This Wonderful Life

Change

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:28:31 -0600

There has been a lot of change in a very short amount of time. This is the summary of the just the past month or so. Let us start with work.

I got a contract job out in KC that was a temporary gig, this is scheduled to end on Jan 8th. I finished the second interview yesterday and I got the job. It is out off of Warson so the drive to work won't be too bad from my place in Lake Saint Louis and so I will be keeping that apartment. It is a fulltime position with a good group of people so it looks like I will finally have some stability. The company is ITI and it is a really great work environment. I will be starting there on Jan 11th so there will be no gap in work, which is always a nice thing. Because these people do work primarily with the government and law enforcement they have adopted their grooming policy, which leads too....

A Haircut.

Yes, it happened there are pictures for proof in the extended entry. You can go look for yourself and make your own judgment. I has been 10 years since I last got a real haircut and I would say they took out about 20 inches. I also have to not wear my earrings. The job offer was contingent upon these things and I would much rather work then have long hair and so the sacrifices were made and a job has been had.

A Relationship.

I am dating again, some of you know her, it is Wynnie. I am happy and so is she and so I would expect that everyone will likely being seeing a bit more of her as time passes on. I think it is going to work out well and for just being happy is good enough for me.

I have good friends, and nice place to live, a good job and a happy relationship. I am happy with how things are for me. Those of you in the giving spirit might consider sending warm coats to those in hell as I am sure it is a bit nippy down there just at this moment.

Details on the Job

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:28:35 -0600

it is going to last about 3 months and as such I do not intend to leave my apartment in STL. I will return eventually and will simply live in an extended stay motel for the duration. I also intend to work on some things so that when I do get back to STL I will have something more stable. I intend to work extra hours over the next few months combined with the already very high rate to be able to put money aside to make that transition easier for myself. So basically while I will be gone for a little while it isn't permanent. At least i am employed and will be able to keep things under control. I was offered a couple of options for how to do things while I was on site my first and this is my plan that came out of it.

Things for the month of Sept

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:20:35 -0600

I got a new video card which in the end entailed a new power supply and motherboard. This now drives my gaming at 1920x1200 which is native for my 28 inch monitor. It is also quieter then the previous setup which I appreciate very much.

Just as I was getting settled in to the new place all the contractors where I worked got laid off, but on the up side I think I have a strong line on new work, the downside is it would require a move to KC. Thankfully there are clauses in my lease so that if I have to leave early this time I won't get hit financially.

I think the HDCP processing part of my TV is not responding as fast as it used too and now I get a lot of flashing to black and back to picture on any content that uses that particular DRM. Thank you greedy copyright holders for implementing a system that cripples my AV devices.

Here is to hoping October will bring new work sooner rather then later.

Moved in

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:10:23 -0600

The movers showed up at the storage facility at 8:45 and unloaded the last box at my new place at 10:45, given the drive from Chesterfield to Lake Saint Louis I was impressed. All utilities are hooked up and the 20meg down and 2 up is running nicely. I will eventually stand up a couple of TF2 servers so that we can have a little more control over the banhammer and try to regulate the stupidity a little better.

I have been riding the motorcycle again due to the beautiful weather and just having it up here in STL instead of an hour and half away at my parents place. I think the next steps are to finish unpacking and getting things put away and then look into a used stainless butcher's table to use for a work surface in the second room.

Things are mostly settled down, getting into a good grove at work and hopefully moving to the new project soon. I hope to get some presentation work done on the comics page at some point in the near future so keep an eye out for that posting.

New Place to live

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:03:13 -0600

I have gotten the paperwork setup for a move in date of August 22. I will have movers so there isn't any need for labor this time around. I will be getting a 2 bedroom 2 bath at the Waterways of Lake Saint Louis with a 10x22 garage for a little less then what a 1 bedroom was going to cost me. I basically just got lucky with the specials. So that I weekend I basically expect to be disappeared while I am unpacking and putting things together.

I can has work?

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:49:47 -0600

Paperwork is signed with a start date of June22 out in Wentzville.

It's Raining It's Pouring

Fri, 08 May 2009 11:06:12 -0600

Some photos of what it is like to live at the bottom of a hill in the this kind of weather.

The front yard with a river through it.

The drive way being washed away with our little bridge completely submerged.

The side lot with some of the driveway washed into it.

From the truck on the little bridge you see an extra railroad tie from the other side of the driveway.

At the entrance to the lake there is a spillway at the end of the dam. There is water all the way across the spillway.

Thats a marker to tell you how much over the spillway the water is, it currently reads about 6 inches.

From the truck on the spillway. This is a drain that is normally above water and allows the water to go under the spillway at normal lake levels, it is also 6 inches under water, and given my location my tires were in that too.

Some rain is good, but this is a little much I think.

Just little stuff

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:40:16 -0600

Nothing major has really changed in the situation. I am still waiting on either a start date on one or call backs for interviews from others. I have successfully cut down a 12ft chalkboard a school was giving away and built a frame for it and set it up in the garage. The problem with that project was that the chalkboard was so warped that it actually split some of the framing I did because the wood just wasn't enough to straighten it out. Next week I think I am going to work on a dart board enclosure when I get back to my parents place.

Yesterday I played the PC version of Team Fortress 2 for the first time and there are some things that I liked and some I preferred on the 360 version. I did like some of the new weapons I got to try out and having 32 people on 2Fort was a very good time.

Hopefully next month will bring actual progress on the hunt for work.

The current

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:34:04 -0600

Basically been out of pay since the end of Jan. I stayed in stl as long as I could but had to leave due to not being able to make the rent in May. I have a good line on work it just doesn't have a definite start date so I didn't want to ask for money from anyone to stay if I didn't know how long I would need it for. I worked out a deal with my landlords and was able to leave with only paying an extra 300 so I got lucky there. By staying at my parents and not paying rent I am able to keep up on all my bills and not fall behind on anything. I want to thank everyone that helped me move out on Sunday as we managed to load everything out of the third floor to the truck and then from the truck to the 10 x 10 storage unit in about 3.5 hours. I am really grateful for the help you all provided. I got the rest of the place clean and down to the truck on Monday and left after the walkthrough with no damages charges. I have address changed everything and have forwarding now setup so now I am in DeSoto for the duration. I will past more as I know more.

fail and the win?

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:38:12 -0600

When I switched from ATT DSL to Uverse I shipped the modem back within 30 days of starting service so I was supposed to be credited that money to my account. I received a bill that said I still owed for the modem. I called to ask what to do and they said to wait for a revised final bill. I waited and got a bill with the same amount and so called again. The lady said I would only owe 35.00 after the credits so i paid that right then. A week later ATT then put it to a collections agency. It is now Jan 11th. I called ATT again and they said they had received the hardware a week ago but had not credited the account. The new lady then said the account was at a 0 balance and would reflect that at the creditor on the 15th as they update records on the 1st and 15th of the month. I called the creditor on the 16th and they said I still owed 4.46. Being feed up and deciding it wasn't worth to have them jack up my credit score I said I would pay it right then over the phone. The creditor does not take payment over the phone for amounts less then 25 so I had to write a check and mail it so it would get there the day after the holiday. The check cleared on my bank account and I figured it was resolved and so I just moved on.

I tell the story above because I RECEIVED a check today from the CREDITOR for 4.46 saying the account as already paid in full, even though they had told me that if I didn't pay that they were going to report to the credit bureaus. I love companies that don't communicate with their clients and can't do basic arithmetic.

I also had another meet and greet with another firm today, and it looks like I should have a phone interview by the end of the week. That front is looking up which is most likely a good thing.

A busy week

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:43:41 -0600

Last Friday I got the call that I would no longer be paid to wait so I put out my resume that evening. On the upside while I was out in CO When I did get to ski I had a great time. Unfortunately I was sick a few of the days so that part wasn't as fun but it was very pretty out there. I also received many calls so this coming up week should be good for progress for a new position out in STL somewhere. My throat is kinda sore though and I am hoping it will pass before Monday when I have a couple of meetings to go to.

A review

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:12:47 -0600

I started the year, by bailing on a ski trip so I could do a series of job interviews in Saint Louis. I ended up receiving a position as a consultant with SBS Creatix Inc. I moved down to MO in the first week of February. I have since then had three friends get married and attended one of the weddings. I have worked on two major projects at my contract position and then ended up having the contract end on the last day of the year. I bought my R1200C BMW motorcycle which I throughly enjoy riding. I did various bits of work on the Tahoe the hardest of which was the intake manifold gasket replacement. I bought a PS3 and some BD movies (soooo pretty). I changed from charter and cablecards to AT&T Uverse which resulted in the selling of my TivoHD. I have also gotten a short renewal on my mac cult membership by getting a 16gig iPhone. The nice thing about this is almost everyone I know is on AT&T wireless which does nice to my phone bill. Many things were done, sometimes with others and sometimes not. I have signed a lease for another 12 months at my current place, implying that I expect to still be well employed after the end of the year. I have reconnected with some old friends, some for only a few emails and some for much more regular chats. My personal life is still just me and the quiet, and for now I think that is fine.

Currently Next years' goals are pretty much remain employed and crawl further out of debt. I think I want to keep it simple this time around.

TV/Internet Change

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:12:56 -0600

Dissatisfied with Charter cable internet I decided to go to ATT DSL. I have since learned that only 1.5 mbs is available in my area and that is not sufficient for netflix streaming and low ping gaming, so after two days of ATT DSL I ahve decided to go to ATT UVerse which will add about 50 new HD Channels (including SciFi HD, Food Network HD and CBS HD) a 4 channel recorder HD DVR and 18 mps down/1.5 mps up fiber internet. Sadly there is a wait time on the technicians and so it won't get here till about the first week of December. I will then have my charter tv service stopped and get my recordings and recordign setup off of my TivoHD and then that will go up for sale. This will get combined onto my att wireless bill which will make for one outstandingly large bill per month but at least it will all get paid at once to one company.

Could I fail more?

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:17:50 -0600

Tonight was a corporate rent a bar party which is cool. I take the motorcycle out to Ciceros and park it without issue. But while simply walking to the front I find an uneven spot and twist my right ankle and falll down on my hands and left knee, tearing my pants and cutting up my knee. I was able to ride the bike home but it was unpleasent as I now walk with a serious limp staying off the ankle but the using the bad knee that much more. Now for Ibprophen then bed.

Igor

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:22:42 -0600

So I went and saw Igor today and while it was pretty sappy in a lot of parts the voice acting by John Cusack, John Cleese, Eddie Izzard, and Steve Buscemi was actually pretty fun. It has its moments like most things but it was just a nice little film. Nothing really great and nothing new brought to the table but on the other hand running an economy by holding a mad scientist fair and then holding the world ransom by threat of releasing the last abomination standing to make your money for the year does seem like an interesting business model. It was worth the matinee price which is good enough for me.