Huzzah! (almost)

The new CEO of Company_C (the child company of my employer and a similar company) made some major org changes - the good news is that:
1) My scope of official responsibility has shrunk dramatically, and
2) I get to go back to NYC!

I had already made plans to visit my folks this weekend so I'm going to carry through with it, plus I'd like to see the data center project done before I go. But, as soon as the D.C. is finished, I'm getting on the next plane home. Clau and I are very happy.

Building the D.C. has been incredibly hard, stressful, confusing, and awesome. Yesterday was about the most fun I've had since I joined Company_B; it was an absolute nuthouse and I felt like a general (well, maybe a colonel) giving orders and making the whole thing go smoothly. I wouldn't necessarily want to do it again but it's been a blast - if I hadn't had all kinds of other stuff bogging me down then I probably would have loved it.
However, it's like a lot of other things - doing it once was a fantastic experience, but I wouldn't want to make a career out of it. Fortunately the guy who was heading up the D.C. part is about the best hardware / D.C. guy I've ever seen - if I was a colonel, then he was the general. Furthermore, even he was impressed with what we've accomplished in a very short time.

So, overall that's good news - got the D.C. hoisted, and I get to go home when it's done (and catch up on the work for my new role in the project). However, since my workload will probably shrink to a more manageable level, I might actually get to enjoy the rest of the summer. Callooh! Callay!

No time!

Wow life is busy right now. In LA last week, spent the weekend in NYC, back in LA today, off to Oakland to visit the family next weekend, then back to LA, then back to NYC, then maybe back to LA - but hopefully not.
The snowball is definitely picking up speed - I shudder to think of what life will be like in a month...

--Nate

The hammer has dropped

Oh my sweet lord am I busy. I'm so wiped out that I can't even focus anymore. There's an endless stream of crap that's gotta get done, a hard immovable launch date, and bosses all the way to the top with no sympathy for my wanting to have a life (at least not for the next few months). Ill probably end up spending 50% of the next few months in L.A. until it's done, and the amount of crap to crank out is just getting ridiculous. Thankfully everyone's really sharp and assiduous, so at least I'm definitely not carrying all the weight - if anything I'm pulling everyone else down - definitely a different feeling for me.
I heard that one of my old coworkers from Company_A is leaving. I'm happy for him that he's moving along in the world, but I feel bad for Company_A. In retrospect they weren't all _that_ bad, and the only thing that was really reprehensible was making me pick up and finish the search project while my little brother was in town.
So, unless I win the lottery, I'm going to be a slave for the next couple of months. After we launch in late Sept I'll be able to have a life again.
Incidentally, it's all JetBlue from now on. Although theoretically with the amount of cross-country flying I'll be doing, I could end up with an impressive number of American miles...but it's not worth it.