Wednesday, March 28, 2012

2 and a half years later

OK, so two and a half years after my "five years time" post, I find myself evaluating where I am at.  And I can't complain.  When I wrote that post, I was a manager, I was living in Mission Valley, and I was loving every minute of my job.  So what's changed since I wrote it?  I have been promoted twice and am now a Sr. Director for Customer Care, having moved from Sales.  I now have a son and I live in the neighborhood my parents chose when they moved to California.  I have two cars again, and London, sometimes, seems farther than ever before.  And strangely, that doesn't worry me nearly as much as it used to.  While I don't know what the future brings, I do know that I have enjoyed the ride so far.  I am a little more grey, a little older, thankfully, a lot lighter, and wanting more than anything to enjoy watching my children grow up, then if I am really fortunate, watching them and theirs grow old.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Where do you see yourself in five years?


Interviewers ask the question, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" all the time. Usually I am tempted to respond with the old joke about being ruler of the underworld, lord of all I survey. But today I woke up thinking about the question. And specifically, how different is my life than my answer would have been five years ago. You see, five years ago, I (we) had not yet made the decision to move to London. I was working for the San Diego Union Tribune and the answer to the above question on a good day would likely have been, "I want to be managing a Classifieds Sales Team." On a bad day, it would merely have been, "Not here!".

My how things have changed... By January of 2005, we had decided that we should try something completely different. I began the process of becoming a citizen of the EU and a few months later, I had my British passport. We went to the UK in May of that year for my cousin's wedding and had an absolute blast. We made a trip down to London and I interviewed for a job and while walking around, we took a picture that has had so much meaning in my life. "Take a New Look" has pretty much defined almost every year since we took the picture. By the end of September, we were living in London, right next to Hyde park. By Thanksgiving, I was working for Carphone Warehouse and learning to love managing again. But then, you can read most of this blog to get a picture of our time in London. A year later, we were home again looking forward to the birth of our lovely daughter, Emma.

While I would not have picked North County as the place for Emma to spend her first two years, it wasn't a bad time, but it certainly wasn't an exciting time for the three of us. I jumped in to my work at By Referral Only and learned to hate being management at times. Making the decision that is right for the team, right for the individual, AND right for the company is never an easy thing. Two years went by with the only vacation and change of scenery being a trip to Grand Junction to see Suzanne's family. While it was a blast, it wasn't really anything new. I learned a lot about myself, my job, managing projects, implementing new technology, and then once I learned what there was to learn, I was laid off from my job without warning. That was a year ago today I and didn't know what came next. After I found out my fate, I then helped to tell my entire team their fate too. NOT the easiest meeting I have ever been in. While I didn't know what came next, what I did know was that something wonderful was around the corner. I walked out of By Referral Only for the last time as an employee and found myself looking forward to a fresh, new tomorrow. A couple of days later, I stopped back by to pick up some paperwork and saw Meshell, the director of events. She expressed her condolences and when I said, "It'll be alright. I am sure that the next door I walk through will be even better!" she responded with an odd look, "They told me you thought that." To this day, I can't figure out if she thought I was crazy for thinking it or just amazed. I'll have to ask her.

I spent the next six weeks enjoying the preparations for my sister's wedding in a way that would have been impossible while working more than full time. Thanks to some help from family, a university course I was teaching, (some of my 401k) and the dole, we were able to stay afloat while I job hunted and enjoyed all the family that came to town. I also got to spend a LOT of time with my gorgeous wife and wonderful daughter. I think that bonding time was as good for the three of us as the day Emma was born. By the middle of November, Andra was married and by the end of November, I had a job offer from a company that really intrigued me. The other two opportunities that had arisen were both in real estate and while both were jobs, neither excited me. ESET, on the other hand, sounded like it was right up my alley. And BOY was I right.

So I find myself working for a company I love in a job that has me excited about work every day and wondering, "where do I see myself in five years?" I don't know, but if it's anything like the last five years, I am REALLY going to enjoy the ride. And if there is one lesson I have learned over the course of the last five years, it's to keep your mind open to the possibilities of change. Every now and then, you have to take a look around, conjure up your best John Cleese voice and say, "And now, for something completely different!" May your different be as wonderful as all of mine have been.


Thursday, October 01, 2009

TFL


That's 'bout all I got to say about that.

September 30th 2011

The goal is set. Now is the time to vision towards it and make it happen.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Coincidence or a sign?

I got an email this morning that a job I applied for in London is doing an assessment on Wednesday, November 26th.  That's the day before Thanksgiving, and therefore, a very expensive week to be travelling to the UK, but it is also a job in the UK.  London to be precise!  And the coincidence is that it falls on the same day (the day before Thanksgiving) three years after I got my job offer at Carphone Warehouse.  Right now, I am trying to figure out the logistics of a move if I go out and get offered the job.  I have other irons in the fire and they look promising, but none are UK jobs, so it is hard for me to decide.  The U.S. jobs would likely pay more dollar for pound than the UK jobs, but none of them would be in London, so do I follow the dream of living in London again, or do I follow the money with the thinking that eventually, it would lead to an easier transition to London?  It's a hard call to make either way, as I am trying to do what's best for my family.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Wednesday 5, 2008

Taken November 6 2005 View of the millennium bridge and old globe

It's hard to believe that it's been 3 years tomorrow since we celebrated our Wedding Anniversary in London. What a wonderful time it was. We had a life that was filled with adventure, now sadly we are dull. We have nothing to write living in crap suburbia in North County San Diego. I love reading our old blog post, and hate that I have nothing of substance to contribute now. London has been calling to us for far too long and we are starting to feel like all the people we know that say "Someday I will..." We keep saying we will move back, but it keeps getting postponed. I look at the lack of posts to this site and feel a great emptiness I so desperately want to fill. I keep hoping that very soon we will be back to blogging on this site regularly with updates on a move and finally on our new life back in London instead of memories.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Thunderstorms

There are thunderstorms right now in London as I type this in sunny San Diego. And I am depressed. Some say weather can really effect your attitude, but for me it isn't the sun that gets me giddy, it's the rain (you know... real weather). I miss London so much right now. Here it is Good Friday, Easter weekend and I would rather be alone in London with Emma and Donald than stuck in suburban HELL. Our car has been on the fritz lately which means I have been stuck at home for 2 weeks(this would never happen in London because you can walk everywhere or there is a ton of options for public transport). All there is for Emma and I to do is walk around the neighborhood which is really boring and lame! The closest shops are an hours walk away and even then its not much to get excited about or waste an hour walking to. I know I am sick of it, I spend my time daydreaming of walking through Hyde Park, visiting the V&A, strolling past Buckingham Place, shopping on Bond St. I read that Banana Republic just opened their doors in London! It was the one store I wanted London to have while I lived there and now that I am gone its there. I want to go back so bad. Donald and I had made a pack about a year ago that we would go back or be back or be purchasing our tickets to go back by June 1st of this year. Now we are looking to purchase a family wagon, YUCK! to replace the car that is currently braking down on us. My best hope for this year is to get out of this horrible suburban hell for a more city life in San Diego, but that is completely relying on Donald getting a job downtown. So for now with no certain hope for something really better I am stuck in my daydreams wishing I was in London watching the rain poor down tonight with it's wonderful thunderstorm.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Donald and I are working like mad to get everything set to get back to London as soon as possible. We have a count down going only 198 days before we meet our deadline. We have been going through old photos we took while we were in London and wish we would have taken more photos of places that meant a lot to us. I came across this photo. At the time I was thinking about illustrating children's toys. Now when I see it I think how much I want to take Emma and play with her there. This photo was taken in Hyde Park near the Edinburgh gate November 2005 (well over a year before Emma was born).

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Anniversary

I have been thinking a lot about this blog of late. We just passed the one year mark since we have returned to the United States and I thought it appropriate to give an update on where we are. Physically, we are in a community north of San Diego called San Elijo. Emotionally, I am not sure that we ever left London. Strangely, that city has become home to us in a very short period of time and keeps calling to us. Don’t get me wrong, while we miss London, we still needed to come back to San Diego for a number of reasons. Air conditioning comes to mind first… Suzanne’s pregnancy and the lack of good, centralized ac did not go comfortably hand in hand. Socialized medicine was another biggie. In fact, probably the biggest of the biggies. When we go back, we will be sure to immediately look into privatized health insurance. We also needed the peace of mind that came from the tests that were done on Suzanne’s heart. As anyone who has known us for some time is already aware, Suzanne had a defect in her heart that required repair when she was six years old. Whether or not the repair was strong enough for the exertions of labor was a major concern for us. After having a bubble echo done, we have that sorted. So what was all the rush home for? I find myself singing that Ryoksopp song that is played on one of the Geico caveman commercials: “It’s only been a week, and I’m failing to recall what I was missing all that time in England”. It has been longer than a week, and there ARE some things I missed that I have loved returning to. Family and friends of course. Sailing once a month with my dad is a big one. A dryer… Believe it or not, even though Suzanne does almost all of the laundry, I missed having a dryer. It was a royal pain always having to wait for everything to line dry. I have also grown a great deal in my professional life in the last year. I have learned a great deal about sales, marketing, even leading that I did not know prior to working for my current employer.

And yet, it still isn’t home any more. For all of the professional and personal gains, the bigger apartment, the dryer, the family, the friends, it still is no longer home. I can’t stand suburbia. I REALLY CAN’T STAND SUBURBIA. I hate talking to people who have never seen anything more than Southern California, or if they have seen more than SoCal, they saw it as part of a 7 day 6 night bus tour of Europe with all of its required picture spots and canned souvenirs. I hate that the only thing in walking distance is a gas station. How’s that for irony? I hate the gigantic SUVs with one person in each and every one of them clogging up the roads. And I hat e that it is going to take me another year to get home.

Friday, July 13, 2007

What I Will Miss

Donald keeps asking me "When we move back to London, what will you miss from the states?" Well I have to give it a ton of thought because the things I thought I missed when we were in London, I don't really care about or can't figure out why I missed it now that I am back. Mexican food doesn't taste as good as I thought it would and we barely eat it at all anymore. The vadka sauce from Trader Joe's doesn't have it's appeal. And there is nothing comparable to the shopping you can do in London, and I thought I wanted to shop in San Diego, what was I thinking?

So what will I really miss when we move back? I will miss my friends and family, I will still miss the wonderful salads at Nordstrom's Cafe, the American showers, and American washers and dryers, I will also miss the art store in Little Italy (which will be resolved once I find an art store in London I like.)

Well, to be honest, that is all I can come up with. Maybe if I can think of other things I can post them later, but really that's all I can come up with. Next post will be all reasons we miss London.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

July 10,2007

Well, it was almost a year ago that Donald last posted to this blog. I have been wanting to go back and read old entries because of how much I miss my time in London, and decided that this blog will not die, more over it will return. After having Emma, Donald and I have done nothing but talk about moving back to London. We miss it so much and want to move back there with Emma. We have set a date of June 1st 2008 to be back in London, or at least be packing up our things here in San Diego. We have discovered that coming back to the states wasn't what we thought it would be. And now having had Emma safe and sound and knowing she is healthy, we are taking the steps to move back. We have a list of things we would like to accomplish to insure a smooth move back to London. We can't wait to get this blog up and running again with tons of great posts. But for now it will be just on our progress of getting back and all the reasons we can't wait to go back. If anyone does stumble upon our blog before we move, you will at least know why it is so important for Donald and I to go back.

London is calling

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

And Back Again

Most of you know that Suzanne and I have done this already, but for those that don't, we have moved out of London. For any loyal readers that actually check this on any kind of a regular basis and that did not already know, I am sorry for the lack of posting and the gap between posts. Fantastic news! Suzanne is pregnant with our first child. We thought London was going to be one of the greatest adventures of our lives, and while that was true to a point, it is more true that we are about to embark on an even greater adventure, parenthood. Due to the healthcare in the UK, and the desire to be closer to immediate family, the wonderful surprise has meant that we had to make some very serious and quick decisions. After much deliberation, we decided that we would rather raise a child in San Diego than London, so we have come back to the left coast of the U.S. and are likely here to stay. This means that in a very short period of time, we had to find a shipper, get our stuff packed, buy plane tickets, arrange for a place to stay (thanks mom and dad!) and deal with the wonderful experiences of coach travel. But we are back in San Diego and adjusting to life in the USA again. There is much we will miss about London, and much that we didn't realize we missed so much about San Diego, so if you are interested in hearing about the return to US life, drop a comment and let us know. If you quit reading a long time ago, comments won't appear and maybe we will let this blog die a graceful death. Thanks for all the support!

don, Suzanne, and baby Litz.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Louvre Continued (and more of day three)

Here are some more sculptures from the Louvre. Again, these all appealed to me in some way, and all are drop dead gorgeous.


I actually managed to catch this one with no one in the background. I love the intimacy and intricacy of Psyche and Cupid.



Here is Hermaphroditus, who seems strangely appropriate in this day and age as the lines between genders appear to be blurring all the time. Not physically, necessarily, but emotionally and mentally. For example, the stay at home dad is not the farce Mr. Mom once portrayed. And power business women are not considered a threat to men any more. I think it safe to say gender boundaries have been successfully blurred when you have women like Donna Dubinsky and Carly Fiorina dominating the technology sector for years.

Here is Athena. She has always been one of my favorite Greek deities, as she didn't seem to take crap from anyone and was powerful in her own right. Both Athena and Hermaphroditus were in an area that was supposed banned from taking pictures. But as they were statues, the security guard in the room let me take them.

After we left the Louvre, we headed for the Arc de Triumph. I knew it was big, but didn't realize just how big until we got there. Andra and my dad walked up to the top of the arc, but Suzanne, Mom and I decided to hang out below. I figured that walking to the top of anywhere in the city other than the Eiffel Tower would be pointless, as none of them would offer the view that the tower offered. Here is a picture of the Arc (Notice the trophy wife in the foreground):

After the Arc, we walked back towards the tower/hotel. When we arrived at the tower, we decided now was a good time to go up it. The tower had been closed on a couple of prior walks underneath it due to the high winds. And even with it approved for ascent, it was still really windy on top. Warning! Cheesy tourist photos to follow.


If nothing else, proof we were there. Below is a shot I took from on top of the tower leaning out and looking straight down. Don't they look like ants down there?


After three tourist traps in one day, I was starting to feel pretty done in. All five of us decided to go back to the previous night's restaurant and have more of the same. This time, I had a fish meal and a divine creme brulee for dessert. The food was wonderful yet again, the service was fantastic and all was well.

And finally, the tower at night. The digital noise in this one is pretty bad, but considering it was taken at night without a flash or the use of a tripod, I am happy with how it turned out.


More to follow with all the fun and excitement of day four.

Paris Day Three

Our third day in Paris saw us headed to breakfast as a fivesome. We went back to the same patissirie that we ate at yesterday. I think for everyone but Andra, it was out of a desire to see if the dish breaker from yesterday was still there or not. Thankfully, he was still working, and was actually the only one in the front of the shop. We ordered our meals and sat down to wait for them to be ready. Our coffee was taken care of right away, but the rest of the meal was delivered in fits and starts. Suzanne's sandwich came first, then five minutes later, my father's meal arrived, then my sisters, then mine. My mom's croque monsieur was decidedly missing. Finally, when it appeared that it wasn't going to show up, I walked over to the counter and in my best French, shrugged my shoulders with my hands spread out and said "croque monsieur??" I must have been at least partially fluent, the reaction that was set off certainly suggested I got my point across.

The gentleman immediately looked at me with surprise and said "croque monsieur???" then looked (I am not making this up) as if checking for the croque monsieur directly at the floor. After a thorough scan of the floor, he said "croque monsieur?!?" with a bit more emphasis and started opening drawers. Then he started checking under the papers used to wrap up pastries, then he checked the microwave. All the while muttering "croque monsieur?, croque monsieur?" Finally, he checked the display case where they are normally kept. When he realized this was empty, he called to someone offstage and after a couple of quick sentences that my shrug fluency didn't understand, he said croque monsieur with a big smile on his face and held up one finger. Five minutes later, sure enough, my mom was presented with a freshly made croque monsieur. A couple of things occurred to me during this exchange. The gentleman serving us was definitely a disciple of Jerry Lewis. And either it truly was a stage for performances, or he had to own the restaurant. After a satisfying, if drawn out breakfast, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the Louvre.

We took the water taxi from the Eiffel Tower down to a stop just across from the museum. We could have stopped right outside the museum, but it would have required waiting for the water taxi to complete its entire loop and come back up the other side of the river, so we figured we would get off on our side of the river and walk across. It was really nice and sunny out and the temperature wasn't so high that a nice stroll would be uncomfortable. After about five minutes, all that changed. Much like on our first day, we went from sunny to a vertical tide. Luckily, Suzanne was wearing her trusty Burberry trench coat, so was able to keep our camera dry. I was wearing a jacket, but not a waterproof one and we didn't think to bring an umbrella, so we began a mad dash to get across the river, across the street, and under some trees. My sister gave chase and arrived under the trees shortly after we did. My parents, who had brought my mom's sacrificial umbrella with them, decided to pull the twisted and tortured thing out and try to use it as cover. My mom wasn't quite up to running, so it took her a bit longer to get to the copse of trees we were sheltering under, and when she finally did, voila, the rain stopped. Or at least slowed down to a San Diego rain, which doesn't really count as rain as much as mist. We walked the remainder of the way to the Louvre and entered through one of the back entrances. The building itself is very interesting, with a blend of some great old and new. But the real art is in the building itself. Of course there is the Mona Lisa, not nearly as awe inspiring to me as I might have thought, but what really got me going was the statues. Some amazing sculpture is in that building. Unfortunately, we didn't have three days to see the place inside and out, but I have to say, what I did see I loved every minute of. Here are some pictures:


I wish I could give you a sense of the size of this sculpture. Suffice it to say she is a pretty, big girl. She is also known as the Winged Victory of Samothrace. And for a girl who is more than 2200 years old, she looks fabulous. It is almost unfathomable for me to imagine creating something that would last more than two millennia and still be beautiful and relevant.

And you can't possibly do sculptures in the Louvre without covering Venus. While this is just another picture of her, it was actually something to get to see her in real life. I wanted to kick out all the people in the room so I could get a good shot without background tourists. Oh well, at least you know it isn't a product shot, right?

And speaking of people in photos, these idiots were determined to bogart my photo on this one. Every time I walked around this sculpture to get a different angle, they would wait until I raised the camera to my face and then walk into the frame. If the camera wasn't so expensive, I would have beaten them about the head and face with it. I tried to get a clean shot for about fifteen minutes before my patience ran out. May the sands of time fall in their lunch for all eternity and may all their progeny resemble goats. The sculpture is absolutely beautiful, though. And worth sharing even if it means sharing the idiots in the background. More to follow.

Paris Day Deux Part Deux

After we had been at the cemetary for about an hour, I received a call from my parents saying they had a message from my sister and were going to try and meet up with her at the Notre Dame. So Suzanne and I left the cemetary and got a panini from a street side vendor, then headed for the Notre Dame. As I said previously, we didn't remember our memory cards on the first trip through the cemetary, so we had to go back to the hotel and get them before heading to Notre Dame. We arrived at the cathedral and met up with my parents, then walked through hoping to see Andra. Notre Dame is massive. I could not get over how large the building was, yet it didn't seem to have the seating a church of that size would suggest. We walked around the exterior and looked at all the alcoves where all the statues of the saints are. We didn't go up the tower, but even seeing the interior was breathtaking. Here is a picture from outside Notre Dame (I can't remember if we were allowed to take pictures inside or not, but we didn't really feel it was a tourist trap where that was acceptable).



Alas, no Andra. We decided to go back to the hotel and check and see if she was there. Instead of taking the Metro, though we took a water taxi along the river. Quick comment about the Metro: You don't realize how important good wayfinding is until you come across poorly done wayfinding. The London Underground map is a stroke of pure genius and even the wayfinding signs on the underground make it very easy to figure out where you want to go. Walk up to the diagram, find your station, take that train. The Metro on the other hand, doesn't have all of the stations listed, so you need to know the terminating station for a particular line as well as your own personal destination. This tends to leave you constantly checking to make sure you are on the right train or getting on the the right train.

The water taxi ride was very peaceful and we got an opportunity to see more than just the front of the Notre Dame from a distance. Below is a picture taken from the river.




When we got back to the hotel, we finally found Andra and it was about time to start looking for a place to eat dinner. The previous night's fare had been brie sandwiches all around and we decided that we wanted something a bit more substantial for this meal. So we found a nice little restaurant not too far from the hotel and I had a vat of mussels brought to me for dinner. They had been cooked in a cheese sauce and were absolutely fantastic food. I almost had myself convinced that I was eating healthy too because it was seafood. Almost. Suzanne had a Salmon dish that she also enjoyed a great deal. The service was also excellent despite stories of the French being rude. The walk back to the hotel was late enough that we were again treated to a light show from the tower. Blogger is giving me fits right now, so a picture of that will have to follow.