The Search...

For the first time in my career I was "impacted" by a "reduction in force" Thanksgiving week. While it is never a time to get whacked from one's job, having it happen (unexpected as it was....) right before the holidays is even worse. There's good and bad here though...the bad is obviously that I'm now in the midst of a fevered job search. The good though is new opportunities abound! The job market is scary right now with many, many, many qualified candidates for virtually every job that's out there. I am really looking at taking this opportunity to move into a somewhat new industry as well. Carrier services has been good to me but let's face it: it's not the most exciting industry that's out there. It doesn't necessarily improve people's lives in a meaningful way (I know that's debateable) and more important to me, it is certainly not very innovative.
I would really like to work for a high-tech manufacturer which is where I have been focusing my efforts in the short term. If that is 1A, then 1B would be managed services such as web hosting or professional services, and going back to carrier services would come in after that. I know that business and could easily slide into a role there and be effective and impactful to an organization. But I am definitely trying to find something more personally fulfilling such as green technology, internet security, something that matters and is relevant to my value system. Yep, I get it, easy to be altruistic when only the hunt for only a couple of weeks....let's see how hungry he is in February if he still hasn't landed...truth be told, I'm prepared for that. I'll do what I have to do to support my family. But why not aim higher now, right?
In other 'news' the New England cyclocross season ended last week and as I reflect back on the year, I have to be happy. I absolutely improved over last season with mostly top 15's and top 20's with a few top 10's even. I did not reach my goal of hitting a podium this year which is a bummer. I need to get 15-30 seconds faster over the course of a 40 minute effort. It doesn't sound like much and a good place to start would be my starts! They SUCK ASS. Not sure why but I always am late clippin' in and hitting the gas in those first couple of minutes. Before I know it the leaders are up the course and I'm chasing, tongue hanging and completely on the rivet. That's one area I can improve upon and be at the front sooner instead of fighting the whole race to get there. Second off is overall fitness. I feel like I made huge gains this year, but let's face it, I'm still only talking about cat 4 races. I have the experience now to move up to either the 3's or the A masters (the latter being one hell of a beatdown with the top 10 guys all being pretty much former pros). In the 3's I'd be a mid-packer but there are guys I know that I can hang with. The question to move up has two parts: 1. do I want to try and win one before I go up and 2. can I get the permission slip to race at noon instead of 8:30 am.
We'll see....for now, I'm enjoying a month off the bike, getting ready for the holidays and spending as much time as I can with the kids.