Liquid Nonsense

For the last few months I have been actively developing a set of products based on certificates, PKI, and PCI-compliance (credit card management). In the process of naming my flagship product ParrotPKI I decided that I was going to have all of them under the same umbrella company, and thus, Parrot Labs was formed. Further, I'm pleased to announce that earlier this week I finally launched the Parrot Labs website.

I'm not terribly proud of the website, but like they say, if you aren't embarrassed by your 1.0 release then you waited to long to ship it. I know why most companies don't adopt this kind of technology, and it's principally related to cost. I've been doing this stuff for years, I get it, and I can make it simple and efficient. That's the bottom line. I've always loved working with security software and now hopefully in the future I will be doing it as my full-time job. So, if your in the tech community and at some point you plan on issuing certificates for any number of reasons, give Parrot Labs a call.

I've switched up my training schedule at the dojo to do Monday night black belt workouts, Tuesday night black belt sparring workout, and Saturday general sparring with whomever. So far I'm digging the switch since it's really giving me time to work on the material I want at the level I want. Tonight's "inventory of damage" includes a minor nick under my left eye, some blood on my lowest earring, various little nicks, and a pop to the nose. I also got a handful of shots in I've been working on for a while. I've said it before, and I'll say it again because it bears repeating, I fucking love sparring. It's great for Chris-regulation.

I'm trying to eat better. I completely realize and accept that this might sound nit-picky considering I'm already a fastidious eater, but it's true. I'm attempting to take a cue from Phil and start planning my meals ahead of time so that I can take my lunch to work. The last several days it's been something homemade and organic. I recognize that my mind is clearer and I work better when I'm keeping an accurate tab on my macronutrients. I like feeling alive and awake without a ton of caffeine. Though the caffeine does help.

Tasty recipe suggestion of the day: Make macaroni and cheese with coconut milk instead of regular milk. The result is creamier AND tastier!

Lately I've been doing a lot of thinking about where I've placed some of my commitments. The biggest ones being financial. I'm going to start this by saying that I'm not doing poorly, I'm not hard up for money, and I'm definitely A-OK with the bank. It's more that I'm starting to feel certain things are more and more frivolous. Somewhere along the line several weeks ago I got the "downsizing" bug and it hasn't let itself go. I keep pondering about selling my car and ending all the monthly expenditures that go along with it. It isn't that I don't like it, and it isn't that it isn't a hell of a fun car, it's just that I recognize despite all those things I'm fundamentally happier when those funds are unallocated. I easily lose touch with the fact I'm happier being *capable* of affording a nice car, rather than *actually* owning a nice car.

The next calendar year has the two exciting potential trips back to Asia- one to China, the other to Japan. As it stands right now, that would be somewhat difficult to swing unless I started saving right now and only did that for the next 8 months minimum. I know me, and that just doesn't sound all that likely. On top of that there is the very real, and very possible, relocate to Vancouver toward the end of next year. If I'm living downtown in a city with a public transit grid, not only would I not need my car, it would be prohibitive just to keep it. Am I talking myself into getting rid of it early?

Yes, I realize my wants are fickle. I've always known that so I've also factored it into most of my decisions so that I have easy exit strategies later on. My car is no exception. More than anything I fear being rebuked for wanting to simplify things on a larger level like this. I feel like I won't have support and I'll expend more energy trying to double-back on past statements and trying to appear consistent when I would much, much rather have people just say "I understand. Your thinking isn't completely unjustified. Things change and you've adapted in a way that makes sense for you. I support this decision."

As it stands I have number of projects I want to finish on my house, I want to be able to travel to Asia again next year, I want to have a stronger sense of financial security and the shortest path to all of these goals certainly looks like releasing the second largest expense I have. I am not my possessions, but am I prepared to deal with the social BS that may follow?

OK, I've now been at the new job for just about a month. I would not describe myself as a creature of habit, but changing jobs always throws a wrench into whatever semi-routine I've managed to setup. As usual, and as was expected, my gym times have been thrown completely out of whack. I have substituted it with more time at the studio and relying on isometric exercise I can do on my own. Either way, I need to step it up and get back to where I was a month ago.

Work is also not draining me nearly as badly at this point. Getting into the "groove" of things is taking a little longer than I expected, but I'm mostly chalking it up to the pace Integrum maintains. I <3 working for smaller, start-up like companies.

Lastly, I seriously need to put together some kind of mini-vacation for myself in the very near future. I am terrible about getting out of town despite my love of travel. So, if your reading this, come up with a 3-day travel plan and we'll see what happens.

I have undervalued the importance of community at work for far, far too long. It's funny, even as writing this, I can't recall the last time that I've thought of work as a place where I would actually make new friends. Colleagues sure. Acquaintances sure. Friends? That's a bit more of a gray zone. For the first time in years I actually feel like I'm working in a community of my peers as friends. I think the last time I've thought of it this way would have been in college. Maybe.

Regardless, I have noticed a huge improvement in my morale. I knew the last place sucked, but it's a case of not knowing how *badly* it sucked until it was replaced with something preferable. I know I was working there two weeks ago. I *know* that in my mind, but somehow that already feels like it was a past life. This is where I allude to Plato's Cave idea.

The most salient examples I can point out is 1) a community-involved discussion on the nature of fostering creativity, and 2) Hacknight at Gangplank. On the first: Apparently Integrum has talks on Wednesday for lunch that range from technical matters to much more nebulous ideas like "what constitutes creativity." Today we had the creativity talk and it was interesting to hear the different ideas. It's one of the very few times I feel a conversation on something so abstract didn't turn into a complete cluster fuck. On the second: Hacknight is awesome. It's not only great to see community involvement, but it's even better that it happens at the same place I work. This ties back into the earlier morale statement. I love that I work at a place that also serves as an intellectual hub for technical professionals EVERY Wednesday.

All in all, Chris is super happy with his recent job change.

So I just finished day two at Integrum... and had to fight from collapsing on my bed. I feel like I'm coming up to speed quickly and knocking the cobwebs off, but it's draining. It's also not very surprising that I've done more thinking on the job in the last two days than the last six months with my previous employer.

Last night was a particularly fun black belt workout with a guy that travels through out territory periodically. He, Seth, and myself ended up doing an unexpectedly high-intensity, hour-long workout. That workout coupled with today's brain activity have left me wiped. I think I'm going to take a "me" night and play some video games. Give the ol' mind and body a chance to recover.

I went to the Tempe Nerds Luncheon this last Thursday for a sort of meet-and-greet with a lot of developers and entrepreneurs based out of the area. Aside from making a lot of contacts it was nice to get to know some more people that work in the field.

Also, I was very nearly blackballed at the door because I don't have a twitter account. I have since "corrected" that since I'm pretty sure if I don't have one by the next time, they will not let me in.

http://twitter.com/squanderingtime