As many of the people who actually read this blog know I have recently been laid off. Something you may not know is that I did horrible at updates to the TWB posts during January and so far in February. I made posts for around 4 of them, but they are all blank. I will try to fill in some I think, but I won’t hold myself to too much. In the end I may just skip a bunch of them.

All standing, all the time.

One of the things I did at my job was install a self-made stand-up desk. It was an arrangement that lent itself easily to sitting or standing with a quick change between the two available. I brought the materials home and have set it up here now. Unfortunately the easy to convert option was unavailable here. Changing it back and forth is not hard, but it’s a good 5 minute job as opposed to 30 seconds. 5 minutes might not sound like a lot, but in this case it is. Just as 1 minute is nothing, unless you’re planking with proper form for the first time.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sitting can be bad for a person, especially over time. Thing is, I’m getting tired of standing. The monitor on the left is tall enough that it creates a tenancy to tilt my head up a little resulting in a sore neck. Of course, that monitor needs replacement anyhow, but I digress. The mat I’m standing on is actually two anti-fatigue kitchen mats and an entryway carpet strip. I generally stand there barefoot, shifting and pacing away. At the end of the day, I need to stand the same way for any gaming or video watching I do as well. I figure in another week or two I’ll make it over “the hump” and not be bothered by the standing, but for now it’s getting old. (I’ve made the transition before, but always where I could take sitting breaks easily every few hours.)

Anyhow, back to the job loss. I am currently back in the search. I’m primarily looking for Scrum Master or Agile/IT/IS Project Manager positions. I’m also interested in managing/leading a software development or other IS/IT team. I am approaching the job hunt a little differently this time. I am leaning heavily on “Manage Your Job Search” by Johanna Rothman for the technical/procedural aspects. I’ll post a review of it over at OurAgileJourney.com later. From a more abstract standpoint I’m trying to approach it a little less fervently than I did before. The pace I attempted to maintain last summer was ultimately unsustainable and causing me much more stress than I should have allowed it to.

To help force this new approach I am also splitting my time with trying to ramp up my writing. I have a few classes/books I have been slowly looking at that I know have time to kick into high gear. I am going to approach it as a part-time job versus as a hobby during the search, with the search itself being my other part-time job. For now the fruits of this will be seen here, Facebook, and Twitter.

That’s all for now. I should be loading the kids up to go to the park and I still need a shower. On the bright side, Cecilia isn’t ready and looks like she wants to ruin the park trip altogether.