Well, this would be a first, at least since Dagobah has taken up residence in the Alcove of the Boulder Compound. (Technically, of course, I am making the rambling on argo via an ssh session. It would be a messy thing to try to make it all work independently of argo while still maintaining consistency between the 2 databases.)

Along with the usual randomness, I spend a good portion of the afternoon and evening today getting the buildmeasite code in better condition. Word is that the new server hardware will be ready soon. Are we ready for it? Hardly, but that's the way things go.

[Jaeger presents Bitscape with an Honorary Wild Goose Chase Achievement Award. The source of the mysterious beeping has been discovered. It's my bleeping cell phone!]

What will happen on the Next Episode of "Live Adventures in the Alcove". Tune in next week to find out.

Meanwhile, back in Metroid Prime land, I think I'm getting close to beating the game. I've found most of the major items (but the ice beam charge super missile weapon still eludes me). I confronted the fearsome Metrod Prime life form, but have not yet managed to defeat it. Stay tuned...

Now, a few words from the career plans department...

In a recent rambling, I stated that I don't intend to actively seek another job in the near future (at least for 6 months). What I didn't elaborate on was why. Ever since then, this question has been nagging me, because I feel the need to come up with some sort of clear reasoning. I'll attempt to explain a bit of it here tonight.

One point I think should be made clear first. Regardless of what career path I choose or don't choose, I still love computers. I still love technology. I still enjoy programming. I don't expect this to change anytime soon, if ever. It's part of my blood. Part of how I'm wired.

So given that, why not continue to make a career out of it? (Assuming it's even possible in the current economy, which I believe it is.) Well... I haven't ruled it out for the future, but a little time away would do me good.

Despite getting good money and a generally enjoyable work experience, I found that after 2.5 years at my last job, I was ready to move on....

This is life's narrative. What's happening. Right now. Today, and every day. You are given a set of circumstances. YOU can choose what to do with it. Each moment can be thought of as a decision. There are no wrong choices, but there are consequences. Everything you do (or don't do) will affect your future, and the future of everyone else. With that in mind: Ready... set.... GO.

I was stagnent. Living comfortably in semi-blissful meaninglessness. The work I did, though enjoyable from a purely technical perspective, was meaningless. Feeding the corporate BS machine. At best, what we did helped some people in their businesses. (That part, I could feel good about.) At worst, purveyors of censorware, and profiteers off of the ignorance of the less informed. (The latter is not necesarily bad in all cases, except when it leads to a system where education and genuine information is shunned in favor of pandering to fears and intentionally keeping people in the dark so as to ensure future dependence.)

Anyway... I'm not wanting to turn this into a rant against my former employer, because there's still a lot of good people there (though less than there used to be), and frankly... I've done enough of that already anyway.

So, with the above in mind, I siezed the moment, and made a decision. As nice and comfy as it was (at least until the next batch of layoffs), I would take a proactive step, and change my future. In the interest of keeping things somewhat stable for both myself and the company I worked for, at least in the short term, I decided not to act immediately. You know the story. I told them I'd leave in January.

Barely 3 days after I communicated this, they wanted me gone immediately. The rest is history.

Here we are, 4 months later. Why do I not want to work in the tech industry at this point (or at least not be motivated enough to actively seek out a tech job)?

Though it doesn't necesarily account for everything, I'll quote scottgalvin.com. (Hopefully, he won't mind me relaying this, but I don't see any reason he would object.) "You've just been bitten by a bear. The last thing you want to do is go out and bump into any more bears. You're like, 'No bear. Stay away. I don't need no bear love today.'" (Complete with accompanying scottgalvin.com trademark gestures.)

Maybe so. Honestly, maybe that's all there is to it. I guess what I really want to avoid is an incessent crawling of job sites and want ads for any computer work available, only to find myself "lucky" to have a job where I feel as pointless and unfulfilled as my last position. Back to square one. Not what I had wanted.

I do believe that there are (still) some tech industry jobs where usefulness and meaning can be found, but I don't believe that going out and searching for anything and everything like an overly desperate whore is the way to achieve success as I define it.

So tomorrow I go to work again in the deli, and will continue to do so for a while (not forever though). At least it's a change. Call me an underachiever if you like.

Living every moment of life as a decision, I can say this about all the choices I've made: Given the information available at the time, and my perceptions at that instant, I have made the best choice possible every time. In that regard, I can honestly say that I have no regrets.

[Bitscape becomes periodically distracted as someone peers over his shoulder.]

Quick poll (if only the lounge had polling capability build into the engine; maybe I'll build it one of these days): Does it make you nervous to type while someone else watches over your shoulder?

[yes | no | only when it's cowboyneal]