Written on Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 10:17 AM by jkeyes0
As many of you know, today is my last day in my current position. I really had high hopes for this job when I came back to State Gov't, but it just hasn't panned out how I thought it would. No sense going into the details, it should be enough to say that I found a new job with a different cabinet. No more money, lots more responsibility (most likely... again, high hopes).
I'd just like to take a minute to say thanks to the few people in my department who have made things much more bearable, and who have become good friends to me. Nick and Stephanie, you've both been very supportive and friendly to me, and you've made my short stay in this place much nicer than it would have otherwise been. To the others in the department I didn't mention, it's because I really didn't feel like I fit in, at all. I felt like a casual acquaintance to some, a nobody to most, and a nuisance to others.
My next working day (January 5th, 2009) will be in a different place, doing a different job, with a different set of management, and it should be interesting, say the least.
Written on Monday, December 29, 2008 at 1:59 PM by jkeyes0
In the last few days I've been thinking alot about what I intend to do in the next few months, and the next year entirely. Here's a list of resolutions I've made to myself for the year 2009 (with a list of more attainable goals for myself in parentheses):
- Lose 60lbs. I'm currently at 207.5lbs (thanks Christmas), so that would put me at just under 150lbs. I'm 5'9", so my ideal weight should be between 130lbs and 170lbs, between 19 and 25 BMI. (Ideal goal: Lose 10lbs before the baby is born, 10lbs by summer, and hopefully 10lbs by fall)
- Win the lottery. I'd love to win millions and millions of dollars in the lottery and just retire. Yeah, right. (Ideal goal: Find a better paying job. I'm moving to a new job in a few days, but without a pay raise. In order to help make ends meet better, I really need to find a better paying position)
- Write a program, sell it, retire. Again, it'd be nice to make tons of money so I wouldn't have to keep grinding my life away toward retirement, but alas... (Ideal goal: Use my newfound knowledge of Python to work on the project with my friend etank, while writing software on my own)
- Gain internet notoriety. Yeah, not a good goal, I know, but it would certainly be nice to create something useful, interesting, or funny to share with the world. A webcomic, internet TV show, webcast, etc. I don't know. (Ideal goal: Pick something I'm good at, do something with it, and stick it on the web. If it's noteworthy, it'll gain traction. If not, what's next?)
- Be a good father / role model to my unborn son. While this doesn't seem entirely unattainable, it is definitely something that will be difficult. I have a lot of bad habits that I need to ensure I don't pass along, and a lot of life lessons I'll have to teach him when he is able to understand (Ideal goal: Take it one day at a time. Teach him what I can)
That's really all I can think of at the moment. Lofty goals, offset by more humble, attainable ones. I'll be surprised if I even achieve any of my "Ideal goals", but I'm certainly going to try.
(Partial sidenote with regards to #2 and #3 above: For my new job, I'm learning C# and ASP.NET. I'm sort of against the idea of "Microsoft" languages, but it's a part of the job, so I've got to do it...)
Written on
at 1:53 PM by jkeyes0
It was definitely an interesting Christmas this year...
I really attempted to keep the baby posts separate from my personal blog, but as I'm sure most people know, the closer it comes to baby time, the more baby-related posts there are going to be. Eventually, most people who have kids end up with little else to talk about except their kids.
Anyway, Christmas this year involved going to the in-laws, which is a 3+ hour drive from here. We had a LOT of food (my neverending beer belly shakes its fist at Christmas), a decent amount of fun, and a LOT of present-lugging. Not that I'm complaining. See, this year, we combined our Christmas trip with a baby shower, resulting in our car being filled to the brim with presents on the way home.
My wife seemed really happy with the way things went, so overall I'd say it was a good time.
Written on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 10:01 PM by jkeyes0
Yeah, I know, who has spare time anymore? However, in the little bits I've found in the last few weeks, I've been really busy.
The wife and I went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving. Loads of fun, as you can expect, and lots of stress, as usual.
In other news, I'm in training all this week, learning about Windows Server 2008. Whoo. Yeah, a linux guy stuck in a Microsoft world. When the trainer made a comment about having to buy a license for FreeBSD, I ROFL'd a bit. Then one of the guys in the class was talking about how insecure open source software is as compared to Windows. I almost choked on my coffee... then stroked my linux beard and giggled a little. Man, I'm a geek. Awesome.
Bigger news: I'm learning Python, finally. I read through "A Byte of Python" in the last couple of days in training. My friend etank told me about a project he's working on, and I decided to offer my services after learning more about Python. No need to discuss the project yet, but it should be interesting.
The biggest news, though, is that I've accepted a new job. If you've read my tweets over the last few months, you know that I've been increasingly bored at work, and desperate for something new. Well, that something has come along. I received an email from an old friend I used to do support for about a job with the Public Service Commission. I interviewed with them, and the very next day I was offered a job as a Programmer/Analyst III. I start immediately after the new year. I don't know how much actual programming I'm going to be doing, but it should be a really interesting change of pace.
