job offer

Oh, this is too cool. I just tried to page B, but she must be busy. The head of the production department at our head office has just offered me the position on her team that I was so hungry for two months ago. I've thought about the position many times since then, and in the brief span of our conversation this morning, I was struck by other new ideas about how to add value to the position, if I were to take it.

She gave me a thorough job description over the phone, and I'm confident that I can step directly into the position with little or no extra training. Since it so clearly lines up with my favourite qualities in a day job, I accepted her offer in principle this morning. Not that that should be any news; I'm sure that the financial arrangements will be acceptable to my modest expectations, and I know that I would enjoy the different responsibilities a great deal. Heh - despite how settled I've been getting in my sales position here, I must admit that I'd enjoy being simply a project manager. And like I said, this job has my favourite quality for a day job: its tasks and responsibilities can integrate naturally and without effort into each day's activities.

I know, everything can be like that, but this one is with so little effort - that's the plus. It's interesting, I have good skills for it, I enjoy doing it, it doesn't make me frustrated. I couldn't possibly ask for anything more. Oh, and there's a paycheque, too. That's another plus.

Just observing, that's all.

280 km/h

Just went for a celebratory drive through the French countryside in a 1978 Porsche 911 Turbo. It was glorious - the sun was just rising over the hills, the air was gold, and the engine roared at me the whole way.

Osho demystifying Zen

I just came across the last public address of Osho, a somewhat controversial yet clear-speaking teacher who died sometime in the late 70s or 80s, I think it was. In this lecture, he really takes Zen down a few notches in an attempt to make it accessible to ordinary people. I totally appreciate that, and I really agree with a lot of what he says here. ( I copied some of the text here... )

Mystery excerpt

I'm reading a book by the excellent mystery author P. D. James called A Taste For Death, the central character of which is her famous detective, Commander Dalgliesh. Apart from her well-constructed plots, I really enjoy reading some of her dialogue. It's all terribly British, and often entertaining. Take this excerpt, from an interview conducted by Dalgliesh with a former colleague of a former Member of Parliament who has mysteriously turned up dead, ostensibly by suicide. Dalgliesh has discovered that only a few days before his death, this Member of Parliament had actually resigned his post, possibly from outright frustration at his own inability to change a system which he abhorred. Dalgliesh wishes to know if his reasons for resigning might be related to why he was killed.

Dalgliesh asked: "Did he explain his reasons? I take it that he did tell you in person, he didn't merely write."

Musgrave answered: "Oh, he saw us all right. Actually deferred writing to the Chancellor until he'd told us. He said that it wouldn't be right for him to continue as our Member. It was time that his life took a different turn. Naturally I asked what he meant by a different turn. 'You're a Member of Parliament,' I said. 'You're not driving a bloody bus.' He said that he didn't know yet. He hadn't been shown. 'Hadn't been shown by whom?' I asked. He said 'God'. Well, there's not much a man can say to that. Nothing like an answer like that for putting a stopper on rational discussion."

I thought that line was clever. Sometimes just the word 'God' can turn people off.