Oddly Together Resumes—What’s Up with That?
Today, after a long hiatus, I resume posting at Oddly Together. I’d like to explain why the interruption, apologize to laid off Microsoft employees about not yet telling their stories and lay out my future blogging plans. The story I tell here shows how something seemingly bad actually can be good. The bad and good go oddly together.
On Black Friday weekend, I totaled my family’s 1992 Toyota Corolla, and our only motor powered vehicle. I was driving my 15 year-old daughter back from the Y in the pouring rain—the first in San Diego in about five months. I entered highway 163 from Friar’s Road and had just started to accelerate from the ramp when I saw brake lights about four car lengths ahead. A Nissan Sentra slowed (and then stopped) well ahead of bumper-to-bumper traffic about a quarter-mile ahead. I applied the brakes, which grabbed at first. Then the car slid like moving across black ice. This wasn’t hydroplaning but sliding (apparently from oil and other fluids brought to the road surface by the rain).
My mistake: Given the distance to the other car and my modest speed, I expected the Corolla would stop. I turned to the right too late and the driver’s side front bumper impacted the other vehicle’s passenger rear bumper. The Sentra sustained little damage, while the Corolla had a bent hood, demolished bumper (pushed into the wheel so I couldn’t drive) and crumpled side panel that rubbed the tire and driver’s door. The engine continued to run smoothly, but the body had sustained damage the insurance company would later determine not worth repairing. The insurer wrote off the car as a loss and issued a generous check for the value.
The accident brought new focus to my life—not for fear of dying, because there was never any risk of that—but from desperate need. California is car culture (dog culture, too, but that’s a different post), and we needed wheels. I started looking for a used vehicle, planning to use the insurance payout and what other money I could put together. But thanks to the generosity of my father-in-law, the family bought a new car—a Toyota Yaris.
Following the accident, I also ramped up my blogging for Betanews, making commitment to write three stories a day during December. For months, my writing had been stop and go for Betanews, because:
- I searched for a full-time job
- If no job, I would rather work for myself
- My early posts didn’t click with the Betanews audience
I kept to the 3-stories-a-day pace for about half the month, experimenting with different lengths and styles along the way. As Christmas approached, I started writing more provocative commentaries that generated lots of comments and increasing number of pageviews. I gave up focusing on the existing Betanews audience and made writing original content the priority. Original content will be my priority at Oddly Together, where blogging restarts stutteringly. My main tech blogging will continue at Betanews.
The car accident and Betanews blogging commitment helped to get me out of a funk. December 30 marked eight months of unemployment. Since I chose to work full time, in January 1990, I was continuously employed—well, at least until the April 30 layoff. I was always the survivor before—the valued employee not laid off. I’ve never been prone to depression, but my mood soured as the months passed. Now I’ve got focus again, and my analysis writing is returning to form.
But the commitment of time necessary to Betanews meant stopping blogging here, which is why I have yet to post the Microsoft lay-off stories (They were planned for same weekend as the accident). They are coming. Very soon. Microsoft’s fiscal 2010 third quarter earnings announcement is coming, and that will be good context for the lay-off stories, which together tell another story that will be a news analysis at Betanews.
Oddly Together will slowly take shape over several months. The focus will eventually be telling stories and producing original content about things that, well, go oddly together. I have retired joewilcox.com for the time being. The posts once there are here, and I have edited the htaccess file to send traffic to Oddly Together. Provocative tech writing will continue at Betanews.
Do you have a personal disaster story that you’d like told? Please email Joe Wilcox: oddlytogether at gmail dot com.
New year, new beginning. Best of luck.
Hi Joe, I’ve been following you from Microsoft watch. I must say we all miss the exciting posts that you used to make there. We’re eager to get more insights into Microsoft tech. Great to know you’ve started New Year well..All the best and GOD bless you.
Hey Joe. Glad to hear you and your daughter were okay.
I can’t remember if I let you know that my husband died instantly and unexpectedly in my arms on 21 April 2009… burst cerebral aneurysm that we didn’t know about. He was only 50.
The grief has been overwhelming… the first 6 months were the hardest. But the fear of my economic future has been equally overwhelming, as I’ve never supported myself in my whole life, and never had a full-time job. But throwing caution to the wind, yesterday I applied for a job as a Technical Clerk for a ship-building company. Now my only fear is that it will be a mind-numbing, soul-crushing experience I will have to endure for about 10 years.