wordsimageslife
an exploration of life as a parent & designer

Where Have You Gone Joe DiMaggio?

The funny turns that life takes. If I could recap every emotion that I've had over the past few weeks—weeks that have passed by without a single blog entry—it would be roller coaster like you've never ridden before. Rather than make you turn green, I'll just highlight the key dates/happenings.

Jan 25/26, 2005: Get a call, late in the afternoon of the 25th, from Bill (my former boss, my bosses' boss and the MD of our department) asking me if I'd be available to have a 'short' conversation the next morning to catch-up.

On the morning of the 26th, BIll shoots me an e-mail, asking if we can change the time of our meeting and can I meet this guy up on 24 to do the call. Now totally suspicious, I send an e-mail back asking who the other guy is (knowing perfectly well that he had to be HR and that something was going to happen though I was not sure what it would be at that point.) Bill didn't answer my e-mail and to confirm my own suspicions, I looked the guy up on our company directory. And I was right. HR. <p>

Finally, after 5.5 years, there was a restructuring that my one-man design outpost in Baltimore was the target of. Say goodbye to Hollywood, Say goodbye my baby...my view of the Harbor from the 18th floor, five and a half years that made damn passionate about branding and the power of design. The timing wasn't perfect but the situation can only be described as an opportunity and not a disappointment. <p>

The best part, sarcastically, was when the HR woman in NY told me that I had an hour to pack my things and vacate the premises. I told her in no uncertain terms that there was no way I could pack up five years of stuff (designers do like to collect things) in an hour, and could I at least have until the end of the day. She grudgingly agreed to that. It's amazing when you get laid-off how impersonal the people you've worked with for the past few years become. Bill, who for so long reminded me what a valuable team member I was and how he had worked so hard to save my job, could barely manage to stay on the call for maybe a minute and a half. His subsequent e-mail about the laptop was so labored and stiff, you would've thought he'd typed it from some HR language of the damned manual. (They let me keep my five-year old Mac laptop. )

So, having been notified that I was being let go, and knowing that we needed to replace the Subaru, I did what any other proud American would do. I applied on-line and got approved for a car loan. And it only took us until last Saturday to finally finish a deal—key to car shopping in the 21st century is do it on-line, negotiate with as many dealers as you can and get them to outbid one another—on a Honda Pilot EX. It's a great combination of family station wagon, minivan (yeah, I don't have to be seen driving a mini-van) no offense to those of my friends who do drive one, and of course four-wheel/all-wheel drive vehicle (SUV). And to be honest, I love our new car. And we ended up, final price including taxes, etc...well below dealer invoice.

So, what have I been doing with my free time? Resting and enjoying a brief break from work? Who me? Are you kidding? I've been busier the past few weeks husting to get freelance work, getting job leads, talking to friends in high places and having as many portfolio reviews as possible. And to be honest, it's been good to stay busy but sometimes the waiting to hear the phone ring is damn frustrating.

Well, on that note, I have to turn in. Driving to Richmond, sans family, tomorrow to judge “Grade,” the Greater Richmond Awards for Design Excellence which is Virginia's largest design competition. See if you can recognize my sheyner ponmim in the event poster. And as you peer into that piece of art, I'm calling it a night.