Some days I have to stay in my house all day with my kids. These are the best days of my life, I pretend as I watch my eighteen month old daughter push pennies down her diaper for me to find later like some kind of personalized savings plan. Other days I get to have someone else raise my children for the day while I run free doing errands – free for the day like a prisoner not sure what to do first upon release. First, overwhelmed by my freedom. Not sure how to interact with the outside world. Just outside the gate to my back yard I look into a sky bluer than I have ever seen and a small tear comes to the corner of my eye as I contemplate my day that seems like a never-ending prairie unfolding in front of me. Next, I get in my car and drive. I get several miles before I become lucid and understand where I’m going.

I’ve decided to take some equipment to one of the places I used to work and get some video cables made. The place is called Cinequipt. The word is Latin for Cinema and Equipment put together. I worked there almost twenty years ago and have stayed friends with the folks. When I used to work there my favorite thing to hear on the phone was the person asking me to repeat where I was calling from. One day, calling on someone to solicit some business I said I was from Cinequipt and the person on the phone said, “What’d you say your name was? Cindy Quit?” I said, “Cinequipt” and he said, “Cindy Who?” I gave up and said yes, “Cindy Lu Who.”

When I decided to leave the company it wasn’t like most people leave a place of work. I was not fired and I had no other prospects. I had been there almost 5 years. The longest I had worked anywhere by the time I was 33. My wife and I had decided to buy a houseboat, quit our jobs, and take a trip down the Mississippi River. I decided to do the right thing and give a month’s notice, even though it would probably only take two days to replace me. I liked to think I was what they call “integral”. I told my boss that I was retiring. Yes, that’s it. Early retirement. I stressed that it was a very early retirement. He seemed somewhat amused, like a professor who knew it was time to say goodbye to a student who may or may not make it.

On that day leaving work after giving my retirement notice I had that feeling of freedom that I always enjoyed. Even a job that I liked was not immune to my need to not have a job. But I always enjoy coming back to visit.  This visit I said hi to Chris and visited with Mitch H. and Bryan Heiber. 

On this particular visit, things were going well until Bryan Heiber said he didn’t have time to read my blog. I told him that I’m going to make it into a Podcast. He still said he didn’t have time. Honesty is good. I mean, maybe not so much. I’m finding that most people are more willing to listen to something than read it. Makes sense for those driving or riding to work. Many people are looking to fill all their empty auditory times with books on CD or podcasts or something else that they have chosen to entertain, inform or subdue them. It’s important to know a lot if you want to speak about serious matters on facebook, twitter pithy comments, or not go astray on your next technology/gadget purchase. I personally prefer random sounds. I like to be surprised. You know, snippets of conversations or wind or if walking, possibly the sound of a bus headed towards my body. These sounds are not as useful to me in the knowledge gathering field – except, for the sound of a bus coming toward my body. Definitely, knowledge I want to have.

Bryan and I talked about our kids. His youngest is a couple of weeks younger than my oldest. All of his kids get on a bus in the morning and go away for the day to a place where other people tell them things. It seemed like a far off place where candy canes grow on trees and all the plowed fields are made of Nutella. Oh, well those salad days will come soon enough. Now I need to move on to my next errand to visit my friend Stevo and another place I used to work. This reminds me of all the jobs I’ve had over the years. Many more jobs than the average person. I wonder if this is hereditary. Is there a chance that my kids will feel the need to blow this pop stand in search of an early release? 

On my way back from running my errands I looked forward to dispatching the babysitter and hanging out with the kids for a while until the newness wears off again. I think that tomorrow morning I’ll make pancakes for the kids. If I make them pancakes I’m hoping they won’t quit as many jobs as I have. I convince myself that I may read most of what they write – unless it’s on the internet. In that case, I may even try to listen to it with my auditory listening devices and tune out the randomness of all else for a short time – even if it puts me in danger of being hit by a bus.

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