Thursday, August 14, 2008

State of the Union assessment

Ok it is the state of my Union, aka my assessment of my blog.
First and foremost trying to do this thing has given me a whole other
level of appreciation for those who do it day in and day out with such
quality. I see my own limitations in the writing, and my lack of real
creativity in the writing. I remember when I used to write a lot more
than I do now, when I seemed to have time to allow my imagination to run
free. However in the last few years I find that the struggle to make up at
work for lack of proper staffing levels and suffocating inexperienced leadership from those in that type of role, that I am being sucked dry and that I am being consumed in an impossible race to beat the odds. In the past I did enjoy my job and the challenges it brought and even the long hours, but now the bean counters are in charge and seem to be free to willy-nilly ignore the long term consequences for short term gains. One used to be able to take heart knowing that other places, other companies were smarter and better and you could just hop on over. Now though
it seems to me that the entire national corporate structure has jumped on the band wagon of expedience. To hell with quality, to hell with customer satisfaction (there are always going to be new customers) and to hell with "quality is job 1" now the era of 60-40 engineering is in play get it 60% right and we'll let the understaffed IT department fix the other 40% on the fly.

It is easy to fall into the trap of despair. Guess I need to take some vacation time.
I don't intend to stop posting, and it doesn't matter if I get any more readers than I have now I think it only matters that I have fun trying to learn something new. The readers I do have are awesome beyond compare anyway :) Even if one of them shows me constantly just how poor my composition skills are.

You know, I think I need to rediscover my sense of humor. I know it is in there, I make people laugh all the time...Sense of humor, sense of interest, a sense of proportionality, get my life back on track to something a bit more meaningful than the rut I have slipped into.

5 comments:

Yabusame said...

Just stumbled in here from Brigid's blog. Just wanted to say 'keep going'. I've just started to turn my hand to this blogging lark too, we'll see if I can keep at it or not.

Home on the Range said...

Yes, don't stop, every blog starts somewhere. I'm not a "writer" per say, just someone who through blogging put the thoughts in her soul onto a keyboard.

Wit, fun, depth. We all have it in us to some degree and the blog helps share it.

If all else fails, cook something and post it. :-)

MagiK said...

ROTFL @ Brigid, you and your cooking :)

I do intend to keep writing, but every once in a while it strikes home that my grasp exceeds my reach.

I also need to find a way to live better and still remain employed...6 more years...thats all I really need then I can back off a bit...well 5 years and 7 months and 2 weeks, not that I am counting or anything.

And thanks Yabusame, will check out your blog asap!

machinehead1956 said...

Magik, look at your job the way I do, as a way to earn money to do the things you really like to do. I never bring the baggage of work home with me. I give the best I can do while at work and have no problem looking at the man in the mirror. I used to love machining when I was doing and learning new things but after 30 years there is not much that I haven't done. Now it's just a daily grind that I'm good at and well paid to do.
As for your blog, I don't notice a lack of writing skills. I think you are being too tough on yourself - I enjoy coming here even when I don't see eye to eye with you politically on all issues. :)

MagiK said...

I really appreciate that MH and I think you have hit on the philosophy of work vs play that I am just now really having hit home. Yesterday I actually took steps that may lead me to a shift in career direction, we shall see how it works out.