Where I've Been
I've been coming back up for air gradually, and I realize that I've been posting with a frequency that could be most charitably described as sporadic. There's been quite a few reasons for this, and usually they're none of your damn business, but I thought I'd make an exception just this once.
The past few months have been very difficult. In late October I got a call informing me that my father had been suddenly hospitalized, and without going into too much detail, there were other very disturbing circumstances behind that. This proved to be disruptive in many ways necessitating my shuttling back and forth between RI and NY on a weekly basis. I was losing income from my job; they were very understanding about my absences, even though I had switched to part-time status at the beginning of October.
But another big change in my life was disrupted as well. I started classes this past October for state certification as a library media specialist. As I think anyone who comes to this blog not looking for panda pictures knows, I have been pretty dissatisfied with the state of the tech world, and most especially its blogging outpost, for some time now. It's just not as exciting for me anymore. Given all that has happened to me over the past couple of years, and especially given the events of the past 3 months, I can no longer muster the enthusiasm to push bits around as your standard-issue corporate developer drone. I don't have the 50-60 hour weeks in me anymore, I never did very well with the "Go team!" aspect, and I have absolutely no interest at all in management. I did that once, and it was ok, but I have no desire to sit in endless meetings with the kind of people who would put an ad on your back button if they could. Am I still interested in programming? Yes. Leaving tech has freed me up, oddly enough. I can play with lisp without worrying about whether it's marketable or not.
What pretty much sealed the deal was that my father died in early December. I had to take incompletes in 2 of my classes. There were, as there always are, a lot of issues, but what I will say here is that it made me realize the importance of the family I do have now, and most importantly the need to spend time with them rather than being unhappy in a cubicle.
A long time ago, when I was a callow youth casting about for something more stable than bartending, I was steered towards the profession of librarianship. I got a paraprofessional job in a rare books academic library, and earned my MLS part-time at night in Boston. When I hit the job market, there was nothing to be found, or I didn't know how to sell myself (never been very good at that,) or probably a combination of the two. So, having had an amateur interest in coding for a while, I went to Columbia at night, got "certified" (ha) in C programming, and it was off to the races.
But now I am ready to return to libraries. I left my last tech job 2 weeks ago. I'm working part time at my local public library, and going to classes at night again. I take my son to school every morning and pick him up every afternoon, and we are both much happier for it. I'm done with Metro-North.
As for all this blogginess, I've been debating what to do. This month marks the 6th anniversary of this blog, such as it is. I still read the yammifications of the SCAL, and they still annoy the hell out of me, but I may no longer have the energy to remark upon the Emperor's unbecoming nudity. Besides, Dave Rogers is commenting far more intelligently (and calmly) on that subject than I ever have, or probably could. I've started blogs in a couple other places, and I may start writing more there about the world of library technology, which, while it has its share of irrational techzooberance (Library 2.0), also tempers it a bit. Or so it seems. I may still keep writing here, but I feel like I'm the asshole under the long tail. But anyway.