Mood: Bleh.
Music: Let It Whip, SR-71
Game: World of Warcraft, COD2, Full Auto, Dungeons and Dragons Online (Khyber Server)
Book: Beginning PHP5, Apache, MySQL Web Development, Naramore, Gerner, et al., Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson
Weather: 55F, cloudy.
Jobs applied to today: 0.
Kind of a low morale day. It's sometimes hard to stay positive when you don't get ANY callbacks. It's probably true that I should be just throwing dozens of resumes out there...but I can't in good conscience send a resume out for a job that I don't really want. Anything that remotely matches what I'm interested in doing, that I think I'd be good doing, I apply for.
The job descriptions I'm reading seem to match EXACTLY what I was doing for Modem...and I like to believe that I was pretty good at that...at least good enough to get the job done. Maybe I'm just too old for the jobs now? No one wants to hire a 38 year old producer? I mean, yeah...I was much younger when I was doing the job before....
Maybe it's too much experience. What a fucked up catch-22. I have too much experience to get a job...they won't even give me a call, figuring that I wouldn't be challenged, or I wouldn't get my hands dirty, or I wouldn't be close enough to the sharp end of the stick to understand how it all works any more.
Maybe they figure I'd want too much money. I have no idea. It's bizarre being this young...well, maybe I'm NOT that young any more. That's the funny part. My internal self-view has me at like 22...except I've been 22 for 16 years. I know I must have changed in a lot of ways...but my brain won't let me see myself that way.
Anyway, I'm going to get back to coding. I probably should hit the job search websites again right now instead, but I'm not really feeling up to it.
There's kind of a nasty problem with the views/raids php that somehow got introduced somewhere, and I'm trying to chase it down. I THINK it has to do with the way the dates are being entered, stored, and retrieved. At least that's part of the problem.
And yeah, I said I would talk about DDO today...but instead, I'll leave that for a day when I'm feeling more excited about things.
Mood: Good.
Music: Ready to Go, Republica
Game: World of Warcraft, COD2, Full Auto, Dungeons and Dragons Online (Khyber Server)
Book: Beginning PHP5, Apache, MySQL Web Development, Naramore, Gerner, et al., Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson
Weather: 55F and Light Rain.
Jobs applied to today: 2.
Playing a new game, playing my old game, working on a marketing plan, coding a guild tool....
And generally slacking. Watching movies, just had a bowl of pho.
I haven't written much lately...not sure why. Things have been going pretty good, really.
Chelsea's getting some wisdom teeth out on Thursday, so this weekend's going to be a taking care of Chelsea weekend.
Get some gaming in while she's zonked on demerol, or whatever they give nowadays.
Nothing of any major consequence on the employment front. I think I'm going to start writing letters to old co-workers and see if they have any juice with companies in Seattle. I just need to get in to see someone....
Not really sweating it.
Yeah, it's kinda stream of consciousness...but I'm not really in blog mode, and I realized I hadn't written in almost a week. Need to keep this going.
More about DDO tomorrow.
Mood: Good.
Music: Cult of Personality, Living Colour
Game: World of Warcraft, COD2, Full Auto
Book: Beginning PHP5, Apache, MySQL Web Development, Naramore, Gerner, et al.
Weather: Sunny and cold.
Jobs applied to today: 0. (Nothing caught my eye yet. I'll look again this afternoon.)
I'd like to take a brief moment and completely rip NBC Sports.
I, like most geeks, get the vast majority of my news from the internet. This should come as no surprise...face it, you're reading this on the web as well.
I am an ESPN junkie. I check it 2-3 times a day...more if I'm bored. Hell, I read about sports I care absolutely nothing about. And, in spite of the fact that I think guys like Bill Simmons and Jim Caple are ridiculously biased fucktards with no ability to remain objective, I still enjoy reading most of the stuff on espn.com.
Here's the problem. During the Olympic Games (NOT Olympics, as NBC has improperly named their site...) ESPN links a chunk of their content to NBC's Olympic Games website. This probably has something to do with sponsorship. In any case, NBC has subcontracted with Doubleclick to host their site, and undoubtedly serve up a mess of advertising along the way.
This wouldn't inherently bug me...what bothers me is that the Doubleclick servers crash my browser about 75% of the time. They must be using some obnoxious mix of Java, javascript, cookies, flash, and who knows what else...and it completely locks up my browser when I hit their site.
Frankly, advertising online generally doesn't bother me...seeing as I'm somewhat to blame (along with a huge chunk of Modem Media's first 200 employees.) Hell, I even like to see some of it. But when it starts crashing browsers, not even allowing me to see the content I've requested? It's gone past being an annoyance, and moved straight into "You people should be killed."
Now, since you never know from ESPN when the content is going to be linked to NBC, I could be following an Olympic Games link and all of a sudden find my browser crashed out. It's like playing Minesweeper...only not at all fun. All I want to know is hockey information from Torino, and instead, I get crashed browser. Fascinating.
This has been going on for days now. They HAVE to know there's a problem...because my browser IS spitting "Bad link" messages on the bottom. Which means that there's a configuration problem with NBC's site...which means Doubleclick has fucked up. And NBC may well be pissed...but not pissed enough to get Doubleclick to fix the fucking thing.
Having worked on the Atlanta Games website for AT&T...I CAN tell you this: You have ONE chance to get it right, and your window for fixing problems isn't days or weeks, like it is for a lot of other websites. Event websites, especially like the Olympic Games are every other year, for about two weeks...then you're fucked. Each day you miss is about 7% of your ad revenue. The Superbowl is like that, I'm sure. Imagine having an ad during the Superbowl pointed at a site...and your site being down during that ad. So much for your several million dollar investment.
In any case, I'll be going to CNNSI...which has lousy writing, and not very good organization, because I can read it...which is more than I can say for ESPN/NBC. Fuckers.
Mood: A touch sleepy.
Music: Paint It, Black, Rolling Stones
Game: World of Warcraft, COD2, Full Auto
Book: Beginning PHP5, Apache, MySQL Web Development, Naramore, Gerner, et al.
Weather: Sunny and cold.
Jobs applied to today: 1 (It's Saturday. Most people don't post job listings on Saturday.)
Last night, I ended up coding until 5am. Of course, a portion of that was watching Alexander...which you could definitely avoid like the plague-ridden piece of obnoxious garbage that it is. Oliver Stone's lost his mind. Although I'm not at all sure it was there in the first place.
A good portion of it was installing and configuring Apache, PHP5, and MySQL on my computer, however...which was surprisingly easier than I would have thought it to be. Traditionally, I have a mess of problems installing such things on my computer because of all sorts of patches and quirks and such. But aside from a few minor errors on MY part, it went very well, and now it works.
This is cool, because it gives me a place to really mess about learning code. I know I could probably do such a thing on the ijsmp server if I asked...but I don't feel comfortable messing about with things I don't understand on someone else's boxen. So I have an AMP environment at home now. Go me.
I also spent a fair amount of time looking at the code for the raid tool, and frankly, it's a real mess. The more I understand what's been done, the more I see better ways to do it. There are all sorts of inconsistencies in the code. It's pretty bad, really.
Today, I'm going to focus on the templates...because they have hardcoded stuff in it that really shouldn't be. I can wedge some php in there that will make it work better.
I also want to get rid of some of the pretty horrific design. While some people think it's clever to have every last thing on a WoW-related site look like it was designed by Blizzard, I'm more inclined to have it look functional and less ornamental. The borders and corners and little gargoyle dragons and goofy typeface is overdone.
I know I should focus on the code, first, and I will. But I just want to get rid of some of the more obviously offending imagery....
No real plans this weekend...so I'll probably spend it coding and playing games. How unusual, I know.
Mood: Good.
Music: The Logical Song, Supertramp
Game: World of Warcraft, COD2, Full Auto
Book: Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson. Yes, again.
Weather: It was sunny and clear again...it's dark out now, though.
Jobs applied to today: 3
I've added a counter for the number of jobs I applied to. Maybe you'll find it interesting, and maybe it'll be interesting for me to look back on it.
Today is Princess Beedril's birthday. She doesn't read this blog, know what a blog is, or even really care, probably. Happy birthday Princess Beedril! So when you look back at this, you can see I said Happy Birthday to you in 2006.
Anyway, I spent a huge chunk of time today hacking the location php for the raid tool. The original php was completely broken...misplaced code, variables missing or just wrong, and so on. I jumbled and rewrote for hours. It largely works now. I need to fix two or three more quirks, mainly in the error checking, before I think it's done.
I had a pesky bug that I absolutely could not track down. Smitty took a look at it, and in a few minutes, figured out the problem. A missing close-quote. Isn't that wonderful. I spent almost an hour looking for the problem. I learned the error message and behavior. I should be able to prevent that in the future. Or at least correct it quickly if it happens again.
I also juggled around some credit card balances to decrease some interest rates. Hopefully, I'll be able to chunk down the credit cards over the next year...and after that, we look for a house.
Been sitting in front of the computer a good part of today, so I'm gonna go read on the couch for a bit, then probably get into bed.
Mood: Good.
Music: iPod syncing as we speak...
Game: World of Warcraft, COD2, Full Auto
Book: Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson. Yes, again.
Weather: Sunny and cold...colder than usual. Might even be below 40F today.
Finally got some of that code working. There's something really satisfying about making a system run the way it's designed/supposed to. While I'm not all the way there yet, I can feel my brain sorta working its way back into coding mode...thinking of things in certain ways, losing track of time when I'm backing on code, flipping between the editor, the FTP program, and the browser...just constantly cycling...putting in debug variables and lines...checking that, investigating. I just like it.
Not sure I'd want to do it for a living or anything...but I really enjoy it.
As soon as the iPod is done syncing up, I'm going to head to the post office and send off this 401k distribution form. Yes, I know it's a "bad idea." Of course, it's not the first time I've emptied my 401k, and so the amount in there probably isn't nearly what you think it might be. Doesn't matter...bad idea, good idea...it's necessary for me right now. So there ya have it.
I'll find a nice job, get a 401k opened again, and just dump cash into it. I know I'm almost 40. What can I tell you? 25 years to make enough to retire on. I figure in the first 20 years of employment I made and lost enough money to retire on, I can do it again. I'm just lucky like that.
Anyway, I'm starving. Food, post office, maybe stop off and get something to make for dinner.
And back to coding.
Mood: Good.
Music: Will I Ever Understand You, Berlin.
Game: World of Warcraft, COD2, Full Auto
Book: Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson. Yes, again.
Weather: Sunny and cold. I can see the mountains from my window today.
Ran out today, picked up Full Auto, and a book on PHP5/mySQL development.
The game is entertaining, and the book is good so far.
I need to mail in my form to deal with my 401k tomorrow. I'll also do a few more errands in the morning.
Then, back to coding. I coded until about 3am last night. The code that we've inherited for this project sucks in a grand and royal sense. It doesn't even do what it's supposed to do. And we're trying to fix it and upgrade it at the same time. Oh well.
I really like coding. Music in the ears, nothing but a mess of code to play with. No hassle.
I got accused of wallhacking while playing COD2 today. THAT was funny. Me. Hacking. Got banned from the server anyway.
Oh, and today is Smitty's birthday. Wish him a happy quarter-century.
Tomorrow, I'll start on the outline of the book...I want to get back to coding.
Mood: Good.
Music: Get A Job/Stand Down Margaret, The Beat.
Game: World of Warcraft, COD2
Book: Still nothing at the moment. Thinking about reading a cookbook.
Weather: Sunny and cold. I can see the mountains from my window today.
Happy Valentine's Day. Make sure you spend lots of money on cards and chocolate and gifts and such, lest your significant other get really cross at you. Way to manage expectations, Hallmark.
Anyway, here's the deal. I've decided to cash in my 401k. That money will give me enough money to look for a job for well over a year. In the intervening time, instead of sitting around and playing games and such, like the last time I was unemployed, I've decided to write a book, program a demo for the MMO commerce system I've been thinking about for a while, and knock the rust off my php, perl, xml, and c coding.
I might even, possibly, finally finish my PMP certification. Maybe work on Six Sigma stuff. But that's only a maybe.
Doing this will provide structure for me on a daily basis. I will still apply for jobs on a every day...but that really only lasts an hour a day or so. The other time will be spent writing and programming. Which I think would be a good thing.
Yesterday, while I was feeding the corporate gods shopping for presents for my fiancee, it just kinda came to me. I realized that I would never ever get a job I really wanted unless I was able to wait until I found the right job. I am definitely getting a job in gaming. Online games, offline, casual, console, whatever. But I am going to get one. My dream job is to work on an MMO doing tradeskills or commerce systems. But I'll take anything in games.
In the meantime, I will have "jobs" to do. I will spend a few hours writing every day. First, a little bit writing in my blog to say hi to all of you, and tell you how things are going. Then a bit more getting that book in my head down on paper (or bits and bytes...you know what I mean.)
In the afternoon, I will start working on code again. I'm pretty excited about this part. I've forgotten how much I used to love hacking. Smitty, Avo, and I are working on a supersecret web project...but it was fun to get my hands dirty with code again...and actually have things work. Code is neat.
And, if along the way, a job in gaming comes along...well, maybe I'll just have to take it.
In the meantime, the money situation is sorted pretty good, I am VERY happy in Seattle (finally getting more settled, and it's raining less...) and I have a plan.
Which is nice.
Mood: Tired.
Music: The hum of way too many fans in my computer case.
Game: World of Warcraft, COD2
Book: Nothing at the moment. Thinking about reading a cookbook.
Weather: Raining and dark.
The last few days have been clear and sunny...almost warm. Woke up this morning to rain...but it's 6am. Anything can happen as it gets light....
I got a call back from the folks who pre-screened me, and the guy wanted to bring me in to meet people...but I'm hesitant. I mean, I'm still thinking about it. First, there's almost no travel...not 80%. This is a good thing, not a bad thing.
It's still two hours away (by bus....) but most importantly...it's an account management position. Now, it's completely possible that I've somehow misread the situation...hard to get the full picture from 30 minutes on the phone. But I'm pretty sure it's account management. He talked about small to mid-sized clients. He said that I'm pretty much the first line of contact with the client, along with the sales team and the technical support folks. He also said that there are installers and the development team...neither of which I need to "manage..." I just need to coordinate with them in order to relay information to the client.
There's not really any project management that I'm familiar with in this job. The title of the job is customer program manager. I'm a project manager...not an account guy.
I'm not sure that's what I want to do. Anyway, I'll probably call him and see if he still wants to bring me in...after all, I can't imagine that once I said I wanted to have a look at the website again and give it some thought that he was all fired up to meet me for the position. Not sure what to do here...I'm not employed...but I'm also past the point in my life where I'm going to take a job that I strongly suspect isn't for me just to earn a paycheck.
In any case, I still haven't heard back from the recruiter I met with on Friday...but we all know that companies leave recruiters waiting for days past when they said they'd get back...so I'm none too upset about that. I guess I'll start looking for more recruiters, and see where that takes me.
I will say this...the last few days I've been pretty happy. Smiling and laughing, and generally just being happy. The sun makes a big difference that way. I think I need some more of those full-spectrum bulbs in my office....
I think tonight, I'll go get some sushi for dinner. Yum. Sushi.
By the way...WHAT ABOUT PETE?!
Mood: Robbed.
Music: The Gambler, Xzibit
Game: World of Warcraft, COD2
Book: V for Vendetta, Alan Smith/David Lloyd
Weather: Warm and sunny. Ain't that a kick.
I'll preface this by saying I'm not a real football fan.
In spite of that, I've watched football for years, and I know how the game is played, and can converse somewhat intelligently on the subject.
This is clearly more than last night's crew of referees is capable of.
I'm not going to take anything away from the Steelers. They're a good team. I'm glad Bettis got his trophy. I'm glad Pittsburgh has their fifth. Was a nice little trick play they ran...haven't seen the reverse thrown for a touchdown in a while.
They didn't win that game by a long shot. They were GIVEN that game. It was bad enough that the Seahawks' first touchdown was negated by a non-existent penalty...offensive pass interference? The safety didn't even MOVE from the contact...and he was off-balance. He was deked, and knew it. The line judge didn't even throw the flag until the ball was caught and the safety appealed to the line judge. What the hell is that?
Next, Roethlisberger did NOT score on that running play at the line of scrimmage...he was completely stuffed, and he knew it. He moved the ball after he was down because he knew he didn't have it...then the look on his face when he looked at the line judge was not the joy of a guy who just scored...it was a pleading "did I get it?" Then, back when they were reviewing the play, Roeth was already discussing whether to go for it or not on 4th down when the referee upheld the bad call. Nonsense. Again, the line judge didn't signal a touchdown until he ran forward and saw where the late-placed ball was...over the line, due to Roeth reaching over AFTER he was tackled. Again, bullshit.
Then...can someone please tell me what the hell holding Locklear was guilty of? First, the Steelers were offsides, regardless...then Locklear pushes a guy who's making a cut, and he's holding? That one negated a strike to inside the 2 yard line, and instead makes it 2nd and 20. Interception a little later, and the game's effectively over.
I'm sorry...the Seahawks had more yards, more time of possession, and LESS turnovers, and LOST? This is plain and simple robbery.
I thought maybe I was seeing things yesterday...but then at halftime, one of the casters pointed out that the Seahawks were getting the shaft pretty hard. And today, on ESPN, and MOST sports sites, all the talk is of the horrible officiating...and how the Seahawks may not have helped themselves...but they definitely played better than the Steelers.
Unbelievable. The NFL had better say something about this...not that it'll matter.
The Seahawks had a great season...it's unfortunate that their season had to end by being fucked over by refs. There's something honorable about being beaten fair and square in the Superbowl...you gave your best, and you just got pounded. Oh well...you weren't the better team. But when you KNOW you're the better team, when you're holding the Steelers to 3 and out possession after possession...when you're moving the ball...and then have the refs call back EVERY big play on bullshit calls...no breaks at all.
Just plain unfortunate.
By the way, I got a call from a place I applied to today...prescreen. I guess they'll call me in a few days and see if I want to come in or whatever. I'm not sure that the job is for me (about 2 hours away, and 80% travel....) it pays pretty good, and it IS in IPTV and with a large multinational. So I guess we'll see what happens there.
In the meantime, I'm gonna keep applying......
Mood: Just nervous.
Music: Absurd, Fluke
Game: World of Warcraft, COD2
Book: Second Foundation, Isaac Asimov
Weather: Clear and cool...but it'll probably rain.
Today's the day. Leaving in a little bit.
Wish me luck...I could use a job.
Mood: Excited and a bit nervous
Music: Perfect Day, Lou Reed
Game: World of Warcraft, COD2
Book: Second Foundation, Isaac Asimov
Weather: Clear and cool...but it'll probably rain.
I was woken up this morning by a phone call from a recruiter looking for a project manager.
While I undoubtedly wasn't at my sparkly best, being still groggy, she wants to meet with me on Friday morning to see if I'm a fit for one of the two positions she's trying to fill.
Excited, and a bit nervous. I suppose I shouldn't even be a bit nervous...after all, I know that while I might not be a fit for these jobs, there are certainly jobs out there for me.
I'm just glad I got a call...that makes me feel a lot better. And I suppose we'll see what comes of this interview on Friday.
Tomorrow, I think I'll head into the city and make sure I know how to get to the recruiter's....