Good ol Sky Mall..always entertaining

For those of you unfamiliar with Sky Mall it is a magazine that sits in the pouch on the back of chairs on flights that is a mix between Sharper Image and Crate And Barrel -sorta-. Always have the habit of reading this on flights because of how funny some of the products are. I found this on my latest flight and couldn't help but laugh. Are there people out there who have to bring their ipod to the toilet to drop a load? Couldn't you chill on the music for 10 minutes or so? Or do you have problems in that department and need to scream along to your favorite death metal track? This is coming from a person obsessed with technology but does not own an IPOD or an mp3 player for that matter (unless you count my phone but I don't use it). Personally I just don't get it.

If for some odd reason you saw this and said 'COOL' here is the link

Ipod...uhh toilet roll music player docking station thingee?

Don't you love getting back to the grind after vacation?

Let me give you a little bit of a back story before I post up this email I got that jump started my first day back from vacation. 3 weeks ago there was a little mishap with our local Windows update server and Internet Explorer 7 (not on my end and this was explained). Alot of users downloaded the update and it automatically installed IE7 messing up our time card software "TimeKeeper". The minute I realized what happen an email went out to the entire office explaining how to change the link provded on their desktop. Since engineers are notorious for not reading email and this guy especially loves to wield his god-like power over the corporate worker bees here this is the email I got.....

"Evidently the new software installed itself on my computer and I am locked out of Timekeeper.

Rather than me wasting 20 minutes finding your email and fixing the problem, please take 10 minutes Tuesday morning @ 10:30 while I am in a meeting and care of it .

Asshole"

More like rather then me wasting 10 minutes @ 10:30 why didn't you spend 3 minutes to read the email and 2 minutes to move the link to your desktop from that email weeks ago? If you really want to get technical it would take him another minute to search for the email AGAIN by hitting control+F , typing my name, and the word timekeeper. What a douche. Not even an hour "back into the grind" and I am reminded just how awesome it is to be a corporate biatch. He just as easily could have said 'Hay could you help me with the Internet Explorer and TimeKeeper issue you emailed us about while I am at a meeting' like so many other people have done company wide.

Ramblings of someone delayed 4 hrs on Memorial Day

I've been asked many times why I write a blog. Or I've just straight out been told im 'lame' for having a blog by my roommate. First and foremost I do not think my opinion is more important then anyone else's. I do not think I am an authority on being a corporate worker bee, corporate life, or anything else I post about. What I say and do on here is simply one opinion, one point of view of millions and millions. I do not do this for attention nor do I do it because I think so highly of myself that I feel that people NEED to know what I am thinking or how I feel (which is why I try to post as a generic 'corporate worker bee' more times then not). If anything comes off that way, it is not on purpose. If you were to go back to 2004 archived posts, when I started this blog, I did so out of frustration. My boss at the time drove me fucking nuts and I needed a way to vent. Everyone in the office loved him so I couldn't vent to them. My friends couldn't quite understand. I couldn't yell and it was important to just shut up to get my foot in the door in IT. No one read my blog except me. Not that many people even read it now. The point never was to be one of those "bloggers" who wants to be the next e-celebrity (no disrespect to Perez Hilton) or even have people who constantly go to my blog each day. Really it is a way for me to look back and see what the fuck I was thinking or doing on a particular day. When I look at the song I re-wrote to vent as my second entry ever I remember exactly what I was thinking when I did it. If people find anything interesting or funny, then that is a major plus. It would be a lie if I said I don't like when a co-worker emails me to say that one of my rants about the office is funny. If no one came to this blog that is fine too. If someone avoids craiglist on their path to find a new IT job because of my personal opinion on it, that's cool. If not, that is also cool. Hopefully in a few years I can come back and laugh at the stupid haiku I wrote about craigslist or how naive I was for viewing work the way I do. Shit, who knows maybe I find the job of my dreams on craigslist and look like an idiot for bashing it. People reading this long winded entry probably wonder why I don't just keep a journal, well there is a few reasons for that. One being that I am obsessed with the Internet and always in front of a computer. I could keep a journal in word format on my computer but there is always that chance the HD could burn out, it could get stolen, or in this case I leave the company that provided the laptop I mainly write on. It is also accessable from any spot that has an internet connection. On vacation in Austin I was able to use another computer to make an entry. Another is that typing on a keyboard works so much better for me as far as getting thoughts into words. For whatever reason a pen seems to slow that down. Plus you don't exactly photocopy articles you want to keep and staple them into a journal. Honestly I am just lazy. It is much more simple to copy and paste or type on a keyboard. No attempt to be deep here.


God damn, this whole entry is now the opposite of what I wanted to be! I'm turning into a blogger. My excuse is my flight home has been delayed 4 hrs and I have nothing better to do on the plane or at the terminal. Boredom and frustration really fuel most of the entries.

6th street continued...

Since we couldn't get enough of 6th street the night before we hit the street again after checking out the capital building. Saturday night is much more busy then it was Friday night. Around 11-12 or so the streets were packed with people and looked like a mini-mardi gras type area.

I was able to find a short video someone else shot when they were in Austin to give everyone an idea of what it is like. The video is not that clear but you get the picture. It really does go off. In fact is was more busy last night then it was in this video.

6th street in Downtown Austin, Texas

6th street in Downtown Austin, Texas is DOPE! If you are ever in that area and love to drink for cheap, love live rock, and just having a good time you need to stop down there. For three of us to go out and drink the entire night it was like 60 bucks which included seeing a really really good blues band that is local to Austin Texas. The show was free as long as you walked into the bar, how fuckin cool is that? The band is called Trent Turner and the Moontowers...they put on a hell of a show and everyone should check out his site

http://www.trentturnermusic.com/

We bought two CDs and left some money in their tip jar. Honestly watching him have a crazy guitar solo using his tongue was enough to bring in like 10 ladies walking down 6th street. He tried to hit on my GF but hay, the music was good enough to where it was ok HAHA

I am now the Corporate Vacation Bee for the next few days

A picture off the wing of the Skywest/United flight I took from John Wayne Airport to Denver International Airport. This is as we are coming into Denver on my way to Austin, Texas for a mini vacation over the Memorial Day weekend. So right now the job search is on hold, fixing god damn computers is on hold, and just about anything but relaxing...well sort of. This is how much my job has moved into my personal life. Last night when I was sleeping I had a dream that the new Cheif Technology Officer (that's his title unofficially but that is what he does for the company I work for) asked me to stay in Austin another day to work out of that office. How fucked up is that? Even on vacation I think about work.

Monster.com doing some shady business practices?

So just now I got an email from 'American Century Investments' telling me "thank you for my interest in my free 401(K) roll over kit." Now I don't have the best memory in the world but I think I would remember signing up for something like this. After about a minute or two of trying to remember where the hell this could have come from an email from Monster.com shows up. Guess what that says? That Monster.com recomends that I sign up with them and then in that same email says that my inquiry has been submitted on my behalf. Now correct me if I am wrong that a recommendation is not the same as being told to do something. Some may say that is not that big of a deal and Monster sells information off all the time. I know that obviously. The problem I have is with the fact that this investment company actually thinks I want or need their services. I am sure they pay Monster.com per user who signs up and I find it very funny that I was used to generate money under false pretense. Plus to make matters worse it is only a matter of time before I get calls or emails from some person with a real fancy title (Senior Advice Specialist) telling me about all the great benefits of using American Century Investments to manage my 401(k) roll over.

That is a strike against Monster.com which up until this point has been a good place to help on the job search.

As for the job search update...I have an interview with a really impressive company within the next few weeks. They are going to fly me out to meet with them in Denver and everything. Hopefully all goes well. This was all setup up using good ol fashioned networking at a conference that I attended a few weeks ago. Sometimes the old fashioned way of doing things is still the best.

Corporate Worker Bee Job Hunt: Entry 2 of ????

Now you know how I feel about craigslist I am going to move on to Monster.com which is a typical place to go if you are doing what I call "new-age job searching". The service itself is actually pretty good and I have found a number of quality job offers on this site, not quite ones I personally want, but it has brought in some very good leads. Just not ones that matched my taste. Maybe I am being too picky? Mainly the good jobs were coming from LA County more so then Orange County but that is expected as LA is a much bigger job market. I'll list a few personal pros/cons that I've come across.

Pros:
Better leads then alot of other online places to find jobs
You can setup searches to go and dig for you automatically every day (very useful)
Some interesting tips and advice on all things career related if you spend the time
It's still free

Cons:
The networking section (for me at least) has not been as good as I thought it would be
The ads are very annoying but expected as I did not pay to be a premium member
The resume builder is pretty generic and I feel it has kept me from getting certain opportunities, better off making one yourself and uploading it.

All in all it is a good place to go to find a job. So far on my list it ranks higher then everything else except for good old fashioned networking. Much better then the classifieds and randomly applying to various locations.

I bashed craigslist yet I still went to it this morning to see if any new jobs posted. Why? Heck I don't know, it is free and that is about the only reason why.

Corporate Worker Bee looking for new hive

How many entries will I have before I find a new hive? Hopefully not a hundred. I'd like to have a new job or direction by the end of summer at least.

This is week #3 officially of my job hunt. I am not 100% dedicated at this point but I thought I'd start the long process. Every entry for the next _____ amount of time is going to be on my expierences and everything that goes along with finding a brand new job. So far I've done what most people would have done. I've tried more traidtional ways of finding perspective jobs, Networking and good ol hook ups from friends. I've also have been using newer methods of looking for jobs, Monster.com and Craigslist. The haiku below should explain how the later is working out for me

craigslists weak prospects
H-R can't even spell job names
posts are decieving

If you were to go to Craigslist to look for a job in any of the categories they have you will find ALOT of misspelled enteries. Why would someone want to work for people who cannot spell Computer Technician right? Not just in one post but for multiple days. Employers should be able to spell the title of the person they want to hire. Not only that but alot of the jobs are not exactly what they say. Be wary if you do ever plan to go there to find a job. I went on a job interview the other day with a company that wanted someone who "had extensive computer knowledge (especially CAD) and experience supporting users/clients". When I showed up for the interview I was told the job would entail answering phones, do data entry, and what amounted to being UPS boy at some seedy office in Santa Ana.

Next entry: Monster.com....

Ahh the roaming co-worker in your dept, don't you love em?

For those of you who have a co-worker in your dept (or even a boss) that floats around the office like a lost soul for many many many wasted minutes upon end a game has been created just for you! With the help of a handful of Corporate Worker Bees this system and rule set has been developed.

The title? "Guess How Many Times ______ Goes to the _____ ? " We are allowing you to customize our game to suit your needs

Here is how it works...

At the begging of each morning send an email out to other co-workers or friends who know of FLOATER and ask them to take a guess of how many points they will rack up in one work day. For our game we used the front desk as the main location. Once everyone has guessed find someone that can easily look up to see if they are at said location ( The worker bees in the mail room who bust their ass help me as they have to route mail multiple times per day). That or I just look my self seeing as I am going around the office too.........to help users or go to the bathroom.

Here is the scoring system:

Person at said location (we use the front desk) = 1 pt.
Person at front w/ person they have a office crush on (may not apply to all) = 2pts.
Person at the cubicle of office crush = 4 pts.
Person running to go fetch cold stone, starbucks, or food for office crush = 5 pts.

The person with the closest amount of points becomes the winner and can be given any award you like.

Or if you happen to sit in the path of the person who has an addictive urge to wander instead of work (like myself, my desk has to be passed to get to the rest of the office) you can count the sheer amount of times they get up to socialize. We ran a test run for this game yesterday and the offending party got up 18 times (no joke) to go up to the front desk to socialize.

The more you know......

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

Google that!

Hotel room bordem vol. 1

If this doesn't show how bored I got at the hotel room last night and this morning...I do not know what will. Hopefully there is not a vol. 2 tomorrow because I was unable to sleep.

Google Maps to places i've been code name "London" (in regular speak a work in progress)

There is a few good places to eat on the map if you are ever in those areas and what my stay was like at some of the local hotels.