Life sometimes has a strange way of throwing many things at you at once. Alternatively, we only really notice synchronization because it is such a rare occurrence. Either way, this past week has certainly been a stressful week.
The week started out with regularly-scheduled job-related stress. As I wrote earlier, this past week was the Final Four NCAA college basketball tournament. On Monday, I arrived at the arena before 11 am and left after 3 am on Tuesday. I did some more work on Tuesday morning, and returned to the office in New York City on Wednesday. I’m going to write up a description of some of the neat technologies we use at the Final Four and a description of what my responsibilities entailed. Meanwhile, check out Shawn Cullen’s final diary on SportsShooter.com. There is a photo of me in the middle of the page; I’m in the purple shirt. Back in New York City, I have been working on a large editorial systems project. That work remains a challenge, and even though I was in Indianapolis, I spent a fairly significant amount of time working on that project as well during the Final Four. However, all of this is nothing new. It has also been a fun part of my job balancing the weekly responsibilities against project and development work.
Some of you might remember my post in December, “Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K,” where I described organizational changes at Time Inc. I have had two department heads, or bosses for lack of a better word, during my 10-plus years at Time Inc. For eight of those years, in one way or another, Anne was my boss. On Friday, Anne’s position as Director of Technology at Sports Illustrated and Entertainment Weekly was eliminated. It is almost a certainty that after 16 years of service, she will be leaving Time Inc. I apologize for the corporate euphemisms, and I’ll very likely write more about Anne in a later posting. For those of you who are concerned, my job is probably secure even though it is unclear what I will be responsible for in the coming weeks.
Shortly after discovering the changes in my professional life, I received a call from my father that he was going into the hospital to fix a detached retina. He had waited a while after discovering the problem to see an eye doctor. Fortunately, last that evening I learned that the surgery went well and that he was fine. I was a bit worried, of course; and it makes me want to make sure that I visit my eye doctor and internist on a regular basis.
All in all, it was a slap in the face to make sure that my own life is in order. Whether I like it or not, I’m getting older. And in a single day, life can change dramatically. It’s good that I’ve kept my resume updated (both a pdf version and an HTML version.), but it’s also important to make sure that I have a will written and my life insurance policies up-to-date.