Temporarily a Full-time Author

Although I've never really dreamed of being a full-time author, I can't deny it would be nice to sit around every day and do the thing I love the most: eat French bread pizzas. Then, after the pizzas were gone, I would spend the rest of the day writing. Well, after leaving my job of eighteen and a half years at Uplogix / Lantronix, today was the first day of doing just that. And let me tell you, friend... it was awesome.

👋 As I bid farewell to my role leading the technical services teams at Uplogix / Lantronix, I am filled with a deep sense of gratitude. This job has been my second home for nearly two decades, and the experiences I've had, the knowledge I've gained, and the friendships I've forged are truly priceless. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have worked alongside such a talented group of professionals.

I awoke in the six o'clock hour instead of at my usual 4:30 rally time. Since there is no longer a team in India to manage, there is no longer a reason to be at the computer so early. Did you know India is ahead of Austin by ten and a half hours? That's right, ten and a half! There is such a great team over there, as eager to answer customer questions as they were to help me research Indian names and traditions as I continued work on House of Nepenthe.

Once the kids were up and Matador was off to school, I preheated the oven and sat down to write. It was glorious. It's amazing how much writing you can do when you're not working on another PowerPoint presentation. I rewrote three chapters today, and not just easy ones... these are crucial steps towards the climax that will send even the most astute reader reeling. Man, I love this job.

While change can be daunting, I am eagerly looking forward to the next chapter that awaits me. I am prepared to take on a fresh challenge, armed with my extensive experience in leading technical teams, defining processes, building custom web applications, and prioritizing customer experience. I am open to roles at any stage, from nurturing a technical services team from its inception at a startup to joining an established team and helping them reach new heights.

Since I no longer have to check in with the EMEA team, I wrote all the way through until lunch, at which time I enjoyed my French bread pizza while I hate-watched Terminator:Genisys. Yep, that's the actual name they chose for this movie. As I pondered how every single part in a movie could be miscast, I glanced at the clock and freaked out because I was late for the 12:30 Monday meeting. But then I remembered myself. Instead of joining a Teams calls, I fed my writing partner Cheyenne some pizza crust and resumed writing.

Such freedom. I used to time-box my writing sessions to twenty minutes or so if I was fitting one or two in during a weekday. Now, with my Motion calendar basically empty except for a Post to Instagram: Why Buy Wednesday task, I can go at my own pace, and keep going, long after a call or the next meeting might have interrupted me.

If you have any leads or opportunities for a technical manager who wants the best for his customers and team, please reach out. To my former coworkers, know that I value our professional relationship and would love to stay in touch. Thank you in advance for your support.

I write until Matador returns home from school. Like most days, I enter my offline period while to play Bluey House with Rainbow and quiz Matador on algebraic equations. I gave him 4x = 10 the other day, and that boy answered like it was nothing, then told me Yoshi and Nabbit don't take any damage in Super Mario Wonder. That boy would probably be the next Little Man Tate if I hadn't introduced him to video games.

The kids are in bed at eight o'clock, and instead of heading back to my desk to check on tickets or messages or emails or calendar invites, I head to the living room to watch the last ten minutes of the season 2 finale of House of the Dragon that we didn't get to finish the day before. Cue a giant crescendo into a fat lot of nothing, and we roll our eyes so hard we fall over.

The hour is late, but as there is no need to wake up early in the morning, I return to my desk to write for another half hour. The Chai is hot, the music is Classical, and the house is asleep. My characters yell at one another, yearning for some connection in the dystopian world I have created to hold them. As the night wears on, my mind wanders, and all I see is Zero Cool staring out at me from the screen.

Eh, maybe tomorrow. Today, I'm a full-time author, and it feels good, man.