catching crumbs tossed at me

So far the job hunt has been terrible. The only jobs I've been able to find are temporary 6 month-contract, entry level pee-on helpdesk positions in South Florida. I even expanded my search outside of Florida... still nothing. I'm either way over-qualified or they aren't even remotely related to my field. I've gotten emails from Russian scam artists saying they want me to be their CEO. All I have to do is shell out enough money to start a brick-and-mortar in this country and the job is mine! I've also gotten emails from about two dozen financial institutions who say I'm a perfect match for their company... Nevermind the fact there there is not a single mention of banking or investing in my resumé. Nevermind the fact that none of those companies even know what a Mac is other than the iPod's distant cousin. I did finally get to spend last week on that job in Ocala setting up an XServe for a small multimedia company. The business owners paid too much to the headhunter who found me and the headhunter paid me far too little, but it was at diversion and it was money well earned. It was good to get my hands on a new XServe with the Xeon CPUs. The Ocala company is buying some new Macs and are expecting them to arrive any day now and they want me to come set them up for them - which I can do - but with xmas coming up, things are going to be very tight with time as it is. I'll just have to see what I can swing.

longer vacation continued

It's been a month and a half since I was fired from the Apple Store. Despite the fact that my manager lied in my HR files and deleted hours I worked from my timecard, Apple HR found no wrongdoing on her part. This is a warning to all Apple Store employees... request a copy of your HR Record, check it for errors! You have that right.

longer vacation than i had planned

[Edit: I wrote in my blog about me being unfairly terminated from the Apple Store as a Mac Genius. It was my way of venting and getting it off my chest. It was not meant to be viewed by thousands of people. I am temporarily removing the text of that post because there are still unresolved issues that need to be taken care of first. I'm sorry there's nothing to see here now, but you can still read the rest of my blog if you so wish. :-) ]

out with the old

Today is the first day of my vacation. The vacation is 8 days but I had to work 9 days straight leading up to it. Hardly seems worth it, huh? I am taking advantage of this extended time off and cooler weather to finally get stuff done around the house. I'm getting rid of the old loveseats and the solid wood bedroom suite to make room for Deb and her stuff. I was hoping to get an electrician to come out this week to wire up my shed so it can become a workshop but I can't find anyone who can come out any sooner than a couple weeks. There will be definite progress this week despite that.

think fast

Speed Round... Answer fast... Go...

What is your favorite:

Cheese?
Mozzarella

Books?
2001, 2010, 2061, 3001 by Arthur C Clarke

Movie?
Star Wars

Song?
Bring it on Home - Led Zeppelin

Word?
whatnot

Color?
Red

Television show?
Mythbusters

Side Order?
Mozzarella Sticks at Dave & Busters

Super hero?
Powdered Toast Man

Monster?
the clown from IT

Muppet?
Kermit

Beer?
Heinekin


Farm Animal Sound?
ummm I'm a city boy

Saying on a t-shirt?
I visited the mothership.

Sport?
curling

James Bond?
Roger Moore

Star Trek Captain?
Picard

Smell?
rain falling on the asphault on a hot summer afternoon

Website?
http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/

the customer ain't always right

I've always believed that "The customer is always right" is dead wrong- even when I was the customer.

one step closer

I just finished building the new shed in my backyard that will let me finally get stuff out of the house that really doesn't need to be store in here like tools and cans of paint and most of my Bug parts. This will free up space in the house for Deb and her things when she moves in 4 months from now. I'm excited!

work stress

I've recently discovered that my boss cut out the 2 hours or so of overtime I worked last week. Not just removed the time-and-a-half aspect of it, but totally removed it. I don't get time-and-a-half and I don't even get regular time for it either. Zilch... zero... nada. Basically they stole 2 hours (and probably more) from me. I've contacted HR but they gave me a very vague statement saying no one is guaranteed overtime. OK fine but I worked my ass off during that time. I deserve to be paid for it. if they don't pay me for it, they are stealing from me. If the tables were turned and I clocked in and then went out to see a movie for 2 hours, I'd be terminated on the spot for stealing from the company and rightfully so.
I'm still trying to come to terms with a lot of the limitations that have been placed on us. This is yet another I have to deal with. Anyone know a good labor attorney?

anniversary

Today marks 1 year of Deb and I dating. it has been one helluva year filled with highs and lows. The highs greatly outnumber the lows. Since today is Easter and nothing is really open, last night Deb took me to dinner at Mortons. We had a wonderful time. It was very "grown up" of us. We were gonna take a couple silly straws with us to the restaurant so we could still act like kids, but they wouldn't fit in her purse. That's ok cuz we still managed to cut up and be goofy with each other. Like when the waiters came by to take away our salad plates they scraped the crumbs off the table with their special crumb-scraper tools. When they left the table, I reached over for a chunk of bread and tapped it with my finger like Groucho Marx tapping his cigar. That sure showed those waiters! :) We had a bottle of wine and ate fillet mignon and lamb chops. It was a wonderful night.
One year from tomorrow we will be married. I look forward to all the other goofy dinners with her in the future.

msg = mind control substance

Here is a conversation that has happened many times during my life...

A: hey guys where should we go eat?
B: How about Burger King?
C: naaa I had that yesterday. What about Italian?
B: eh I dont feel like italian. What about mexican?
A: naaa I dont like mexican. How about BBQ?
B: I'm not a BBQ fan. What about Chinese?
ME: naaa I dont like Chinese...
EVERYONE: WHAT?!?!?!?! YOU DON'T LIKE CHINESE FOOD? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? have you tried everything? what don't you like about it? there's rice...
ME: whoa whoa whoa... I just don't like Chinese food! You didn't give that guy grief for not liking Mexican food or BBQ...
EVERYONE: well yeah ... but you DON'T LIKE CHINESE FOOD! What is wrong with you?

What is it about Chinese food that makes people go apeshit? It isn't Soylent Green. There must be something added to the food to make people flip out when they find someone who refuses to partake in the 'feast'. Why do people feel compelled to try to convince me to like Chinese food or trick me into going to a Chinese restaurant? If you drag me to a Chinese restaurant against my will, I'm only going to eat rice and fortune cookies so don't even try.

I just don't like Chinese food. Accept it, world.

***FOLLOWUP: http://mcclint.blogspot.com/2008/07/chinese-food-mind-control-revisited.html

i love my girlfriend

A few days ago my girlfriend told me that she was volunteered for a charity even her work is doing down at a local fancy-schmancy art gallery for kids with "special needs". She told me she was really looking forward to it.
She said (and I quote), "I'm going to help re-re's paint and shit"

Oh I laughed so hard. I could just imagine her putting that on the volunteer form. "I want to help re-re's paint and shit"

:-)

what's an "ass berger"?

Asperger's Syndrome (or Disorder) . I got a little bit of it. I'm still very functional but sometimes it does get the better of me.

widget test

I downloaded the Blogger Dashboard widget for OSX 10.4. Seems to be good for quick and dirty posts. I think I'll keep it around.

the boring and mundane tinted with excitement

My fiancé's lease runs up in October so I need to prepare my house to take in a roomie at that time. I can't believe how much crap I have around the house. Actually I can believe it. I've accumulated so much stuff over the years with the hopes of using it or selling it on ebay or whatever... but of course I have done none of that. I need to tear down a shed in the back yard to build a new one to house and protect the multitude of Bug parts that are piling up in my den. I need to throw out old computers that aren't even worth ebaying. Computer magazines from over 13 years ago... trash. Clothes I wore in highschool... Salvation Army - I was never a slave to fashion so I can get away with doing that! Can you imagine a needy kid wearing my old Wayne's World tshirt? or even my old AOL tshirts!? I'm still not going to give up on selling that AOL jacket!
I'm really looking forward to getting married and she is great motivation for me to streamline my life the way I need to. Now before you shake your head and think "oh he's becoming hen-pecked".. WRONG. There are boundaries. I am not giving up any of my Star Wars collection. I am not giving up my Bug. The things I am giving up are things I have no real attachment to nor desire to keep.

out of season election rant

"I don't vote because it's just a wasted vote" "Why vote? _____ is going to win anyway" "I'll vote but I'll only vote for the person who is going to win"

GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!
Where do I begin?... ok let's see here... The voter turn out for the past few presidential and even congressional elections has been less than 60%. That number is based on the number of people who are actually REGISTERED to vote. I remember reading estimates that the number of registered voters is less than 1/2 of the ELIGIBLE voters (over 18 years old, US citizen etc). So that means 60% of 50% of the potential voters in this country actually had their voices heard - for better or for worse. I'll do the math for you... that works out to only about 1/3 of all Americans who have the right to vote actually exercised that right.
Let's go back to the UNREGISTERED voters - people who don't WANT to vote for various reasons. As an American and as a human being you have an opinion. So if this other half of the country actually spoke up and said something, can you imagine how the elections could have been different?
Now those who registered, but voted for "Mr popular" or who they "thought was going to win anyway"... Do you realize how many of you there are? If all of you actually joined forces and even compared notes, I would bet that you would all have similar feelings on issues and who you REALLY wanted to lead us. I think if people really voted with their hearts, Ross Perot would have been a bigger contender in the '92 election. Who knows, he may have actually won. [those of you who laugh and say "yeah right, what a loon!", just think of how many people said the same thing of the people who actually were elected into office.]
OK so our choices haven't been all that great to begin with. I honestly believe that if, at all levels of government, we vote with our hearts and not be afraid to be on the "losing team" that will truly send a message to the established political parties. It will tell them that we don't want their pre-packaged, commercialized puppet who does their party's bidding. If enough people vote for the Green party or Libertarian or any of the numerous smaller parties or even if we go with truly Independent candidates, your vote will not be wasted. OK so your guy may not win this election but if EVERYONE votes with their heart, you never know.

Just remember that there are more Americans who DID NOT vote than those who voted for the winner. Let's gang up on them and speak our minds!

items for sale

Yeah ok so I'm trying to clear out a bunch of stuff from my house to make room for when my future wife moves in. I've thrown out a bunch of stuff (with lost more to go), but I also have some things that are just too good to throw away. I'm starting with craigslist first since I'd rather not pay ebay for the privilege and deal with lousy bidders who don't pay up.
The first is a few Apple Plaintalk microphones
Next is my old AOL jacket

If you're interested, let me know. If not, pass it on to someone else who might be. I really need to clean out this mess. This is just the beginning, there will probably be more stuff to come.

housing solution for the entire country

Instead of structuring home loans so that you can never get out from them with compound interest, why not do home loans more like a car loan? Simple interest would almost guarantee far fewer defaults on loans. It would mean more money at the end of the month for home owners to go out and spend in the economy. It would mean the banks would have fewer problems with "risky customers". Sure, any loan comes with risk, but if you can improve the odds that someone will actually be able to pay it back then the banks would get a lot happier customers. It's not like the banks won't still be making money, even at 10% simple interest the bank will be pulling in a good chunk of change from each loan. There are cars on the road now that cost more than my house did but they still give simple interest loans for those cars. Why not my house? It's not like my house is going to be run off the side of a bridge. Even if a house totally burns to the ground, there is still the ground. Once you can get people to afford their own houses, it has the potential of putting fewer people in public housing and relying on the government. With each new homeowner comes home improvement loans (another source of revenue for banks).

I challenge anyone in the banking industry to give me one reason why Simple Interest home loans are impossible. The only answer that is unacceptible is "banks won't make as much money".

(I'd been chewing on this for many years even before I got my own mortgage. )

new ground

My girlfriend has now become my fiance. This is a totally new feeling for me. It's exciting! Of course it's always a little scary when ya tread into new territory but I'm looking forward to it. Now if I could just find a way to relax my facial muscles... they're hurting from all the smiling. :)

Car Talk

The Check Engine light in my girlfriend's car came on the other day so she took it to the mechanic to be looked at...
"There was a crack in a hose that lead from an intake manifold…thing thing thing blah blah blah car talk where I began to fade out…blah blah blah."

I love my girlfriend! :-)

flickr test

This is a test of using a picture from my flickr photo sets. This particular one was taken when I was visiting San Francisco... Chinatown specifically.

Fives

5 JOBS YOU'VE HAD IN YOUR LIFE:
Pizza delivery w/ Pizza Hut
AOL tech rep
Windows helpdesk at Vistakon
Flagler College Mac God
Mac Genius

5 MOVIES YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:
Star Wars - DUH
Princess Bride
Office Space
The Great Escape
Ferris Bueller's Day Off

5 PLACES YOU'VE LIVED:
Riverside, Jacksonville
Northside, Jacksonville
Southside, Jacksonville
Arlington, Jacksonville
:)

5 TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH:
Law & Order
MythBusters
The Simpsons
South Park
Family Guy

5 PLACES YOU'VE BEEN ON VACATION:
Orlando
Bequia, St Vincent & the Grenadines
San Diego
Battle Creek, MI
Tampa Bay

5 WEB SITES YOU VISIT DAILY:
dilbert.com
calvinandhobbes.com
cnn.com
pennant.blogspot.com
engrish.com


5 OF YOUR FAVORITE FOODS:
spaghetti
beef stew
broccoli & rice & cheese
oreos
PB&J with strawberry preserves

5 PLACES YOU'D RATHER BE:
Mars
in Bed sleeping
flying in 1st class with so much leg room I can
stretch out!
touring Scotland and England
Easter Island

5 ALBUMS YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT:
Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon
Led Zeppelin box set
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Pink Floyd Wish you were here
Monty Python Sings

5 PEOPLE YOU'D TAG TO PLAY THIS GAME:
whoever wants to share

painful communications

Well Joe, you've gotten me to do a blog. I hope it is going to be less painful than the picture here.

first thing's first

OK Joe, here it is...





... um yeah