How To Win The Civil War

While I am still reading People Centered Economy as I mentioned in this post, I have also started reading "How To Win The Civil War" by Steve Phillips. Steve was my best friend until the first couple of years of Elementary School and then a move to a different city began to separate us. We went to rival high schools and I'm pretty sure he went to a presitigous west coast school. Stanford I think it was called. Of course of our Dartmoor Road friendship, he got the brains (and the looks, and the atthleticism (marathoner), dammit). Anyway, I am headed to the west coast to visit my son in Seattle and I'm going to stop by and see my sister in Livermore CA. I'll be flying into to San Fransisco where Steve lives, or nearby anyway. So the plan is to see him while I'm there if just over a coffee.

I didn't want to show up not having read either of his books, the other one being "Brown is the New White" which I believes lays out the numbers for the democratic party leaning more into POC than centrist, white, part of the machine democrats. I have a signed copy, my Mom got it for me, but I haven't read it yet. So when I bought How to Win The Civil War I decided I had to have at least started prior to seeing Steve and asking him to sign it.

PCE - People Centered Economy

I have just started reading "The People Centered Economy" by David Nordfors & Vint Cerf, Vint being considered one of the founding fathers of the internet. It was recommended to me by a friend of mine at Hyland as we have continued conversations on mulitple topics.

I can already tell you that it both excites me and annoys me all at the same time.

In short what appeals to me is the idea of putting people first. What is going to bother me is this idea that we need AI to implement it and that it does not address the unbridled capitalism that currently reigns in the U.S. Over time I'll explain these concerns and othersbut first just suspend disbelief and learn is my goal. Here is what they say on page 26 of the book:

Reflections - Turning 59

I recently had a birthday. To celebrate I managed to get myself laid off a week ago so that I am currently on a "paid sabbatical". For the last 15 years, I have worked at Hyland Software which has been a fantastic experience. It was great working at a very succussful company with even better people. Hyland, like many other companies is struggling to find center after being very successful during the pandemic, has been struggling (relatively speaking, mind you) since then and the current economic downturn (inflation-driven really) is making it harder not for just Hyland but for a lot of tech companies. Layoffs are happening across the industry.

There are other theories as to the real purpose of the layoff. However, this post is not to talk about Hyland or its layoffs but rather what does mean for me as I enter the next year. What do I want to do next, do I really want go jump right back into the rat race or do I want to change my life completely by leaving the "tech" industry and doing something else. I know for a fact, that yoga teaching will not pay the bills for me. But what does "pay the bills" look like moving forward, do I really need to stay on the path I'm on, or do we make serious lifestyle changes so that our footprint and therefore cost of living are reduced? One post cannot address and I am certain that over time that whatever I think today will change, shift, morph to something different. That change is one of three things we are certain of - death, taxed, and change. Everything changes, every minute, every second.