When it rains, It pours!

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So DDi laid me off right.... Well shortly after DDi decided to sell off a portion of their company. Just so happens, that portion was the part that I did most of my work in. Well the two guys that are buying that part of the company worked for DDi when I was doing most of my work in that area. Now they own this new company and of course since DDi let me go they have no IT guys. This is really important right now because they have A LOT of changes they need to make. The former CFO of Value Added at DDi called me and asked if I wanted to do some contract work for him and the former President of Value Added at DDi. Sure, what's better than one job, two jobs. I'll be working a few nights and some weekends but once it's done then I'll be the guy to do all the normal maintenance. I guess I can use this money to catch back up on the money I spend while unemployed. Speaking of that, I noticed something strange. I was out of work for about a month and a half, but because I got 6 weeks of severance, plus paid time off and vacation, not to mention my tax refund, I've got more money in the bank right now than I have ever had in my life! That's pretty scary.

New Job

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So I started the new job yesterday. So far, so good. It looks like a pretty good company to work for. I left a big office with a really nice desk for a cubical and a ratted out ole chair but other than that everything is just fine. My boss and I seem to be on the same page about how things should be ran. That's a good start cuz we all know I'm right about these kinds of things. I've already made some pretty serious changes to the network. With lots more to come. Are they in for a surprise or what...? Sadly to say, the job is cutting into my nap time and gettin my there on! I think maybe if I don't eat I can get a little there time but I don’t know what do about the nap thingy.

Yeah!

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So it's offical as of today. I start first thing tomorrow morning. I'll know more tomorrow of course. Tonight I went to Outback and had a steak to celabrate. Spend most of the day getting me a cell phone back. I feel like I'm back in the world of the living again.

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Addendum to the addendum to the previous post.

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Well I just got off the phone with Armondo. He asked when I could start. He said that there was just some paperwork to finish and some final approvals but that unofficially I was the guy. YEAH! He said I should know something in the next 24 hours or so. So Ya know what I'm doing right now.... huh, do ya? I'm closing up the windows and turning the A/C back on. Anyway, I'll let ya know when it’s officially official!

Addendum to the previous post.

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So I went to fill out the background check paper work. I was trying to get some info outta them as to where I stood in the process. The HR lady just said that she wasn't at liberty to say. Of course smiling the entire time. When I was on my way out she said that as soon as this came back, she'd have Armondo (VP of IS) contact me and we could go from there. Now that sounded a little more positive then just "I'm not at liberty to say". Also while I was there, the receptionist made a definite effort to introduce herself and make some conversation which she did none of the first time I was there. So I guess today's events so far have been rather non-conclusive. While I was up there (16 Miles/20 Minutes from home) I drove around and checked out the West Plano area. Daaaamn. I don't know if I can afford to live over in that area. It's REALLY nice so I may have to look for a house a bit further out. But overall even though there were no break thoughts today, it was a pretty positive day.

P.S. Can you believe my buddy is already 11. I "AM" getting old! :P

ACCk…..

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Why is THERE so much a part of my life? I'm having withdraw tonight. I had to drive to Wichita Falls to pick up Brandt. That means little to no there. I think I know the attraction but it's hard to say. I mean it's not like I'm playing battlefield or ut2003. But still it's a lot of fun even though I'm not really a talkative kind of guy (as many of you know). I've made some friends on there, and I brought some friends to there. I mean now Rachel and Lisa can harass me in the real world and in there world, NOT that I need any more harassment in there :) I've got friends in there are just for harassing me (and you know who you are!). And they do it very well. :P Anyway, I'm going to try and get things settled so I can get my fix for the night.... Asta La Vista

The Interview

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So bright and early at 8:30 this morning I had an Interview with a Healthcare Provider for a position as Senior LAN Manager. They had just let the previous guy go a couple of weeks ago and things were starting to go to hell in a hand basket. That right there tells me something about there network. Anyway I knew I had the qualifications they were looking for. I read the add and it was pretty much exactly what was on my resume. I just had to nail the interview. I got in there and he was pretty nice. He really only asked me one question. I answered that, and then just basically talked to him for the next almost two hours. So it was a very informal interview. Unfortunately I wasn't dressed for a informal interview. I had the full monkey suit on... suit, tie, and Dilbert boxers... everything! I talked to there 60 year old PC tech. He's quite the character. Anyway they said they were interviewing 5 people and I was number 3. He said as of now I had the job unless someone knocked me off the top of the heap. That's good news. And on top of that it's for more money that DDi. Speaking of DDi, I got home and had two messages on my answering machine. The first was from Greyhound wanting to set up an interview. The second was from DDi's former VP of finance. He said that himself and the former President of Value Added where in the process of buying the sheet metal division of DDi. He said I was the best IT guy that he knew and wanted me to come do some contract stuff for them. DDi is keeping all there IT guys so the sheet metal is with out any network support. Right now they have a lot of work to be done. They have no FTP, Web, or email. So I get all the fun things... Anyway, so on the job front it was a pretty good day. More to come tomorrow when I'm not nearly as tired..... Yawwwnn...

Update: Here's the pics...

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TSS UT2003

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Check it out... Today I received an email today from "The ScreenSavers" saying that I was going to be in their TSS LAN Party. I'm all for that but I hadn't played UT 2003 in like a LONG time. Heck I didn't even have it installed on my system. I got the email about 2pm and my game was at 6:30 so I had plenty of time. I installed it, updated it and had a couple of practice games under my belt by 6pm. I was set and ready. At this point it was just a waiting game. The game started at 6:30 but the server was full so I wasn't able to get in until 6:35. I was already 5 minutes behind but I caught up fast. By 6:40 with just under 5 mintues to go I took the lead. Unfurtunately due to a slight ammo shortage I slipped to 4th. I managed to finish 2nd with 31 frags. Overall with all 4 games reporting in I finished 5th as you can see below.

Desktop Screenshot:
tssunreal.jpg

TSS Screen Capture:
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The Dream….

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Have you ever heard of lucid dreaming? It's basically knowing that you are dreaming and then being able to steer the dream in the way you want. You can basically do anything you want. You want to fly, your flying. You want to be invisible, poof, you are gone. As you can see there would be some very interesting benefits into being able to do this. From what I've read almost anybody can learn to do this and the people that have learned swear by it. Of course I've never done this but last night I experienced something that was very close. I was having a dream, I don't really know what it was about, but it seemed that 4 or maybe 5 times I steered or redirected the dream in the direction I wanted. A marginal dream turned out pretty decent! :)~ I don't know if this was anything even close to lucid dreaming but if it was, I want to learn.

Big Online Journal (Blog) Changes

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So I'm completely feed up with these problems with the comments. Well actually it's not the comments but the service I use for the comments. I did a quick and dirty perl comment system the other day but it's not as nice as I'd like it. If there was a comment file for every entry it was fine but that just doesn't happen. So I started searching around and found MovableType. It's a replacement for the entire blog system. Of course you have to have a server to install it on but ya know what? I think I have one of those. It's taken the better part of the day to get it up and running but it looks like it's up and running. No errors at this time and the comments are fast. In any case I'm going to leave the blog system up for a while. I'll just link to this one. All new post will go on this one as well. Please let me know if you notice any errors or problems. I'm sure the format will change as I get everything all tweeked in. Thanks.....