By definition, there are already enough people to do that
“It is not worth an intelligent man’s time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people to do that.”
–G. H. Hardy
I know, I know. It’s the same tired old excuses when it comes to the time between posts. I’m busy. I forgot. Other things are more important. None of those are really good enough for what has been happening these days. It’s true that I’ve been busy: I’m traveling more than ever. It’s also true that there are more important things than the internet going on: I’m building a house. However, it’s rarely true that I forget about this forum. I maintain a daily Twitter account, but I always think about topics I should expand on in this place. We circle back to the same thing and I realize that most of the things I want to talk about fall down the priority list and don’t get discussed to their full extent.
To talk about that traveling more than ever, I’ve already topped last year’s travel responsibilities and we’re only in August. There are still several more trips planned for this year, and I’m sure that many more will present themselves before the year is over. I’m also still working on creating a new position that will allow me to travel much more frequently than I currently do. It’s a role that I hold very dear to my heart and believe that it will benefit our customers in a way they’ve never realized. Whether my company feels the same way will take a bit of time to figure out, but I expect more details on that in the near future.
It is interesting to note that a very high-ranking development lead at the company was recently relieved to know that I was part of a customer unhappiness trip to attempt to smooth things over. The fact that someone (whom I wasn’t sure knew my face by name) was impressed enough with my skill that he was comforted by my presence says a lot about my reputation. Perhaps it is naive of me to assume that in nearly 5 years I haven’t made a name for myself, but I still feel that I try to hide among the shadows enough that this kind of recognition catches me by surprise. It’s no where near a bad thing, but it surprises me when it happens.
For those of you that weren’t swayed by that small sidebar. Yes, I’m building a house. It’s been something I’ve talked about for a while now, but it’s finally happening. The current projection is that it will belong to me on October 25th of this very year. For those of you in Madison, it’s in a subdivision known as Cardinal Glenn. For those of you outside of Madison, suffice to say that it is in Madison, WI. Until this point in my life, I’ve been weighing the benefits to staying at my current company versus moving on to something else. It’s true that Epic may not be the highest reaches of my dreams, but I thoroughly enjoy what I do there. Even when days are hard to finish out, I can’t see myself somewhere else. Whether that means I’m destined to stay there is another topic entirely, but for now it means I’ll be looking at permanent residency in the city of Madison.
For those of you that truly know me and have seen the plans/location for this house know that it’s not my true dream house. I’ve accepted that it will be a temporary home. The things that it will offer me far exceed the potential loss that will be presented to me when I decide to rid myself of it in a few years. The biggest positive that it has (aside from the wasted money on an apartment) is the workshop space it will afford me. To this day, I’m already planning the spaces and what tools I’ll need for some of my first projects. A Kickstarter program has already given me a versatile CNC machine to put in my garage. (The next big purchase being a 3D printer.) The CNC machine will begin my arsenal of tools that allow me to build nearly anything that I want. However, it’s interesting how much time I’ve spent researching techniques for hand-building many projects over the last few months. While CNC will produce a product much quicker and with much more exacting results, I feel that I want to do a few projects by hand anyway. I suspect the first few project will be a mixture of these techniques.
Regardless of where my hobby-heart tells me to go, it’s important to note that the next stage of my life is about to begin. I’ve already owned a house once in my life, so this will not be entirely new territory to me. I know where I need to focus my attention and where I can hire out the expertise. I already know that I hate lawn care and thrive on interior work. Because of this, I’m already setting up a permanent lawn care crew and making plans for what I’ll do to the basement area to increase my livable space.
In short, I’ve not forgotten about this audience and am actively building on my future in this city. I know many people are happy for the next stages of my life and what they will bring me, and I’m excited for the opportunities this will create in my world.