An Interesting Year.

WOW ! 2010 has almost passed. This year has been interesting. "Chinese curse" style interesting.
I've been out of work for 15 months. Partly because of the economy, partly because of a (I HOPE) mid-life crisis. This "crisis" pertains to the fact I no longer want to do what I have been doing. I need another career. Or some other type of stimulus. Either work in a completely different field, or a completely different role in my current field. Maybe bee-farming in Sussex Downs. :-)
I have worked with / on / in computers since 1978. Programming (Real Time & Userland), Systems programming, minor kernel mods, data communications (wrote a distributed processing API). Almost all in UNIX (with a little UNIVAC thrown in). Mostly in 'C'. Mostly on Solaris (BSD & SVR4). I then wanted to really know what, exactly, this "box" was that I was using to make things happen. I became a Systems Administrator. Sun / Solaris, Linux, & BSD (Intel). I also worked a bit in networking. Routing, TCP/IP, UDP/IP, Sendmail, DNS, RIP, OSPF, etc.. Never really a networking expert (IMHO), but can troubleshoot, setup & configure, manage, and understand all but highly technical networking discussions. I know Sun hardware pretty damned well, and also use Apple Macs at home (with BSD & RedHat boxes too). I have had Intel machines at home since 1982, and UNIX on Intel since 1986. I reconfigured sendmail to use UUCP and was regularly using email in (and since) 1986. I have mostly worked in trading environments, with a couple of web companies and massive data access companies as a "change of pace".
The point is, I need change. I no longer want to work 60+ hour weeks just to get a salary. Besides getting "my house" in order during this past year, I have decided I would either like to teach (tech or history) or manage/supervise a tech department. Obviously a Systems Administration group or possibly web development group. I have done systems design, software design, (some) project management, and managed several different Sys-Admin groups at different companies. I like that work. I like getting things done. I really like allowing younger folks to learn how to think (about the job).
So this next year will, indeed, be a new year. I will pursue my "new career" with zest, and find a new place to ply my (new) trade. It will be an interesting year.