Working the Weekend
30 August 2003, 2:06 PM

Erf. I haven't written anything thought provoking here in a while, because I've been writing up a storm at work. We're fast approaching the 1st of September. That's when our university officially changes it's name from Southwest Texas State University to Texas State University-San Marcos. That means a lot of web work for us web gurus, since the main site needs to change to reflect the name, but can't change *before* the 1st.

So we're at work today, plugging away at some more code and getting ready to flip switches on Sunday to move from our old site on the old server to ma new site on the new server. I'll have to take my Labor Day weekend vacation on another weekend.

And despite having to work on my birthday and the increasing stress as the date for changeover approaches, it was still a lovely day. Jeff took me out to Jean Luc's Bistro for dinner and we had an absolutely *lovely* meal. His mom paid for it as a birthday present. (Which was nice. A dinner for two there is close to $100.)

My growing fondness for cooking, and eating at places like this is really making me think about taking classes at the Culinary Institute in Austin. I've already got a family background in the hospitality and food and beverage industry, and every once in a while (now more often than once in a while) I think of leaving the IT industry completely. Maybe being a chef is something I'd like to do.

Actually, I've been mulling over a number of things. Teaching at a community college level is number one on the list, but I'll probably need my Master's for that. Or maybe being an instructor here on campus. (Same degree requirement probably.) Other days I've thought about opening a shop very much like Lucia's Garden (trinkets, gardening) but with a small tea-and-cakes cafe. Other days I miss science and think about meteorology, or even returning to the medical technology path.

The only constant here is that I'm sick and tired of information technology. There's a lot of reasons for it, but foremost is that I don't get any joy out of doing this anymore. That's partly because my role has transformed into a managerial one rather than a code monkey one, but more so because my managerial role only means that I put up with crap, fight politics and have responsibility over things I have no authority or resources for. If I could actually make the things I see as necessary HAPPEN, I'd love a managerial role.

But far too often - in fact, ever since I got online in 1988 - I've had an idea but was either ignored, laughed at, or argued with. Since I never had resources enough to just make it happen on my own I'd always have to watch in frustration as years went by until somebody FINALLY "got it" and the ball started rolling. You'd think that would make me feel better, but it never did.

Why? because it always got rolling for someone else. Someone else got the job and the fun and the challenge and the recognition and the support to make what I'd talked about (and sometimes even begged for) reality. Having that happen over and over again? Very bad for my morale. So I'm sick of IT and I want out. Let them discover innovations all on their own at a snail's pace. I ain't helpin' no more.

I want to return to doing web pages and using technology as my hobby - a fun pursuit all my own. I'd like to get back to science, even if it's just the free time to read about it on a daily basis. I'd like to get back to the service industry and away from product creation. I'd just like to enjoy work again.