Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Anyone who comes here knows that I don’t update on a regular basis. Last month, I only posted twice and one of those was only a link to something else. The reason for this lack of production is that I’ve actually had to be productive at work, but more on that later. Aside from work, while school has been going really well and my grades are good, however, it has been taking a lot of time to finish assignments. Nevertheless, I am now in my last 2 classes before I finish my Associates degree and then I’m taking 2 months off until January before I start on my Bachelor’s. I suppose that’s good news!

Now as for work, two weeks ago, two of our attorneys left to start their own firm and then last week another attorney left to start a new job at another firm. Needless to say, this has caused a serious amount of overload for everyone else, including me. My job is to make sure all of the files are transferred to other attorneys so none of them fall between the cracks. So far, so good, but getting the principal partner to reassign everything in between all of his regularly scheduled work has been a daunting task.

In addition to this, I am working with someone we hired to market the firm better. We are changing the face of the firm, changing the “brand”, hopefully for the better. I was assigned the task of designing a cover sheet to go on presentations for when we meet with potential clients. I have no background in graphic design or in marketing. I do know how to put a good PowerPoint presentation together, something I’ve learned from my classes, but I’m not sure how that really translates to this situation. On Friday, I presented 3 different designs, two of which I was not very pleased with and the other one was good, but I knew it needed something. After discussing and tweaking it with this marketing person, we presented it and it was very well received. I have to admit, I was pleased with the results myself and it was also extremely nice to have some of my work recognized while not worrying about taking the brunt of the dissent, since I was not the principal on this project. For a few minutes, I actually enjoyed my job and if you’ve read previous posts about the dislike I have for my job you’ll understand why this next issue is huge…

I’m putting looking for a job on the back burner for now. The job I wrote about two posts ago that I really wanted never called and I know the position has been filled, so my thinking is that I finish the Associates degree, and then try to find a job after the New Year’s. Plus, if I stay till next year, I’ll see a bonus check, which I could certainly use!

Ok, and the last thing that has changed or will change my life drastically is that in 2 weeks, my brother, who turns 19 next week, will be moving down here to live with me. I’ll have to be the big brother that I haven’t had to be so far and I’ll have to live with someone for the first time since being married over 6 years ago. The biggest positive for me will be the financial situation. After consistently racking up debt month after month, I’ll finally be able to start paying down debt…do I have to tell you how excited I am about that? I didn’t think so.

Lastly, I went on fantastic date Saturday night and I really like this girl, so maybe all that extra money will be spent elsewhere…but at least I wouldn’t mind spending it on someone other than me :)

Oh yea two more things…(1) On Friday I celebrted on year of keeping this blog, 104 posts in 365 days, eh, not great, but I'm going to try to to do better. (2) The NHL hockey season starts one month from today. Game. On.

Take me to your leader, I sure could use a laugh.

A clip from Bill Maher, whom I always deem worth watching:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12318129/site/newsweek/?bclid=192955681&bctid=192875525

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike & What I need is a good defense cause I'm feelin like a criminal

After the Lance Armstrong issues last year, the banning of the favorites from this years’ Tour de France and now the Floyd Landis scandal, I have an idea for international cycling: Everyone should be allowed a certain amount of performance enhancing drugs. If it’s regulated, no one will be cheating any more than any one else. You know baseball is standing in the corner, pointing their fingers at cycling and laughing their asses off, while chuckling, “And the media thought WE had steroid issues, HA!”

I read this story somewhere yesterday and now I can’t find it, but it was funny as hell. A waitress was asking for I.D. from a young girl to make sure she was of legal age to be served alcohol. What she received was her own, stolen, driver’s license! “I’m proud to say that some of the dumbest criminals are working right here in America” (Points if you know where that is quoted from!).

I found another job to apply for and this one is actually in the field I’m studying to get into, so here’s hoping they’ll overlook the lack-of-a-college-degree issue, for now. I’m just going to have to write the best cover letter ever written. If anyone would care to volunteer their writing services, feel free!

Being single sucks. I think I’ll leave it at that for now. Happy Wednesday!

The same old scenario, the same old rain. And there's no explosions here.

So I went on a job interview a week ago Tuesday and I was very nervous because I really wanted the job. I actually got there about 45 minutes early, so I left and went to get food. Then I thought, if I get food, I‘d need to run home to brush my teeth. I don’t want to go into the interview with food in my teeth! Fortunately, this place is very close to home, one of the many reasons I wanted this job and essentially, I picked something up on the way home to brush my teeth!

I returned in half an hour, teeth clean, and walked into the building, which is in this massive complex of buildings, all connected by underground tunnels so people don’t need to go out in the summer Houston heat. In the tunnels are shops and restaurants and it was then that I realized I could’ve eaten there and bought a toothbrush, or some floss. Anyway, I went upstairs to the main floor and walked into the office. I spoke with the receptionist who let me know I was to go to the 16th floor and meet interviewer #1 (I-1).

I-1 was a very nice lady in her late 40’s who had been with the company 19 years and loved every minute of it. She told me how much she enjoys working for her boss and many other positive things about the company. I can only describe the vibe I was getting as very positive! We chatted about my work history, why I need to leave my current job, why I moved to Houston and numerous other things and by the end of my 30 minutes with her, I was so at ease, I forgot all about being nervous.

I-2 came in a few moments later and I’d already had a phone interview with her where we had hit it off, so this was very laid back for me. We went into a little more detail about the job description, but overall, it was more a half-hour of BS’ing than anything else.

I-3 came in and was the person I really needed to impress. He is the attorney I’d be assisting, so he went on about his expectations of what he is looking for and talked about what it is that he does. He then asked numerous detailed questions about my current and former jobs, which I thought I answered very well. We talked about my restaurant management experience and what I liked and disliked about it, why I left that, my current situation, including the “below my intelligence level” issues and where I want my career to go from here.

Overall, I could not have been happier with my interview and I thought that I had a strong lead on most of the candidates because I knew the HR person as well. I was able to talk with him last Sunday, he told me that I impressed everyone I spoke with, that I had I-1 wrapped around my finger, and that I-3 was very high on me as well. I thought I was golden.

On Wednesday, I was told that I interviewed too well, I was considered over-qualified and that they hired someone else. Last year when I was looking for a job, I was under-qualified for everything and now, all of a sudden after one year, I’m over-qualified? I was pretty mad for the reasoning, but I had no issue with the people I spoke with. In fact, I-3 mentioned he was going to pass my resume on to other departments in case they needed someone as qualified as I was, so I guessed some good came out of it, just not how I expected it to.

So on I go with my job search and in the meantime, I’ve turned in my goals to my boss and I expect he’ll want to discuss them with me this week. That’s about when I plan to hit him up for a raise, since I think I may be there a while.

We don't need no ed-u-ca-tion

I just got a good laugh at the expense of some people who have far more education than I. The Human Resources Manager and Office Manager came to my office to ask me how to set up the computer and projector in the conference room for an attorney meeting. I quickly replied that they turn on like every other computer in this office and the projector works just like a TV. The response I got was, "Could you show us how to do it?" So, grudgingly, and while rolling my eyes, I got up from my chair and went to the conference room. I leaned over, pushed the button on the front of the computer and said, "See?" Then I grabbed the remote, which was sitting right next to the projector, and sarcastically asked, "See this little green button labeled 'On'?"

Remember when I mentioned how this job is below my level of intelligence? Apparently that is not the case for everyone here in this office!

They're laid to rest before they know just what to do. Their souls are lost because they could never find what's this life for?

I am not an introspective person. I rarely think about who I am. I live thinking, rather dreaming, about the bigger things. Is there a god? Is there life on other planets? Is there anybody out there just like me? What is death like? What does real, physical pain feel like? I think about that one because the worst pain I’ve ever had is when I severely pulled my groin muscle while playing hockey. When I say severely, I mean that I also broke a bunch of blood vessels in my leg, which caused a lot of blood to seep into the muscle; which caused a lot of black, blue, purple, then eventually yellow and green colors to form on the entire inside of my left leg; which also caused so much swelling, my leg was stretching the leg opening in my boxers and fit snugly into my jeans. To me, that’s the only pain I’ve even known, but what does it feel like to break a bone? To be concussed? Or sprain an ankle? Ok, so this is not where I intended this post to go, so I’ll stop with the pain section!

Anyway, the reason I’m talking about not being an introspective person is due to my boss calling me in for a little chat on Tuesday. He stated that while I do very good work on assignments with specific due dates, anything that is left open-ended seems to stay unfinished. I told him that I understood what he was saying, but I also explained that when I have those types of projects, anything else that comes up with a deadline, tends to be the priority and the other ones just keep getting pushed back. I don’t need assistance in finishing these projects; I just need other things to not come up, as they tend to do.

He went on to say that it is in my best interest to finish these projects because it reflects better on me that I am completing things and when bonuses roll around at the end of the year, it will show in mine.

What he asked me to do was come up with a list of 5 goals that I have for myself, to provide motivation for completing these tasks and for them to see what drives me and how they can help. This is where I have the problem of not being introspective. Sure, I know what I want; it’s pretty basic I think. It isn’t anything that most people don’t want. A house, a better car, a companion, a family, to travel, to have friends that truly know you, to retire comfortably, to take care of your parents when they're older are the big ones I can think of. Who doesn’t want at least one of those things?

The bigger question, I suppose, is what drives me to get those things? Is it in this office? Is it in this city? I have always had a hard time defining myself and this question has truly tested my thoughts.

I know this for sure: I came up with 2 lists so far and I am working on a third. The first list is all of my short-term goals. Finish school, find a job in my field, take a great vacation (I’m thinking the 2010 Vancouver Olympics!), buy a car, and pay off my debt. The second list is long-term goals: find a companion, start a family, buy a house, travel regularly and build a life and live it. The third list is all of those in between things that are important to me, drive me to be a better person and will make a difference in not only who I am, but the people around me as well. These are items like, be a great friend who can be counted on, be active in my community to make changes for the better of our society, donate money or time to charities that I think are worthy (Alzheimer’s and heart disease), be a good dad (when that time comes).

After writing these things down, I began to wonder which were more important? I mean, without finishing school and finding a job in my field, I suppose none of the others are likely possibilities. However, is it more important to be a great friend or to travel regularly? The questions I’ve been asking myself for the past 40 hours or so are: What is the most important thing in our lives? Everything is inter-related, but which one should take the priority and why? I’m at an impasse. I could give him the easy answers and see what he has to say, but inside, I know there are so many more questions that I need to answer for myself that I think I’d be cheating if I gave him those. What to do?

O'er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

In 2 months, on September 11, 2006, it will be the 5th anniversary of the day that changed the United States forever. To honor the 2,996 who perished that day, I have volunteered to write about a specific person who will be assigned to me by this website. I wish that anyone who reads this will be willing to add their name to the list of volunteers.

I found this site through here, by way of here. I thought they should get mention for leading me to something that I am passionate about.