I haven’t been writing much – certainly not publicly – but I feel the need to prove I haven’t dropped off the planet.

What’s going on at the moment:

* I have been incredibly busy at work.
* I have been on a self-imposed hiatus from things electronic; especially Facebook, which turns people (yours truly included) into stupid teenagers.
* (the biggest thing) I recently accepted the position of Director of Information Technology for the Nashville Symphony, starting the 18th of this month.

The last thing has a lot of ramifications, of course. Managing employees, understanding new systems and a new (to me) budget, moving back into the building from the temporary flood digs, and making sure that all the systems are ready by the New Year’s Eve concert. Especially since there will very likely be many big names in attendance, as well as national media coverage.

No pressure.

I am looking forward to it, since I know a fair amount about the environment already.  I worked most of the month of May there; I had called the previous Director to offer my help, and he needed it.  Not that the team he had (whom I will now be responsible for) couldn’t handle the work – they are a very capable team.  It was the amount of work to be done that necessitated my presence.  And as they have done quite well for a couple of months without direct management, I will need to do a lot of learning about the business (especially since non-profit is new to me), and meeting a lot of people.

I will miss working with Emery, my former employee and most recent boss.  Mostly because we share a sense of humor, and can be thoroughly disrespectful to each other in action and still respect the hell out of each other in reality.  But this job is going to be very interesting.  Because of the environment, mostly; both in the sense of being downtown and in the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.  It’s impressive when empty and dark; I can only imagine how it will be when clean, healthy, and brimming with activity.  And the first concert will feature Itzhak Perlman, whom we’ve already seen in the Hall, and is amazing to watch.  He will likely have the Soil Stradivarius with him.  As an aside, if you have never heard a masterwork violin played by a master (I’ve also heard Joshua Bell, who plays the Gibson Stradivarius), you are missing out.  It is one of the purest sounds on the planet – at least it sounds that way to me; studies have shown no audible difference.  Perhaps perception is everything…

At any rate, the last week of employment at one place ended with trying to wrap up and get the job ready for the next person, while preparing myself for the responsibility I’ll have at the one next week.  Wish me luck.

The building in which I will be working: