Alarm Clocks

An article about alarm clocks and my need to post an article about any topic right about now

The alarm clock. The mortal enemy of all that is good in the world.  The worst thing to happen yet, every single day of the week. The thing about alarm clocks is that if you're 'doing it right' you don't even need one. But we all do. Everyone.  It's terrible.

I digress.  Which, if you think about it, is a term used way too loosely.  I didn't actually digress.  What did I even digress from? Nothing, at all.  I started talking about alarm clocks and ended talking about alarm clocks. There was no digression there. Well, I did start talking about 'doing it right', which I guess could be considered a vague digression, but not really. Maybe I just say things.

Maybe this entire piece is me just saying things for the sake of saying things. Who knows? Not this guy.

An actual digression, I think

I always thought that people who really knew wine were kind of pretentious when they talked about it. I mean, it is pretty pretentious. I don't know a situation where you can talk about wine and not sound like a dick. Unless you really are just obsessed with wine and you really want to bore people with the details. Then it seems like you just love the hell out of it and you're just a little kooky. That's not disingenuous.  That's cool with me. But still, be careful about it. You don't want to be a dick.

Same thing with beer. I always thought it was a bit clownish to get into it like that. Now, shameless plug, brewing beer has really opened my eyes (and nose and mouth) to beer in a new way. I was in love with beer before, but now I'm really into beer. You know? You begin to really be able to pick out the smells and flavors and feelings in your mouth that matter. It's very strange the first time you taste a beer and say 'this is way too grainy'.  And you know what the hell you're talking about.  It's still a 'good' beer, but there's an aspect of it that drives you a little crazy. Like, how did they not realize this was so unbalanced before they shipped a billion bottles of it?  See, this is me sounding like a dick.

This article has absolutely no cohesive elements, and I think that's why I'm going to post it.

Obama bless us, everyone.

Make the Work Awesome

Or just be good at kicking ass

Working full time and working as a part time CTO has drawbacks, which I've covered. That's played out.  A lot of blogs talk about how hard it is to work all these hours and how you give up this and that.  Those people are chumps.  There's a hell of a lot of exciting stuff that goes on, too.  For example: Dinner meetings (read: get drunk and scribble notes on napkins).  Yeah, you still go out to dinner and yes, you probably wouldn't be taking any notes, but it feels like I'm getting paid to have my CEO buy me dinner and drown me in beer.  It could be worse.

Get autographs

Second, and this one is important, you meet all kinds of seriously interesting and awesome people.  A lot of people on the scene are jokers, but there are some seriously insanely smart, driven, attractive (less important), successful people.  Cincinnati alone is crammed with the varsity squad of the midwest.  Just being able to brush shoulders with people who are not only smarter, but a hell of a lot more accomplished than me (and sometimes younger), is humbling and exhilarating.  Side note: one day people are going to say that about me.

John the Builder

Thirdly, I create some ridiculous shit.  When I'm working crazy hours and just fall into that weird zone of productivity, I impress myself.  I've spent a few thousand hours developing in Python/Django and it definitely gets easier, trust me.  I plan on open sourcing a lot of cool functionality once everything is launched and cleaned up.  I think being a lead developer on any large-scale project takes just as much creativity as designing it.  Plus more logic!  Less women though, sadly.

In closing

Working on any side project, especially a startup with a raging deadline and a crazy CEO, will lead you down avenues you never imagined to meet people you never thought you'd know and to create things you never thought you would.  It's just awesome.  I grow every day.  I think expanding your skills, building strong ideas and opinions, and forging new relationships are what it's all about.  Oh, and the hope that one day you'll get a big fat check doesn't hurt either.

Time To Get Ill

Hey, Johnny...

"What are you going to do after work today? Oh, more work?  Nice.  Well, we're going to the bar."

That's always a great final conversation of the day when leaving work or when a buddy calls.  The excitement of working on startup projects is definitely palpable, but let's face it, it's tempered by what it can do to your personal life.  I hate to say it, but I drink less now than I used to.  It's a problem.

In all seriousness though, coming up with a good balance can be hard, but it's definitely possible.  One thing I do is keep a strict calendar.  Well, as strict as it can be.  I put things on my g-cal as soon as they come up, and I obsessively reference it when planning out my days.  If I know I have something I want to do coming up, I will cram work into the days where nothing awesome is going on.  I do a hell of a lot better job getting work done in advance now than I ever did in school.  Maybe that's why my apps are a hell of a lot better than my grades.

Sunday Funday

One thing that I still try to keep religious - and by religious I mean in no way affiliated with any deity - is my Sundays.  That is my day of rest.  Don't get me wrong, I still go act like a badass commando in the woods on Sundays, but I don't usually do much work.  I'll work Saturday afternoons and sometimes Fridays if nothing of import is going on, but Sundays are my days to myself.  It's a good habit to keep.  I'm not trying to kill myself here, and I want to live long enough to use all this money I'm trying to make.

Oh, yeah, one thing I really like to do on Sundays is go to a matinee movie.  It's great.  I went to the Avengers a couple of weeks ago and the 7 year old next to me shared his popcorn.

The Takeaway

Everyone has a different life and job and expectations and relationships.  It's impossible to read an article and say 'Okay, I'm going to balance my life like this and it will work great!'  No, it never works that way.  You just have to see what fits.  And sometimes you have to look at the hard truths: you may not be able to swing work plus outside work.  That takes a big decision.  Do you quit your job and work for a startup or do you quit your startup and work on your career?  That's a scary proposition for a lot of people, myself included.

I want to be a millionaire just like everyone else, but it's a long hard road to get there, and there's a lot of bumps and detours on the way.  Cliches are fun.