Well, it's official. I'm no longer working at Microsoft. Effective last night. I found out after I left the office, so I can't go back and say goodbye or collect my personal belongings myself. Now, I did give notice yesterday afternoon that I would not be working after 12/24, but MS opted to terminate my contract instead of letting me work the last week.

Why did I give notice? Because MS insisted that I work on Christmas Day like my regular schedule says. My contracting agency tried to help with the situation, but MS said "no." So I said "No" and then they just let me go.

Oh well.

Now I can get going fully with my new venture. Effective today, December 17, 2004, I am now self-employed. EON Consulting is the business I have opened, and I will be doing technical support and consultation for small and medium businesses around the globe. I already have a number of clients, and now that I can actively market myself, I expect to grow that list quickly. More on that later, of course, but now I can tell you, Sean, that I got the PowerBook to be my primary workhorse for the business.

I'll also be able to spend more time blogging here and in another blog I'm putting together that's a little less "personal."

Happy Holidays, by the way...

I love my PowerBook.

This year for Christmas (*shhhhhhhh* don't tell anyone!) I've been drafted into converting a bunch of family pictures and home movies into a DVD for the in-laws' extended families. Actually, both my wife and I have been drafted into doing this, and I haven't had the time to pull it all off myself. Plus, it's pointless for me to go through all the in-laws family pictures, cuz I don't know half the people or when the events took place, so I'm basically pointless in sorting/organizing/arranging the pics.

At any rate, she's been scanning pictures like crazy and I've started capturing video, editing it in iMovie, and putting it all together in iDVD. I've now got less than two weeks to get it all done, but most of the source material has been acquired, so it's now down to just the creative process.

I've got a video capture card on my PC, and I've used it before to do a number of things, but the software I've been using on the PC is just crazy to use, especially now that I can compare it to iMovie and iDVD. I have used Adobe Premier in the past, and it's still my favorite movie editing software because it's so powerful in what it can do, but for the very straightforward process of putting together this project for the family, iMovie has been more than up to the task. And it's been incredibly easy to use, even for a guy who doesn't read the manuals!

So, enough blogging for now. Back to the editing room. I've got to put together an ensemble piece of extended family from 1990 so I can move on to the next set of clips.

I love my PowerBook.

This is an open letter to an unknown individual.

Dear Sir/Madam/Whom it may concern/Blithering Fool,

Approximately two weeks ago, you turned on the "idiot spigot" and I urgently request that you turn it off immediately. Your actions have flooded the marketplace with people who act before they think or without thinking altogether. This includes, but it not limited to, people who:
- have no business doing what they are currently doing
- do not follow instructions
- do not listen to those around them
- ask for help and then berate those who try to help them
- think they know more than they do, especially as it relates to you

Please undertake corrective action as quickly as possible before I lose my control and respond to these people with verbal or other abuse. If you cannot turn off the idiot spigot, at least redirect the flow to some other part of the world. It's getting awfully deep in here.

Sincerely,

Q

I can't believe it's December already. I went to change my calendars this morning and realized that I hadn't changed one of them since October and another since August! This year has really been zooming by.

As I get closer to the end of the year, I'm approaching the end of a number of things. The end of 2004 (it seems like just yesterday we were thinking about the upcoming millennium change), the end of my 36th year as this particular human (by birthday is in January, hint, hint), the end of my contract with my current employer (fraught with conflict as the term ends, too), and the end of my days as an out-of-shape couch potato (per my doctors).

Of course, the end of some things also mean the beginning of others. 2005 is going to ROCK. At 37, I'm not getting older, I'm getting better. My employment prospects are still a bit hazy, but the new venture does involve my new PowerBook (not saying just quite yet, Sean). I'm slimming down, not for ego, but for health.

I've never really been one for New Years' Resolutions, because I've been so bad at keeping them. In fact, the last time I made a New Years' Resolution ("Date-free in '93") I broke it resoundingly (I got engaged in May of 1993). So I'm not going forward into 2005 with a bunch of "resolutions." No sir, these are my necessities. Nothing on this list is a want or wish. I don't "resolve" to do any of these things. I have to, for my family's survival.

OK, maybe that came out a bit over the top, but it really captures the essence of what I'm facing. If I don't get in shape and lose weight, I will suffer major medical issues in the short term and a diminished life span in the long term. If my new employment venture doesn't work out, I'll be sleeping in the homeless shelters really soon. You get the idea.

Bottom line, I'm doing these things for myself and my family. I'm not trying to get these tasks accomplished, I'm not wishing that these goals will magically be realized. I know it's going to take hard work, and I'm going to do it. I owe that to myself and my loved ones.