Monday, April 30, 2007
Okay, I want to get a posting in so I can keep up at least one posting each month. Really quick, I'm not working right now. I got laid off. This time it was a more friendly layoff than previous ones, but it was for basically the same reason: too many people at my company and not enough work for them to do.
So if anyone knows anyone anywhere looking for software engineers, more specifically dealing with Java or C#, let me know.
In the process of interviewing I did achieve another of my yearly goals. I had a job interview in Delaware, a state I had never been to.
I have had a lot of job leads and alot more are coming. My biggest issue seems to be getting past the phone interviews. I'm not good at talking about myself to begin with, but put me on a phone with someone I've never talked to and I'm even worse.
Oh, well. I'll survive.
I have alot of stories to tell and most will wait til another day. I have the tv shows How I Met your Mother, 24, and Heroes on tape I want to go watch. (Don't get me started on them cancelling Drive already.) But one story I'd like to tell now. Today, a headhunter was setting up a phone interview for me. She emailed me the information to my hotmail account and I replied that I got the information. I'm now using the beta version of the new hotmail that has similarities to gmail. The hotmail beta went crazy and sent the reply confirmation to the headhunter over two hundred times!!! That's right. She calls me up to tell me that I'm email-bombing her. Luckily she was understanding. I did have 200 copies of that email in my sent folder. Anyway, apparently the only reason it stopped sending is because it hit the maximum amount of emails I am allowed to send in a 24 hour period. So right now, I can't send any email from my hotmail account. When 24 hours go by, I hope it doesn't continue sending those emails.
Anyway, I'll definitely try to write another post this week, if not more.
So if anyone knows anyone anywhere looking for software engineers, more specifically dealing with Java or C#, let me know.
In the process of interviewing I did achieve another of my yearly goals. I had a job interview in Delaware, a state I had never been to.
I have had a lot of job leads and alot more are coming. My biggest issue seems to be getting past the phone interviews. I'm not good at talking about myself to begin with, but put me on a phone with someone I've never talked to and I'm even worse.
Oh, well. I'll survive.
I have alot of stories to tell and most will wait til another day. I have the tv shows How I Met your Mother, 24, and Heroes on tape I want to go watch. (Don't get me started on them cancelling Drive already.) But one story I'd like to tell now. Today, a headhunter was setting up a phone interview for me. She emailed me the information to my hotmail account and I replied that I got the information. I'm now using the beta version of the new hotmail that has similarities to gmail. The hotmail beta went crazy and sent the reply confirmation to the headhunter over two hundred times!!! That's right. She calls me up to tell me that I'm email-bombing her. Luckily she was understanding. I did have 200 copies of that email in my sent folder. Anyway, apparently the only reason it stopped sending is because it hit the maximum amount of emails I am allowed to send in a 24 hour period. So right now, I can't send any email from my hotmail account. When 24 hours go by, I hope it doesn't continue sending those emails.
Anyway, I'll definitely try to write another post this week, if not more.
Labels: 2007, 24, Drive, email, goals, job search, new years, states, tv, work
Monday, January 01, 2007
Happy New Years everyone!
I want to start this year off right by making it into work early enough that I get to leave before it's dark, so I'll be rushing this post. But I did want to post on the first day of the year.
I've never really made New Years resolutions. At least, none that I ever really thought of as resolutions. The term "new years resolution" always seemed silly to me and just asking to be ignored.
This year, though, I've decided to make goals. Maybe I achieve them all, maybe I won't. But I'll at least I'll be able to figure out some sort of level of progress for myself. I also reserve the right to change any of the goals if a change in circumstances occurs that makes it necessary.
So here are my goals:
1. Not let my mind keep turning constantly on subjects that negatively affects my life. I tend to be always be thinking about stuff. This often ends up in me rehashing memories, often making them worse each time I think about it. I waste alot of time doing this. For example, my issue with Christmas gifts from my family wasted alot of my time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, making alternately angry, upset, and depressed. This year, I will try not to let it happen as much.
2. Get in better shape. Now I'm not talking about losing weight exactly, but that would likely be a by-product of getting in shape. When I was young and underweight, I wasn't really in good shape, which is why I'm not saying weight. I just want to have more energy, be less tired, and have an easier time getting up in the morning.
3. Go to atleast one state I've never been to before. After goal #1 and #2, I figured I'd make #3 something less vague. In 2005, I visited seven states I had never been to before. This past summer, I made it one of my summer goals to go to a new state and I never did it despite Delaware (a state I have never been to) being less than an hour's drive from me. So this year, at the very least, I will make a trip down to Delaware.
4. Go to atleast one away game for a Pittsburgh team. I guess I'll get the travel goals out of the way now. Last year I went to see the Steelers play in Green Bay. This year, I saw the Pirate play in Philadelphia (twice). This year, I want to continue the trend. And it must be a place I haven't seen the team play yet, so seeing the Pirates play in Philly again this year won't count.
5. Make a trip to Vegas. Pretty much self-explanatory except to point out that my previous trips have been with my family. This time I want to do and see things that I didn't get to during those previous visits, which means doing anything besides sit and gamble.
6. Make a trip to the Jersey shore (not counting Atlantic City). The reason I'm not counting Atlantic City is I've been there before. But people I know around here would probably be surprised that I haven't been to the shore.
7. Do things I've never done before or go places I've never been. I'm making the number to reach three. Any combinations of things I've never done or places I've never been. And I'm not talking about something really ordinary, like going to the new Best Buy on rt. 70. I'm talking about going to see the Liberty Bell or the Philadelphia Museum of Art or going spelunking (which are all stuff I've done since moving to Jersey).
8. Go on more dates this year than last. I never mentioned the dates of this past year because they came at times when I wasn't really blogging and nothing became of them. Also, because the number is pitiful except when compared to the year before, when the number of dates was zero. This year, I'm setting the goal number to be three.
9. Get my apartment in good shape, including reducing the amount of crap I have in "storage". Basically, right now, my apartment is only in shape to have over friends who know me too well and the guys I play poker with, who seem to enjoy viewing the entropy of a bachelor's life as all of them are married. I will take days off if necessary to achieve this. The goal is kinda vague, but I'll describe it for now as being able to bring someone who doesn't know me too well, or my parents, without doing any extra cleaning.
10. Finish 5 novels and watch 150 movies. The movie number is a goal I found a number of people have on the internet. The rules I'm using is that a movie counts the first time I watch it this year, even if I've watched it before. It doesn't count the second time. So the next time I watch Die Hard, it counts towards the goal. The second time, it does not. For the books, the number five is a number I just pulled out of the air that seems reasonable. I'm not planning on reading any novels thatI've read before, but either way, I'm making it the rule that previously read books don't count. Non-fiction books that are of seriously length, I do count. Basically, any book that's not a children's book like I would read to my niece or a book of that type of length would count. I haven't decided if audiobooks will count.
I just realized that I wanted as a goal to have a specific place to go for next New Years Eve rather than staying home or finding a bar two hours before hand in the newspaper, but that's a goal confined to a specific day and not over the whole year, so I'm not including it. Besides, I also decided that, if I can arrange it, to try and make NYC for NYE next year and that might require some thinking that the goal might get in the way of. Also, I think ten is a good number.
I'll try to keep you up to date. I guess blogging more could be considered an unofficial goal.
I want to start this year off right by making it into work early enough that I get to leave before it's dark, so I'll be rushing this post. But I did want to post on the first day of the year.
I've never really made New Years resolutions. At least, none that I ever really thought of as resolutions. The term "new years resolution" always seemed silly to me and just asking to be ignored.
This year, though, I've decided to make goals. Maybe I achieve them all, maybe I won't. But I'll at least I'll be able to figure out some sort of level of progress for myself. I also reserve the right to change any of the goals if a change in circumstances occurs that makes it necessary.
So here are my goals:
1. Not let my mind keep turning constantly on subjects that negatively affects my life. I tend to be always be thinking about stuff. This often ends up in me rehashing memories, often making them worse each time I think about it. I waste alot of time doing this. For example, my issue with Christmas gifts from my family wasted alot of my time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, making alternately angry, upset, and depressed. This year, I will try not to let it happen as much.
2. Get in better shape. Now I'm not talking about losing weight exactly, but that would likely be a by-product of getting in shape. When I was young and underweight, I wasn't really in good shape, which is why I'm not saying weight. I just want to have more energy, be less tired, and have an easier time getting up in the morning.
3. Go to atleast one state I've never been to before. After goal #1 and #2, I figured I'd make #3 something less vague. In 2005, I visited seven states I had never been to before. This past summer, I made it one of my summer goals to go to a new state and I never did it despite Delaware (a state I have never been to) being less than an hour's drive from me. So this year, at the very least, I will make a trip down to Delaware.
4. Go to atleast one away game for a Pittsburgh team. I guess I'll get the travel goals out of the way now. Last year I went to see the Steelers play in Green Bay. This year, I saw the Pirate play in Philadelphia (twice). This year, I want to continue the trend. And it must be a place I haven't seen the team play yet, so seeing the Pirates play in Philly again this year won't count.
5. Make a trip to Vegas. Pretty much self-explanatory except to point out that my previous trips have been with my family. This time I want to do and see things that I didn't get to during those previous visits, which means doing anything besides sit and gamble.
6. Make a trip to the Jersey shore (not counting Atlantic City). The reason I'm not counting Atlantic City is I've been there before. But people I know around here would probably be surprised that I haven't been to the shore.
7. Do things I've never done before or go places I've never been. I'm making the number to reach three. Any combinations of things I've never done or places I've never been. And I'm not talking about something really ordinary, like going to the new Best Buy on rt. 70. I'm talking about going to see the Liberty Bell or the Philadelphia Museum of Art or going spelunking (which are all stuff I've done since moving to Jersey).
8. Go on more dates this year than last. I never mentioned the dates of this past year because they came at times when I wasn't really blogging and nothing became of them. Also, because the number is pitiful except when compared to the year before, when the number of dates was zero. This year, I'm setting the goal number to be three.
9. Get my apartment in good shape, including reducing the amount of crap I have in "storage". Basically, right now, my apartment is only in shape to have over friends who know me too well and the guys I play poker with, who seem to enjoy viewing the entropy of a bachelor's life as all of them are married. I will take days off if necessary to achieve this. The goal is kinda vague, but I'll describe it for now as being able to bring someone who doesn't know me too well, or my parents, without doing any extra cleaning.
10. Finish 5 novels and watch 150 movies. The movie number is a goal I found a number of people have on the internet. The rules I'm using is that a movie counts the first time I watch it this year, even if I've watched it before. It doesn't count the second time. So the next time I watch Die Hard, it counts towards the goal. The second time, it does not. For the books, the number five is a number I just pulled out of the air that seems reasonable. I'm not planning on reading any novels thatI've read before, but either way, I'm making it the rule that previously read books don't count. Non-fiction books that are of seriously length, I do count. Basically, any book that's not a children's book like I would read to my niece or a book of that type of length would count. I haven't decided if audiobooks will count.
I just realized that I wanted as a goal to have a specific place to go for next New Years Eve rather than staying home or finding a bar two hours before hand in the newspaper, but that's a goal confined to a specific day and not over the whole year, so I'm not including it. Besides, I also decided that, if I can arrange it, to try and make NYC for NYE next year and that might require some thinking that the goal might get in the way of. Also, I think ten is a good number.
I'll try to keep you up to date. I guess blogging more could be considered an unofficial goal.
Labels: 2007, goals, new years
