Techcocktail… hmm hmm goose beer
Lunch with my team’s VP when rather well. We discuss my career goals and aspirations. After the conversation he arranged a lunch meeting between myself and another manager of his–which also when rather well. Looking back, I still do not know what I what out of a career. I can discuss about my dreams all I want, but at the end of the day the thing that matters the most is my actions. And so far my actions has been mediocre.
The single thing that amazes me the most is luck. Seriously luck. Luck because of the random decisions that has given me opportunity. For example… Nov 15th, Thursday morning, I hopped on an airplane and was magically transported to Chicago for a two day trip. The overall goal was to attend a cocktail event (google tech cocktail) and hopefully gather information for creating a cocktail event in KC for techies too.
So it was 6:30 and there I was with my friend Dan, who by the way is also from KC, we were the probably the only few participants that were from out of town. And gosh, I have to tell you it was an exciting experience. Going up to random people and asking them the simple question of “What do you do for a living?” Then from that simple question an array of answers. Answers ranging from small oohh and ahhs to hey I know someone who is looking for a job. Seriously, I met this girl Caroline who organizes PR events for Hollywood clients. She started as a volunteer writing down name tags, etc but eventually through that contact was given a job as an event planner. Simply Amazing.
So to sum up my experience. Learn how to use Linkedin to track and visualize your network. Have a stack of business cards on hand. Not only are they good for handing out your contact info to other people, they are your raffle ticket to free stuff.
Moving on
Just bought airplane tickets to Chicago for the Tech Cocktail event coming up in November. I am so excited at the opportunity to other high-energy entrepreneurs, VCs, etc. The sad part is I do not believe I have anything to offer so I will need to have some great questions ready to keep the conversations going.
In other news, at work I have a technical mentor set up and tomorrow I will be having lunch with my team’s executive–oh boy this will be interesting. The technical mentor will help out tremendously. From what we have discussed so far, I can’t help that my current skills and wants are more gear towards prototyping and development rather than the small crappy development I am doing now. Money still rules the day, but I really hate dealing with money, such as figuring rates and charges–I hate that.
My life outside of work has been composed of halo3, programing and board games. Life is so much better when play is involved and working on my own projects feel so good and exciting again. Seriously, it sounds strange to programing when I programing so much during the day, programing for yourself has a different meaning…
Alright time to go to work.
Fall will come and go.
The 31 days of September just flew by. I can honestly say that I was not home for that entire month–well I was home for about 3 days–but yea an entire month. The weekends were filled up with weekend trips to the cities of Nashville, Kansas City, St. Louis and Allentown. Traveling to see family is the sole reason why I enjoy traveling.I haven’t been in Allentown for a good year and spending my Labor day weekend came at the right time. Meeting my cousins, Kenny and Alex, for the first time was fun. Most of the pictures should be posted to my flickr site, however the videos that I recorded still have not been shared. I might put them on youTube to share. Seriously, a two and one -year olds have some mystical power that cancels any bad feelings anyone may have. They have so much energy! The weekend after that was a trip to STL to drop off any Allentown swag. I arranged the weekend so John could also come. One of the things we ( John, Kevin and I ) did that weekend was play a little Magic the Gathering card game. We went out to the local game store and picked up three tournament packs with the intent to play a 30-card deck game with random cards. It was a good three hours well spend with a low cost value. Then the weekend after that I actually flew back to Kansas City, except I didn’t really spent it at home. I believe once I got off the plane, I was rushing to go off with friends. From dinner to board games to a weekend filled with art at the Plaza Art fair. Oh and this year I bought some art. Please check out the project Partivation from Gabe Lanza (He is based in Chicago but was originally from Milwaukee). Pictures of the artwork will come later. Ok. I need to get ready for CHC.
Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place
I simply do not know. My ambition is creating a sense of constant uneasy. I am very proud of myself for setting a two-year milestone. Day by day, that milestone creeps closer and closer that I could almost touch and feel that day has arrive. The actions that I do today will determine the outcome of tomorrow. With that thought in mind, I just freak out about my career–is this where I want to be?
My ambition and dreams feed words to my mouth to speak of achieving and producing. My habits are shaky; stuck between being pragmatic and being the norm. I can not, simply can not, let my day drift one by one. I need to feel challenged and to keep building on my skill set.
My immediate future can fit on several hands: stay on the job, go back to school or find a different job. I feel as if I have been left behind, that I am more bark than bite. This is not a good feeling to have. I want change, I want discussion to occur. Politics just slows things down and we are at the moment that govenment is not the only hand that can produce public change.
Day by day, the milestone creeps close. Week by week, I can see my future more clearly. If I only knew what was stored…
The Grind
As every Monday pass, in the back of my head I always remembered that I should be writing an entry–can’t believe I have been “inactive” for a good month. “Inactive” might not be the best choice of words because I was really active this week with my outside of work activities to grow personally.
One of the biggest questions in my life at the moment is whether or not I can see a future in Kansas City. The easiest scenario is staying in the midwest working for the same company day in and day out. Unfortunately for me I have been cursed with a can-do attitude and an absolute hatred for the status-quo.
For the past three weekends I have been exploring the realm of the computer language that is processing . Painstakingly learning how to create a GUI interface to manipulate data and information. I have learned much and am very happy with the progress made so far. Day by day, I feel that I am an artist/craftsman working on an untouchable medium. With my Information Design workshop fast approaching, I am hoping to gain at least some experience in the field of Information design.
Another untouchable medium I am trying to grasp is the social fabric that I have chosen to get tangled in. Recently one of the organizers at the tech MeetUp group I visit on a monthly basis has moved to Pittsburgh for graduate school. This action left a void in the group which I happen to be one of the four who stood up to take his place. As of late I have been volunteering my time to help others. From MeetUp groups to volunteering to find donations, I just can’t help imaging not getting involved.
I wonder if this will keep me in KC. Matter in fact, I am hoping it does keep me here. The brookside area is fantastic and am now toying with the idea of finding a place in that general area. If I do choose to move, that action will place me back on square one. At this moment in time, I haven’t quite found myself yet. Moving might be better when I am more confident.
Until next time.
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