Tag Archives: career

Missing Links

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This is the 2nd blog in about a major change in my family’s life.  This is the first one.

Moving to California certainly has its benefits. The weather is always great, you feel like you are in the center of everything, the weather is always great, wine country is around the corner, the weather is always great, there’s just so much fun stuff to do, oh, and did I mention the weather is always great?

The problem with moving is just that… moving. Just over 2 years ago, we built our dream home, an entertaining and family friendly environment. If you have never seen my home before, well that’s too bad for you. I certainly like to brag about it; after all I did design the entire basement, which would pass as a top nightclub in many cities. We were ready to settle in and retire. Then I came up with this crazy notion of picking up, leaving it all behind and doing it all again.

But that’s not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is the friends and family whom I will only get to enjoy their company in very limited doses for as long as I’m a California resident. Sure I can call them, but not having their company is tough. I’m gonna miss going for a “DC” with Q, Montana with his crazy sports antics, and Squirrel for being the fuel of the fire. I often think about what I’m leaving behind, and often second guessing if it’s worth it. Life’s decisions are never easy, and this one was certainly the hardest to make.

Before the move, I made sure to spend extra time with them, and I really appreciate it. The cross country road trip with Dave was awesome! I got to spend a lot of time with him, reminiscing, and having fun. Seeing the country, and crossing the desert with him, is certainly one of the most treasured times, and best experiences I have ever had. I’m gonna miss you guys… a lot.

Poker nights will be a thing of the past. The occasional party where standard board games for kids, turn into drinking games will certainly be something I’ll want to repeat, but it won’t be the same doing it with people I barely know. I had an awesome group of friends, and will miss every single one of them.

This isn’t just about my friends either. We had great neighbors as well. The best we could ask for. To the people whom will eventually live in my old home, you will be pleasantly surprised at how nice and awesome they can be.

So things aren’t always happy go lucky. It’s tough, but I know I must persevere and push through it. I now will have an increased dependence on technology (as if I didn’t before). Facebook and FaceTime will certainly become part of my daily life as I try to stay in touch. All you people back in Windsor remember I will always have a couple missing links, and will always miss you.

The Dream

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I wanted to blog about what is going on with my life. Many changes, many things happening, mostly for the good, but with the good does come some sacrifice. Although I’d love to write everything into a single blog, given our society’s short attention span, I decided to break it into multiple parts. Here’s part 1 of 2.

Summer of 2009, I’m at a company event, doing what I do. I have a good position with this company; I do what many call “magic”, while I call it my job. I have always been good at what I do, but I constantly set expectations high (where I can), and over deliver. Maybe that’s a sales trait, but I have been doing it before I joined a sales organization. Confidence is what I like to call it, sometimes cocky, but never with people I’m unfamiliar with.

At this company event, I win an award. It’s not like I haven’t won these before, but this one was followed by a slightly drunken conversation with a co-worker, and finally it clicked. I need to quit being so fucking damn humble.Stand up and proclaim “yes I can, yes I will, now move the fuck over and let me get it done.” My co-workers have always instilled confidence in me, but it took this person to make me realize, that this isn’t a freak accident, or a seldom occurrence. Many of my works turn out into some type of success. It was time to take my career to the next level.

The following week, I flew my wife into California, to vacation. This was the best spontaneous vacation I ever had.We spent 7 nights in 6 different sleeping accommodations. We toured the bay area, like I have never toured before, and had an absolute blast.Within 24 hours of landing, and experiencing the wonders of the bay area, my wife, already mentioned how it wouldn’t be so bad living there. On the last night there, I just happened to run into my company CEO, mentioned this to him, and his eyes lit up like fire: “We can make that happen”.

Fast forward a year, to the 2010 company event. Having endured another year of successful work with my company, where I won an internal competition, and was in line for even more awards, even making the CEO’s “party invite list”. I had dinner the first night with some staff from senior and executive management, where I proclaimed I was ready for a move to the bay area. After kicking his chair out, and asking “are you serious”, I knew I had sponsorship from the executives.

For the next few weeks, I worked my wife into understanding the benefits of living in California. We were 32 years old, and already achieved all previous life goals. We were living the dream, but not in a dream location. It was time to make it Awesome! She’s still not convinced, but we already moved, and committed for at least 18 months. Hopefully by then, she will be fully supportive, as my new life goals have become staggering, and the new dream is something that will take lots of work, blood, sweat, and I’m sure some tears. I believe in myself, and my friends and colleagues, whom I am close to and work with me all agree; one day I can, and will be a Chief Technology Officer. That’s my dream, my goal, and moving to California was the first step in realizing it.

Is it lofty? Yes. But if you don’t set the bar high, you will never try harder. I don’t need to be a CTO tomorrow, nor the next year. But I do want to strive to become one. With time, experience, maturity, and exposure to the right people, I will ultimately achieve the dream.

Mind you not achieving this goal will not make my life a failure; I’ve already achieved everything I wanted to do, and it was time for a new dream.

And this line is for a co-worker and friend whom I have much confidence in, listen to attentively, and heed his advice every time we are together.

Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?