Keeping the streak alive! We’re a little bit past my original list of planned subjects, so if there is anything you’d like me to include as a main topic over the next couple of weeks, please leave me a comment and let me know.
Also, if you have thoughts or feelings on the format I’ve been using, let me know that, too.
Personal News
I’m going to save most of the personal news for the main topic. I’m feeling pretty good, and I’m glad to be home.
Upcoming Events and Such
With Arisia behind us, Boskone is next. We’ll fly out on February 8th and return on the 11th. We’re using United instead of American, too, and all the reservations and whatnot are in place.
I believe some One for the Road books should come to our house in the next couple of weeks, so we will be able to sign some and send them out for those asking for such.
Also, soon, I’ll change the branding on this site and social media to point at One for the Road, so don’t be too surprised when it looks a little different around here.
Topic: Back Home and Back to the Grind
A few days ago I talked about how the time shift from travel kept messing with me. We arrived last night at 10PM local time, which is 1AM Boston time, and we were home and in bed a little after midnight. We didn’t give ourselves a day to recover, so we were up at 7AM and back at it. Or, as back at it as we could muster.
From what I could tell, Melissa did great. She was on calls, in her spreadsheets, and generally kicking ass as she usually does. I think we both slept better than we have in a while.
I zombied through the day. I attended a couple of meetings and I answered some questions, but I wasn’t as productive as I needed to be. Around 3PM, I took a nap. Tonight, after I’ve finished this post, I’ll make up the time and try to finish catching up.
The Grind. Getting back to “normal.” The Day Job.
We get one life, and we spend it actively doing things that make us miserable. The older I get, the more acutely I look at this. The more I look around, the more I see how we have huge potential, but we’re generating misery instead of joy.
When I enjoy my day job, it’s when I feel like I’m making something. Software that will make it easier to manage renewable energy. Software that will make it cheaper to set up solar and battery sites. I feel best when I’m doing something that is making the world a better place. My bio does not lie where it says “Brian Buhl is trying to save the world.”
These days, I don’t feel like that’s what I’m doing. My job is more about managing the products and the team, so that we can show an investor that our company is worth investing in. If the people I’m working for are more interested in making money than saving the world, then what good am I really doing?
I can make the world a better place with my stories, but no one will read the stories if I just give them away. And as much as I hate money, I’m realistic enough to know that I have to live in this world, and I need money in order to do what I did this last weekend.
I’m not sure what point I’m making tonight. Maybe I’m just tired. Maybe I’m just whining. I feel in my heart that humanity has greater potential than what we demonstrate daily. Maybe we would do better if we weren’t all wrapped in green-colored weeds, drowning in debt that does not need to exist, because the root of all our problems is also the root of all evil.
That’s enough for tonight. Time to make the doughnuts.