A Nearly Perfect Feeling

OneTwentyEight is back - shaken a bit, and doubling down on a healthy diet - now that they are back. DKA is no joke - and they were being treated for sepsis.

NerdHaven is teaching me about a number of medical things - and sepsis is one of them that stuck with me. Once it starts, your odds of surviving drop by about 10% every hour or so.

OneTwentyEight knows this - they learned it at the same talk I did. Thankfully, the treatment for it is simple and effective. Once treatment began, OneTwentyEight was in the clear.

But they are not indulging like they used to - and our team is trying to do the same things as before (bringing in bagels, running for take out) without being insensitive. Hey! Who wants stuffed crust?

Things are stabilizing.

Noddy has reached a new level of annoying. So much so - that Runner, Sprint and I have regular meetings where we b!tch about Noddy. It's starting to affect productivity.

In the interest of not annoying the crap out of people I will skip over Noddy's latest entry into the D-bag Hall of Fame - and point out a small something that made me smile.

Today, we were meeting with Product - in kind of a big deal discussion of an upcoming project. And - as they have in countless meetings before - Noddy starts dozing off.

This has become so commonplace - that Runner and I share a brief eyeroll and get back to the meeting. Which is sad - shouldn't we do something? Say something? But what would we do? Hey, Noddy! Wake the hell up, huh? That would go out over the teleconference and into the recording.

I'm thinking.... well, I dunno - that I don't want to go there.

About the time I've forgotten about Noddy, I look over at Product and they are looking at Noddy. Then they look at me, feign like they are passing out and give me a look as if to say "Is that really happening?"

Runner and I just look back at Product. Hellyea that is happening.

It's petty of me - I know. But somebody outside of UX is noticing that Noddy sleeps on the job.

But that's not the good thing I wanted to talk about.

Back when I was bailing out of CorpWorld - I was contacted by the President of UX Candy Land. One of those "I hear music" kind of contacts. Full on awesome and (naturally) I'd just taken another job that would implode on me in seven months.

Thanks, but no thanks, PerfectJob...I'm gonna climb aboard this sinking ship. Bon Voyage!

I'd pointed Candy Land's president towards Stimpy - who was on professional life support over at CorpWorld - and let PerfectJob slip away.

Now, of course - Candy Land wouldn't be the perfect job for me. The commute's longer and - aside from Noddy - my current job is just awesome.

So today, out of the blue - the President of Candy Land contacts me again. He's looking for someone to do UX work for him. Short term - with the possibility of turning into a full time position (yeah, I know. Contract gigs always say that, but I'd lay good odds on this one).

Anyway. I'm genuinely flattered to be contacted again. The President isn't really asking me to apply - they just want to know if I could refer them to some UXers. I'm never going to be well connected - but I got to feel like a known entity in my profession.

In a ridiculously small way, I know.

I can't do this job, and most of the UXers I know are placed, but I ping Stimpy. Stimpy never got a shake at Candy Land last go round. I figure I'l ping them and see if they are up for some short term work.

Stimpy's just back from overseas and they are off CorpWorld's payroll. Not only are they interested, but they've already been contacted by Candy Land. Turns out, Candy Land's President remembers my earlier recommendation of Stimpy and contacted them directly.

Stimpy is so happy - and I'm practically radiating.

I mean - it's going to sound dumb, but no way I get where I am without the help of folks like Sensei, Anjin-san, The Artist, Ruby... hell, everybody in the old crew.

And you say 'thank you' when you can, but it's nowhere close to adequate.  You've altered the trajectory of my life, made it possible for me to better provide for my children... so here's a card I bought in a drugstore.

There's no way to square that.

-But I can help Stimpy.

Its still early, and it may not work out. Or the gig may not go permanent. But the thought of finally being about to do something to help one of the old crew out...

Well, it's the best feeling I've had in a while.