! Joel Grueberman: Change: the great constant

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Change: the great constant

Have you ever had one of those days where it seems for a moment that your life has been put on fast forward? All the cosmic tumblers are spinning wildly; clicking in to place to unlock the secret of the mystery of your existence...

Ya, me neither.

I did have a day where my life seemed to change with each passing phone call and those phone calls and emails came in quick succession and seemed to carve out the next six months to a year in the time it takes to drink a coffee.

The week before I left for my trip to Ohio, I was planning on staying Alberta for a while and seeing what kind of future I could carve out in this land of milk and honey. But then I received a couple rejection emails from jobs that I had invested several interviews in, so that was the first sign of the mini-apocolypse. The next sign came in the form of a medical report from home that said my dad's numbers (blood test) are all out of wack and getting wackier. So what do you do when your heart has already embarked before your mind has the sense to follow?

I had an interesting chat with my former boss; a guy that you already know about if you've read much of this blog. His opinion of the whole thing is that my sole purpose in live is to be successful. Family it seems, in his opinion, is a fine thing so long as it doesn't hinder a man's ability to be free to capitalise and take his advantage. I won't say that I haven't considered the ramifications that any decision I make will have on my future.

Sometimes it takes hearing what you've been thinking come out of somebody else's mouth for you to understand how vile some ideas are.

"quod in omni vita facimus in aeternum resonat" Gladiator

The third sign came in an email / phone call double header, a program that I had placed on the back burner as a nice idea but not feasible, became seemingly plausible as an option and then as other opportunities passed away, the path became all the more clear. Like a dark horse the longshot came from the back of the pack and changed my plans completely.

Ok, enough fluff? I am going home for a period of about seven months to study entrepreneurship and to be close enough to help out at home if my Dad needs anything while he poisons his body with Chemo drugs. It seems like a strange game of chicken and I am going home to try and cheat for the home side.

Right now the business model that I am working on is a driving range. So if you have ideas or heaps of unused venture capital give me a shout. If you want to just say hi thats cool too.

Pictures: Niagara Falls: the Canadian side (1), Looking back to the American side (2)

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're a good man Joel. One of the best.

When are you leaving? You must come over and watch some Oilers before you do.

Let me know,

John

8:22 AM  
Blogger The Raabs said...

Just thought I'd say "HI!" (thought I'd shout that since it's coming all the way from over here - hope you didn't mind). We're thinking of you. Thanks for the update. Remember that whatever you do, if you are doing it with the King, it will be good (and no, of course I don't mean Elvis - but you knew that too :-)

2:16 PM  
Blogger thegermanygirl said...

Oh, I dunno, I think Elvis might pop up to assist some of us in our endeavors from time to time. Haven't you ever had the random urge to start belting "Blue Suede Shoes" at completely unrelated moments?

;oD Just kidding.

Anyway....like I said on IM, Joel, it sounds like you've made the right choice. Spending time with your family is never the wrong choice, materialistic former bosses notwithstanding.

And I wrote that sentence because I believe it's true, not only because I wanted to use the word "notwithstanding." ;o)

11:04 AM  

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