A funny thing happened on the way to the blog

I miss blogging… no… wait… I already covered that. Scrolling through the archives of this site it appears a good portion of the (infrequent) posts from the past decade lament my effort in the ever dwindling blogosphere. So let’s not dwell on that.

I started this post a little over a week ago. Felt it was time to kick myself into gear and just write an entry, because if I waited to get this site fully back “up to code” it would never happen. Better to just say hi and get moving. And then a not-so-funny thing happened. I got laid off… Yesterday… Bummer…

Having spent most of my career as an IT guy but just outside of the tech sector, this has been an infrequent occurrence for me – but there’s still posts about my previous experience and the subsequent fallout. Financially we should be OK and I’ll be able to take my time looking for the another position without the pure panic of possibly losing our house. But it still stings and certainly doesn’t make me any less “it was capitalism all along” in attitude. The fact that so many people reached out to offer support and condolences (and networking) is a real blessing and speaks to just how many relationships I built in such a short time. The lost opportunity hurts, but not nearly as much as losing the people.

There’s plenty more to say on this (and other topics), but it’s best to just hit publish to help me move on with my day (and life).

June… July… August…

Hmm, it seems like some time may have passed since my last update. Enough time that I’m sure this site was written off by its rather limited audience as another in a long line of dead blogs. But I’ve got a shiny new laptop and I’m anxious to test out the keyboard. So, what’s been going on?

If my memory serves me right, my little girl turned 3 since the last entry. So that’s a big deal I guess… Also, in spite of our best efforts, she appears to be potty trained. Which is really great considering her terrifying fear of public bathrooms. At least now she has even more killer conversation starters like, “Are you wearing underwear?” (And yes, she did in fact start a conversation with an adult that way). And it really is nice to not be tossing away so much money on diapers, and instead be wasting 30 minutes at a time siting next to the toilet because she really doesn’t feel like getting up.

But that’s her thing. Not just in the bathroom. Everywhere. She wants to stay wherever she is. Want to go to the park? Nope, she wants to stay home. Want to go back home? Nope, now she wants to stay in the park. If she were someone else’s kid I’d say it was annoying, but since she’s mine I’ll just say that she’s a pain in the ass.

Oh, also my marriage turned 5. And we even got to go out for a real fancy pants dinner to celebrate. At 4:30 one fine Sunday evening… Such is married life with The K.

Let’s see, what else? I lost my job. I figure that’s big news. But it’s not like I really lost it, they just made it disappear. Whatever. I went out and got myself a new one out of spite. Also out of necessity. But mostly out of spite. No, really more out of the need to keep paying the bank so that we have somewhere to live. I’ve grown attached to having a roof over our heads.

Now that I’m slowly getting acclimated to my new life it seemed the appropriate time to break my silence. The last couple of months have been rather stressful, even when they were good. But now I need to get back to a schedule that will give me time for my own hobbies, like blogging, photography, music and bad movies.

Also we went to Dutch Wonderland. That was pretty cool.

From the new digs

The move is complete… Wait a minute… I moved? Not me, but my company. Well, part of my company. And that part included me. So… uh… yeah… I guess I moved. This has been a long time coming and now finds me sitting in my glorious new office. A very nice place to be considering the sheer amount of stress that has been hitting me (and, to be honest, still is hitting me) as a result.

No details here. Maybe I’ll post a photo when my office is a tad cleaner. It’s a pretty sweet setup, but I probably shouldn’t be showing photos of our “data center” to the entire Innerweb. Let’s just say that the actually network/server room is probably twice the size of my previous closet… er… office. And right now I’m living proof that a good working environment goes a long way. So much more can be accomplished when you don’t have several servers and an A/C unit blowing noisely on you all day.

In case you couldn’t guess, this move would be one of the major reasons I’ve been such a bad blogger of late. One of the other reasons would be that I’m frantically working on the nursery. And yet another reason would be that I’m frantically working on the kitchen. And all of these things require me to run around from place to place in total ignorance of current gas prices. On top of all of that, I also have a shiny new toy to show off and haven’t even had time to demonstrate it’s awesomeness.

More to follow, including photos of me covered in plaster and breaking wooden boards with the power of my mind…

Bad timing indeed…

I tend to come in later than most at work because I tend to work later than most. Unfortunately, since my schedule is a little different I am often at odds with that of other people. With regular frequency I would find the kitchen being cleaned when I was in dire need of my first cup of coffee.

Now I’m trying to shift into an earlier schedule. That means the kitchen is still open and available for a jolt of caffeine first thing. Unfortunately, I now find the men’s room is being cleaned when I’m… er… done with my morning beverage.

It seems that this timing thing still needs some work, as I’m stuck with two painful options: waiting for that first cup of coffee or waiting to get rid of it…