Musings from “Life Is a Road” author–Daniel Meyer
Work
Musings about my career…or lack of
Do you *like* what you do?
Apr 6th
My Dad loved his work.
I always thought that was normal. The world is big enough…and diverse enough…that I believe a man can work at practically anything he loves and make a decent living at it. The key is passion.
That said, I sort of stumbled into my career. I’ve liked it…I’ve loved it. But it’s changed, and lately it seems I’m just going through the motions.
I’m intensly passionate about my home life…I can’t even articulate my feelings for my wife of 19 years…they’ve never dimmed…and I enjoy the projects we elected to tackle together. The Old Vic is an amazing, challenging, and fun project…and our 100+ year old building on the square is a cool and facinating project as well. Big plans. Big dreams.
And we don’t just dream. We DO!
Other passions…no less strong, some perhaps stronger than others:
–Riding. Heh…you’d think the years and the miles…or maybe even the pain…would have dimmed the desire.
–Writing. Somehow crafting the world that I see…that I experience…into something others can understand and perhaps even feel.
–Family. Friends. A day with them at the movies…or lazing around the couch just chatting…or working on something. All good.
–Art. The doing. The viewing. The discovering.
–Flying. Skiing. Machines. Materials. Wood. Metal. Fire. Stone. Creation! The synergy between man and his machines…the tangible soul he imparts to his endeavors.
Will there ever be enough time?
Passion. It drives me. It moves me. It inspires me.
But not for my work…I’m not burned out…the work itself has changed. I’ve found I’ve only stayed for the money. Oh, I still do the job…I’m still dedicated…AND good at it.
But I’ve stayed for the money…and that…somehow…just seems wrong.
Well, ‘wrong’ seems the…heh…wrong word…perhaps ‘tragic’?
Should my home life be enough? Or should a man be *allowed* to be passionate about his work as well?
Don’t get me wrong…I’ve paid my dues. We ALL do things we don’t want to do at times…but should that be the norm?
Passion as principle. I’ve touched on this before…and often meant to write more extensivly about the merits…and the costs. Maybe I will someday.
But for now…what about you? What do you do for a living? Are you passionate about it?
Comments?
edit: I posted this in several places, and am getting a lot of interesting and well thought out responses…so next week or so I’ll post an article summary of the responses/gist and my conclusions. Thanks for commenting!
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
21 Hours.
Apr 2nd
This week we had a system failure. Lots of things contributed to that failure (and impeeded our recovery from it)…the elimination of redundant systems, a shortage of personnel, the “brain drain” that’s been going on here for years, and more…but all that’s another story.
21 hours. I worked a 21 hour day. (others did too/more).
Haven’t had to do that in a while. I hope I don’t have to again any time soon. Phew!
THIS weekend is for lazing about.
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Work-a-day World.
Feb 20th
Working this weekend…for the job…not writing, riding (other than the commute), the house etc…just working.
The only point in my being here is…that I get paid to be here.
Is that supposed to be enough?
Mundanity. New term.
Describes today perfectly.
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Juror # 5.
Jan 19th
I expect to be out of touch a bit. I’m juror # 5.
Can’t talk about it whilst it’s going on…perhaps later.
Y’all have a good week!
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Economic puzzles…
Aug 6th
Cash reserves help in times of reduced or no income.
But inflation eats cash reserves, returning nothing. As prices rise the money can buy less. Any interest earned only offsets a small fraction of the loss of buying power.
Have I put you to sleep yet?
History and basic economics suggest our economy is headed for recovery, but next on the list typically is very high inflation for a period of time.
Owning real property is a hedge against inflation, and if the inflation rate outpaces or even comes close to the finance costs you are even that much more ahead. One of the reasons long-term homeownership builds wealth despite taxes, maintenance, insurance, and finance costs.
It can even make sense to buy with the intent of selling later (after the inflation has raised the price). Home “flippers” do/did this…and as long as they were intelligent about what they were paying and when to get out of the market, many did extremely well.
But I’m not talking about a house. Houses we’ve got!
With a property and plan in mind, it can make sense to buy now.
Of course, it only makes sense to buy now as long as your income holds out…which, in these times, can be a serious question. If it doesn’t hold out…well, THAT’s when you need the cash reserves.
Sigh. Risks. There’s no reward without them. How much though? We could fall hard or succeed gloriously.
Cash or property…that is the question. I wish I knew the answer…it’s a real and immediate question for us at the moment…plans are cooking in the brain. Plans with distinct targets as to property and use…the property I can get…maybe. The rest of the plans…well…I don’t have a clue how I’d carry them out. There’s only so much time in the day. How much “flying by the seat of my pants” and instinct is safe? Reasonable?
I’ve almost always come out ahead listening to my instincts…and almost always regretted (sometimes severely) when I ignored them. But my instincts now…they run contrary the mainstream thinking…I guess they usually do though.
What’s this all about? Getting out of the corporate world (eventually). Small town Texas. The Old Vic. More projects than I can handle. Projects I like. Food. Publishing. Books. Art. Money. Time. Towers. Internet. Responsibilities. Bloodcurdling sheer panic.
Cash or property…yep, that is the question. It’s about a $35,000 question as a matter of fact.
All balanced against our future plans and security.
Gad. It’s a wonder I sleep at night.
More later (with specifics when I can).
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Blaarggg!
May 13th
Ton of bricks > me.
Caught the avian swine bubonic ebola zombie plague virus…or something like that.
Monday…one nostril decided it was allergic to something…little stuffy…just one nostril…no big deal. Tuesday felt better.
Wednesday, I was so sick and unsteady that I couldn’t get out of bed.
Did the only sensible thing. Emailed the boss that I wouldn’t be in, went back to bed, and passed out.
Half a bottle of Nyquil may have come into play there somewhere.
We’ll see how tomorrow goes.
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Survived this round.
Mar 2nd
Belo Tech layed off a bunch of folks Friday…that’s the division I work for in AH Belo Corp (parent company of The Dallas Morning News). I support newpaper publishing operations for three major papers.
Out of my immediate group they took 20% of our workforce. We are very good at what we do. We’ve won awards for our innovation and developments. We were swamped and the newspapers, as dismal as times are, still make money. The decisions seem to made without long term consequences or survival for the business in mind. Our publisher just tripled his salary and they paid out performance bonuses to upper management last month. I’m still shaking my head.
And they whacked ‘em on Friday…so the insurance wouldn’t carry over into March. Layed off on Friday and told you have no insurance starting Sunday. Chicken-sh!t ‘tards.
I’m here by myself today. The boss is off, another coworker is at the doc, another is scheduled for the night-shift…and so, it’s me. To support three papers.
Heh…good luck with all that. I’m still not sure I’ll be answering the phone this week.
I’ve been here a while and stay plugged in. Some of my sources feel they’ll hit us again in June.
Dallas Morning News is still to come. It’ll be a bunch there.
I think I need a better plan.
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Business Bailout?
Feb 21st
Y’all have been reading about bailouts…yep? Those of us that know about robbing Peter, the other shoe, or have even a cursory understanding of economics all know that the business leaders will profit, and the working man will pay the price.
Happens sooner than I expect.
So, had to do an upgrade this weekend at work. This means we work odd hours to not disrupt the business. This means we work extra hours. Our weekend is shot. Personal interests are set aside. No sleep. Donuts and caffeine. This job pays…but it costs us a lot.
Dedication. Yep. Or masochism.
Right in the middle of this my boss has to hand me a piece of paper to sign…basically says they’re cutting my “communications” allowance…to about half what it costs me a month, and that’s assuming I don’t have to spend a lot of time on it to the east or west coasts (we also support newspapers there).
I’ve been required to carry a phone…and to answer it at all hours of the day or night. That was part of the job, and they paid for it.
No longer. About half the bill. None of the extra time.
I wonder which half of the month they want me to be available? Perhaps it’s which half of the day? I could leave the phone in the desk at work I suppose.
I don’t blame my boss. These decisions are being made so far over his head that there is not even an avenue to protest. He had to sign the same paper…and HE’s gonna have to answer the calls when they for some reason (that I can’t imagine what it could possibly be) can’t reach the rest of us.
But why is it that my company thinks they can save money by having me subsidize their cost of doing business?
Do they seriously believe the way to prosperity and success is to consider their employees as their new revenue stream? Is this the forward thinking it takes to become a multi-millionaire business leader?
Combined with the other reduction of our benefits, they reneged on our retirement benefits, there’s a new charge for parking, and frozen wages this year…I figure I just took about a 10% pay cut. It’s probably higher, but it’s too depressing to work out the finer points of it all.
At least they haven’t laid me off yet. They are holding that over our heads at the moment. Increases morale, yep?
Sad, yes? I should just be glad I have a job, right? Heh…yeah. We’re profitable. We hit finiancial targets high enough so that management got bonuses. One tripled his own salary. We. Make. Money.
Management says something like, “Yes. But. We. Want. More.”
Not sure how to respond to this. I’m dedicated to the job…it’s not really been about the money…but they are making it that way. I’ve worked hard and long to acquire a specialized set of skills and workflow/industry knowledge that they need to not only continue to make money, but to find ways to thrive in the new marketplace. Why the abuse? What’s the endgame? It’s not to survive…you still have to get the products out to survive…
Ponderings to keep me up at night…
Now, if y’all would just buy about 2 and a half million books….
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Ton of bricks. Me. Crunch.
Jan 28th
When I woke up this morning I felt fine. By afternoon my chest was a little “scratchy”.
I’m working nights this week, so, at work, by 11:00pm I felt like I’d been hit by a train.
Full blown chest cold/flu stuff. Aches. Pains. Sudden violent cough.
Boy did THAT come on fast. The bubonic, ebolic bird flu (with a lemon twist)!
I get to head home in a couple hours. Unfortunately I’m due back in tomorrow night. Gad.
Maybe we’ll see if 12 hours sleep and a fifth of whiskey will kill this stuff off.
Y’all take care…
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Wonky schedule (wonky being a technical term)
Oct 26th
Well, it’s time. The end of the year approach(ith)…and that means interesting things in the newspaper industry.
Let’s see, it means we’re busy. Lots of advertisers and sales and news to accompany it.
It means we’re frantically trying to get too many projects done. Some started due to the budgetary cycle (management suddenly deciding to spend money), some we’re just trying to get in shape enough to get us through the busy season.
And of course, it means everybody is trying to get the rest of their vacations and holidays in.
Since we’re supporting three newspapers with barely enough people to support one, and we work nights, weekends, and holidays, well, the schedule gets wonky.
Last year I worked 28 of 31 days in December, and worse, a mix of days and nights. Wonky can be bad.
Wonky can be good too. This year it’s working out in my favor.
I’ll be on nights most of the rest of the year. That’s normally four, ten hour days a week. Combined with the vacation and holidays I still have to take off…it looks like I can arrange it to have 3-day work weeks the rest of the year.
I’d worry because we’re not getting as much done as we need to, but it’s not like we’re slacking off. We’ve been working as best as we can with the resources we’re allowed (shrugs).
Some time off will be just the thing. I’ve got books to write, and apparently, a house to rennovate…well maybe anyway. Paperwork is still paperworking…or whatever it does when noone’s watching. More on that later.
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer