A chapter of my career closes

After celebrating my 35th anniversary with Adobe in January (16 years in Adobe proper, preceded by a few years at Frame and then Datalogics (which started in January 1976)), my position and the position of many people that I have worked with was eliminated in Adobe's transformation. Adobe is being generous in termination and severance, but it is still a shock.

I cleaned out my office my office on Tuesday and packed it into the car on Wednesday. Those were two tough days.

You may ask "how are you doing, and what's next?" One answers is pretty simple: I'm doing OK. I had some warning and had courted a few other groups inside Adobe. Bottom line is that I did not have enough time to make a difference in finding a new spot, but I was at least mentally prepared for the separation.

As for the next chapter, it's hard to say. I need to get over this shock first. The best way to think of this is to imagine that you're married to a company for 35 years; you gave them your best years, through thick and thin. You knew that the relationship had problems, but efforts of the recent past had put things on a more rosy path. But the, one day, you learn that she wants to go off in other directions and boots you out of the house. It's up to you to determine what part of her new life you fit into. But, for the moment, you're separated, and it'll take some time to get over the shock and decide if you're going to get back together or get divorced. And if divorce is in the winds, you have to decide if you'll remarry or just stay single. But right now my time is being spent just getting the bits of my life like contact lists back together again; hanging out with other recently separated people helps as well.

But I'm having some fun in the midst of this. This pause will let me crank up my bike training. I can read some books I have been accumulating, especially ones on customer relationship management, customer experience and the latest on the social world; I will read some fun stuff as well. I'm cooking up a storm: my first week has concentrated on baking. I'll do a weekly blog on the best book and best recipes of the week.

But right now I need to finish this post so that I can frost an ATF Gingerbread Cake from All Cakes Considered. The unfrosted cake looks and smells delicious.

Waves to Wine 2011 Multiple Sclerosis contributions at their zenith: all goals met

I reported a while back that I met my goal of $10,000 for MS for this year. Now I have a small and even happier update. With a flurry of late activity of Adobe matching funds and a lost contribution that found me, my final total for the ride is $10,695. I'm now ranked #8 in the top fundraisers, as you can see on the Waves to Wine 2011 summary page.

Even better is that the combined efforts of over 2,000 riders, volunteers and their sponsors help the Northern California MS chapter meet their goal for the ride. They exceeded their two million dollar goal by $60,000.

Thank you all again for your support.