Have I made any progress?

Just over a year ago I posted a plan for the rebirth of my blog. It's time to see how I'm doing.

Since I made that post, I've only posted 4 blog entries. One was about someone (accidentally?) using my email address to sign up for accounts. Two were observations about behavior of coworkers. The last was about "corporate personhood" and the relentless pursuit of profit. I didn't post about any of the things I was planning on working on and writing about over the past year.

So, here's an accountability-type update, as brutal as it's going to be for me. These were the things that I had planned on working on and writing about:

• eating more healthy / in-season / local food
• cooking at home more
• eating less prepared / fast food
• incorporating more enjoyable physical activity into my life
• finding ways to reduce stress
• worrying less
• meeting new people
• spending more time with family and friends
• keeping in touch with non-local friends
• simplifying and decluttering
• learning new things
• attempting to work on more creative / artistic things
• sharing thoughts and ideas
• starting new hobbies and revisiting old ones
• reading more books
• spending less time in front of TV
• spending less time aimlessly browsing on the internet

To be completely honest, I feel I've done so poorly, it's embarrassing.

I didn't make much of an effort to do too much with the food related topics. We did buy a little bit more fruit and vegetables and tried to work them into meals a little bit more. We ate a little bit less fast food but a little bit more prepackaged, frozen meals.

I went for a few walks, mostly on my days off, but that was about it for additional physical activity.

Reducing stress, worrying less: Not really.

Family and friends: Probably worse than before. I live close to my family (after being an hour away for a couple years) but really only see them on holidays and special occasions. I spend most of my time doing the things I was trying to do less of (TV and internet browsing).

Simplifying and decluttering is one of the areas that I've made some progress. After our last move, where most of our stuff was in storage for 2 years, we moved it into our new apartment where it continued to stay boxed up in our office and craft rooms. Much of it had never been unboxed in probably 3 1/2 years. So we started going through it and weeding out much of it for donations. We have made a few trips to Salvation Army to donate stuff already and have another small pile ready to go. A lot of the challenge here is the sentimentality of objects we've had for a long time, but don't really have any use for. I've been trying to periodically and repeatedly go through things like this and find more and more I'm willing to let go with each pass. I don't really want to move it again and have to find new places to store things that aren't useful.

Learning new things: I've worked a little bit on brushing up on some programming skills and started learning about some new programming languages, but at work I've been pushed more in the direction of business analysis instead of coding, so I'm also picking up a bit of project management and business analyst skills.

I haven't done too much with creative and artistic pursuits. I haven't spent much time on photography, painting or writing. I haven't picked up any new hobbies. As far as old hobbies go, I have spent a little bit of time working on computers (doing upgrades) and have spent a little time playing some computer games (Minecraft, Farming Simulator 2015, Forza 6, Fallout 4) and done a little bit of website work for my dad's business. I haven't spent any time working on cars or anything really mechanical. I read a couple books, but not too much more or less than usual.

I haven't decreased my TV or internet browsing time much, but that is one of the things that I really want to focus on this year now that the weather is getting a little warmer here in the Northeast. Making an effort to get outside will help keep from sitting in front of various screens for the majority of my life.

My realistic plans for the future are to actually try to eat a little bit more healthy. I plan to also get outdoors much more often to walk, run, ride my bike and do some easy hikes. I really want to make an effort to be more social, to see friends I haven't seen in a long time and be with my family. I want to continue to work on simplifying and decluttering to make it easier to move, should I choose to do so... which leads into my biggest thing to consider: moving.

Our current lease is up at the end of the summer and we don't want to renew. Work has been less engaging, more stressful and less rewarding. I'm getting tired of the area I've lived in for most of my life. I don't know where I would go if I didn't stay here, though...

Things you shouldn't do in the office. (Volume 2)

A couple months ago I posted some fairly obvious things that you would think people would know not to do in the office, but do anyway. I have the unfortunate feeling that this type of post is going to become more regular.

This batch is a little less obvious than the last batch, but still feels like it should be common sense.

• Not following directions. - I feel that I've included the information that should be necessary. If it's unclear, you'd like more detail/justification or something is missing, please ask.


• Not reading the entire email/request/ticket. - I wouldn't have wasted my time writing it out it if wasn't important. If there are multiple questions, answer them all. If there are multiple steps, do them all. If you're uncertain, ask. So many people pick one point to focus on and miss the bigger picture...


• Ignoring parts of email/conversation that you don't want to hear or don't understand. - This is especially problematic when the answer was spelled out and you continue to ask your question in various, slightly different revisions hoping the answer will change to what you want to hear. It won't.


• Not letting people know when important, time-sensitive tasks are completed. - This is important when working on a team and people are waiting for you to finish your part. It annoys both (all) of us when I have to call multiple times to find out how you're doing and when you're done, especially when I find out you've finished days ago and just didn't send a quick email or something.

Theme of the day: Read the entire communication. Follow the directions. If you don't understand, ask. Then let people know when you're done.

Things you shouldn't do in the office. (Volume 1)

In the open office that I work in it seems there has been a recent surge in people been doing things that have been annoying each other.

Many of these, you would *think* would be pretty straightforward annoyances or unprofessional behaviors that most people know not to do in the workplace, but apparently even though they've probably been spelled out a million other places, here goes:

• Sniffling and snorting. - Allergies or illness might be making you congested or have post-nasal drip or whatever, but go blow your nose. Nobody wants to hear your booger noises all day.


• Cutting your fingernails. - The noise is annoying and grooming is something you should be doing at home.


• Eating smelly food. - Nobody wants the office to smell like fish (or some other nasty odor) for hours.


• Talking loudly. - Especially in open offices, when you stand up so your head is over the top of the cubes and talk loudly, it carries. People don't want to hear it. Go get a meeting room or invite the person into your cube and sit down to talk.

There are a handful of others, but we'll save them for another day.

Winds of change.

I've been finding myself asking different variations of a similarly themed question a lot more often lately: How did I end up where I am today and where do I actually want to end up?

I've been feeling like trying to decide what you want to do with the "rest of your life" as a teenager has it's drawbacks. I initially thought I wanted to be a mechanical engineer because I had a strong interest in machines such as automobiles and bicycles. I used to love to draw and doodle and think of how things I drew would work in real life. I built model cars and then took them apart and made them "better" out of parts of other kits. I took parts off of all of the spare/outgrown bikes that we had kicking around in our family of four kids and made "better" bikes out of them. I felt like I would love to find a job creating new bicycle suspension designs or cars like the ones I was seeing in mountain bike and car magazines and Popular Science... but on a tour of one of the colleges I got into (I think it was Virgina Tech) I was told that a lot of their graduates work in a "toilet paper factory down the road" designing machinery, which was probably meant as a positive that engineers were everywhere. However, I came to the opposite conclusion that to end up as an automotive or bicycle mechanical engineer was a very slim chance. I also felt that even if I did come to a find a job in the automotive or bicycle industries that I'd really end up making other people's artistic renderings a reality instead of actually doing the designing.

You would think that I would have decided that a career in mechanical engineering wasn't what I really wanted... but I ended up committing to one of the mechanical engineering programs I was accepted into. I attempted to make it work for two years before offically deciding that I liked "computers" better. So, instead of staying at that university and switching to computer engineering or computer science I ended up going back home and getting an associate degree in computer information systems from a local community college, just as everyone was saying that the "tech bubble burst". At that point it seemed difficult/impossible to find a job that was "entry level" that didn't want 5+ years of hands-on experience especially in the area I lived in. So, I decided that at that point I was just going to find some sort of job and figure it out as I went. I felt that someday I'd finish my computer science degree and be a computer programmer. I interviewed around for jobs on the edge of what I wanted to do. I had been working summers at a family friend's fast food restaurant and then ended up working in a supermarket bakery department just before I graduated with my CIS degree. I spent a couple years working there followed by different positions in the same company's headquarters starting with a special project with the Bakery and IT departments. While working on that project I found out that the company had an in-house IT department that had quite a few functions and was encouraged to keep in touch with the people I worked with and apply for entry-level things that came up. So I continued to move around to different jobs in the bakery HQ, the corporate pricing department and eventually ended up in the IT department as a Programmer/Analyst, then a Software Developer.

So, I guess that answers the question of: How did I end up here? However, the question about where do I want to be is the harder question to answer.

How would have my life been different if continued with mechanical engineering? What opportunities would have presented themselves if I was willing to move away from my family, friends and hometown? What would be different today if I stayed in school and gotten a better degree? Would I be in this position right now if I didn't spend 10 years in a company doing different jobs while learning about the industry and systems in it?

What would happen if I decided I wanted to do something different right now? What if I was willing and able to move? What if I could afford to go back to school for something different? What if I'd rather start a business related to something I'm actually interested in? (I'm definitely losing interest in the overall mission of what I've been doing for the past 13 years...)

If I was to "start over" now, though, what would I do? The biggest question I have is that once I'm "there" would I be left wondering the same things on the other side of the fence?

On life changes.

Long time, no post. To catch up, the past couple years have brought some life changes. I'm a year and nine months or so into a career change to what I actually went to college for. I'm actually somewhat of a computer programmer now. (My official title is Programmer / Analyst.) I spend a lot of my time doing user support and ad-hoc SQL queries to create or update one-off reports. I have done some program feature enhancements and bug fixes but nothing too crazy yet. I still work for the same company that I've been at for the past 11 and a half years or so.

I traded in my grey 2007 Subaru Legacy for a blue 2012 Subaru Impreza because the Legacy was approaching 100,000 miles, had a newly diagnosed but somewhat common leaky head gasket and the new Impreza was touting approximately 7 MPG more than I was getting in the Legacy.

Most recently, I've moved about an hour west of where I spent most of my life to an area I could actually see myself staying for awhile.

All of these things have me feeling like I'm growing up... (I know, I know, I should be mostly grown up already at the age of 33) but I seem to find myself becoming more and more restless.

Now that I'm actually paid to be a programmer, I find myself growing less interested in computers and technology. Sure my interest had already faded some in the 10 years since I finished college while I was occupied with other less technology related employment, but it feels like it's continued at a more accelerated pace lately. I haven't built a computer in a long time. I don't know what the best video card is anymore and don't really want to play any games that would need a good video card. To an extent, I still know what's going on in the consumer technology market but can't help but grumble when people ask what I think about things like iPads and the "cloud". I use off the shelf PC laptops and don't bother upgrading the hardware. I recently purchased a new laptop but only because it wouldn't be much cheaper to put a new battery, decent hard drive and some more memory in the old one and even if I did it probably weighed close to 8 pounds and wasn't very portable, so I didn't even like dragging it out to the couch. All I ever do on a computer at home is listen to music and surf the internet anyway. I probably should have just picked up a tablet and put my music on the "cloud" somewhere... but I hate typing on touchscreens.

My Impreza still has the stock 16" wheels and hasn't had it's first detailing and I've had it since May. What's happening to me?

Also, now that I've moved out of the apartment I've been for the past 5+ years (to a place other than the area I spent the better part of the last 3 decades), I want to actually find a house and spend time doing projects around it. I want to have some space around me, a garden and maybe a garage.

I've recently put some books about gardening and sustainable living on my Amazon wish list and thought about what it would take to grow all the ingredients needed to brew beer. I've debated opening a brew pub. I've had moments where I had a fleeting thought about quitting my job and being a landscaper.

Recently I've actually even caught myself daydreaming about becoming a farmer while driving past various farms on my commute to work. I don't actually think I want to be a farmer... I think I just want to do something different than what I'm doing now. I've been sitting in various office chairs for almost 12 years now and it's getting boring and feels less rewarding than when I first worked my way into the office world.

I don't actually dislike what I'm doing now. The actual programming is fun. The problem solving and analysis is interesting and rewarding but I'm still just keeping the wheels turning. I rarely work on anything new or exciting and when I do get to work on new things they're almost always rushed. I spend a majority of my time solving problems that could have been avoided if a little more care was put into the planning and getting everyone in the same boat before setting sail... but I don't have a say in that part, so I just sit in my chair and figure out how to undo what I was asked to do... but the "undo" has to happen more quickly than the "do" and the "do" was expected in less time than it should have really taken to get done. So it's a never-ending cycle of chasing my tail.

The problem is, I don't know what I'd rather do.

More thoughts on fewer choices

Earlier this year I read a book by Barry Schwartz called The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less and gave a quick overview of it.

I've been thinking about this book (and some of the main ideas in it) more and more over the past few weeks and I wanted to write down a few more thoughts on the whole concept of simplification and having fewer choices.

Like most people I have things that I care about and want to have tons of choices and things that I just want to be simple that I don't have to put a lot of thought behind.

I looked at reviews on hundreds of different tires before I picked the set I wanted. However, walking down the cereal aisle in the supermarket and being presented with plain Cheerios^® in three different sized boxes (8.9, 14 & 18 oz.) just seems a tad ridiculous to me. How much of a waste is it to have three different package sizes, three different cases that have to be shipped to the store, three different spots on a shelf that have to be stocked, three different UPC's that have to be maintained in computer systems and on and on... all for the SAME EXACT product. Now expand this thinking to all of the other cereals... and then on to all of the other products available in a typical supermarket.

Do stores really need to carry a half dozen or so different brands of pasta? (I've never had pasta that tasted any different than any other pasta.) How is "pizza sauce" different from "pasta sauce" or "tomato sauce"? Aren't they all just basically tomatoes and spices? I'm not going to lie and say that I don't have preferences or favorite products and foods but I'm usually so overwhelmed when I walk in the supermarket that I don't pay attention to different prices or sizes and just grab what I'm used to eating but I can spend many hours spread over a few months researching tires for my car beginning months before they're even ready to be replaced.

I don't really know how to justify what I'm thinking and I'm sure that Cheerios^®, pasta and various sauces are important to some people in the same way that tires are important to me. I wouldn't just walk into a tire store and say: "I'd like to buy some tires." the same way I walk into the supermarket and grab a random box of rotini and jar of Prego^®. However, I think I'd have a meltdown if I tried to compare Prego^® to Ragu^® to Bertolli^® to Classico^® to Emerill's^® to Hunt's^® to Newman's Own^® to Muir Glen^® to Gia Russa^® to the store brand (and I could go on and on and on here...) the same way I obsessed about tires.

The whole concept of having too many choices is such a tricky situation that we've gotten ourselves into in pursuit of the almighty dollar... everything is a balancing act. Retailers don't want to piss off customers by taking away their choices and they want to keep adding new products to their lineup to relieve you of some of your cash while you're picking up your necessities but at the same time they want to save money and increase their profits. New brands pop up to take a share of your pasta sauce budget. Retail stores just keep getting bigger and more overwhelming. At many Wal-Mart stores you can have your car's oil changed while you purchase Miller Lite, shrimp, boxer shorts and a big screen TV.

I know there are other people out there that feel a lot like I do. The same simplification argument applies to pretty much everything from the supermarket example to computer software user interfaces. Sometimes having too many choices is overwhelming and wasteful... but how do we go back to a more simple existence? How do we remove choices without taking away a person's freedom to choose?

Is this the end, suburbia?

I read an article this morning on BusinessWeek entitled "Good-Bye, Cheap Oil. So Long, Suburbia?" that seemed to be right up the alley of my blog.

The article is about the predictions of a writer named James Kunstler who lives in nearby Saratoga Springs, NY. Mr. Kunstler seems to believe that the increase in oil prices is going to bring an abrupt end to suburban sprawl, strip malls and Wal-Mart.

As much as I feel that the suburban way of life is doing massive damage to our planet, I'm not sure that it's just going to end because of gas/oil prices. I'm sure that there will still be people that feel safer in a small neighborhood away from large amounts of other people. How many families will want to sell their property in the suburbs and a move into an apartment or house on a tiny city lot and send their kids to inner city schools and to play in public parks and community swimming pools instead of letting them play in their reasonably safe back yard? How many people will change jobs to be closer to work if the company they work for is located in a city with a higher cost of living or higher crime rates than their current suburb? (Or the business is located in an industrial park in a different suburban area?)

I'm definitely not anti-city. However, the argument can be made that the draw of "suburbia" isn't going to end just because gasoline is expensive. At least around here suburban neighborhoods have schools with better reputations. Residential property values are higher and seem to retain their value better. Crime rates are lower. Many large local businesses have offices that are outside of downtown areas probably because commercial property values are lower. Two income families have to find a central location between both people's respective jobs which, quite often it seems, are in different directions. Some cities have higher tax rates than many suburbs.

I guess what I'm saying that when the company I work for relocates to a nearby city (from the suburb it's in now) in about a year and a half I would love to move to a house in that city that I can walk to work from. However, that would still leave my girlfriend with a commute that's about the same distance as mine is now. We'd be saving a the equivalent of a 20 minute car ride (her approximate current daily round trip commute) for more crime, lower property values, less personal space, higher taxes, etc.

I just don't think that suburbia is going to end any time soon.

The high price of cookies. Only you can end it.

I just came across the blog called Conditional recoil of a guy who I used to work with on a pretty much daily basis in my last job (through a link on facebook) and I think it's a great read. He doesn't have that many posts up there yet but the ones he does are the type of posts that make you think.

In particular, though, there was a post from last November titled "Where does it end?" that I felt I needed to respond to. If you know me, you'll know why. ;)

I agree with what he is trying to say which is basically that corporate America is hosing the consumers that buy it's products because in many cases they are. However in (slight) defense of the particular industry he picked as an example (and in turn, all other industries). There are many direct costs that people neglect to take into account when figuring out what things really cost. In this exact example:

* He didn't account for labor to bake, package, label and put out said package of cookies. (Plus don't forget the ever increasing cost of benefits for the workers.)

* Then there's the cost of the actual package. (Which due to energy and material costs, which you guessed it, are increasing.)

* Don't forget the energy to run the ovens and keep the lights, heat and a/c on. (Which also increases in cost from year to year. Are you seeing a trend?)

* Transportation costs to get the case of cookies from the warehouse(s) to the stores. (Fuel costs aren't going down, you know.)

* On top of all of that how much is your time worth? How much would you pay to not have to bake the cookies you'd like to eat? Your time and convenience are also worth money...

I'm not going to detail what it costs for the above things. Instead, I'm going to simplify the equation.

Companies ARE in the business of making money and that's exactly what successful companies do. The more money they make for their owners or investors the more successful they are and the longer they stay in business.

So the answer to the question "Where does it end?" is that it all comes back to the consumer. Things tend to cost what people are willing and able to pay. If there are people out there that are willing to pay $3.99 for a package of ready to eat cookies, that's exactly what they're going to cost.

[So now that we simplified everything down to the statement that things cost what people are willing and able to pay, I'm going to re-complicate it if you're willing to continue reading.]

All of the other cookie providers that are competing for your cookie purchase also know what people will pay. How the different businesses differentiate themselves is how they gain your business over the other competitors.

* They can charge slightly less on cookies and hope that you'll buy something else that they make more profit on while you're there. (How much profit is in a cup of coffee?)

* They can have a better location that makes it easier for them to get their cookies in front of you.

* They can advertise.

* They can play up the quality of their cookie and/or how they're freshly baked (and directly or indirectly that they're better than the other guy's cookies).

It goes on and on... but the end result is the same. You want the cookies, you don't want to bake them yourself and the companies that are selling cookies want as much of your money that you're willing to let them have.

The ONLY way to make the price of cookies come down is really just to stop buying them. If nobody is buying cookies the price will either go down to a price that the customer is willing to pay (at which point the customer will resume cookie buying) or the cookies will not be available any more if they cost more to produce than the customer is willing to pay. You'll have to buy the ingredients separately and make them yourself.

The things like the cost of the raw cookie dough or ingredients, packaging, energy, transportation, labor, benefits, etc. do factor back into the equation if you can lower the tangible costs of producing and supplying the cookies in order to get them back to a level where a lower price for finished cookies still leads to an acceptable profit for the company selling them. However, if we attempt to go down this path we'll see that there are many more deep "root causes" for why the cost of everything keeps increasing which makes lowering costs difficult.

* America's "energy policies" (if you can call them that) are a little bit frightening. I'm constantly reading stories about people fighting against wind turbines ("I don't want that eyesore in my backyard." and "What will happen to the birds that fly into them?") and stifling other promising energy production methods for other ridiculous reasons. On top of that there are the people who think we should take over the Middle East by force because we're entitled to drive gas-guzzling SUV's powered by imported oil. We need to find ways to lower the cost of energy and don't involve direct conflict (which costs a lot of money).

* The cost of health care and insurance really needs to be addressed. (That's enough about this one.)

* Property costs were rising at rates we're now beginning to see weren't sustainable. (Which leads to increases in cost for rents, leases and purchases of property which also leads everything to cost more.)

There are tons of issues... I really could go all day on this topic but I keep coming back to the fact that if you really don't like the price of something the only thing you can really do is stop buying it. That'll send a undeniable message that you're not willing to pay what the seller is charging. If others do the same then things start to change...

(Broken links removed March 24, 2010.)

First week impressions

Well, I'm mostly through my first week of my new job. I like it very much so far. I've been learning a lot of new stuff including a couple new custom software packages and an overview of my job functions. I've helped out on a couple of projects so far which have mostly just involved some messing around in Excel. (I'm a dork and I like spreadsheets.)

Everyone I work with seems to be really nice, straight-forward and VERY helpful. There's definitely a LOT more teamwork in this job than my last one and that's a very good thing in my eyes.

I'm in an office with two other people and they're both great and friendly. Our office is on the other end of the building from where I used to be so that's nice, too. It's pretty quiet down here.

So, yeah, overall it's been a great first week and I think I'm going to like this job...

Only 7 more workdays...

... until I'm supposed to start my new job.

I'm getting nervous and excited. I'm nervous because I am going to have to learn a lot of new things and wrap up a ton of old things in the next few days. I'm excited because it will be very nice to have a change of responsibilities and scenery. Everyone I've met that I'll be working with seems really nice and they have actually said that they're going to bring me up to speed before they throw me in so that'll be a really nice difference from my current job.

Not too much is new other than work being crazy this time of year. Trying to wrap up a ton of stuff on top of all the craziness has made for some incredibly busy days. I'm really looking forward to getting things wrapped up here and moving on to my new job, though.

I'm going to spend Thanksgiving with my family at my sister's house this year. Hopefully I'll remember to bring my camera this time so I can take some pictures of my nephew. The last time I saw him I couldn't believe how big he's getting.

18 more work days...

I have 18 more work days until I am to start my new job. My current boss wanted to keep me for even longer but my future boss and his boss agreed to let him keep me until the beginning of December.

I can't wait to get started in my new position. I've been pretty stressed out in my current job for awhile because I have a lot of things up in the air and I feel like I never have enough time to get everything done. I'm constantly interrupted with things that NEED to be done immediately and it seems like the other major projects I have going suffer... but my job performance is measured largely on those major projects.

I'm so excited to have a chance at doing something different, with set responsibilities that are more in line with my interests and education.

In other news I cashed in my credit card reward points for some Amazon gift cards to put towards things for the apartment in December. We've decided to stay in our current apartment for at least another year. All of the places that we've been looking at were right around the same price range but much smaller. The only things that other places seem to have over this one are the other perks such as indoor pools and stuff like that... but I don't think that I'd use those other things as much as I'd enjoy to keep the amount of space we have in our current apartment.

I got to see my nephew a couple weeks ago. As soon as I got there I was pissed that I forgot my camera. He's so adorable. He was dipping chips in dip and was SO NEAT that I couldn't believe it. He's not even two yet but it's amazing how big he's getting. I have to start spending more time with my sister and my nephew.

New job!

I have some GOOD NEWS!!!

I got the promotion I interviewed for quite awhile ago. I'm still working for the same company but for a different department in a different location in the building. My new title is going to be Pricing Coordinator and I'm (hopefully) going to be starting in a couple weeks. The new job basically entails analyzing data and setting prices for products.

I was officially offered the position (and accepted it) today. Tomorrow should be the day to sign all the paperwork and figure out exactly when I'm going to be starting, exactly what I'll be responsible for and find out exactly what my salary is going to be.

I'm excited because this new job seems to be more suited to my education and strengths than my current position. On top of that, I'm making a move from the hourly Administrative/Clerical level to salaried Administrative Management, and it pays a LOT more! (Which is ALWAYS a good thing!)

Other than that I haven't been up to too much. I've been stressed out waiting to find out about whether or not I got the job. My girlfriend and I have been holding off on signing a lease on a new apartment until I found out either way. Now that I know for sure that I got the job I'm going to look for an apartment closer to work than the one we picked about a month ago that was slightly farther than where we currently are. Hopefully we'll find a nice one at the complex we're going to be looking at next week. It'll be nice to not have to drive quite so much every day! (They also have some nice perks such as outdoor & indoor pools, a jacuzzi and a sauna that our current complex doesn't have, too.)

Anyway, nothing too deep here on the ol' blog again today. I've been busy with wrapping up projects at work and I spent this past weekend going through more accumulated junk at my old house. I went through boxes of car parts that I took off of one of my old cars that have been stored in a shed there for years. I decided it wasn't worth it to save them so I divided them up to be sold for scrap.

I also helped my father go through a ton of stuff from our other shed and we found a ton more stuff to send off to the scrapper... fun, fun, fun!

Knowing is half the battle...

I know everyone has their own thoughts about the old: "It's not about what you know, It's about who you know."

I'd like to take this opportunity to add my version of this old standby. I was laying in bed last night trying to fall asleep and I was just having all of these thoughts when this one popped into my head...

"It's not about what you know, it's about who you know and whether or not you can convince them that you seem to know what you know." (Yes, I just quoted my own thought like it was someone else's words.)

Anyway, I think the magic part of the equation is not just knowing someone it's convincing them that you know relevant things.

What is knowing something anyway? I think the way we use the word currently it means that you've internalized something into your memory and/or belief structure the way it was taught to you through whatever method. Thus, you know something if you learned it in school, if you read it in a book, saw it on TV or if you've actually experienced it firsthand. The issue, though, isn't really whether or not you know something, it's convincing the people that you come into contact with that you actually know things.

Back to why I was thinking about this, though... In my humble opinion, I think that I know a reasonable amount of things and I know a good amount of people in the company I currently work for... but the part that I really have trouble with is letting the people I know in on the secret that I actually know things.

Work update & possible promotion

Just checking in... It's been a busy past few weeks.

On the work front: I have a huge project that is due on Novemember 1st that I've been spending a ton of hours of my work days on. On top of that, we're headed into our busiest season (Thanksgiving/Christmas selling) and we're building in a TON of new products... so I've been swamped over here...

I interviewed for a big promotion at work a couple weeks ago and I was one of three finalists who was picked to take the personality & aptitude testing which consisted of 3 take home personality tests and 3 math/problem solving tests. I'm still awaiting the results of the testing and the decision on whether I got the job or not. Hopefully I should hear this week. I'm really hoping that I got this one. It seems right up my alley, so to speak. It's a lot of data analysis and computer work... and a nice raise... so, yeah...

I haven't had much time to look at the news and other fun stuff like that so, unfortunately, I'm going to have to stick to this personal update for now... Hopefully I'll have time for something more "meaty" in the near future.

The Working Poor.

I decided to start reading The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David K. Shipler first out of the three new books that I picked up in the past two days with my birthday gift card from my parents.

Last night when I was just starting the book my girlfriend asked if I found it depressing and wondered how I could read it?

I didn't even have to think about the answer to her question: "Yes, it's depressing... it's about me. I'm one of the working poor." On paper I might make a little more money than some of the people that are normally thought of as 'poor' but I left my first college after two years with no degree, about $20,000 in student loans and no idea what I wanted to really do with my life. I was stressed out over my lack of direction but I decided I needed to keep going to school or I would never go back. I put my next two years of college at a local community college on my credit cards along with all of the necessary books, supplies, etc. I spent the money I made working crappy jobs on minimum payments and living expenses.

Fast forward about 6 years.

I'm working in an office that has nothing to do with my AAS degree in Computer Information Systems. I'm still neck deep in debt from college, my ridiculous overspending and a few other unforeseen events that were completely unavoidable. My bills just about equal my pay. I understand, though, that I am where I am because of choices I've made. I don't think that anyone has held me back besides myself.

I'm hoping to finally find what it is I want to do with the rest of my life.

I'm trying to get myself motivated to learn new things and take more chances at what might be better opportunities.

I am attempting to curb my overspending and to find a way to live within my means. (No more buying toys that I don't need, no matter how much I talk myself into thinking I need them.)

I'm trying to talk myself into selling things that I never use like my guitar equipment (three guitars, amplifier & effects pedals), books I've already read and won't read again, CD's I don't listen to, sporting goods I won't ever use again (snowboard, skis, golf clubs, freestyle bike, rollerblades), computer parts, car parts, bike parts and MUCH MUCH more.

On top of all that I'm probably going to get a second job (at least for now until I figure out what I want to do next).

I have a feeling I'll be posting a lot in this vein in the near future. Hopefully I'll continue feeling like I need to correct the mistakes I've made in the past and work on improving my situation instead of just writing about it...

New books, strange new people and work.

I went to Borders after work today to spend the gift card that my parents gave me for my birthday. I picked up Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic by John de Graaf, David Wann and Thomas H Naylor and PHP for the World Wide Web by Larry Ullman.

Hopefully I'll get to put the PHP one to use on my website soon. I actually think I'm going to return it and get it on amazon for 1/2 of what I paid at Borders, though.

I met a strange guy at the bookstore tonight. He seemed really friendly but I think he is going to try to get me to sell energy drinks. We talked for a few minutes about our histories and he asked if I was interested in doing work outside of my current job and I said "possibly" when I should have said "no". He ended up giving me his business card and when I looked up his website when I got home it looked like a generic template that you get when you pay into one of those businesses that let you resell their crap products.

My supervisor came back to work today, too. I NEVER thought I'd think this... but I'm glad she's back from vacation. Today was a million times more productive than any of the days last week. My phone didn't ring off the hook. It actually didn't ring that much at all. I have a meeting with my newest boss on Wednesday. Hopefully that goes well...

Work and headaches suck.

I started to write a REALLY long blog entry about work yesterday. It was mostly about my current job and some of the reasons I dislike it so much. I decided it was too long and boring to post, though.

The summary is: Last week was a shit week. I was swamped all week with stupid tasks because my supervisor was on vacation and my reward for doing my job and hers was to get bitched at because I'm behind on one of my projects. I took my beating and then went to talk to the the newest of my 3 managers. I have a meeting with him on Tuesday where he's supposedly going to help to take some of my "roadblocks" out of the way and help me to enjoy my job more. Haha... we'll see. I'm going to polish up my resume and get that out there in the next couple weeks.

Other updates: I spent a few hours today going through some more old shit that I have stored at a house owned by my family that I used to live at before where I am now. I filled my car's trunk with shit to be thrown out and I have a new pile of stuff to donate to Salvation Army or Goodwill.

Now I have another one of my infamous headaches so I decided to chill for a little while and then do some cleaning around my apartment. I have to clear some stuff out of here so that I have room to bring over some of the things that I actually want to keep.

I'm hoping to get some stuff up on eBay tomorrow, Monday or Tuesday at the latest.

Brazilian Chicken, gross out food TV and crappy sleeping.

I went to dinner at a friend's apartment last night. It was our host, her boyfriend, our friend Jon and my girlfriend and I. Before dinner I talked with Jon mostly about cars and music. She made a dish she calls "Brazilian Chicken" which is made sort of like this and it's delicious.

After dinner we sat around and listened to the funny, random songs on our mp3 players and then watched some TV shows where the host goes to different countries and eats foods that look disgusting. There were snakes, bugs, fish sauce, civet coffee, and lots of testicles among many other foods that looked completely unappealing to me.

When I got home I was pretty tired so I got ready for bed, laid down and then I couldn't sleep. I laid there for probably close to 2 hours before I fell asleep and then my girlfriend woke up having a coughing fit. After that I tossed and turned again for a little while and then slept in little chunks for the rest of the night. Surprisingly, I'm not as tired as I thought I'd be after sleeping so horribly last night. I really need to find a new job because that's pretty much the cause of most of my stress. Which, in turn, was the cause of my crappy sleeping.

Tonight I think I'm headed to my old house again to go through more junk. I really want to put another dent in what I have to get done over there and hopefully find some more "treasures" to sell on eBay. I'm also hoping to dig out some of my old toys to clean up and give to my sister to use for her son until I have kids someday. I'm going to have to post up some pictures of Alex soon... he's getting so big.

[05/20/2026: Removed dead epicurious link to similar recipe for "Brazilian chicken".]

Fluffernutter cake and more.

My girlfriend just forwarded a blog post about a fluffernutter cake that someone who calls herself "E" created and I want one!!! It looks really tasty to me...

On the job search related front: I sent my resume in to a company near where I live that is looking for an HTML Editor. That's something I'm sure I can handle. They didn't specify a pay range, though, so I'm hoping that the pay is at least more than I'm making here at my current job. I hope I hear back from them soon! I really need to find a new job.

I think I talked myself out of applying for the computer recycler job I posted about a few days ago. I can't live on the pay unless I sell my car and I'm not ready to take a huge loss on my car just to have a different job.

Now on to something music related: Yesterday, I was trying to spending my $40 in iTunes gift cards that I received for my birthday from my nephew and my roommate and I came across Sky Eats Airplane which I guess used to just be two guys who describe their music as "electronic nintendo metal from Fort Worth" in their web site's description. I listened through their CD start to finish last night when I couldn't sleep and I thought it was pretty good. So if there's anyone out there who likes their screaming metal/hardcore/screamo vocals mixed with weird electronic sounds give them a listen. (I'm reading that they're evolving into a proper 6 person band, now, though. Hopefully they won't change their sound too much.) [05/20/2026: Removed dead fluffernutter cake recipe and Sky Eats Airplane links.]

What should I do?

I've decided that I hate my job completely and that I'm not going to get anywhere by sticking around here any longer. I was due for a review and a raise in June and it still hasn't happened yet, mostly because I haven't pushed the issue because I'm not looking forward to another shitty review saying that I'm not doing a good job at doing other people's work on top of my own. I'm going to wait a few weeks until my review is done and I get my back-pay for my raise before I decide to leave for sure, though. I'm going push for a decent raise this year. If it doesn't happen I'm definitely gone sooner rather than later.

My MAJOR issues are that I haven't found a job that:
* pays what I'm currently making or more.
* I'm interested in AND well qualified (on paper) for.
* I'd enjoy doing more than the boring office work that I'm currently doing.
* is "entry-level" but doesn't require experience. (Don't get me started on this one.)

I don't want to do any call center or help desk type jobs. I'd consider tech support stuff as long as it didn't entail TOO much travel. I don't have the experience that employers are looking for when applying for programming jobs or the art-school education for creative jobs. After all is considered, I basically think I'm pretty much limited to stupid office type jobs.

I did find ONE job that seems interesting and appealing to me as computer recycling tech. It appeals to my desire to do something that's a little more "green", it's ONLY about a mile from where I live and it is related to computers. The issue is the pay SUCKS VERY MUCH, even more than my current job.

I currently make about $27K/year and I have to drive about 12,000 miles a year JUST to get to and from work. With gas at it's current high prices and the likelihood to stay that way, would it make sense for me to take a job that's interesting to me and only about a mile from my apartment that only pays around $23K to start (with some sort of a bonus after 120 days)? 12,000 miles at a rough average of 25MPG with gas at around $3.00/gal. equals roughly $1,500 spent on gas for the year that I wouldn't have to spend. I'd be working basically the same Monday - Friday hours I'm currently working but I'd be taking apart computers and sending them out to be recycled instead of dealing with all of the office politics at my current job.

I guess I'll have to see if it's possible for me to even live on the lower pay. I'm sure I could if I sold my car and got a beater but I don't know if I want to do that.

I hate making decisions related to big life changes. I just wish I didn't hate my current job more...