Changing Priorities 2002

I've reduced my hours at SoftDevices to just one day a week, plus a few hours here & there as needed. I love the people, but the work has changed a little (more configuration of an existing solution, less creation of a new solution) and, more than that, I've changed.

My grandfather's death really made me take some time to think about what is important to me. Bob was a man who really lived by his principles. He was good to the people around him, made people laugh and think, and inspired his passion for learning and exploring in those around him. He defended our right to free speech. He thought globally before that became fashionable. I'm not saying he didn't live a fairly normal American lifestyle, but he raised my mother in a way that let her respect herself and follow her dreams and strengthened her to provide an environment for me to grow up with the same strong sense of self and love of learning and the world.

Business is a little slow right now, so that's part of the reason I reduced my hours, but more than that, I wanted time to think and explore some possibilities. One realization I've come to is that I want to live in better accordance with my principles and I am willing to get by on significantly less money to do so. I will miss working full-time with the wonderful people at SoftDevices, but these reduced hours will let me do work, both paid & volunteer, which truly feeds my soul.

After a lot of thought about where I want to work (entreprenuerial projects with friends, Tides Foundation or a similar non-profit, returning to bookstores or publishing...), I was walking through my new grocery store, Rainbow, smiling and chatting with staff & other shoppers and realized I'd love to work there. I do miss the public contact in retail. I did a bit of research about Rainbow's workers cooperative and spoke with an employee (Hi Pete!) when we bumped into each other at the Billy Nayer Show Wednesday night. Today I filled out my application and thought I'd share a couple answers with you:

Why do you want to work at Rainbow?
I am tired of working for companies whose primary raison d'etre is to help make corporations make more money. I want to make my work a natural outflow of my beliefs - eco-friendly, pro-creativity, pro-kindness, pro-freak - and I want to create a feedback mechanism where my positive energy flows through my work to the community and back. I want to feel more connected to simple, natural, shared things like eating, growing food, making good stuff, sharing ourselves, and smiling. I'd rather help someone sit down to a good meal than help them sell a computer.

What are your future goals?
- to create more of what I use (both food and things)
- to participate in communities more (San Francisco, global connectedness in general, online creativity sharing in general)
- to have nothing in my home which is not beautiful or useful or both
- to, as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence say, spread universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt
- to walk the city of San Francisco, every street, every block

I'll let you know how it turns out and I'll see you in the bulk aisle. ;)

Comments

Changing Priorities

I've reduced my hours at SoftDevices to just one day a week, plus a few hours here & there as needed. I love the people, but the work has changed a little (more configuration of an existing solution, less creation of a new solution) and, more than that, I've changed.

My grandfather's death really made me take some time to think about what is important to me. Bob was a man who really lived by his principles. He was good to the people around him, made people laugh and think, and inspired his passion for learning and exploring in those around him. He defended our right to free speech. He thought globally before that became fashionable. I'm not saying he didn't live a fairly normal American lifestyle, but he raised my mother in a way that let her respect herself and follow her dreams and strengthened her to provide an environment for me to grow up with the same strong sense of self and love of learning and the world.

Business is a little slow right now, so that's part of the reason I reduced my hours, but more than that, I wanted time to think and explore some possibilities. One realization I've come to is that I want to live in better accordance with my principles and I am willing to get by on significantly less money to do so. I will miss working full-time with the wonderful people at SoftDevices, but these reduced hours will let me do work, both paid & volunteer, which truly feeds my soul.

After a lot of thought about where I want to work (entreprenuerial projects with friends, Tides Foundation or a similar non-profit, returning to bookstores or publishing...), I was walking through my new grocery store, Rainbow, smiling and chatting with staff & other shoppers and realized I'd love to work there. I do miss the public contact in retail. I did a bit of research about Rainbow's workers cooperative and spoke with an employee (Hi Pete!) when we bumped into each other at the Billy Nayer Show Wednesday night. Today I filled out my application and thought I'd share a couple answers with you:

Why do you want to work at Rainbow?
I am tired of working for companies whose primary raison d'etre is to help make corporations make more money. I want to make my work a natural outflow of my beliefs - eco-friendly, pro-creativity, pro-kindness, pro-freak - and I want to create a feedback mechanism where my positive energy flows through my work to the community and back. I want to feel more connected to simple, natural, shared things like eating, growing food, making good stuff, sharing ourselves, and smiling. I'd rather help someone sit down to a good meal than help them sell a computer.

What are your future goals?
- to create more of what I use (both food and things)
- to participate in communities more (San Francisco, global connectedness in general, online creativity sharing in general)
- to have nothing in my home which is not beautiful or useful or both
- to, as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence say, spread universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt
- to walk the city of San Francisco, every street, every block

I'll let you know how it turns out and I'll see you in the bulk aisle. ;)

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