My 15 Minutes

I suppose it's one of the risks of having a vanity website with an open-book attitude towards the events in my life. But it's also just one of those things about the internet: you never know when you're fifteen minutes of fame will come. I have a photo on my website of me and Veronica dressed as chavistas (supporters of Chavez) for Halloween when I was down there last October. Well someone found it and posted it with a made-up bio on a blog on NoticieroDigital.com today. It already has five pages of comments full of insults, some kudos, and mostly idiotic reponses you would expect from people who just like to get riled up over something. I'm not too concerned about it, though, and I actually find it somewhat amusing. And like most fifteen minutes, it will pass soon enough.

You can check it out here: http://www.noticierodigital.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=61691. It's all in Spanish and the comments can be hard to translate but the original post should be easy enough if you know a little.

Nate Williams, P.E.

The big news as of late is that I finally made the decision to leave Double-D and start my own business. I had been toying with the idea for a long time but I finally realized that I couldn't keep doing project after project for someone else. I was stagnating and had moved beyond the point where I would be learning anything new with Double-D, or at least anything that I couldn't learn on my own. I considered looking for a position with another company where I might be able to expand my knowledge of building design into larger scale projects and other types of buildings but I knew that I didn't want to work for someone else right now. I'm quite capable of taking on any project that comes through our doors and I'm happy with my current area of expertise. The business side has always interested me and I had to finally accept that I would probably never be a part of that aspect with Double-D and that it would always be someone else's company. So now it's time to take it all on and see how I fare.

I gave notice a couple weeks ago and am planning on making the initial separation around the first of March. I'm going to continue with all the projects I currently have and see them through their completion; so for now I'm going to move upstairs which allows me to create some physical separation but still allows me access to the network, job folders, resources, etc. This also gives me a chance to get on my feet with lower overhead since the rent is quite low. My ultimate goal, however, is to find a space in the financial district or SOMA. I've always wanted to work downtown and now is my chance to make that happen.

Since I made the decision and the announcement I've been preparing what I'll need once I'm on my own. I'm sure there's stuff I'll miss but I'm trying to cover the important bases: business license, liability insurance, printer, phone, phone number. I even have a few projects lined up and I'm realizing that the next few weeks might be tough as I make the transition and try to manage both my job with Double-D and get going on my personal projects. It may be a little stressful for the time being but I just need to push through and do what needs to be done.

Oh, and by the way, I won't have a company name since it's just me; I'll just be using my name and title: Nate Williams, P.E.

On A Mission

Do you ever wish there was a Block Sender option on your mailbox? Or a filter so that can choose with items go straight into the recycle bin? Microsoft Outlook for your home mailbox. I'm on a mission to eliminate as much unwanted mail as possible from our mailbox. And let me tell you that it's not easy. Not only do we have your usual advertisement mailers but there are at least five names that mail is delivered to on a regular basis because they lived there once upon a time. There are ways to deal with it all, though, and I'm slowly making progress...I hope. I found this website, Do-it-yourself: Stop junk mail, although there are many out there that tell you what you can do.

For the previous tenants you can fill out change-of-address forms for them. Companies that are sending catalogs have to be called but sometimes there is an opt-out on their website. There are even rules about the junk mail that doesn't seem to have an address stating where it comes from. The little postcard with missing children must accompany it and you can tell that company to take you off the list. Maybe it all sounds like a lot of work when you can just toss the junk mail out as soon as you get it, but it's a waste of paper and I want to do my part to stop the process. We'll see how it turns out.

Bye Bye Cherry Blue

I sold my 4-Runner for a whopping $400 and was happy to get it. I definitely got my money's worth out of it and was prepared to donate it at a loss if need be. But instead of being hauled off to some junkyard for parts, it's going to be a girl's first car. Her father drove down from Auburn to pick it up and is going to fix it for her. That truck does have some life left in it and I'm glad to see it will be spent.