Last weekend Sunday was spent walking about Golden Gate park. Covered nearly 3/4 of the length of the park and back again, punctuated by yummy sandwiches provided by the potential romantic interest mentioned earlier. Dropped her off in Fremont, noting the odometer had pulled about two hundred miles that day. Damn but I was tired having woken up earlier than usual, and not ingesting much beverage all day, especially anything of the sort with caffeine in it.
Tuesday Jessica did call, saying that Lisa and her boyfriend were in town, and they were going to get some food in Half Moon Bay, was I interested? I had to admit that normally, since I was on such a roll at work that day, I'd take a pass, but is one thing for Lisa to be down from Sacramento, is yet another thing to spend the evening in Half Moon Bay before Jessica flies back to Taiwan for a few months. I cleared my evening plans of working and relaxing, and spent a far more enjoyable time driving her Toyota out to Half Moon Bay for a relaxed seafood dinner with good company.
Jessica got laid off from VA Linux recently. Hers is a bit of a ride - from being an IPO millionaire on paper, to being unemployed by an over-hyped company grappling with the reality of ... well, the reality of reality, I guess. She's going to go get out of the bay for a few months, relax with her folks, maybe teach some English and visit Thailand. She has suggested that I find some cheap $500 round trip and stay with her folks for a week. Is somewhat tempting, though slightly insane-sounding. Must score a passport.
Yesterday was a dark day at Tellme. We zigged, we zagged, we clarified our business plan. We let thirty people go. Nobody was too happy about it, especially the super-freaks at the top who had to make the decisions. But ... well, life goes on. The spin was that unlike everyone else, we're just doing this as a healthy thing, not as some sort of creepy death knell. I think I can believe that.
Lotta folks took off right after the meeting explaining what we were doing and why. Time to blow off a Friday evening and then a weekend, drinking. I had to stick around to disable accounts. The tough part was that they took Warren out. He was one of our desktop guys, and he was basically my first co-worker, making the IT side of the company work. I think ... well, I don't know what I think, I just feel bad to see Warren gone. But other parts of the company got hit harder - it was basically a re-organization of sales and marketing, to concentrate on the better business plan. Life will otherwise continue much as it has in our corner of the building.
Friday morning I woke up and the first thought that popped in my head was the layoffs. I'd been given a count the evening before, but not a list. I was to keep quiet about it and be available to turn things down the next day. Well that first time waking up I just felt terrible. I went back to sleep like I always do, for a few hours. All morning I felt dehydrated, and during the all-hands, I had to go to the kitchen. I brung back several bottled waters. Apparently I was not the only thirsty one. And I wonder if Mike himself wasn't feeling unusually parched.
A sad day. We remember our fallen comrades and push on to glory, or whatever. I totally understand why they lay this kind of stuff on on a Friday - you get the weekend to recover from it. You lay this kind of emotional charge on folks during the week and you can kiss productivity that week goodbye. But, as I noted earlier, IS never sleeps - I got to disable accounts, shuffle some machines around to address a critical disk space shortage, and then wander off and get drunk, first with work wine, then work beer, then another beer at the Tide House thanks to Graham.
21 February
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dannyman.toldme