Pidlubny

I’ve been thinking about doing this for years and I’ve finally pulled the trigger. I’m going independent. I’ve decided to move on from my current employer [Intertech] and strike out into the world of independent consulting.

A great opportunity came my way to work for an excellent company, so as of February 22nd I will be a senior developer at Ratchet. I leave a company that has one of the more renown C# technical authors (Andrew Troelsen) for a company that has some serious interactive pedigree.  Ever heard of BMW Films web site?

This is an exciting change, which I look forward to.

I’ve always been strong at math. From the time that we were separated into skill levels in elementary school, I was always at the highest math levels. I loved my calculus course in high school and in University. So it came as a bit of a surprise this weekend when my brother blew my mind with the most basic of math equations: the equation for growth rate. I’ve always calculated it:

((Value Present – Value Past) / Value Past) * 100 = Growth Rate

It’s the only way I have ever done it. I’ve never even thought of calculating it another way. My brother couldn’t wrap his head around this equation, it was foreign to him. I was adamant that it is the only way to calculate the growth rate between two periods, then he explained his equation.

((Value Present / Value Past) – 1) * 100 = Growth Rate

Being the stubborn older brother that I am, I explained how absurd his way is and that it doesn’t work for all situations, like negative growth. But being the curious geek that I am, I also had to prove how I was right and he was wrong, so I set out calculating various growth rates.

It turns out he’s not wrong (being a stubborn older brother, that’s the best I can do). These experiences help to remind me to open my mind. Even when I’m sure I’m right that doesn’t mean the other person is wrong or that there isn’t another way to approach a problem. Seeing solutions from different angles can only help.

Time to resurrect the blog.  I have too much I want to share. Twitter is a good outlet for my day-to-day blathering, but I need a forum that will give me more room to stretch my prose.

I don’t want to say that this will be directionless, but at this point I’m not positive what the direction will be; I have a lot of interests. I’m a software consultant who is always learning, an investor who is always investing, a husband who is always making dumb mistakes, a traveler who is never traveling enough and I love most things web related. So that’s a taste of what you can expect me to write about, but I won’t be limiting myself. When the mood strikes, that’s the direction I’ll be heading. The site will be a work in progress for a short-time while I try to get it all setup, but I’ll be writing along the way.

My promise is that I’ll be posting minimally twice a week (Sunday and Thursday). Putting this promise out there is something that will keep me motivated. So follow along.