A Long Way from the Judith Basin
http://blog.wkellyo.net
Bio Link
I was born and raised in Montana and currently live in Illinois. Between the Big Sky and Kenosha, I have also lived in Minnesota, Arizona, Colorado, and Illinois.
I spent most of my 20’s on the highway looking for my four-leaf clover. I was always certain that there was something better waiting for me over the horizon. Maybe it was wanderlust or call it what you want. The highway has always been a close companion.
A Long Way from the Judith Basin
Tact and Discreetness
One issue if you will that is in the forefront of my mind is observing being tactful and exercising discretion. There are certain events where I really want to put to pen to paper on just to vent. But the risk is having a blog or a tweet reflect badly upon me, my company, a client, or employer. Granted, names and places and all that can be changed, but the rewards often will not outweigh the risks involved.
Another potential risk is coming across as whiny. This alone would reflect badly on the author. Yeah you might feel better about blogging an amusing event or pointing out the asininity of an idea, this too puts the writer in a bad light and also stands to put a client or employer in a bad light as well.
Ideas for Blog
Okay, it is more than obvious that I have not been maintaining my blog in the last year or so despite promises to the contrary. But after talking to one of my co-workers I am thinking of blogging some of what I have been doing in regards to MOSS 2007, SP 2010, MSPS 2007/2010, and third-party platforms associated with the Microsoft platforms.
Now, much of what I will be writing about will have to be sanitized to a certain degree, but I think the main thing is to get the steps taken for this or that out there to share with others.
I still have every intention of blogging on career-related subjects and my own personal writing and how my mindset may have changed from when the time I wrote it. People change over time as do their perceptions.
New Digs
Soooo, despite comments made about calling Chicago "home" for a while, I have indeed left the Windy City for Wisconsin. Granted, it is just across the border from Illinois, I am less than 30 minutes from Milwaukee, whereas Chicago is a little more than an hour away.
It was hard to leave Chicago, but the decision wasn't all that difficult seeing that the property company in Chicago raised the rent on what would have been my 2011-2012 leave by more than $150/month. I took that into account along with the 4+ hrs/day I was commuting to and from work and factored in all my monthly expenses and even with new car expenses, I am coming out ahead.
The new place in Wisconsin is more than twice the size of my apartment on the lakefront in Chicago and the rent is more than half of what I was paying before I got the proposed lease.
Lao Tzu - Te
In pursuit of knowledge,
every day something is added.
In the practice of the Tao,
every day something is dropped.
Less and less do you need to force things,
until finally you arrive at non-action.
When nothing is done,
nothing is left undone.
E.M. Forester
A book is a kind of thing which requires a man to be self-collected. He must
be alone with it. A good book is the purest essence of the soul.
be alone with it. A good book is the purest essence of the soul.
Discipline
Discipline is totally necessary."You go every day [to the studio] whether
you're disgusted with your painting, and feel uninspired, uncreative, not
wanting to work at all. You go and sit and you look. You simply have to,
because thus is as necessary as being alive every morning, and getting up
after sleeeping, eating breakfast, keeping yourself walking: ALIVE."
A life of painting cannot be "impulsive or sporadic. This is built up just
as carefully as the crystals in a rock form. I believe utterly in it, and
you have to know, try to know, what you are painting about, which means that
you do need all if the possible visionary discipline as well as mental."
From Paul Horgan's A Certain Climate quoting Henriette Wyeth
you're disgusted with your painting, and feel uninspired, uncreative, not
wanting to work at all. You go and sit and you look. You simply have to,
because thus is as necessary as being alive every morning, and getting up
after sleeeping, eating breakfast, keeping yourself walking: ALIVE."
A life of painting cannot be "impulsive or sporadic. This is built up just
as carefully as the crystals in a rock form. I believe utterly in it, and
you have to know, try to know, what you are painting about, which means that
you do need all if the possible visionary discipline as well as mental."
From Paul Horgan's A Certain Climate quoting Henriette Wyeth
Delay to Changes on the Horizon
Last summer I had a grand plan to restoke the fire that got me blogging, but work intervened. Last June one memeber of my team at work did not get his contract renewed. That resulted in me from averaging a pretty much 40-hour week to averaging 50 hours or so. I worked one or both days on the weekend on several ocassions. Basically I got burned out or I was slowly burning myself out.
A few weeks ago I did not work one full weekend and then worked fice 8-hour days followed by another weekend of not logging on remotely because I just wasn't feeling it. That subsequent week lead to a whopping 57 hours on the clock. But the "short" work week did help give a little flicker to both ends of the candle.
Right about this time another consultant was brought on board, but he is just not getting up to speed after completing the required company CBT's and getting his feet wet with what we do in our department. There is still a lot to do before the end of the year and we have a code freeze starting in two weeks. The code freeze may or may not be in place for my department since everything we do is development and POC testing. There are several initiatives on the docket for 2011 and we will have to be prepped and ready to go for when the code freeze is lifted in January.
Anyway, my summer plan for my blog is still the plan. It now is just a case of devoting a small amount of time to put that plan in motion.
A few weeks ago I did not work one full weekend and then worked fice 8-hour days followed by another weekend of not logging on remotely because I just wasn't feeling it. That subsequent week lead to a whopping 57 hours on the clock. But the "short" work week did help give a little flicker to both ends of the candle.
Right about this time another consultant was brought on board, but he is just not getting up to speed after completing the required company CBT's and getting his feet wet with what we do in our department. There is still a lot to do before the end of the year and we have a code freeze starting in two weeks. The code freeze may or may not be in place for my department since everything we do is development and POC testing. There are several initiatives on the docket for 2011 and we will have to be prepped and ready to go for when the code freeze is lifted in January.
Anyway, my summer plan for my blog is still the plan. It now is just a case of devoting a small amount of time to put that plan in motion.
Well-deserved Time Off
Just got back from eight days or so in Montana. It was the first extended time off I have taken in quite some time. I was out of work for the most part for almost a year, but I had a few consulting gigs in that time and searching for employment, whether it be a consulting gig or a full-time position takes up most of a normal work day as well.
I also kept busy with running 3-5 miles five to six times a week. This sis something I have not been doing since I started my latest consulting gig last March. Taking away the 20-25 hours I spend commuting to and from, the 50 +/- hours actually working does not leave a lot of time in the day, or week for that matter to go for a run. Back to that in another post.
Anyway, I am pleased with myself that I did not once log onto the company's Citrix server to check my e-mail or even dial into my voice mail. I do not plan to do either today or tomorrow either. I figure both can wait until I get to work on Monday morning.
But I had a good week off and got to see a few old friends, both personal and friends of the family. I also got to spend some quality time with my family. Unfortuantely the root cause for my trip to Montana did not come to be. I went out with plans to go to a cousin's wedding. But the roads and weather nixed any idea of extended travel.
I was quite pleased with the weather. The snow and cold temps helped with recharging the batteries. Of course it was these same snow and cold temperatures that kept me close to Billings. They still did me good.
I also kept busy with running 3-5 miles five to six times a week. This sis something I have not been doing since I started my latest consulting gig last March. Taking away the 20-25 hours I spend commuting to and from, the 50 +/- hours actually working does not leave a lot of time in the day, or week for that matter to go for a run. Back to that in another post.
Anyway, I am pleased with myself that I did not once log onto the company's Citrix server to check my e-mail or even dial into my voice mail. I do not plan to do either today or tomorrow either. I figure both can wait until I get to work on Monday morning.
But I had a good week off and got to see a few old friends, both personal and friends of the family. I also got to spend some quality time with my family. Unfortuantely the root cause for my trip to Montana did not come to be. I went out with plans to go to a cousin's wedding. But the roads and weather nixed any idea of extended travel.
I was quite pleased with the weather. The snow and cold temps helped with recharging the batteries. Of course it was these same snow and cold temperatures that kept me close to Billings. They still did me good.
To the Mountains 3
From Paul Horgan's The Peach Stone
It was not long before winter.
In the broken darkness of firelight, Julio lay awake and prayed until he was answered by the same thing that always answered prayers, the earliest voice he had been taught to recognize, which no one else had to hear, the voice of God Himself in his own heart. Father Antonio made him know when he was a little boy that the stronger a man was the more he needed the guidance of God. So when he felt afraid and feeble alongside his mild strong brother, he had only pray, and shut his eyes, and remember Jesus, Who would presently come to him and say, "I see you Julio Garcia; it is all right. What is it?"
"To the mountains, to the mountains," thought Julio in an answer to his own prayer.
It was not long before winter.
In the broken darkness of firelight, Julio lay awake and prayed until he was answered by the same thing that always answered prayers, the earliest voice he had been taught to recognize, which no one else had to hear, the voice of God Himself in his own heart. Father Antonio made him know when he was a little boy that the stronger a man was the more he needed the guidance of God. So when he felt afraid and feeble alongside his mild strong brother, he had only pray, and shut his eyes, and remember Jesus, Who would presently come to him and say, "I see you Julio Garcia; it is all right. What is it?"
"To the mountains, to the mountains," thought Julio in an answer to his own prayer.
