Ugh ugh ugh...

So I get home tonight and guess what? My apartment had been broken into. Yep...came in through the bedroom window and either they got scared or I was coming in the door at the same time because they got away with the laptop and my DVD player but looked like they made a mad dash to leave after that. WHY?????

Going to look for a new place today...bastards.

Weekly update

Well I've bounced back pretty well from the "bad" interview and learned what I needed to know to succeed on them from here on out. One things about the failures in your life is that they shine a bright light on what you need to improve upon and find ways to get it done. So I've picked myself up, dusted myself off and I'm back in the game again. Learning the skills (I know them...just didn't know them as completely as I thought) and filling in the gaps. I learned that I have a broad understanding of the big picture of life but I'm really not versed in the basics of what makes up that big picture.

For instance I know a lot about the events of the recent atrocities in the Balkans in the 1990's, but never really knew about the backgrounds of the groups, the motivations, the religious backgrounds or the long history between all of them that had been held in check by communist laws preventing one group lording it over another. It's amazing how much you keep up with the news and events and yet still only have a minute idea of what's really going on beneath the surface. Same thing with my job. My job over the last couple of months was "BIG PICTURE" instead of working the smaller more intricate issues that put together made the framework of the big picture. So now I know those smaller more intricate issues now and I'm a lot more prepared moving forward for the next stage of the interview process or for those interviews in the future.

In other news I'm doing more spring cleaning, this time with my home computer set up. I've bought a new laptop and decided to rid myself of the "network" I have at home which perform different functions where this lap top will perform all of them as well as being a mobile work station. Even better is that a lot my equipment could still be sold on ebay or craigslist and probably pay for about 30-40% of my new laptop. I'm trying to scale my life back a bit in anticipation of leaving my job and perhaps taking a lower paying job somewhere else and frankly that will mean moving out of my place to something cheaper and smaller and I have a lot of stuff that I frankly just don't need anymore.

I'm still in the gym trying to keep mostly in shape but haven't commited back to BFL yet. I'm hoping that once things smooth out in the next couple of weeks with work, interviews and what not I'll have time to devote to it. As it is I'm working 14-15 hour days, my gym isn't open at the times I am available to work out and frankly I'm not getting enough sleep to support the program as it is right now to be able to do 5-6 days a week of BFL. I know, I know it sounds like excuses and I'm trying to find ways to poke holes in those excuses like buying weights to work out at home, so we'll see about that as well.

Hope everyone is doing well :)

So yeah...

Well had my technical interview this morning...pretty much got my ass handed to me. I knew it would be tough for a couple of reasons. Firstly the fact that I have EXTREME test anxiety worked against me yet again, secondly I didn't really get the scope of the test questions until about 24 hours before the test, thirdly, it's technology that I've worked with but I'm not terribly familiar with and fourthly...well I don't know the guy was just damn intimidating on the other end of the phone. He told me that I'm not out of the running because of the interview but that I would need to study up considerably and have another interview in person. Well that made me a feel a little better but it also made me worry considerably more, however, I think I know now what I need to study in terms of the next interview. Ugh. So it may be another two weeks which blows. In the mean time I'm going to study my ass off but also really do some soul searching on whether or not to stay in IT. It's not that I don't want this job, it's more that my brain is such mush when I leave AT&T after work that I'm frankly too stupid for television much less studying up on technical jargon. Anywho that's the update. I'm going to work now and having my ass handed to me there as well.

Aced the first interview...

Okay so far so good. I aced the first interview with the manager which was a general Q&A session. He liked what he heard and I will be having a technical interview on Tuesday at 9 am to get the next stage completed. This is the hard interview so I'm a bit nervous about this one because you never know what they are going to come up with during these Q&A session but hey I guess that means I need to study this weekend and come up with the correct answers right? Hopefully it will go well and I'll be one step close. I'm pretty confidant in a lot of my abilities but I don't "test" well so that's my biggest fear...but the guy said it was open book so I can't imagine how I could do too bad at it. So again I'll keep you all posted!!

Got the callback...

Okay well it's still moving along. I got a call today from the hiring manager (I was asleep) and he said he was very interested in talking to me. This sounds like good stuff so far!! I called back and left him a voice mail so hopefully this will lead to something more solid like a face to face interview. It's weird I haven't had a job interview in over 5 years, I need to buy a new suit too...holy crap!! Well first things first I guess...gotta talk to the guy, wow him over the phone or beg him, then get the interview time set up, then go look for a suit, then study my ass off on everything he could ask me...sheesh...this is going to be nuts it's like going on a first date with a girl you REALLY REALLY like!!

Closer the freedom...

Well I heard that the hiring manager was impressed with my resume and that I should be expecting a call either at the end of this week or early next week which is...yeah...nice.

Jennifer you asked where I worked? I work as a network engineer for the largest phone company in America. I want name any names but they used to be called Ma Bell lol!! Essentially I monitor corporate data networks world wide and fix any outages or loss of services when I see them. It's a stressful job to be honest because of all the layoffs as we have too much work and we can't do the work. Thus the reason I'm wanting to leave. I work nights which is bad enough, the stress just makes it worse.

So all in all things seem to be goign in the right direction we'll see where it takes me.

This could change a lot of things...

Okay folks I have some big news...I got an opportunity to apply for another job!! Yeah something that pays about the same, doesn't have NEAR the stress and pressure and might have normal working hours...or at least a constructive and positive work environment. It's an IT job but it's with a manufacturer and it's technically not a competitive job with my current one since I'll be doing different work and might actually be supporting people at my current job as a vendor. It's still IT but it's a lot more of the IT work I was always wanting to do to begin with and it's paced well enough that if I'm still not wanting to do IT after even after I get this job I still have a job that has my life mostly back to normal and not swimming in a sea of craziness, 16 hour days and constant futility. Wish me luck everyone...please send any positive vibes because hey...this means I can blog again ha ha ha ha ha !!!

My Page is the Saudi Jump Point to BubbleButt Action!!!

Okay Carol...I was amused intially that you were getting some Saudi Arabian Bubblebutt fans...but now...you...you...you HARLOT!! They're using my page to view your Bubblebutt ways!! LMAO!!

Here is the referring page per my site meter stats:

http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?cp=1252&q=&q=bubblebutt&first=41&FORM=PERE4

Anymore of this and I'll have to start charging a monthly fee for access to my lovely stable of blends :)

Too much work not enough time...

Well I've managed to steal a moment away to update again. Well as you may have seen in the new yesterday, my company is in talks to buy Bellsouth and so what does that mean? Well apparently even more work. Sheesh. So I've made another decision concerning work and frankly it's my time to shine, get some more credibility and then leave. I've decided to bust my ass, be the best worker and mentor I can be and leave my job on a high note. My shift had a meeting last night and we were told that our shift (the most productive, innovative and fine tuned btw) would need to start changing up our hours to offset some of the problems the other shifts were having. Essentially what I've found is that our shift succeeds for a number of reasons, we have great communication, we're not afraid to try new techniques, work smarter instead of harder and overall have a good time. The other shifts seem to keep doing the same thing over and over and over again and keep failing. I've been studing the problem shift (days) in particular and found over 6 different ways to improve their fluidity, workflow and communication which I feel would definitely improve their attitude and team morale. I made those points at the meeting and even went so far as to volunteer my time in the short term to show those teams OUR way of doing things and let them see it in action instead of through an email, powerpoint or just weekly numbers. So in short depending on how things come about at our meeting at the end of the week after I've now stuck my neck out, I may be working 14-16 hour days Mon-Fri trying to help my overall center improve parts of their workloads while my other peers on my team do the same in their areas. Why am I doing this? Hey nothing looks better to a manager, a reference or on a resume than someone who goes above and beyond what they are doing to help a larger group of people. Also...it's a bit therapeutic because for once they are stepping back and letting the people on the floor try and fix the problems instead of letting managment try quick solutions that never worked in the past to begin with. If anything I get a chance to put my ideas forth and see if they work on a larger level. If they don't at least I got the shot and if they do then that makes my job overall a LOT easier because everyone is working smarter instead of harder and we've got more time for innovation and making things better instead of using elbow grease and sweat and still being counterproductive.