Whine 'n' Cheese

A fifty something guy caught between earning a living in the corporate world and trying to live a personal life as a latent hippie.

Name:
Location: Toronto, Canada

Fiftysome male working in the corporate world to make a living but not a life. My interests in life are diverse from enjoying the city with it's music, theatre and range of characters to enjoying being in a canoe miles from nowhere in peace and quiet. My 14 year old son is the greatest blessing in my life even though he lives with his Mom he spends weekends with me and adds colour to my life.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Topsy Turvy


I haven’t had an opportunity to update for a while as things in my life have been upside down and I have been struggling to keep it sane. The company is sold or the deal appears to be close to being completed.

As I mentioned earlier we are being acquired by a large holding company based in the United States. I began by feeling very insecure and for good reason. I have been through four prior acquisitions earlier in my career and in each case my position was made redundant. So far in the current process the key group of managers, of whom I am one, have met with four different senior people from the new company. These meetings have been formal group meetings outside of the company, since our employees have no idea that this process is taking place.

Finally on Monday night I had a one on one with the Senior Vice President of Human Resources and the Canadian President of the new company. I came away from that meeting feeling a little more secure. At least in the initial stages I will have a position and we will have to see if that remains at its current level or expands further into their organization or God forbid if my position is eliminated. I have the feeling that I have more experience and a better skill set than anyone else in their organization here in Canada but that doesn’t mean that I will fit the mold of what they are looking for.

I hate the feeling of not knowing what my future may be. I try to keep my life fairly stable. Not to say that I am opposed to change, far from it. I love change and I love new challenges but at this stage in my career I don’t want to be out on the street trying to sell myself to a new organization. So I have my fingers crossed.

On the personal front I finally got to spend last weekend with my son. We didn’t do too much but we ended the weekend by watching the CFL East championship game in which the Argos, which are our Toronto team, lost terribly to the Montreal Alouettes. The Argos played like a high school team and their game just came apart at the seams. So they are out of it again this year for the fifth year in a row and each year they have lost to Montreal.

I have wheels again, well sort of. The transmission in my Sunfire died and to replace it, even with a used transmission is joining to be around a thousand dollars. On top of that it is due for an emissions test, needs the brakes redone and it could use a coat of paint. So for two weeks I walked or rode my bike back and forth to work. Today's photo is one which I took during one of those walks which I guess ought to be entitled the "Last Rose of Summer".

Last Friday I bought an old Oldsmobile which was a car belonging to the Mother of another fellow at work. The lady had passed away a few months ago and he was left with taking care of her will. This car had not even been started in more than a year so it is a real unknown right now. But it only has just over a 100,000 kilometres which is very little really. The car seems to be basically okay but time will tell. I went and got a temporary license sticker for it which will allow me ten days to have it safety inspected and emission tested. I am going to redo the front brakes and change an oxygen sensor and then take it to be tested. Hopefully that will be all that is required for now.

I have to run now as I am in the process of getting ready for two days of Profit Sharing meetings with our employees. I have to stand there and tell the company line while all of the time knowing that this may be the last such meeting that we ever have as our current company. It’s not lying to them but it sure isn’t telling them the whole story. I am looking forward to this all being over and getting my life back on track, hopefully before the Christmas Holidays.

Got to run hope everyone is hanging in there and enjoying the ride. Take care.

Greyhippie.