Blahgorrhea

It is quite possible these days for a company to fire its IT staff and move all internal applications to web apps offered by other companies. It is especially easy to do this at start-ups that don’t even have IT staffs to fire. My boss at my new job decided to go this route as well, claiming we’d be “eating our own dog food” as well as saving on IT costs. Our list of web apps includes Gmail, Kiko, JotSpot and Backpack. I was more than willing to give this approach a shot, but then I realized its drawbacks. [Continue reading…]

You may think that the life of the self-selected unemployed is glamorous and relaxing, but in actuality it has its own types of stress. Take today, for example. I woke up on the early side of 8:30 and after showering and grabbing some toast and OJ, went to go run a few errands. Turns out today is Veterans’ Day, and so the bank was closed. That is one more errand I have to push off until Monday. I came back home and although I have a bunch of household chores hanging over my head, I decided to head out to read at a cafe for a bit. The whole time I was there, I felt like I needed to get back so I could get more things done before leaving on vacation. So I rushed back home, looked up the Goodwill donation center and made two trips to drop off clothes and an old computer. Finally, with a feeling of, well, goodwill in my heart, I decided to treat myself to a burrito, before coming back home to more chores. [Continue reading…]

It occurred to me last night that I am working with a master negotiator when I realized the subtlety of his tactics at hand. I have been offered an offer for a job, but I have not yet been given the offer. What this means is that over the few weeks I was given to decide whether or not I want the offer, I will have to decide and convince myself that either the job is the right one and I want it or that it is not and I do not want it. If I decide that I do not want the job, then we each just go about our merry ways. On the other hand, in deciding that the job is the right one, I will have invested myself emotionally in the job before even getting to the point of real negotiations. [Continue reading…]

I have always fancied myself to be fiercly independent, thinking I can get along without anyone else’s help or even influence. I have always liked to think that I didn’t care what others thought about me or how I ran my life as long as I felt good about it. But as I have been thinking about my decision of what to do with my life, I have noticed that I rely more and more on the reactions and opinion of my friends and family. It is important for me to get “buy-in” on a decision regarding my life. As I describe my business idea to friends, my confidence in my idea is deeply influenced by their reaction. [Continue reading…]

I have a decision to make. I have to decide for myself whether or not I want a job or don’t want a job. I don’t want a job. I already know that, but I will need a job at some point, or at least a source of income. But what I really mean is that I have to decide what I want to do with myself immediately after I finish up working at Edusoft at the end of October.

On the one had, I should take some real time off; time I will spend doing actually nothing. I will ask myself, “What is it I want to do with my free time?” and whatever it may be, I can do. That sounds great, but I fear that I will just waste my time, watching TV, writing in my blog, or doing other pointless excersises that do not contribute to my self worth. [Continue reading…]