Reaching Escape Velocity
What is he doing here, exactly?
July 2022.
I left my employer of 22 years in July. It was a great gig at a leading research firm: tracking the evolution of technologies from early beta stage to mature, stable standard tools for enterprises. And sometimes watching as what seemed like a really good product (software, hardware or service) from a solid team just never caught on. I was writing reports, working with primary researchers/data scientists and engaging with clients. There was an academic-like aspect to the job that included a lot of email-, face-to-face and conference-call jousting with other colleagues doing their best to shoot down your idea or thesis. That was part of the process of making sure we weren’t just coming up with bullshit that didn’t move our clients forward.
It was a fairly logical place to land after starting out as a daily newspaper reporter. In that gig, you were doing face-to-face or phone-based jousting with sources, total strangers you hoped would become sources, copy editors, news editors and city editors. (An aside: I was part of the first generation of reporters/journalists who their careers working on typewriters and the early ‘80s and the very first versions of specialized network terminals. Also, big shout-out to the RadioShack TRS-80 Model 100 and its acoustic coupler modems.)
So I “retired” in July 2022 because I could. And because I kept getting asked to do work that I could do well but for which I had little passion. So, generational wealth transfers and all that gave me the means bail out. I think my parents would be proud that of all the generations of McGuires in Santa Cruz and the Biggers in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties my parents and my paternal aunt and uncle were probably the first in their families to actually have valuable real estate to pass along to their kids. (Thanks Dave, Virginia, Betty and Uncle Gale and Aunt Nita.)
I am the dog that caught the car and there’s a little thought bubble above my head that says “Now what?”
What I plan to do is track certain elements of technology — not all — and how they change, or don’t change how humans communicate, engage in commerce, find information (or don’t), find and experience art (particularly music). I’ll also track some key forces affecting all of those things e.g. regulation, intellectual property rights (copyright) etc. I am not, nor have ever been, a lawyer. I am also working to establish some links to San Mateo or Santa Cruz County non-profits which might be able to use somebody with my . . . particular set of skills.