The time has come, the Walrus said...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

to speak of many things…

Lots of things and changes going on, thought that I’d share/dump here and then move on.

The biggest “thing” right now is that I’ve resigned from my job of the last 15 years. It was a tough decision at times, but in the end a simple one. I’ve worked since graduation for one of the world’s biggest corporations, yet in the beginning it felt like family. Then as more and more downsizings happened, and finally much of our IT function was being sold and offshored, it just became clear that now was the time to leave. I don’t have another regular gig lined up, so it’s a bit like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, but they’re paying me well to leave, so there is a pile of pillows down there somewhere, let’s just hope we land on it proper.

Friday is my last day, and almost immediately after I’m taking the family down to spend a month or so on Indian Rocks Beach. It’s actually a nice quiet, sandy beach not too far from my family in Clearwater, so it should be relaxing but close enough to visit family. Lots of sandcastles, swimming, and drinks with little umbrellas in them. Also a lot of my favorite “back home” restaurants are nearby. So there’s that to look forward to. If you’re in the area then stop on by.

A little during the vacation, and much more so after, I’ll be starting a company to sell software and consulting services. This is a spin off of a company that a Brit friend of mine has started, and I’ll be attempting to get it going in the USA. It’s sure to be a challenge and a pain in the @ss, but it’ll be my challenge, so I look forward to it. I may even need to go to Oxford, UK to do some learning at the knee of the master, so that’s something potentially exciting to look forward to. I bought my own laptop the other day, so I even have a little technical project to tackle for that spare time between beachcombing. Hopefully I’ll have no trouble staying in touch from the beach that way.

And just to even out some of the good with the bad, I’ve got a (as yet) mild case of poison ivy on my shins from all the industrious lumberjacking I was doing on the weekend. Yes, it itches, it sucks, I have a doctors appointment in a few minutes, and if he can’t cure it I’ll ask him to amputate from the knees down. I hate to get this just in time for a long drive and vacation. But that’s Murphy for ya.

So, that’s the big mundane stuff for now. Wish me luck!

2

Ya know Shibb, with you being your own boss, you won’t be able to call in sick on Mondays or Friday afternoons. You’ll know you’re lying. Unless you’re really tricky when you call, or just stupid and not question that you’re getting another suspicious call from you. Let’s just see how that goes.

On the other hand, you could be a good boss for you to work for. You could send in lunch for the whole crew and keep a drawer full of candy bars for everyone to share.

Good luck with that.

Have fun on vacation. I’ll miss you. I’ll watch your house for you so riff-raff doesn’t sneak in and eat all your cheese and drink up your drinkables. Because we’re pals that way.

Sucks about the poison ivy. Got nuthin’ for that. But it could be worse. You could have chigger bites too.

3

Good luck to ya!

And how long are you gonna be in the Sunshine State? Any chance of a meeting perhaps? Just a thought… :smiley:

4

They say that the first step is the toughest, so now you’ve made the plunge it should be easy from here on out (hopefully)!

I do admire your courage in striking out away from the same old same old like that, best of luck with everything.

And yes, poison ivy seriously sucks!

5

Hey, are you hiring?

6

Good luck Shibb! Let me know when/if you’re coming to Oxford. It’s only 20 minutes away from me by train :slight_smile:

7

Hey Shibb, these will be exciting days for you! Enjoy the time with the family. It’s great that you can get that in before the big buckle down of your own business.

Hope the business doesn’t keep you from travlin’ to dopefests.

8

What you need for that poison ivy, boy, is some serious drugs: antihistamines and steroids. Specifically, diphenhydramine and hydrocortisone. If Benadryl makes you sleepy (it makes me completely loopy), try Chlortrimeton (sp?).

Oh, yeah, and good luck with that business thing. :smiley:

Seriously, good for you. Quitting your job is always stressful, and I can only imagine how much more so with children to support. But It’s gotta be better to jump now, when you have a parachute and can make a decision where to land, then to still be on that plane when it crashes.

9

Okay, I had a bunch of snarky replies in a lovely little post from the library today at noon. But then I realised I didn’t have time to finish it and I hadn’t logged on since it was public access. So there’s that.

I’ll just do updates on the poison ivy front for now, since that’s foremost on my mind and legs. It itches and burns right now. I got a shot at the Doctor’s this morning. It was Hexadrol (6 mg). The nurse said it would hurt after a few minutes but I never noticed it. I also got a prescription for 10 mg Prednisone tablets, five of which I was to take at lunch, along with my Pad Thai. I also also got a scrip (that’s the street slang, no?) for 10 tabs of 10 mg Ambien. So I’m set on drugs.

The topicals I was using before were a Benadryl (diphenahydramine Hydrochloride) spray (very effective, but not very long lasting) and some sort of wash called Technu (or something like that). The purpose of that one was to remove the urishoil. (sp?)

And Rue, poison ivy sucks, but chiggoes can be treated very effectively with over the counter stuff, and in my experience the reaction is not as bad as poison ivy. Obviously YMMV.

10

Good luck on your new venture, Shibb! And I hope everyone enjoys the vacation. So sorry about your itchies, but it sounds like you’re getting that under control.

Wishing you every success! :slight_smile:

11

This is most likely to happen sometime in the second half of July, so if it happens I’ll definitely get in touch. I’m not great on English geography, although I have a vague idea of where somethings are. Several of my favorite posters are UK Dopers, so maybe we could make a night out of it.

12

I SO envy you Shibb. In three maybe four years I plan to leap out of the plane as well. When I hired on 17 years ago transportation was split between the school district, who handled the special ed routes and a contract company, who handled the regular ed routes. I am an assistant on one of the special ed buses, no its not a short bus- its a 42 footer. Anyway, since then the contract company has been sold four times and our darling board of education in an effort to save money turned the whole transportation over to the contract company. They did keep the current employees as district employees thus retaining our retirement and benefits. I HATE THE CONTRACT COMPANY! And to be fair they ain’t too fond of me either. Soooooo…

GOOD LUCK WITH SELF EMPLOYMENT!!!