Day 2 (4/5/2023 Wed)

Let's call this day 2 because my position was eliminated Monday 4/3/2023 at 1530, so by the time I complete this post it will have been 48 hours.

What have I done with my time? Given that I've been at the same job since the start of the internet, I used my original email for a lot of things over the decades. In recent years I migrated email to my gmail account, but I missed a lot. At least two hours of time I spent updating default email so I ensure I didn't lose access to personal services. Certainly I've missed many more accounts. Buying a domain and setting up this website sort of kicked off this cleanup work.

I sent a few texts to friends, soon after each text they would call me. Most people feel sorry for me, except for my riding buddies who just think I'm lucky. Coworkers are shocked and worried for me more than most.

For me it feels like a great weight has been lifted. The Tim McGraw song "Live Like You Were Dying" comes to mind. Not interested in any bull riding, but I would entertain some sky diving.

Before 2020 I loved my job. It was a great place to work, with a near zero overturn of highly skilled staff doing amazing things for grateful customers. I had risen from the absolute bottom to become middle management (nothing special it took nearly 30 years to do it). To me a good manager smooths the way for their employees to do their jobs.

With a few top management changes in early 2020 we started an enterprise wide restructuring. The first half year was enough to realize it was not being executed well and that the actions did not reflect the words that publicly preceded them. My response was to not pursue any of the new positions created. All of the new positions seemed to be setup for failure with high expectations and promises of support with no visible follow through. Execution didn't improve over the next three years, nor did communication. Surprise meetings would cause speculation of more layoffs, sometimes layoffs did occur. Meetings also became the only communication source (via rumor) and how we learned who had take a new position elsewhere. Some of us considered how much money was needed to retire, and our 403b retirement accounts looked promising, for a while. Then you start to justify hanging on with "I don't have to like my job".

Clearly Covid-19 didn't make a restructuring easy, and tossed a wrench into everyone's lives. As far as work is concerned our long standing skilled team rallied together and did some amazing work that nobody else could have. If ever there was a clear sign of a great team, we flew that banner. All the while working in an information vacuum, with rumors and worst case thoughts running wild. Thinking about things just made you mad so you would bury it, and get on with your work. Motivation runs very low in these conditions. You stay only for the team and the customers.

In better times between 2006 and 2020 I rode over 170,000 miles on two V-Strom DL650 bikes. Riding within the US as far south as Georgia and west to Wyoming. Over those years I had taken multiple trips to the Gaspe Peninsula, Cape Breton Island, and Hopewell Rocks. My normal trip consisted of 9 days, or a single week-off from work. Some years allowed more than one 9 day trip during the New England riding season. In the early years (first 45,000 miles) my wife Anne would tour with me 2up. Eventually she got her license and her own DL650, now displaying 50,000 miles on the odometer. The big win going from 2up camping out of 3 hard cases, to having 2 bikes and 6 cases for was lots of "comfort items".

After 2020 motorcycle trips became an important way to escape and keep my sanity, even just weekend camping trips. Finally in 2022 we could ride into Canada again, and jumped at the chance to take a 2 week trip to Newfoundland. My only other 2 week long trip was to South Dakota. Both trips just could not be done in my standard 9 day window, so I crammed them into the 16 day 2 weeks off bucket. Those trips feel different, in that you get into a rhythm that is not revealed in 9 days. I've always wondered where the next level is.

On Sunday, three days ago I learned that my step mother Marge had passed away. No I didn't inherit a fortune to fund my riding adventures, just a lot of fond memories. However I would like to help my step brother Gary clean out her residences in FL and ME. Since he already held a one way ticket to fly to Florida the beginning of May to drive her back north, an early season ride to Ocala made sense for the start of my 2023 adventures. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I'm no fan of Florida, but many prior touring trips proved that I do really like riding in NC, TN, WV. Helping clean out the house for resale seemed like a win-win. However I can't ride to Florida until after the funeral on 4/22. On my way back I plan to stay and ride a few days in NC at the V-Strom East Rally.

All that was previously on my calendar for 2023 season was one CO trip with friends for the last two weeks of August.

One trip I had considered a couple times over the last few years, but never had enough time for was Dust to Dawson (D2D). The travel to and from the Dawson City, YT event from NH will consume the entire month of June. And when you're that close it would be crime not to see some of AK, so undoubtedly spilling over into July.

Sounds like I don't have a family. But I do. My wonderful wife Anne falls on the more concerned side of those getting this news. She can't take months off to ride with me, which cuts a bit deeper than our financial future. Anne was on the 2023 Newfoundland trip, riding her own bike. She has been on the fence about joining this years CO trip. I suspect after watching my "ugly head" wonder around google maps for a few months she'll be itching to ride. I can't really sum up my wife of nearly 40 years in a paragraph, so I won't try to.

I guess the real question is "am I retired?". Honest answer: I do not know, maybe.

Perhaps a better questions is where do I ride in September?