Coupled with the longest part of the work year (the space between New Years and Memorial day with no company holidays), my confidence and attitude began to wither away. By March I was starting to get snippy with co-workers and my wife. By April I had moved past anger into apathy about work (my personal life was making a large shift then, more on that on another blog post). When May and June rolled around, I was distracted and losing focus both at work and home. I was near complete burn-out.

In the middle of June, I finally took a vacation. I took ten days off of work and stacked a trip with my best friend with a getaway for my anniversary with my wife. Both vacations were very low-key and didn't require much planning or structure, just time spent relaxing. Never before in my life had I needed a vacation more, and I didn't even know it until two days after my trip started.

Five years ago, the equation for time off would sync up with family trips, holidays, and special events. I would save and spend my vacation time to address work or family socializing I wouldn't have time to do after work or on weekends. But over those five years, my alone/quiet time had dissipated. Eventually, I was switching from web guy, to dad/husband, back to web guy with only some sleep in between.

Because the work/life balance increasingly sliding into work/work, I felt I needed to dedicate more time to both. So vacation could wait, and wait. And wait. I would take a three-day weekend here or there, but it was more so I could catch up on tasks, not relax.

This need to address both my work and home life constantly and continuously led to near complete burn-out. I was blind to what my old boss had always warned me of:

When workload and stress are at there highest (either personally or professionally) its even more imperative that one breaks away and finds time to relax and find their center.

I'm now on my second break/vacation. in two months Sitting on a bridge over a creek in Estes Park, drinking coffee and writing this entry. I feel utterly relaxed, while also energized. My mind is alive again, interested and excited for the future. Positive thinking once again reigns over my ideas and I'm ready to take on the world.

All because I took a real vacation.

Just recently, Harvard Business Review published on their blog an article by Tammy Erickson titled "10 Reasons Gen Xers are Unhappy at Work" detailing a set of reasons why Gen X workers are disassociated from their work in corporations. While the reasons are sound (it would be hard for any Gen X workers not to relate to at least 2-3 of them), what really caught my attention was this passage:

Many of you X’ers are not thrilled with corporate life. You tend not to trust institutions in general and deeply resent the Boomers’ confident assumptions that you will be motivated by the same things that Boomers have long cared about. Many of you have told me that you are planning to leave corporate life “soon” – to start entrepreneurial ventures or work for smaller companies – options you feel will suite you better than the corporate roles looming ahead.

I think Ms. Erickson has nailed my point from the previous entry. Motivation is the key, and both Gen X and Gen Y are not being properly motivated and in turn are not engaged in their current job. The article points to the aging corporate structure and environment as both the cause and where to solution will need to come. I agree, that corporations will need to reevaluate how they structure the work environment to account for how the following will change the current status quo:

• Social Networking
• Telecommuting
• The coming energy crisis
• Life/Work balance that emphasized life over work

And most importantly, intrinsic value. Every single employee should feel they are part of a copacetic employee/employer contract. The employer needs go beyond simple pay and benefits for services rendered, to work with employess in understanding how the job can match the employee's career path, goals, and possibly philosophy. For considering all of these needs, in turn an employee will be not only be actively engaged but will become a net promoter of the company's product/service and the company itself a place to work.

In the November issue, the aforementioned panel was chronicled discussing their concerns over the declining talent-base due to the lack of engineering and business majors. A valid concern and one I share. Unfortunately, the esteemed panel took the argument one step further by critiquing the younger generation's work ethic.

The CEO a technology consulting firm, said even a 45-hour work week appears to be too much for some young workers, compared with the 60- to 65-hour work weeks once typical for professional careers as little at four or five years ago.

The context of this statement, while a smite condescending, really shows a gap in understanding between older management and the younger workforce.

The people of Generations X & Y have grown up in an increasingly connected world where technology enables workflows that could only have been dreamed of even five years ago. Utilizing these new tools, young workers are finding they can work smarter, not harder. Unfortunately, because this can translate to less time in the office, others often misinterpret the worker as a slacker.

Maybe the Generation Y workers don’t appreciate their good fortune, that jobs have been relatively plentiful in their lifetimes. They haven’t been through the pain of massive layoffs, roundtable members pondered. "We haven’t had in our economy a grinding, just a hard grinding, recession for 25 years. Maybe that’s what we need," said jokingly, prompting laughter from the group.

I would argue that no participant of this group have actually experienced a recession of the magnitude suggested. This comment reeks of parental condescension and little constructive content. Though not all on this panel are stuck in their own ideals:

"They aren’t eight to five. They don’t mind working late hours if they have the flexibility," he said. "We have to plan better, have to think differently, in how we approach it."

This person grasps the key to motivating the younger workforce, even if not articulated well. While flexibility is definitely necessary, the phrase "have to think differently, in how we approach it" gives this member of Generation X hope. Because the worker of the future is looking for one thing above their paycheck, value.

I firmly believe that nearly every member of the Generations X & Y workforce would gladly put in extra hours for a good reason. And this is where I think today's current management practices break down. Where a traditional manger will use scare tactics and strong-arming to gain extra work from an employee, the younger workforce could be had for simply providing meaning.

If an employee can see and understand the intrinsic value to their own career of putting in the extra work on a team initiative, or "putting their nose to the grindstone" on a project deadline, stretching the work week when necessary should come without complaint.

I've only scratched the surface on this topic, and plan to write future posts (real work-life balance, tips on motivating Gen ?) to continue this discussion, but I would like to leave any manager looking at this with a singular thought: quality is not only a better metric of productivity than quantity, it is a better motivator for the new workforce.

After a pretty boring keynote presentation and lackluster demo of BPEL (which seems to be their magic bullet for unifying "Fusion"), on walks Vince Casarez. For the next 45 minutes I was riveted.

Vince took all of the basic elements of a software presentation and simplified it, designed it, and added a little flare. His presentation had:

• Good vocal cadence. His voice ranged up ad down and changed rhythm throughout the presentation
• Simple, clear slides. The slides kept to the Presentation Zen ideal of limiting text and using high end graphics very nicely
• Good anecdotes to help illustrate certain points or to better answer audience questions
• Spelled out acronyms he used in the presentation (THANK YOU!!!)

For that little bit of flair, he inserted 3-4 thirty second videos of customer interviews discussing the value they found in the new product. While the video had some sync issues and the content was pretty thin, the idea was sound.

The presentation was not overly technical nor too basic. This one presentation did a great job of what the whole day was intended to do, explain how the new Fusion project would unify all of Oracle's tools and applications into a single unified framework.

And thanks to Web 2.0 and recent CSS work, the frameworks won't stop there. I will likely implement jQuery as the Javascript framework, and I'm eying the Blueprint CSS framework from Google as well.

While I'm sure getting up to speed in all of these frameworks will take a bit, I'm also sure that they will end up saving me development time in the future. I know some developers (especially CSS and PHP developers) are not thrilled with frameworks, but I believe this is a necessary evolution for web design.

As the web interface becomes increasingly complex, the "producers" of websites will need to find ways to leverage better tools to keep up with Web 2.0. To keep up with the increased capacity while maintaining an acceptable time to market, frameworks will continue to be essential.

A couple of years ago, we purchased my wife an iBook to do a better job of her voice recordings. I've been astonished over the that time how simple working wit a Mac was. While it is sometimes constraining, I really started to like her computer (and computer envy in any household is a definite no-no).

Then came the new MacBooks. I could have the best of both worlds! I could still run my Windows programs, but have a Mac too. So started my trek to Mac.

A couple of weeks ago, I pulled the trigger (once Leopard was announced). It made sense that if I was to start a new direction in my career, it made sense to start with a new computer!

With a couple weeks under my belt, I'm officially loving it. I can do almost everything I need, both work and play, from the same laptop. While I'm still adjusting to "open Apple" key, I really do enjoy the better quality of software and computing power. I'm running XP through Fusion, and it works very well.

While I'm pretty sure I'll run both for a long time, OSX and Mac fit my way of working much better these days.

And there is no better way to restart than an overhaul. Look for a new design, new tools, and a renewed focus.

Coming Soon.

But unlike Rodney Dangerfield, I'm going back after only a ten year absence. I'm registered and a full week into my first course with Jones International University.

I know, an online university? But the more research I did, the more appealing it became. Jones was one of the first online universities on the block, giving them over 7 years of experience of educating online. More important though, shortly after opening up Jones achieved full regional accreditation from the the same commission that accredited the University of Notre Dame. These points, plus the flexibility of an online environment, and I was sold.

Now I'm on week two of my "Ethics in an E-Global World" class and I can honestly say that this class is more work than any single class I had as an undergrad at CU Boulder. The reading is about the same, but the exercise workload is much higher.

And...I'm having a blast. I haven't written this much since I started this weblog.

About a month ago I had a strange week where Thomas Friedman's landmark book "The World is Flat" came up in three separate instances over three straight days:

Thursday

The CEO of my company held up a copy during our quarterly town-hall stylites broadcast as "recommended reading" as part of his continuing explanation as to why we're outsourcing certain business processes. Recommending any reading is something I've never seen him do in the past 3 years.

Friday

I bump into a good friend from a previous job, who I've seen maybe 3 times since my wedding almost 4 years ago, at a local art event. We spent at least half an hour talking about outsourcing, how its affected our businesses (mine web, his television). Our main point of contention was that he was convinced that offshoring and outsourcing would touch every single part of American business and our economy with probably devastating results. Of course he's read Friedman's book and asks me if I have too.

Saturday

Helping some friends setup a baby shower, I spent some time talking with the brother of the expecting, an IT manager. By now I'm thoroughly intrigued by this book, and shamelessly bring it up. During the conversation I mention that I'm still not convinced a country that employs over 50% of its population through small business would be so thoroughly decimated by outsourcing. He agreed that he was having trouble envisioning such a large impact, but in the same breath he also mentioned the massive effect outsourcing has had on his own business.

I went out and bought a copy of "The World is Flat" on the following Monday.

I just finished the final chapter today, something I had a much harder time acheiving than usual for me. It was easy to read, and Friedman's stories and style are approachable by anyone picking up the book. I had trouble finishing it because it seemed like every chapter would lead me downstairs to my homemade whiteboard sitting on a sink, fleshing out the latest brainstorm.

I could write all afternoon about what was made clear to me through Friedman's excellent book, but instead I'll just focus on a few of the insights I took away from it:

Preconceptions were the first to go

I, like many others I've worked with over the last years, thought that India or China could never compete with the level of knowledge work generated in America. It was naive and stupid, but I believed it. I saw the commoditization of IT and it made sense to me, but I also heard the stories of how offshoring any actual design or anything beyond just coding within a strictly managed project failed miserably. The first few pages of Friedman's book broke open my misconceptions with a sledgehammer. The interviews and stories of his time with Infosys alone was really eye-opening, and that was just the start. The rest of the book regales story after story of Indian, Chinese, and even Jordanian companies that are not only catching up, they're thinking bigger than Americans and aiming to take us to the cleaners.

Its time to think bigger

The idea that you can't afford the level of service your business needs to compete with the big boys is old thinking. Finding, extending, and building trust with outsource vendors around the world will be vital to every business in the future, even the local coffee shop.

Its time to go back to school

I've been pondering getting a masters ever since I graduated from CU in 1996. But I've never been keen on doing the classroom thing again. Friedman points out in the book that not only do Americans need to step up our education, but there are fully accredited and well respected online universities offering MBAs today. The time is right, so I looked one up. Last weekend I applied to Jones International University to get an MBA in Global Enterprise Management. I can't wait to get started.

I know many people are fearing the future a flat world could bring, but I'm genuinely excited for the next 10 years. The flattening of the world will shake our country and many others like a tectonic plate shifting, and I just keep getting ideas on how to leverage it to do bigger, better business ideas.

Like I said above, I can't wait.

I can't remember the last time I saw such a politically charged action movie. Sure the Matrix trilogy had undercurrents of theology vs. technology but the Wachowski brothers brought a raw, sharp, violent clarity to a message in V for Vendetta that is truly refreshing during these times of heavy conservatism in America.

In the movie, "V" stands for every man, woman, and child. He reminds the masses that their voice does matter, that "governments should be afraid of the people" not vice-versa. The backdrop of the movie is painted with seriously fascist and totalitarian overtones, and John Hurt channeling every quality of the dictator scared to let its public even think—dare they realize what has happened to their lives.

All of this was reflected perfectly through Natalie Portman's portrayl of Evey. She plays the true "everyman" and human face to V's masked one. Evey starts as a scared citizen, brought on by years of brainwashing by a climate of fear fed by state controlled ownership of the media and roving "black bag" posses capturing undesirables, never to be seen again. During her time with "V" she rediscovers the free will that had been taken from her. And that moment, if not the climactic moment of the movie, easily is the most powerful.

I should stop here, or I'll just keep talking and give away the whole movie. But I'm hoping that this will be a huge box office hit, because we all need a reminder every so often that as a single person, or as a nation, we have a voice. We're just out of the habit of using it. Thankfully, "V" has come with a not-so-gentle reminder.

Now I've got a new Tivo favorite. Through an old article on Wired magazine's website, "The Thermochemical Joy of Cooking" (How can you not be intrigued by this title!), I've discovered "Good Eats" on the Food Network.

Show host, Alton Brown, has a fast-paced, slightly snarky, but fun delivery of not only how to cook your food better, but why. I've only watched a few episodes, but I've already:

• bought a cast-iron skillet (something I never would've thought I needed)
• know the differences between different kinds of salt and why most cooks (including Alton) enjoy Kosher salt
• understand the need to have 3 different kinds of cooking oil in your kitchen for different temperature cooking

The show is on every weekday in the early evening, and is definitely worth disk space on your Tivo!

And now the holidays are upon us, and my wife is picking up the slack because I don't think I've ever sent out a Christmas card in my life. Is there a 12-step program for this? Can I be cured? Or am I forever to be the asshole who never called/ wrote you back?

Good thing New Years is around the corner, maybe I'll just add this to my list.

As for the movies, the main life blood of any good buddy film is in the interaction between the characters, and the actors who play them. I would say that both films did a solid job here, in very different ways.

I'd forgotten what a great actor Greg Kinnear is. This movie is clearly a vehicle to allow Pierce Brosnan to stretch out of the Bond/Remington Steele persona, which he does admirably, but Kinnear continued to steal scene after scene of this movie playing the every-man down on his luck against Brosnan's vagabond. Like most great friendships, theirs is built over a moment of complete trust and honesty that happens at the end of a mysterious night in Mexico City.

In the Q&A with the writer/director Richard Shepard afterward, he revealed that the script was sent to Brosnan as a proof of writing for Shepard to pen the sequel to the Thomas Crown Affair, when in his words "I was doing what any unemployed writer does at 4pm, watching Oprah in my underwear" when Brosnan called and stating that he wanted to do the film.

Inspired Rating: Fun. I had a good time, and some good laughs, but watching the interaction between Kinnear and Brosnan really was the candy for this movie.

Backseat

The most revealing piece of the Q&A was to find out that the writer/actor Josh Alexander had penned himself as the role of self-reperessed Ben with good friend Rob Bogue playing his free-wheeling counterpart Colton, but on the first day of readings the director Bruce Van Dusen switched the entrenched actors, which proved the right thing to do.

Inspired Rating: Quirky. I really enjoyed parts of this film and it definitley fits the indie mold, but it just didn't engage like other really good low-budget films can (El Mariachi, Clerks, etc.). Worth a rental if you really like buddy films, otherwise let it ride.

With each passing week, I find my self spending more time glued to my laptop every night. Checking the player updates, looking for a steal in the free agent draft, bantering with my opponents, reviewing start/sit recommendations, or sometimes just cruising ESPN.com for no good reason.

I can't wait till New Years, cause I can't keep this up forever!

Until today, I had never paid more than a passing notice to MySpace.com, but every teen interviewed and a large part of their friends use the service every day. So I signed up to check it out, and what I see actually pushes the edge of my comfort level online. I think that means I'm officially getting old.

I logged in and started browsing around and found myself in the equivalent of personal billboard land. Everybody has their own space (linked to "friends" ala Friendster), and more importantly this is the space they come to talk with their friends after school.

There's no real lesson here, just an observation that even in my time on the web, people 10 years younger than I are eminently more comfortable putting their entire life online and sharing it with their friends. The fact that more of my family has found their next girlfriend online, and when asked my coworker told me all of the differences between livejounal, myspace, and zengo and why she prefers livejournal (they have a "circle of friends" feature allowing you to restrict entries to your closest friends) shows the web has reached a new level of acceptance in society that's beyond mine.