Random Thoughts

I mentioned in my last post how bad decisions by the powers that be have made the people who work with me want to leave. I helped them along by putting in my 2 weeks notice. I have been thinking about a change from them prior to the announced move to the suburbs, but that decision merely made it much easier to go out, reach out to my contacts and apply for jobs. The process itself was not that hard; as I alluded to previously, the tech market is quite good in Vancouver and folks with my skill set are lucky enough to be in demand. I have new UI technologies to be exposed to and a new company and technology stack to be exposed to. There are at least 3 familiar faces there that I know of and many more people who know people I know. I did apply to a few places and talked to quite a few people, recruiters and other wise, and after interviewing at 2 places, accepted the job I found to be the most acceptable. The most interesting thing since the change is the knowledge that many othe...

I haven't written a work related post in what seems like ages. I am currently living through the aftermath of a third M&A in my career. The company I currently work for is in its third incarnation - from a small tech startup 15 or so years ago to something that was sold to a large software company - one of those lumbering giants that have their hands in all kinds of technology driven fields - where they invested sufficiently in it to grow it in its current location - to now finally being acquired by an even larger technology company - one that its hands in all kinds of technology fields.I came along post the second phase but I have seen 2 other US tech company acquisitions, one that made me quit fast and the other that took me around the world but made me leave anyway. The difference from the previous take-over of the current place and this one is stark. While there was a lot of churn up top in the previous acquisition and differences in what you paid for benefits etc, for...

It has indeed been a while since I wrote anything of note. Not because I don't have so much to say. Not because I didn't want to. I just decided that it was better to try and live rather than write about it.  So what have I learned? Some people are incredible at this life thing. Me, not so much. I am living life well enough. Successes, failures, trial and tribulations. Most of it is fun. I still do what I do, and I enjoy it for the most part. Now, I am hoping to get back to writing more. Writing all kinds of things that I have somehow given up on doing. Let's see if that really happens.

If you've followed the news recently, you have seen that picture. The picture of a beach in Turkey. Normally, beaches are things people dream of being on. I've seen pictures of people photoshopped to look like they are on an incredible beach somewhere. Not this one. You know this picture. I heard of it on the radio. I saw it on the television. It was preceded with a warning about it. About how graphic it would be. I saw it. It was a picture of a little boy, lying face down in the sand as the tide lapped his body. This boy was no longer alive. The first thing that came to my mind was of a little boy I know. He looks similar in size. I imagine this little boy liked trains too. I imagine he liked to run around and tell stories of his life and explain how amazing his drawings are or how a bad guy is coming and he is Batman and how, together (I would be Superman), we could take care of the bad guy. That's what went through my mind. This little boy will never speak...

As I write this, I can smell rain. You know that smell. Dig deep into your olfactory memories. It is that smell at the onset of the monsoon season. For those of you who have never experienced a real monsoon, it is that smell when rain falls on parched land. It releases that smell. I don't know if it has a word to describe it, but I know what it is. Well, my nose does. The first time I read the God of Small Things I wanted to get on a plane and go home. Arundhati Roy does a brilliant job of describing the rain and Kerala in general. That home exists only in my mind, but anyway. In the midst of an unprecedented draught, rain is finally falling on this parched rain forest. I am so happy. Back to the story at hand. Another happy story. As a child, I would have been looking forward to the 10 or so days off at this time of the year (well, it depends on something called a sidereal solar calendar which isn't in sync with the Gregorian calendar we use). People would make these elab...