myShoggoth

A little TOO quiet

I haven't been posting here much for a while, there are a number of reasons for that but one of the big ones is that I was posting in a different blog.  That one was password protected and hidden from the world so I could reveal it as part of an intricate birthday present plot for my dear friend Karrie.

I revealed the present a few weeks ago and talked to her about making the blog itself public, which I've just done.  I'm still working on getting a real domain for it, haven't found one I like that isn't squatted, but in the meantime I'm opening it up in case people are interested in following along.

A big part of the present is that I will continue to keep it up to date, another post there is expected tonight.

And I need to start posting stuff here, too...

No Coasting

I was going through my morning routine today when it struck me that there's a parallel between the Talent vs. Skill idea I wrote up a while back and how I approached grooming and hygiene for the longest time.  I figured if I needed to work at it then it wasn't real, so I took poor care of myself in terms of health (and fitness) as well as grooming and hygiene.

I've made a big shift recently to realize that you are what you work to become, and what you're born with is only the raw materials you have available, not the predetermine end result.

I spent a lot of time with a close friend while I was in Colorado, and one of the things that I'm so impressed about with her is what she's made of herself, how hard she's worked at it, and the incredible results.

Similarly, when I look at what my wife has consciously worked on for the last few years to become, and the progress she's made, I'm blown away.

I'm much earlier along, still trying to determine what I want to make of myself, but a big change is that I'm consciously doing so, and not coasting anymore.

This is a reason why I think consulting is a great fit for me in general, and in particular right now.  I can't coast, I need to impress my clients every day.  At a big company, it is far too easy to coast.

Time to redouble my efforts about consciously working to make myself better at what I do for a living, which is happily one of the things I love to do.  No coasting.

Massive Braindump Update

It has been a while since I posted, which I will try to correct in the future.  Massive amounts of change in my life right now.

I think I only have so much writing in me at a time, and that effort has been going elsewhere.

I'm no longer contracting to Microsoft, as of about a month ago.  I really enjoyed working with my boss there and the pay was certainly good, but professionally and personally it was not fulfilling and I really wanted to make progress towards full time consulting.  After talking to a few startups and firms in the area I lined up what looked like enough work to get started, and pulled the trigger.

So far I'm currently or soon working with three companies, each very different in terms of technology, business model, and intent.  I've been very happy with the people and businesses and expect to have a lot of fun and be very challenged over the next half year or so that I expect to be focused on these three.

I am carefully working at expanding my consulting practice over time, but I want to be very conscientious about not overextending myself so that I can provide great results to my clients.  It is all about reputation, referrals, and great relationships.

I continue to work with my personal trainer once a week and I'm probably in the best shape of my life, although swim team my sophomore year of high school may win that argument.  Having that external motivator has made all the difference for me, and if I consider the money as a preventative health cost it is easily worth every penny and more.  I now have more energy and strength to do other things, and I'm getting much more active in the rest of my life because of it.

I was in Colorado last weekend for a few reasons.  The primary motivation for the trip was one of the businesses, we were getting a demo ready for a Boulder-based VC and wanted to hunker down and finalize it before  the meeting on Monday.  It went very well, and we'll continue to move that business forward.  I also had a chance to meet up with my best friend from high school and his family for the first time in a long time, and we made it into a gathering for what high school friends I could get ahold of on short notice to have a picnic in Fort Collins' City Park.  That went much better than I expected and I had a great time.  I also got to spend a lot of time with a dear friend and her family, and had a better time than I thought possible.

Gregory's Obit

http://www.legacy.com/hartfordcourant/DeathNotices.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=18028302

Very nice, I can't think of anything to add.

Ecstasy to Agony

Gregory, a good friend since I was at Carnegy Mellon University briefly right out of high school, died today after complications from a relatively straightforward surgery.  He had had a lung transplant a while back and was doing well with it, but the additional stress must have been too much.  After a hell of a fight he died peacefully with his loved ones by his side.

I'll remember a ton of things about him, but probably top of the list is he was a top notch DJ who singlehandedly got me into Techno and Trance music.  His website is having issues (hopefully one of his many technical friends will get it back up and running), but you should be able to get to the AAC versions of his mixes here.  A great Mac enthusiast, too.

As Russ said better than I can:

It is hard to even know what to say, except that we already miss you, gregory.