And into the River (then the Fire)!

Ok, so…how are you? I’m doing well. Have I got some things to share! Let’s just get down to it then…shall we?

As all of you are aware, I severed ties between C…oops, I almost said who it was that I worked for!...on Wednesday morning. Little did I know the changes that this simple thing would bring to me.

Wednesday was probably one of the better days that I’ve had in a very long time. I mean, the world was my oyster, and…well, unlucky for me, I don’t eat oysters. Ok, the world was my bowl of ice cream, and I was going to eat it! Darn tootin. Anyway, everything seemed well in Scottsville (by the way, all the cities here in Maryland have weird names like Ladiesburg (or was it ville?), Boonsboro…well, the list could go on and on). I say “seemed” because little did I know that early the next day, my world was going to experience a shock.

Wow…how was that for a lead-in to something? I feel nervous just re-reading it. What could have happened? Who did what to whom for how many cookies?! Tune in next paragraph for the exciting conclusion of this wonderful cliffhanger!

Ok, so I woke up Thursday morning and kinda yawned once or twice. As I slowly wiped the sleep from my eyes, I noticed that someone had left a message on my phone sometime during the time that I was asleep. I check my messages, and I hear, “Scott, call me back. Your dad is in the hospital. He’s had a heart attack.” I almost dropped the phone. My dad…in the hospital…with a heart attack? Yeah, right. This isn’t April 1st! Well, it wasn’t any sort of joke…it was for real. I called my mom, but there was no answer. I called my sister, who I assumed would be at the hospital with my mom, and eventually, I was able to talk to her. He had a heart attack. 100% blockage in one artery. 15-20 minutes away from death. Lucky for me, I didn’t have a job to go to that day. I started looking up ticket prices to see if I would be able to fly to Baton Rouge. I waited most of the day before I was able to talk to anyone again, and when I finally did talk to my mom, she sounded tired (then again, who can blame her? She had been up, for all intents and purposes, since 5am the morning before), but she said that the doctors were expecting him to recover after some rest and lots of meds.

Well, Friday, I was still considering flying to Baton Rouge. I knew that I didn’t want to regret anything in life (one of my life rules, actually…regret nothing) and I didn’t want to have to tell my kids (someday) that I hadn’t seen my dad when he was in the hospital. What kind of picture would that paint of our relationship?! Well, eventually it became clear that everything was going to be fine. I’m sure that if I had gone (I didn’t), it would have been fine, but I didn’t want to be in the way. I don’t know how to explain it really…I just would rather be thought of as “heartless” than “in the way”. Idiotic, I know.

The ended up putting a stint in one of his arteries, and will end up putting another one in his other artery (80% blocked) sometime later (but not too much later). He was moved to a regular room yesterday and should be home in a couple days.

The one thing I worry about is the fact that my dad isn’t much of a restful person. I mean, the guy is always working. I think he works even when he’s asleep! That’s one of the things that I aim not to do (life rule: work is done at work, not home) when I have a family of my own. I’m listening to Disturbed, and they have this to say about this topic, “Num minna num manin na, num minna num manin noo”…wise words. I worry that he isn’t going to slow down. I worry that he’s going to try and work as he worked before…except this time, I worry that he won’t be so lucky.

Well…that pretty much ended my Thursday and Friday for me. Saturday, groovy and I decided that we were going to go canoeing on the Potomac River (it’s about 20 minutes West of here). We looked up this place that “was the cheapest in town”, and decided that, as they were all offering the same service, that the cheapest one would be fine. Ladies and gentlemen, there is a reason they are the cheapest in town. Well, we left for there around 1pm, after eating a light lunch at the local Quiznos, and arrived there around 1:30.

It was the most backwards place I’ve ever been to. We asked if we were going to the right place (this grey building) for canoeing, and the guy assured us we were. We get there, and the lady there said that canoeing was full for the day (Customer Service -1) and she suggested we make reservations next time. Fine, we’ll keep that in mind. She suggested we go tubing instead. Ok, sounds like that might work as all we really wanted was some relaxing time anyway. We were told (after spending $38) to go stand under this tent and wait. We wait till after 2 and these people start getting life vests and tubes. Groovy and I decided to get some also because we’ve waited a while and didn’t want to be left out. Well, this guy starts yelling at everyone and wants everyone to put everything back (Customer Service - 2). We do and get back under the tent. Ten minutes later, or maybe more…by that time, I was too frustrated to keep time…we are ordered to go get tubes and take them to the trailer then board the bus (Customer Service – 3). I state something along the lines of, “We have this cooler that I paid $5 to get a tube for.” “They’ll take care of it at the bus.” (Customer Service – 4) We board the bus and sit there for a while and the driver asks who has an ice chest. Groovy and I both raise our hands, as do some other people in the back. Well, wouldn’t you know it…when we arrived at the “launch point” (no, it’s nowhere near NASA), we didn’t have an inner tube for the cooler…but we did have a nice piece of twine! Well, it was, without a doubt, the most expensive piece of twine I’ve ever purchased. It cost me $5 for a 3 foot piece…I’m glad I didn’t ask for more.

The tubing was fairly fun, truth be told, even if the instructions on leaving weren’t clear (said as we drive along the river, “Ok, you see that spot?” *blank looks* “That’s where you get out of the river.”), and even if my back got realigned by several large rocks, and even if my ice chest (without tube, of course) got bashed against a boulder the size of a small minivan (aren’t all minivans, by definition, small?) which broke the handle off and caused the contents therein to be washed down the river…it was fun. It was cool water, but I guess that’s a given also.

Sunday, after sitting in traction for a while to fix my back (I kid, I kid), we went to this place called California Tortilla. They have, hands down, the largest selection of hot sauces and salsas that I’ve ever seen in one place. Even better, they have everything listed as to how hot it is (on a scale of 1-10). Well, I, being the idiot that I am, picked up a bottle of Dave’s Total Insanity Hot Sauce (the label reads: “Insane Heat with a Garlicky Flavor!”…believe it). I put a grand total of 6 drops in this queso and dug in. With the first drop hitting my tongue, I was hit with this surprising flavor of garlic that was, even bigger surprise, overpowered by fire. We aren’t just talking “nice and warm”, we’re talking “my scalp is sweating” and “my nose is running” and “oh my God, I don’t want to think about the next bathroom visit” hot…all rolled up into one. It’s awesome! I put 12 drops (yes, I kept track) on the taco that I was eating. Granted, I couldn’t actually taste the taco, but it was dang good! Groovy said that she was going to dip her burrito in, which she did. The whole time I’m sitting there, I’m wiping my face with napkins and she’s just sitting there laughing at me calling me a light weight. Well, after a while, I notice that she’s tearing through her chips. “Kinda going after those chips a little hard, aren’t you?” I ask with a knowing smile. She laughs and said that she had hoped I wouldn’t notice. I’m telling you, it’s hot…but it’s REAL good!!! We left there and went for a drive around the county and then back home.

Anyway, to recap: Dad had a heart attack, but is recovering nicely. We tried to drown ourselves in the Potomac (sponsored by wonderful customer service) and then we set fire to our tongues. All in all, an eventful weekend.

Out of the frying pan...

Well, it’s been a busy couple weeks since I’ve been here in Maryland. We’ve finally gotten everything unpacked and in place (either n a closet or in a storage unit…haha), and things are going quite well otherwise.

As you all know, or rather, as those of you that actually read this blog of mine know, I got a job about 2 weeks ago at a store here in town. Well, I am proud to say that I no longer have that job. There are several reasons that I am no longer working there, but rest assured, it was my decision, not the people that I was working for.

I want to give you an idea of just how backwards that place was (I will refer to the place of business in vague terms so that I will face no repercussions). On my first day of work, there was a meeting…no big deal. We sat there for an hour learning how to install Exchange on a server. Interesting, I guess, because I have never done it. After that, I got hooked up with “Mr. Munster” who proceeded to walk me through the diagnosis portion of fixing computers.

“When the computer comes in, you will spend roughly 2-3 hours doing diagnosis on the various bits and pieces that are inside a computer (we’ll get to those later). No matter what the computer was brought in here for, you must do the diagnosis.” As it turns out, the diagnosis of the computer consists of scanning the hard drive for virus, spy ware, defrag and scandisk, testing the memory and power supply and just about everything else you could think of. He spent probably a grand total of 2 hours explaining this process to me as though I had no clue what even a computer was made of. Fine, I can handle that.

Once he was done with that, he decided that I probably wasn’t ready to work on an actual computer, so he had me organize these cables. We’re talking about 4 bookcases worth of boxes filled to overflowing with different types of cables. Fine, I can handle that. I mean, I’ve only built every computer that I’ve ever owned. I’ve only worked at a computer repair place for 3 years and worked as a system admin for almost 3 more…but, if you don’t think I can fix a computer, that’s fine.

I ended the day quite dirty and frustrated. I remember crashing on the bed shortly after walking through the door not sure if I could go back the next day. Well, I worked up the strength (oh, you stand the whole time, so that’s 8 hours of standing…sore feet, legs and back) and made it to day #2.

I wish I could say that day #2 was better than the first. It wasn’t. If it were possible, I would say it was worse than the first day. All I remember is going home at the end of the day wondering what it was that I was doing. It was insane. Day #3, I ended up going to a business to do diagnostics on 12 computers. I couldn’t actually fix anything; I just had to do diagnostics to see where problem areas were.

I guess that was one of my main problems with the place: I wasn’t actually there to really fix anything – I was there to diagnose things. That’s all fine and good if you were to get paid for that, but, as luck would have it, I wasn’t getting paid for it at all. That’s right ladies and gentlemen…I didn’t get paid for a single second of diagnosis. Sure, I would get paid for however long I worked on a given computer, assuming it was actually a billable hour, but if I was unable to bill the customer for that hour of work, I didn’t see a single penny. Does that make sense? Not to me. As it was, I would get paid a certain amount (just for arguments sake, let’s say I got paid $15 per billable hour (I didn’t get that much, I promise)). So, I would have to spend 2-3 hours diagnosing potential problems on the computer, and would then have to fix the computer for whatever it actually came in there for. As it was, I would spend roughly 5-6 hours on a given machine, but would only get paid for 2 - 2.5 hours worth of actual work. As you can tell, assuming you’re good at basic math, I was not getting paid anywhere near as well as the owner had wanted me to believe.

The other thing that frustrated me: I ended up going on a networking job on last Thursday in another city. We were at the jobsite at 8 and got back to the shop around 4. At 4:30, I was asked if I would be able to work until 7 that evening (knowing full well that I probably wouldn’t get paid for those 2 extra hours). I said I would if I could go get lunch (we had worked on the networking job through lunch). I get back from eating lunch at 5, and I work till 7. During that time, the owner came up to me and asked how I liked that networking job and if I had done any networking before. I turned and looked at my tool pouch that was sitting on my workbench and said, “I’ve been networking for almost 10 years now.” I know full well that my work history includes my networking experience which would only lead me to believe that he hadn’t actually read it and was only looking for a warm body.

Anyway, the thing that finally set me off was something that happened yesterday evening. I had been working on 5 laptops all at the same time, all with completely different problems. I was keeping my tech notes up (oh yeah, you had to write down everything that you did at every single step of the way, and if you forgot one simple thing, SOMEONE would come down on you…I say SOMEONE because there were 5 people (in a shop that had 10 people working there) that were only there to look over your shoulder to make sure that you were following the diagnosis portion to a “T”). I was fixing machines. I was diagnosing problems that even Bill Gates didn’t know about. Then, out of nowhere, I get yelled at for doing something that the customer wanted. Not just that, but it was something that the customer brought the computer in for. That was the last straw. I couldn’t take it any more. Lucky for me, it was 4:45 (I had opted not to work late that day…haha). I left work at 5 after gathering up my tools, came home and, after a frustrating few minutes trying to explain how upset I was, I wrote a very scathing 1 page letter stating that I was quitting effective immediately and explaining why.

I woke up this morning (having not sent it the night before) and, while working out in the gym with groovy, I cut the letter down to 3 sentences. The gist was: I’m quitting now. I’ll bring back the shirts. Mail me my check.

So, I’m looking for a REAL job now. I’ve got an interview lined up for next Wednesday (not this one as I had thought) and hopefully another one for this week sometime. Keep your fingers crossed!

I'm finally home.

As everyone does that doesn’t write that often in their blog, I have a really good reason. I’ve been really busy trying to get everything situated in the new place and have been looking for a job etc. Moving is quite tiring, let me tell ya. Anyway, let me fill you in on the last two weeks.

I left Ruston at about 5am and by 4pm, I was in Eastern Tennessee (east of Knoxville). I can honestly say that the first leg of my trip was the longest that I’ve ever sat in one place without moving that much. I stopped for fuel several times, but other than that, I didn’t move at all. No fun. The scenery was actually was pretty nice in some areas. I mean, Tennessee has the Smoky Mountains that just rock (then again, that could just be because neither Louisiana nor Kansas has mountains). I went to bed probably around 8 that evening and woke up at 4 the next morning to begin the last leg of the trip.

I can honestly say that the scenery in the second part of the trip was much nicer than the first. Unfortunately, it was dark for the first 2 hours of the trip. That figures, right? Anyway, driving the rest of the way through Tennessee and into Virginia (I was there before 6am) was in the dark, but once the sun came up, there were mountains everywhere. Mountains and deer, actually. I pulled up to the apartment at noon on Sunday. 1128.7 miles traveled with only 1 real full meal (I ate at Cracker Barrel in Tennessee for supper). I was tired and hungry, so I took care of the food need first, and then started unloading the trailer.

Let me first say that loading a trailer is much easier than unloading one. It took me only 1.5 hours to load this UHaul trailer, but 1.5 days (yes, that’s days) to unload it. Part of the problem lies in the fact that I now reside on the 3rd floor of an apartment complex with no elevator, but I used to live in a single floored duplex. Yeah, I can see the problem, can you? Anyway, with some help from one of groovy’s work people, everything was up inside the apartment (Thanks, by the way…just in case you ever read this).

So, all my junk was in here, but everything was in boxes in the living room. For the next several days, my sole task was emptying boxes and finding places for all my junk. Not fun. There is decidedly less space here than I had before, but that’s ok. I ended up getting a storage place and have some of the less important things located there. Anyway, the first thing I hooked up was (are you ready?) (you’re going to be wrong) my TV and DVD player. I wanted music to be able to play and stuff so that the unpacking would go quicker. It helped out a lot.

Well, since then, I’ve gotten almost all of my stuff unpacked and have temporarily found a job. I say temporarily because the job is a definite non-fit. I won’t go into it until I quit working there, but just let me say that the sooner I find another job, the better. I come home so tired and depressed, it’s not funny.

Other than the job situation, everything is going great.

I have one non-moving topic I want to talk about for a second. What’s the deal with all these kidnapped people and runaway people getting all this news time? Are there REALLY that few important things going on in the world that the media finds it necessary to focus on complete strangers and nobodies? I mean, take Terry Schivo…the woman was a nobody, and yet, for several weeks, she was all that was on the news. Personally, I don’t care! The lady that ran away from her wedding…WHO CARES?! I don’t care at all, and I don’t see the point of focusing the news and all the media on this woman who, because of her own stupidity, should be fined and thrown in jail. Or this high school girl who got drunk and ran off with 3 local guys and ended up dead. Why is this news?! She’s one girl! Are her parents richer than the poor kid from Smalltown, MD who got kidnapped and will only get local coverage if they are lucky? If it’s money that makes these things happen this way, I say take the money from them, split it with several people who were kidnapped and let them all get some air time. It’s idiotic.