Too Busy for Words

Between the demands of the job situation and other life stressors, this has not been a good week for the blog. The most profound thought this week was "Honey, I'm home!" So I'll share a story:

Indian Chief 'Two Eagles' was asked by a white government official, 'You have observed the white man for 90 years. You've seen his wars and his technological advances. You've seen his progress, and the damage he's done.'

The Chief nodded in agreement.

The official continued, 'Considering all these events, in your opinion, where did the white man go wrong?'

The Chief stared at the government official for over a minute and then calmly replied. 'When white man find land, Indians running it, no taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water.

Women did all the work, Medicine man free. Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing; all night having sex.'

Then the chief leaned back and smiled. 'Only white man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that.'

Chapter 11 -

For those of you who don't know, my employer is in chapter-11 procedings and our company is in the beginning stages of downsizing. It's an anxious time. I survived the first round of job cuts. Everything is put on hold to execute the C11 plan. The C11 plan involved selling off our marine division entirely, and closing about 400 camera stores.

I'm one of the IT guys, providing the backend support for the corporate database & business applications, which means essentially we have plenty of work ahead of us during C11.

I'm a builder, although the things I build are all software systems. It's difficult to resolve to the idea of dismantling my life's work for the last 12 years, but we soldier on. Meanwhile, I am left to consider options for plan b.

I'm a 49 y.o. techie who never aspired to management. I specialize on the platform of IBM i (formerly iSeries, AS/400) that is probably the most robust platform in the market. But it is expensive, and not marketed very well. Those of use who are well-versed in it are getting older, some retiring, some taking new careers.

Today's young pups are all about Windows and or Linux server farms, or virtualization on blade server racks. The up & coming MBA's and CIO's look at the i as a "legacy" system overdue for replacement that will most certainly save the company money - until that replacement system goes casters-up 6 months into production. So I have a built-in option as the go-to guy when the company returns to the IBM fold. As a consultant. Cha-Ching.

But I'm not bullish on the job prospects in the IBM i market right now. So I have to consider other options.

I have a working knowlege of linux. I haven't done any serious programming on either Lin or Win. There would be a learning curve. My skill set is probably adaptable to a mainframe envrionment, still alive & kicking for as long as the fortune 500 can hold its fortune.

Other options include:
Temp or fulltime at a VAR or consultant shop (if any are still around)
Independent contractor - kind of tough in this tight economy...contractors get fired before employees get laid off.
Employment at a temp firm may allow exposure to Windows or Linux key technologies during bench time.

Or the lowest-hanging fruit as a last resort...
tech support / call center, Geek Squad, paid blogger...uh..wait...

I haven't put myself through some of the "skill set" or other career-counseling exercises often touted to the newly unemployed, but it might be worth the effort while I'm sill employed.

Meanwhile, I need to examine where we can reduce expenses and fund the emergency fund.

So I have a few things to think about. Stay tuned.

Hasty Jugement on the Redskins?

I'm told by Jason that Vinny Cerrato wasn't interested in TO three years ago, and certainly was not interested last week, regarless of the press indications otherwise. So I'll try not to be so harsh this coming season.

TO shuffles off to Buffalo...to the offensive jugger-NOT called the Bills. It's over first week of october. You heard it here first.

T.O. To the Bills, and Hell No to the Redskins...almost!

When the story broke that the Redskins (my "nfc team" - you steelers fans don't get the concept ) were interested in Terrell Owens, who became available this week, I came this bloody close to renouncing my ever-dwindling faith in The Team the Dan Destroyed.

Yet, somehow, they earned a reprieve, by not stooping to the level I feared they would descend. Fight on, Sons of Washington!

To begin, one must start at the beginning.

A Journal begins. Not sure where it's going yet. Stay tuned.

The title pays homage to Frank Zappa, but you already knew that.

This will be, I suspect, an expansion of subject matter that is inappropriate for my facebook page. I intend to get deeper into the matter here, a treatise as it were, or maybe just spend a few more words practicing my writing skills.

I'm not pulling any punches here. Caveat emptor. No mea culpa. Unfair and completely imbalanced. I retort, you deride. Fasten you seatbelt, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.