oompa loompa

So I'm keeping a month between posts... better than nothing I suppose.

I have a good excuse this time. I swear!

To explain, perhaps I should do a run-through of a typical day since I've started my new job.

So I get up every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 5:15AM, meet my friend at the gym and work out. I shower with the ancient men that, as near as I can tell, just sit in the locker room all day long just being naked. (that topic deserves a whole post.) I dress up in my little white oompa loompa outfit, steel toe boots, and safety glasses, and head off for the half hour drive out to the manufacturing plant.



I clock in at 7:30 AM and start coding.

While I'm at the plant I'm almost completely incommunicado. No blogs, no hotmail, no IM, and since there's a mile of concrete and metal between me and the nearest cell tower, no phone service either.

The whistle blows at 9:00, (no shit, there's a whistle) and head out to the break room for my ten minute coffee break. Then back across the plant for more coding.

The same whistle blows at 11:30 for my half-hour lunch break and then on to more coding.

Another whistle and another break at 2:00. More coding.

I clock out at 4:00 and drive for an hour to one of my two other jobs for a few hours.

I grab shit food on the way and fall into bed.

----

I landed two pretty big independent contracts and this new position nearly simultaneously. The bad news is, I'm working like crazy, the good news is...

I'll be nearly into five digits for April!

So, yeah... the preceding message might sound a bit like bitching, but in light of that, I *really* can't complain.

----

So I've been working out four days a week since January. I've only lost 10 lbs or so, but I'm back up to benching around 200. The guns came back even quicker. I was working out with 50's per arm when I was a senior and I'm pulling that off at 33 with almost three months of work.

RAWR!

I'm amazed I've been keeping to that schedule in light of all the work I've been doing lately. I have to say it really helps to have someone to keep you on track.

I'll try to post some more before the week is out.

Full Release

So I finally got a job offer today.

My money was due to run out completely in a few weeks. Relief doesn't quite describe my feelings at the moment.

I haven't accepted it yet as I hear another offer might be in the works. I'll give it a day.

In other news, I met with a lady who hooks people up with corporate relocation renters. I can't wait to be a beigeburbian slumlord!

Ethics (Signs)

Ten years ago I worked for a local consulting company as a systems engineer/developer. There was an emergency at a client facility involving a Macintosh. The regular Mac guy was off with his wife in the hospital, and they asked me to stop by and help.

So I show up at the the client site in a full-on business professional suit, tie, and suspenders.

When I walk in the front door, I tell the receptionist who I am and who I'm there to see. While I'm waiting, I look around to take in the sight. It's a really open floor plan, with a loft/balcony style second level. I see a group of suit types looking at me from above and point.

I didn't think much of it. I met my contact and proceeded to save his ass.

It wasn't until years later that I was talking to a friend of mine who also used to be employed at the same consulting company. The subject of this client came up and he explained that the person that I saw on the balcony was the CEO/President and he had personally requested that I not return to his company in any capacity. While my direct supervisor at the time said nothing to me about the incident, my friend was in his office when he got the call.

While I was dressed in a suit and tie, I had a pony-tail that touched the middle of my back.

So ten years later, I get a call from another consulting agency that's looking to place me. Apparently I'm a really good fit for her client and they desperately need help there. She explained who the client is.

I told her that I was not interested.

Imagine that... me workin' for you.

The World is Teasing Me?

So I've had the house on the market since the beginning of August. For the first five months, I had three showings. For those that don't know, that's beyond bad. Four a week is the norm.

With the market the way it is, I now have it listed for $11,000 LESS than what I paid for it six years ago. For those that don't know, that's beyond bad. Average amount of equity in a house after six years is 25%. I'm clocking in around 8%.

Since I lowered the price, the amount of showings have increased to 4-5 a week. Which is fantastic. It's almost been two months at this price, with a good 40 people having trucked through it. Had only one offer for $30,000 less than what I was asking. I instructed my my realtor to counter offer $5,000 more than the listed price. For those that don't know, this counter offer was effectively "the bird" of counter-offers.

So I've been on the market for jobs since October. I've been steadily getting calls. About three or four a week, asking for my resume, seeing what I'm into, etc... I've only had one interview.

As near as I can tell, the vast majority of the jobs that I've applied for have never been filled. The postings show closed, but my people on the inside tell me that they never even had interviews, the position just vaporized. I've never seen anything like this happen on this scale before in the 20 years I've been employed. Things look beyond bad out there.

So all these showings, all these phone calls... it's like the world is teasing me. My money is only going to last another month... WTF?

The weekend

I had an interesting weekend. On Friday I was asked to run sound for a band that the president of my former company plays in. This meant that I would be running into a ton of folks from my former company which could have been rather awkward.

It wasn't. I don't think I've been hugged by as many different people as I was that night. The first words out of the CEO/President’s mouth were "It's really good to see you Poobis."

Drinks and dinner were free, and the times were good.

Then my former supervisor decides to show up. I caught him walking through the door, and he bee-lined to the other side of the bar. This was fine by me. I resumed my evening.

For some strange reason when a band comes back from break to start the second set, they always sing and play louder. It's a trick to pump up the vocals a bit in the monitors so that the performers think they're singing louder, but the sound hitting the audience is still properly mixed. I was in the midst of trying to pull this off when my former supervisor decides to sit down next to me.

He stuck out his hand, and I reflexively shook it. He asked if he could buy me a drink, I just showed him my full beer. He asked how I was doing. I responded, "great."

I was making it pretty obvious that I didn't want to talk to him.

So he cuts right to the chase. "I thought I'd come over here to see if you'd like to catch lunch or a beer some time."

"Why would you want to do that?" I asked.

"I miss you. We were good friends. We had some really good times together."

"Then you shouldn't have lied about me."

"We can talk about that over lunch if you like." He responded.

"Unless you've come to offer a very heartfelt and very public apology for how you misrepresented me to everyone who'd listen to you at [the company] then I can't imagine what the hell we'd have to talk about." My barely contained anger is not so contained at this point.

"I know it didn't happen that way." He says.

I half cut him off. "No matter how many times you tell yourself that over and over again it still won't be how it really happened."

He said, "ok" and went back to the bar for ten minutes and left.

What's really funny about all of this: At the former company, just about everyone there has figured him out. He's become a running joke in the entire department. I've been hearing varying reports about what he's been telling people that I said to him. Quite a few of them have already compared notes, and it's not been the same story twice.

After that the night only got better. I'm not generally a mean person, but I really questioned that after deriving satisfation from the dejected look on his face... but then again, I don't think I've ever been flat-out lied about like that by anyone.

So then it was on to Detroit for the Dirtbombs show at the Magic Stick.

The Magic Stick has to be the best smaller venue I've ever been to. It's what the Newport should be.

On the first floor: Bowling alley, bar, and a hole cut in the wall to allow access to the pizza by the slice joint next door.

On the second floor: a full high-school gym sized room with two bars, eight to ten pool tables, and a nice sized stage.

The fact that it's the Dirtbombs home turf makes it just that much better.

Techie Rant

Sorry for the mini-hiatus there. I had to reload everything on my laptop which took two days. I upgraded from Windows Vista back to Windows XP. Yeah, I meant upgraded.

I really don't have enough bad things to say about Vista. I can barely come up with one redeeming quality or any single feature that is remotely worth buying it for. The fact that I only had the choice of paying 1/3 of the price of this ThinkPad on Vista Home or Vista Ultimate when I bought it makes me even more bitter. The software isn't even worth pirating.

I ran it for 5 months. It's not like I didn't try to make it work. It's just that bad. I'd try to unzip a file, explorer would crash. I'd be copying files from one drive to another... crash. I've never had so many freeze ups and major program crashes in all the years of my dealing with computers. As a matter of fact, I can't recall the last time "explorer.exe" crashed, in 95, 98, 2000, or XP.

Sorry for the techie rant... It cost me two days worth of job hunting to get a useable computer again.

Today's History Lesson

So this is the "grand return" of Emails From Grandma. I don't think I could have picked a longer one. All of my comments are featured in green.

Enjoy!

-Poobis

------------

Fw: Fw: Today's History Lesson
From: [Grandma]
Sent: Tue 12/04/07 1:07 PM
To: [A bunch of folks]

[Ridiculously long forwarded header information deleted]

Subject: Fw: Today's History Lesson

DID YOU KNOW?

As you walk up the steps to the building which houses the U.S. Supreme Court you can see near the top of the building a row of the world's law givers and each one is facing one in the middle who is facing forward with a full frontal view .. it is Moses and he is holding the Ten Commandments!

Did you notice that Moses is also flanked by Confucius and Solon? (FYI - Not Christians.)

Herman A. MacNeil's pediment carvings have stirred controversy because the central figures were drawn from religious traditions. However, in the 1930s, the Supreme Court Building Commission did not question the wisdom of placing Moses, Confucius, and Solon on a secular government building. Rather, they trusted in the architect, who deferred to the artistry of the sculptor, Herman A. MacNeil.

http://architecture.about.com/library/blgilbertsupremecourt.htm

DID YOU KNOW?

As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, the two huge oak doors have the Ten Commandments engraved on each lower portion of each door.

There are lots of representations of religious and historical events etched, stamped, and carved all over the US Supreme Court Building.

One can enter the building through the opened bronze doors of the west front, each of which weighs six and one-half tons and slides into a wall recess when open. The door panels, sculpted by John Donnelly, Jr., depict historic scenes in the development of law: the trial scene from the shield of Achilles, as described in the Iliad; a Roman praetor publishingan edict; Julian and a pupil; Justinian publishing the Corpus Juris; King John sealing the Magna Carta; the Chancellor publishing the first Statute of Westminster; Lord Coke barring King James from sitting as a Judge; and Chief Justice Marshall and Justice Story.

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/about/courtbuilding.pdf

DID YOU KNOW?

As you sit inside the courtroom, you can see the wall, right above where the Supreme Court judges sit, a display of the Ten Commandments!

Did you notice that Moses isn't the only thing carved in the courtroom?

Overhead, along all four sides of the Chamber, are sculpted marble panels, the work of Adolph A. Weinman:

-Directly above the Bench are two central figures, depicting Majesty of the Law and Power of Government. The group at the far left represents Safeguard of the Rights of the People, and Genii of Wisdom and Statecraft. The far right group represents the Defense of Human Rights. -To the right is a procession of historical lawgivers including: Menes, Hammurabi, Moses, Solomon, Lycurgus, Solon, Draco, Confucius and Augustus. They are flanked by figures symbolizing Fame and History. -To the left are later historical lawgivers including Napoleon, John Marshall, William Blackstone, Hugo Grotius, Saint Louis, King John, Charlemagne, Mohammed and Justinian. Figures representing Liberty and Peace and Philosophy appear at either end. -Symbolized on the back wall frieze is Justice with the winged female figure of Divine Inspiration, flanked by Wisdom and Truth. At the far left the Powers of Good are shown, representing Security, Harmony, Peace, Charity, and Defense of Virtue. At the far right the Powers of Evil are represented by Corruption, Slander, Deceit, and Despotic Power.

http://www.usscplus.com/info/building.htm

DID YOU KNOW?

There are Bible verses etched in stone all over the Federal Buildings and Monuments in Washington , D.C.

Yep along with myrads of other quotes as well I'm sure.

DID YOU KNOW?

James Madison, the fourth president, known as "The Father of Our Constitution" made the following statement:

"We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."

And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Govt will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.-- James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822.

http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_JMadison.htm

DID YOU KNOW?

Patrick Henry, that patriot and Founding Father of our country said:

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ".

If you can't find direct evidence to misrepresent the Founding Fathers' intentions. Why not just invent it?

Misquotations [of Patrick Henry]:
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!" -- This quotation has not been found anywhere in Henry's recorded writings or speeches, as has been acknowledged by David Barton.

http://www.geocities.com/peterroberts.geo/Relig-Politics/PHenry.html

DID YOU KNOW?

Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher, whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1777.

None other than famed "proponent of the merger of Church and State" James Madison thought this was unconstitutional.

Lynn noted that Congress has had paid chaplains since 1789 but pointed out that James Madison, fourth president of the United States and father of the Constitution, opposed them.

"The Constitution of the U.S. forbids everything like an establishment of a national religion," Madison wrote. "The law appointing Chaplains establishes a religious worship for the national representatives, to be performed by Ministers of religion, elected by a majority of them; and these are to be paid out of the national taxes. Does not this involve the principle of a national establishment, applicable to a provision for a religious worship for the Constituent as well as of the representative Body, approved by the majority, and conducted by Ministers of religion paid by the entire nation?"

Continued Madison, "[If] it be proper that public functionaries, as well as their Constituents should discharge their religious duties, let them like their Constituents, do so at their own expense."

http://web.archive.org/web/20030425233838/http://www.au.org/field/actionalerts/congressionalchaplains.htm

DID YOU KNOW?

Fifty-two of the 55 founders of the Constitution were members of the established orthodox churches in the colonies

How many people do you know that say they're Christian but don't go to church?

"Although it had its share of strenuous Christians... the gathering at Philadelphia was largely made up of men in whom the old fires were under control or had even flickered out. Most were nominally members of one of the traditional churches in their part of the country.. and most were men who could take their religion or leave it alone. Although no one in this sober gathering would have dreamed of invoking the Goddess of Reason, neither would anyone have dared to proclaim his opinions had the support of the God of Abraham and Paul. The Convention of 1787 was highly rationalist and even secular in spirit." (Clinton Rossiter, 1787; The Grand Convention, pp. 147-148.)

http://members.tripod.com/~candst/bjcpa1.htm

DID YOU KNOW?

Thomas Jefferson worried that the Courts would over step their authority and instead of interpreting the law would begin making law an oligarchy the rule of few over many.

Yep, he was worried about the courts usurping power over congress, but it had absolutely nothing to do with his disapproval of the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

http://www.landmarkcases.org/marbury/jefferson.html

DID YOU KNOW?

The very first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay, said: "Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers."

Yep, he sure did say that. Unfortunately, that man didn't consider my Grandma a Christian.

In New York, Jay argued unsuccessfully in the provincial convention for a
prohibition against Catholics holding office.[20]In February 1788, the New York legislature under Jay's guidance approved an act requiring officeholders to renounce all foreign authorities "in all matters ecclesiastical as well as civil", an "anti-Catholic" act designed to bar Catholics from holding public offices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jay

How, then, have we gotten to the point that everything we have done for 220 years in this country is now suddenly wrong and unconstitutional?

Lets put it around the world and let the world see and remember what this great country was built on.

Chamber , US House of Representatives

I was asked to send this on if I agreed or delete if I didn't. Now it is your turn...

It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, it is very hard to understand why there is such a mess about having the Ten Commandments on display or "In God We Trust" on our money and having God in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don't we just tell the other 14% to Sit Down and SHUT UP!!!

If you agree, pass this on