Unemployed

I can't remember the last time I was not working and not in school. It's been more than 10 years at least. Well, now that I'm no longer there, I wanted to share a total blogworthy story. If you've read the beginning of this blog, I blogged quite more often than I do now. I really hated my job back then and so it became a constant topic for my blog. I'm not proud of everything I said, but I never deleted it off the blog cuz I want to keep a history of how things really were and not how I remember them. Anyways, the project I was on at that time was a real test of my patience to say the least. If you'd like any idea just skim through the posts in 2003. All that frustration was due to the project I was working. I never felt so useless on a project and no one seemed to care that I had nothing to do and my manager only seemed concerned that it would make her look bad that I was unhappy with the situation. I spent 5 months on that project and I couldn't get off quick enough. I always said after that I would rather be laid off or fired than to go back to that project again.

Back in January, my current assignment had wrapped up and somehow that old project caught wind that me and some of my coworkers were available. HR assured me that they would find something else for me to do, but somehow they found out anyway. I was waiting to hear from some other projects and luckily I wasn't near the phone when that old project called and wanted me to come in for an interview. Alot of the management had changed around but it was still the same dead project. So they didn't know I had worked on it before, but I honestly think, if I had went to that interview, I would make things pretty bad with me and the management on that project. Management will always be management in some form or another in the future. You don't need to make a bad impression just because of a bad situation, and I would have made a bad impression just from being honest, even holding back some of that honesty. So I didn't call them back, haha. Since we have caller ID on the phones, that project kept calling and I never answered it. For two days they called me every hour or two while I heard nothing from other projects. It was seriously stressful.

Then the stakes increased when the program manager stopped by our office area and I had to duck out of my cubicle and hide from her. It reminded me of that scene in The Matrix where Neo hides from the bad guys in his office while talking on the phone to Morpheus. Ok, it wasn't that spectacular, but it still reminded me of it. Then I called one of my coworkers from another area to see if she was still around, haha. She came by there twice. Man, that project was desperate for some people. No thanks. Luckily after the second day of dodging, I got on another project. Then I finally returned that project's phone call and told them thanks for their interest, but I got on another project. Moohaha! I still can't believe I did that, haha. That's a pretty loser project when someone doesn't even want to interview for it, but there was no way I was going back to that. Hopefully I won't find myself in another situation like that again.

Anyways, my last day was a strange feeling. You can really get attached to your job even if you don't like it at times or even if you don't like it most of the time. You spend more time at your job than doing anything else. It's weird to think that such a big part of my life the last 10 years is now over. I'm both happy and sad about it. It's like moving and going to a new school except there are no bullies (hopefully, haha). I'm looking forward to starting my new job on Monday. I have a feeling it will be very different. In the meantime, I'm pretty much living my extended weekend of unemployment like summer vacation after high school. It will go by too quick I'm sure.

A Bittersweet Departure

This March would have marked my 10th anniversary at NG. Oh man, how I wanted to write about all the stuff that had been going on at work and my efforts to find something new, but being that blogs are much more in the open now, I thought I'd keep it off the internet. Now it is safe to say though since I've already served notice, that I'm leaving my first job since college to start working for D i r e c T V.

I can't believe I've been here this long. It's a bittersweet feeling. When I first came here, I just needed a job. I had no significant experience to speak of. This was my very first interview and then I was offered the job before anyone else could call me. Since I was pretty poor at the time, I took it. Even then, I never expected to be here this long. I figured the max would be 5 years since I would be fully vested at that point.

Over the years I got to work on a couple of cool things, my favorite being a project that involved working with compressed video and film/TV production. Unfortunately, that came to a close rather abruptly. I don't think I ever got over that. I was really crushed when it was cut. Since then I worked on many different military projects. Some were fun and others were really, really boring. If you're curious about how bad it can be, just check out the beginning of this blog where it seemed all I could write about was how I hated working here (more about that in a later post). It seemed though that the fun stuff was always short lived and even though it was fun, it still didn't compare to the old days of working on a product for the entertainment industry. That was real fun.

So I decided a little over a year ago that it was time to leave. I really needed a break from defense work. I just didn't care for it at all anymore and that really hurt my motivation. So why didn't I quit back then? Well, being engaged during that time meant I needed a certain block of time off relatively soon. I didn't want to get a new job and automatically start working out vacation with the hiring manager. Also I didn't want all my negotiating power to be focused towards getting time off for my honeymoon. It also didn't look good to my future in-laws to be unemployed when I got married either so that option was out as well. In January, I applied for a job with D i r e c T V and got an interview. The process took about two months and finally they gave it to an internal candidate after having like 3 interviews. So we decided to take our awesome Mediterranean vacation instead and I'd resume the job hunt when I got back. I honestly didn't like much of what I saw in the job market. The cool jobs never pay enough and the well paying jobs require too much travel. Then D i r e c T V contacted me and wants to know if I want to interview for another position. Anyways, long story short, I got the job and I like the opportunities in this one much better than the last one I interviewed for. Despite all those disappointments to get here, I trusted in God's plan and He provided this job instead. Awesome!

It's so crazy to think of leaving to work at another company. This is the only job culture I've ever known. I've become so comfortable here. There were periods of years that I was miserable cuz I didn't like what I worked on, but that comfort of being around so long was still greater than my desire to leave. Then it became the curiosity of working somewhere else in a different job culture for a different purpose was too great to stay for the comfort factor. I really hope the next job has a good work/life balance. I think that's the best thing about working where I was, but even if it isn't, I'll at least be happier working on stuff that I like. My last day is July 18 and it sure is coming fast!

I just can't believe it...

I QUIT!!!

Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart?...I Doooooooooo



7-11 converted about 10 stores of theirs to look like Kwik-E-Marts for the upcoming Simpsons movie. Being that there were so few in the country, and there happened to be one of them right down the street from us, we decided to check it out.



Unfortunately most of the cool Simpsons food items were already sold out like Krusty O's and Buzz Cola (no Duff Beer), but they did have Squishees left which we took full advantage of.



The store even feautured some Simpsons characters. Here is me with Apu.



Here's J with Chief Wiggum.



The Squishee machine was manned by a real live Apu. In fact, there were a few of them at the store. His nametag even said "Apu". Too bad I just missed it for the photo. There was a line to get in the store and then another line to get a Squishee. The whole thing took about 30 minutes. That's probably the longest time I've ever spent in a convenient store. Maybe equal to the total time I've spent in convenient stores for my whole life! It was anything but convenient for this day, but it was still worth it.



Ah, Squishee!

Grandma Went Home

This is long overdue. About two months ago, my grandma died. I wanted to write this sooner, but it just wasn't a good time and I wanted to take a little time to think about this one. I feel fortunate to have had a grandparent for 32 years (actually 4 grandparents!). I think that's a pretty rare thing. She was diagnosed with ALS about two years ago and so we knew that it would take her pretty quickly at her age. It gave her plenty of time to say goodbye to everyone. I was thankful that her passing was not quick so that I could see her one last time.

The last time I saw her was about 6 months ago. J and I went up to visit her and Grandpa and show them pictures from our wedding since she was too sick to come. She had deteriorated quite a bit at this point and I knew it was probably the last time I was going to see her. As bad as her suffering was though, her spirit remained the same. She said she could go on because of all the people praying for her. She didn't care much to live anymore, but she meant that for every day she had left, she could endure the suffering because of other people's prayers for her. My grandma's greatest legacy to me was her example of love for the Lord. I don't think there was a single time I had a conversation with her that she didn't mention some amazing way that God answered prayer or provided for someone or even saved someone. She had a heart for the lost greater than anyone I know. She really loved people, even people who didn't like Christians, and some of those people became Christians because of it. Amen!

Her funeral was really a blessing. The gospel was presented probably 3 or 4 times. It didn't really surprise me to hear it so much for her funeral. I know that's the way she wanted it. There was some stuff I learned about her at the funeral that I never knew before. One, that her middle name was Ann, haha. The second was that she was depressed when she was a young mom. I thought it was amazing how much God had changed her over the years conforming her to the likeness of the Lord Jesus. It was really encouraging.

Grandma only had one prayer request about her illness. It wasn't that she would get better or that she would feel little discomfort or that she would die quickly. She only wanted to glorify God during her last trial. Isn't that awesome? I could tell she was excited to meet the Lord and my grandpa was happy for her, too. I can only hope to die as well as she did.

The Bible says that for the Christian, death is really going home. Our home is not on earth, but with the Lord. He has promised to prepare a place for us. There is hope in death that only the Lord Jesus can offer. Thank you, Grandma, for being a light to those in darkness. Thank you for being an example of love for the lost. Thank you for showing me how to die in a way that gives God glory. I'll miss your stories and your laugh, but we'll see each other again.