That is the makeup of my tasks this week. While I’m pretty much caught up on my email, I do have a large backlog of feeds that I need to parse through and read. Luckily Google Reader makes that easy.
As for the rest of the week, I’ve got a lot of work in the research and planning phases that will help me find and meet with new clients. I’ve got a number of ideas and will pursue them along with some good old-fashioned in-person networking.
A few things that are tripping me up this week are my phone and those little config details on my new laptop. My phone has been kind of goofy every since I got back from Florida last month, but it really is acting strange in the past week. I can’t seem to get everything to sync in Vista yet (though I have had it work in the past) and the alarms do not go off when they are supposed to. A little later today I’ll try re-flashing the firmware to see if I can weed out the bad apples on the darn thing.
Also, even though a person gets all the major applications, utilities, plugins, bookmarks and other such items set up on a new computer, there always seems to be some last little things. I seem to find that I’m missing little bits of productivity every 30 minutes or so, just because of a forgotten config, tool, bookmark and so on.
Other than that, it’s been a productive 1st half of the week, can’t wait to meet with a few other people that I want to connect with and see what happens from there.
So, I’ve picked up a new Acer Aspire laptop for my consulting work. It was a pretty good deal – $750 for a 1.86GHz Dual Core, 2GB DDR2, 160GB HDD, Dual Layer DVD Burner, 802.11abg WiFi, and a 15.4″ Widescreen.
Spent a good portion of the day loading up Windows Vista Ultimate, Office 2007, Firefox, Virtual PC, OneCare, and a whole host of other software. So far, I’m impressed with the device, it is really responsive. I’ve not had a new PC since the Pentium 4 HT’s came out several years ago.
So, finally its ready to go – guess I better get to work!
Finally, after a summer of construction, a difficult and disappointing winter we are able to sit outside on the patio. It’s sunny, quiet and really relaxing. So I’m just blogging a quick aside while sitting at our patio set we picked up last fall and just listening to… nothing!
So I’ve completed my last day with Michael Foods. The last two weeks have been an almost non-stop brain dump and documentation marathon. It’s taken extra hours each day and left me drained of ambition to do much else when I got home.
Now that this transition is over, I’m going to be able to focus my attention on clients. I’ve also got a lot of work to do yet with that – there is a tremendous amount of work on the web site that needs to be done, marketing materials (glossies, cards, brochures, letterhead, etc…), and numerous other items.
Still, I’m excited about getting started with Avatar Consultants, the name of my consulting firm that I’ll be working to launch over the coming weeks. If you visit the site, please be aware that it is still under construction. I’ll be getting a lot more done this coming weekend, but it may look a little sparse on the services and such.
So stay tuned, I’m going to be pretty busy, but I’m going to be blogging a lot more. I’ll also be on Twitter much more than today as well, just due to the nature of working in different environments and having the opportunity to network more.
This is a difficult post for me, and an exciting one as well. There are many good times that I’ll remember from working at Michael Foods, and I have to admit that I’m going to miss working with such a great group of people. Anyone looking to join Michael Food’s IT department couldn’t look for a better team of people – seriously, the people are great and the environment is a good one – don’t hesitate.
So why am I leaving? Because it’s time. I’ve been with Michael Foods for a total of 9 years, the first two as a contract employee, the remaining as an FTE. The experiences have been numerous and varied. It is simply time for me to take the next step in my career – my goals no longer match the needs of the position I held, I simply need more room to grow in the directions I want to pursue. Simple as that.
So, to my former coworkers, and friends that I leave behind on a day to day basis I need to say goodbye. I’m sure that I’ll get a number of calls and questions on a number of topics, but for many I’ll probably not be in touch. While this is a shame, I look forward to the possibilities of working with any of my former coworkers again someday in the future. Simply to all, I want to say thank you.
There have also been many, several people that I want to thank individually – and I couldn’t fit it all in my goodbye email, so here it goes.
Again, to everyone else I’ve worked with at Michael Foods, both in IT and the business – thank you for 9 great years. It will not be forgotten. Best wishes to you and your future endeavors.
Bring It On
Sincerely,
Rick Mahn
@RealJamesWoods If you take $1 million from one person and give $10 to 100,000 people, you’ve lost one vote but gained 100,000.
That’s Zohran Mamdani’s socialism.
To put it another way, no one ever tried to escape capitalism on a raft made out of trash
Every American should ask all politicians running for office one simple question: Would you support a nationwide ban on Sharia Law? Their answer will tell you everything you need to know when you hit the voting booth.
I asked @KenPaxtonTX and he responded: “Absolutely. It’s
Today, Democrat candidates for governor are calling for mass amnesty, ending immigration enforcement, and turning Wisconsin into a sanctuary state, where criminal illegal aliens are released back into Wisconsin.
As governor, I will ban sanctuary cities.
