I have two new friends, they are now named Fred and Ethel. They became my friends yesterday when I discovered the Joys of Halfpipe©. I’d take pictures of these new contusions, but Carrie has the digital camera in Munich, and the webcam would reduce their beauty.
I rode a true state-of-the-art halfpipe yesterday for the first time (I’d been on one that was practically made of cardboard before, when I was about 13) and I must say that now more than ever I want to figure out how to get a half-pipe in my garage. I did much better on this halfpipe than I thought I would. I can drop in without hesitation, do five-oh grinds, pump fakey or do frontside/backside turns. I’m quite pleased (and sore).
I know I’ve been talking about skateboarding, almost excessively. It’s because onProject let me go, and skateboarding is my mind numbing drug of choice, not to mention, not having a job frees up some time for it. They hired me several months ago, and were really hoping I’d move out to New Jersey where they’re located. I seriously considered, to the point of almost packing everything up and moving out there, but family things came up, and it just wasn’t the right thing to do.
They offered quite generously to let me telecommute from home, which I’m still grateful for. After a while though, it became obvious that for the kind of work I was doing was simply more difficult over an Internet connection. They were paying for an “expert” and only had someone writing code. I wasn’t able to offer guidance in the design of things as easily because I wasn’t there. My productivity was hampered by trying to work through technical issues that would have been fixed quicker (or not come up at all) had I been there.
I think we all learned something valuable – telecommunting doesn’t always work. I’ve seen it work before, but this time it didn’t.
I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to hunt down another job. I have a book to finish, and might be able to afford having the book as my full time job. We’ll see how that goes.
Although, I’m still open for job offers.