas, and radios.  I'm also nearly finished with the ARRL EC-001 Level 1 Amateur Radio Emergency Communication online class.  That class will teach me how to be useful in an emergency (like a flood, hurricane, or other disaster).  The class is going really well - my mentor told me that I'm the first student out of the 100 or so that he's worked with who managed to format all 4 sample emergency messages correctly on the first try.

In the Presbyterian world, things have been busy.  We've had a presbytery approve a lesbian candidate as ready to receive a call to ministry, we got a young adult candidate for General Assembly Moderator (for the non-presby's, that means roughly "head Presbyterian").  These actions (particularly the first one) have prompted the expected reaction from the conservative wing of the church.  Our General Assembly this June will also be considering a complete re-write of the Rules portion of our constitution.

At my own church we have a congregational meeting this Sunday that will consider a change to the bylaws to loosen up the rules on the number of Elders and their term length.  This is intended to allow the church to ordain it's first Elder under age 18 for a term shorter than 3 years (because the youth probably couldn't serve a full 3 years).

Life is a roller coaster, but in retrospect it's been more up than down this week.

Job Security (or lack thereof)

Yesterday, my company announced (wait, I have to get the language right legally) that they have decided "to conduct an orderly and comprehensive review and evaluation of strategic, operational and financial alternatives available to us including, but not limited to, a potential sale or merger of the Company, a potential sale of part of the Company, or raising additional equity capital to enhance the growth prospects of the business."  My reading:  the Board of Directors is putting us up for sale AGAIN.

A little background.  My insecurity calendar starts October 15, 2001 when a jerk of a boss took over my department over the head of a good boss that I had.  Six months later he practically fired me and put me under a hellish boss for a year.  Six months after that (and after I challenged an incorrectly harsh review) he backed off, and we had years of simmering dislike.  Then in August of 2004 our former owners made an announcement that they were sending one of their up and coming executives to evaluate the company.  6 months after that they made an announcement like the one above.  A year later we were sold to a smaller company and the CEO ran us into the ground.  She was fired last January and a restructuring company was brought in.  Now this.

I really need to figure out how much job insecurity I can take.  There has not been a day since October 2001 when I felt that my job was safe.  Safe today - yes.  Safe in the short term - maybe.  Safe in the long term - no.

I invite prayers that God will assist me in rapidly discerning the right career path.

Layoffs again, *sigh*

Yet more layoffs at work today.  I'm safe, at least for the moment.

I think I need to turn my discretionary spending into discretionary saving.

Run Ragged

I'm at my ragged end.  I've been doing too much.

First, there's work Monday to Friday 8-5.  That's a given.

Last Thursday - spend the evening doing laundry to get ready for Carolyn's trip to Germany
Last Friday - spend a quiet evening with Carolyn
Saturday - get up, go to church Officer's Retreat and give report on Welcome and Outreach Task Force.  Get home, discover that Internet router will not route.  Go to Circuit City, buy replacement.  Install.  Have 1 hour with Carolyn before she goes to the airport.
Sunday - church in the morning.  Then stay for Confirmation initial meeting lunch until 1pm.  Go home, pay bills.  Clean home office to get ready for FIOS installation.  Get ready for evening.  Go to church for youth group.  Get home at 9:30.  Get ready for bed.
Monday - after work, platelet donation - almost rejected for high BP due to exhaustion.  That takes 2 hours.  Go home, reboot DirecTV receiver.  Prepare and eat dinner and get a chance to watch 20 minutes of TV.  Get ready for bed and go to bed late.
Tuesday (today) - after work, go home.  Make and eat dinner.  Go to church for Youth and Young Adult Council.  Get home about 9.  Get ready for bed and try to go to bed a little early.
Wednesday - take day off from work for FIOS installation (expected to take 5-6 hours).  Cut lawn if not raining.  Possible quiet evening.  Do laundry so that there isn't much to do when Carolyn gets home.  In the evening, conference call with pastor and co-chair for Welcome and Outreach Task Force.
Thursday - After work, eat leisurely dinner in only 1/2 hour.  Head to Princeton for Theology on Tap young adult evening.  Get home late, go to bed late.
Friday - Carolyn gets home from Germany in the afternoon.  Do her laundry.  Start packing for Saturday.
Saturday - Carolyn and I go to NYC for our 13th wedding anniversary and the 20th anniversary of our first date (both on Monday).  Don't have any specific plans for Saturday yet.
Sunday - go to church in the morning (St. Patrick's Cathedral?).  Go to Spamalot in the afternoon.  No evening plans yet.
Monday - maybe a morning NYC activity, then drive home.  Collapse.
Tuesday - Friday - vacation from work.  No specific plans.  SLEEP.

The only activities scheduled by me were the FIOS installation, platelet donation, and the NYC trip (planned over 6 months ago).  The rest were scheduled by others.

It's Friday afternoon, it must be time for a roundup

You may be wondering why I do these on Friday afternoons.  You see - my employer does something called Summer Hours between Memorial Day and Labor Day.  Employees who choose to take advantage of the program work an extra hour Monday through Thursday and go home at noon on Friday.

I do not choose to take advantage of Summer Hours, so the place is quiet on Friday afternoons.  I have time to write a little on break.

Work
I had a good conversation about career paths and discovery and discernment with my boss this week.  This is probably setting off alarm bells in most of your minds, but we have a really good rapport (we've worked together since about 1996) and I fully trust her to be discrete.  There are benefits to both sides in being open and honest with your boss, and we plan to make good use of them.  I can't say more here.  I'm glad that it went well.

I had a medium-sized project go live today.  It was a bumpy installation - caused mainly by a consultant who doesn't know our setup and change management package.  It's not his fault - everybody has a hard time the first time.  Once we got the issues worked out all is running correctly.  I have another one going live soon, and a third larger project going live at the end of the month (with pieces continuing to be worked on into September).

I am getting a brand-new laptop at some point in the next few weeks.  They're here, but I'm a low priority replacement (others have broken systems or are new employees working on "loaner" PCs).

Work has been generally busy.  In the last 2 weeks I've had an overwhelming number of problems, issues, and small requests.  It's like everybody decided to hold them until the last week of July and then dump them all on me at once.  I think I'm through most of them, but the workload did increase for no apparent reason temporarily.

Weekend
This weekend is a bit active.  My parents are coming over on Saturday evening and we are headed out to see a Trenton Thunder baseball game.  The Thunder are the AA affiliates of the NY Yankees and have been playing in Trenton since 1994.  Our seats are behind the 1st base side dugout and I think they're the 2nd row behind the dugout (or maybe the first row).

Then on Sunday I head up to Camp Johnsonburg for check-in for the last week of regular camp.  I'm going to be in charge of medical form paperwork this week due to my friend Jill's vacation - she is usually the person doing the job.  It's looking to be a bit warm.  I think there are lots of kids from my church going this week, but I'm so far away from the actual check-in tables that I probably won't see them.  This isn't my last visit for a long time - I'm also planning to attend the Youth Worker Training on September 7, and I'll be chaperone when my church's Sr. Highs attend the camp Sr. High Retreat in November.

Church
We've finally got the Welcome and Outreach Task Force started.  We have 8 members with 2 outstanding invitations.  For the month of August, we're doing optional reading assignments on our topic.  I'm reading The Present Future:  Six Tough Questions for the Church by Reggie McNeal.  In September we'll get everybody together face to face and really get started.

The Youth Director came all the way to Bristol for lunch earlier this week.  We talked about my career search and the upcoming Confirmation Class.  He had lots of good input on the career discussion.  For the Confirmation Class, he's asking how he can get me involved without overbooking my time.  At this point it looks like I will end up being the Cat-Herder for the group of mentors assigned to the confirmands.  That's an easy assignment - a bit of work up front but after that just keeping people on schedule and watching for problems.  I'm also probably going to teach a few lessons - probably polity and beyond that we'll see.  I really want to be involved in this process because the youth that I know who are the right age are really great!

All other areas of my life are fine at the moment.

Have a good weekend!

Another Roundup

I'd like to apologize to my readers for the lack of deeply thoughtful articles of late.  Life and work are a bit busy at the moment and I only have time for these roundups.

Work
I'm on the old laptop, reloaded from scratch.  I've been told today that I'm getting a new one in the next few weeks.  Given that this one was nearly top of the line when we bought it in 2000 or 2001 - it's time.  Company culture issues aren't touching me as much as they had been a while back.  One of the "problem children" has resigned and another in a different state has been told that her job is moving to my location by spring and her department reorganized.  Given that and a few other things I can't mention here it's unlikely that she'll be here by then.  It's unfortunate when people lose their jobs, but in some cases it's necessary - anybody who consistently and willfully provides negative productivity (not only are they not productive, they make others less productive) needs to go.

Church
I had a good meeting with with the Youth and Young Adult council this week.  We're getting ready for the new year.  We talked a lot about the philosophy of how we lead/schedule the group and some possible changes.  The one thing that was a common thread was consistency - that each weekly meeting follow the same pattern and that we choose simple and meaningful as opposed to trying to do a major production each week.  This follows the trend in Youth Ministry nationally to move away from the "let's bring in new converts" blockbuster events of the 80's and 90's and for most the over-30 crowd in the council represents a step back to what they experienced as a youth.  We're also talking about changing the names of the groups.  Right now they are CHAOS (Christians Hanging Around On Sunday) for the Senior Highs and WILDLIFE (which is an acronym nobody can remember off the top of their heads) for the Junior Highs.  The youth director wants to de-emphasize the chaotic aspects of the names and I agree.  We're going to see what the youth want early this fall.

The youth director also asked me if I wanted to help lead the Confirmation Class.  This year is the first year doing the class for 9th grade youth (it had been 8th grade, and last year there was no class due to the switch).  I'm honored to be asked, a little uncertain about my ability and the strength of my faith being sufficient, and probably nearly overbooked already.  The Welcome and Outreach Task Force is about to get started, I'll still be working with the Senior Highs weekly and attending the YAYA council once a month, and the confirmation class is every other week for 8 months plus 3 weekend retreats (one just overnight).  I've asked the youth director to lay out time expectations, and perhaps I can be a guest speaker on topics that I know well (polity would be one, and I'm sure that there are a few others).

The Lawrenceville church and a Princeton church (I think it's Nassau Presbyterian) are putting together a new young adult event called Theology On Tap.  It's the 2nd Thursday of each month (starting September) in the Yankee Doodle Tap Room of the Nassau Inn in Princeton at 8pm.  The idea is for 20's/30's somethings to get together and share a drink (alcohol optional), fellowship, and talk about theology.  You can find more information HERE, or in the Theolodoodle group on Facebook.  I barely qualify by age, but it's intriguing enough to me that I'll probably attend at least the first session.

The youth director also told me a freaky coincidence story.  He was at Triennium 2 weeks ago, sitting with a woman minister friend of his.  She was working on a sermon.  On the table she had laid out a Bible, some books, a few printed e-mails, and one printed blog post.  My director asked, "Can I look at that?" and picked up the blog post.  You've probably guessed by now - it was one of mine (either from here or a comment elsewhere).  He started laughing and when she asked why he explained:  "This is one of my adult advisors."  Since Triennium was attended by youth from all over the world, he claims that I'm now internationally famous!  Somehow I doubt that, but I'm glad that folks are finding worth in my ramblings.

Life
All is well, but we're so busy with other people's events (family, camp, church) that we're neglecting work around the house.  The outdoor trim needs to be painted, the garden needs weeding badly, and the driveway needs to be sealed.  We need to decide whether or not to pay someone to do some of these things (we can afford to) or to stop our commitments and just get it done.

We also need to be sure that we get some downtime.

On the new laptop

I got my "new" laptop (really the old one reformatted) back today.  I think I have the few extra pieces of software installed and I think I have my environment back to stable.  It's nice to be home again.

Camp yesterday was fun as always - we checked in 19 units, including clowning, magic and "Lights, Camera, Action".  It's the 15th year that the same volunteer is running the clowning unit.  Weather was a bit humid but the temperatures stayed down for the day.

Friday Roundup

For reasons that will be clear below, I've been quiet this week.  Here's a roundup.

Work
The big event this week happened on Wednesday.  My work laptop (which I've had since 2001) caught a virus mid-morning.  It appears that this virus's purpose in life was to download other viruses, spyware, trojans, pop-ups, and to take over the box so completely that the machine was unusuable.  I finally had to resort to contacting our Desktop Support folks (I prefer to fix my own problems most of the time) and we agreed that there was no point in saving the box.  The hard drive was wiped and is being reloaded from scratch.  I have a loaner PC for a few days while they complete the reload, and then I'll have to spend time getting the reloaded PC back to the way I like it.

I'm an IT person.  For us, the loss of a PC or changing PCs is a very emotional thing.  We spend at least 8 hours a day working on the PC.  To us, the PC is a lot like home - we install applications that make life easier, we change the background, we have our lists of bookmarked websites, etc.  Losing the PC to a virus or hard-drive crash is like your house burning down.  Moving onto a loaner PC is like staying in a hotel - you can't really do much to it and it doesn't feel quite like home.  The one exception to this rule is a better PC.  That's like selling your 1500 sq. foot house and moving into a 2400 sq. foot house.  It's an upgrade!

I may also get upgraded in the near term - I'm waiting to hear.

Also happening at work this week - the division that I support got a new top guy.  He is something we haven't had for many years - knowledgeable about the business, makes good decisions, and is a friendly person who is easy to work with.  We haven't had that combination since about 1998.  This bodes well for the business.  If he were able to get the culture changed (which includes people outside of his control - so I don't think it's likely) I might consider staying.

Camp
I'm headed back to camp for check-in this coming Sunday.  I'm looking forward to it, as I always do.

Church
Our new Associate Pastor ran the service last weekend alone - our senior pastor is on vacation.  She did a great job.  I wonder if anybody else saw her take a deep breath just before she stood up to speak the first time.

Another amazing thing.  An "older" woman (older than my parents) had some sort of back issue.  When I started attending last year, she was essentially permanently bent over at a 90 degree angle using a walker with wheels.  Then she disappeared for a while, and when she showed up at church she was standing straight!  This past week she was the musical soloist, and at her age she still has a very strong and true voice.  It's good to see her get back to something else that she had lost.  Very inspirational!

I'm a little worried about the youth group.  I didn't go on the Mission Trip a few weeks ago.  I'm sensing that the group is at least temporarily breaking into two groups - those who went on the trip and those who didn't.  After the fund raiser for the trip at the beginning of June, the youth director stopped inviting people (students and advisors) who weren't going on the trip (reasonable - the meetings were about the trip).  I spoke with the adults and youth who went on the trip and I felt a fairly universal vibe from the youth - if you didn't go on the trip you let them down.  I would have hoped that the folks who stayed home (including some of the students) would have been formed into the "Pit Crew" or "Support Team" or even "Prayer Team" supporting those who made the trip.  On the up side, I seem to have been active and supportive enough that I've been included in the group that plans things for all 3 groups (Jr. High, Sr. High, Young Adult) and we're meeting next week.

Home
Wife is good.  House is good.  Cats are good.  We need to paint a few things around the house, and we need to get the fireplace chimney fixed/replaced.  Otherwise all is well.  I'm most of the way through the new Harry Potter (no comments with spoilers, please).

That's the Friday roundup.  Have a nice weekend!

What's Going On? Redux

It's been a while since my last post, so I'll give you another wrap-up.

This past Monday at work I experienced what might be a last-straw event.  As last-straw events tend to be, this was a little thing that pointed out a pattern that I had seen before.  The short version - I was helping a co-worker and a Vice-President work through an issue.  The Vice-President said some rude things and cut off discussion with an "I make the decisions, I don't have to listen to ideas I don't like" attitude.  I responded by starting to walk away, and then returned to finish the discussion when drawn back by my co-worker.  I was upset and talked to my direct supervisor about the situation.  I was even more hurt later during a conversation with my co-worker.  She stated rather vehemently that she didn't want to get involved because you can't take on a Vice-President and it would only end up hurting both of us.  I found this ironic because I have fairly recently gone WAY out of my way to help this co-worker.  I'm pretty sure that I don't want to work in an environment where power and position bring the privilege of behaving badly towards lower-level people.  I also expect myself and others to speak truth rather than avoiding conflict.  I really don't think I fit in here anymore.

A confession:  My birthday is coming up rapidly.  This will be a year ending in "9".  I kinda wish that nobody would notice this year.  (THis is NOT a veiled attempt to drag birthday wishes out of my readers - it's an emotional statement.)

Last Sunday I went back to camp to help out with check-in again.  As it turns out this was a good idea; there were about 230 kids to check in - nearly every unit between just short of capacity and just over capacity.  We ended up dividing the medical form job that I learned the previous week between three people and were able to hang on and keep up.  I was only there for a few hours - I went to church back at home first and then drove to camp.  I didn't stay for dinner - it was 94 in the shade and all those bodies in the very full dining hall would be ... ripe.  Camp must really mean something to me to get me to drive 3 hours round-trip to spend 4-5 hours working.

I was scheduled to fly again tomorrow but the club canceled the flight - the plane I had booked needed a repair.  I just looked and another plane is scheduled to come out of maintenance just when I need it, so I don't think I'll chance scheduling that one.  I probably won't get into the air this weekend, but that's OK.  I have family stuff to do Sunday afternoon so Saturday I really need to spend the day on chores.

Job discernment continues.  I'm reading Parker Palmer's Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation right now.

That's the roundup.  Lots going on in my head, but most people in my life wouldn't notice.  The important people in my life do.

What's going on, Mark?

Just an update to say "I'm still here" and let you all know what's going on.

I had a great time at camp last weekend.  The weather was perfect (low to mid 70's, dry, blue sky with fluffy clouds) as Carolyn and I helped check in 12 units full of kids.  That's a light week for Camp Johnsonburg, undoubtedly due to the holiday.  I was trained to do the medical form coordinator's job.  This is a relatively new job for check-in.  Jill, a friend and fellow former camp alumni, made it her purpose in life last summer to organize the medical form process.  This has resulted in a significant reduction in chaos and an increase in making sure that medical information (particularly received prescriptions) is right and that the campers are safe.  She is going to be away one Sunday in August so I've been trained to cover that week.  I'm also going to write up the procedure for the camp because right now it's all in Jill's head.  I might go up to camp immediately after church this Sunday - they're bringing in 20 units next week and they'll really need the help.

I'm working every day this week except Wednesday - no long weekends when Independence Day falls on a Wednesday.  I might get out a few hours early today if management is willing.

I'm undergoing a career questioning process.  My job is frankly not challenging right now and there are other reasons that it is getting increasingly uncomfortable (very few having to do with me or politics - it's more of a "do I want to be here?" issue).  I'm wondering whether or not it's time for a career change rather than a job change.

At one point about a month ago I thought that the ministry might be a career for me, but I've since decided against it.  I think it was a fit of overenthusiasm for church-related things in general due to lots of things at happening with me and church.  In talking with others about this idea, the reaction has ranged from shock/surprise to "Are you sure?"  That's not really a rousing sign that I should be considering such a career.  I really don't think I have the right personality as an introverted technical thinker who happens to care deeply about people.  I'm really a behind-the-scenes kind of person.

So now I'm trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.  This might be a mid-life crisis (if you take my life expectancy at birth and divide by 2, you get something less than my age), or it might just be the start of a 2nd career.  Or maybe I'll determine that I'm really supposed to be doing what I'm doing now.  I might even be at the right company.  Who knows.  What I do know is that when I work really hard at camp or at church it doesn't feel like work.  That might be "a change is as good as a rest" or it might be my real vocation peeking out.  We'll have to see.

And that's the roundup for today.

Random Bullets from my head

My life has been ... not so much turbulent as full of changes at my periphery and disquiet in my mind.  Here are some random thoughts:

• Today is the last day at my company of the woman who sits across the aisle from me.  She started with the company about 3 months before I did back in 1993.  For the last almost-year we've sat across from each other and been very happy (we both like quiet, we enjoy each other's company).  I'm really gonna miss seeing a beautiful, intelligent, and friendly face every day.
• Also at work:  the CIO has realized that morale within the IT group is not particularly good.  We've had four voluntary departures in the last month (out of a group that was about 45 people).  He's holding lunch meetings with a smattering of people in each (everybody goes to one of them) to talk about issues.  I took the initiative to meet with him this past Monday.  I scheduled the meeting for an hour and his questions drew my list of issues out to an hour and 45 minutes.  It was a good session and minor happenings since show that he listened to what I said.  The problem is that many of my issues are outside of his direct control - they are company-wide.
• Between what is happening with my church work (on an upswing) and what is going on at work (on a downswing), I'm wondering if I'm in the right career.  That's right - not just right job but right career.  Any assistance for someone undergoing a mid-life career discernment questioning period would be appreciated - leave a comment or use the e-mail link at left.
• This weekend I should be going flying for the first time since the end of March.  My blood pressure broke free of control back then - my doctor changed my dosage and I'm now stable again.  Actually I've been stable since early May, but I've been too busy to fly.
• Also this weekend I'm a bachelor.  Carolyn is headed up north to go to a garden show with her parents.  She'll stay overnight Saturday and come home on Sunday.  My bachelor amusements will include lawn-cutting, bill-paying, and laundry.
• Sunday at church we have the Annual Congregational Meeting.  This includes the usual reports and election of officers.  I'm not on the program (either giving a report or being elected), so I will probably attend.  If it's too hot (and it's looking that way) I might just grab a copy of the annual report and check out if they have a quorum.  You see, our church isn't air conditioned ....
• I'm waiting for Verizon to finish installing FIOS in the neighborhood.  They ran the underground conduits 2 weeks ago.  So far the box in the ground had nothing in it but mud (or high water when it rains - I don't know if they'll actually be able to use the box).  I'm looking forward to getting FIOS Internet service and dumping Cablevision completely.  I might get FIOS TV as well (it's available in my town) but I'll have to see how it stacks up against DirecTV.  I'd like to keep my HD Tivo, but DirecTV is switching technology for HD programming and a Tivo will not be an option soon.  I can do a Tivo Series 3 with FIOS, but I lose video on demand and pay per view.  Decisions, decisions.
• The cats are fine, but increasingly geriatric at age 11.  Sometimes they still run around like maniacs but those episodes are few and far between.

Have a good weekend!

Good Weekend - bad work

The weekend was pretty good.

On Saturday Carolyn and I headed up to Camp Johnsonburg for the annual alumni reunion.  We saw lots of folks that we don't see on a regular basis, we had some quiet time for ourselves, we hiked a bit in the woods.  Dinner was excellent as usual.  We also dropped off Carolyn's old car as a donation - it's apparently going to be the Health Center "drive the kid to the hospital" car this summer.

Sunday was quiet at home - church and evening relaxation.

Monday we visited a friend that we haven't seen since the birth of her latest child a few weeks ago.

Then, I came to work.

I found out in a short period of time that the woman who has the cubicle across from me is leaving.  (Actually, it's more like we share cubes - they are really tiny and essentially open on 3 sides.)  She's a really talented person who had gotten stuck in a rut here due to the company's failure to have another person share her job and allow her to grow into a bigger one.  We lost another similar person a few weeks ago.  The good people are leaving my department (and the company as a whole) far too quickly.  I'm about out of reasons to stay.

I've recently been asking myself (and a few others) - how can you tell the difference between needing to look for a new job, or needing to look for a new career?  Any thoughts?  The need to answer this question is getting more acute.

Layoffs Update

I'm still here.

I have 12 names of people who were laid off, but one or two are uncertain.  Supposedly there are either 15 or 30 in my building (5 or 10%) and others in other buildings.

They also announced a realignment.  I'm reporting to a new boss (who is actually the person that I reported to before my current boss).  The slide didn't list titles - I have to check to see if I'm being changed.

Not a good day.  One person that I lost is my "church buddy" at work.

Layoffs in progress

Layoffs are in progress here at my employer and location.

I'll update this later today when I hear that they're done, or when I get to a computer if they take me (I believe I'm safe, but you never know).

Bad Day Tomorrow?

Here at work, all signs point to layoff tomorrow.

The company changed the vacation policy at the end of last year.  They used to grant an entire year's vacation on January 1 and if you left the company you'd get paid for unused time.  Your time was "earned" last year.  After the change, you get 1/4 of your time every 3 months.  They grandfathered us this year by allowing us to take vacation ahead of schedule but having to "repay" it if we left having used more than we were granted.
It's the end of a quarter.  If people are working here Monday, they get more vacation.

Our Minnesota office had layoffs last Friday.

We've been told that all departments had to cut their salary budgets 8-10%.

HR has apparently requested vacation and Paid Time Off (personal and sick days) information as of TODAY from all departments.  Not the end of the week.  Not the end of the month.  Thursday the 29th.

I should be OK - in my department the highest paid two employees have left in the last 6 months and their salaries will apparently cover our needs.  The restructuring consultant responsible for IT has said to all of us that we don't have to worry.

However, I'm looking at 10% of my non-IT co-workers being shown the door tomorrow.

I hope I'm wrong - but all of the tea leaves point to this happening tomorrow.

UPDATE:  Nothing happening as of lunchtime.  It appears that this rumor isn't true.  I do know that the company recently negotiated a deal with lenders, so maybe they won't be doing layoffs after all.

Fun with Signs

The folks at work have been having fun with the signs by the bathrooms.  This picture is just an example - the heads keep changing.

My Wife has a New Job - Sort Of

Back in February, I asked you for help in finding my wife a new job.

On Friday, she accepted a new job with her current employer.  This job is a Project Engineer job - similar to the work that she was doing 3 years ago before being promoted to Manager.  It's a step back - she's going down a grade level and will be at the top of her grade rather than at the bottom of the higher grade, affecting future raises.  On the other hand, it stops the "out of work" clock.

As a result, she is still looking, though less desperately.  If you have any info that can help, please let me know.  You can find some of her qualifications at the link above.

And thanks to all who did help.

Update: Wife's Job Search

First, thanks to those of you who have e-mailed me directly with job search assistance for my wife.  We've followed all of those leads.

Yesterday, they gave her a termination date:  September 30.  She'll get 20 weeks of severance after that.  This assumes that she doesn't find a job within the company that is remaining in Trenton - there's a chance of that but she'd have to take a grade-level cut (if not a pay cut) to do so.

Thanks for your help thus far.  We could still use more leads if you have them - just e-mail me using the link on the left.  If you're just reading this now for the first time, this post and this post have more information on her situation.

Outsourcing Minimum Wage Jobs

McDonald's is apparently considering outsourcing drive-thru order taking.  Reuters Story

That's right - the person behind the clown's mouth (though McDonald's doesn't really have those anymore) might be several states away.  Probably in a cheaper job market.  And they won't have any idea whether or not your McDonald's is out of Apple Pies or not.  I can't see how they'll be accountable for mistakes either.  ("Sorry, I know you ordered a Big Mac but the girl in Cleveland typed in McNuggets by mistake.  If you'll just pull over here we'll fix it.")

How long before they outsource the jobs to India?  Not only will we have trouble understanding the Dell tech support folks, but now we won't be able to order American food from an American restaurant without talking to a foreigner! (OK, to be fair, that's already true in some parts of the country.)

Diversity Beans

My wife recently ran a "Diversity Celebration" for her company at two locations.  As part of the celebration, she used Diversity Jelly Beans from iCelebrateDiversity.com.

Diversity Beans are regular jelly beans, except that the flavor doesn't match the color.  A black bean might be cherry or lemon.  A yellow bean might be licorice.  The whole point is "This candy is just like people--you cannot determine what is on the inside by simply looking at the outside. These beans remind us to experience people one at a time and enjoy their unique qualities."

The colors and flavors are random - it's not like they just switched the colors.

Here's the kicker - the package comes labelled "Diversity Beans - Assorted".  Can you buy just red?  Can you buy just cherry?  Seems a bi