It's about time!

I have FINALLY regained employment after more than 6 MONTHS without it.

I would suggest the rest of you out the avoid that because it really SUCKS!

I'm really happy with my new place for more than the obvious reasons though. The first and foremost reason is the absolute lack of OFFICE POLITICS! If ever there was something that a workplace could do without, it's office politics. It turns out that the last place I worked was rife with it and I'm pretty sure I was a victim of that crap. Oh well! I'm over it now that I have this GREAT place to work! :)

Now that I'm gainfully employed again, (today was payday, btw) I think I'll feel more inclined to keep up with this here blog thing. Does that sound good to you? :)

This post was brought to you by the letters J, O, B, and the number 87.

Getting Some Interest

I've gotten calls recently, so it appears that things are possibly getting a little better. No interviews yet, but we're working on it.

Wish me luck!

This post was brought to you by the letters J, O, B, and the number 13.

Still a statistic.

Well, It's been 2 months since I was so unceremoniously laid off. Can I just tell you that it was at the beginning of the worst time of the year for finding a new job? Yeah, well, I've been unemployed for 2 months and I'm not happy about it at all.

I can tell you all this one thing, however, office politics absolutely sucks!!! Yes, folks, it was office politics in the corporate HQ that cost me my job. My salary was cutting into someone's bonus I suppose. Oh well. I was becoming disenchanted with that place anyway. The feeling there was moving in a toxic direction.

Anyway, I'm in Salt Lake City and looking for a Sr. Systems Administrator position in a Windows environment. I think I'll just go ahead and spend some of the money to take the exams so I can have the piece of paper that says I know what I'm doing. That piece of paper also allows me to add a bunch of letters after my name. :) I think I'll go for the MCITP Cert and build it up so that I can build up some interest.

I'd just like to extend my appreciation to you all (what 3 of you now?) for continuing to read my silliness. Thanks for the messages of support and well wishes.

This post was brought to you by the letters J, O, B, and the number 7.

A Statistic...

I am now a statistic. I was laid off from work yesterday. I am now among the millions of unemployed folks in the country.

THIS SUCKS!!!

Do any of you readers (all three of you) know of a Windows shop in or around Salt Lake City that needs a Sr. Systems/Network Administrator? I can also be a Database Administrator, though it's not my preference.

I think my lay off was politically motivated, because they used me as a scape goat for someone else's oversight. They've made some other personnel moves that have made me wonder a bit recently too. That's how it shakes out I suppose.

My resume is up to date, so now I'm searching again. Wish me luck in finding something really soon? Please?

This post was brought to you by the letters N, E, E, D, A, J, O, B, and the number 73.

Interesting.

Just how much stock can a person place on announcements on April 1? :) Why not see what the Queen has to say about those sorts of things. An additional hint could be found in the sponsors of my last post. A little rearranging and you'll get there. :)

Good news! I now have an office at work! I got a call this morning asking which tasks I was working on and to move my equipment into an office around the corner. Apparently this office was earmarked for me already, but I wasn't put into it when I was hired. Go figure! :) I no longer have a window, but I do have an office.

I'll have to use the company webcam for a periodic view of the outside. :) Besides, I'm in IT and we typically don't like too much of the "Evil Day Star." :)

This post was brought to you by the letters O, F, F, I, C, E, and the number 23.

1 Month!

Today marked 1 month at the new job. So far, so good. I'm getting the hang of things and people seem to appreciate my efforts and understand that I'm new. I think it'll all work out and I'm beginning to understand how all the software interacts with the various databases. Yay! :) I've put a lot of hard work into learning the particulars of this specific position.

Next week I have training for 3 days which means 3 consecutive days of getting there at 7:00 and leaving at 14:30. Joy - NOT!

So far this week the pager has disrupted my sleep each and every night. I'm hoping tonight will be different, but I doubt it. Anyway, I just wanted to mark the occasion. :) Now I can get back to my regular posting. :)

This post was brought to you by the letters D, B, A, and the number 1.

Leashed!

I am now officially leashed! My new job has seen fit to provide me with a cell phone/pager with which to keep me in tune with the SQL Servers.

Yipee!

Then again, maybe not. Along with the leash, I was informed today that I'm now going to get a turn in the rotation... starting on FRIDAY!!! As in 2 days from now! Sheesh! I thought I had until at least the 1st of next month before I was thrown to the wolves. Oh well... :)

Wish me luck!

This post was brought to you by the letters T, R, E, O, and the number 750.

First Week

The first week is now over and I've started the second week. I have to say that last week was nothing but tiring. There was so much information thrown at me that I haven't recovered yet.

I will say that so far this week, I've had a chance to digest more of the information that from last week. I've been able to actually USE some of it productively. :) Yay me! I still have quite a way to go with it though.

They're interested in me enough to have me look into some training courses they could send me to which means they're interested in investing more into me. It also could mean that they think I need a lot of help, but we'll just stay on the positive, right? :) Right!

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you how things were going at the new place. I'll post at a later date!

This post was brought to you by the letters D, B, A, and the number 2005.

Day One.

Today was my first day at my new job. I met some pretty nice folks there and I think I'll be fine there once I get up to speed. I'll have a bit of homework to do in order to freshen up my DBA skills. Ayone know where I can find some good, free, online tutorials? :)

Please keep in mind that it's possible that I've seen a particular tutorial, but I appreciate anything that you recommend, because it's quite possible that I didn't see it with my search. :)

Anyway, I'm off to do a little homework. Wish me luck at work!

This post was brought to you by the letters J, O, B, and the number 5.

Accepted!

I have accepted the position I was offered yesterday. There is a pay increase of just over 12.5%, a LOT more benefits (costing me slightly less out of pocket), and a TON less responsibility. Not to mention, the company is a LOT more stable than my old one.

I'd say I'm MUCH better off now. :)

My thanks to Dubby and everyone else for the great reference. I start work at 8am on Monday!!! Woot!

This post was brought to you by the letters J, O, B, and the number 18 - yeah, I repeated the sponsors - sue me. :)

An Offer!

Today, I picked up a packet of paper from my second choice of employment. It is a job offer and since it appears that the curse of "The Financial Department" has delayed the decisions of my first choice, I'll probably accept it.

As a result of the curse, it will be a couple more weeks at least until my first choice would have an offer for me. The other drawback about my first choice is that they want to bring 3 contractors for a short term contract and at the end, offer the best 1 person the position. The offer I got today from my second choice is a direct hire position. Which do you think is better for me and you only get 1 guess? :)

I'm pretty sure that unless my first choice pulls something out of a hat (like an offer for a permanent position) tomorrow morning, I'll be accepting this offer. They want me to start on Monday. Can you tell I'm pleased? :)

This post was brought to you by the letters J, O, B, and the number 18.

The Interview

It went well! :) I'm happy to say that it went much better that I had anticipated. I was grilled of course, but the same thing had been done to me when I interviewed for the place that just gave me my pink slip.

I was impressed with the scrutiny of the people interviewing me and I think they were impressed with my responses, at least the remarks they were giving each other during the process seemed to indicate that. They also said to me point blank that they were recommending me for a second interview. They also used some of the interview time for the next guy to talk to me further. After they kept me for 15 minutes of the next guy's interview time, they introduced me to the man I'd be having the second interview with and I talked to him for an additional 20 minutes. I'm not sure if I had my second interview already or not. :)

Their plan is to bring in 3 people on a temp-to-perm basis for this job, work us like mad for a month or so, and then keep the 1 or 2 that did the best. They seemed to indicate that I was by far the best of the crop they had interviewed to date.

Wish me luck! We'll see what comes of it.

This post was brought to you by the letters L, U, C, K, and the number 1.

Interview...

In less than 2 hours, I have an interview with a local company. Although it's another smaller company, I'm hoping it will go well. If it does, then I'll have income again after only a short time without. :) I really like the sound of that. If it's not what I'm interested in, at least I'll have had a chance to polish up my interviewing skills.

Wish me luck! I'll post later today with my impressions on the interview.

This post was brought to you by the letters H, O, P, E, and the number 3.

The Search Goes On...

So far the search has been exhausting. I've looked into at least 60 positions and have applied for about 30 of them. I have a lot more to do, but I have confidence that I'll have a new job by the end of the month. Wish me luck in achieving that goal. :)

Anyway, if you're wondering why I haven't posted since last Tuesday, this should answer that question. I apologize for not posting something about my situation sooner.

This post was brought to you by the letters R, E, S, U, M, E, and the number 30.

Nailed!

The hammer fell today at work and I happened to be one of the 2 folks caught under it. That's right people, I was laid off today any I'm not happy about it. I could rant and rave about how I hate the company and spit bile about the situation, but I won't. I'll simply say that through no fault of my own, I'm no longer a full-time employee there (I'm a contractor until the end of the month) and I'm available to anyone looking for a full-time Senior Systems/Network Administrator in the Salt Lake City area.

The owner of the company decided he wanted to suck more money out of the company into his own pocket and decided that since he doesn't like IT, I was just so much overhead. He'll find out shortly, when the systems begin to crash that I wasn't for show. I wish the rest of the IT staff good luck in finding employment elsewhere, because they'll need it.

Stay tuned for the next development...

This post was brought to you by the letters P, I, N, K, S, L, I, P, and the number 2.

Equipment's here! Anyone have time to put it in place?

The equipment I mentioned in my previous post has arrived. Unfortunately, I haven't had very much time to work on getting it in place. I need my boss to allow me to take the company offline for a day so I can relocate the equipment to the rack where it'll be more safe in case of environmental issues (the collapse of the $30 folding Wal-mart table that $16-$20 K of hardware sits on that happens to house the company's entire business. At least I'll be able to mount every server as well as all the tele-com equipment in the rack once I get the chance to really work on it. The next few days to weeks will be really busy.

This post was brought to you by the letters S, L, E, E, P, and the number 0.

Possible change...

Hi all,
Sorry to have been so long since my last post, but I'm considering a change. I'm not going to go into details, because this post will turn into a rant if I do. It's work-related, so don't worry yourself too much about it. It may take a while before I work it out and get back into regular posting.

This post was brought to you by the letters U, N, D, E, R, P, A, I, D, and the number 1.3.