Coming up on two years

I thought I would need this blog when I left corporate life to join academia for a number of reasons. I figured I would miss it, maybe even feel less valued in my new role, and wanted a way to stay in touch with everyone from my time at IBM.

I was wrong.  (Ask my wife sometime how significant that statement is!)

Almost 2 years ago, I had a joyful July/August summer vacation after retiring from IBM. I'm now just 3 short months away from having my 2nd full summer off since that time!  I don't really miss the workload, the travel demands, or the year-round schedule. I certainly don't feel less valued. If anything, I feel even more valued by the students I teach every day during the active semesters. And, I found so many other ways to stay connected to the wonderful people from my prior career that mean so very much to me. I do wish I saw many of them more often, but between email, Skype, text, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, lunches, dinners, parties, Facebook, inviting some to guest lecture in my classes, and even a trip to a conference in Las Vegas, I have managed to keep in touch with several of the people, and hope I will continue to make this effort.

So, as I come up on 2 years away from IBM, I don't look back anymore. I miss the money a very little bit, and I miss the people there like I said, but I really don't think this next chapter blog will serve the purpose I thought I'd need it for, because frankly - I don't need what I thought I would!

I think I'd rather use this space to tell you what life is like out here for me ... stay tuned!