MOTD

[Back again to finish up after a net hiccup]

I don't recall "mumbling" but Woohoo for reST! I will soon stop polluting the airwaves with HTML. Thanks, Nick, for reducing the LRV content on Laziness to a managable level. I assume that there is a sooper seekrit LRV-only RSS consolidator hidden somewhere (underground). I also need to treat you guys to cre^pes and/or tea and/or Guinness and/or just a good time at some point in the near future.

I just re-read the previous note I posted here and am amused by how much I had wound myself up before my trip back to IL. As it turned out (as it always does) all those worries were groundless. While things didn't go perfectly to plan (e.g. they cancelled my early morning flight from SFO and merged us with the next) it all worked out just fine. I made it in time on Friday to meet the gang in the bar, both to welcome me back and also to say goodbye to one of my ex-associates who had just finished his last day at the old place and was about to follow in my footsteps (or wheel ruts) over to here (now dubbed "The Promised Land"). The IL apartment agency decided not to make a fuss over my leaving (but whether or not I'll see my deposit again is another matter...) and they were fine about my staying in my old place for a few days. I found that they had completely redecorated the apartment in my absence. As well as fixing some long-standing problems they had upped the level of finish so that it looked a good deal better than when I first moved in. It was a little bizarre sleeping on an air mattress under a camping blanket and my coat but that helped give me complete closure on leaving the place. It definitely isn't mine any more. Closing the electricity, gas, phone and bank account went off okay and I had time for Saturday dinner with a friend/ex-colleague and her family followed by Sunday brunch with another friend/ex-colleague and his family unit (they'll also be leaving for The Promised Land early in 2006). On the Monday I snuck back into Ye Olde Salte Mine to meet with my co-authors to work on our current opus. I dodged all in my old department while I was there. IL decided to treat me to the full range of weather - warm and sunny when I first arrived, cool grey and overcast on the Sunday and raining on the Monday. It was good to see the autumnal colours, although the trees outside the window of my new office are changing so I am getting a hint of seasons.

Work at the new place is going very well and I am being eased into my new post. After experiencing first-hand how badly new management can affect a group of people I have no intention of barging in and throwing my weight around. Just to emphasise that point I had two calls from people back in the old department telling me about the latest shenanigans there. Both people were very depressed and one will probably leave. Part of this was triggered by the departure of another of our colleagues. He handed in his notice which apparently infuriated the manager who blew up, called HR and had him escorted from the premises with no opportunity to work notice. The rest of the department were then threatened with the same treatment. People in other departments are horrified about what is going on. The amazing thing is that the new manager has all of the company's senior management completely fooled and is heaping the blame on us who have left. I'm worried about what will happen to all of my friends. On the positive side I have even more confidence in my new company as they are losing a significant rival as they cripple themselves with all of this self-destructive behaviour.