While I’m trying to get things moving on the consulting front, Amy and I have been talking about a lot of recreational opportunities. We’ve got a busy week preparing for this coming weekend as we have a lot planed. But also, we’re getting outfitted for the rest of the summer and into the next several years.
Didn’t think we would do as much as we have, but we’re now outfitted for canoeing and backpacking. This is something that we’ve been trying to do more of for the last several years. It has finally happened, and we can’t wait for every weekend, every available day that we’ll use to get out and do more outside. Getting out of the corporate world has been a reawakening for me – I really am getting my life back, the important things are becoming clearer again.
Any way, we’ve got a lot of prep work to finish up today and tomorrow before we head out. Packing, meal prep, and many others. It really is one of the busiest weeks I’ve had in a long time – and I love it.
I’ve added a new poll on my sidebar (scroll a bit, you’ll find it) that asks about employment. Do you work for yourself or someone else? Since I’ve recently made the jump to independent consultant, I was wondering what kind of opinions are out there on the topic.
{democracy:8}
So, select your choice and let me know! Thanks for stopping by.
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.
Jon – For patience & answer for every question – you’re a good friend
Pat – For teaching me how to appreciate individuals potential & look for new ideas
Jimmy – As a mentor in leadership & team building
Craig – For the importance of bandwidth, details, & the big picture
Pete – For project management & planning
Deb – For people skills & career coaching
Guy – For a different perspective & approach to things
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.
Hello there! I’ve been negligent in my posting lately – obviously I’ve not posted since I talked about resigning from my potion at Michael Foods. Some may be wondering how things have been going since last Thursday. Well, they’ve been just fine.
The response from my managers and coworkers has been a positive one, though it always is slightly different than one usually expects. Just goes to show that you don’t always know how people are going to react to things.
One big thing that has taken me by slight surprise is the amount of work there is in handing off responsibilities. At Michael Foods, we have done a great job of documenting everything we do. With that said, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in the transfer of knowledge, and backing out of projects that are already in progress. Anyone who has resigned from a long-term position probably can relate to that. Also, since the light at the end of the tunnel is visible, you get more motivated to get it done.
At any rate, I’ve run out of time to read my feeds, keep up on Twitter like I want to, and post my pondering’s on my blog. That’ll change in the coming week or two, but for the past several days, I’ve been lax in all of these functions.
So I thought I’d also let you know what you can expect in the next few posts, I’ve got some thoughts swirling around personal improvement, and personal responsibility – specially to oneself and your career. There may be one post, there may be a series of posts related together – just don’t know at this point as it depends on what I want to write at the time.
I’ve been working a lot on Avatar Consultants – on the physical side (office space, comms, etc…, I still have not updated the site with more information on services, support, contact info, and of course the usual theme elements that need to get done (Dave call me please! 🙂 ). More later!
Over the last several weeks and months I’ve alluded to a coming change in my career, and it is finally taking place. After a lot of thought and deliberation, I have tendered my resignation at Michael Foods, Inc. I am vacating the Sr. Technologies Analyst position at the end of April 2007 to pursue consulting, writing, and some technology training opportunities.
It’s been an educational and rewarding ride over the last 9 years there, with many, many learning’s that I’ll carry with me throughout my career. I’ll post fully on this later as I get closer to the end of my tenure there – I have many thank-you’s to hand out, and I’m afraid that it’ll be hard to leave in the end.
For the very short term, I’m looking forward to the weekend with my family to celebrate our decision (Amy is 100% behind my decision) and relax.
@MAC_Arms Pay taxes when you make your money, pay taxes when you spend your money, pay taxes when you successfully invest your money, pay taxes when you save enough taxed money to afford a house, pay taxes to live in your house, pay taxes when you sell the house that you paid taxes on to
Yup, taxes are criminal and we need serious reforms. I've always said that if you want to see a tax revolt, make withholdings illegal and have Americans write a tax check every payday. They'll revolt for sure. You don't miss what you never had.
Sen. @berniemoreno says voter ID and proof of citizenship are simply common sense.
“We’re talking about a very low threshold — identify who you are and prove you’re a U.S. citizen when you register to vote. I think we’re getting closer to
