Wow - what a busy day.

[x] Apply for unemployment
[x] find out that the GameSpy / IGN escrow is finally paying out (yippee!)
[x] correspond with well wishers
[x] free lunch at Del Taco corp (thanks James!) and learned of an opportunity at their corporate HQ
[x] updated my resume (but there is still much to add)
[x] Scoured dice.com and Microsoft.com for all sorts of jobs
[x] Got an offer from my father in law to help out fiscally for a few months until I got a new job. That was a nice offer from someone that I thought didn't like me. I guess I was wrong. ;-)
[x] Laundry
[x] Learned of the posibility of contract work with some old friends at Zeno, after Bob comes back from vacation [insert feeling of forshadowing here]
[x] Had time to reflect on the situation.

So, how did I get here?
and since so many of you have asked....
2004 Post IGN "merger", I wasn't pleased with the new management situation and those managers I did have that insulated me from VP level management were quickly disappearing and I found myself reporting to two VPs. Yes, Aaron was the project manager - but that was only a job that was thrust upon him. He's really one hell of an Artist and a great guy - but he was often bypassed by the two VPs - which made my life a living hell. Project planning was a joke - because everything always changed, and deadlines were pushed up to meet some ill planed promise to a publisher that I only found out about at the last moment.

"By the way, censored promised blizzard (or some other big game company) that we would have the product available for them before the end of the month. That's not a problem, is it? You don't really need all that time for QA don't you?"
Then the next day there would be a HUGE design/feature change

That happened about 4 times before I left, and gave me an ulcer.

So in summer 2004 I tried transferring to the SDK department.
The SDK guys wanted me, but the VP of Engineering told me that if I didn't like my job I could quit.
Not the most motivating of moments in my career ;-)

That summer I faked a few sick days. Well, all but one - I did actually have a spasm in my back, but by the time I flew up to San Jose to meet with the undisclosed company - I felt much better. I think that the NDA may be running out on that one - so I'll talk about that one later ;-)
Bren and I even made a 3-day (that turned into a 4 day) weekend to do a scenic drive up the coast to the bay area where we scouted out homes and cities.

After repeated trips I learned a hell of a lot about how things of that nature worked (sorry - NDA). Sure I didn't get the job - but a friend did and I feel richer for the experience.

So I buckled down and refocused on the project - that only made the ulcer and stress worse.

I took my time and looked for a job were I could learn new skills and maybe recapture the spirit of the early GameSpy days. In December I found it, CodeIt Computing LLC. They were a small 10 man operation using python (scripting language now used in some games), Linux (common game server platform), corba(alternative to COM), mozilla plugins (I made IE plugins before) and they had that startup feel.

In January 2005 I gave notice, a week before Seamus was born. I would have given 2 weeks notice, but since Seamus was due any time - I figured it would be bad form to use up all my sick days when he arrived.

It was a big gamble and CodeIt was everything I expected it to be - with all the downsides. No project planner, loose if not disastrous concepts of release management and versioning, and since I was having so much fun - my ulcer disappeared. It was WELL worth the paycut to loose the stress and learn so much.

Then the other downside showed it's head. Low Cash Flow.

A few months ago they realized that selling server boxes for $15-30k a pop (depending on license count and features) wasn't cutting it. They were giving 90 day terms and no one was paying. I wish they took my advice and altered the contracts to include a non-refundable setup/customization fee and restocking fee in the event of return. ...as well as a bunch of other things to stop the loss. But I was the new "windows" guy in a world of Linux geeks - what did I know ;-)
I think that the freakiest thing was the similarities between the early days of GameSpy Arcade development and the development at CodeIt. Versioning, updates, ads, server load issues, planning, etc... It was entertaining to say "When this happened at GameSpy, we tried something along the lines of solution X", be shot down and then hear Scott describe his amazingly similar 'unique' solution. Hell, Scott is like crt without the focus to detail.

Lost track there for a second. So the big plan to save the company was to change from the "sell a box" model to a "shareware-ish" free software product that (1) delivered targeted ad units and (2) CodeIt acted as a reseller of loan leads.

Unfortunately, we go back to one of the previous problems - bad planning. Knowing that the product needed to be redone before the end of July in order to save everything - both founders went on vacation.
One went to Europe for 3 weeks and washed his hands of the Juncture situation.
The other went to Florida for a week with his girlfriend just after changing EVERYTHING and leaving me unable to work productively for a week. I would have had Forest's help, but he was re-assigned to work on another project. Again, another briliant planning move.

Then they ran out of enough cash to keep me on the payroll.
I had a feeling that it was going to happen, but I (incorectly) estimated that I had another two months before that happened. Damn that latent optimistic streek ;-)

I can't help but wonder if Coach and Scott expensed their "vacations" as business trips. ;-)

I learned a lot in these past 6 months, more than in the last 2 years at GameSpy, my only regret is to my family. I've got to reclaim that lost income stream or I've got to sell Camp Yorba Linda.
Washington looks nice, I could get a 4 bed 2 bath 20k sq foot house in the low $300k's - here, my neighborhood is in the mid $650k's

Now that the shock is over, here comes the fun part: INTERVIEWS! :)

I think tomorrow I'll make pancakes for breakfast, play with my son, and work on some code samples or even maybe fix up this sad web page. And then play some more with little Seamus. He's a cute kid.

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I just re-read this, and it looks like my optimistic streek is shining through. It may look cynical, sarcastic and full of bitterness - but I assure you that it's just my writing style. You see, I am unable to express humor in my writing.