The MacDeskBlog

At this point, I am fully closed out from my previous employer. I worked for the past 16 years at Genentech, which was a great company. Most of the people I worked with were great. The jackass who was CEO when I first joined managed to get himself fired shortly thereafter and was replaced with a senior scientist by the name of Art Levinson. Some of you Mac folk may recognize the name since he joined Apple’s Board several years ago, or you may know him from Genentech.

So if it was so great, why was I happy that they laid me off? Well, their long-time business partner and majority shareholder, Hoffmann-La Roche, bought them out last year and started to change too many things which directly affected me. I deal well with some changes, but these didn’t fall into that category. We were given nonsensical requirements with ill-defined deliverables on unreasonable timelines without access to anyone who could clarify any of it. I dreaded going to work. To say my morale plummeted would be an understatement. I’d say it evaporated. Meanwhile, I’ve watch Roche operate over the past 16 years, and I’m not impressed with their decisions. I fear for the future of Genentech. I fear that all Roche knows to do with a goose that repeatedly lays golden eggs is to cook it. So, I’m glad they laid me off. I wouldn’t have lasted much longer anyway.

Truth be told, my wife and I flew to Bonaire last September to look for a house. We filed for residency down here in November. We aimed to move down by the end of last year, but once I heard rumor that I might be getting laid off, we pushed our dates back little by little. And when it materialized, I did a little happy dance.

So, that’s the basic story. I hope it’s not too much of a rant. I wish all of my former co-workers the best of luck at Genentech, A Member of the Roche Group. And to those who have moved to Basil, I wish you a speedy conquest; may you conquer the beast from within.

More on island life to follow…

My wife started a blog for us at BonaireAdventures to share what we’re up to down in Bonaire. I promised some updates here which will still be forthcoming after everything gets resolved with my former employer.

My wife and I both made it to Bonaire in April. We stayed in a nice little condo for a couple weeks, and this week moved into the house we’re renting for the rest of the year. Our stuff is due to arrive next week, and our paperwork should be ready a few days later. Unfortunately, our camera died this week, so I won’t be adding more Bonaire desktops very soon though I may post some to the blog. Aside from that hiccup, everything is going well.

I’ve been sitting on some news for a while and I think it’s time to share it. I was notified last month that I’m being laid off from my regular job of the past 16 years. As strange as it may sound, this turns out to be a good thing. My wife and I have been planning for life post-career for quite some time now. Though we’re short of our targets, we’ve decided that we are going to execute on our plans. We are moving out of the country early next month. Once there, I’ll share more details.

Don’t panic.
I will continue to run MacDesktops from our new home, and there will be no break in service during out transition. I am still struggling with the last pieces of the mail server transition, but I’m going to tackle that today (Wednesday) and hope for the best.

I’m sure that you’ve noticed that despite my call for submissions a few months ago, the site has subsisted on pictures from Frank J Sinkavich, Stan Peyton, Timothy M. Urbanek, Victor Hamberlin, NASA, and me since then. Please join me in thanking Frank, Stan, Timothy and Victor for their tremendous contributions to the site. I have been accumulating new submissions during these months. Once we get settled, I’ll increase postings with those new submissions. So please, keep sending them in.

Thank you for your support,
Ryan