Employment - Day 1

03.31.2003

It's been 9 months since I had a real job. Everything since then has been web contracting, not exactly the most stable way to make a living. Today I join Jer at Spiritus, once again following him around and mimicing his choices. It's worked so well so far, I'm not tempted to change yet.

I figure most of the day will be the traditional "getting settled" part of the job - paperwork, finding the bathroom, etc. Bob's given me 9 months to a year before I discover that I don't like it. I didn't tell him, but every job I've had, I start to get restless after a year and start looking. Maybe this time will be different.

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<strike>Russell</strike>... Wrestle...

03.28.2003

This Sunday is Wrestlemania 19. Normally every year, as the biggest wrestling PPV draws near, I start out saying "Nyah, I won't order it", yet as the day comes I start rushing about trying to order it. This year, though, I'm kind of ambivilent.

Over the past 6 months, my wrestling watching has really dropped. I'm not sure how much has to do with story lines that don't grab my attention like they used to, and how much is me havingmore to do in my spare time (Gina and making websites can be time consuming... wait, it's not supposed to sound that bad!).

Over the past week, I've been trying to catch up with things I've let slip, try to find a way to better organize my time. With any luck, I'll be able to fit in some frivolous time to do some things I haven't done in a while (like play a video game on the PC, or make a new Camtoon!).

But I don't think I'm going to order Wrestlemania this year. Although I do have 2 more days to change my mind...

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Semi Unemployed - The Next Generation

03.27.2003

In a moment to make Jerry proud, I've been forced to make lists of what I'm trying to accomplish each day during my semi unemployment. So far, it's still going well. I'm up to halfway thru Wednesday. Only 12 hours behind!

Here's what's been accomplished since Monday:

• Finally took out about 3 weeks worth of garbage (evidently the garbage truck gets here sometime between 8:00 and 8:30).
• Finished my banking goodness from Monday.
• Measured the floor for the impending Pergo installation - I've got 1200 sq. ft. to cover.
• New grown up clothes for the new job next week.

Tuesday was also my grandfathers 82nd brithday. I went with Mom and my stepfather to Florence to have a birthday lunch with him. We went to a little diner out in the middle of nowhere (Go past Florence, hang a right, go 10 miles: welcome to Nowhere). I think he had a good time. I started the 99 bottles of beer version of Happy Birthday (after the 1st time I said "81 more times!", but didn't have the wind to keep going). My grandfather has seen a lot. He joined the navy when he was 17 and fought in WWII. He's run a garage, been a Methodist preacher, and ran the Florence city cemetary. He still fixes and tunes up lawn mowers for neighbors and grand-kids. And he still looks like he did when he was 65. The man is never going to look his age. I hope that's genetic.

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Semi Unemployed - Day One

03.24.2003

My goal for this week between jobs is to try and catch up on the things I've been putting off. Thus far, it's been a productive day!

• Purchased a new blender - I'm on a smoothie kick
• Transferred some money between banks
• Got a new trackball, because I don't have the steady thumb that my old one requires.
• Gas for the mower. It's that time of year again.
• Looked at a car for pretty days - I think it's underpowered so I'll move on to looking some more.
• Finally hooked up the wireless network card to the laptop, so I can now reach the internet from it at home! Still haven't gotten file sharing working, but that's not too important right now.
• Tried calling the Disabled veterans of America to donate my old furniture, but I couldn't get a hold of anyone. I'll have to try again later.
• Sent a link to the architects for them to look at some sample web pages.

See, I need some time off!

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Last Days and Birthdays

03.21.2003

Today is my last full time day at Open Biosystems. In 9 months we've gone from nothing to a fully developed website with online ordering, backend automated workflow, and some really cool tool that only true geeks can enjoy. I've ingrained enough "Russ-ness" into the site that I get to stay on in an on-call/part time position for a while. A long while I hope, I like working for Brian.

Looking back, there's a lot of code I wish I had done differently. A shopping cart that I wish was dumber - as it is it's a key part to the workflow system, which makes it difficult to add products that don't fit into the current workflow. There are things I'm proud of - the black box that pushes things through the workflow works great.

I've still got 2 sites I'm contracting for, plus the part time stuff for Open Bio, so I should stay busy. On the 31st, I start my new job with Jerry, where we can once again wreck havoc in tandem!

Today is also Brandi's birthday. She turns the ripe old age of 31 today. Plus, she's a grandmother (well, a step grandmother, but I think that still counts). So happy b'day Bran, you're now officially an old fart well into your 30's!

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