Sam Hilliard's Blog

A new day

A few weeks ago, just shy of three years, said goodbye to my home department, and said hello to another one at Princeton. Besides the dramatic change of scenery, I have discovered there are really good departments, and really great ones. I always suspected this was the case, but now have indisputable evidence.

These days I’m surrounded by tremendous works of art–some of which have been under the University’s stewardship for over a hundred years, and all part of a collection that soon will enc...

In which editing becomes fun

Every writer manages the editing process differently. In my case, I defer the most serious edits until completing a first draft. For this lesson, I owe a debt to neuroscience. See, creative writing and revisions impel two different, competing areas of the brain. Worrying about the finer points of grammar and diction, while writing a first draft is like dropping two hungry beta fish into the same fish tank. I wind up working harder, and it takes much longer to finish either task.

So, once a fir...

And what I saw

Shortly after seeing the Dalai Lama, the days began blurring. At some point I was in New Hampshire ( perhaps last weekend, perhaps the week before ), watched a few people get tattoos, slept down the hall from a dog the size of a Clydesdale horse with the personality to match, and burned five contractor bags full of sensitive documents in a fire pit that looked more like a well. Also reconnected with my love for octopus and spicy yellow-tail sushi.

A cough that had been hanging around for weeks...

Finding the force

After about eight days, finally recovered from the pseudo-flu bouncing from office to office at work. Very glad that bout of discomfort ended well, for between whatever I had and the Poet’s bronchitis, at night the bedroom doubled as an echo chamber for hacking coughs. Both of us feel much better now. Was even able to lace a beat up pair of running shoes and hit the trails yesterday, in the middle of a storm. Cold rain on bare skin felt much better than I remembered.

This year I’ve been workin...

Friday I’m lovesick

In nursing the Poet these past few days through a nasty bout of bronchitis, I managed to contract something that makes me cough half as much as she does, yet sound immeasurably worse while doing so. My first thought was to sleep long enough that I woke up feeling great.

Sadly, the rest-can-cure-all-things-except-internal-bleeding course of treatment has not worked since my twenties. And really, who had time for such self-indulgences?

And then I thought: ingest copious amounts of over the counte...

One day in October

Out of over 2.9 million e-books available on Amazon, for one day in October, THE LAST TRACK was the most downloaded. KAPOW!

And the next morning, went to work and set up my bosses iPhone6 plus which refused to read the backup file from the old phone until I issued a formal declaration of war. After hours, tended to a sick Poet by providing her generous portions of hot wonton soup and candy.

In between coughing fits, she slumbers, thanks to a liberal does of severe cold and cough syrup, and the...

A good day out

I’ll let the numbers do the talking, for once. Let’s just say some promotions work, and some work far better than ever expected.

That Last Track #1 Thrillers

#3 in Mystery

And #6 in Kindle Store

Off for a run, before it gets too dark.

Final thoughts or first days

This was my final email to colleagues at the boarding school where I worked for seven years.

Hey Tech Guy, I see there’s some cake in the Main kitchen. It looks pretty good. Can I have some? Yes, please do. It’s good.

So, you’re leaving. Yes. Today is my last day.

Any last thoughts? Only that it’s been a true honor working at (xxxxxxx) the last seven years and 1 month, and that I wish everyone personally, and the school specifically, the best in all future endeavors.

A number of years ago I was o...

Aging hipster

Perhaps you know a hipster, or maybe a one in recovery. More likely, the hipster you know ( and maybe even love ) is still active in the community. For most practitioners of the art of being cooler than you, shirking their role would, despite all cues to the contrary, might deprive the world of another obscure blog entry–or drunken interpretative dance on open mic night.

While hipsters have been around for a long time, and in some form probably always will exist, the shelf life of an individual hipster is far shorter than their actual lifespan. Thankfully this gap only places the slightest of burdens upon society.

For while the hipster’s posturing continues long after anyone stops noticing, the more obvious point is that nearly no one ever did in the first place.

And where is it?

Mentioned eight weeks ago that I changed jobs, without revealing the name of the employer. That seemingly odd–to some, at least–omission affirms traces back to my consulting days.

When I started in tech, the sea of money awaiting professionals willing to jump ship seemed almost endless. It was a special time in both business and history, when dollars really did more than just trickle from above; they pelted the economy and many of its participants from every direction. Good times, indeed. Like all cycles, that one came to an end, though I have faith another boom will happen.

Even though jobs back then were plentiful, and there were far more employers looking for workers than the reverse, it actually was hard to find a position that was really better without dealing with a recruiter. Besides staying at the new job for at least 90 days ( the minimum tenure needed to collect their placement fee ), recruiters demanded some discretion. In practice that discretion really meant the following:

1) Tell no one at the current job you are looking for work.

2) When you get the new job, tell no one where you are going except your immediate family, until you have been there for a few months.

While the first rule was relevant in markets both good and bad, the second was much harder in practice. No third party agent guided this job change, but I’ve acted from the old advice once again without thought.

And thus explains the secrecy.