#316

I was given a severance package last week. Or, in the words of M 'n' m, "Dad, sorry you got laid off." I tend to compulsively, awkwardly self-deprecate, but right now I prefer phrases like 'impacted by downsizing,' 'let go,' 'your position was moved to China,' or 'you're awesome'; yeah, that's it, just 'you're awesome.' I can't say, however, I'm awesome next to the superb, all-world talent that survived this long. I wouldn't say I was a turtle running with hares or anything, but over and over again I was impressed by the remarkable, technical minds there (I'm smart enough to admire greatness; participation is a different story). And the products we made; innovative, cutting-edge, and really damn complex, frankly. (This is starting to sound like my resume.) My layoff wasn't without warning, thankfully; it happens every year; we've been a profitless, shrinking company for too long. A news piece reported our headcount is 95% reduced from four years ago, tens of thousands down to a few hundred. BUT! But... it's an awesome company, with a long and lustrous history, and I truly believe it'll march on, recover, stabilize, kick ass. The company has hemorrhaged talent to companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Snapchat – the list is long – but I'm telling you: You haven't heard the last of these people. It's a special group, a special company.

In life's rough patches, in challenging, uncertain times, it's pretty fucking great to have kids. I'll say that. Children are an awesome thing for purpose. For lots of other things too. Energy, love, inspiration. I believe I'd find all that without M 'n' m, but I have them – Thank you, God, for my children; the same prayer I say every day – so here we are. I'm excited to move forward.

This might be the first post I just fire off without much editing, e.g. the voice, as I reread what I've scribbled, that says okay, make this funny or witty or SOMETHING, and crisp, this sentence is too wordy, actually, shit, they're ALL too wordy, what's wrong with you, too much caffeine? And don't use the F-word; it's not in your nature to use it anyway; write better and you don't need the 'emphasis,' and you used 'awesome' 17 times, that's the best adjective you can come up with? Blah blah, criticism, edit, blah blah. As always, thanks for reading. I look forward to seeing the spike in readership when I post to Facebook especially. And when you mention, "I enjoy your blog," etc. Thank you. I really appreciate it.