So what do you want to be when you grow up?

The perennial question asked by parents of their young - please, tell me with your full 8 years of existence on this planet how you want to spend the rest of your adult life. And the answers one gets are all at once full of hope and surprising. Ryan wants to be a NASCAR driver. Alex wants to be an "army man". To clarify and confirm, I responded, "So, you want to be a soldier, eh?"

Alex: "NO! I said army man."

Okayyyy.....

I was asked the other day that very same question at work...with a "due date" of January 2010. Surprising somewhat. I'm 40 after all, and have been in my field for almost 18 years. But January of next year marks a milestone in the project I'm working on so I'm guessing this individual wants to know what is next for me. And I realized I don't know...are they wondering what they will do with me??? I've been so focused on the goals and strategies I've laid out for this year to dig our program out of a perceived hole (it's why I was brought to the company last March), that I've thought of nothing beyond. It's a bit unsettling. I'm used to "fixing" now, having built my career over the last several years on recovery.

So I guess I need to figure out what my next coup d'etat will entail...