I find this to be rather awesome.
I didn’t know that an organization like the Initiative Collective existed. I am impressed.
June 2013
Schedule.
A few weeks ago during a one-on-one meeting with my supervisor I made the off-handed comment that I’m not really a morning person. I’m not at my most productive in the morning. Sometimes I struggle more than normal in forming a coherent sentence that uses words in a known language.
I’m just not wired to be chipper at sunrise.
After making this comment, my supervisor gave me the OK to go ahead and try mixing up the schedule a bit, perhaps starting at 10 a.m. or something like that.
Quick aside, I realise how fortunate I am to have that sort of flexibility with my career. It’s one of the reasons that overall I like my job.
I decided to mix up the schedule this week and compromise from my usual 8 to 5 and work 9 to 6. For the most part it worked out fine when working from home yesterday; I hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before so I could sleep in later than usual. The only time that it got a little off-center when was Earl was ready for supper to commence and I was still working. But for the most part it was so far, so good.
Today I am working from the office and I continued the 9 to 6 trend. As I made my way along my commute through the back roads of Central New York, I came to the quick realisation that this just wasn’t going to work for me. My morning had started with an air of uncertainty. I felt like I was wasting time. Something just felt off and it felt like I had just put myself through another round of Daylight Saving Time.
When I got to work I sent Earl a message letting him know that I would be back on 8 to 5 tomorrow. Yep, I’m like that, sometimes my decisions are like flipping a switch.
The truth of the matter is, when I’m in the mood to work on a work project I’ll work on it, even if it’s the middle of the night and I’m theoretically off the clock. I like writing code and figuring out the problems associated with writing and maintaining applications. If I have a brainstorm, I’ll work it out whilst watching “Big Bang Theory” or something like that with Earl whilst sitting on the couch. If I can’t get to a computer, I’ll jot the brainstorm down and work it out when I can get to a computer. I’m now one of those guys that I used to see at bigger tech firms who would just spontaneously start writing on a whiteboard in a hallway (which had been installed for that very purpose). I’m one of the “white cocktail napkins” notes guys.
I don’t think this is a bad thing.
It’s a small wonder that Earl hasn’t just resorted to calling me Sybil, because I’m the type of guy that needs structure who thinks in a very unstructured manner. I want to be spontaneous as long as the plans are all in place. I want to work on my own and autonomously as long as you tell me what to do. Give me a goal and I’ll produce results, but there will probably be many twists and turns between point A and point B.
It works, I guess.
The one nice thing about this temporary variation in my schedule today is that I have no need to take a nap during this lunch hour. Maybe I’ll catch up on email or something.
Pride.
I stumbled upon an article on Google+ about Google Pride, the initiatives being taken by Google for Pride Month, in recognition of it’s LGBTQ employees. It’s always good to see companies recognize and celebrate the diversity of their employees. I always consider this sort of thing when out looking for the next chapter in my career.
I started my tech career working for DEC, or the Digital Equipment Corporation, which at the time was based in Maynard, Mass. (DEC is now part of Hewlett-Packard). My first gay pride parade was in Boston in 1989, when I joined many colleagues in the group BGLAD, Being Gay or Lesbian at Digital. Like the efforts described by Google, Digital was supportive of BGLAD and another group within the company, DECPLUS (DEC People Like US), and provided resources so that we could show our pride in the parade with banners and everything. It felt good to work for a supportive company and I have been fortunate enough to work for other companies that are supportive (to varying degrees) as well. I’ve been out in my career for a long time and that’s something that I’m very proud of, if one can be proud of just being themselves. A fellow Google-Plusser mentioned it best, it’s not so much that I’m proud of being gay but rather that I just lack shame for being gay.
I wish we lived in a time and place where we didn’t need Pride festivals and parades, where LGBTQ folks were considered to be completely part of the norm. I don’t need a day to be gay at Disney because I’m always gay at Disney. But until we come to the realization of that time and place that I dream of, there will be the need for Pride Month with the parades and the festivals and the drag queens and the dykes on bikes and the leathermen and all the millions of other folks that are just being themselves.
I think our family needs to go to the Boston Pride parade this weekend.
Lake George.
So Earl and I decided to go for a little ride in the Jeep this afternoon. As if we didn’t do enough driving last weekend with our 13 hour ride home from Chicago, we just wanted to get out and do some exploring. We decided to head in the general direction of East.
We are currently stopped for a few moments to enjoy the air conditioning in this very spacious Starbucks just outside of Glens Falls.
After driving through the southern Adirondacks for a little while, we found ourselves in Lake George. Well, actually we were in Lake George Village, because being literally in Lake George would probably be a little rough on the Jeep and on us.
It’s Americade weekend in Lake George, so the village was hopping with lots of bikers and their families. We stopped for a bit and enjoyed a munchie or two and a beer on the deck of Shepard’s.
Earl had Saranac Blueberry Blonde and I enjoyed a Magic Hat No. 9.
After our one beer each and our munchie, we walked along the waterfront and enjoyed the views of the lake and the people milling about.
In one of the shops we ran into a couple of bears. Being in the Adirondacks, there are bears everywhere.
Earl is pictured with George, so named because we met him in Lake George. He is wearing a raccoon hat and has decided to come home and live with us and the rest of the bears.
We are now en route to our next adventure of the day. We have no idea where it will be.
Dreaming.
Barbara Eden joined several other celebrities at “Life Ball” in Vienna. I have to admit, she’s looking good at 78 years old and she can definitely still pull off her ‘Jeannie’ costume.
Photo courtesy of New York Daily News.
