Out On A Limb

I know that it is an unwritten understanding that you aren’t supposed to talk about work on your personal blog. Never once have I mentioned where I work on this blog, or even the town I work in, for that matter. In fact, I’ve never once talked about work on this blog. So, I’m a bit out on a limb here when I talk about this, but it’s relevant because it effects why I wrote my last posting, and how my life has been the last couple of weeks.

I got back from that wonderful vacation to the Olympic Peninsula, went back to work Monday morning, and within 10 minutes -- I barely had enough time to get my coffee -- someone that I care a lot about on a personal level, someone who has worked for me for the past 12 years, submitted his resignation to me. I don’t take it personally at all. I am happy for him because it looks to be a great opportunity for him. New jobs are not for certain, but if he had to leave, I think this will be a very good pick for him. But I want to say something here that I cannot say to his face. I’m a person who is deeply passionate about people I care about. This man who I have worked with for the last 12 years is like a brother to me. I wish I could tell him that without it being all weird for him. But I can’t. It seems that protocol and workplace policies do not allow for this to happen. But these feelings are there, and I acknowledge them here. They are real for me.

For those at work who may read this blog and find this posting “inappropriate”, I would only remind you that I have never once mentioned by name the people who work for me, the place I work, or, it’s location. For that matter, I’ve never even mentioned exactly what it is I do for a living.

On top of all of this, another individual who works for me is leaving. I’ve come to know him and his family as well. The group I work for has become somewhat of an extended family to me. And he too is leaving. Neither of these has to do with me (as far as I know). It has to do with new opportunities that have opened up and new directions that they want to take their career. For that, I’m happy for them both, and I truly wish them the best.

As for me and my work situation, life will go on. And, all of this will give my work area a new perspective and hopefully will bring with it new ideas that I can apply. After all the initial shock of them leaving, I’m finally getting more excited about a change. It never really was, “Oh My God! They are leaving. Now what?!?!!!?” It was more, two dear friends are leaving. Most of it was like losing some family, and I don’t have a lot of family. The rest of it is the awful process of sitting through interview after interview of people trying to convince me that they are the best candidate.

So, that’s what’s been going on. I won’t dwell on it because I’m mostly over it now. I’m in the “looking forward phase”. It will simply take me time to get used to the new faces. And, I have to once again deal with the fact that I don’t know how they will react to working with someone who is gay. You know, I hate that. I hate that I have to label myself and qualify myself because of the prejudices in society. I hate that I even have to even worry about bringing someone in who may hate gays. Everyone is entitled to their feelings, but that would be a problem to my team of people if that person weren’t able to put a lid on those feelings. I hate that I even have to worry about that. I’ve become comfortable with my past crew that I could simply be myself, and they accepted me. They would talk of Kent and me as a couple and there were no secrets. Now, it starts over again. All I can do is be myself.

Other news.....

My Nikon D200 died. It’s actually not “dead”. It’s more that the flash will work, when it wants too. I took it to the camera shop yesterday. It didn’t flash for them either. Before I took it in, I reset it to factory defaults to see if it was some weird setting I put it in. Still nothing. In the store, it started working for the guy, so I figured he did something to fix it, even though he had no idea what he did.

We left the store, and went to get a bit to eat. Afterwards, we tried the camera again, and the flash would sporadically fire. I took it back to the store and said in a joking matter about my D200, “This camera is crap.” Everyone laughed. I told them, “Let’s just send it in. They can clean it and inspect it.” I suspect that the flash sensor is going out.

So, I’m without my D200 for 2-6 weeks! But, I have no trips planned so this will be a good time to do it. I still have my D70, which takes great shots as well. So, I’m afraid you will all just have to suffer through more photos.

Also, my poor little Vaio is slowing dieing. Or maybe, over time, I’ve come to expect more performance. At any rate, I’m thinking of a new notebook. I’m tired of everything Windows and a lot of the inherent problems that comes with Windows. I went to the Mac store yesterday and I’m thinking of getting a MacBook PRO (17 inch monitor):

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1680 x 1050 pixels
2GB memory (would probably boost that to 4GB)
160GB hard drive1
8x double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 256MB SDRAM

And while I’m at it, I may throw in an iPod as well. My iRiver music player is on the fritz.

Happy Sunday everyone. I’m going downstairs to get breakfast ready. We are having toasted bagels with cream cheese, smoked salmon, tomatoes brushed with truffle oil and seasoned with a bit of sale and pepper, onion, and capers.