TheNyeLabs.com

lifes a dance, you learn as you go

So life has been pretty crazy as of late, and I figured I’d take this 3:30am moment to update you all. If you’re a regular reader of this blog most of this should be no surprise, and if it is, I apologize for not keeping in better contact.

But yeah, so about a month ago Symantec Corp, whom I had worked for since college moved me from my sunny home in Orange County to the place I would soon call home in Boston. That lasted 4 days before I got a call from the bosses who informed me that I was a casualty of the latest 5% RIF (Reduction In Force) and that today was my last day. Needless to say I was a bit blindsided by it as we were a very strategic group that was heavily involved in the success of the company vision, particularly with the consulting partners, if not consulting delivery as a whole. But alas, corporate life is prone to such frustrations. So in a matter of 15 minutes life went from peachy to turmoil.

I spent the next several hours in a personal strategy session, as being so new to the partner and consulting realms I don’t feel like this was my given career and I needed to find a new senior partner manager position. I decided this was going to be the perfect storm for me. I have enough in the bank to last me a few months, and have determined I am going to try and make a go of being an entrepreneur. I flew home from Toronto and got back to my home office, ordered a personal laptop and have gone to work.

I am now working on 3-4 projects looking to expand to 5-6 projects and hoping to have revenue to pay the bills within the next 3 months. My overhead is 700 bones, (I love being a single schmuck in these situations) and if I can cover that I’m in great shape and will keep doing this till I die. I love the work, I love working on startup ideas, I love the creativity process, and I love boot strapping. So my 12-14 hour days that were so long with Symantec have turned into 18 hour days of pure joy. It’s a nice change, and will be nicer still when I make some of these stick.

So I will be moving from Boston in January to Toronto to live in my buddies basement while we grow two of the projects and plan to be back in Missouri sometime towards the fall with some new projects for the states as well.

So if any of you guys have great business ideas you’ve been meaning to start, give me a call. Lets rock and roll.

Lessons learned though, there have been many.

First, it can’t happen to me is a stupid mentality and needs to be done away with immediately. A company is in the mix to make money, and despite what logic would dictate, you have no idea what they’re thinking. Prepare yourself, pay down debts, keep some savings. It goes without saying, but had I known a month ago how things were going to go, I would have saved a bit more aggressively, and now I just wish I would have been smarter.

Second, the how could this have happened to me is a stupid mentality and should be done away with immediately. My initial response was to be incredulous but that was very quickly replaced with ‘strategize and adapt’. The latter served me much more. You have to ask yourself what doors of opportunity are open, and they may not be what you are thinking. For me, I don’t plan on finding a job that is going to pay me as much as I was making in this recession, so I had to think, if not a job then what. Arrive at a position that allows you to keep progressing.

Third, loyalty is lost in today’s world, don’t bemoan that, use it. A company will never think ‘don’t fire bill, we promised him a job for a few years’ so why do we think ‘I should stay here for x years, that’s the good thing to do, they’ve invested in me’? A company does what makes it money, for employees, they should treat their career like a chess match, with each move being strategic, but the key there is they are moving. You have no business riding down a sinking ship cause it’s the ‘right thing to do’. Don’t get me wrong, you be ethical, if you commit to a time frame, keep it, but commit cautiously, and move where opportunities open to you.

Anyway, good luck to all of you who are meeting similar fates, but on the bright side, adventures are back and I’m waking up smiling again.

mo star quilt co

So I’ve been putting in a bit of energy into the quilt shop over the past few weeks working to get it on its feet. Though honestly my contributions pale in comparison to those of the two pros running the shop. Mom has really become a pro at running the gammill and Sarah has created a retail niche in a community where there wasn’t one before. It’s a lot of fun working a project like this with them. But as it sits, there has been a lot of progress, and Sarah has started blogging about it on Missouri Star Quilt Company . blogspot.com so you can keep tabs on it. Here’s a few pics of the shop though so you can get a good feel for what I be talking about,

a little smile for you

….. so pretty sure this is amazing. A group called improv everywhere put 16 people undercover to do a spur of the moment musical in an LA mall food court. Wireless mic’s into the mall’s PA system and music over the mall PA system complete it. I about died.

newness still

so I’m in a hotel in new england this very moment. I’m here on business and to scout out a place to live. I think I found a place to live, with some pretty cool roomies that I spent a bit of time with over the weekend, so things are good there. It’s an interesting position to be in, moving to someplace where I know no one. I spent a lot of time sitting here in my hotel room due to the fact that I’m about 30 minutes outside of town … and I know no one here, which is odd for me. Normally I know someone everywhere I go, but it’s really made me appreciate how good I have it in life. I am truly rich due to the good friendships I am surrounded with. It was just kind of nice to be reminded of how blessed I really am.

other things I have going on are the quilt shop, which opens on Wednesday has been taking a lot of my time lately. I went home to Missouri for a few days last week and saw the shop and it looks fantastic. Mom and Sarah are at the quilt market this weekend as a matter of fact, and I really can’t say enough about the hard work and progress that has been made by those two women to get this shop going. My role has been minimalized which has been good, as my day job has kept me exceptionally busy as of late. It’s been interesting starting a business during this recession, but I really find it an advantage to our project. A lot of people invested in this ordeal (time and money) have been worried about the fact that we’re investing heavily into what’s supposed to be a terrible economy. Well, my rationale here is two fold, first, as a basic investment strategy goes, you buy low and sell hi right. Well when the economy is low, the saturation or entry barriers are low in a lot of respects, not completely mind you, but for anyone who can establish themselves on the low end, when the economy is on the upswing, it will carry you up with it. Secondly, you have to pick your business model with this strategy in mind, what will people still be interested in when you cut out the frills. A quilt shop, in my opinion is a fairly safe venture, as it fills a basic need people will be turning to that they may not think about in a more prosperous time. Other ideas would be anything from food storage, to hobby supply stuffs (you’re not going out as much for entertainment, it’s more likely I would spend more time mountain biking if I’m not in the car cruising each weekend) etc. I see this as a great opportunity to innovate and expirement in a relatively safe sandbox. Granted, it’s all gonna have to be bootstrapped cause you’d have to be crazy to invest in someone else in such terrible time…. … but do it yourself, see if you can make it go, it’s a good time to be an entrepreneur.

Lastly, people have been asking my thoughts on politics, and here’s my 2 cents. I love this race. I love how telling it is of people to hear their thoughts on candidates, I love knowing exactly where people stand, and in my opinion, hearing some of the rationale people use to justify political leanings is very telling. I would argue that we are pretty much shafted either way. McCain is a buffoon, I think having him be our president would be a disaster, I really do. Early on in the primaries, I did my research, and McCain would be a poor representation of the republican party. Obama is a small fish in a big pond who is hiding his political leanings beneath layers of rhetoric. The man will be a puppet in the oval office, he is forced to lean too heavily on others due to his inexperience. Either way, the people who support either candidate will be disappointed at what is actually delivered in the white house, I promise you. The only thing that is giving me hesitation about voting for whoever the independant is, is the supreme court justice appointment coming up, which has me worried. Anyway, in short, we’re hosed, but hot dang if this ain’t a fun race to watch unfold. I love America, I love the fact that we can rely on the process and cheer our man to the top, and be frustrated when he loses. I love that everyone thinks they are getting slighted by the main stream media, and we all hate every station we watch or listen to. It’s great to be informed, and people are waking up. I see a few elections still before American’s figure out how to educate themselves politically, but they are waking up, and that excites me.

Anyway, in summary, I’m moving to boston, I’d love a care package with well wishes, but will settle for a phone call at some point.

changes to the blog

I got sick of the old feel of the blog. I’m going to one post per page, and I’m creating a new project for myself. I want to build a blog interface that will present one blog at a time but have them be movable, so you can sift through them quickly. This is a fairly basic programming project, but to make it all dynamic and consistent, that’s the key. So if you hate the bland nature of the blog, wait about a year, I’ll have something new for you.

Also, I’m going to put up a thumb version of the doangang.com photo, but running a PERL script from my hosting service is proving to be a skosh of a challenge.

Anyway, here’s me trying to spice up the life a bit.

if I may…

So I have had a great adventure recently as my sister and I have started the Missouri Star Quilt Co, it’s been a surprisingly fun experience working with family and I would be remiss if I did not give a quick bit o’ love to one of my best friends who happens to be a business partner of mine.

You gotta love this girl and I am constantly amazed at what she is able to accomplish. Let me give you a brief run down of what it’s taken to get here, and keep in mind, this is all done with 5 crazy kids and a champion of a husband, who all have karate, some have soccer, football, music and other commitments. A house of their own that needs attention from time to time, church commitments, and various other time sapping factors in play. So with all that going on, she has managed to find and negotiate a price on a building, close on the building, handle taxes and lawyers, work out loan needs with the bank, incorporate her company, remodel almost entirely a good chunk of the purchased building, get the multiple insurances necessary, come up with alternative financing for the quilt machine, get all the permits and tax id’s necessary to run a business, and the list goes on.

We talk every morning before I start work and we reset what needs to be done that day, and almost without fail, we do a call at the end of the day where she confirms that everything is taken care of. An absolute joy to see everything come together, and I just love working with miss Sarah. My family spoils me, what can I say?

triathlete = me.

I ran a triathlon yesterday. Not the olympic style, just the sprint length (the shortest tri available). A few months ago a friend of mine (woman friend) had started training months ago for this event, and tried to get me to train with her. In an effort to spite her, I promised I wouldn’t train and would still beat her. Well I had to make good on this threat, so on friday we drove to st george and camped (mistake) which means I sat up working on email projects all night cause I couldn’t sleep. Then finally at 4a I went back into the car and curled up there. 6am was race time, so we pushed over there and as I stood in the water to start the swim I looked around and tried to mimic the stretching and warm ups of those around me, which essentially was a lot of windmill arm swinging and upper body torso twisting and bending at the waist (that’s for the legs) then in my board shorts and swim cap (I was supposed to be in a wet suit it seemed) I waited anxiously for the horn, then yelled “GO ATHLETES” and waited for the herd to move out, then I hopped in and pulled out my stroke I know best, the tried and true side stroke. I side stroked in the back of the pack, a constant worry of the rescue folks because of my slow pace, and puttered through it all the same. I finished the swim and was surprisingly exhausted. I’m a swimmer, I really didn’t think it would phase me, but it did. I ran to my bike and changed into my bike shorts (another no no from what I gather, and tasty’s donut’s t-shirt and hopped on the bike and started rocking, then realizing I had no juice, none! I was tired. It took a good half of the bike to get my cadence back, and finally did get going on it, and took it to it. I got done with the cycling leg and hopped off to run. Understand, I am not a runner, at all. I hopped off the bike and started running, we got out of the parking lot, and up a hill and then I realized that ‘desert run’ meant I was running in sand and loose gravel. It was dusty, hot, and long. I felt so weak. I finally just joined a group of old women that pulled me through to the finish (bless their hearts) and did finish! It was pretty exciting for me, but I will never…. ever…. do something like that without training. Seriously, just a bit of prep and I would have had a completely different experience. But regardless, I beat the friend by 7 minutes, and feel it in every part of my body.

Anyway, gray hair or not, I am a triathlete baby.

See pics from both the triathlon, and the LoToJo (206 mile bike race from Logan UT to Jackson Hole WY that Etherington and Smart Mike did while I drove support) —> here

well I knew it was gonna happen

so I woke up the other morning, and went to work on a few projects, then I go brush my teeth and as I’m staring at myself in the mirror scrubbing my gums, I notice something tragic…

a gray hair. That’s right, me, the young, sexy, executive…. going to gray. Now I know what you’re thinking “Al, ladies love the salt and pepper look” well my sex appeal isn’t in question here, it’s me as I know me that is in question. Today, it appears, I’ve hit my peak and am slowly decomposing en route to death.

Stand by for my mid life crisis.

labor day, w00t

so for labor day weekend I hopped on a plane and cruised home to Missouri to do a bit of work. Mom is starting a quilt shop back there called “Missouri Star Quilt Co.” and is very excited. Well we’ve purchased a 5000 sqft old brick building that has a block of windowed store front and just some great character. So we needed to convert the old car dealership (brick building) / antique shop into something usable. Saturday I got in and went over plans with dad and the the family and we settled on what we were going to do. Then I went into the old totes in my room and dug out a pair of jeans (there were so many adventurous clothes in there, to limit myself to jeans was tough, and then Monday we went to work. We were up before 7 to hit the sales at the lumber yard, going in initially in seth’s truck, we hauled back lumber to build the walls, sheetrock, and insulation to rock the casbah. We got back and got working, draining old oil drums and knocking out industrial furnaces from the land before time days. Then we measured for the boardwalk out front, and me and dad ran back to the lumber yard to grab deck supplies. Thinking it would be a small purchase, we just took the minivan. As I ran the math it turned out our order for lumber with the van was almost more than when we had the truck. But this is why I love Missouri. We bought 30 planks of 12 foot treated wood, stuck it in the van leaving a good 6 feet sticking out the back, strapped it down with baling twine and a half working motorcycle strap, then drove 30 mph down the highway home, and no one batted an eye. That is why I love this place. So yeah, we cranked out some serious work on Monday, I was very pleased, then did birthdays the last few days for Seth and miss Ella Jane who is now 4. w00t!

Sarah Beth blogged some pics of the day -

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Life is good though, I was reminded of why I chose the desk job as I went to bed Monday night aching, but it is a feeling I love. It really is so good to be home, love my family, though today I’m jumping on a plane back to Provo, back to Logan tomorrow, back to LA on Tuesday, I’ll touch base with you guys again in a few days. Life is crazy, work is good. On the work note, I’ve found my dream company to work for…. the X Prize foundation. If anyone knows anyone associated with them, drop me a line, I am dead serious, I want to work with those guys. I’ll be looking to change jobs in about 2 years, so we got time, but you know.

oh brah, where you stay?

So I figured I’d give ya’all a quick update on life as I currently know it. So here goes –

When I took the job I am now currently in, I moved to the LA area, or more specifically the Orange County area to live with the old buddy Geoff. Initially it was a tough move for me, as California was a difficult adjustment for me when I was really looking for something different after being in Hawaii for three years and California is different only in that it lacked the local charm and backwoods close proximity of the north shore. So I wasn’t expecting to enjoy myself a whole lot, but honestly I figured life could definitely be worse so I wasn’t complaining.

So it came as a bit of a surprise to me this last week, as I was told by my work I needed to relocate in an eastern direction and I packed up to move, how genuinely attached I’d grown to the area and my friends there. It’s rare to find people that accept you as whole heartedly as my friends did down there, and honestly I feel like I was just getting to know many of them. And despite my tendency to chase adventure on every front which elicits frequent moves, leaving friends has never become easy for me. It was a relatively empty drive Wednesday as I left, and I’m more motivated than ever to settle down and put some roots in somewhere. Even as a single guy, stability is a bit appealing eh’?

What then am I doing you might ask? So the plan is to move out east, maybe Boston, maybe DC, maybe anywhere, I’m still deciding, but that’s where I’m headed, sometime in the fall. But Geoff was already off to school again, so the housing situation needed attention, and my solution was to go on a road trip of buddies and friends until I decide to move out east. So I have about 2 months, and right now I’m back up with some Utah buddies, hanging out in Provo now, gonna go drive support car at the Latoja Classic for a Etherington (a 206 mile bike race across 3 states, pretty sweet) visit some old EFY chums, then roll on with a few musts as I make it back across the US (and I’m open to suggestions if you have anything you feel should be on the list)

Yellowstone

Mt Rushmore

Gettysburg (currently reading Killer Angels and I must see)

That’s all I have on the must see list right now, but I’ll have plenty of time I reckon, so give me some suggestions.

Anyway, that’s where I am. Miss my Orange County family out there, and am especially grateful for the friendships they extended to this lil ole missoura farm boy. I continue my nomadic journey, and will keep you posted on how it goes. Much love and aloha.