I’m happy to say that I’m going to work for Kauffman Tires in their I.T. department. I’ll get to do the programming, DBA, sys-admin, and a lot of other things. My future boss did say something about getting coffee for him but I was so excited I didn’t catch on!

The other company would have paid about 20k more but I don’t need it. Given the choice between money or comfort, I’ll choose comfort if I can afford it. This company is fairly small and close knit. Juggernauts have proven to be petty, political, and greedy. How CEO’s can make a bonus when they just laid off several hundred people because the company is doing poorly is beyond me. I would think a bonus would be if someone did something right for a change. Running a company into a ground doesn’t seem right.

The position I took replaced someone who finally decided to retire. Retiring from a company. How often does that happen? I’ve known one company that terminated a job about two months before her retirement after about forty years. She received no pension because she was “fired”.

I’ve learned not to trust anyone whose sole purpose is to make money despite the customer or the employee. One of the reasons I’d like to work for Kauffman is that I take my car to a local shop for tires, brake work, and other things. Once they could have charged me a lot for some noise I heard. The found something simple and said it wasn’t worth writing up a receipt. Since then, they’ve had my business and when something major is needed, I know I can depend on them. This is the type of company I’ll relish working for.

Speaking of working, my former tenants moved out. I won’t go through the details but it now means that in a few minutes I’ll be taking down my computer and network and putting it back in the office downstairs. Life is starting to get back to normal now.

I first turned it down because I’m a programmer, not a talent agent. Eventually though I dressed up with a sports coat, dress shirt and slacks, and dress shoes and walked in with M.J. who was also in costume. The effect was fantastic. It has since helped us get some bookings. We also have a small following now. Actually, he does. I’m just window dressing as he is the entertainer. But I do talk to the managers, dj’s, bar managers, and owners as well as visit the tables to talk about the performance the people are witnessing. I’ve even got to spin a few disks and man the microphone myself a time or two.

Polar Express is about to go live finally. Five months of work and it’s coming down to the wire. I had to do something with the shipping system these past two weeks but it’s finally about complete. Maybe I’ll have an income soon.

I’ve been giving guitar lessons to a twelve year-old girl. I don’t charge much, lower than the professionals because I’m not one. I just know how to play and I learned without music theory and scales. Basically, I have fun and that’s how I teach.

Lastly, the bank decided to modify my home loan. It looks like I’ll be keeping my home after all. It’s been rough.

I’m off to my brother’s house now. He’s having a celebration as he just paid off his home and bills. He got a windfall last month due to a two year litigation against an insurance company and won. Beer, chicken wings, and french fries!!! Yes! So what am I doing typing still? I should be getting ready to go. In fact, I will.

Bye for now.

I’m also giving guitar lessons. I have one student and a probable second. If I can get a few more perhaps, between the above thing and this, I’ll not need corporate america’s short-sided views.

Yes, I know they may be reading this. My talents extend beyond putting me in a cubicle and coding. I can do so much for a company, more than what is on paper, more than what is asked in an interview. I’m innovative, creative, and can charm the socks off your clients. I can manage, teach, and best of all, I can serve coffee and donuts to your corporate meetings. Some people think outside the box. As for me, I’ve never liked boxes. It stifles creativity. If you are a company that is willing to take a risk, I’ll make it pay off. Just keep me out of boxes and let me at it is all I ask.

Speaking of asking: my brother is setting up next year’s holiday lights extravaganza at his house. He needs my help to program and decipher the mathematics involved in a particular XML / VB system and then create a new one, much faster and will fulfill his needs. So much time, so little to do… wait, scratch that, reverse it. Thank you.

Randy

Was it a good financial move? Hardly. In fact, it’s draining me quicker than before. However, they had no place to go and their two year-old daughter doesn’t need to ask why they have to live in a cold car. It’s the human thing to do. How much longer I will be able to keep my home depends on how fast anyone gets a job.

I thank the greedy banks and corporate big-wigs and politicians (Republican, Democrat, whatever). They watch the news without a feeling of guilt or remorse. “Oh those poor people. Pierre, another jar of caviar and fill the wine glasses. Let’s watch Gilligan’s Island. CNN is too depressing.”

It’s funny. I have a fixed rate mortgage and hardly any debt. A year ago my income far exceeded my debts. I paid off my credit cards about the time the bill showed up. I was one of those who helped keep the economy rolling. I bought items to aid in my experiments in Virtual Reality, Home Automation, or Flight Simulation. With my kids grown and orthodontia paid off, I was someone who helped keep the economy going. I bought. I ate probably once per week. I rented DVD’s and Pay-Per-View. I dated. Almost nine months later, cabin fever has long since set in. I don’t dare even go window shopping. I can’t afford anything. I can’t eat out. Movies that I had wanted to see when they first came out are now on DVD and I still can’t afford to rent anything.

You see, I’m the type of person that needs to be employed. I make purchases. I enjoy life. Oh, I almost forgot… I used to go on vacations and weekend outings. Those are gone too.

I want to work. I’m creative, passionate, and have a Weird Al Yankovich shrine. (I’m planning to grow up to be just like him one day.) I’ve often heard the old cliche “Think outside the box.” People, I am avoiding that box. I don’t even visit it. If you want someone who can solve problems in the most innovative ways, hire me.

Oh I know. It will cut into your bonus. How will you ever pay for that extra tenderloin? Ah well, try McDougal’s. It’s not a fillet by any means but it does add variety and makes you appreciate a finer cut of beef even more. Besides, after a short stint, you’ll be making even more than before. I’m an investment. I’ll create software and systems that will bring in new products. Give me a lab and a salary and I’ll give you the edge over your competitors.

Another cup of coffee and back to programming my artificial assistant. She’s coming along quite well. I gave her a 3D look and environment. I’m having to make changes in the brain but they are minor and the effect is impressive.

The holidays were about like I discussed. I ended up with a 2000 piece of Las Vegas at night. It’s about as big as the table so putting it together is a little rough. There isn’t enough room to spread out all the pieces. I always love a challenge!

I did get to visit my grandchildren who came up from Columbus, Georgia (with their parents of course). They were running a fever so they couldn’t get out to visit us but they were staying at their other grandfather’s house and he was out for a couple of days for one reason or another. Anyway, they are growing. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was in the hospital holding them just minutes after they were born. Wow, the buttons on my shirt were popping from pride.

It’s two minutes after midnight making it now December 30th, 2009. In less than forty-eight hours a new year and decade begins. 2009 hasn’t been the best since most of it I’ve been struggling on making ends meet without an income and yes, I’m falling behind on things. Were it not for my mother I would have lost the house about two months ago. Still, it isn’t fair to ask her to keep dipping into her savings.

According to the government, my paltry salary of less than $300 per week is too much to be eligible for food stamps. I was told to “get a smaller house”. Duh, I would but gee, to get a loan one has to have an income and a stable job. Insensitive bunch of morons. Public service is hardly public, more like self-serving than anything.

Ah well, my day will come and I will be back on my feet. This nightmare will be behind me.

Before the Solstice, I went through the computer looking through a “wish book”. In case anyone wants to know where the term came from, the Christmas catalogs from JC Penny’s and others were looked at by kids during the Great Depression. It had things to wish for but obviously would never receive. I found a few things I would have liked: A gauge or two for my flight simulator, some VR equipment, some Magix music software. I had that last one years ago although at the time when I had kids, they kept taking the CD’s out of the computer and just strewing them everywhere and anywhere. It doesn’t operate without them. Besides, a few versions have come out since then so I could use an update.

Wishes are plenty and it’s great making out a list for Santa. Oh, Santa wasn’t too good getting me everything I asked for in the past (some things just didn’t exist except in my imagination) and his belt is about as tight as mine is. Still, I could indulge as I did in my youth.

Now, with the new year coming I have a bottle of wine. My brother gave me one for Christmas but it’s got one of those fruit flavorings so I think it is a dessert wine. It’s by Arbor Mist. A friend gave me a deep fryer and my mother gave me a microwave for the downstairs entertainment center that is still under construction just on hold. When the time comes, I’ll be able to pop popcorn, reheat coffee, make hot chocolate, and a few other little things while watching television or working because the entertainment center is right outside my downstairs office.

Speaking of office, it was supposed to be a lab and it might become one again. I have some servers that people keep dropping off that they don’t need anymore. They are just on the floor so I might set up my virtual reality system. I still have some equipment like an HMD with a tracker and a cyber glove. With the right video card and drivers, I’d be able to make it all function and be dedicated. Since I am a programmer and good with 3D, art, music, sound effects, animation and so-on I’ll be able to escape into worlds of my own creation for a little bit. I think it would be fun to build worlds and then explore them.

Another thing I can do is set up my virtual human / home automation system on it’s own server and take it off of my computer. After all, I need something stable to operate the house. Programming and experimenting on a live server is not a good way to keep the house running.

It’s time to watch a little television and get some rest. Another day of job hunting awaits.

Have a happy new year, that’s an order,

Randy

That’s okay. My children are grown and gone so Santa wouldn’t have stopped by my house anyway even if I had an income. Still, there is something magical about Christmas Eve more so than the day itself. I think for me it was always the excitement and wonder of what lie ahead the following morning. Later on in life, it was seeing the magic in my children’s eyes.

We never lied to our children about Santa, the Easter Bunny or other things that simply are beyond belief. It wasn’t that we were trying to rob our kids of that magical feeling. It was a matter of telling them that we would never lie to them, no matter how disappointing the news might seem. When they asked, “No dear, Santa is a myth. Your mother and I painstakingly shop during the weeks prior to ensure that you have a wonderful Christmas morning.” The magic existed regardless because the parents who knew when they were sleeping and if they were good through the year (they always were <grin>) took the place of Santa. I remember a time when they left cookies out for my wife and I. It may have been because of the hard work of getting all the gifts under the tree.

This year, as I’ve stated there are no decorations, no feasts, and no celebration. It is probably good that the kids are grown and gone. This year, without an income, there is nothing on the table, nothing wrapped, nothing bought. My budget is about twenty dollars and that’s stretching a little because of an unexpected expense two days ago.

However, I have DVD’s of holiday specials, and with a little hot chocolate and some of the popcorn in a tin or maybe the knock off brand of cookies I will wait for Santa as I have every year since I was a kid and toast myself a Merry Christmas. And to my readers, regardless of how you celebrate the Winter Solstice, may your holidays be happy and healthy ones.

As my friends in England would say,

Cheers!

The economy does not seem to be getting any better. I heard there is a slow down in the number of job losses however, the job losses continue and those of us out of work continue to remain so.

The bank that holds the mortgage made a deal with me in that if I make three payments for more than I was giving before then they might help me but couldn’t guarantee anything. They have a bad reputation for claiming to help victims while sapping every resource they can before foreclosure.

They were on television about two months ago, on the news, stating how they were helping us from foreclosure and yet there are countless blogs and forums over their underhanded tactics. So I went to the same television station to tell them a story from a consumer’s perspective. They have taken my story and sent it to their news department.

Anyway, enough about that. This year, for the holiday, I’m going to splurge on a one dollar jigsaw puzzle to put together, and a $2.99 bottle of wine I found at Aldi with some popcorn or whatever I can find while watching Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer (I have it on DVD in the original uncut version) along with A Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart’s version), A Christmas Story (“You’ll shoot yer eye out kid!”), Bikini Bandits Save Christmas (a bizarre animation thing as a gift from someone with a twisted sense of humor) which I will probably watch after a few glasses of wine, Santa Claus vs. The Martians (it’s in the public domain and I burned it to DVD… a horribly made movie), and of course The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Oh, it’s not depressing despite how it reads. You see, I like a quiet Christmas Eve and with the exception of the cheaper wine, it would have been something like this anyway. I might even start up the fireplace and turn on some music as I wait for dear old Santa. Actually, I shouldn’t have the fireplace on until after he’s left I suppose.

I’m poor now like Bob Cratchit only worse in that at least he had some kind of salary. But I’m actually in a pretty good spirit. I’ve been working with three other gentlemen who have the money to fund a project while I am providing the skill set in the hopes that 2010 will see a prosperous year for all. If I make anything it will start in February. If not, I’ve gained a great deal of experience and am enjoying being productive. Somehow, someway, I will beat with this very hand I was dealt.

Speaking of employment, I had an interview two days ago with a large company. It’s going to be at least two weeks before I will know if I get a second interview. I don’t have everything they ask for and they would be hard pressed to find someone who does. Hopefully it is enough and I will start work in January. For now, outside of continuing the search, I’m going to enjoy the solstice celebrations, play with my Virtual Reality rig, my flight simulator, and of course have a slice of my mother’s homemade banana nut bread with some coffee.

Cheers everyone and enjoy the festivities!!!

Last week after two months of tests (which I excelled in) and interviews, I had my last one. I didn’t get the job. Apparently my GUI skills weren’t strong enough for them which is stupid since I’ve been out of it for two years. After all, there are reference manuals and I can get up to speed rather quickly. They’ve missed out on an excellent software developer with twenty years of solid experience.

So, I didn’t get the job. Then I had a credit card company call wanting to know where their payment was. I was going to give it to them last Thursday. I got my unemployment check, gave it to my house mate to deposit on the way to school. She cashed the check by accident somehow (weird isn’t it?) and then forgot to make the deposit. Three bounced checks later and another $115 that I didn’t have vanished with it, I call her asking what happened. She says she’s going to deposit it during lunch. She forgets and deposits the money (cash) in an envelope through the ATM and lost the receipt.

Now, it doesn’t show so I’m out that much money plus the overdraft charges. Did she steal it? Did the bank misplace it? I cannot even verify that the card was used. It’s a sickening feeling.

I’m hurting financially, my son steals from me (another story for another day), my house mate is either dumb or a thief and I’m dumb for trusting anyone.

So now, my mortgage company Wells Fargo has this great speech on WSB TV last week about how they are helping people right and left to keep from foreclosing. I got a letter stating they wouldn’t help me. Something about some form I didn’t fill out (which I never got and they never followed up with me if I was supposed to receive one) and I had called them at least once per month, sometimes twice. They were always working on the case for me.

So, I’m about to lose my home, my credit is sinking which is going to make it harder to get a job… what does one do? *Sigh* Drink coffee and contemplate.

I am working with three other guys in starting some kind of online shopping thing. Basically, they are funding it and working on the business side of things. All I have to do is the programming and maintenance. If it works, perhaps this mess will be behind me and I’ll come out better than before. If it doesn’t… well, I’m no worse off until the electricity and gas are cut off. But I won’t need them in my cardboard box. And if I have to live in one of those, I’m heading to Florida where at least it is warmer.

Back to work on a do-or-die project…

What is nice is that I just checked and it’s on their top ten sales list. Granted, it’s on the bottom of the top ten but it’s been on sale for two and a half days so I’m surprised to see it there at all.

I thought I might have a six month contract this week but apparently it fell through so I’m still unemployed. So, I’m working on my second package for the site. I’m debating between two ideas as to what would be wanted more by the community.

My daughter came by to visit today. It was nice to see her and the grand-kids. I still feel too young to have grandchildren but my granddaughters are cute. Of course, everyone thinks their kids and grandkids are cute, beautiful, special, whatever. But I’m a grandfather so give me my small luxury.

The mortgage company didn’t tell me that my application for help was denied. I found out the hardway that it was denied because I wasn’t delinquent yet. Well, I’m trying to stop that from happening! So now, they can help me since the Obama plan went into action although the paperwork allowing my bank to invoke it didn’t get through until about a month ago. However, I have to go through the whole process and this time, I will be going delinquent. The account can only last about six weeks and then I’ll be harrassed by bill collectors. Hopefully, something will happen between now and then to keep the roof over my head and a car in the garage.

That’s it for the week. It’s been one of ups and downs but overall, my spirits are up. I have been in worse scrapes than this believe it or else!

It’s been three months since I was laid off. The bank account slowly dwindles but there is hope on the horizon. I may have another contract. A recruiter contacted me today about it. We’ll see though. After all, I’m not the only computer programmer out of work.

So what am I doing in the meantime? I’ve been writing a computer language for the past two weeks. I’m almost done. There is a little nagging problem in one area that just won’t go away no matter how much I curse at it. Besides that, only two items are left to implement and then I put this thing to the test. It’s console based at the moment but phase two will be the GUI stuff which I think I can use API calls for that. All that is fluff though as the engine is what makes it go. Get the engine done and I can interface everything else. It has been quite an exercise in taxing my programming skills. I’ve enjoyed it.

That’s it for me right now. I’ve got to return to the code. Someday I’ll work on a language that will write itself but that’s not today.