Category: Personal

Sorry I have been out of commission today. I have suffered from migraine auras usually without headache for years now, but I’ve never had one this bad. Usually they start out as a dot on my field of vision that sparkles a bit, then expands to kind of a zig zaggy dazzling pattern. In the affected area, I can’t really see.

Usually the process runs through in less than an hour and I’m OK. Today I’ve been getting multiple waves of expanding auras and the dot area it usually starts as has persisted, which interferes with being able to read.

I went to urgent care this afternoon and the doctor (who also suffers from them) checked me out and agreed the symptoms were that of a migraine. Eyes fine, arteries seemed to be moving blood fine, oxygenation fine, pulse and BP pretty high, but I have white coat pretty bad. No symptoms of anything indicating possible stroke. Doctor prescribed Sumatriptan, with the warning that it doesn’t often work. Took the first dose and the dot is still there, though not throwing off expanding auras anymore. Just took the second dose, so we’ll see if that helps, but I’m not optimistic.

I’ve had enough of these auras I usually shrug them off, but this one is terrifying because it’s hung around all day. In the mean time, reading is possible but difficult with that part of my field of vision distorted. Laying down in a dark room helps, but I can only do that so much before going stir crazy. I’m just hoping I don’t have a damned brain tumor or something.

Compared to some of my friends who have them, I have it easy. One can be debilitated with pain and light sensitivity for days at a time. Until now I’ve gotten off easy.

I arrived back from Louisville to an urgent client project with a deadline of Friday, so I’ve been unable to post. We will be returning to our regularly scheduled blogging shortly. I’ll probably have a few things later this afternoon. Do you ever feel like taking vacation isn’t worth it? One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that two weeks is the minimum to really unwind and forget about work. Anything under that and you tend to just shift work around, rather than really accommodate for vacation time.

I’m in the middle of a client demo this week, so if blog content has seemed light the past several weeks, that is why. It all builds up to this. We’ve been developing an RFID solution for one of our clients, and I volunteered to be developer, project manager…. basically a one man band. In truth, I like to fly that way. I am in my element when there’s a project within my capabilities and I am confident I don’t need to bring on a team to help out. Things are going well, but you do want to dot all the Is and cross all the Ts when your client’s CFO is reviewing your work. There’s always things that will go wrong testing in a real environment as opposed to the ideal conditions in a “lab.” You want to keep the client interested by meeting and exceeding their original vision. You have to show potential and value when that’s what you’re brought in to do. That’s what we do.

If my client had gone to one of the big technology consulting firms with an idea like this, Very Big Consulting would have come back with a seven figure quote, and team of a dozen people for two years. Most of that staff from Very Big Consulting would be kids right out of college with no real world experience. You’d have a senior guy “running” the show who billed at a rate some talented lawyers would envy, but whose real job would be keeping the victim’s client’s decision makers happy (think awesome golf and dining opportunities) while not doing much to actually accomplish anything. Whether the project actually has any chance of succeeding would be left in the hands of the more capable workers among the team from both the victim client and Very Big Consulting. If you’re lucky, you may have something that is a fragment of your original vision when you’re done. If you’re very lucky, it might even be at least somewhat functionally useful.

We’ve cleaned up more than a few messes from Very Big Consulting for some of our clients our 16 years of operation. In fact, probably one of our biggest obstacles is convincing new clients, “No, really, we’re different than those other consulting firms. We’ll bring in capable people across the Board. We don’t look at you as a resource to be milked. We won’t bring in a team unless we need a team.” So I’m hoping for this client we deliver a proof of concept that we can develop into a real product to benefit their customers. When all is said and done, it’s very doubtful the client will spend more than low-six-figures, let alone seven. But we are not Very Big Consulting. And it’s for that reason I have to be a bit scarce these few weeks.

I wired up the last few phone drops in our new building yesterday, so for now our office move is complete. I still have several tasks to do, but they can proceed with a normal priority, rather than having to get things working by the time everyone gets back from the holiday.

The good news is the new office is 10 minutes closer for me. Door-to-door time yesterday was 43 minutes traveling there and 46 minutes returning home. That’s almost enough to make me think I could do three days in the office and two at home, instead of the other way around.

The bad news is that our movers destroyed more than half of our furniture. We use Bush Furniture, which looks good, but it’s all cheap particleboard. To move it safely, it really needs to be disassembled. If you’re not going to do that, picking it up and carrying it is a must. The movers were dragging it over the floor instead of picking it up and carrying it. I lost my bookshelf to the move. It was really more a question of what didn’t they break.

Either way, I’m glad that’s over with.