Let the world be on notice... My sister is a cool cat!

are you happy now?

The Aftermath: Part 3

It truly is humbling to have the security of a good job dissipate unexpectedly. You begin to question your drive and abilities. Insecurities run rampant, sending a mind that was previously efficient and productive into a dense forrest, where clarity is obscured, and time simply slips away. At this point, there is denial. The small sanctuary in your mind where rationality exists accepts the reality of the situation, but all your other senses fight back. This can't really be happening? This just doesn't make sense. Scenarios, rumor, and speculation twist and turn until enough straws have been grabbed to make a cozy little nest where false hope can lay an egg or two. I'm being a little melodramatic, but... it was difficult.

"When it rains, it pours". I had forgotten, but it was brought to my attention that on the next day, a friday 7.21.06, 3 friends from work and I went to lunch to have a beer and blow off some steam. I believe we were on our way to Pizza Port, but got bamboozled. It was ridiculously busy, so we ate next door at the Tidewater? On our way back to the car, walking just past PP, a Ford Explorer driving... ~ 40+ mph wizzes by us on the 101 and pulls into a drive way without braking at all, less than 50 ft. in front of us. The SUV disappeared around the facade of a boutique. Seconds later... CrASHWhAMSMACKKAplooEY! The 4 of us hustle up the sidewalk to see the aftermath, and discover a black Jetta totally T-boned by the Explorer. The kicker: The guy in the Explorer gets out of his truck in a haze, only to reveal... HE HAS NO LEGS!! He was driving like a bat out of hell, in traffic, with a pair of titanium kangaroo legs! Unbelievable. And we were literally 10 secs from being in the wrong place at the right time.

Happy Birthday

The weekend came, gratefully. Any distraction was a welcome one. I might have hoped my 33rd would have come and gone under less onerous circumstances. I happened to have family visiting which was nice. My Aunt Liz and Uncle Anthony are fun people. I always enjoy there company. It was great to see Marie as well. She has really grown up. The weather was A+ San Diego style. We all got some good beach time in. My mom made my classic cake (yellow w/ special white frosting). We barbecued and drank margeritas. All in all, a pretty good weekend. Of course, it came and went much to fast, and the burden of pulling together a resume after almost ten years of work was a daunting task.

Addendum: To clarify, the link to the car wreck isn't the actual wreck. The surfer is me.

The Omen: Part 2

As I remember, things seemed almost too good to be true... for everyone. We had just recruited a familiar face, that had previously worked a year or two in the Lerner Lab. The fate of the lab seemed positive, despite the usual tensions that many of its senior members (present company included) had become almost callous to. I had been busy at work, with more than a plate full, but in control. The kind of busy that keeps the days moving quickly, without the added stress of working late or falling too far behind on projects.

The first sign

It's hard to remember back ~ 2 months. At this point, I might have just known for sure that my good friend and colleague Dave Kujawa, was committed to Law school at LMU and leaving the lab in August. This really isn't that ominous alone, but looking back a couple of months later makes it seem so.

Then this

My 33rd birthday, 7.22.06 was on a saturday this year. This photo was taken in the parking lot in front of the Beckman center for chemical science (my building) on the wednesday before my birthday. I can't be completely positive, but I think someone nearly T-boned me about a 1/4 of a mile from my mom's condo on my way to lunch, minutes after taking this photo. I'm sure I had said something to Crystal about it... she would remember. Something was in the air. If my math is right, and it usually is, later that afternoon a friend in the lab delivered the news to myself and a couple of others that the Lerner Lab had run out of funding and everyone had until October 1st to find employment elsewhere... harsh. The rumor had come from the top, and was assumed to be credible. It's the news that you just never want to hear. You're fired! (maybe if it's coming from Trump... maybe) It hits you like a brick, and trust me, I believe you go through all or most of the 12 steps in finally coming to grips with the reality of the situation. The rumor was confirmed the next day by my boss in her usual dramatic and unprofessional way... par for the course. Keep in mind, this is like 2 days before my birthday. What could possibly come next? Tune in and find out.

Note: The link to 12 steps is interesting. I thought that they were much more straight forward in explanation and not religious, ie. shock, denial, anger, acceptance, etc. That was kind of a suprise.

Addendum: Thanks to the comments of a valued source, the 12 steps reference should be replaced by The Kubler-Ross model. TY DR.

The Resurrection: Part 1

The Preface

A lot has happened in the roughly 2 months since my last post. Enough that surely, almost anyone would agree, could suck the life out of a seemingly trivial indulgence... Blogging. Much of the change in my life at the moment, is centered around my job. While change is often a good thing, it can be both physically and mentally fatiguing. After having enough time to pass, I feel somewhat recharged. I'm ready to update, comment, vent and opine on a variety of topics that I will address in a series of posts in an attempt to lure in and recapture "my audience", as opposed to boring everyone to death with an exhaustive catch up post with too many pictures and not really saying anything. My goal in keeping this blog alive is to actually... SAY something (most of the time). To start this new "jihad", I had to give the vehicle a face lift. Hours of HTML tinkering and previewing spawned my blog's new look... I'm happy with it. At this point, I will let all this marinate and create some suspense for part 2 of my quest to get this blog off of life support. Life is sweet again.