What was his project?

He wanted to stream a webcam pointing at a computer screen displaying a real-time graph of the temperature/ph of his fish tank. It was explained to him that there were better ways to get the data on the website than a stream of a computer screen.

JANUARY
• We went on our honeymoon to Walt Disney World
• We went public with the baby
• I was featured in a magazine article

FEBRUARY
• I attempted to install Windows Vista on my old laptop and it crapped out
• We celebrated our 3rd dating anniversary
• I froze my ass off twice a night in an unheated rehearsal space for the Odd Couple

MARCH
• We found out that the baby is a boy
• Our office toilet had a bad poop incident
• I finished the run of the Odd Couple at the Pitman Broadway Theater

APRIL
• I gave up the ghost and decided I really just didn’t love MMOGs anymore…but we’d still be friends
• I’m sure there was other stuff. The baby was eating our brains.

MAY
• Another academic year ends: myage++, freshman.age==freshman.age.
• We graduated from prenatal class.
• Mikey kicked me for the first time while I was laying next to Aimee in bed

JUNE
• I started applying for jobs in North Carolina. Que sera sera.
• We had the Baby Shower North, where it was mostly my family
• The Zombocalypse came
• HOLY CRAP WE WON THE UNIVERSITY SOFTBALL TOURNEY!!

JULY
• Aimee finished her thesis. I helped her format it. @#$!!!
• We waited for the baby to come
• and then we waited some more

AUGUST
• We saw the Simpsons Movie.
• THE BABY CAME!!!
• He brought baggage
• It was my 29th birthday

SEPTEMBER
• Students came back. It was pretty tough but we had Kelly so we got through it.
• I was hired-not hired-hired-not hired at Duke.
• Pavarotti died :(
• Things Were Set In Motion

OCTOBER
• Our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!
• Other stuff, I’m sure. Baby.

NOVEMBER
• I applied for the new position that opened here at Rowan
• Mikey got more like me every day
• My 360 Red Ringed
• We got a house!

DECEMBER
• I GOT MY NEW JOB
• WE GOT A GREAT MORTGAGE
• LIFE IS FANTASTIC!!

ALL LOVE!!!!

Some may remember this cryptic post from quite a while back. That was the first inkling of the possibility of the following announcement:

I have interviewed, passed the gauntlet, been offered and have accepted the offer of a promotion within my division at Rowan from Desktop Support to Junior Network Admin, Cisco Stuff.

This is also what was edging Aimee and I towards buying a house in the area. Fortunately this has now come true, and with my mortgage being based on the salary of my previous position we will have a good amount of breathing room within my paychecks to allow for Aimee to go back to work at her leisure, and to use her salary to pay off her school loans until we’re out from under them.

So we’ve gotten married, had a beautiful baby, almost moved to North Carolina, bought a house, and gotten a promotion.

My father has said, and Aims and I agree, that life seems to have fallen into place pretty nicely.

I’m willing to admit that I’m frustrated and upset over how things have been regarding North Carolina. At last count I’ve put about 30 or 40 resumes out there and come away with 1 phone interview and a screening that led to a face to face that went nowhere only after pushing me up and down like a sine wave for two weeks. If you’re still reading, Stephen (or anyone else from the department), I know it wasn’t personal. I haven’t checked the logs for any hits from duke.edu lately but I’m not really worrying about that anymore.

While my resume is still being shopped around down south, I’ve also applied for a new position here at the university. It’s a step up in grade, which means a good chunk of change. It’d lead to a CCNA, which is useful, and in no way related to PHP, SQL, or anything else that I apparently can’t prove to anyone’s satisfaction that I can do. There’s a web position that opened over in the library, but it was a lateral move that wouldn’t have helped me much, if at all.

It’s not to say that my life’s been derailed by it, but I’m back in a holding pattern. It also leads to the concept that if I get the new, better paying position here in Jersey that we’ll likely stick around for a while longer. Buying a house is something I completely want and need to do right now. The place we’re in is small and has so little room we have nowhere to put baby toys. It’s unbelievable, this kid has more stuff than either of us.

On that note, I’m tired and don’t really feel like writing about anything else right now.

Look, a pirate! YAR!

To-do list:
ComiXpress backend stuff
Flynn Interiors design
Talk to Fatima about HER site

I was gearing up to do web work for the next three weeks anyway. Might as well take the creativity and do something with it.

Even if I feel like a pole jumper trying to get over the wall around Jersey. And I keep seeing over the wall, but fall just short.

And smack into it.

People keep quizzing me on why I want to move to North Carolina so badly. To me, it’s not so much that I want to move out of New Jersey, but that it’s gotten so expensive to live here that I don’t know what else to do. I’m in a job that, while it’s not horrible, is slowly shriveling my soul. I can’t do support as a full-time thing anymore. There’s no creativity in it, just repetitive motions and repeated admonitions from my mouth and out their ears. While this job is soul-shriveling, it’s a state job. The benefits are fantastic. Healthcare is not an issue (except when they drag their feet getting your newborn onto your plan *grumble*) . The salary is OK. It’s more than a lot of people I know make for a single income.

But in this lousy state, it’s not enough. I don’t want an eighty year old house in Glassboro for $200,000. It’s not where I want my son to grow up. I don’t want to live in a place where the population density is to the point where if I want to avoid living up someone’s ass I have to move to the Pine Barrens or Millville. If I get this job, we’re moving, and it’s not without regret. I love New York City at Christmas. One of my favorite memories is when Aimee and I went to see the BNL Holiday Show, and we took the train in from New Brunswick, and got on the subway, walked across the street through crisp winter air and saw a great little show. New York positively crackles in winter. And it’s not to say that I don’t love Jersey at Christmas either.

It’s just a lot to deal with. I’ve been thinking about it for a long, long time. Yeah, Jeff got to me a while ago, but it took until I had a family to realize it. I joke that the streets are paved with gold in North Carolina, but to me it’s not so far off the truth. It’s a beautiful place to live. It’s a place I can afford to buy a great house for m son to start his life in and it’s a place where very close friends have done great things with their life.

And that’s where we’ll do it too.

*Because I’ve done plenty of interstate moves in my life with my family, just not as the primary person actually initiating and preparing the move. QED.

Fri Sep 07 192 Depart RALEIGH DURHAM (RDU) at 8:35 PM
Arrive in PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIO (PHL) at 9:50 PM

Meaning yeah, I got a face to face interview for a job at Duke. I’m worried about being away from the Little Bug for the night, but it’s a tremendous opportunity to get a great job, even if it’s contract-to-perm.

I’m really nervous, but I did a good enough job on the phone this morning that they want to see me. There was joking and back-and-forth with them, and the one guy is a musician, too. Worked at Disney for ten years. So that’s a good sign, right?

I was on a roll.

It’s now about a page and a half, skills-based with that objective sentence that I had there before.

Layout is as follows…

Name, address, phone numbers, centered at top, then my objective, and then my skills, broken out as follows:

Web Programming and Design
• Application development using PHP and MySQL in an Apache/Linux environment
• Installing, customizing and maintaining PHP and MySQL based applications such as the Drupal content management system, OSCommerce and Zen Cart storefronts
• Graphic and layout design using Adobe Photoshop and Imageready
• Web page layout using Adobe Dreamweaver, CSS and raw HTML
• Configuring, setup and securing of Linux-based servers and workstations
• Scripting in csh, sh and Perl

Networking
• Installing, testing and troubleshooting physical layer networking including Category 5/5e, 6, and fiber optic cabling
• Troubleshooting data layer of networking including TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, and DHCP
• Configuring, installing and troubleshooting 3Com SuperStack 1100 switches including power management
• Diagnosing, repairing and replacing patch panels and end-point terminals
• Siemon Authorized Cable Installer

Management
• Managing, training and budgeting for 20-person support staff
• Creation of custom training materials to focus on needed skills and situational responses
• Writing test materials for periodic skills assessment for staff members
• Managing a full service workshop for hardware and software diagnosis, repair and replacement

General Technical Skills
• Working in a team to support technology customers of varying skill and comfort levels
• Expert knowledge of Microsoft Windows, Macintosh OS 9 and 10, IRIX, Solaris and Linux (Red Hat, SUSE Enterprise, Slackware, Debian and Ubuntu)
• Installing operating systems for beta testing
• Setup and maintenance of RIM BlackBerry devices and other PDA/PIMs
• Dell Certified Repair Technician for all desktops, portables and printers

After this comes chronological Work Experience, my education with mention of AXP and Order of Omega, and “references available upon request.”

I have a PDF file if anyone wants to take a gander at it and tell me what I’ve done wrong.

For now, I go to bed. G’nite!