MobileMe, funny little name, great product, kinda reminds me of a VW Beetle

So it’s been awhile.. I guess..

Hopefully, all is going well with everyone this summer. Small bits of news I guess. Job is still going wonderful. Just doing it like I’m supposed to, every day, non-stop. Had to do some Mandatory (LOL) Overtime. It just means they can’t afford for you not to be there, Would have volunteered had they asked. Can’t always ask tho. So a couple weeks ago now I signed up for Apple’s MobileMe. Though many have had problems with it, I haven’t had a single one and I’m not even using an iPhone or Leopard. I’m not too sure if the Cloud thing works but syncing works fine. Caching the iDisk does eat hard drive space though, might turn off that feature. iWeb and iPhoto finally got updates to rename their parts to MobileMe. I don’t expect an update to 10.4.11 and it’s applications however. Time to buy a new computer soon. Maybe get an iPhone 3G with it. The real trick for most people is if they’re not used to Apple Mail, Thunderbird, or IMAP, then they will have a hard time and will loose emails. It’s just about approach, if you know what you are doing, you won’t have problems.

The real reason that I haven’t posted in so long.. is that a few weeks back, I had a flat tire on my truck and had to walk to the train station. This left me really exhausted every night. I have a really good friend Humayon that gave me a ride to the train a few days that week. I went and got 2 Firestone LeMans Potenza tires for ze Tundra and it’s back to rolling, now that gas prices have started to decline again. I am still waiting for $0.86/gal though, I clearly remember that price from my youth.

Apparently my knees don’t agree with walking on concrete. I have really good shoes but.. for some reason when I wake up every day and when I am done with work my knees and lower legs just hurt, sometimes my hips too. I hope it’s just muscle growth in my legs from using them so much. Maybe it’s just part of getting older, but heck I’m only coming up on 33. I get to work this birthday, lovely. Housemate thinks I’m working too hard, I think he’s just being silly. I just got this job, this is the time to set the table and prepare for the feast ahead so to speak. First Impressions count!

Happy Independence Weekend America!

The alumni officers and crew of USS Independence (CV-62) wold like to take the opportunity to wish America a Happy Independence Day! Now that’s said. it’s been a very relaxed weekend with nothing to do. So I decided to work on cleaning up the computer so that I’ll be ready come the end of August for transitioning to the next computer. This last week I paid for a registration key to Dan Schimpf’s (Mariner Software) MacJournal, there is also a version for Windows. I have been using this software off and on since it won an Apple Design Award years ago. This version has the iTunes/Mac OS X 10.5 look and feel to it. Finally no more pop out drawers. Plus it still has all the great journaling features of any good note taking application on the Mac. The end of this work week was quite good, I finally got a schedule and it’s just as I predicted Late evening M-F. We haven’t bid still, but this is to hold us over till the next bid. We’ll have a little seniority by then, yeah! The fun shall begin as we now enter the proving ground. I’m starting to think more about walking over to Galatyn to take the DART versus driving to the park and ride, especially since now it will be mid day with the sun beating down on me. It all depends on the temperature, my ability to sweat or not, and if I really want to burn calories that day. I now know the exact path as I’ve driven it quite a few times now. So back to cleaning and finding things to take to the cubicle for decoration.

Hmm another week

So yesterday I went to Fry’s.. for the first time. What a strange store. I really enjoyed it, but I’ve never seen such a combination of items in a place billed as an electronics store. I now no longer have a real reason to ever go to a Radio Shack, Best Buy, or possibly even a book store again. The only thing they didn’t have was housewares and food. Otherwise they’d truly have it all. Today at work was interesting, I finally got a cubicle, a brand new Dell Optiplex with a 19″ LCD, a headset, and I took my first call this afternoon. Still waiting on some tools to work right, that’s normal-ish. Things are coming right along. We’ll see what tomorrow holds.

First week downtown

So I made it through the U-Verse training and made a very high grade on my exam. Very happy about that. Just finished the first week downtown and took my first call already, it went as expected. Getting used to the tool flow will take some time, but I’m hopeful that I will do just fine. Went out and celebrated Thursday night. Ate at this asian fusion place nearby the house in Richardson called Stone Horse Bistro. Had a Kirin Ichiban (my first, I know it’s irony all those years drinking Asahi Super Dry!) and a plate of Beef Yakisoba with Gyoza. The interesting thing is their version of Yakisoba did not have any cabbage in it but it did have quite a few vegetables and was a very well done affair and tasted perfect. The decor of this place is very modern Japanese trendy all wood and stone and metal. They had ESPN on the flat panels and a very wide bar. Then last night after work I went to Microcenter and found a 512MB stick of PC-100, a LaCie pocket hard drive that connects via firewire that is in this dead sexy shiny black plastic case. I previously went there and checked out their Apple Department, their books, bought a USB Wireless adapter that works with ancient Macs to give me 802.11 G and also a 7 port USB hub for real cheap (US$15.00). I think this is where I will buy my next Mac and it’s peripherals as their nicer than The Apple Store in Willow Bend and they’ve been around a very long time. I’ve been told to check out Fry’s in Plano, I may do that tomorrow as I have to go grocery shopping again. The summer is zipping by so fast.

First day

The first day at my new job was really nice. I have a good feeling about working with this company. I think it is going to be a lot of fun. I got lost driving home tonight even, but it wasn’t so bad. Well I’m going to bed early because I have to get up and hump it again tomorrow.

Another day

So I’m trying to figure out how to not be lazy. So many things to do, I should just stop procrastinating them and do them. It is a beautiful day outside but all my work I need to do is inside. Such is life. I hope everyone is enjoying themselves as much as I am here in DFW. Been busy making some friends and tomorrow will be the first day of the new job, too excited. I still need to do my change of address and get a library card, etc. How quickly life moves.

Relocated

Finally. I find msyelf living in the greater Dallas metroplex. The nice part about my location is that I’m very near a DART station and it will only take me 32min to get to work on the train each day. I can leave the truck at home. Yay! I’m very tired from the drive and everything but it’s going ok so far. Just humping boxes up the stairs. I may not sleep tonight. Don’t want anything to get rained on and I’d like to have the truck empty before tomorrow in case I have to go to Plano and do paperwork. Such is life these days.

Such a nice way to wake up

So today, I heard from my recruiter at Aerotek. I’m hired. Finally. They’re doing the background check and that should go through without any problem. I’m now working for AT&T doing UVerse Tier 2 tech support. It is a promotion, a pay raise, a relocation, and a lot of good benefits all rolled into one. Plus I will be in a union shop, for the first time ever. I have a feeling this will be the last contact center I ever put to work for me, it could just be a really long time I work there.I think it’s going to be a pleasure to work with AT&T.

Patience

Today.. started out nice, slept in after the hot date last night. Then eventually cleaned some house and went out and bought groceries. It was a really beautiful day. It did not get too hot or wet. Watched “The Incredibles” for the first time. It was interesting. Then did The Documentary Channel for awhile. I’m anxious about tomorrow. We’ll see what happens. I will pray and hope only for good news.

Heard from a previous manager, Wilda. She’s doing ok, had a fall and damaged the leg and it’s muscles. I had stayed with her through her hip replacement and then took her back and forth to work until she got a vehicle purchased. She gave me a recommendation for LinkedIn and so I did one for her as well. I really need to take some time and do them up for everyone on my contacts there it just doesn’t go fast enough over dialup. Even WordPress pushes the limits of 28.8kbps.

Today I also worked on the format and layout of this blog. It now looks much better. I added recipes and updated the resume page. Then I put key site photos in place, killed off my LiveJournal after migrating it’s content yesterday, it now only points here. Killed off the pages on iWeb ‘08 to prepare for migrating this site over there and testing that to see how it will work and if I want to go that way or not.

Now I only need to figure out the photos and the “Contact Me” type of page.

Decisions

*a long post* sorry guys, it’s just a lot has happened in a week.

So this past two weeks has created an opportunity in life. I decided to leave Shreveport. Followed the advice Chilembwe gave me. I found myself to be in an bad relationship with my housemate. He’s spent a lot of money on things that aren’t necessary but are for “feel good effect.” This isn’t the way I live and I don’t want to be around this because the outcome will not be good. All I can do is buy time to find a job and Shreveport isn’t doing it for me in that regards. My sister was right I should have never given up living on my own, so now I have to fight in my life to put things in order. Time to make decisions.

I found myself not employed and things not going well. There was no lease contract so I left. Packed all my stuff, left the whole kitchen and my bedroom furniture and left. He was upset about me not handing him my whole tax incentive for back rent and bills. Again, time to make a decision.

It’s my money I’m managing it. Since leaving I got a storage unit back home and have gone on a trip to DFW and interviewed with AT&T for Tier 2 technical support in the financial plaza. The managing company for this contract, I’ve worked for them before back when I was with Dell. I think the interview went extremely well. That night I went and looked for a new place to live and interviewed to be someone else’s house mate in Richardson. Again, no contract, I would rather be on my own but it’s more affordable than even what I had going in Shreveport. So this time I picked someone who doesn’t have a mortgage, just needs help for awhile. I also found an apartment that I can afford, also in Richardson for down the road once I get started and have money in the bank and my finances setup properly. Again, Decisions. When I get ready to have an apartment again I will be ready to buy all new furniture and setup a proper home.

So I was told that by yesterday I would hear from the contractor managing the hiring for AT&T. They still haven’t heard a decision, I’ll give them until end of business Monday before I resume hunting for other opportunities. The manager told me that there were a couple of people who didn’t dress properly or behave properly on the interview, so I have that down perfect. I was really impressed with the quality of people around Dallas and enjoyed walking around downtown between the towers, it reminded me of San Francisco, long ago.

I found out that a dear friend of mine has been diagnosed with Lymphoma. Not such good news. He’s a Marine, he’s strong, he can fight this. I will be praying for him. He told me about a new MMORPG that debuted today AoC. Something for him to spend time on while he’s having treatment, etc.

Khaled conference with me today. He’s working on a business venture that may turn into something very lucrative, just needed to brainstorm and help him feel good.

Diane has yet another teacher friend with an iMac that is in trouble. I told her to email me the details and I’d call them tomorrow to try and get that all started.

I may have a hot date tonight after 9pm, we’ll see, some local guy who wants to play, that’d be nice.