In thinking about my professional life and the career paths that lie ahead I am fearful primarily of compromising the set of values that have come to define me or that I hope one day will define me. I’m afraid of what I might become without them and what I may never be given the opportunity to become because of them. I am too young a professional to slow down but I wonder how much older I can become and how much farther down the path I can stroll before it is too late to turn around.
July 5th, 2006

I miss all my compadres at my former employer, but I am so glad I made the career change when I did.

Here’s my favorite:

Online trading is turning personal computers into slot machines

I was able to elude the smothering grip of caffeine early on (even favoring Sprite over caffeine drenched Mountain Dew and Coca-Cola as a kid) but I knew this was a never ending battle. Once I got my driver’s license, Caribou Coffee became a frequent meeting spot for me and my friends and in the absence of better ideas, we often spent the better part of our “nights out” there. To give myself the illusion that I was still able to resist coffee’s charms, I frequently ordered the Chocolate Cooler – basically a frozen mocha. Yes it tasted like coffee, and yes it even had caffeine – but I didn’t drink the Chocolate Cooler because I had to have it. I drank it because I enjoyed it – it was a social thing.

During my senior year of high school, the burgeoning world wide web piqued my interest and I started dabbling in web design and web programming. In college, the disease spread and I spent much of my idle time designing and developing my own ideas for the web. You don’t have to dig too deep into the wide world of the web to see just how dangerous this was for me if I planned to avoid the dark roasted underworld of the coffee bean. Some of the obvious indicators are the Mac-toting design junkies that are peppered throughout your favorite brewhouse. This was especially true before the advent of the iPod helped the Mac become part of the mainstream consciousness. In all likelihood, if those Mac addicts weren’t designing the coffee shop’s next print advertisement, they were designing its website. If you know a little bit about computers, then you know that there’s an entire programming language aptly named “Java”. If you’re a web-designer yourself, then you know one of the first popular HTML editors was called CoffeeCup. Coincidence, I think not! As a testament to my strength of will and stubborn resolve, I survived this era of my life without succombing to the world that was surrounding me. Unfortunately, I think that might be part of the reason why I’m not a web designer/programmer by day – much to my dismay.

Fast forward to the relative present, almost four years ago when I arrived for my first day at my present employer. One of the most noteworthy stops on the tour, at least to my escort, was the break area where the mystical coffee maker commanded the room. “No thanks,” I thought to myself, “I vow from this day forward, for as long as I can resist, I will not rely on coffee to start or get me through my day”. To put it simply, I knew that day that I would eventually fall, I just wanted to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. And I’m happy to report that my days still begin with little more than a splash of apple juice and a bottle of water for the road. But the resistence is weakening. Work becomes more and more challenging as the weekends grow ever shorter and when I got married I instantly became the third wheel to a relationship between coffee and my wife. It’s amazing though, how the force of one offhand remark can be so easily tempered by another – or in this case the analysis of a record-setting Olympian’s diet: “… washed down with two cups of coffee”. Well if Michael Phelps is breaking world records hopped up on two cups of coffee, why can’t I punch through spreadsheets jacked up on one? I don’t exactly find myself asking that question everyday, but I’m a little more forgiving of myself if I decide I need a cup to get me through the monotony. And while I’m sure the toned out physique of an Olympian doesn’t carve itself out of overpriced medium sized lattes, I haven’t yet acquired a taste for triple black, hold the cream & sugar. So that’s where I stand with coffee. I know it’s probably more than you’ll ever want to know, but how else was I going to expend all of the energy I got from that medium cinnamon latte – double shot? Those 850 words are probably the only shot I have at getting some sleep tonight.

I get out fine. Traffic isn’t great but isn’t bad either. I make it to work at about 7:57. Good, the meeting hasn’t started yet. I poke my head in, no empty chairs. I go get a chair and make it in just as our district manager is closing the door. “who is this kid”, they all ask to themselves. I know about 2 people in the room. the manager leading the meeting doesn’t know who I am and this leads to an all conference room introduction session. oh good, I think there are a couple of other unfamiliar faces, I’m not the only one. “Dusti-” oh shoot, it’s not my turn, oh I can go ahead okay “Dustin Riego – OE”. whew, now that that’s over with, on with the meeting. 15 minutes pass. in walks my boss. I have been relieved of my duties. walking out, I hear my name. “yes sir?” “Great job, Dustin” … thanks Mr. District Manager Sir, all in a morning’s wake up call.

But beyond simply adjusting to the schedule, it’s kinda weird actually having responsibilities, like things that I have to teach other people how to do so they can sub for me while I’m at a workshop for two weeks. I mean maybe the timing is par for the course in today’s understaffed workplace, but I just figured I’d be doing meaningless drone work for a few more weeks before they started giving me stuff that mattered. Thanks in part to some timely vacations, though, I was the only option and they definitely weren’t afraid to put me to work.

Overall, I like the work. It isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s challenging. I’m not necessarily performing the duties of and Industrial Engineer per se, but I’m learning more and more about the company, and from a performance measures perspective. I’m learning about taking ownership of my work and how my performance at work doesn’t just affect me, but my co-workers and my managers. Foolishly, the latter is something I never really considered before – how ultimately it’s my manager’s job to delegate work to me and expect, at least, the quality of work that they would contribute themselves.

But the most important lesson that I’ve learned, and only just today, is that two hour lunches in the corporate world are generally frowned upon.

So this weekend is Memorial Day weekend – my first “day off” from work on Monday – and it coudn’t have come at a better time. This is the first week that I’ve actually been too busy to leave whenever I felt like so I’ve been quite exhausted. In fact, this afternoon I took a nap and when the alarm went off, I looked up at the clock and panicked when I saw 6:39, thinking there’s no way I’d make it to work by 7:30. Fortunately, it was still “this evening” and I still had a little over 12 hours before I had to be at work. But I’m hoping this weekend will help slow things down a bit, perhaps get some muchos needed rest and relaxation time in, definitely get caught up on some TV and reading. Until then, I hope things are going well in your neck of the woods.