Monday, October 26, 2009

Big Change, Good Food and Two Maxwells

I apologize for the long gap in posting. I want to resume posting weekly. However, the blog is likely to have more gaps for the time being, due to life changes:


In the field of opportunity, it's ploughing time again. — Neil Young


Last week my employer told me my position will be eliminated in mid-November. In the next few weeks at least, I will devote most of my attention to setting up a new job. I like my current job, so this is a major shift in plans. So far, I have many indications that the transition will be positive. Misa and I have prepared for this possibility, and my company is being very helpful. 


This is a surprise opportunity to re-examine what I want from working, and what value I'm offering in return. It's a lot to think about. I needed an outside kick in the pants, to focus my attention on these larger questions. 





To help me concentrate, Misa serves me wonderful dinners. They are just as delicious to the eye as to the palate. Last week she cooked homemade sushi and chicken linguini.








Last Saturday we moved through Golden Gate Park with Maxwell Nakamura and his parents. [My son's name is Maxwell also.] The two boys rode bikes and played hide-and-seek in the trees.





We enjoyed a to-die-for autumn afternoon, and the two Maxwells made the most of it. I told them they could ride all around Spreckels Lake on their own, because we could see the whole route from our bench. Living in the city, they rarely get to explore on their own. The boys rewarded our trust: Both returned, and neither got wet.





Our time together ended, and we prepared to go home through the long shadows. I remembered a favorite passage from Louis-Ferdinand CĂ©line's Journey to the End of the Night:


Far in the distance the tugboat whistled; its call passed the bridge, one more arch, then another, the lock, another bridge, farther and farther . . . It was summoning all the barges on the river, every last one, and the whole city and the sky and the countryside and ourselves, to carry us all away, the Seine too—and that would be the end of us.




3 comments:

raymondjspencer@yahoo.com said...

John, Thank you for sharing about what is happening on the job frount. I hope that with your skills you will pick up something quickly. There are many resoarses out there, many more than there used to be.
My email is raymondjspencer@yahoo.com. I check my email more often than my face book.
it is very good to hear from you. Please keep me posted as to what is happening.
warm regards
Raymond

Mick Bauer said...

Your name came up at lunch the other day, and people were upset that you could be let go after all these years. You're a bit of a legend around here, my friend -- several of us ex-SAE types present at the lunch recounted instances in which you knocked sense into us engineers, with the invariable result of our looking much more professional (and bright) than we actually are!

You will be sorely missed, unless of course some other team is bright enough to snatch you right back up.

--Mick

John Paul Turnage said...

Hi Ray!
Thank you for the address; I'm glad we're back in touch.

Mick,
Your words of encouragement are like diamonds in my pocket. I can't thank you enough.