Whimsy and Gravitas

2011-06-14T21:54:00.001-05:00

Maybe later.

Meh.

2011-05-18T17:16:00.002-05:00

Jeez, what a mess! Look at this place. Cobwebs, trash, antique observations, and dust everywhere!

Okay, this weekend I'm cleaning up in here!

I promise.

;-)

2011-04-25T02:18:00.002-05:00

Then, depression set in.

Got a Job - Sort of...

2010-04-17T01:06:00.004-05:00

The telephone interview I had Wednesday resulted in a job! Yea! There are caveats, however. Before I can start there is a background check. Shouldn't be a problem unless they include a credit check as a governing factor. I've had background checks the last three jobs I've held with no problem (they're basically checking for criminal records I'm told), but I suspect my credit score may have been an issue with the job I interviewed for a couple weeks ago at a bank (I think my credit score is in negative numbers by now). The other issue is there is a guy working the position now; he had worked for the client before when this opening came up so he took it with the understanding that he was on the verge of getting a permanent offer with another company. So, our recruiting firm placed him there for a week or two and continued looking for someone 'till they found me. Now, my start date depends on two things: when the b-g check comes back and when this other guy gets his offer and leaves. Supposedly the offer is imminent, but if it doesn’t actually come through guess who gets the short end of the stick? That’s right, me. I haven’t even mentioned this factor to MLM since I won’t know until early next week. Why have her be sick about it for five or six days? When I know I’ll tell her. Meanwhile, we can be happily anticipatory.

Oh, and it’s only a four week contract.

Now, the recruiter says that often their contractors get extended there and a couple have even been hired direct. But of course, recruiters always tell you that.

In other news, I have 50 items listed on eBay right now with only four watchers, no bidders, and I am totally broke. I sold a couple items a few days ago that I got paid for yesterday, which money I used to get a few groceries we needed – eggs, yeast, stuff like that. I have 36¢ and my next unemployment check is five days away! I met with the Bishop Monday night and the church helped us with rent, some prescriptions, health insurance, and our cable bill. Thank you, God!

So, this afternoon I photographed and placed on eBay an anime figure I never intended to sell at a ridiculously low starting price and a one day run just to get some cash in here. It’s from Ichigo Mashimaro and is part of a two-part display set. I’ve been watching the matching figure on eBay for months hoping to get one at a reasonable price; now I’m giving up the one I already have (which I got for ‘way cheap some time ago). To give you an idea of the current value, someone on eBay is offering the pair for $130! This is actually a deal since for the last couple of years I have only seen the pair for $250-300. Ah well; I figure after I get a real job and get some money ahead I can try to build my collection again. Priorities, though. This would be at the bottom of a very long list!

Waiting for the other shoe to drop…

Still Here.

2010-04-10T21:14:00.003-05:00

Where does the time go?

Amazing how quickly the days go by. I need to update things to the present (today) and then work on posting regularly. I really need the outlet.

Item 1: Still out of work. It was pretty dead for about three months – had maybe a dozen submittals and three interviews during that time. Things started picking up in mid-March, and a couple weeks ago I had two really good interviews for full-time jobs at companies I really wanted to work for. In both cases I came in second; nothing against me – just another candidate with an extra skill they thought would be nice. One company even said they anticipated another position opening in a few weeks and would check to see if I would be available for that (chances are I will!). This past week I was submitted for two contract jobs that I will hear about next week. So we’ll see.

Item 2: MLM had her right shoulder replacement surgery the first week in December and it went very well. Needless to say it was pretty handy that I was out of work during her recovery as for the first couple of months she needed constant care and assistance to do just about anything. She’s doing much better now. No arthritic pain in her shoulder at all which is a real miracle! She still needs help getting around because, hey, this was just one joint; she still has another six or eight atrocious joints and a back full of degenerative discs so there is still much to be done and she is still in constant pain. At least now we’re moving forward after over two years of waiting. Next she needs another tooth looked at, a visit to her gastroenterologist for her increasing gerd, then arthroscopic surgery on her right elbow. After that, her left shoulder will get the replacement treatment.

Item 3: I’ve been selling my stuff on eBay for the last two months which has really helped us money-wise. I’ve been able to pay for food, prescriptions, and utilities without relying on the church for much beyond our rent. (The church and MLM’s folks are our only source of assistance at this time.) I have sold all my Lionel except for the Polar Express, some pieces of HO trains I had, and most of my Cars collection (from the movie, Cars, y’know? I had plans of including a Radiator Springs on my O scale layout. More on that if I ever finish and post my Still Plays With Trains essay.) I am selling my Negima Pactio Cards now with much regret and they are not moving very well, surprisingly. I acquired these when I was working at UIC and they were pretty popular then. I also tried selling some lovely C & O passenger cars I have but they aren’t moving either – I guess Walthers sold a real pantload of them when they were released. I also have a few anime-related cards and figures I can sell.

Item 3a: The eBay sales at first were pretty exciting – this was all the train stuff I was listing. I can see how I could create an eBay store with this stuff. I even sent inquiries to some of the train manufacturers to see if they would wholesale to an online store – almost all said they had no problem with that. Only Lionel still insists on a brick-and-mortar establishment for all their dealers. Anyway, I created a new seller account, and once I have a regular bank account I can link to PayPal I can open my store. I even have cornered the name Still Plays With Trains. All I need now is some seed money – like any start-up. I figure if I can get a job with a living wage that lasts more than a few weeks, I can start a small presence there in six or eight months. Meanwhile, I’m running out of stuff to sell so I don’t know what will happen next.

Item 4: Just need to say that it sucks the straights we’re in makes us pariahs to our families. MLM talks to her mother pretty regularly, but that’s because she was up front stating they just can’t help anymore like they did last year, but they still chip in when they can. And since she cares, she talks to MLM every week or two, so that’s good. Everyone else has their own problems I guess, but no one ever calls us or returns our calls – I think they’re afraid we’ll ask for help and then they’ll feel bad when they turn us down. Almost everyone on both sides of the family has helped in some way in the past two years; but since I haven't been able to pay anyone back I think it is greatly resented. Oh, well. I’ve just given up on them and don’t let it bother me, but MLM is really hurt by it. Especially since she just went through this surgery and has many more to go through, she feels very alone and unsupported when facing this. She talks more with friends she’s met online; and gets more emotional support from them too. There’s one in AZ and one in WA that she speaks with on the phone regularly – ten times more regularly than her sisters or daughter. Kinda sad, but nothing we can do about it. Once I’m working again and have regular income and don’t need to bother anyone with our sad, sad story I’m sure all will be well again. Except for the bad taste in my mouth of course. Oh, well, I’m no great shakes as an extended family man myself.

Item 5: Getting an advanced degree is another option – sort of. Problem is paying for such. I no longer qualify for student loans since the private loans I took out are defaulted – also, my first Stafford was in ’97 and you can only take them for ten years. So I am applying for a retraining grant through the state unemployment system – there are several skills and applications I can get certified for that may help me get hired. Trouble is picking which one to go for. I am studying SQL on my own ‘cause lots of employers ask for it. Anyway, much to examine and decide on there.

Item 6: Well, lots more going on, but I’m tired now. It’s almost 11:00 pm and the chicken soup I made is ready. MLM has been sleeping all evening (did not sleep last night at all) so I probably should wake her up to have some. This has been cathartic. I will post more when I can.

Still Plays With Trains

2009-11-03T19:48:00.003-06:00

I mentioned a few days ago that I would be changing my focus regarding model railroading. I think I’ll discuss that for the next few posts.

First, take it as a given that me and trains: we be mates. I have had a fascination with trains for as long as I can remember – literally! I have an essay in the works on my history with trains that I am preparing for posting on my planned StillPlaysWithTrains website. So reviewing my experience with toy or model trains, I recall I had a Marx O gauge steam engine freight train when I was very small – not sure if it was mine or someone else in the family, nor do I know what happened to it. Christmas of ’59 when I was eight years old, I got an America Flyer S gauge steam engine freight train that I had for several years and was destroyed in our attic fire when I was in high school. When I was in junior high I saved my money and (with Dad’s help) bought my first HO train set – a Sante Fe diesel streamlined passenger train and an oval of track. I then stayed with HO for years after that. While in junior high, my Dad put together a real nice train board for me – a 4’x 8’ sheet of plywood on a 1x2 frame with a wheel, chain, & pulley arrangement that allowed it to be stored flat against the basement wall, then lowered for playing. It was very cool!

Now, financial reversals and poor choices on my part in the late 1980’s made it necessary for me to generate money so I sold my HO trains. I went to several regional train meets, rented a seller table, and sold off a collection of twenty year’s building that took five good sized boxes to store. Now that is a key point: stored. I had not had a layout since high school. I had always planned to have one but we never had a place that had room for such, so while I slowly added to my collection of engines, cars, and structures, I had to keep them in storage, getting them out every year or so to admire and dream. I should mention that the collection took a big hit in the early 80s when we moved from Tennessee to Arizona. The trailer was too small to hold everything so one group of boxes we left in my wife’s sister’s basement included the trains. A couple years later when we could finally afford to have them shipped to us it was evident that their kids had gotten into the boxes at some point: there was a lot of damage and a lot of items were just missing. I never said anything – they were kind enough to store the stuff for all that time – I just cleaned up what I could and continued growing the collection when I could.

Then came Christmas of 2005. The Tom Hanks movie The Polar Express had just come out, and the Lionel company had issued a top quality entry-level set of the Polar Express in O gauge. My sweet wife got me one for Christmas! It’s beautiful. It was my first Lionel – ever! The engine is a Berkshire (2-8-4), is highly detailed and weighs a ton! The three passenger cars are lighted and have silhouettes in the windows depicting characters from the movie. Very cool!! Makes smoke and the whistle blows. Looks fabulous under the tree. The following year Sears came out with a Dept 56 series of buildings from the movie A Christmas Story whose scale matched the train! I built a little village under the tree with the Express chugging through town. It was great. See it here. I was hooked. I got the latest Lionel catalog, bought some issues of Classic Toy Trains magazine, and began to dream about my big O gauge layout. Whee!

Here’s the kicker: for my next birthday – about a year after getting the Polar Express – my Dad made me a present of an HO gauge train set! He knew I hadn’t been doing trains for a while and thought I’d like to get back into it. He was right! [Oh, the irony! See the following posts!] However, I was committed to O gauge now, so I called him and explained to him that I was thrilled with the gift and the thought behind it, but that I wanted to exchange it and why. He was fine with it – always has been an understanding fellow – so I sent the HO set back to the internet seller and exchanged it for the two add-on cars that had just come out for the Polar Express. Very cool! The train now had five passenger cars – a respectable looking outfit. And I am a proud three-railer!! To be continued…

The Freedom of Blogging

2009-11-02T17:46:00.000-06:00

140 characters. What can you say that has any meaning in 140 characters? Not much, I find. I kinda like Twitter for the friendly banter it engenders with the people I have discovered online – mostly at MegaTokyo – and that I seem to be connected with them in some small way. The problem I have is the restrictions of the medium. 140 characters seems to be designed for communication through texting on a phone, so it’s limited and very limiting. If someone has more to say, I find we type to the 140, then post, then type to the next 140, then post, and so on. This morning I opened Twitter and found a friend had made six posts in a row just so he could say three sentences! I mean, I was glad to hear what he had to say, it just seemed so cumbersome.

How do people handle this limitation? For the most part, the posts I see on Twitter are just shorthand streams of consciousness; and, I’m sorry, but the state of your gastric tract or what you ate for lunch are just not that interesting. It’s as if people respond to this limitation by limiting what they dare say and rarely attempt anything too involved or thoughtful. It’s become a waste of time.

I am also on Facebook, but not very often. I usually find it more frustrating than Twitter. I don’t have that many friends or relatives on my account, but some of them post all the time, all kinds of crap – by crap I mean cute pictures or videos they want to share, or level-ups and milestones they’ve reached in all the games they play. I like the pics and videos sometimes, but I don’t really care if they offed some mythical godfather in Mafia wars! Please people, don’t post that kind of stuff. Anyway, I’ll post something on Facebook and 10 minutes later it’s off the page because all these other posts just keep the front page flowing downward – it’s like a text & video simulacrum of the Matrix screens! Perhaps I just don’t use it right. I hear of people who spend all their time on Facebook, but I don’t understand what they’re doing that is so compelling. I also find the constant advertising there most irritating. Still, I guess it fills a need.

So I like the freedom blogging gives you. I can write at length on whatever topic is on my mind. I see blogs used for information sources and repositories too. It’s a valuable tool. On the other hand, I do like the conversational quality that Twitter provides – I post a comment, and one of my followers can respond in real-time. It’s nice. Feels like we’re doing something together, and we are!

Looking at these three community streams, I think we need a compromise. I think the next big app for the web will be a Twitter on steroids. We need a Twitter-type utility that allows you to post full sentences and paragraphs, say 500 or 1000 characters. No pictures or videos displayed – that would just recreate Facebook – the method of loading URLs in Twitter with the shorthand code is a good thing. Then we could have real conversations. I guess the best solution would be to leave the Twitter layout just as it is, but with more characters available for use. Also, maybe they could set it up like AOL used to be where if you were in a conversation with someone and wanted to continue but not in the public forum, you could split off into a separate chat room. That would be a nice enhancement to Twitter.

Meanwhile, I’ll keep blogging.

Daily Blogging for a Month? Good Idea!

2009-11-01T14:18:00.001-06:00

So I saw on Kelly's blog about this initiative for blogging every day for the month of November -- see nablopomo National Blog Posting Month. For a sporadic blogger like me this sounded like a good idea and a way to get back into the habit. I’ve never blogged that consistently, even though I find when I do I tend to be more focused with the rest of my life. I went to the website and signed up and here we go!

I think to kick this off it might be a good idea to re-post the poem from Kipling I posted a few years ago that I first saw quoted in Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. It says pretty much what I need to think about right now as far as focusing on things go:

The young recruit is silly – 'e thinks o' suicide.
'E's lost 'is gutter-devil; 'e 'asn't got 'is pride;
But day by day they kicks 'im, which 'elps 'im on a bit,
Till 'e finds 'isself one mornin' with a full an' proper kit.

Gettin' clear o' dirtiness, gettin' done with mess,
Gettin' shut o' doin' things rather-more-or-less.

From The ‘eathen by Rudyard Kipling

Nicely put, don’t you think? Where I’m at right now requires a good deal of focus on my part. I am out of work again, so let’s taken it as written that I spend at least a couple hours each day searching the job boards, applying at likely-looking companies, and following leads from friends and former co-workers. I do that daily so I won’t mention it again; it’s just there, it has to be done, and I’m doing the footwork.

As I mentioned before, MLM is scheduled for her first shoulder replacement surgery on December 2nd. She is getting ready for that with help from a cohort of home care nurses and physical therapists that we are lucky enough to have coming in several times a week. She is getting some good exercise and still losing weight which really helps her pain level. It’s so good to see things finally moving forward for her surgery. I look forward to taking her back to Disney World! Her Mom was coming for Thanksgiving but has extended her stay to be here after the operation and help with getting her settled in afterwards – much appreciated! We have a hospital bed loaned to us by a family in the church so we are almost set. I just have to finish tidying up the living room and office, get rid of our old entertainment center on Craig’s list, and set up the bed in our bedroom. The fun never ends!

In order to move forward in my ‘career’ (such as it is), I need to get additional certifications or an advanced college degree (just another form of certification wouldn’t you say?). To that end, I am studying SQL for two reasons – just having a cert in SQL should improve my chances of employment, and it’s a big step toward an MCSE (super-valuable cert from Microsoft). Alternatively, as I’ve mentioned previously, I.T. hasn’t been berry, berry good to me lately. There are fewer jobs, more techs competing for them, and the pay has dropped considerably because of this – market forces at work; supply and demand; etc. So if I get back into college for a master’s program it seems prudent to focus on a different, but complimentary field. My first inclination was the Medical Informatics program at Northwestern – it seems a good direction to go that builds on my past experience but moves me into the medical admin field which is definitely not going anywhere and pays well, generally. There are also masters programs in HR that build on my undergrad degree in Organization Behavior – MLM even found a MS program in Org Behavior, so that’s another possibility. Third, is teaching. MLM and many others have always said that I would make a good teacher. Now I have taught adult classes in PC skills before, and I enjoyed that. Not sure how I’d do with kids though. On the other hand, I have taught Sunday school as well and enjoyed that a lot and was pretty good at it. Anyway, MLM found an online teaching master of arts program at USC and put me in for that. I am getting e-mails and phone calls from them now so I guess they’re anxious to get some business. It’s intriguing to say the least. Of course, before I can do any of those things I need to get employed, at a living wage, with a short commute, etc. etc. etc.

That’s enough for today. Feels good. Let’s keep it flowing.

The Hurrider I Go, the Behinder I Get

2009-10-26T19:36:00.003-05:00

The day after my last post, the 16th, I got laid off again! Seems the project is going so smoothly they do not need my help after all and can do it with internal resources. So, I'm looking for work again! I already have an interview for this Thursday at least, so hopefully this won't last too long. The economy is definitely picking up and I am seeing more stuff on the job boards.

MLM and I had a long talk the other night about my so-called career and she pointed out that it is very much time to change areas of work again, and the only way to do that is to get a masters degree focusing on the new career path as I mentioned before. Anyway, seems medical informatics is one, HR IT is another, heck we even looked at cooking schools in the area and restaurant management. There are lots of things like that hereabouts. But I just don't know. I am going to research this in detail and not go off half-cocked out of desperation. Most of the programs I've checked have an online component so I wouldn't have to lose work time to attend class, nor commute to some campus miles away in the evening -- this is certainly and advantage. We'll just have to see what seems the best choice. Gotta get another job first, though.

We went to see MLM's orthopaedic surgeon at his new digs (he left Northwestern for a bump up to assistant director and a shorter commute), and he feels the time is right to proceed. MLM has one more dental visit and so he scheduled her first shoulder operation on Dec. 2nd! Finally! We are on the move now to pain relief and more mobility. Pray for us both.

I am putting a pantload of stuff on eBay this week -- need the money and the room. I spoke briefly about the trains last time and I have come to a decision: I am leaving O scale and returning to HO. So, I am putting all my O up for sale. I am holding on to the Polar Express for now; it was a Christmas gift from MLM after all, and it looks great around the Christmas tree. But all the other little bits and pieces are going. One thing I'm thinking about is starting an information and retail website focusing on model trains. It's something I know about and am interested in and Google has all kinds of programs to support me in doing it. That's another option for the future that might even make a little extra money. I would really like to put my reasoning for giving up O down on a blog rant, but don't have time for that now. Will do so later for sure.

That's all for now.

Downward Spiral

2009-10-15T15:29:00.002-05:00

So this is pretty depressing. I entered the world of Information Technology in 1985 when I was hired to manage and be a lead designer for a computer-aided design office filling a contract with IBM in Tucson. Since then I have learned much about computers on my own, got a few certifications, took a bachelor’s degree in 2005, worked many different places with much responsibility, and have taken some master’s level classes as well. Now, I have not been certified by Microsoft as a network engineer, but you would think that all that time and experience would be worth something, career-wise. However, I just realized that the contract job I’m working now is paying me the same hourly wage I received for that job back in 1985! No wonder my life’s been a crap-storm for the last 10 years or so; my peak earnings came in 2003 and have dropped precipitously since. I am still searching for that "challenging position with room for advancement."

What to do? Well, I am working on my application to Northwestern for their masters program in Medical Informatics; I am also looking at a masters program in Organization Behavior (my undergrad degree) at another college out here in the burbs. The medical degree seems promising in that it uses my IT skills in a medical environment – that business is still pretty stable. Either that or I’ll start some lame website selling waterless cookware or something like that and then market it by spamming the planet. I would look for a second, part-time job (if there were any) but that would just take more time away from care-giving MLM and the job I have now keeps me away for 12 hours a day with the commute and all, and this is a real hardship on her (and me) already!

Anyway, it’s pretty sad to realize at my age that you have no career.

Back In the Saddle Again redut

2009-10-05T14:28:00.003-05:00

Ah, I’m working again at last! Only off for three months this time! Three months? Ackk!!

And I only have a three month contract – how ironic! The job is through Robert Half Technology with a giant law firm in Chicago, so I get to ride the train every day. This is great on several levels: I’ve been wanting to get an assignment through Robert Half as they are a premier tech consulting firm and can probably keep me working steady; and I will finally have experience at a law firm which will give me more opportunities to apply for work. This is because almost all law firm employment ads stipulate up front that only applicants with previous law firm experience need apply. I think this is because they have special software to support, or they have ‘special’ users to support; although, I must say that everyone I’ve met here so far has been extremely friendly and cooperative. It’s a very nice work environment – so happy to be working again! And here’s a cool thing: this is the law firm where Barak and Michelle Obama met! Neat, huh?!

I am definitely taking the opportunity to complete my MCSE certification while working here – I missed several jobs this time out only because I didn’t have it – not that the jobs required it; it was just a way to eliminate candidates. These days employers can be very picky! I have online training available to me through Robert Half, plus I still have access to similar resources through Manpower from last year. These both require connectivity to use, however, so I am also looking for cheap (read: free) programs I can load up and use on the train. My goal is to get the cert before this contract ends. I have been working on SQL through Manpower recently. Anyway, the job is good, and I’m glad to have it!

So updating…. Let’s see. Oh, Chicago lost the bid for the Olympics. We were very disappointed with that. You could feel the city gearing up for the big push to 2016; there was energy in the air. Now, I know you could read polls in the press that the populace was somewhat ambivalent about supporting it, but I don’t know who they talked to for those polls ‘cause everyone I heard from was all for it! The possibilities were vast – the plan was well thought out and very creative; it would have left positive constructions behind and the most overwhelming structures were to be temporary; plus the whole place would have been cleaned up and modernized (not that it’s not a very clean city now – if they’d just separate the storm drain system from the sanitary system so the air would smell a bit better generally). Mostly it would have made Chicago international. It’s got a bad rep right now (politics as usual for the last 150 years haven’t helped that, of course – but they’re actually working on that and the future looks much better).

On the other hand, I can understand the thinking that gave it to Rio: never had an Olympics in SA (and I think this is the first serious contender to come from that continent), and if any city needed the shot in the arm an Olympics has the possibility of providing, it’s Rio! Their rep is probably work than Chicago’s world-wide, what with 2 million of it’s citizens living in poverty, the drugs, the crime, the slums etc. etc. – but the beaches are still nice I hear. Anyway, that’s gotta get cleaned up before 2016 so now they have a very public imperative to do what they must do. I’m rooting for them! I always want a great Olympics no matter where the venue.

Next topic: MLM has had quite a bit of dental work the last few months. Lots of fillings, a crown and a couple of extractions. It’s like her low resistance to infection has settled in her teeth like it attacked her shoulders. For as long as I’ve known her she has been absolutely rabid about oral hygiene – always flossing and brushing several times a day (she was just completing her training as a certified dental assistant when we met, then worked as one for several years so her skills in that arena are top-drawer). So, after taking such good care for all those years it’s really sad to have them fail her like this – particularly the extractions. I feel awful for her – she has a wondrous smile, you know. It was her smile that captured my heart before I even knew her. The body is all one interrelated system, of course, so we need the get the dental work done so she can have her shoulder surgery so she can get back to exercising so her overall health can improve and they can work on her elbows and her knees and her spine. Whew! THEN we can return to Disney World to celebrate our next anniversary. We were there in 2005 to celebrate our 30th; that was the last trip MLM was able to make before she was totally bed-ridden. I pray every day we might go there again someday soon…

I also pray I can get a permanent job (whatever that is) so we can move back downtown so MLM can be near her doctors. At least with the loss of the Olympic bid we can expect apartment rents to not skyrocket over the next few years. Moving to the burbs was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. ‘Course, I was working for Sara Lee at the time – planned to work there until retirement – so moving near the job just made sense. (It’s still much cheaper to live here – it always made economic sense; it just never made sanity/lifestyle sense!) Six months later, I’m laid off and life has been a shit-storm ever since. Now, I would have been laid off anyway, so if we’d still been in Chicago we definitely would have lost that apartment and who knows where we would have gone from there. Our Bishop says in times like that we need to turn to family for help, but except for some money from time to time, my side of the family has studiously avoided offers of shelter, and if I bring it up the subject gets changed. At least my in-laws have stated from the very beginning that we can move in with them if we need to, and that is much appreciated! For now we are stuck in the apartment we’re in because my credit rating is so poor I cannot qualify for housing in any area we would want to live in (safety), and I’m still working toward getting all the required fees to our attorney so we can file for bankruptcy. So, once I get a permanent or long-term position, it will be at least three years for my credit to clean up enough to move to another apartment. At least when we signed our renewal this year we got $80 a month reduction by committing to a 14 month lease instead of a year. Every little bit helps.

Wow! Super-sized post, eh? Well, it’s been a while, and I have a lot I need to get out of my head, plus I don’t think anybody reads this anymore anyway so it doesn’t much matter, does it?

What else is going on ? Well, I finally got all the Christmas and train stuff out of the living room and into storage. I have a lot of loose papers and cartons of clothing to deal with, but then the living room is done. I am also driving around with a home hospital-type bed in the van that a friend from church is loaning us for MLM to use after her surgery. I am waiting for help from the brethren to get it out of my van, up the stairs, and set up in the living room. How Christmas rolls this year will depend on how long this contract runs. Right now it’s supposed to end on Dec. 11th, but if they can’t make the schedule – and they’re currently behind – then it may get extended. Also, I’m not really working that much on the project. I got the day shift for follow-up rather than the second shift doing the migrations. This means I support the user community all day for 40 hours a week; the guys that got the migration shift are only doing 20-30 hours a week! So I lucked out there (actually, the client placed me here because they wanted a professional, competent tech who could work well with the attorneys). And of course, I continue to look for better paying and/or permanent work on the job boards every day. Anyway, I am hoping to do some nice new decorations for the holidays this year. Time will tell.

The Polar Express is in the warehouse for now, along with a few accessories, the extra track, and the Dept 56 buildings. I have to look at this dispassionately and determine what I want to do with trains as opposed to what I can do with them. Maybe I will leave this discussion for another post. Or I may start a new blog focused only on trains. That might be best.

So, here I go, keeping the faith and putting one foot in front of the other all day long…

Well, That Didn't Work

2009-07-23T22:22:00.003-05:00

I guess I shouldn't have mentioned the job interviews my last post. Nothing came of them. Well, to be precise, there is one I haven't heard from yet but it's been a good deal longer than the time frame I was given. Happily, the interest in hiring hasn't waned as yet - I am still getting contacted by recruiters and have had additional interviews with more expected next week. I am encouraged by this, needless to say, so I think I will just let it go and let God, as they say. I won't mention the process here anymore to avoid any kind of jinx, y’know? I will wait 'til I get an actual job and share it here then. Meanwhile...

In other news, MLM has been to the dentist for fillings twice now, and just has two more visits to go before the dentist will give her a clean bill of health for her shoulder surgery. Thank God we're moving forward on that finally! At this rate she will probably have her first joint replaced in the Fall and be in pretty good shape by the holidays this year. Then get her other shoulder done after the first of the year. I just hope the wait and the trauma will be worth it and she'll get some relief from pain. That would be very good.

My knee is really bugging me these days. Can't get my shot as I mentioned previously; I just hope I can hold on to enough cartilage in the meantime for the shot to work when the day comes I have insurance again and can get it done. [crossing fingers]. I will take a short break tomorrow from the job hunt to finish tidying the living room and office area. Stuffs been piled up there for months and I am really tired of it! It’s all my mess and all my fault it’s still extant and I have to take care of it. So, tomorrow I will arise at daybreak and work all day. I will report here how it goes.

After MLM’s bath tonight I put on the soundtrack from Last Exile that I gave her for Mother’s Day and we just laid in each other’s arms and enjoyed the music and talked quietly of the scenes the music invoked in our minds. It was a special time. A few night’s ago we watched Star Trek: First Contact and wept openly at the beautiful music and smiled happy smiles at each other that we’re such softies. But the main theme in that soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith has such simple beauty that it pulls tears from me every time. Sorry he’s gone. So often we’ll enjoy the music in some old film and will check the credits to find his name there. He was prolific and very talented.

Well, it’s late and I have a busy day tomorrow. Later, team.

Tempting Fate

2009-07-07T23:37:00.002-05:00

I don't want to jinx this, but I have two job interviews tomorrow. Crazy weird eh? I also have two other pending that I am awaiting call-backs on. I also already had two phone interviews and a face-to-face last week. Needless to say, the activity on the job front this time has been much, much better that last time where I would go weeks without even a phone call or e-mail. MLM says it's 'cause we are at the first of July and everyone's fiscal year is starting up and they have their new budgets to start playing with. Yea for me!

I'm just glad things are opening up and there are some opportunities coming my way. This is a bit surprising considering the record high jobless rate that was posted last month. I just hope things keep swinging in a positive direction for a change.

My weight loss is still progressing - lost another five. I had to take my suit (yep; singular) to the tailor last week to have it taken in so I wouldn't look like some kind of teepee at my interviews. They had to take four inches from the pants and took the jacket down from a 50 to a 46! I haven't been this size in a long, long time. Like I said earlier, I just hope it's not some wasting desease! :D

Had a quiet 4th of July. Listened to the surrounding fireworks but weren't able to get out to actually see any this year. But that's okay; I've seen fireworks. We watched Fellowship of the Ring but got started too late to watch the whole trilogy. Maybe next year. Ended up spending Sunday and Monday nights watching Azumanga Daioh again -- one of the funniest anime series out there and one of our very favorites. So that was fun. Looking forward now to MLM's birthday the end of the month. I will plan on cooking something special for the meal then (that's usually the principal thing for birthdays here) and maybe I can afford an ice cream cake or something like that by then. We'll see.

Here's wishing me luck tomorrow. Stay tuned...

On the job again.

2009-06-16T14:11:00.003-05:00

Made a last visit to HQ today to drop off my laptop (after extracting all my personal data to a DVD) and say my good-byes. Everyone was very nice and obviously upset by my departure - one reason being that there is the possibility they won't be far behind! Dave was encouraging by saying he'd had two interviews last month - no job but at least people are willing to talk. It's a positive spin on things.

Home now, had some lunch, loaded the dishwasher, and now I'm doing the job search/sending resumes thing. Working in the bedroom so I can be with MLM while she games on her laptop and watches Last Exile - probably our favorite anime overall. I think I've discussed it previously. You can Wiki it for an excellent review and detailed info. It's worth it!

Oh, and Father's Day is coming up! I just got two cards from Kelly: one really sweet and sentimental and a funny one with a check! Yea! Thank you, Kelly! The check is much appreciated as you can imagine. It's a personal check so I can't use it directly, of course, since I don't have a checking or savings account, but I can sign it over to pay a bill, so that will be a big help!

Onward, to Better Things...

2009-06-15T18:38:00.000-05:00

I crossed the Loop in a bus to the train station. Awesome to see all the giant buildings there erected by and designed to service this concentration of humanity. It’s glorious! I miss it so. It is very empowering – one feels anything is possible in the midst of such vibrant endeavor. Riding the train home now – that’s always fun. The ride is so different now than I remember from my youth, or even 10 years ago here. It is a very smooth ride now and relatively quiet. All the lines here have upgraded their track to welded rail – so now each rail is a continuous band of steel for hundreds or thousands of feet between physical joints. Hence the traditional clickity-clack as the trucks passed over the joints is no more to be heard. The only time you hear something like that is when we pass through a turnout or hammer the diamonds. Makes for an even more pleasant ride!

Just downloaded a fansub of a popular anime call ef – a tale of memories. It is based on a Japanese visual novel (so-called, it might more be called a role-playing game with a definite plot pattern based on choices the player makes). The anime is just beautiful! The animation is some of the prettiest I’ve seen with lush backgrounds, stunning lighting effects, and vibrant characters. The music rivals any I’ve heard as well. I’m just getting into it so I’ll provide a more detailed evaluation later. Basically, though, it’s a shoujo romance series with three or four high-school-age couples learning to get along, make friends and enemies, and find their true love. Yeah, I’m a pushover for this crap. Deal. Reminds me of my H.S. days I guess, only with cute uniforms!

If you want a couple of recommendations for kids in high school series that are top drawer humor, I give you Azumanga Daioh, and School Rumble. Azumanga Daioh was born as a manga and focuses on the three years of high school for a half-dozen very different girls and their teacher. It’s pretty much slice-of-life style episodes that also veers off into the surreal from time to time for hilarious effect!

School Rumble is just a high-school sit-com with really great characters and situations. Each of these series offer a close look at what I assume is typical Japanese high school life (at least it is according to my research on Wikipedia) with all its festivals, sports days, culture days, etc, etc. They are primarily fun to watch and will amuse and delight you. Check ‘em out.

Found quite a few new job postings on Career Builder this morning – so local to where I live so I will jump on them and make the big score!! Hahahaha!

To Dub or Not to Dub? ... Dub!!

2009-06-15T13:22:00.003-05:00

So, I saw Clannad has been released on DVD here in the states. It’s a wonderful anime series that I watched last year as a fansub. I was disappointed to learn that the US release has not been dubbed in English, just subtitled. I’m seeing this more and more lately as the US distributors are trying to get the discs to market as quickly as possible and so they forego the dubbing process, which I agree is very expensive and bit of a gamble if the DVD doesn’t sell well. I think the idea is, if they make a good profit with subtitles they’ll come back and dub it later for a second release.
Now, this doesn’t make a lot of sense for a series like Clannad, which is wildly popular and regarded as one of the best anime series ever – which appraisal I agree with. It’s gone through two seasons and a movie and I think they’re planning a live-action film and more anime series or OVAs. This is a series that should have been dubbed for its US release! On a more personal note, it is now almost impossible for MLM to follow a subtitled presentation. Now, your purist anime fans say they always want to watch their anime with the original Japanese soundtrack and follow along with the subtitles. MLM and I used to do that too, up until a couple years ago. Also, a lot of the English dubbing is pretty hit or miss; with some excellent work and some crappy. Usually you could count on really good voice-acting in the original Japanese, and even though you may not understand it, the emotion definitely comes through. Again our problem now is that MLM just cannot see and concentrate well enough to make a subtitled anime enjoyable anymore. So, come on people; Dub ‘em!!

You want fries with that?

2009-06-15T11:23:00.001-05:00

Monday morning; on the train to Chicago one last time. No user support required today, my part of that is done and Ted will be handling from now on (Ted’ll probably be gone after Wednesday). I just have to package as many PCs for shipping that I can today. All the old or replacement hardware has to be sent back to Ohio for re-use. They came to us one at a time so we’re sending them back one at a time. Tomorrow I’ll swing down to HQ in Downers Grove to drop off my laptop & phone and pick up some paperwork; then it’s home until I get another job.

Saw a sign at the Wal-Mart nearby that they’re doing a big store renovation and they’re looking for full-time help. Not sure why the renovation needs more people, although I was at another store doing renovations on Saturday and it looked like the staff was keeping pretty busy moving displays from one location to another, keeping just ahead of the remod work. So maybe that’s it. At least full-time there I’d get medical and a discount on purchases. Apple just announced the new iPhone 3G that’s lots cheaper than the first iPhone with more features so I could get that there for MLM. This looks like the perfect phone for her since it’s all touch panel and programmable and you move stuff around with your fingers and it uses voice-recognition etc. MLM really has a hard time using her regular cell these days – the small buttons and scrolling for numbers and trying to program it are almost impossible for her. I just hope I can get a job soon enough to get her that for her birthday the end of July. *sigh*

So I will check that out and the movie theater gig too, since there’s so little demand for IT these days. I got one call on my Dice update but it was in Des Moines! Just gotta keep working it I guess! ;-)

WHOA! SHOE!!

2009-06-12T18:10:00.000-05:00

Well, the waiting is over. I’m laid off. Again! Monday in Chicago will be my last day, apart from a quick trip Tuesday morning from the house to HQ in Downers Grove to drop off my stuff. I was feeling pretty hopeful since we all got an e-mail from the boss saying he was going to be out of town on vacation all next week and who to contact about what in his absence etc. etc. So, I thought, well at least I won’t be de-head-counted next week! Then he called me this afternoon with the bad news. He tried to be as hopeful as possible; saying that they are pushing to get Phase 2 of the project going asap, and that if I was available and interested he’d be pleased to bring me back on board – said it might even be within a week. The plans and schedules keep changing. I’m kind of relieved, ‘cause at least now I know. The not knowing was really getting on my nerves I think; I mean my intestines have been in turmoil the last couple of months – my lower abdomen must look like the Somme. Maybe that’s why I’ve been losing weight; who knows.

MLM called shortly after I got the news. Said she just wanted to make sure I was okay – she’s good isn’t she? Totally psyched into her hubby. I was impressed. Anyway, I gave her the news and she was pretty calm about it. I mean, we discussed the possibility last night for some time so we pretty much were expecting it sometime soon and had our heads in a good place about it. Nothing like a life filled with challenges make losing a job seem like no big deal. Keeps things in perspective y’know?

So, heading home on the train now and am planning to spend a very nice weekend with my Sweetie! Let’s watch some new Anime and cuddle! Yea! And, of course, I’ll also be looking full-time for a new job. Wish me luck!

We Few, We Happy Few, We Band of Hackers!

2009-06-12T09:11:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was a total drag. The night migration guy got laid off. Was told his part of Phase 1 was finished so he’s gone. I got a call from the supervisor requesting I collect his badges and PC. Apparently they’re doing some re-thinking about the scheduling and Phase 2 won’t start for another couple of months (it was supposed to pick up right after Phase 1, but that’s two-week-old news). So Michael dropped by the Chicago office where we worked the last two weeks to pick up his stuff and get his misc. off his hard drive. Wished him luck out there and we commiserated with each other for a while. We’re all old guys there – Ted, the other day tech, is about my age too – so we recognize that we’re a new Band of Brothers; IT guys who qualify for AARP. I really need to say IT persons to avoid being sexist as there are plenty of women in the same boat. My manager at Sara Lee three years ago got laid off when I was and she was out of work for over a year-and-a-half, and she had just received her master’s degree in telecommunications! So, need a gender-neutral term for this: Band of Geezers? Band of Geeks? Band of Hackers? I think I like the last one. Also includes reference to an old hack; hack-writer; and so forth. ;-)

Of course, the scary part here is that my position may be reaching the end of its useful life! I have been told that my last day in Chicago will be today, and I will be back at HQ in Downers Grove next week. But what if they don’t plan on me coming back to HQ? I’m told they are no longer doing migrations there, but that we are supporting the next-day effort for all the small remote office sites, and that should keep us busy. But I don’t know how many of us are really needed for that. So, I may be in the same boat as Michael by the end of the day. Soon as I heard about this yesterday I jumped on the job boards and updated my info – doing that makes your listing float to the top for a few days so hopefully something will come from that.

The age thing makes it doubly tough when looking for work. IT is still looked at as a youthful field even after all these years. Management may be 50 or 60 but they think they need young guys to do the work. There are two reasons for this: one – the conventional wisdom is that the young turks will be skilled in all the latest technologies, and two – younger employees will qualify for and accept less pay than their more experienced senpai. Reason one is a crock – we had a gaggle of 20-somethings on this project and I spent as much time coaching them as anything else. I know the main reason is the second one – in fact, in this economy the employers are taking advantage of all the IT people out of work by cutting the pay overall. This job is paying me half what I was making two years ago. And the ads I apply for reflect about 30% cut in pay from two years ago for the same job. I think it’s time to change fields again. I will have to see what the SQL certification gets me. Failing that, a friend in the church just got promoted to general manager at the movie theater he’s been working at for years, and he said he’d be glad to get me on as a part-timer. Maybe I should look at full-time instead! ;-)

Anyway, wish me luck today. I’ll report on what, if anything, happens.

Same Ol' View

2009-06-10T23:10:00.000-05:00

Time for an update I’d say. Still working the temp job on the project for Sara Lee. Very glad about that since the project was supposed to be completed in May but it looks like the end will be delayed for another couple of months at least. I’m told they expect more work after that, but they also offer no commitments beyond this project. And as a temp I get no benefits apart from a 401k, and they can let me go without cause or warning – even had me sign a paper to that effect when I was hired. This means I can leave with the same carte blanch, but I search the job boards every day and the pickings are slim. It’s hard to maintain a degree of excitement about the job when you know all they see you as is head-count. Ah, well, it’s definitely better than nothing, and I do enjoy the work.

MLM still hasn’t had that dental work done; each time we had an appointment she was too ill to travel that day. Hopefully we’ll get it done this month. My knees are really killing me some days because I need a new Synvisc® injection but without health insurance there’s just no way – the meds alone are a grand for each knee plus the physician’s charge for shooting me up – and I just don’t have the cash for that. So I get by with Tylenol and Advil and wear my patella straps when it gets too bad. The fun never ends.

I’m studying SQL which is Microsoft’s database management server tool. Much demand for this skill and not much demand for the skills I currently possess. So after going through the books and online tutorials I will take a certification exam and hopefully get that big-paying job I’ve always dreamed of.

Back on the health topic: I have had a weird thing going on for a while now – I’m losing weight. And I’m not even trying. Since the first of the year I’ve lost a little over 50 pounds! Now recall I have Type II Diabetes and you’ll see why this is odd – I mean the big D made it really hard to keep from gaining weight – besides which I’ve had a “weight problem” my whole life, so this is quite a change. All that’s happened is I got the job in December and it requires quite a bit of walking (in a big building and everyone’s spread out), and I am eating more regular and less amounts than when I was unemployed, so maybe that’s all there is to it. MLM of course thinks I have cancer or some other wasting disease – probably should check it but that would require a doctor visit which, again, I can’t afford. So for now I will just enjoy the phenomenon – it’s a great blessing to my knees let me tell you! The only very real problem with this is that my clothes don’t fit anymore! All my pants keep falling down (I’ve had to punch two more holes in my belt so far) and most of my shirts look like I got them from the Goodwill and they were allll out of everything except extra-husky sizes! I plan to get a new pair of Dockers with this paycheck at least.

Been working a lot of overtime the past couple of months which is really helping us catch up with some things (not everything – still making payments the bankruptcy attorney) which means I’m pretty tired most of the time. However, looks like that might be ending for a while as they complete one phase of the project and get ready for the next. It’s actually a bit of a relief – MLM and I seem to spend almost no time together and I hate that. Trouble is, I work a 12-hour day, get home late, make dinner, and then just want crash. Sucks! So I will be finished with my stint in Chicago the end of this week, then back to Downers Grove and a shorter commute. Then I resolve to bring a sense of order to my house. Mmmm, sounds good!

Loud Desperation

2009-02-10T09:59:00.003-06:00

So nothing planned was done last night. After MLM learned that I was completely out of my meds (no insurance, too expensive, etc.) she had an anger moment – well, several – and told me to call in the scripts and then call for monetary assistance to pick them up. Called the Bishop who was kind enough to come through (he understands these are so expensive since he knows I had to let COBRA drop last year ‘cause none of us could afford it). Anyway, he made arrangements for me to meet someone at Walgreens who covered the cost ($400+). Again, my sincere thanks. Later that evening, MLM found some subsidized meds organizations (some state, some manufacturers) that might be able to save us money. We looked for this kind of thing last year but didn't qualify because I made too much money in 2007 - not so 2008! I will be following up with that and maybe save some cash in doing so. Cross fingers!

So I spent the evening running around doing that stuff. Also, it was bath night for MLM which takes about two hours. I did get a load of dishes run in the dishwasher, so that was one thing off the list at least. Tonight I have to drive down to the storehouse for some food and then come home to make hamburgers on the grill (it’s supposed to be up to 65° today!); after that I will work on the list as written.

That’s today’s report. It will be better tomorrow!

Quiet Desperation

2009-02-09T09:40:00.005-06:00

No posts for a while. Been a little busy. Update: New Year's was quiet. MLM and I spent the evening watching Pride & Prejudice as usual. Watched the ball drop at Times Square. Tosted the new year with sparkling grape juice with a promise to each other that 2009 is bound to be better, and went to sleep. Well, I did, anyway. MLM was on her laptop most of the night since she doesn't sleep much these days. January 28th was my birthday. Got some cute cards and cash from family which are much appreciated. I do not want to discuss which birthday this was for me - the number is bumming me more than any other birthday I've yet experienced. Not sure why; it's just a number, but it is heralding that I'm getting old! Never imagined being this age - don't feel this age at all so maybe that's why it's bumming me. On the other hand, what does this age feel like? I think for one thing the fact that I spent most of 2008 unemployed and my career - such as it is - is pretty much in the toilet, makes another birthday provide little to celebrate. Trying not to mourn, though. ;-)

The temp job I have is pretty good. The work is easy and the people are nice. I just wish it paid more! Two weeks pay covers our rent. So right now I'm paying about 48% of my income for housing alone. That's a bad proportion. Had a great interview just last week at another company for a nice, full-time, direct position with bennies. God, I hope this comes through! I won't discuss it though or I'll jinx it.

Pretty much out of money already and I just got paid. Paid the utility bills, most of the rent, bought some food, gave MLM some cash, gassed up the van, and that pretty much took care of it (it was a short check; had to take time off for doctor appointments and a bad knee - and there is no sick pay for stuff like that, I just have to eat it). Gonna need help with the rent, meds, and gas for at least the month of February, then I think we'll be okay. I hope the church and family are able to help a bit. If not, I'll just have to hold the wolves at bay again for a couple weeks. It's kinda like herding cats most days.

I need to schedule the chores that need doing and list them somewhere to track my progress. I figure if I do that then I will make progress. No better venue than here so I'll start now:

Clean the kitchen, mop and sanitize the floor - do this right after dinner tonight.
I gotta take care of the Christmas decorations and boxes for same that remain in the living room. So, tonight spend at least one hour on that after the kitchen.
Catch up the laundry - will not be able to work on this tonight.
Inventory all the loose DVDs into the master spreadsheet and then file them so we can find them when we want - spend a half hour on this tonight before bed.

Okay, that's a good start. We'll see how I did tomorrow.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

A Good Christmas Week

2008-12-26T13:51:00.003-06:00

I hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Christmas for 2008! We had a great time at our house for two reasons: my daughter Kelly and her husband Jason are here for the week, and Monday I started my new job!

Very happy and thankful Kelly and Jason could join us. Have not seen them since last Thanksgiving and they are looking healthy and happy together. You can check out her blog via the link on the right. We had a somewhat austere Christmas what with the lack of income on our part and the expense of just coming to see us on their part. Mary Lynn did manage to deck each of us out with a new set of jams which is a tradition for her. So we all looked festive for Christmas Eve and Day! (As I mentioned previously, MLM was able to score some amazing bargains online at Target and Walmart with free shipping etc. -- Made it truly the thought that counted because she sure didn't spend much money! And these are very good quality, name-brand products. Bonus!) I didn't have time to get the big tree up or all the boxes of decorations put away, but Jason put lights on the tree a couple nights ago and if there's time we may put some of my Hallmark Star Trek ornaments on. Should be fun! My BIG present from them was this huge book called the Star Wars Vault. It's beautiful!! Large format in a slipcase filled with the history of Star Wars and loads of actual and replica memorabilia placed in special pockets throughout the pages of this thing -- it's is nothing but win!! Thanks Jason and Kelly!!

Mary Lynn got some nice new jams (which she can always use), and my Dad sent us a gift card to Walmart. So, in addition to buying food and supplies for Christmas dinner, I bought is a two-section waffle maker MLM found online. We've been married 33 years now and have always wanted a waffle maker so figured it was about time. ;) Thanks, Dad!

The new job is fine. VERY glad to be working at all considering the state of the economy -- particularly starting on Christmas week! Never did that before. Usually nobody hires between Halloween and New Year's - just isn't done. Yet, here I am. This was driven by the project schedule which happily ignores the odd holiday. ;) Anyway, very nice people here and I'll get to be working deploying new images on new HP hardware so it will be fun. Only problem is the position I was interviewed for got downgraded from supervisor to tech-jockey -- I told them today to just call me HeadCount which everyone thought quite humorous -- dark humor, however. Anyway, the pay is much lower, no bennies other than a 401k, and I'm classified as a Temp with a three to six month contract. I'm hoping to either get moved to a higher pay grade and/or get the contract extended. I have told those other recruiters who have contacted me that they should consider me available as I will drop this job in a heartbeat if a better position comes along, but the recruiter activity has dropped back down again. At least I'll be making enough to cover our bills and rent. Not sure about covering my medications, though; I really need employer coverage for my health care. Oh, well, not this week I guess.

Took Mary Lynn to the dentist last week and she's needing a lot of work there - having to get two teeth extracted next week. This caused us to have to push her shoulder surgery back yet again! It's just tragic. She needs the surgery (the first of many) to help her get a least mobile enough to get back to her water walking exercise regimen. We have to take this one day at a time. Pray for us.

The kids are spending the day in Chicago and then having dinner with friends of Kelly's when she went to Northwestern here, so that'll be fun. Me and MLM are gonna try the new waffle iron for dinner, I think. ;) Mary Lynn's good friend Dawn got her a one-month membership in Netflix for Christmas so we're expecting the first DVD in the mail today. That'll be a nice change - we've watched all our Christmas movies about thirty times each in the last month, trying to maintain that Christmas spirit! Haven't watched any anime in weeks - MLM seems to be out of the mood for it lately. Or maybe she just wants to keep it Chirstmassy around the house. I've got copies of another half-dozen series to get into so I'm hoping we can do that sometime soon.

Here's hoping for an amazing 2009!

Whew! Salvation At Last!

2008-12-11T18:23:00.002-06:00

Great news -- I have a job! Back on the 19th of November I interviewed for a contract job at Sara Lee -- you may recall I worked for them for a couple of years and got laid off about three years ago. Anyway, the person who interviewed me knew of me and I knew of her because we had both worked under the same manager at different times back when I was there. Sooo, we chatted briefly about the project they had coming up -- she was happy to see I still knew all the policies and procedures Sara Lee uses for their IT deployments -- and after about 10 minutes she says, "Well, that was easy!" We parted cordially and although HR policies prevented her from committing to me about the job, I was VERY confident that I was a shoo-in. Then, silence. Now, I wasn't too worried because there was no fixed date yet for the start of the project because there were some software issues to be resolved, but after a week or so I called the recruiter for an update (left voice-mail) and eventually e-mailed the interviewer just asking how the schedule for the project looked and if I was still in the running etc. No reply from either one. Then, this afternoon the recruiter called me and asked if I was still available (Heck, Yeah!) and said they would like to bring me on board when the project starts in a week or so. So, I'm working in a week or so! Yea!! What a great Christmas present!

Speaking of Christmas, I have the bedroom decorated -- pine garland with lights and bows over the window, our little 3' tree on a small table in front of the window with the pretty Martha Stewart decorations we got last year when we had money, and MLM's Frosty the Snowman from Build-A-Bear she got a couple years ago on top of the entertainment center. Looks nice -- maybe I'll post some pics later. Also finally got out on the veranda and finished the exterior decorations. Didn't have enough icicle lights (a third of the string is out) so I filled in the space with regular mini-lights string in a tight cantenary - we're far enough away from the street that you cannot tell the difference. Now all I have to do is clear the decoration boxes out of the living room, put up the big tree there, have my home teacher come over to help move the dining table against the wall, and set up the Polar Express! Then I can relax.

Woke up this morning with a cough and a runny nose. Dang! Don't need this now! I got some cold tablets to treat the symptoms so, hopefully, it won't last too long.

Merry Christmas!

Things Are Looking Up

2008-11-12T23:41:00.003-06:00

This week has seen a marked increase in job opportunities for me. Yea! Starting Monday I began to receive numerous e-mails and phone calls from recruiters that all of a sudden have positions to fill. I guess I was right about things opening up after the election. ;-)

Today I had an interview with the lead recruiter at Robert Half which went very well. They gave me a skills test for Windows XP and Server 2003 support. I did really well on the server test which is surprising since I have't worked on a server in over two years. Guess I remembered more stuff than I thought. Gives me hope for the System Admin jobs I've applied for. The online job boards have a lot more listings for me now as well, so I think I'll be working soon which will mean we get to stay in our apartment and have decent Christmas. Whew!

I sure need to get back to a regular, full-size paycheck. This has been a crappy year. When I called in to certify for my unemployment this week, I only was asked about one week, not the usual two. After going do to the unemployment office to ask "What Up?" I learned that it's been one year since my initial registration for benefits -- even though I worked for a couple months earlier this year, the benefits were merely continued after that, not as a new claim. So, I have to requalify - which happens automatically - and call in again next week. Problem is, they treat this as a new claim which means I have a one week waiting period before benefits start, so now I just get one week's worth of pay instead of the usual two! Kinda screwed up what I had planned to pay this time. Had to ask the church and family for help with the rent -- really hope that comes through as I've already received the termination notice from the landlord (they don't waste any time, do they?). Really sucks since we had been working hard to cover it all ourselves. The new job I'm getting any minute will sure help that not being such a problem again.

Get to ride the train into Chicago for another interview tomorrow, so that will be fun. Wouldn't mind a job downtown again. Might make it possible to move back down there again. MLM sure would like that - she hates it out here and I don't like it much. After living in the city you forget what a hassle the 'burbs are. If I need to go to the store - any store - I have to get in the van and drive there! In the city I could just walk or take the El - so nice. Oh, well, that's just wishful thinking for now. After the bankruptcy it'll be tough to find any place that will rent to us for several years. For now, though, it would be handy to be working downtown when MLM has her shoulder surgery - make it easy to get to the hospital in the evenings. We'll see I guess.

Very pleased with how Obama is organizing his transition. Also glad to see that W is being cooperative and congenial about the process too. Guess he can't wait to get outta there!

Getting colder now. Winter is in the air.

Ho. Ho. Ho.

A Picture Worth A Thousand Words

2008-11-07T00:08:00.004-06:00

A New Hope

2008-11-04T23:23:00.003-06:00

I wept with joy tonight. The Obama-Biden ticket won the election! I breathe a sigh of relief and am once again filled with hope.

I recall how I felt eight years ago once it was finally announced (via Skull & Bones skulduggery, no doubt) that frat-boy Bush would be president. I was sad and fearful for our country. There were so many terrible things I was afraid would happen, but - sad to say - after eight years things are much worse than even I imagined. The wars, the economy, the loss of prestige for the USA around the world. It is truly a shame. I remember telling my folks back in 2000 that one reason I would never vote for Bush is because I believed our president should be at least as intelligent as myself, or even, say, a sophomore in high school. Bush is not that. I was thinking recently about that weird election and realized who is ultimately to blame! Ready? It is all the dumbheads who voted for Ralph Nader! Think of it: if they had ignored his argument that there was no difference in the two major parties (what a specious argument in retrospect) and then voted for Gore as most would have otherwise, then Gore would have won! IF 9/11 had still happened then, today we would NOT be in Iraq, Bin Laden would be dead, I would have a job, and the balanced budget Clinton left us when he left office would still be there and our economy would be healthy. Truth!

On the other hand, I was truly amazed at how many ostrich voters were in this country in 2004 to elect the idiot again! Of course, the reason he invaded Iraq was to insure his reelection; and it worked, didn't it? Over the years one thing that increased in this country has been a feeling of hopelessness. At least we can look forward to that coming to an end.

Now, I feel there are once again possibilities for me, my family, our country, and the world. I have been unemployed almost steadily since last November. On reflecting about the few interviews I've been to, I realize that the people I was talking to were fearful - so fearful for the future and their own jobs that they were fearful to hire the first qualified person because someone better might be available the next week. I interviewed for a tech job at Sears last week; the interview went very well and I could tell they liked me a lot. I was lacking in one programming language that I had had a semester of in college but had not had a need for at any job as yet. I told them I would get up to speed - on my own time if need be - so I could get the job. However, there was one more candidate they were to meet with who had extensive experience in this language, so I was told that they would keep me in mind for future openings. I just checked the job postings on their website, and guess what? The position is still open. So they didn't hire me or the other guy. Again, fear of commitment to a new employee who may not be perfect today, but could be in short order. Fear of risking such a hire. It's sad.

So many recruiters tell me their clients are all holding hiring freezes for the foreseeable future. Well, the future is here. I suspect I will be working again very soon. Employers won't be so fearful anymore - particularly if the credit markets open up again and they can get the capital they need to work with. Yep, that will be the proof that things are going to get better.

Although a full recovery is going to take a while - this Christmas season is going to be horrific for retailers. MLM was shopping online for possible presents for family and friends and we were amazed at the quality and quantity of items on sale; and I mean 50 to 75% off. I asked if this was last year's stock and she said no, new stuff for this season. And we realized what they were doing - unloading stock! All of them ordered their stock for this season around February and now they know they're going to be left with tons of product so they're selling all they can now so they won't be stuck with stuff when the next season products start arriving at the warehouses. If you've got some cash, now's the time to shop for Christmas. Don't wait.

Friday was an interesting day for me. I voted early at my library which was cool, and I only had to wait about an hour to do so - would have been much longer today. Also, it was Oct. 31st which was the day my chance to continue my health insurance from Manpower through COBRA expired. Manpower messed up on getting me into the system for COBRA qualification and I didn't get the paperwork until the end of September. By that time I owed three months of premiums (at $560 a month) to bring me current. The church had already told me they have to pull way back on assistance for us because there are so many more families they have to help now too, so that source was gone, and since I have no family or friends that can contribute any more than they already have (which has been a LOT, thank God) there was nothing for it but to let the time run out. I filled all my prescriptions on the 29th and as of Nov. 1st I'm one of those unemployed, uninsured people you read about in the news magazines. Pray I don't get sick or hit by a truck.

Wow, long-winded and emotionally up and down post for me. That's what happens when I post so rarely. I need to do this more often. So, since we are in the season of change, I will do that.

I wish any who read this Hope. It's a very valuable commodity. Hang on to yours.

Hope.

Another Friday Comes and Goes

2008-10-10T22:55:00.003-05:00

Well, we didn't make it to Chicago for the doctor appointments after all. After picking up some prescriptions earlier this week and putting gas in the van, we determined that we had just enough gas to get us there and back and not enough money for parking. At one office the parking's only $5.00, but the other office is twice that. I don't have enough cash for that (and nothing on a card) so I would just have to park on the street. Well, MLM hates that because she fears the van will get sideswiped or something. I think that's more likely in the parking garage since the spaces are so small and the corners so tight. The upshoot is that if we had gone we'd be totally broke with no gas until next Wednesday - sheesh! Anyway, I called, canceled, and rescheduled. Also called the surgeon's office to let them know we'll need to reschedule her surgery too.

So the economy is still getting worse too. What a mess! I read the DOW lost 19% this last week which is the most it's lost in one week in history. Whee - they're breaking records every day! Why? Because there was no oversight on home loans and other investment paper and we invaded Iraq for no reason other than to squander billions of dollars, thousands of young lives, and to insure W got elected to a second term. Well, at least that worked didn't it? Sad to say. We were talking about it a few days ago and realized our lives started heading downhill after 9/11. That's when I had my first layoff from a company that looked as strong a Gibralter, and it's been the same cycle ever since. I guess the one to really blame for where we are now is, ironically, Ralph Nader! If he hadn't screwed up the election in 2000 for Gore things would be a whole lot better today. Oh well. Haven't had a good ol' world-wide depression in 80 years now. I guess we're due.

I'm pulling a lot of DVDs we don't watch anymore and posting them on eBay. The few I did last week sold briskly so I can hopefully scare up some extra cash this way.

Made good progress on the living room today, then made some killer stroganoff for dinner. Then called Kelly to wish her a happy birthday -- had to leave a voice-mail as she was probably out celebrating. Feel pretty crappy that all we could send her this year was a nice e-card. Man, it sucks being broke!

Just finished the bulletin for church on Sunday and mailed it out for approval. I've doing that for MLM lately since it's getting harder for her to type for any length of time. Now we (me really, she's sleeping finally - been awake for about 30 hours) are watching Spirited Away - really love this film. The English dub is excellent and the animation is so natural; particulary for Chihiro, the little girl, her movements and behavior are spot-on for her age. It's a good anime. Recommended by me, to you. Get it? Good.

Gotta go. I'm tired.

Hangin' In

2008-10-10T01:01:00.002-05:00

No job as yet. With the economy crashing around the world it's likely that this condition will continue. Gonna have to do bankruptcy to get out from under the infinitely revolving credit cycle. Then did a budget based on my unemployment pay and our basic expenses - rent, utilities, gas, etc. - and found that we're a little over $400 short. Meanwhile, I've got Citifinancial Student Loans climbing all over me for the loans I took out a couple years ago for MBA classes that my Dad co-signed for (so he's getting hassled too!) and since they were privite loans - not gov't - there's no forebearance on these suckers. I'm talking to them and filled out all kinds of forms to put a stop to stuff but no help. Also tried to consolidate them with my Staffords but that's proving to be rather impossible being unemployed and all.

So I spend my days fielding collection calls and informing them of the impending bankruptcy, looking for work online and doing follow-up calls to recruiters, and trying to organize the living room and office area. I should say I ran out of my anti-depressent medication some weeks ago and said, oh I can get along without that 'cause it's so costly. I was wrong. I was spiralling into a great grey funk and being totally immobilized. So I got my meds again last week and things are moving along much better now. What a pain!

MLM and I spend most evenings watching anime - that's really saved us. Now we have to go to Chicago for a couple doctor appointments tomorrow (no today, Friday, it's late) where her dentist will let her know if she can have her surgery on the 20th or not. If she's got dental infections or had recent work, they can't operate on her shoulder. Also, it will be difficult to say the least monetarially if she has the surgery while I'm unemployed since there WILL be lots of extra expenses related to that and for aftercare and recovery. No idea what might be involved there. So, I dunno. We may have to postpone it until I get a job. Damnitalltohell!!

God I'm pissed about all this. The present administration should be taken out and castrated so they can't procreate and then drawn and quartered. I'll help.

Enough for now. This is just a downer, but it helps to talk it out.

Hope. Hang on to Hope.

And Out of Work Again - WTF?!

2008-08-19T21:53:00.003-05:00

So after a week on a job I love with a great company and great people, and the guy who left three months ago came back asked for his old job back with a cut in pay and they said sure and let the contractor (me) go today. So, I'm back on the street again, looking for a job. Spent the rest of the day online checking the job boards and searching the lists of openings at places I'd like to work. After burning out from sending several dozen resumes and filling out those delightful online corporate job apps for the umpteenth time, I made a list of other places to hit first thing tomorrow after discussing the possibilities with MLM. Then I took a pain-killer (my shoulder was killing me by this time) and took a short nap.

Dinner was nice. I grilled some of the excellent brats from our meat market and glazed a pan-full of carrots. Yummy.

So now we're spending the evening enjoying our late dinner and watching a new anime series. Ah, the mixed joys of idleness!

Kinda got out of the habit of watching the Olympics - there's only so much beach volleyball I can take! This is a frickin' Olympic event?! And they're dropping softball just because the US team dominated for the last four times? I seem to recall the Russian pairs figure skaters getting the gold for, like, three decades and they still have that. Go figure. One of the guys that works a bit for MegaTokyo reporting he's in Korea this week and really enjoying the Olympics. Here's how he put it: "Best thing about watching the Olympics overseas: No hint of gymnastics coverage anywhere, and no 10-minute human interest interludes. Just the sports, ma'am. I've seen more judo, fencing, and archery over the past 4 days than I've ever seen in my life." Sounds good to me. Oh, and I mentioned last time that we'll have to wait for the DVD to see the whole openinig ceremony without commercials; well, they started advertising it on NBC so I checked it out at their 'store' - $30 for a two disk set! Ack!! Guess I'll wait for eBay or NetFlix or the library and rip my own copy. Oh, not really. That would be wrong.

As Rosanne said when the lights went out in their house, "Well, middle-class was fun."

Back on the Job!

2008-08-08T22:09:00.004-05:00

So, last week a recruiter called; said he had a couple of openings available and could I send him my current resume, so I did. Called me back a couple days later to say he wanted to submit me for the network admin job; I said fine, go ahead. Called me back later that day to schedule a phone interview with the IT manager; I said okay. Couple days later spoke for about half an hour to the manager - seemed like a real nice guy; we seemed to get along okay. Couple days after that the recruiter called and said I had the job and I start Monday! Whoa! Felt like the late 90s for a change where a good resume and a pleasant attitude could get you a job in no time! Happy day! Anyway, I start Monday on a three-month contract-to-hire position with a company in West Chicago which is about a 25 mile drive one way, so gas may be an issue once again - on the other hand, I'm getting more pay here than at Abbott so that'll make it better. So, all you who were praying for me, thanks!! Nice part is it's a stable firm with a great reputation making a product I have greatly admired for years. It'll be great to be a part of that! Whew!

Lessee, my daughter, Kelly, just finished taking the Rhode Island Bar Exam - Yea, Kelly!! So I congratulate her on that and with her the best on a high score. This is her second exam since she already took the Massachusets exam when she graduated from Boston College. She and her hubby are living in Providence right now 'cause he has a teaching job there and she has a law firm job part time that will probably go full time once her scores come in, so since it looks like they'll be there for a while it made sense to take the exam again for that state. Hard work for that, though. She is to be commended.

Aaand after having Comcast off for a few weeks we're back online with them ("All ya need is dough; Yat-da-da-daaa!") and we took the opportunity to get hooked up with HD since we got an HD flat screen TV for Christmas and right now we're watching the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. Looks gorgeous! 'Course, the problem is that NBC and Comcast cut a deal for joint presentation and the opening festivities are chopped to hell with commercials - very disappointing! I looked all over Comcast and online for a commercial-free presentation but none was to be found. Apparently if you have a satellite feed you could see the whole thing live and uncut. Guess we'll have to wait for the DVD. Anyway, we're appalled with the crass commercialism and the disrespect shown the event and the athletes by NBC et al. You guys suck!!

Okay, enough of that. I'm gonna go play Nutrinopets for a while and add some more YouTube videos to my sidebar for your enjoyment. Aaaand watch some more anime! (they're re-running the opening ceremony at 1:30 so maybe we'll try it again with, hopefully, less commercials.)

Oh, found an AWESOME website for anime images - wallpapers and scans - at http://www.animepaper.net/ check it out!

The More Things Change... Yadda Yadda Yadda

2008-08-04T22:19:00.003-05:00

Back in the saddle again. No posts for weeks now. I think I need to post more often just to keep my head clear, y’know? Lotsa stuff going on I’d like to discuss so maybe I’ll start talking about it here instead of in my head (big time circular arguments there).

Anyway, I’m unemployed again. Again?! Yes, again. The contract at Abbott got shut down early so me and the other contractors were cut loose the middle of June (just as well since I was pumping about $100 a week into my gas tank for the commute – gah!). So, I updated my résumé – even got MLM to vet it for me – and commenced e-mailing them out through listings on Dice, CareerBuilder, etc. The activity hasn’t been too bad – I get submitted by recruiters several times a week and I’ve had a few interviews that seemed to go well, but no offers yet. :( You may have noticed the economy is quite sucky right now – thanks a helluva lot Dubya! – so it’s an employers market. They’re taking their sweet time and sometimes doing two and three interviews before they make a decision – basically seeing how many hoops we can jump through!

To top it off I had a snafu with my unemployment checks from the state – seems the week I worked at Northwestern generated an odd ex-teacher’s query form that had to be filled out and reviewed. Then, since the unemployment office is so overwhelmed with claims right now – thanks a helluva lot Dubya! – they couldn’t schedule a review of my case until the end of July. This means no unemployment checks for over six weeks. At least it’ll be retro’d so I will get everything coming to me eventually. In the meantime we’ve gotten monetary assistance from my family, MLM’s family, and the Church of course. Thank God for all of you for that. We’ll be okay in the long run.

Comcast cut us off last month - seems they expect regular payments - so we had no cable, broadband, or telephone for about three weeks. Luckily, we had our cell phones for communication, and some unknown neighbor of ours has an unsecured wireless network that we could glom off of (when it was working, which was about 60% of the time), so we managed to struggle through that. But the antidepressents just don't cut it sometimes.

But enough about that. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Disappointments for MLM lately. Her shoulder surgery has been rescheduled THREE times during the month of July; each time by the surgeon because he was unexpectedly called out of town or some such. Mary Lynn has been discouraged and depressed about it big time, needless to say, since she really needs this done. Her shoulders are much worse now and need help desperately. Scheduled now for August 25th, so pray for her if you will. We’re also having to come up with some big bucks for some of MLM’s medications as she is in the Medicare prescription “gap” where we have to pay all of the cost. Luckily, she shopped around and signed up with Aetna to administer her Medicare and they do pay for all generics with just a $12 co-pay. Trouble is, she has some meds that have no generic and they cost up to $500 for a 30 day supply. Thanks again to Mary Lynn’s parents and the Church for help with this. We have been looking at getting these from Canada and I think we’ll start doing that this week – can save up to 90% that way. Go figure.

One thing we’ve been doing a lot of with this time on our hands is watching a lot of anime. I’ve assembled a pretty good collection from sales and free downloads off the net as well as getting them from our local libraries which have a surprisingly good selection. We discovered an awesome series call Last Exile which may end up being our favorite anime ever. So, I think I’ll discuss that and some of these other anime in the days to come. They’re more fun to talk about than how I don’t have a job yet. ;-)

Later.

Employed Again, and Again!

2008-04-19T00:41:00.002-05:00

It’s been a weird couple of weeks since my last post. After working at Northwestern for seven and a half days, the assistant dean called me into her office and said the workload is not what was anticipated so they were having to let all their temps and contractors go! Apparently the staff requirements were delineated by the IT manager who had just quit, soooo much to everyone’s surprise his estimates were somewhat bogus. Thanks a lot! :(

So I spent my last afternoon there firing off e-mails to all the recruiters I had heard from recently to let them know I was available once again. This included the one that had offered me a job the same day Northwestern did, and I got a polite reply that she would check with the client but she thought the specs had changed and couldn’t promise anything, etc. etc. Then, the next day she called to say the client was happy to hear the news and that they wanted to bring me on. So I went to Manpower on Thursday to fill out all the paperwork and get my orientation documents and I start on Monday! The job is at Abbott Laboratories in Waukegan, so the commute is going to be challenging and a killer on gas. I will definitely look into a public transportation option. Again, the way it works here is to catch a train into Chicago then catch another out to Waukegan. Probably take two or three hours that way, but that may very well be quicker than driving on days when there’s inclement weather. The question will be if Abbott provides transportation from the train station to the jobsite. Most big companies in this area do that so wish me luck on that.

Spent the last two days organizing the hall closet. It’s got ClosetMaid type wire shelves etc. but the shelves were on the side that the folding door opened to so you really couldn’t reach stuff on the shelves because the door panels were in the way. First step was to take everything out and reinstall it with the shelves on the proper side. After that was done I’ve spent the remaining time going through all the boxes I had to bring from the storage unit and get it into the closet in some useable way. Problem here is, I have one five-foot-wide closet into which I’m putting stuff from the hall closet and the second bedroom closet at our old apartment. It’s been interesting. Gotta get rid of quite a bit of stuff. Will finish this tomorrow.

MLM & I watched a bunch of nice anime series this week. I can recommend them if you wanna check them out: Stellvia, Planetes, Diamond Daydreams, Bleach, Love Hina, and Negima to name a few. I also like Azumanga Daioh and Mahoromatic. Fun, fun!

That’s it for now. Got to get back to being productive!

“Change is the only Constant.”

Employed Again, Naturally!

2008-04-07T16:18:00.004-05:00

Okay, good news! Got a job last week. Actually, I got two jobs last week and actually got to choose the one I preferred. This is after five months of unemployment; wierd huh? The last couple of weeks have suddenly been very active as far as inquiries from recruiters and such - had several interviews, and then two offers. The job I chose is actually a temp to hire position with Northwestern University. I'm with the tech support team for the College of Arts and Sciences - just very cool! The job is 'temp' because their IT Manager just up and quit and the Assistant Dean in charge of the IT group wants the new manager to vet the proposed new employees, but I'm very confident I'll come on full time in a couple months. The other job I turned down was second shift phone support - me in a small room with a half dozen other geeks answering support calls. The Northwestern job involves deskside support which means I get to walk around to the various buildings and help folks one-on-one, which I really enjoy doing. And Lord knows I can use the exercise. My co-workers are very nice - the guy I'm sharing an office with is even into anime and spent some time in Japan a couple years ago. He even recommended a couple of good Japanese restaurants out in the burbs near where we live!

So I drove to work the first couple of days, but that was just to get me here in a timely way. If I keep driving I'll have to get a parking permit at about $40 a month. Also, driving the van those two days used almost a half a tank of gas, and a fill up is, like, $60 now! Can't do that. So today I took public transportation, which I prefer anyway as it gives me a chance to study and work on my laptop. Pretty easy commute that way, I take the Metra (full size train), from Arlington Heights to Chicago, then walk a couple block to the loop and get on a train heading north (smaller, EL train like in subways, only above ground) and ride it up to Evanston where the campus is. Then it's about a three block walk to my office. Takes over twice a long as driving would, but it's a lot cheaper and a lot easier on my state of mind.

Oh, you were wondering why I'm driving the van and not the little, economical Aspire? Well, I'm afraid the Aspire was in an accident a couple months ago and got totaled! Poor little guy :( Still, he served me well up till the end. I ran a light (sun on snow blinded) and smacked a van going about 30. The air bags went off like they're supposed to and no one was hurt. The other driver was even cool about it - said he had almost done the same thing earlier that morning. Anyway, we weren't carrying collision coverage on the Aspire 'cause it was only worth around $400 and I knew if a Canadian goose hit it, the insurance company would total it. After the accident it was still driveable, sorta, and we had it towed to a body shop for a repair estimate: $6000+ Ouch! No way that's happening. So just last week I got it from the body shop, drove it home, and parked in the back of the apartments. Destroyed the right rear tire in the process because apparently the emergency brake cable was sheared and that wheel was locked up - would not turn. So I scraped away all the tire tread, blew it, and finished on the rim! I have to hang on to it for a while because the little guy is actually serving as collateral on a loan with Citifinancial. Ironic, isn't it, considering that the loan has been refinanced several times and the principal is now around $7000 - being maintained by a car that's now worth about $150. Life in these United States. Hah!

Lets see; MLM cannot get in to see her orthpaedic surgeon until May to schedule her shoulder surgery, so we're still waiting on that. Oh, we got some excellent presents from my daughter, Kelly, and her husband, Jason, from their Christmas in Williamsburg and their trip to visit Jason's brother and his wife in India a few weeks ago. MLM got a lovely embroirdered red top and about six yards of beautiful sari material - dark red with gold accents that will make perfect cushion covers for the living room MLM has in mind for us. It was wierd - she was showing me the furniture she wanted about two days ago, and then this package arrrives from Kelly and the sari material matches perfectly! MLM also got a gift card to Lane Bryant - yea! - and I got an excellent little carved wooden indian elephant - it's about three inches tall and has all the decorations on it you usually see on elephants during festivals and all and the detail is just incredible! Also got a lovely pewter cup from Williamsburg and a can of classic Virginia peanuts!

That's about all the news for now. I just gotta hang on until my first paycheck on the 25th and start pulling our life back together. Wish me luck and a prayer or two would be appreciated as well.

No where to go but up!

Quick Little Update

2008-03-22T17:45:00.002-05:00

Okay, disregard everything in the last post. We didn't move to the apartment described. Instead, our current apartment management got shuffled (whcih they do every six months or so) and we got a crew who were happy to work with us getting out of our 'spensive two-bedroom and into a one-bedroom. We lucked out in that the apartment we got is one of the few oversized one-bedrooms (only four on the property) so the loss of space hasn't been nearly so traumatic. More on that later.

Kelly got married in October and I got to go but MLM couldn't because of her physical condition. Check out Kelly's blog for all the details on the wedding - it was very nice and lots of fun. I so wish MLM could have shared it. Her life sucks pretty much. More on that later too.

As MLM called it, I did get laid off from the U of I on November 2nd, and have been unemployed ever since. Aargh!! So Kelly had the opportunity to spend Christmas in Williamsburg with Jason's folks in a time-share they have there so she did not come home for Christmas - first time we hadn't been together for the holiday her whole life! What was very nice was she and Jason managed to come and join us for Thanksgiving, so that was really nice to spend some time and get to know Jason a little better (swell guy, BTW - like him a lot!) Anyway, we ended up having one shitty Christmas, what with no Kelly and no money. It was very quiet. We did manage to win the apartment complex decorating contest - Ha! - which was a $25 gas card which really came in handy. Did the decorating with stuff we already had so that was cheap; set up the tree in the bedroom again since MLM cannot get to the living room and sit and relax anywhere. More on that later.

The last couple of weeks have at least been very active on the job front. I've had several interviews and been submitted for several positions. I have a last interview on Monday for one job that I'm pretty sure I'll get. Everyone is paying a lot less than in recent years, though. It's an employer's market out there. I just need something soon 'cause I cannot live on unemployment without serious help from family, friends, and the church. The nest egg was shattered some time ago. Once I'm working, we'll be playing catch-up with our creditors into the next decade - fun. Also, MLM will be getting her shoulder surgery done soon, hopefully. I pray that will give her some relief. More on that later.

That's all for now. I gotta go copy some DVDs and watch some anime and read the forums on Megatokyo and make dinner for us to enjoy tonight.

I know no one's reading this anymore, but I forgot how cathartic it is to get everything out of my head and into offline storage. ;-) More on that later.

Consistency? Hah!

On the Move (Again)

2007-07-10T15:41:00.000-05:00

So the end of this month our lease is up on our current apartment and it looks like we're finally going to be able to move out of there. We had a line on a very nice, slightly smaller and cheaper two bedroom a few weeks ago but the albatross around my neck I laughingly refer to as my credit report put the keebash on that. Oh, well. Then we got a line on a one bedroom that a member of our church had to move out of to get into supportive care and our bishop was kind enough to intercede with the landlord to get us in there without a detailed credit history. (The last two years have not been kind monitarily, you see.) This is fortunate in that we'll be saving around $400 a month on rent, but a challenge since we're moving from 1200 sq.ft. to 700 sq.ft. - and MLM is claustrophobic anyway.

Luckily, the bedroom and living room are good sized; which means, of course, that the kitchen is tiny! Ack! Just off the kitchen is the "dining area" which is just 7' x 7'-9" - you could swing a cat in there I suppose but it would be a tight squeeze. So, I have christened this area the Kitchen Annex. In it we will place our small upright freezer, the pantry shelves from Ikea, and the computer desk - then hide it from the living room with a screen or two. Actually, that will be living/dining room now. It's a 12' x 17' space so we're putting our nice dining set at one end and then just a sleeper-sofa and a chair or two at the other end. We're definitely going Japanese here - any clutter will just add to the instanity. Pray for us.

Anyway, with the money saved on rent and the reduced van payment mentioned earlier, we will be able to get out of this hole we're in. Shouldn't take more than two years.

Oh, and Kelly is getting married in October! Yea! Congratulations to her and Jason! I just hope we'll have the money to get to Boston for the service. It looks like it's gonna be close, particularly since I won't even be able to make plane reservations until the middle of August and who knows what they'll cost by then. Right now paying the current price will be like passing a kidney stone (so I'm told - never actually done that), and they probably won't be going down. Again, fingers crossed and pray!

Last night I gathered up all my spare computer equipment, a Lionel car and assorted accessories and other things I was really hoping to hold on to, photographed them, and am now putting them up on eBay to raise cash for the move. Wish me luck there. Thanks!

Just finished watching the anime series NOIR - wow! Really good! Gotta share that with MLM soon. Am now working on Ghost in the Shell, Stand Alone Complex, 2nd Gig - very good too. Watched the first season of Stand Alone Complex last month and really enjoyed it. The series has so much more depth than the two Ghost in the Shell movies. Oh, and next time I need to talk about the wonderful world of FanSubs, so don't let me forget. Special stuff there.

Well, I better knock off for now and head home to pack.

"Nowhere to go but up."

New Wheels

2007-06-06T14:57:00.000-05:00

Well, after just a few weeks we were able to replace the van we lost in the accident. MLM located this one on the CarMax website. It was up in Waukegan but they transport to different CarMax locations free of charge. It's the same make, year and model - KIA Sedona - as our old van, only it's the higher-end model loaded with accessories including a DVD player. It looks brand new as you can see below and only had 13K miles on it! It's even the same color as our old one. The best part is that since it's two years old, our payments are going to be around $200 less than what we were paying for the Sedona we bought new. Could not have done it without the help of Dave, my father-in-law, doing a co-sign on the loan. My credit is still in the toilet from last year's period of unemployment and I'm still working to catch up a lot of credit card debt. The fun never ends. Anyway, here's the new rig:

Looks good don't it? Slight difference on the seating compared to our old van which had six captain's chairs - this one has a pair of wide seats for the back row that make a bench so we can conceiveably seat seven people. I was hoping we could move the bench seats up to the middle row so MLM could have a place to lay down and we'd have the rear of the van for her cart and luggage on a trip. However, the anchor tracks in the floor are different widths apart from the bench seats to the captain's chairs so this will not work. MLM says then we'll take out the two middle row captain's chair and leave the bench available in the back and put the cart and luggage in the mid area. While I salvaged the electric chair lift from the old van, we're going to wait before installing in this one to see how the seating thing works out. At least her current cart breaks down a lot easier than her old one so I can load the parts in the van pretty easily.

Not much to report on the work front - the new Global Campus Initiative will be giving me more work to do in the near future and the first employee for that arrives this Friday. So I'll be a lot busier soon. MLM is going in for surgery in August to have her left shoulder joint replaced. That will hopefully help her with some pain and give her a little more mobility (once she recovers) - then they do the same thing with her right shoulder about six months later.

I am back studying for my Network+ exam and am getting ready to enroll in classes here at the U of I - been here almost a year now so I can do this. I just have to pay for fees and books as the tuition is waived. Yea! That's it for now. I will report soon on other fun things. Oh, I just learned that Fred Thompson is maybe going to run for president since no other Republican seems able to capture anyone's favor. Interesting, I think. Reagan was an ex-actor too, of course. Maybe a Zaphod Beeblebrox type is best for the job after all. Douglas Adams wisely wrote that anyone who can be elected president under our current system should be congratulated and then in no way be allowed to actually do the job! I like that idea. Let's just hire a good office manager with diplomatic experience who has to keep the board of trustees and the accounting department happy. Could work.

Be optomistic.

Just Let Go and Think... or not...

2007-05-10T16:43:00.000-05:00

"Ever felt an angel's breath in the gentle breeze?
A teardrop in the falling rain?
Hear a whisper amongst the rustle of leaves?
Or been kissed by a lone snowflake?
Nature is an angel's favorite hiding place."
~ Carrie Latet

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

2007-04-26T15:11:00.000-05:00

Thinking about the news of the day, I ran across this rather interesting bit of poetry:

"When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your gawd like a soldier." - Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Or as George Santayana (1863-1952) said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Please note that I chose my blog's subtitle with direct reference to the current administration. I hear radical liberals accusing them of all kinds of conspiracies, but, frankly, I just don't think they're that smart. Just read the papers or watch the news if you doubt me.

Enough for today - let's go watch Anime!!

T-K

Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop...

2007-04-18T10:05:00.000-05:00

Oh, it's a sad, sad story.

Tuesday evening, March 27th, I'm driving home from a meeting at church when an idiot kid in a Mazda of some kind left turns into our van at about 30 miles per! The whole side of the van is crunched in, but I'm okay at least. MLM picked the KIA Sedona because it was the only minivan with an overall five-star crash rating - that means five-stars for front, back, and side impacts. Thank goodness. So the kid gets ticketed for failure to yield, his passenger has to go to the hospital briefly, and both cars get towed and totaled. I begged State Farm to fix the thing and they tried their best to justify it, but on closer inspection at the KIA body shop they found motor mounts and suspension parts that had to be replaced (I was pushed into a curb which I hit at about 40mph) and that made the cost of repairs exceed the value of the van which means "totaled." Luckily, MLM also insisted we purchase Gap insurance on the loan, so we are covered for the difference between the settlement from State Farm and what is still owed on the van - almost five grand. Whew! So, the good news is we don't lose any money; the bad news is we have no van and no money to get another one. Also, you'll recall, the Aspire is not running right now.

So at the scene of the accident I called everyone I could think of but no one was home except my old Home Teacher, Trevor. He drove right to the accident sight to give me a lift home and when he learned I was without wheels promptly offered his car for my use (they have two)! Whatta friend! I have a rental car rider on my insurance but it only allows for $25 a day (that gets me a compact car from Enterprise), and a mobility van costs $85 a day for two weeks or longer, so that's $60 a day I would have to make up and later sue the other driver for which would take months and probably cost more than it was worth. So I went without the rental car for the time being. Meanwhile, my in-laws were kind enough to help with getting my Aspire back on the road – paid to have it towed to my local mechanic and then for a full tune-up. This enabled me to get Trevor’s car back to him when he and his wife returned from a vacation trip – good timing for a change. We’re going to cook a turkey dinner for them I think to say thanks. And, as soon as I can, pay back my in-laws for their help. This Saturday I’m going down to the salvage lot where the van is and pull out MLM’s wheelchair lift. When we get another van we’ll need it, so at least we’ll be that much ahead.

Move ahead one week. May 3rd I’m called into a meeting with my boss, his new boss, and an HR person to tell me they are moving me to another department and building on campus. My reporting structure has changed and I am no longer supporting the people I was – it’s a whole different group of folks in a mostly empty building. Now, the word is that a new university initiative will be moving their offices here and hiring a bunch of people so I could be real busy then, hopefully. Mary Lynn thinks this is just the first step in ushering me out the door. If there’s too little work then they can let me go. So, since her insights are almost always right, I reactivated my account on Dice.com and started putting out feelers for another possible job. God, I hate this! I thought I had a nice, secure position, but it looks like not. My new boss told me they have had IT layoffs in the past so there is nothing more certain here than at any other company. Crap! At least at the new assignment I have a nice office – not a cube – and the people here are very nice, so it could be a whole lot worse!

Last Friday, then, Mary Lynn had three doctor appointments and I had two (got my eyes checked – need new glasses). So we rented a van with an automatic rear ramp for the trip into Chicago. It worked out okay, although it was a Dodge minivan and it drove like a truck! Not at all like our lovely KIA. Mary Lynn saw an Orthopedic surgeon about her shoulders which have been really giving her pain for some time now. He said her cartilage in the joints is pretty much dissolved! That her arthritis is that virulent. She is going to have her shoulder joints replaced – the first one in the first week of July, the next about six months later. I pray this will go well and will give her some relief from her constant pain and perhaps a little more mobility. It surely can’t get worse. A good thing is that shoulder replacement is not nearly so invasive and traumatic as knee replacement, so hopefully this will be a good thing overall. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers, please.

So, we have another doctor trip to Chicago this coming Wednesday and that’s it for a while. I figure we can rent a van up to three times a month and still be money ahead over what we were paying on the loan for the KIA, so maybe we can get some cash ahead for a change. We’ll just have to keep on keepin’ on.

Oh, MLM did a cool thing for me. She checked on Neopets for any MegaTokyo presence and found none, so she immediately created a MegaTokyo guild in my account so I can maybe attract some like-minded individuals who want to have fun on Neopets as well as being fans of MegaTokyo. Sweet, huh?! Anyway, if you’re a Neopetter you won’t see the guild yet as it is still private until I do a little decorating, then start advertising.

Spring is coming too. It got nasty cold here for a few days last week, but there is definitely a warming trend – and I see leaves starting to pop.

Well, that’s enough for now I think. I won’t wait so long to post next time. Promise. ;-)

My Car Is In A Coma

2007-03-26T14:15:00.000-05:00

So I drove home from the train station on Friday in the rain. Parked my little red Ford Aspire in the garage and when I went out on Saturday she wouldn't start! Bummer! Now, I've had trouble with this car when it got wet in the past (shorted out the ignition or something I guess), so I left the hood up to let things dry out and took MLM's van. Anyway, after several hours still no dice. It cranks and cranks but there is no discernable spark. Poor car. It'll be the middle o next month (payday) before I can get it worked on.

This car has been fairly dependable for the most part considering the rough life she's had. Smashed into a Chicago cab in the second year of ownership and then drove around for about eight years with the front bumper mashed and tied up with wire on the left and only one headlight working on the right. Mary Lynn christened it "Smashmouth." Great nickname, eh? It may have hurt its feelings though. There then appeared an issue with the ignition switch - when it got really hot outside it wouldn't start - again it would crank and crank but no spark. Many times I had to leave it somewhere and come back after sunset to drive it home. Never had the money to get it worked on, just kinda dealt with it. Then, sadly, Kelly borrowed it for a college scouting trip to the East Coast and it died on her there. At least she got it diagnosed as a bad ignition switch - a $40 part that would cost $400 dollars to install! Well, about three years ago I finally got the ignition switch fixed. Then about two years ago I got a warning ticket from the Rolling Meadows police because of a new ordinance that required vehicles to be 'roadworthy.' Of all the nerve! So I had to take out a loan and got some minimalist body work done at Maaco so Smashmouth no longer had a smashed mouth. I renamed her Fireball! Oh, well.

I thought the issue this time might be the ignition again so I tried all the tricks that we had as a workaround for that to no avail. The problem is definitely with the electrical to the spark plugs - they just aren't sparking. Money is still very tight so pray with me that the repairs will not be too expensive.

It never rains but it pours, it seems. Meanwhile I have to drive the van which gets half the gas mileage as the Aspire, so that REALLY helps.

At least the weather today is fabulous! It's going to be in the upper 70s and sunny and clear. I see leaves starting to bud on the trees. Spring is definitely on its way. So that's a good thing. Love the changing seasons! Also, fun omake in MegaTokyo the last couple weeks (an omake is a 'bonus' short story often added into a manga that features the same characters but in a different setting and plot line). Fred just finished chapter 8 to be included in the new print book out next month and did this omake for us as a bonus - then chapter 9 starts later this week.

That's it for now. Gotta go flush a virus off a user's PC. Later.

As I Was Saying...

2007-03-22T11:23:00.000-05:00

So, time for a change I think. It’s been nearly a year since I posted to this thing, and I think I need to get back in the habit or give it up entirely. And, since I like the idea of blogs in general, I think I’ll work on (there is no ‘try’) getting back in the habit.

It’s been a busy year for me and mine. When last we spoke I was working at RSM McGladrey you’ll recall as a contract desktop support tech. It was a nice job with really great people, but being contract I had no bennies and had to maintain health care via COBRA for just under a Grand per month. Ouch! Plus the COBRA coverage ended the end of March ’06, so we incurred some hefty med bills for a few months there that we are still having to pay down.

Then my miracle happened! The second week in June I was cruising my daily email from Dice that listed jobs culled by my search bot and applying for any and everything that was (a) permanent, and (b) a close match for my skill sets. One of these was for a Network Analyst at the University of Illinois at Chicago. On Tuesday a couple weeks later I got a call saying their ‘search team’ was going to be in Chicago on Thursday and could I come for an interview. Naturally I said ‘sure!’ I searched back through my email for the job listing and read it over again to realize it was a perfect match for me. Perfect match means I can do the job, I have the necessary skills, there is sufficient challenge to keep it interesting, the work environment is pleasant, etc. These are the kind of jobs I never seem to get – not since Douwe Egberts anyway, (which was enveloped by Sara Lee who then laid me off). The interview went great! I had a little prayer beforehand and it was smooth sailing. I really liked the people and we seemed to hit it off. After the interview my soon-to-be boss took me downstairs (2nd floor) to show me what would be my office – which I took as a positive sign. Two days later they made me the offer and I started on July 5th. YEA!! I’m working for the State of Illinois so I have state bennies and retirement etc. So glad. So relieved. Chance of a merger or takeover which would result in layoffs: nil. Whew!

Jeez, so much to report – but maybe not that interesting. Let’s do a Cliff Notes: we were much in debt after our medical bills from April through July and the two periods of no-work I had in 2005 and early 2006. All cards maxed and I stupidly took out three, then four payday loans which were leeching us every month. I sold all my Lionel I had been acquiring the last couple years on eBay and sold everything else I could let go including Lord of the Rings collectibles and my Don Quixote Lladro (sniff). Then I had to turn to family for help and they really came through! Then turned to the Church who came through even more. Thank you, God. Also, thank you, God, for the November elections. I was pleased to see most of the country returning to conscienceness and waking up from the monumental snow job the Bushites have been perpetrating. (The 2004 election reminded me of the old saw that, by definition, half the people you meet have an IQ below 100; and they apparently tend to vote Republican.) Continuing: went to Tennessee the second week in November (for reasons too complex to go over here) and had an early Thanksgiving with Mary Lynn’s family there. After returning, I applied for a part-time job at Wal*Mart for the holiday season and got hired as a night stalker, I mean stocker. Worked three nights a week which just about killed me – been a long time since I did an eight-hour shift of manual labor! But we needed the money which came in handy. Christmas came and we were still broke so it was going to be a sparse but peaceful and loving affair. Then daughter Kelly showed up and played serious Ms. Clause! She’s been working pretty steady doing contract legal work so, being the excellent money-manager she is (no, she sure didn’t get that from me!) she had some serious coin to spend for Christmas and pretty much brought it to us. I still tear up when I think about it. She was generous to a fault, I’d say, and really made Christmas morning fun. My funnest gift from her was a new EDGE™ wristwatch that has a 1-gig flash drive built in! I’ve have it loaded with useful utilities and fun files that I can drop on any PC I’m working on with the special retractable USB cable. Wheee! I got Mary Lynn the Lionel elf-driven handcar that complements the Polar Express, and I got the latest car in the series – the chocolate car that included a replica golden ticket! My Polar Express is now six cars long and is quite impressive. Kelly brought lots of other cool stuff too such as the new Star Trek Season 1 special edition dvd set - way cool!

The week after Christmas Wal*Mart laid off all the temp help so we were back to one income. In the meantime, however, Mary Lynn applied for disability status with the Social Security Administration and was classified as disabled. This is definitely a mixed blessing since we don’t want her to be disabled, but at least she gets a monthly stipend from SS now and will qualify for Medicare later on. This was due to the year she worked at Sears which did two things: hammered her physically so much that she went over the edge to full disability, and also pushed her over the edge as far a quarters worked paying social security to qualify her for benefits. Another mixed, but sucky, blessing.

Last month Mary Lynn got real sick one Friday evening with a cough, sore throat, and fever. So we called the doc and he said get to the ER. They admitted her for possible pneumonia and she was in the hospital for five days! It was close. She is still recovering and does daily lung treatments – her doctor said recovery would take a least six weeks.

Meanwhile, Kelly gave up looking for that perfect job in D.C. (wasn’t there apparently) and moved back to Boston. You can read all about that on her blog – see link on the right. She’s doing contract work again but there is a much better chance of a permanent position there. Plus she’s closer to her main squeeze who is doing a fellowship (I think) in Providence. Here’s wishing her all things good and wonderful!

Let’s see, back in December I kept noticing a link on some of the anime websites I visit to a thing called MegaTokyo, so I finally clicked through to check it out. It’s a webcomic, about two American PC gamer and anime geeks who end up stranded in Tokyo and have to get along as best they can until they get enough money to fly home. Meanwhile they meet several cute and interesting women and the relationships start to develop in interesting ways. Fun characters and story overall, so I really enjoy it. Fred Gallagher, the guy who writes it, lives in Michigan, I think, and the fan base is phenomenal – he started back in 2002 so it’s been growing that long. Comics get posted about three times a week and after each post the discussion forums light up like a Christmas tree with everyone discussing what the latest episode means, commenting on the artwork, and predicting what will come next. It’s really fun. Fred has compiled the strips into manga-style books (volume five coming out soon), but the entire run of the strips from day one are all available on the website. I have a link on the right so check it out if you’re interested.

Switched from Netflix to Blockbuster. We can take the movies we get in the mail to the store and swap them for another film – pretty sweet. Plus they get checked in right there so I see on my email that my next set of movies are being mailed to me a day or two before they receive the old movies. Still referring to Netflix for my series anime since they have the best detail and most complete listing of such. Blockbuster rarely has a complete series in stock and they do not differentiate the volume numbers, they just list titles. Complete series I’ve collected so far include Master Keaton, Love Hina, FullMetal Alchemist, and Rurouni Kenshin – working on Ah! My Goddess, Noir, Lain, and Naruto. Check ‘em out.

That’s pretty much it for now – too much info for a single post. Am starting to look for a new apartment closer to downtown since that’s where I work now and where Mary Lynn’s doctors are. Sorry we had to leave the place at Michigan and Roosevelt but the rent was just getting ridiculous. ‘Course, it’s getting ridiculous where we’re at now, too. Anyway, lease is up in July so we will definitely be moving then. Oh, joy (can you feel the sarcasm?)

Okay, let’s keep it rolling now…

Happy New Year!

2006-04-27T16:44:00.000-05:00

So it appears to be five months since I last posted. That's kind of rediculous I think, so let's see if we can return to some consistency again. First, a quick synopsis of the last five months:

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Tennessee. Saw lots of family we hadn't seen in years and got to meet Kelly's SO. He's a real nice guy with a quirky sense of humor and an appreciation of strange in-laws and whimsey, so should fit in fine. While staying in Johnson City I visited a HobbyTown USA shop. This is a nationwide franchise-type hobby shop store chain that is a pretty slick setup. I spoke to the owner and he said he and his wife got into it about five years before and had just opened a second store in an nearby town. Hmmm. Something to think about. Also, Mary Lynn got to go wedding dress shopping for Rosie with all the cousins and had a great time. It was really great to see and retouch everyone. Took the van and it worked great.

Christmas was very nice too. Kelly came to visit so that's always nice. For the first time Mary Lynn had the most presents! I even had a bunch of Tinkerbelle pins to hide in the bows of her presents and had picked up some really nice limited editions from eBay!

More to follow...

A Little Update

2005-11-21T22:37:00.000-06:00

Dear Diary: Sorry for the long delays between posts, but I have been busy. Here's just a quick update:

Mary Lynn and I went to Disney World and had a really nice time for the most part. There were a few disappointments, but mostly a lot of fun things. We took scads of photos and I'll post a more detailed report - with pics - when I get a chance; maybe during the trip to Tennessee. We are off tomorrow to Kingsport for Thanksgiving with family! (See previous post). We're really looking forward to this. It's a little over 600 miles there, so we're taking two days to get there with a motel stop halfway to make it a little easier for us old folks. ;-)

Oh, great news - Kelly passed the Bar Exam! Yeaaa! (Knew she would - she be one dinkum thinkum!) So if you see her say congrats.

That's all I have time for now so Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Off to See the Lizard!

2005-09-15T22:44:00.000-05:00

Wow! Time flies doesn't it? I need to catch things up here. No change on the job front although I keep sending in apps and getting the odd e-mail response with a (usually) odd job description. I need to stay where I am for sure for a while 'cause it's slowed down a bit out there. Things will probably pick up in the fall. My classes have started at ITT, and they are going very well. The system they have for taking classes online is really great. I just have to do this for a couple years and, poof!, I have an MBA! Meanwhile, there's great doings afoot here at Casa McGee!

A little traveling music please! Mary Lynn and I have made big plans for the next few months to get out of Dodge, see some sights, and have some fun!

First, we're off to Disney World for a week in October to celebrate our 30th anniversary! Yippee! This is significant because we actually went to D-World during our honeymoon way back when. Back then, there were only three things there: the Magic Kingdom, the Contemporary Hotel, and the Polynesian Resort with a circle of monorail connecting them all. No Epcot, no MGM, no plethora of surrounding themed resorts, etc. But we sure had fun! We went back a few times before we left Florida in '81 but haven't been since so this will be far out! We've got plans to see and do a lot of the things we did the first time – the Aloha dinner show at the Polynesian resort, for instance, all those fun rides, making whoopee, and watching the fireworks! We also have a lot of new things to discover – our resort is by the new Animal kingdom which we'll visit and of course we have all of Epcot to explore. We just bought a new digital camera too so we'll be able to take more pictures than we could the first time (I still have a couple rolls of film to develop from '75 – LOL) Yea!

Then for Thanksgiving, we're going to drive down to Kingsport, TN, to celebrate the harvest with lots of family! There's my sister-in-law, Laurel, her husband George, and their four kids with their assorted spouses, significant others and their kids! Also – bonus! – Kelly will be driving in from D.C. for the festivities. We haven't seen these good people in many years so this will be a real treat! We're going to drive the new van down, making it an easy two-day drive so MLM can rest up and do some pool work halfway there.

Then for Christmas, we haven't decided what or where that's happening, but we're keeping our options open. It kind of depends on if Kelly plans to come to us for the holiday or if she'll have other plans. If she decides not to come, we may go somewhere ourselves instead. Maybe to Florida to see the in-laws (mine, not MLM's). Maybe to Tucson to see my Dad, younger sis Vicki, and her family. Maybe to Seattle to see one of Mary Lynn's best friends, Julie, and her family – we have a god-daughter there we've never met! Maybe to St. Louis to see my older sis Peggy and my niece and her family. All this depends on what the various folks at these potential destinations have planned – no sense going to Tucson if everyone there is going to California, for instance. Anyway, we are just pleased to be able to do these things. We've been immobile for pretty much most of our married life due to shortness of time and money (mostly money and my fault at that). But not anymore. We are making plans and keeping our options open to whatever opportunities come our way. Or, we'll make our own opportunities if we have to.

I'll post more details later. See you on the road!

Today's movie trivia question: In Casablanca, you'll recall Humphrey Bogart played the saloon owner, Rick. What was Rick's last name?
And, no, you can't look it up! A trivia answer doesn't count unless it's already in your head.

Same ol', Same ol' on Jobs, but Movies and Pizza!

2005-08-24T22:17:00.000-05:00

No change on the job front. Haven't heard anymore on either the OfficeMax job or the one at Lucent. Maybe I'll just quit talking about them and let whatever happens happen. That's usually a better way to handle uncertainty - then I can focus on what's in front of me and needs handling now. That's quite a bit. I have my second shift job at Zurich, studying now for two more certification exams, and starting my first MBA classes in about 10 days. Should be an interesting Fall. ;-)

Seen any good movies lately? We've seen a lot! About six weeks ago I signed up for the Blockbuster No More Late Fees program. For $24.95 a month I get to check out two movies at a time, keep as long as I like, then swap them for two more. Kind of like Netflix only I have to do the transportation of the disks. Anyway, it worked out great for us at first 'cause the Blockbuster is next to the grocery store we go to all the time - made the swaps easy. I think we watched over 20 movies the first month - more than we'd rented the previous year! Really got caught up on the movies we'd been meaning to see.

Then, a couple weeks ago, Mary Lynn saw an ad online for Netflix - they have more subscription options now and are boasting better service. Now, we tried Netflix when they first started several years ago, but we were living in downtown Chicago at the time and the turnaround time for disks via the mail was to inconsistent. It would take up to a week for them to get to us and there was a pair of disks that never showed up at all, so we cancelled. I think at that time they only had two warehouses for the whole country; now they have lots more distribution centers so we thought we'd give 'em another chance. Well, turns out the local warehouse is in Carol Stream - just a few miles from the house! Very handy. We ordered up Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 - one of our favorite anime series - late in the evening, and it was in the mailbox the second day after that. Since then, we mail 'em back one day, I get an email report when Netflix receives them, and another later in the day that they mailed our next ones, and they're in our hands the next day. I can't complain about a one-day turn-around. Anyway, it's a little cheaper now too - just $17.95 a month for three disks at a time.

The best part is the selection. We were bummed with Blockbuster because once you got through the A-list of new releases and the odd small film that shows up there occassionally, the stock on hand is pretty limited. I have yet to search for an obsure film I've read about and not find it on Netflix.

Ahhh, pizza! We went into Chicago today for doctor's appointments and then went to Connie's Pizza on Archer for lunch! Yummm!! We used to get Connie's all the time when we lived downtown, but it was always delivered - we had never visited the restaurant. Then we moved to Schaumburg and discovered they just didn't deliver that far out of town! Bummer! Anyway, Mary Lynn had the spagetti with meatballs marinara, and I had the chicken caesar salad - then we ordered up a pizza to take home with us. Good plan! Lunch was great, and then I took a couple slices with me to work for dinner - I'm afraid they were gone in the first hour. Too good!

We got three more movies in the mail today. The fun never ends. ;-)

Branching Out Into Office Supplies, Maybe...?

2005-08-15T21:55:00.000-05:00

So I have a recruiting firm talking to me about going to work for OfficeMax! That would be pretty cool - printer ink at wholesale and all. ;-)

I went for an interview at the recruiter's office last week and it went very well. They want to submit me as a lead or manager position at the corporate IT center - I would direct a dozen or so people and be the go-to guy for second and third level problem escalations. The best part is that this is a direct-hire position - not contract - so I would have bennies! I have zilch as a contractor; in fact, I'm having to pay COBRA fees to continue my insurance from Sara Lee because the plan from my contract firm sucks blue whale. So this would be better.

It's been almost a month since my interview at Lucent, so I'm going to e-mail the manager there to let him know I'm still interested and to keep on the top of his list. It's good to have choices.

Had a really nice weekend. Mary Lynn and I went to the Egg-clectic Cafe for brunch on Saturday - then did a little shopping at WalMart and Sam's Club. At the cafe MLM ordered a patty-melt on sourdough which she said was the best she'd ever had - she ended up giving me half and I agreed! I had an excellent grilled chicken and fresh fruit and greens salad - had to pack up 2/3s of it to bring home "for later." Then to Woodfield Mall for her to have her nails done and pick up her new glasses at Lenscrafters. The glasses look great on her! Oval lenses in thin RED metal frames. Also, instead of getting the photo-sensitive lenses this time, she got magnetic clip-on shades like I have. We are both very cool now. Then we went to dinner. We'd been talking about trying new places for a while so since we were at the mall Mary Lynn suggested Red Robin (the world's greatest gourmet burger maker), and it was really great! The atmosphere was fun and noisy - lots of families and rock music in the air. Huge, tasty burgers and appetizers - MLM took over half her burger home and I took over half my hot wings appetizer "for later." Anyway, good fun food - we recommend it. ;-) We were going to go to a movie but the day was shot by now and so were we, so we went home to relax.

Took some movies back to Blockbuster and picked up two more that were lots of fun! We recommend Kung Fu Hustle and Guess Who? Check 'em out! If I have time I'll discuss them on a later post. Gotta go for now.

Oooh, it's the ides of August. Everybody watch your step!

;-)

Lionel's New Catalog!

2005-08-08T21:14:00.000-05:00

Oh, Boy! The new Lionel 2005 Classic Train Catalog Volume 2 is online!

And look! there on the cover! The C&O Allegheny! My favorite engine of all time! One of the biggest, most powerful reciprocating steam locomotives ever built! I actually saw one of the only two still in existence back in 1996 when Mary Lynn and I were in D.C. and visited the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore. We have a photo of me hanging from the grab iron on the rear of the tender!

This one is a special Joshua Lionel Cohen commemorative issue with full TCC, sounds, and computerized speed control - along with a host of other features. Which I guess one would expect on a model retailing for $1700! Ackk! Oh, well; Chistmas is coming. Every year, thank goodness. ;-)

Someday... It will be mine...

Someday.....

(sigh)

Takin' Another Step

2005-08-05T13:44:00.000-05:00

So today is my last day at CCH. This was the three-week day job that I've been on for two months now. Everyone is sad to see me go and wishes I would tough it out a few more weeks so they can get the project finished. It's really nice to be appreciated. The people I've worked with here are from Perot Systems or consultants working for PS - PS does all of CCH's IT work. Everyone is top-notch and I'll miss them too!

The night job at Zurich is working out very well. The second shift often has little to do other than be available in case something crashes so I am putting in a lot of time studying. Last night I had an interesting issue with a pair of web and data servers that I got put into a conference call with several folks trying to resolve it. I was the guy actually doing all the analysis on the servers and came up with a solution that worked slick as can be and everyone was happy. It was fun! Other than that, it's pretty quiet and I can study for Network+. My co-workers there are pretty cool as well - IT night staff tend to be an unusual crowd so it's very pleasant there - nobody is uptight or under much pressure (except this one manager but we all know he's got issues). It's going to be great to work there until the Lucent (or something even better!) job comes along.

So with the night shift job I have to change my plans about where to go to get my MBA - did I mention I was going for my MBA? Maybe not. Anyway, I was on track to go to Northern Illinois Univ 'cause they have an excellent night program but that won't work with my current job. So I checked around and found that ITT has an online MBA program - with a tech focus of course - so I've started the process of enrolling there. The classes are rated at four hours and they're on the quarter system so I'll actually finish a lot sooner than at NIU. Wah-Hoo!

My Dad is coming to visit on Monday! He's flying into O'Hare and renting a car to visit us for a couple days before driving up to Milwaukee for the annual reunion of his old army outfit (WW-II). He was in the Normandy invasion and the Battle of the Bulge and all that and I'm really proud of him. I just wish he'd get his C.O. to approve a purple heart for him. He was injured in the leg when a truck he was in was blown off the road by artilliary, and though he was offered the medal he didn't persue it because he wasn't actually shot or maimed (and working with a mobile hospital unit he had seen plenty of the worst), but I say, hey, it was under fire so you should have it. I think he might ask this time but who knows, he is a humble man.

I returned the train set Dad gave me but haven't ordered anything to replace it yet. The website he used doesn't have a lot of Lionel stuff right now - they expect a lot of new things in the Fall so I'll probably wait till then.

Last weekend we celebrated Mary Lynn's birthday (it was the 30th) and had a really nice time (Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!). She had to work but got off at 3:00, so I met her then and we went shopping! She got a 'way cool Tinkerbelle wrist watch and some clothes and some new makeup at Sephora that looks great on her! I am very glad that our money was stable with plenty available to give her a nice celebration - God knows she deserves it! I have been known to really FUBAR the checkbook at just the wrong time to screw things up - but not this time, and not anymore.

So this weekend I get to clean out the closet in the guest room - Yea! Should be fun, sorta, I know I've been wanting to do it for weeks but have not had the time.

Later.

;-)

What A Great Week!

2005-07-21T21:31:00.000-05:00

So, after our great weekend, the week itself is turning out pretty good. On Monday I had to go to the post office to pick up our copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince we had pre-ordered from Amazon a couple years ago I think, and when I got home our postal lady had another package for us - my diploma! Yeehaa!! It looks really good - the spelled my name right and all. I'll post a picture when I get a chance. Now it's really real!

Tuesday I had another job interview! This for Lucent as an Exchange Communications Administrator. The 'view went very well and I was told I would be called when it was time to assemble the support team. This manager is gathering his potential techs so he can put us in place in a short time once management tells him to do it. The position won't actually exist for two or three months. The timing is working out great for me as I am using the quiet times on my second-shift job to study for my certifications. I feel like things are falling into place at last. I only got to sleep a couple hours last night so I'm really beat, but in spite of that I was really productive at both jobs today!

Wednesday night Mary Lynn had to work 5:00 to closing at Sears and she was really beat when she finally finished at 10:30 so she called me for help. What's great about my shift job is that the Zurich building is right next to Woodfield Mall where she works, so I could buzz out for a few minutes to help her load and unload her scooter in the van. What a blessing that is.

And finally, on Friday, Mary Lynn is scheduled to have her new scooter delivered! Yea! It's brand new with a comfy seat and rear suspension which will really help her back and other joints. So, this should finish up as a great week! Oh, and then on Saturday, Mary Lynn has two job interviews at Nordstrom's Closet. So maybe she can get out of the weird environment at Sears and join the weird environment at Nordstrom's, but for better pay. ;-) I wish her luck!

The only drawback is it's really hot and muggy here right now. Oh, but that won't last. Let's all have a great weekend! Okay?! Good!

Chocolate is Addictive!

2005-07-18T12:43:00.000-05:00

Had a great weekend! Mary Lynn and I cruised into Chicago to get her hair done ( her most excellent stylist, Shellie, has moved to Orlando, but she was back this weekend for a family do and was able to squeeze in a session with MLM). Then we were going to have a late lunch, early dinner at our favorite Greek restaurant, Pegasus, but Shellie suggested we try Costa's (both in Greektown along Halsted, of course), so we did. It was excellent! Great avgolemono soup and the best mousaka MLM's ever had. I got the lamb with artichokes and it was just perfect! Recommended!

Then we went to see Charlie and the Cholocolate Factory and had a wonderful time! We've always been big fans of the 1971 Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder's wonderful, personal, interpretive performance, so we were anxious to see this new take on the story. Well, it is just marvelous! The casting of all the characters is perfect with a natural balance in all the performances. Johnny Depp's Wonka is just amazing - filled with a child-like wonder, an innocence of the world, yet totally in control of his factory and all that goes on there. On the other hand, we see a guy with issues. When his guests mention something or ask a question that triggers an event in Wonka's past we see his eyes glaze over and we dissolve into a flashback of sometimes horrific events that would keep most people on an analyst's couch for decades (in fact, Wonka does go through some analysis with his own Sigmund Oompa-Loompa!)

All the Oompa-Loompas are played by Deep Roy, a 4'-4" tall character actor and stunt man who's been in films like Big Fish, Return of the Jedi, and Planet of the Apes. His characterizations are duplicated digitally up to 165 times for the big music numbers. The music and songs are great - all written and performed by Danny Elfman, another favorite of ours, with production numbers that would flabbergast Busby Berkely!

Anyway, we plan to see it again soon, and encourage you all to do the same.

Mmmmmm, chocolate!

A Picture Worth A Thousand Words.

2005-07-14T19:48:00.000-05:00

Okay, so you won re-election already! Can we call it quits and bring our troops back home now?

Another New Job!

2005-07-13T23:14:00.000-05:00

So, I'm at work at my little short-time contract job (where they have just assigned me more responsibility and were very complementary about my work and wanted me to do this extra stuff 'cause I'm the only one they'll trust it with), when I get a call from my recruiter at TEKSystems to say I have a job! This is at Zurich - the international finance and insurance company - which he submitted me for on Monday. He said they would probably act fast on their decision and I might start next Monday if everything goes well. The money is right, but the health benefits from TEKSystems suck, and the work is second shift - 4:00-midnight. Anyway, he calls me this morning and says I have the job but they need me to start today!

So, I hurry down to my supervisor's cube to give him the bad news. He totally understood and asked how much notice I was giving and I told him none, really. However, my current contract was scheduled to finish the end of July (about two weeks) so I offered to start there at 7:00am and do the work they have for me and then go to my next job at 3:00. He actually said that would be great and thanked me for the extra effort and not leaving them in the lurch. Kewl~!

So for the next two weeks (or as long as I can stand it) I will be double-dipping as they say which will really help things around the house, dontchaknow. ;-)

The job is going to be very cool in that I will be monitoring several hundred servers and taking calls should anything happen with any of them. We are also decommissioning a bunch of them and adding new ones. I'll learn a lot here! Plus, my coworkers say that when it's slow with projects or anything we can do what we like - which for me will studying for more certifications. It's a win-win.

My only concern is Mary Lynn getting to work. We have found the the chair lift in the new van is a lot harder for her to manipulate than we thought it was going to be. She really strains her back when pushing or pulling the scooter in and out. At least once the day job ends for me I'll be around most of the day to help out. Pray with me that she doesn't injure herself in the meantime. That would make the new job not be worth it!

Gotta go now. All skate; all skate....

Catching Up

2005-07-12T17:15:00.000-05:00

Well, I have a few minutes for a quick update. Let's see... I did not get the job at Bank of America - they said my background was strong but they really wanted someone with trading floor experience. I say, hire me and by day two I'll have the experience you need! Oh, well.

I picked up a short-time contract job that should last until the end of July so that's helping. Also hit the job postings Sunday night and there were a plethora of new openings which I applied for. I have had four calls today from recruiters and have been submitted to about eight companies right now. I figure it's just a matter of time - and pretty soon now. This is good news since my last severance check from Sara Lee arrives this week. Whew! So I've been commuting from Schaumburg to Riverwoods (15 miles) or North Chicago (20 miles) for the last three weeks. It's been a bit of an ego boost since I immediately picked up the focus of the project and began offering ways to accomplish things more efficiently and so became the "go to" guy in a day and a half. Doesn't increase my pay or contract but it makes the work more challenging and fun.

It's been challenging at home lately too. Mary Lynn went into the hospital last month with a severe arthritis-related foot condition. She was in there for a week! 'Course it was the same week I started this new contract job! Anyway, she's doing much better now and she'll share some of the details with you on her blog.

I got some very nice cash presents from family and friends for my graduation. But the best gift came from my Dad - he got me a train set! A very nice one, too, with lots of accessories and an over and under figure eight layout with trestles and all. Very cool. Y'know, he put together my first 4'x 8' train board when I was a lad, with a nifty chain and pulley arrangement that let me lift it up against the wall when not being used. I think he wanted to get it for me since during so much of my growing up years my train time was restricted as being inappropriate. I often felt guilty just running one around the tracks, let alone getting wrapped up in scenery and building structures for it. Oh, well. The sticky bit with this set is that it's in HO scale, which of course I worked in for over thirty years and Dad knew that. However, since I got my Polar Express for Christmas I decided to go with O scale Lionel from now on. I put my HO stuff on eBay, and just a couple weeks ago sold my last set of cars! How ironic. After a few days of trying to figure out how not to hurt his feelings, I called him up and laid it out for him - emphasizing the fact that I REALLY appreciated him getting me a train and that it was very nice one at that. He was very gracious and understood completely and encouraged me to return the set to the company for credit and then get what I wanted for my Lionel. What a guy! So, I sent it back and I'll either get a pair of turnouts or wait for the two new Polar Express cars to come out in August. Whee!

The Lionel is packed away right now due to a financial indescretion on my part - my decision, not punishment - and I'll get it out again when I get a full-time job. Much to do around the house anyway. Much tidying to be done in the office. Also studying for Network+ certification. Once I have Network+ to go with my A+, there are only three Microsoft exams to take and I'll be an MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator). This will definitely help the job prospects down the road. Also working on getting my application together for the MBA program in the fall. Busy, busy!

Saw some great movies lately which I may talk about later. Dinnertime is over now though, so I must go. I hope everyone had a safe and happy Fourth of July!

See you later.

The Big "I"

2005-06-15T11:04:00.000-05:00

So, good news; I have an interview tomorrow! I had a recruiter contact me a couple weeks ago and I went in and met with him and he has submitted me to like four jobs already - Thanks, Quincy! Anyway, the first job he initially called me for is at Bank of America downtown. Mmmmm. So we heard nothing for a while then they called yesterday and said they wanted to do the interview thing. Dress will be business - not business casual - which means a suit and tie. Now, I haven't owned a suit in about 20 years, but Mary Lynn and I looked at each other and said together, "Gotta go get one!" See, this is a bank - typically quite conservative institutions, and it's a contract to hire position so this could work into a long-term gig with nice bennies, etc. It'll be tough enough for them to get over the earring, so it seemed prudent to invest in a suit. Even if this one doesn't work out, I can use it for future interviews.

I went down to the Men's Warehouse and got one in about 15 minutes. Told the guy I had an interview on Thursday and no suit. Said I wanted navy or dark grey with a muted pinstripe and after a quick chest measure he trotted over and pulled out a half dozen likely styles (I appreciate a clerk who knows his inventory!). I picked a navy with a two-tone pinstripe - it alternates between a single thread of gold and a double thread of federal blue - very subtle and classsy. I can then pick out either stripe depending on what shirt and tie I wear. Bought a new tie too. One nice thing happened: (remember that I am exercising and eating right now to get my boyish figure back?) the guy pulled one jacket out and said, Oh no, sorry, that is a portly size. This means I am not portly anymore, just big - Yea!

So, here's hoping the interview gods smile down on me.

Confidence

Okay, Now It's Real

2005-06-04T11:00:00.000-05:00

So, a couple weeks ago I finished my last class and completed the requirements for my BS at Northwestern. Never really believed it though until today. I have had family and friends congratulate me (thanks everyone!) and once I updated my listings on Monster and HotJobs I've been getting four to six calls about jobs per day.

But last week I ordered my announcements. They came today and I saw my name in lovely script stating that I am "a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Science!" Whoa! I got chills. I guess they're not kidding, and I won't get that phone call saying "Ha! Fraud! You think we'd give YOU a degree? Mwwahahahahaa!" So, yeah, it seems they will. Yea!!

The Force is strong in this one.

Ridin' the Rails!

2005-05-21T17:50:00.000-05:00

I finally got the office/guest room tidied up and moved the Total Gym in there. It’s real easy to fold up and roll out of the way if we have to open the hide-a-bed. Yesterday I was tidying up the living room and found I could even put our spare power wheelchair in the office – it’s in front of a bookcase but easily moved, and I can still open the closet door with it there. More good news: I've had this wheelchair on eBay and I think I have a buyer! We've been discussing her making payments rather than come up with the whole price at once and she sounds serious, so cross your fingers.

Anyway, with that done I could set my Lionel back up in the living room which I did last night. Wheee! I picked up a half dozen pieces of track at this local hobby shop that was closing, sad to say. The owner is an older gentleman who was retiring and didn’t want to go to the trouble of selling the shop to someone else; so he just put everything on sale. I dropped by the last day he was open and got some FasTrack at half price. I love hobby shops and it saddened me to see this one go – they’re a lot more scarce now than when I was a kid. Today they have to be pretty big to make a profit. I guess the days of the small neighborhood hobby shop are gone. More and more of them are online now. I know Mary Lynn got my Polar Express at InternetHobbies.com! Oh well, I have a nice dog-bone loop now under the picture window. Sweet!

Two steps forward; half a step back...

2005-05-20T20:13:00.000-05:00

Jobwise things are still looking promising. I have half-dozen recruiters who’ve contacted me from my Monster.com posting and I’ve been submitted for two jobs right now, so we’ll see what happens. Also, I got a call from the job placement company that Sara Lee retained to help their laid off employees get new positions. I have a meeting with my personal consultant next Monday and then an orientation after that. Should be helpful!

Health habits are still progressing well. I had to give up giving up diet-Coke for now. Once I get the eating and exercise habits changed I’ll address that. We went out to dinner a couple weeks after I started this and Mary Lynn just ordered me one while I was in the restroom (I haven’t discussed the new program with her so I can focus on it myself without her worrying if I’m doing it or not). It was very tasty and a bit of a relief! So I am using d-C again for now, but much less than I was drinking a month ago. We found a nifty water jug at Jewel a few weeks ago – it’s called a Bubba KEG® 52 and looks like a little barrel with a handle on the side. It’s insulated with a leak-proof lid, a sealable drinking lip, and it holds two liters. I keep it filled with iced water and drink that instead of d-C most of the day.

I have discovered the wonders of exercise! Who? Keith? Exercise? Naaaw!
No, it’s true. You’ll recall I was walking laps around the center court of our apartments – a distance of about 1/3 of a mile – but I kept popping my right knee out and had to wear my patella strap for about three days before I could to the circuit again. So, a couple weeks ago Mary Lynn suggested I use her Total Gym; I said it does just the kind of knee workout I can’t do; she said then wear your knee straps ‘cause they’re supposed to help with that. So I did, and it worked great! The first time I did 50 reps with no knee pain and after just three days of doing this I find my pain is way less and I can do stairs with much less hassle. While I do the knee pushes I also do crunches and upper body work. And it makes me more efficient. For instance, the night I did my all-niter homework I had to get some sleep at 3:30; got up at 6:00 to finish and was dragging around so decided to exercise. I did a full set of 60 and went back to word much more alert. And here’s the weird part: all the following day and into the evening I felt no affects of the lack of sleep the night before. Went to sleep Tuesday night and didn’t have to make up for it by sleeping late. It’s great!
If you’re not execising – just do it! And to all of you who’ve been telling me about this for years now (and you know who you are), I’d just like to say you were right all along, and thanks!

Consistency.

Off to Boston!

2005-05-19T14:33:00.000-05:00

Boston, you say? Yep! My daughter Kelly is graduating from Boston College Law School! We’re both graduating the same time – cool huh? ‘Course, this is her third (technically fourth) college degree and my first, but I got started late okay? Anyway, I am extremely proud of her needless to say. She is a very together and capable person. At this time her plans are to move to D.C. so she can get to working in her preferred field of Health Law & Policy. Maybe she’ll fix Medicare one day! ;-) So we’re off next Wednesday to see the event and lots of family are coming too. My dad (George) and sister (Vicki) from Tucson and Mary Lynn’s mom and step dad (Marilyn & Dave) from Florida. We’ll have a mini-reunion!

Back from the Shadows Again!

2005-05-17T16:20:00.000-05:00

Whew! It’s been a few weeks, but all is going well.

I finished college – Yea! (33 years late, but, hey, stuff happens!

I missed a class in Psych Statistics and so missed a quiz, but my instructor was kind enough to meet me at the college library this Monday (a week after the last class) and give me the quiz – I think I did pretty well on it. Also, she had checked her grade tally and found I had not turned in two of the homeworks! One I just forgot about and the other had been assigned the day I missed class. She said if I did them tonight and faxed them to her before 11:00am she would include them in my grade. Really a nice professor! So I went home and stayed up all night to finish them – eight problems in statistics in both of them, sixteen all together. And these weren’t just figure the mean of a list of scores; no, these were figuring the relationship between two groups of variables and doing probabilities and stuff like that. Again, Whew! But I got them done too, so as of Tuesday morning, 10:05 a.m., May 17th I am allllll done!

I need to go online and order some announcements, I guess, just to prove to everyone I did it. The announcement company has a package that will include a nifty frame for the sheepskin, but it’s a little pricey right now what with the trip to Boston coming up and all. Guess I’ll get the frame later.

Deep, cleansing breath...

Exqueeze Me? Baking Powder?

2005-05-07T01:48:00.000-05:00

So, I'm getting hassled about not posting. Well, hey, I've been busy. No, really. I have my last week of class coming up with three finals. I have been studying hard, looking for work, and my days just fly by!

Anyway, I have been tracking my diet and exercise efforts for my Health Psych class and I will post a synopsis when I am finished with classes.

I would like to refer anyone interested to my very first post in which I said "I promise to post any comments, observations or personal news on an inconsistent schedule. No need to check back daily as there probably won't be anything new."

I don't want to get committed to posting regularly because I could become real compulsive about that to the detriment of stuff I really need to do.

So, let's say after next Thursday I'll put some time in to catch up the news.

'K?

So far...

2005-03-18T11:21:00.000-06:00

So, day three starts out and all is going well. I weaned myself off caffeine (diet Coke) in just two days although I have a slight withdrawal headache today. Last night I picked Mary Lynn up from work and we out to Lone Star - one of our favorite eaterys - and I had a reasonable dinner. Instead of the usual 14oz. ribeye, lettuce wedge with bleu cheese, sweet potato loaded with butter and brown sugar, key lime pie, and two or three jumbo diet cokes, I had the 7oz. steak with 5 shrimp (grilled not fried), light butter and no sugar on the sweet potato, ate half the lettuce wedge, had no dessert, and water to drink. Plenty of food! I was full (I usually took half the 14oz. steak home for "later") and did not feel deprived. Did some light exersize after breakfast this morning (boy, I'm outta shape!) and am off to work.

BTW - the day I had my epiphany, March 15, is an important anniversary for me and Mary Lynn. It is the day we met! Easy to remember thanks to Julius Caesar’s soothsayer and one we've celebrated ever since. I got her Season 7 of As Time Goes By our favorite British comedy series. You should check it out if you haven't seen it. It was a bummer because I picked her up from work, took her home, gave her the gift, then had to leave to take a mid-term. I'm glad it's Spring Break next week so I can spend some evenings with my wife!

Tonight she's cooking leg of lamb as more formal celebration of our anniversary and I'm off to the DeepDiscountDVD.com outlet store (yes we live in the right place for once) to pick up a copy of The Incredibles for tonight's entertainment. Never got to see it in the theater so this will be a trip.

Let's see, the midnight Anime film on Starz Action tonight is Ghost in the Shell which I like but ML doesn't care for (I have to agree partly, the last 15 minutes of voice-over dialog between two lifeless robots - physical functions gone, but brains still ticking - does get a little tedious), so we may watch it depending if there's nothing else on.

Tried to use OnDemand to play chapter one of Hellsing last night but it still wouldn't go - have to call ComCast again. This is not the film van Hellsing with Hugh Jackman, but a wicked Anime series. We did get to see I, Robot on pay-per-view the other night, though. It was a lot of fun - like nothing Asimov would have written of course - and even though it got mediocre reviews we quite enjoyed it. The effects were stunning and the facial expressions realized on Sonny’s face were quite poignant at times. Recommended.

Okay, everyone back on your heads!

Contemplate.

All Shook Up

2005-03-17T15:55:00.000-06:00

Time for a change. Time to shake things up a bit. Time to re-focus my priorities.

What with my job ending, me graduating from college (finally!) in a couple months, and new vistas opening before me, I figure it's time to say "Enough!"

Enough what, you say? Enough of sins that are not good for me - specifically gluttony and sloth. I finally see that the price I pay for these is much, much higher than the little pleasure I enjoy from them. Tuesday night, 3/15/05, 9:44 p.m., I'm sitting in the drive-thru at Portillo's picking up a smoothie for Mary Lynn and I have a small epiphany regarding this. I just finally felt so tired of it all - tired of being fat, tired of having no energy, tired of being broke, tired of being tired all the time!

I think the things I'm reading in my Health Psychology class are getting through to me. Such as how much I'm supposed to weigh, how active I ought to be, and - most importantly - what to expect in the future if I don't change. For instance, I have type II Diabetes - you know, what they call adult-onset diabetes. Had it six or seven years now. According to my text, someone who gets it by my age can control it through watching the ol' diet and exercising a bit. Me, I take drugs – two kinds – twice a day. A change in lifestyle will address that and save me some money and energy. When I lose weight I’ll save more money. i.e. if Sears or Target have a sale on men’s pants I can go buy some! Right now I have to order from large guy catalogs (“Introducing our new Hindenburg line”) and pay four or five times what I could pay in a department store. And that, my friend, sucks!

So, I resolved right there in the drive-up to make the change. To start: no caffeine, no sugar, be aware of calories for a change, eat sensibly (cleaning every plate in sight is not necessary), and get moving – get into a regular program of exercise and walk briskly whenever possible – don’t worry about parking as close to the door as possible: just park and walk! Exercise will be the hardest – I have never, I mean never done any kind of regular exercise! And as Cap’t Ron would say, “Ehh, it shows!” I picked up a copy of Men’s Health magazine’s special Weight Loss issue for some pointers – it’s a good read with useable advice and not as threatening as I thought it would be (the regular magazine is rather fascist toward exercise – and they want you to have all this gear! Sheesh!)

So, don’t wish me luck. (“In my experience there’s no such thing as luck.”–Obi-Wan) Just wish me well as I set sail on a new voyage. My motivation will come from a few lines of Kipling that I first saw quoted in Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. Here ‘tis:

The young recruit is silly – 'e thinks o' suicide.
'E's lost 'is gutter-devil; 'e 'asn't got 'is pride;
But day by day they kicks 'im, which 'elps 'im on a bit,
Till 'e finds 'isself one mornin' with a full an' proper kit.

Gettin' clear o' dirtiness, gettin' done with mess,
Gettin' shut o' doin' things rather-more-or-less.

From The ‘eathen by Rudyard Kipling

Courage.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel May Not Be A Train

2005-03-13T19:49:00.000-06:00

Wow! This is pretty good news. ML did a short search on HotJobs last night and found about a dozen jobs that I qualify for! The fact that I finally have some honest-to-God network admin experience helps. ;-)

So, I'm studying now for two mid-terms I have on Tuesday & Wednesday, then it's Spring Break for a week so I can start carpet-bombing the area with resumes! what fun.... shesh! I would like to just once get a job that lasts for a while. I mean, my Dad worked for IBM for almost 30 years! That would be a nice gig. But not me -- I get to do contract consulting where I'm hopping around from company to company for three to six month assignments, or, when I do get hired as a direct employee, the company goes through some kind of merger or reorganization and I get downsized along with a pantload of other worker bees. This has happened to me - no kidding - three times in the past five years!

I went by the office this afternoon to copy off my current resumes and while I was there I packed up a good deal of my stuff (reference books, clock, shuttlecraft, tribble, etc.) and brought it home. Might as well get my cube ready for the next victim. ;-)

Oh, well. I hope everyone had a nice weekend!
And I almost forgot: Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Sometimes the Anwer is No

2005-03-10T17:21:00.000-06:00

I got the word this afternoon. I am not on the list. My last day is April 1st - me and several other people. I'm really bummed. I've been there two years and I liked the work and the people. It will be sad to leave. Oh, well, at least I don't have to worry about money right away.

Dang! Now I wish I hadn't moved to Schaumburg! Shoulda stayed in Chicago.

Merde!
Merde!
Merde!

Talk to you tomorrow. Maybe.

Pins & Needles

2005-03-09T17:44:00.000-06:00

Things are still up in the air at work – they’re reorganizing the IT department by moving the iron to a centralized data center in Cincinnati which is cutting the need for people here by a lot. So, there will be five jobs left here come April 1st – appropriate date doncha think? – one of which I don’t quite qualify for (that Network+ cert would’ve helped there) and the others I’m afraid they’ll say I’m overqualified for. Typical.

Anyway, I applied for all three job types (there’s three first-level techs, one second-level lead tech, and one network tech), and last week I was interviewed for all three. The network tech interview revealed that I knew very little about VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol – that’s where you use the same internet connection your PC uses to handle voice traffic instead of a phone line. Once you buy all the hardware it’s supposed to be ‘way cheaper than the baby Bells). On the other hand, nobody else here knows much about it either since we haven’t been working with it. The interviews for the other jobs went great I think. All the interviewers said we’d know who’s picked in a day or two. That was a week ago today. So what does that mean? Is it just taking longer to decide than they thought? Or have they decided and I’m not in and I need wait for the snail-mail “Good luck with your future endeavors” letter? On the other hand, nobody has heard anything yet so it’s not just me.

Getting canned wouldn’t be the end of the world, at least. I will get severance pay! (Never had that before anyplace I worked; it was always, “Hi! here’s your last check, Bye!”). I’ll continue getting a paycheck until June. This will allow me to finish my last semester at Northwestern and graduate. Sooo many jobs I want to apply for say they want someone with a BS or BA – doesn’t much matter what topic, just a degree. So, I will finally be able to say, “Sure, I got one o’ them.”

New Wheels!

2005-03-05T13:25:00.000-06:00

So to celebrate the fact that I may be losing my job, Mary Lynn and I went out and bought a new van today! They were having a sale at KIA on last year’s models so we went. Of course, the ad was a week old and those were all gone, but they still had $3K in rebates on the ’05 so we went with the new Sedona.

Why KIA? Well ML had done the research and the Sedona had the best crash test results of any van in its class, so that’s good. Also, I’ve been driving KIAs since 1988 in the form of a brown Ford Festiva named Bosco, and then a red Ford Aspire named Smash Mouth – both of these tiny cars were built by KIA for Ford. I’ve had good luck with them, ‘cause they’re pretty dependable. Well, the Aspire had a weird thing with the ignition key switch for a while (stranding Kelly in Boston for a week once – Sorry!), but once I got that replaced it’s been swell. I call the Aspire “Smash Mouth” because I got into an accident with a taxi cab and the front end got all smunched (I drove away, the cab had to be towed – Smash Mouth: 1, Chevy Caprice: 0. ;-). That was several years ago and I haven’t had it fixed ‘cause I didn’t have the deductible at the time, then after a couple years the old insurance just cut me a check to close the account. Paid bills with that and since then have just been waiting until I had a spare three grand to get it fixed. Might be while yet.

The van is a beauty – ruby red with a grey interior, power windows & locks, keyless entry, CD, 3.4 liter V-6, etc. Everything but power seats and leather which we didn’t need anyway and jacks the price up by two grand! We’re even getting a new lift for Mary Lynn’s scooter installed on the same loan. That’ll be a help.

Did we need a new van? Yes! Or rather ML needed it (she’s actually needed it for about three years now). For her to get to her job at Sears, I have to leave work, buzz home to pick up her and her scooter, drop them at Sears, and get back to work (the lift in Smash Mouth is in sections and my sweetie just can’t lift them anymore). This works because we’re two miles from my job and one and a half miles from Sears. This takes me about 40 minutes what with traffic, stop lights, and loading and unloading the scooter. It’s okay with my boss though ‘cause he is a smoker and I pointed out that this probably took me away from my desk about half the time he’s outside feeding his addiction.

Anyway, in another week or so ML will have her own wheels! Yea! This will give her independence once again, similar to the independence she gained when we first got her the scooter almost 10 years ago. It also restores the independence she lost when we moved from Chicago to Schaumburg last year. Prior to that, she could travel all over town on the EL.

All I gotta do now is make payments for the next six years. Wheee!

Highly Skilled IT Tech Will Work for Food

2005-02-25T11:15:00.000-06:00

This week they posted the new jobs for my office (my current job is going away) – there will be five positions left here at three levels – I decided to apply for all three but I held off until I took my Network+ exam (it’s a certification that says you know about networks & such). I have been studying for it on my own (can’t afford a class) and using an exam prep book I got from the library. So yesterday I went down to take the exam and I failed. Crap! $200 down the tubes! They asked a lot more Linux questions than I was ready for – I think that’s what killed me. Lesson learned: When studying for a tech exam, don’t use a three-year-old book from the library – bite the bullet and buy a new one with all the latest info!

So I went ahead and applied for the jobs without the extra cert. At least I customized the front page of my resume for each different job. I look like the logical choice! Wish me luck.

Mid-week Musings

2005-02-17T16:57:00.000-06:00

So Valentine's Day turned out pretty good although not as planned. Friday I got the pendant at the mall, focusing on a nice deep blue for the opals with a nice chain to match. Then Friday night Mary Lynn says, "You know, I think I'd rather have an iPod for V-Day. Is that alright?" Well, I didn't want to blow the surprise OR take the pendant back so my head went to work on a plausible resolution that would allow me to give her both.... (A wise man once said, "My head thinks it can kill me, and go on.")

No prob. She didn't get the pendant before because we couldn't afford it. (fact: we actually got the pendant for our anniversary and I had to take it back a few days later 'cuz we were broke - my bad; whole 'nother story there). Anyway, I said I'm not getting her the pendant for V-Day; I'm getting it to replace the one we had to return. Brilliant! Now the iPod can be the actual present.

So, Saturday we went to the Apple store in the same mall, and got her a nice 20gb pod with add-ons - protective shell, smaller ear buds, nifty sock-like bags to store the pod and parts in, and a 2-year warranty. (It's not that I don't trust Apple.... It's just that I don't trust them.) We also stopped at Sears and got her a new watch for work. It's quite nice, readable face with numbers, was on sale, plus she used her employee discount.

Saturday evening we set the iPod to charge and looked over the accessories and installed the software on her laptop. I wrapped the watch and gave it to her along with - Surprise! - the gold and opal sandal pendant! Lead balloon time! The pendant was not acceptable! Dang! Seems I was focused on color when I should have been focused on fire. She wanted opals that would show depth and sparkle in the light - (if you know opals you know what I mean). Also the diamonds and their mounts seemed kind of dull - not sparkly at all. Bummer! I made up for it by getting her iPod set up to load her favorite CDs and she zoned out to the music! We went out and had a great dinner at Lone Star and brought home leftover steak and sweet potato "for later."

No problem with the pendant though - Sunday we went back to Na Hoku and swapped it for the perfect one! (Might even be the one we bought last October and had to return.) Stopped at the Verizon store and got me a mini headset for my cellular so I can talk for extended periods without burning off my sideburns - my little phone gets way hot when it's on for more than a few minutes, right at the spot where it touches my cheek. Good engineering!

So we ended up having a nice weekend. Now all I have to do is find out what's happening with my job. More on that later.
_____

Watched Bad Santa last night (sorry, Bood!) and laughed and laughed. However, I can in no way recommend the film to you. It was one of the funniest and most profane films I've ever seen. You have to be in the mood and DO NOT take it seriously - they aren't.

We immediately watched Santa Clause 2 to cleanse the pallet.

Gotta go home and clean up the office so I can move the Total Gym in there from the living room so I can set up my Polar Express again. I also get to order more track when this is done! Excellent! Mary Lynn thinks I just want a slightly bigger loop. Ha.... haha..... Mwuahahahahaha!!!! Fact: When we finally buy a house, I'll be looking for a basement for my train(s) - if there's a decent house up above, so much the better.
____

Today's Name That Film!

Jack Chester (dejected): Do you know what it's like to peak when you're seventeen?
Scully (reflective): Yes... I do.

Valentine's Day

2005-02-11T10:42:00.000-06:00

Well, the day dedicated to the memory of St. Valentine and St. Hallmark is just around the corner. I am going to have to observe this day with Mary Lynn on Sunday, I think, since I have class this semester on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evening. I have to leave work at 4:00 to catch the commuter train into Chicago for my classes at Northwestern (last semester, yea!)

Anyway, I am going to the mall to get the pre-requested gift - it is a little jewel of a flip-flop sandal about three-quarter inch long; in gold with a blue opal sole and diamond studded straps. Pretty neat. Mary Lynn is from Florida so she loves stuff like this! I will need to get a chain as well so she can wear it around her neck. I tried to get this for her for our anniversary last October but just didn't have the money, but now I do (thank you, student loans!). I'm getting it at this Hawaiian jewelry store called Na Hoku - really beautiful stuff there! You can see the sandal on their website here. She has a blue topaz pendant and blue topaz rings and earrings I've giver her in the past, and the color of the opal just matches.

So Sunday evening I'll make a nice dinner or we'll go out or bring in - her choice - and probably watch a favorite movie and snuggle. Couldn't be better! I want this to be special since Valentine's Day is kinda tough for my wife. Her father passed away on Valentine's Day in 1996 so that has really taken the joy out of it for her until the last couple of years.

I hope everyone out there has a special someone they can share the occasion with. If nothing else, try to spend some time with friends, or contact someone you care about and let them know you are thinking of them - almost as good as flowers!

"All love that has not friendship for its base,is like a mansion built upon the sand." ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Just breaking through.... now.

2005-02-04T11:35:00.000-06:00

Bowing to the pressure of public vanity and inspired by the lucid and pithy postings I see in other blogs, I have blogged in with my own -- primarily so when I respond to others in blogland I can be a more interesting person than "Anonymous." I promise to post any comments, observations or personal news on an inconsistent schedule. No need to check back daily as there probably won't be anything new.

Anyway, thanks for dropping by.

"Watch out for Stobor."