So the year is pretty much wrapped-up at work. Due to the mangled leg, I had to participate in year-end activities via phone, rather than in person, which is less than ideal, but I pulled off a decent showing and I’m pleased with what I delivered. Unfortunately, like most of my team, what I delivered was short of the goals. Turns out getting industry giants to pivot around a new technology paradigm takes more than 6 months.
I’m pretty confident in how it’ll shake out though. Yes, we missed the mark, and yes the mark might have been set a little too far out, but some pretty great work is in progress from those same industry giants, and next year looks to be the year of the Cloud — which benefits me, as well as the tech world.
The likely result though, is that this buys/sets me back (depending on how you look at it) another year. This one went ok, but won’t be launching me on any new career paths — meaning there’s still some headroom above me to fill. Of course I’ll be working hard on that in the coming months, but there are some other interesting things going on that we’ll be glad to be able to participate in meanwhile…
– Ben will be attending senior kindergarten at the local public school. I still object, on principle, to the all-day/every-day mandate, but we can rebel quietly, pulling him out for family time whenever we see fit. And the school is close enough and small enough that we can participate in his early education with the teaching staff. Its a good place for him to start, in a fairly idealic little community, so when the Christian school called to follow-up on our talks where they explained that tuition costs there were about $500 a month, I fairly confidently told them we were no longer interested.
Abi will be starting pre-school in the fall as well — two half days a week, like Ben has been doing (and loving!)
– Our church will be working on opening two new campuses — one in an area we know well from our college days. Having helped open a couple campuses during our time in New York, it seems like this might be one of those divine appointments. As long as I’m not locked in the tech room all the time, I do love being involved in church ministry.
– I’m going to finish my one year Certificate of Theological Studies, leaving me with the option to do 3 more years for a Masters some day in the future, then start work on something I had always intended to do: get a Science degree. Depending on what country I want to work in, my education is evaluated differently. In the US, I’m well positioned. In other places, a few additional letters on the resume will help a lot. I’ll have to go through a prior learning assessment to determine how much I have to take, but it could be as little as 10 courses, or a max of 20 — all by correspondance. Considering all the time I spend on airplanes, that shouldn’t be a problem.
– Nicole has some renovations she wants to do — although some other house related expenses may come first. The kitchen is on the list, right behind getting the central air conditioning working again. Fortunately, 3 kids keeps her sufficiently busy. Its a good thing she’s such an awesome mom!
Financially, another two years in my current role should leave us very liquid. A couple trips over-seas, including getting the kids on their first airplanes, should keep things interesting. Beyond that, who knows, but after 7 weeks of sitting on a chair, its nice to have some clear goals to pursue. Now if I could just get off the crutches, at least onto the cane, I would feel a lot more sane…