The Future, Post-Pink Slip

We’re about to launch next month! And as I go over the final content edits on my new travel destination site, californiawinehikes.com, I find myself pausing for a moment to reflect upon the journey I’ve taken this past Summer and Fall. The seeds for building this wine-hiking business here in The Golden State had sprouted in my noggin at a critical time. Yep, it was right about the time I got a layoff notice from my job of nearly eight years.

It had been pretty good for a while here in Silicon Valley. But in most of these past five years, corporate restructurings and downsizings have been commonplace in the area, and I had survived maybe 7 or 8 previous “reductions in force” where I worked. I wasn’t too terribly flustered, then, when the notice came in May of 2005. My employers handled it pretty well, I thought, having offered me severance upon completion of a two-month transition, a period in which I would conduct some training and complete my current project work. Then, of course, say my goodbyes.

I wasn’t flustered, no. And yet it was a significant moment.

Significant, because it was in those two months, and the months since, that I found myself seeing the future. While it’s taken me on a breathless run, the future has shared its thoughts, reminding me of what I already know: that there’s room for passion and perseverance.

Now, in January 2006, this site you’re visiting is the result. I’m really glad you’re here! You and I have got some sauntering to do together. And after we’re off-trail, we’ll sip something truly divine.

I have much to be grateful for, not the least of which are the website-building efforts of Kevin McNeese of KMWebDesigns, who spearheaded the technical side of this project that is californiawinehikes.com. Thank you, Kevin, for all of your patience, tenacity, and willingness to dive into deep water, where learning lives. Especially, thank you for your honest-to-gosh hard work on this project. I can promise you there’s going to be more of it.

And to those of you who have believed in me, I thank you, I think of you, and I salute you, vino rosso in hand.

Today, my heart beats!
Your encouragement fuels me.
Et tu, A Sante!

~winehiker

P.S., if you’re in the market to have a website built for yourself or your company, I recommend checking out additional news from Kevin, this page from Kevin’s portfolio and external merchant reviews about KMWebDesigns.

Related posts:

• The man deserves a good word
• The POST post: a chance to be part of history
• A difficult year, a Wine Bloggers Conference and my potential role in the future of the wine country experience

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 7th, 2005 at 1:02 pm and is filed under grape squeezins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.