Category: Work News

Last Full Day In Oregon

2012-01-08 23:29:04

Today is the last day for me in this office. Tomorrow, I will fly home – never to return. I’m kinda sad, but I’m also happy that I’ll be spending all week next week at home. I’ll even be working in my office at the house on project documentation. Then: I’m available for re-assignment… It’s unknown where I’ll be.

That’s the Catch-22 of this job: the changing environment. Project-hopping gives me some great experience and variety when it comes to my professional environment – it also sucks for making long-range plans and having stability and consistency in ones life; and I never really get to finish anything.

So: it’s off to home tomorrow, and next week – into the Great Unknown.

Windows XP SP2

I have done it. I “service packed” my work laptop. They told me not to, but I did it anyway. I’ve been running it all day and haven’t noticed any loss in functionality, so I guess I’m okay. I even checked the most frequently used ‘business critical’ [hours tracking and expense tracking] applications and they worked all right. The only major “issue” was the inclusion of the new XP firewall on every single one of my existing network connections. Needless to say, since I have a different firewall application on the laptop, I have disabled that functionality on my network connections. I do like the built in pop-up blocker – now I can uninstall my third-party toolbars which did the same thing…

Last Week In The Rain Forest

2012-01-08 23:29:03

I looked at the weather for Houston today: 95 – feels like 107. Yeah. Hot. Here, the weather was: 73 – feels like 73. Nice. Unfortunately, my tenure in Portland is drawing to a close. [Or rather, fortunately since I get to spend some time at home – which rarely happens.] Next week is my last week here in Portland. Following that, I will be producing project documentation from the house – yes: a week totally AT HOME! It will be a welcome time – that is if I can stay focused! All in all, I rather like Portland and Oregon. The people are friendly and the land is beautiful. However, as nothing on this earth is forever, this project is over and I’m ready for a change. After this I’m not entirely sure where I’ll be, but I’m trying to scam a long-term European project. But then: don’t I always try that? Since I keep whining on how I never know where I’m going to be, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to changing that – possibly looking for a new job. Yes, I have been with my company for almost 9 years now [something unheard of these days in the IT industry] and they have treated me somewhat well [at least at first they did] and definitely kept me fed. But they are unable to provide me with any long-term stability. I need that now. I’d like my vacations to be a break in the routine – not yet another trip. I’d like my family life to be more than “just visits on weekends”. I need to feel a part of a community and the only “community” I get is work… and work sucks as a substitute. Enough. I needed to vent. Signing off: I have to catch the shuttle to the Max [light rail in Portland].

Vacation!

Well, yes, but not mine. Laura will be coming with me next week as I work in Portland. She will be on vacation. I will be working. But, even though I will be separated from her during the day, I will be able to spend time with her every day – that’s something I’m not normally able to do. My job is such that I’m usually away – and I don’t like it anymore.

Does anyone know of a job I can do mostly from home? That would be nice… if I could concentrate…

Heat Exchange

I have decided that one of the best trade-offs of my job is the fact that I get to leave Hot Humid Houston behind for a while and experience summer as those in the Northern climes do. It was a whopping 80 degrees here yesterday – sweltering hot for Portland. Of course, I’m just trying to find the good in what I’m forced to do: I really don’t want to travel this much anymore. Having a loving wife keeps me wanting to go home.

Taxation Without Representation

It’s that time again: I now have worked long enough [from my employer’s perspective] in Oregon to contribute to their state’s economy. Funny, though. I benefit very little from this arrangement. In fact, although I will now pay taxes in Oregon, I do not have a residence and can therefore not vote. Didn’t we fight some war over this kind of thing with England a couple of hundred years ago? I wonder: how legal is this really?

Need Sleep

Yesterday was a very long day. I worked a day and a half after traveling many hours to the job site in Hillsboro, Oregon. Then, I got 2 or 3 hours of sleep and spent another full day at work. It really still feels like yesterday to me. Now, these days are FULL. I used to have some “blow-off” time every day between tasks, but that seems to be a thing of the past on this project. Maybe I’m just realizing the full import of the new level of responsibility… or maybe I’m just pushing myself too hard. Either way makes for poor rest.

Tonight, though. I got off work early: 7pm and am now back in the hotel having a quiet room service meal before turning in by 9:30pm. Sound crazy? Not to me! I really need some sleep… Of course, I need to make the sun go down soon. Northern latitudes are inconsistent with daylight hours throughout the year.

Large And In Charge

Much to my chagrin, they have made me the lead for this project. I’m not sure how it happened – in fact, it kinda snuck up on me. All that is left to me is to do my best and hope all works out well. So: while I’m at high elevations here in Colorado Springs panting with every other step in the thin air, I am learning the burden of responsibility. What is that burden you might ask? Tasks. Lists. Timetables. Juggling. It’s organization and time management. In fact, I probably shouldn’t even be typing this because I could certainly use my time better elsewhere! But, I did need to write it down and I so love to share…

While I’m here I will try to see friends and maybe even visit my sister in Wyoming. Too bad I forgot the camera – I coulda taken cool pictures from Pike’s Peak.

Working Again?

After one week of training and one additional week of bench time, I’m ‘working’ a little again. I am helping a sales group with some proposal work for Active Directory. However, I have been waiting all weekend for a phone call that would send me to work in some mid-western town [name of town/city/state unknown]. From what I understand, the opportunity would be great for my career development. But – I heard NOTHING all weekend. I even took my computer with me on Easter weekend to check my email in case they couldn’t reach me by phone. No calls, no emails. Now they tell me it might be later this week or early next…

I will say, though, that my new computer backpack is great. Not only does it fit all of my electronic gear, but it fits my financial materials and a few study books as well. There’s even room for more!

Networking

I have been told that I may now persue Cisco certification. I will begin with the CCNA program – that’s the ground level for Cisco. My goal will be to obtain CCIE but that might take years since it’s not my core job function to work with the switches and routers. So – it’s book study for me here…