Job Update

I found something better than maintenance - something that I could be a little more proud of. It's right in the path of my degree (which still hasn't been approved as a real degree when I posted this.) Starting late in September, I started in the I.T. Department of a professional NBA team. Yes. I work in the Energy Solutions Arena with the Utah Jazz. Not the website, but keeping all the computers working.

I've seen Deron Williams (@D_will_8_4real) on Twitter in the halls of the Energy Solutions Arena and have said "Hi." to Kyle Korver (he didn't respond and my Twitter friends call it rude, but it was still pretty cool seeing him in person.) I've even had Greg Miller (@GreginUtah), the owner, serve me a waffle for the Christmas breakfast on Christmas Eve. I've stood in the locker room with Gary Briggs, their trainer and the sports medicine guy you see bandaging them up when they get hurt. It's fun teasing my friends about my privileges.

As far as the actual work. It's the first job I've ever actually liked and I think that says a lot.

Still Employed, School is Long, Summer Come Soon

I'm still employed. Everyday, fellow employees joke about how long I have until I'm fired/laid off. I swear, theres a fucking office pool going around.

Currently, I'm in the middle of a project that no other employee in my department is capable of handling. The remaining hardware can't be ordered until May, so the installation can't happen until then. Which means, I won't be let go until it's complete. A wise worker once said, "make yourself indispensible." So, I'm employeed until at least the end of May. After that, who knows.

The end of Spring semester is approaching. Right now, I have too much homework I should be working on, instead, I opt to write here. My communication class is going great! I'm at a steady 102%. No kidding. Top of my class. We just have one more group project then the final test(s). Two more weeks, then that class is finished. I really liked it. I really liked Psychology, too. Scored an "A" there.

My Calculus class is kicking my ass. I estimate a low "C" right now. The math is getting so complicated, I'm 80% sure I'm going to change majors. I mentioned this to my professor and, of course, she had intent to change my mind. The words of encouragement failed to take hold, especially considering that I'm 7 chapters behind and I'm more inspired to write on my site than pull out my book.

I can't wait for summer. I don't intend to take any summer classes. Spring semester is always bad for me because I'm hyper and can't stay focues on school that long.

My A.D.D. is kicking in again and need to change out of my work clothes for school.

Oh yeah, and I think I want a motorcycle.

Horray for spare time.

Sorry for such a long hiatus. It's been over a month. Why? School and damn work, that's why. If you've been keeping up, I going to school to be an Electrical Engineer a Computer Science Engineer. (I recently decided to change majors.) So, between calculating the curvature of a surface in 3-space and creating power points for conflict management, I play games in my spare time. It's my "me time". Plus, when I would post weekly, it was at work when I had nothing better to do with my time.

As per the last couple updates, my position at work came into question as to whether or not it was actually needed. It wasn't, but because I'm so valuable, they didn't want to fire me and so, opted to transfer me to a different area. That area has no eff'n wi-fi and it's driving me crazy. I have an iPhone 3G so maybe I'll see if I can update from there. However, the office is like a war bunker and if I stand just so and position my hand just right, I can get a couple bars on the "E" network. Good times.

Note:* I found out I actually have an audience outside my usual group of close friends who care enough to check the blog out. Comments are nice. Thanks for reading Anonymous', now, I do it for you, and the $50-every-10-years-for-ad-space-from-Google.

Note to self: get more anonymous'es.

Am I fired?

I might loose my job. I just bought a condo, haven't even made the first payment, and I might loose my job.

There's been some corporate "restructuring" going on at my work. It began here, in a restaurant. This restaurant is owned by a larger corporation of movie theaters, restaurants and car dealerships. Well, the concessions for the theaters and the restaurants ordered their products through the same shipping dock that did all the ordering, handling and delivering of product. The dock was charging this restaurant far beyond what they were supposed to, which drastically altered the books and caused a trickle down of profits. When they decided to find out why there was no profit, they found many more "discrepancies". On their search, they found more things to get rid of. The term used is "trimming the fat." Once word got out about all this, combined with the economy, the result was massive job loss.

My department has been dissected and split and I wasn't on "the list" of people being deployed to new areas. Currently, my position is up in the air. To top it, this particular restaurant has been sold and is no longer part of the "big" corporation of which I'm employed. It worries me a bit.

I just bought a new home. We haven't even made the first payment and I might lose my job. Go ahead, ask me how I'm doing.

Firing the boss

My boss got fired today. How does that make one feel? Most would rejoice at the fact that their superior finally got the shit end of the stick but not me,.. Really. Not only did my boss get fired, but my mother's fiancee got fired. (Sounds nicer than "future father-in-law", don't you think?) Now, how does that make one feel?

I work for a "trans-national-family owned business specializing in wholesale photo restoration and retouching". Have you ever been to a Ritz Camera? Or a Wolf Camera? Or an Inkley's? We do their photo restorations. Perhaps you've been in a MotoPhoto? We do a few of theirs, too. Anyway, the owner/president/CEO is truly and utterly a complete asshole. I mean that in the most sincerest form. Not all bosses are dicks, but this guy... this guy is fucked. I once cleared some time off (one day, unpaid) to celebrate my mother-in-laws birthday in Wendover, NV. (Gimme a break, I live in Utah... I am NOT Mormon... Yes, I get that a lot). After my return, I was reprimanded before the entire office staff and told that, "[I] didn't DESERVE time off", and that it was my fault that the company was not making it's goals that month. "[My] fault that we're not making the goal this month", FOR ONE DAY OFF?!! UNPAID!!! Needless to say, I upped my efforts, overshot our goals and still hold the grudge. I've been there for two years, there's ambition for ya'.

Anyway, I found out today that the man who hired me, a truly silver-tongued salesman, was fired. He was also VP of the company, and the LAST person I'd suspect to be fired. I still don't know why.

The owner/president/CEO is a swinger. By "swinger", I mean, the silver-tongued genius will probably be rehired back by the end of the year (he was never rehired.) Another employee has been fired and rehired 4 times. I've been almost fired, and surely rehired once. It's so volatile and unpredictable, I'm not willing to chance it. It's worse than walking on egg shells, without breaking them. Even if I'm only "fired" for two weeks, that's two weeks without a paycheck. So now I have to "yes" him to death.

"Yes, I'll take care of the billing", "Yes, I'll call the photo labs", "Prints? You got it."

I AM a hypocrite, after all.

Update: I lasted a total of 5 years with the boss considering me part of the "inner circle" of employees. I was pretty much guaranteed a position with the company somewhere, virtually invincible. Until I quit.