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30 August 2010
Job Changes
After my current employer budgeted and awarded increases of 2%, after skipping a year, I reckoned that I was falling far behind the rate of inflation, which, while low, is not insubstantial, so I switched on my job alerts to see what was out there. Lo, and behold, almost immediately I got an interview and very quickly thereafter an offer.
The thing is, I'm not really disgruntled. My employer has been very generous with me, overall. These guys took me seriously when no one else would. They've let me take ownership of the role. I've got friends I hope to keep - and that's a little unusual in itself. We're running top-notch software in a market that, as in my last job search, takes that as an important consideration.
So why change? Well, the money's hard to beat. Yes, I'll probably have to face low annual budgets in the future, as I would anywhere, but these guys have an incentive scheme and stock purchase plans that would mean potentially earning a third again of my total remuneration. O.k., a stock purchase plan means they're publicly traded, which adds market pressure to career longevity, but the stock'd still be mine, and that's a plus at my age.
Sure, I've got a team of analysts working for me, but so what? Being a manager has never been part of my aspirations. I like the work, and with the software we're running, I'm never going to have the depth of knowledge that I might get with a different product at a company that doesn't have the breadth not to let me learn it.
Although I've got a great place to go for a run, even a long run, as much as 16K without traffic, the new job is in the CBD, so I could get up at my usual hour, go running, and still have time for breakfast before heading to the office. Almost. Maybe just a coffee. And if lunchtime runs aren't any less an option, if a bit trickier. Up the stairs and across the Harbour Bridge, for example, or cross-town to the Domain and Botanical Gardens.
Anyway, I think I've talked myself into it. I've worked in publishing, twice, consulting (sort of), financial services, legal, whatever Chubb was, education, and ITC. Add insurance to the list.
After my current employer budgeted and awarded increases of 2%, after skipping a year, I reckoned that I was falling far behind the rate of inflation, which, while low, is not insubstantial, so I switched on my job alerts to see what was out there. Lo, and behold, almost immediately I got an interview and very quickly thereafter an offer.
The thing is, I'm not really disgruntled. My employer has been very generous with me, overall. These guys took me seriously when no one else would. They've let me take ownership of the role. I've got friends I hope to keep - and that's a little unusual in itself. We're running top-notch software in a market that, as in my last job search, takes that as an important consideration.
So why change? Well, the money's hard to beat. Yes, I'll probably have to face low annual budgets in the future, as I would anywhere, but these guys have an incentive scheme and stock purchase plans that would mean potentially earning a third again of my total remuneration. O.k., a stock purchase plan means they're publicly traded, which adds market pressure to career longevity, but the stock'd still be mine, and that's a plus at my age.
Sure, I've got a team of analysts working for me, but so what? Being a manager has never been part of my aspirations. I like the work, and with the software we're running, I'm never going to have the depth of knowledge that I might get with a different product at a company that doesn't have the breadth not to let me learn it.
Although I've got a great place to go for a run, even a long run, as much as 16K without traffic, the new job is in the CBD, so I could get up at my usual hour, go running, and still have time for breakfast before heading to the office. Almost. Maybe just a coffee. And if lunchtime runs aren't any less an option, if a bit trickier. Up the stairs and across the Harbour Bridge, for example, or cross-town to the Domain and Botanical Gardens.
Anyway, I think I've talked myself into it. I've worked in publishing, twice, consulting (sort of), financial services, legal, whatever Chubb was, education, and ITC. Add insurance to the list.
22 August 2010
Hung Parliament
Too bad it's not hanged, to make a bad joke.
Julia's campaign was awful, but worse was Labor's decision under Rudd not to pursue a carbon tax and the failure to implement the Resources Super-Profit tax, and worse than that was a leadership spill just ahead of election season. Not that I have any objection to Julia Gillard per se or to her being PM; I rather expected it to happen more naturally. Nevertheless, bad decisions and a punishing result in the polling booths leaves us with 3 years of childish bickering and name-calling, and nothing else. No great leaps forward or backward can be expected out of Canberra. What I can anticipate is that the backlash will continue in the States. Look for Labor to fall in NSW, for sure; whether to the Liberals or the Greens is unknown, but that's how I'm calling it.
One lesson from all this is that the campaign was a media triumph. That is, the media won. They spun this campaign disgracefully. Gillard was never presented except in the context of charged adjectives. She was "strident", for example, not forceful. Abbott was only ever presented with a bit of humor, never with any seriousness taken of his reactionarism, his inarticulateness, his transparent lies. Television decided this contest more than the voters did.
Too bad it's not hanged, to make a bad joke.
Julia's campaign was awful, but worse was Labor's decision under Rudd not to pursue a carbon tax and the failure to implement the Resources Super-Profit tax, and worse than that was a leadership spill just ahead of election season. Not that I have any objection to Julia Gillard per se or to her being PM; I rather expected it to happen more naturally. Nevertheless, bad decisions and a punishing result in the polling booths leaves us with 3 years of childish bickering and name-calling, and nothing else. No great leaps forward or backward can be expected out of Canberra. What I can anticipate is that the backlash will continue in the States. Look for Labor to fall in NSW, for sure; whether to the Liberals or the Greens is unknown, but that's how I'm calling it.
One lesson from all this is that the campaign was a media triumph. That is, the media won. They spun this campaign disgracefully. Gillard was never presented except in the context of charged adjectives. She was "strident", for example, not forceful. Abbott was only ever presented with a bit of humor, never with any seriousness taken of his reactionarism, his inarticulateness, his transparent lies. Television decided this contest more than the voters did.
21 August 2010
Sensed
When the Talking Heads toured their "Speaking in Tongues" album, Jonathan Demme was there to make a concert film of it, Stop Making Sense. What's of note, here, to me, is that after all this time, I've finally seen the concert.
At the time, I was one of the Talking Heads' biggest fans. They'd found a groove that resonated with me; my appreciation for more complex pop music was finally finding some bands that could provide the content, and David Byrne & co. were seeing audiences that other New Wave acts could only aspire to. The Forest Hills concert I went to was the pinnacle of their career and an ecstatic high point for me as well.
But I didn't really see the show. Yes, Burning Spear burned up the stage as the opening act for an inordinate amount of time, but I wasn't even tired of them before they were finally ushered off. Yes, the opening was enthralling, and every song thereafter well known and deeply felt - but now we get into the concert-attendance problem. At some point, I abandoned my seat, heading up into the aisles to dance along and groove with the music, deeper and richer than records allow and also far more communal.
So I didn't see the floor lamp or the big suit or how the modules were progressively rolled out song to song until the whole band was there, didn't see the performances Byrne put out for the different songs, or the other band members grooving themselves, or at least not in such a way as actually registered.
Watching Demme's movie I finally got to see the show. And I still love the music.
When the Talking Heads toured their "Speaking in Tongues" album, Jonathan Demme was there to make a concert film of it, Stop Making Sense. What's of note, here, to me, is that after all this time, I've finally seen the concert.
At the time, I was one of the Talking Heads' biggest fans. They'd found a groove that resonated with me; my appreciation for more complex pop music was finally finding some bands that could provide the content, and David Byrne & co. were seeing audiences that other New Wave acts could only aspire to. The Forest Hills concert I went to was the pinnacle of their career and an ecstatic high point for me as well.
But I didn't really see the show. Yes, Burning Spear burned up the stage as the opening act for an inordinate amount of time, but I wasn't even tired of them before they were finally ushered off. Yes, the opening was enthralling, and every song thereafter well known and deeply felt - but now we get into the concert-attendance problem. At some point, I abandoned my seat, heading up into the aisles to dance along and groove with the music, deeper and richer than records allow and also far more communal.
So I didn't see the floor lamp or the big suit or how the modules were progressively rolled out song to song until the whole band was there, didn't see the performances Byrne put out for the different songs, or the other band members grooving themselves, or at least not in such a way as actually registered.
Watching Demme's movie I finally got to see the show. And I still love the music.
15 August 2010
It's not the print I'd have chosen, but insofar as the artist selected a commemorative shot for 5,000 people to have for free, it's more than all right.
I was a little disappointed that there wasn't an exhibition to go along with the distribution, but that's o.k., too, although I'm quite certain that some of the other poses Spencer Tunick ran us through would have been remarkable images, especially the final pose, splayed out across the interior of the Opera House; quite Bocshian, I reckon.
When you look back over Tunick's career, with a dozen models and a step ladder in Times Square, for example, having to get the shots in before being arrested, what he's doing lately is almost mind-boggling. Look how dense this image is. And anyone who's been there can tell you, that's actually quite a lot of space to fill.
Oh, and that's me, at the top of the steps, over to the right, kind of in the middle.
13 August 2010
Oops
I knew the Blackmores Half Marathon was an early start, but somehow I thought it was in October, ten weeks from now, not five weeks. I'll have to adjust my training schedule for the last three weeks, but I should get some long runs in the meanwhile. 76% as it stands now; I can bring it up to 89% before the race, barring accident or injury.
I knew the Blackmores Half Marathon was an early start, but somehow I thought it was in October, ten weeks from now, not five weeks. I'll have to adjust my training schedule for the last three weeks, but I should get some long runs in the meanwhile. 76% as it stands now; I can bring it up to 89% before the race, barring accident or injury.
09 August 2010
Klaatu Barada Nikto
Patricia Neal, R.I.P. Robert Wise's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was an eerie and excellent 1950's science fiction movie, in an era when a lot of science fiction in cinemas was pretty bad. As an adaptation of Harry Bates' short story, "Farewell to the Master", it isn't anything like faithful, but as a nuclear scare movie, very effective. Patricia Neal was the best actor in it and I like everything I ever saw her in thereafter.
Patricia Neal, R.I.P. Robert Wise's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was an eerie and excellent 1950's science fiction movie, in an era when a lot of science fiction in cinemas was pretty bad. As an adaptation of Harry Bates' short story, "Farewell to the Master", it isn't anything like faithful, but as a nuclear scare movie, very effective. Patricia Neal was the best actor in it and I like everything I ever saw her in thereafter.
Industrial Inaction
I support the right of workers to act collectively in their interests and to strike, even if it inconveniences me. But “free fare days” don’t affect me either way: I have a quarterly ticket. Yesterday, as part of the City-to-Surf, buses and trains were free for anyone with a bib number, but I carried my ticket anyway, just in case, and because I already paid my fare, thanks, so why not use it? I guess if I bought a weekly ticket, it’d be possible to take advantage of these things, but, oh, well. Good luck, rail staff. I wish I could see a 5% raise again someday.
I support the right of workers to act collectively in their interests and to strike, even if it inconveniences me. But “free fare days” don’t affect me either way: I have a quarterly ticket. Yesterday, as part of the City-to-Surf, buses and trains were free for anyone with a bib number, but I carried my ticket anyway, just in case, and because I already paid my fare, thanks, so why not use it? I guess if I bought a weekly ticket, it’d be possible to take advantage of these things, but, oh, well. Good luck, rail staff. I wish I could see a 5% raise again someday.
08 August 2010
Postscript
I collect book reviews until such time as I need a new stash of unread books to work through, at which point I hit the Strand Book Store online and get my weight in literature shipped down for about the same price a new hardcover runs in this country. Or Book Depository in the U.K. One of those books I've read in the last two years was Postwar, Tony Judt's account of Europe from 1945 onward. It was terrific, by far the most edifying work of history I've read since A Distant Mirror. And now he's dead, just 62. Well, he's got a body of work out there, including an appraisal of the world at present, so I guess I know what's on my list for my next shopping excursion.
I collect book reviews until such time as I need a new stash of unread books to work through, at which point I hit the Strand Book Store online and get my weight in literature shipped down for about the same price a new hardcover runs in this country. Or Book Depository in the U.K. One of those books I've read in the last two years was Postwar, Tony Judt's account of Europe from 1945 onward. It was terrific, by far the most edifying work of history I've read since A Distant Mirror. And now he's dead, just 62. Well, he's got a body of work out there, including an appraisal of the world at present, so I guess I know what's on my list for my next shopping excursion.
06 August 2010
Race Day Minus 2
City-to-Surf on Sunday, 14k's of road-running madness. Thousands and thousands of people will be running out of the city to Bondi Beach, and I don't know how they do it, but within the first two kilometres, even though I'm in the second start, there will be dozens, at least, ahead of me walking. Where do they come from? They can't be tired already, can they?
Anyway, I'm down to 76% of full marathon training, having run 188k out of the scheduled 246. Given that the race on Sunday is 33% of a full marathon, that's not so bad. But on the principle that I'm really training for a half-marathon, I'm only 10% over where I'd hoped to be at this stage. But it'll be fun, and I'm as ready as I'm gonna be.
Results Update: 76:32 by my clock, and I might get a few seconds on the chip, since I hit the button early. A better result than I expected.
City-to-Surf on Sunday, 14k's of road-running madness. Thousands and thousands of people will be running out of the city to Bondi Beach, and I don't know how they do it, but within the first two kilometres, even though I'm in the second start, there will be dozens, at least, ahead of me walking. Where do they come from? They can't be tired already, can they?
Anyway, I'm down to 76% of full marathon training, having run 188k out of the scheduled 246. Given that the race on Sunday is 33% of a full marathon, that's not so bad. But on the principle that I'm really training for a half-marathon, I'm only 10% over where I'd hoped to be at this stage. But it'll be fun, and I'm as ready as I'm gonna be.
Results Update: 76:32 by my clock, and I might get a few seconds on the chip, since I hit the button early. A better result than I expected.
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