So I was talking to my former overseer Bailey about where managerial authority is legitimated from. We agreed that it is self sustaining on its own creation: “the myth of effectiveness.” He argued that a bad manager will, however, eventually irritate his managed if he is bad, and he will then render himself ineffective. good as something I would like to think that but I think there are far too many bad managers to hope that the invisible hand of good management will take care of the issue for us. We also pursued the question of why virtue ethics societies failed.

Well, that’s the short and sweet of it, I will be going to SYD to do work at my company’s site out there for about two months.

It’s been a real trying last couple of months because this plan has been fomenting since about 3 months ago. It’s possibility has sort of held me in this state of superposition (stolen from popular Quantum Mechanics’ lexicon), neither being go-yes or go-no.

See, I’ve been thinking Buy new car? or Try to buy some property" - but the sensible answers to both these questions change dramatically when one thinks about not being where one wants to live for months at a time.

It’s also held my personal life in this weird stage - it’s this state of living semi-detached from those around one. This is contrary to my rather Dionysian (in the more Classical sense) impulses of experiencing each moment fully – but it’s hard to live the other way - it always feels like you’re being disingenuous insofar as you know the tacit assumption in each relationship (I should be able to see this person the day after, and the day after that) is highly dubitable.

But now that life-on-a-delay-timer is over as the flights have been booked, the hotel reserved, and my project plan put to ink.

I’m a bit worried about leaving SF – I like my apartment OK and moving all my belongings (that don’t get sold first) into storage hardly thrills me - but we can’t live life hoping not to experience changes. Change is critical to making us become what we need to be.

As you doubtless noticed I will be in Sydney through the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. I think that this will definitely be an interesting experience. The last time I was in a foreign land for a holdiay was in 1997/1998 when I was in Prague and Munich (Christmas, Sylvester, respectively).

So there you have it.

“You cannot sing for toffees” This may very well be a Sri Lankan expression, he grants. It does accurately describe my singing ability though.

You really do come back with creativity from vacation. I should say that the only risk to the employer would be allowing you to take too long of a vacation and then you would realize how much your cubicle-driven McJob sucks and that you should improve widgets by doing X and then off you go to start a new company or work at a different place that doesn’t have the institutional barriers to implementing your Great New Idea. Someone should do a study about that, the vacation as gateway to attrition. Some friends and I once agreed that: Work sucks, but the drama is worth staying for.

I’ve had a wonderful time in the UK. I have had productive and lively and intellectual meetings (OK, OK.. I mean there is some level of baloney associated therewith, but occasionally we have breakthroughs). I saw my friend Mike, his fiancée, and made the acquaintance of an awesome girl named Leigh at a strange club called Egg. I had a great time. The girl I travelled with on the way over was also smart and entertaining – it’s been a good trip I have a flight in 4 hours. See you soon USA.

…before my review is due. I have a mug o’ Earl Grey, a marked up print out, and about 30 errors to fix. I should be done with 45 minutes to spare. w00t. My boss was telling me all about the Philippines and the (as Freud said) Narcissism of Petty differences glossary between the upper classes and the non-. Spanish fluency seems to be one of the winnowing tools. Strange that the tongue of the colonizer is the sign of sophistication or ‘old-itude’ – as opposed to the non-English tongues of the UK. OK, back to it.

I have finished the review, finished it with 30 minutes to spare. I played with my new toy for a while (more on that later). Joseph Campbell is on TV again. He’s something good to watch as you drift towards being ready to sleep.

On Monday I was in training learning about Exchange. As much as I enjoy learning new things in the collegiate lecture atmosphere… As much as I enjoy learning new things in general… I have decided that I abhor the Silicon Valley technical training institution. The only exception is Red Hat’s training class – the lectures and labs are geared to make you learn something. At Sun’s training and Microsoft’s trainings though … even if you have the most competent, rhetorically gifted teacher – you will find yourself using the majority of your time trying not to let your eyes close.

My new office is located off of Research Boulevard in North Austin adjacent to the Riata Ranch “community”. This morning driving in I was in the left turn lane behind an ambling doe. Upon arrival to my parking lot I saw another doe and a baby fawn crossing the lot. “Humans! They’re not supposed to be here this early!”.

North Carolina. So far what I’ve seen of it leads me to the following statements: It’s hotter here than in Austin. I’m going to remember that next time some Trinangle-r asks me about the weather in ATX. It has beautiful trees and space like Texas, this is something I missed in the golden state. There’s a hint of Georgia about what I’ve seen so far, and I did like Georgia.

I’ve arrived and checked into the beautiful Westin Boston Waterfront. I’m still on California time, so it’s almost 2am and the conference starts at 9. Ugh.

Tuesday night was a lot of fun in Boston. After doing the full conference raft of activities we retired back to our respective rooms for some decompression and rest. Around 6 we headed into the borderlands to Chinatown and enjoyed a steak dinner at Smith and Wollensky. I enjoyed a bowl of their “world famous” split-pea soup and, quite possibly, the best steak I have ever had. It was a bone-in ribeye that just knocked my socks off. I was cutting it very thinly and making my own carpaccio style cuts. It was delicious. The restaurant was in an old armory building near Chinatown that was decorated in a very nice early-teens, Teddy Roosvelt, 48 stars kind of way.

At my megacorp we now have Crystal Light in the breakroom. These ‘single use’ crystal packs are to be added to bottled water ( boo bottled water! ) so that instead of having another bullet of brown sludge you can have a nice lemonade. I, for one, welcome this change. In that spirit, I provide an advertiser’s wet dream by repeating this mantra:

Today was my VP’s quarterly all-hands meeting and much to my surprise, I was honored with an award. Apparently an elf, or several elves, thought that the work I had done since joining the team 7 weeks ago was exceptional and nominated me for being an exemplar of the corporate culture we seek to foster in my organization. I admit, there was a second where, as the introduction was read, I thought: “Hey this person is doing a lot of work like I do, that’s funny.” But then it dawned on me, the person reading the description was my manager’s manager, my director; wait, was that suggestion from my manager that I ‘be sure to be at the all-hands on Monday’ more than just a pull for team turn-out at the big conference facility…"

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/20/opinion/sunday/the-one-question-you-should-ask-about-every-new-job.html Story 1: Is the Big Boss Human? Story 2: Can the Little Person Rise to the Top? Story 3: Will I Get Fired? Story 4: How Will the Boss React to Mistakes?

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2007/08/16/the-not-to-do-list-9-habits-to-stop-now/ Do not answer calls from unrecognized phone numbers Do not e-mail first thing in the morning or last thing at night Do not agree to meetings or calls with no clear agenda or end time Do not let people ramble Do not check e-mail constantly — “batch” and check at set times only Do not over-communicate with low-profit, high-maintenance customers Do not work more to fix overwhelm — prioritize Do not carry a cellphone or Crackberry 24/7 Do not expect work to fill a void that non-work relationships and activities should

https://hbr.org/2016/12/how-a-culture-of-silence-eats-away-at-your-company Unwinding cultures of silence might be my goal for the new year. As a Southerner it’s very hard for me to engage in direct, candid, and challenging feedback. I want to get stronger at it, but not push through to the other side where I become wearisome. It’s a growth area.

Perhaps open-plan offices are like capitalism unto communism as detailed by Marx’s model: the necessary Hell-state before unfolding into a glorious future.

I’m nearing my first year anniversary at the Flatiron School and was thinking about the projects I’ve undertaken and what I’ve learned in the last year. While doing so, it struck me that I had never written about how I came into education from a career in corporate IT and full-stack programming. This is, after all, my second go at being a manager of a curriculum-producing team. When did doing this become my life’s work more than a career of pursuing code?

But moving into education wasn’t a new move as much as it was a return to a fork that I’d opted not to take as I graduated in 2000. In my last year at university, I’d faced the question of whether to pursue the academic life or a life working in business. I had been planning on an academic life, but I chose the other path at the last moment.

But now I realize that the fork I chose gave me lessons that I was able to add to the lessons that my most-fondly remembered teachers gave me. And now, in my role, I get to bear those golden fruits of the dollar and the philosopher to a new generation at a scale hitherto unimaginable.

Here is the story of my trajectory toward an educational path, how I came to delay traveling it, a recollection of some of the most important lessons I learned and people I met along the way, and how I hope to honor them and their teachings as I work in this new model of education.