So I set up a new company in late November, and I’m out on my own. I’ve been pretty relaxed about marketing so far, since I’ve had a few more or less back-to-back jobs handed to me by Accenture and other colleagues. Here’s my business card image. At some point, I’m going to rework the site to use this, my new “brand”. The photo was taken by Anne in Italy.
While I’m in posting mode (and getting to love the BloggerBot utility in Hello at the same time — man, this is easy!) here’s a lovely piece from the new MOMA in New York, which we saw on our recent visit. I forget its title, but it’s essentially a guy hitting on a woman. I love it.
And here’s one last view of the house. It was always an extremely comfortable place, and I’m going to miss it!
Anne and I went to Guelph on Saturday and said goodbye to the old homestead. My parents are moving out to Victoria at the end of the month, so they’re in the process of packing — though the house looked impressively devoid of packing crates when we were there. We took a walk with them up to the art gallery at the University of Guelph, which has a very nice outdoor sculpture park, including this fine piece — an inverted metal head which when viewed from the correct angle (viz. this photo) looks supernaturally imposed on the landscape.
Anne and I had a great long weekend in New York to celebrate her birthday. We went to see Der Rosenkavalier at the Met, had a couple of excellent meals, and spent three afternoons in, respectively, the new-ly renovated MOMA, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Guggenheim. And we got to see Paul, Kelly, Neil and Asako on Saturday, and Olga and Robert on Sunday morning! A most excellent trip.
My work is going very well. I’ve finished up a contract for Accenture, and am now starting a new contract tomorrow for a different client — one of the banks — which will go 1-2 months. It’s great to be in demand!
Just testing the BloggerBot utility…
We had a lovely holiday in B.C. and Oregon for Christmas. We started out by spending a few days on Salt Spring Island visiting Kate, and then had five days with Jean and Doug in Oregon. The weather throughout was very good (well, there was one day of rain in Oregon, but that’s pretty good) and we had a very relaxing time.
We’re back now, and Anne’s back to work. I’m still puttering around the house working on what to do next. The current plans are to do some contract work for a while and take the GMAT exam in preparation for a possible MBA degree, but I don’t have anything definitive lined up at the moment.
In the mean time, Anne gave me Half-Life 2 for Christmas, which was excellent!
Friday was my last day in the office… I still get benefits until next Friday (I’m on vacation until then) and then… unemployment!
Yikes, what have I done?
In other news, Patrick and Catherine are engaged, hooray! They’re getting married in February. Yay for love!
This month marks ten years and six months since I started working for Accenture, an almost inconceivably long time. When I started I thought I would be with the company for two or three years, but in many ways the company has done an excellent job of providing a steady incremental stream of personal challenges and rewards that have kept me holding on for the next stage for over a decade. Indeed, the last few years have raised the possibility that the firm might be a home for me for the rest of my working days, as I approached the Associate Partner and Partner ranks. But it is not to be.
I gave my notice last week and will be leaving Accenture on November 19th. In the past few days I have had many very kind words with the people I have worked with, who without exception have been supportive and encouraging as I set out on, well, whatever comes next. I’ve had a lot of questions, understandably, about why I’m leaving. What it comes down to is this: the next steps in the path, to Associate Partner and Partner, both involve trading off more of what I enjoy — building things and running teams — for selling and client development, which I am frankly not all that good at. And at this stage, with two incomes at home and no kids, the extra money is not a motivator.
Even so, I am not at all confident that the decision to move without a firm place to move to lined up is a good one. I hope it’s not hubris to think that I’ll be able to find something to do, but of course it is a concern. Interesting times!
It’s almost Hallowe’en, but I have a very tangible sense that the scariest part of the year is now past. This fall was surprisingly tense, with the sudden responsibility of finding an operations manager for Exultate, keeping the organization on the rails, trying to learn one of the hardest pieces of music I’ve ever seen, and meeting a lot of short, sharp work deadlines at the same time. All of these things are now successfully behind me and us, and with the huge help from other members of the Exultate family — with particular thanks owed to Janice Kirkkamp, Steve Wadhams, Michael Rowland, Molly McCarron, and to my dearest Anne for her unflagging support, love and help — we are now ready to tackle the upcoming season and seasons with new purpose and organization.
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The next couple of weeks will be very interesting. Of course the most important event in the world will no doubt be next week’s US election. Though we Canadians are powerless bystanders, we are collectively mesmerized by the good vs. evil showdown in play south of the border. Meanwhile, the US economy seems to be teetering on the edge of an immense slump (no doubt to take my Accenture stock options with it) and while Canada has a tidy federal surplus at the moment it does feel a bit like a single sandbag in the face of a tsunami. It’s great theatre, anyway — a classic cliff-hanger. We certainly do live in interesting times.
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Those who know me well know my love for good video games has not gone away with passing time. While I don’t have as much time to spend playing as I used to — having a life seems to take a lot of time! — I still enjoy the escapist fantasy of a few hours on the computer, quite regularly. The quality level of games seems to have taken a major step up over the last year, even as (or maybe because) there are fewer genuinely new games out there. There is a new sense of storytelling, a new level of focus on providing genuine choices for how to play, that makes the “you are there” feeling much more tangible. While the best game I played in the past year was probably Far Cry, I’m finding Doom 3 to be an experience of such intensity that I can only play it for short periods of time. The continuously dark, dangerous, violent atmosphere keeps me perpetually on edge, even though it has become quite clear that the game is not actually all that hard — certainly much easier than Far Cry. It’s quite long, especially when played in 20 minute segments!
Coming up soon, Half-Life 2 is finally on the way to stores (sale date November 16, I believe) and Halo 2 for the X-Box is also almost out(you’ll be seeing the ads). Based on the investment in these games, and the reviews and previews out for them both, they’ll both raise the bars yet again.