DISPATCHES FROM THE GHOST MOOSE

onward...the new job starts today.  It will be a bit different - after 5 years of a very short commute, this one will be a little longer, but still manageable.  New job, new faces, new names....too many new things for my sieve of a brain to remember.  But - time for a change.  New challenges, new accomplishments to make.  As my career has progressed, I realized I am good at building...at helping an organization evolve to meet its objectives.  Some places I have worked have been open to change, some not so much.  The degree of success that a change agent has is directly related to the willingness of an organization to change itself.  therein lies the challenge.  but - whose job is easy these days anyway?  no one that I know has an easy job.  and so with that - onward.  who knows where this job will lead.  as I sit here typing, it is minus 10 degrees outside... my thoughts turn to my fishing trips in Canada...when fishing a new lake, you leave the dock and drive the boat into water

my last day off - new job starts tomorrow.  as it always is when you are starting a new job, I am anxious about the whole process of starting, remembering names, learning new company processes and rules, etc.  but, having started a few new jobs in my day, it is something that I am reasonably good at now.  if I am as successful at this job as I was at my last, I will be doing just fine. it is still strange to be off....when you are so used to being at work.  a lot different being off when you have a definite day to not being off anymore.  five years ago, I was off for almost 6 months, except for a 4 week consulting job.  three weeks is about as much time off as I can stand.  after that, you miss the daily engagement that comes with having a job, having a purpose.  I forgot to write last week about Justin Bieber's drag racing arrest....I read that he could be deported because of this heinous crime...gee...it's not like he was driving drunk, using a social security number ill

back to work Tuesday of next week.  I met up with my old coworkers last night.  It was nice to see them, say farewell and close the book on that chapter of my work life.  It was fun and sad - nice to hear good things from the team I led.  Knowing that my efforts to lead a high functioning team and have a little fun at the same time were reasonably successful.  I always told them they were the highest functioning team at the company, and hearing the comments from them last night, they know they are.   they will continue to be a very high functioning team after I am gone.  I guess I was successful at what I set out to do.  Putting in place the processes and resources that good people need to have to do great work.  I should write a book on how to do that....instead of this crappy blog.  nah....  as I was leaving the bar at 10 pm, I had the thought..."this is how 5 years at a company ends"...appropos of nothing, but it is odd....lots of handshakes, kind words, a few tears fro

my week off is in the home stretch.  sitting here while Stanley Steemer is cleaning the carpets.   all the great things you can do when you are home that you wouldn't be able to do if you were at work.  but - it is a change, and I needed a change. every month or so, I go to the drive through at white castle and get 4 sliders.  that is about as many of those things as I can stand.  so yesterday afternoon I went to the health club, and decided to go to white castle.  I had a coupon in my console for buy 5, get 5 free.  So, instead of my usual 4, I ate 10 sliders.  note to self - don't ever eat 10 sliders again.  that is about 6 more than you should ever have.  but - now that scratch has been itched....been there, done that - I will avoid that place for the next year or so before I punish myself with 4 sliders.  I have the same love/hate relationship with big macs.  about once a year I have 2 big macs, and the subsequent destruction of my digestive system reminds me to not do t

I figured I might as well try to post each day since I am off.  and have come full circle.  My son is back to school.  not much to keep myself occupied, although I have been watching Breaking Bad on Netflix.  it is easy to get into a show when you don't have to wait a week between episodes, and the one hour show actually has 47 minutes of screen time.  I did make my one time a year trip to the movies the other day and saw Lone Survivor.  very well done.  when you see what soldiers endure, albeit a dramatic portrayal from Hollywood, you feel guilty about griping about the things that we gripe about.  griping - this whole country has become a big mess of griping whiners.  anyway - time to get busy.  gotta make the best of this time off, because it will be over far too soon.

another cold, snowy day.  but, it is January after all. It occurred to me the last time I was home with my son on MLK day was when I was between jobs in 2009.  we spent that day doing a science project that involved building a bridge out of sticks and measuring the weight that different bridge designs would support.  that was 5 years ago.  today I will be taking his jeep for its emission test.  so much changes in a 5 year time window.  back then I was 50 yrs old, now I am 55.  and in 5 yrs, I will be 60.  simple math, yes....but it boggles the mind.  sounds so odd to talk about 60 being on the horizon.  Dave will start college in the fall, and that phase of his life will start. the benefit of maintaining a blog like this is to go back, way back, and see what I was doing then.  and now.  wait...not much changed except that I am 5 years older.  Five years....how many 5 year blocks of life do we get?  not enough - that is becoming clearer all the time.

Monday.  and no work. one week til I start the new job.  weather sucks, and I have a sore throat...that is no way to spend a day off.  but, we are months away from golf season, so I will have to make do with a trip to the health club to work out.  funny how when you are working, you long for a day off to do nothing...but when you are home doing nothing, you wish you had something to do.  but these days off will be over too soon.  and so I better enjoy the time while I have it.

a day off between jobs.  time to leave the past behind and look forward.  I remember my first job out of college (1980) meeting so many people that had 25+ years service.  then the next job at IBM - same thing - so many people working there with decades of service.  then in the late 80s everything changed.  roll ups, spin offs...changing jobs every few years....thinking back, the number of years I have spent at each stop in my career has been: 5 yrs 11 yrs 2 yrs 5 yrs 1 yr 2 yrs 2 yrs 1 yr 5 yrs some jobs I left, some i left right before the business closed or layoffs happened.  once I got laid off.  back in the day job hopping like this was not seen.  now it is the expectation.  or at least for me it is.  but the thing that never changes is that one person is responsible for you - and that is you.  in my case, it involves changing jobs every so often.  maybe the next job will be the one i get rich and retire from.

full circle..I have come full circle.  5 yrs ago, I sat in this very spot blogging about the frustrations of being unemployed.  since then, I have been employed, changed the tone of my postings and generally was a working stiff, enduring the normal issues of the working man.  this week, I left the job I got almost 5 years ago and will be starting a new job on the 27th.  in the course of 5 years, you learn your job, love your job, tire of your job, and move on.  I went through the predictable series of emotions that most working stiffs go through. and now to start that series anew.  with at least 10 years of work left in my career, I wonder how many more stops I will have.  I thought I would stay at this job longer, but things do change, and we have to take charge of our own lot in life.  onward I go...

wow...the year is really flying by...wait - too soon to start beating that dead horse.  let us get a few months into 2014 and I will beat that drum again. working this weekend again.  making progress.....one of the nice things about working hard is you get to be part of a team that works hard.  I am really proud of how the team I have takes on the big year end project and knocks it down.  as a disgruntled employee, you have to motivate yourself to do what has to be done.  as a leader of a team, you have to put that aside and just do it.  I was up early and went to the grocery store - as I do every weekend.  the roads, while melting nicely, are still very slick.  so, at 6 am, it is pitch dark, and these joggers are out on the slippery street...jogging, with their outfits with reflective tape on them.  which is nice - that reflective tape will do nothing to stop a sliding car.  but the sliding car will have a good, reflective view of the dumb asshole jogging in the slippery street r

the brutal cold continues.  I realize it is winter, but it seems like it has been winter for a few months...which it has been.  cold weather is one thing, but lethal cold is too much.  supposed to be a high of 5 today - whopee. still busy at work.  good to be busy, good to be working. but that whole thing is getting old, too.  anyway - off in a few minutes to warm up the car and get going.  at least the first lady can enjoy her extended stay in hawaii...which was her birthday present....from the taxpayers.  did anyone ask us to kick in, or did they just assume we would approve?

starting the busy time at work - producing w2s.  so everyone can prove to the government that they were suitably screwed out of their hard earned money, and they have paid their fair share of our messiah's multi-million dollar Hawaiian vacation.  and if we are lucky  we will be a few bucks back as a refund, then the state will tax us on the refund.  hard to believe, isn't it?  supposed to get very  cold in the next few days...this is why I hate winter.  more every year.  anyway - back to work for me.   good to have somewhere to be busy. 

Happy New Year.  time to lose weight, read more, work less. and really be a better person.  until Monday, at least. crappy weather...snowed last night, now to do the snowblower.  football starts later this morning.  the busy time at work starts this weekend.  but, good to be busy. remember, write 2014 on your checks.  I haven't written a check in a long time.  so I don't have that problem. oh, and go to the health club so you can be with everyone else that will go a lot for the next few weeks, then stop going.  kind of like the people that go to church on Christmas, then go 51 weeks without another mass. I just saw on espn that the winter classic is today.  more tv to watch.  the health club visit is in jeopardy.