The Other Side of the Law

I know it’s been a log time since I last posted here, but there are several good reasons why this is the case…namely being I am 2 hours away from my home computer upon which I feel most comfortable writing posts and the fact that for the last 2 weeks, I’ve been very busy at my new job. So…on with the show!

As you know, I’m now working at a law firm in Helena, Montana. It’s a pretty nice place that has around 70 people working for it in 3 different offices in 2 different cities (Helena and Missoula). I’m working in the Helena office which occupies 2 buildings.

To make the geeks that read this blog happy: We have 7 servers (1 Novell Networks Server, 1 GroupWise Server, 1 BlackBerry Server, 1 Citrix Server, 1 Storage Server, 1 ProLaw Server and 1 Phone System/Server). Now, when I was at my last job, I got to mess a lot with the client side stuff for Novell and GroupWise, but the server stuff I have never done before, so it’s been a good learning experience so far. Before working here I had only heard of CrackBerries (BlackBerries) and had never done any administration of a server for them or even held a handheld unit. Now, after spending about 5 hours on the phone with Tech Support, I know a lot more than I ever thought I would. Citrix I’ve only heard of once before, and so far, I know I don’t like it. Other than that…nothing to say there. ProLaw is the software that keeps track of all the cases, documents, changes etc that the firm generates or is involved with. That is to say: It’s a HUGE database of TONS of data. I make sure it’s backed up every night.

When I first started here, the BlackBerries weren’t working all that well and there was a trouble ticket list around 30 items long. People added stuff all day long my first two days there, but I’m pleased to say that now, 2 weeks later, the list is down to 16 items. That may still sound like a lot until you realize that 4 of those are research, 2 are long term projects, 2 are training issues that I need (namely ProLaw and Citrix) and 2 of them are things I am waiting on other people for. All-in-all…not a bad 2 weeks, if I do say so myself. That also doesn’t include the tickets that I get while walking down the hall, sitting at my desk, hiding by the server, crying in the closets…wait, scratch that last one…or anywhere else people find me (I got a trouble issue while standing outside my truck in the parking garage one evening even).

I sent this to one of my sisters, but can’t think of a better way to put how I feel about my work, so I’ll just paste it here: I've never had a job that I really used everything that I knew. This one is no different. But, I have had many jobs (like this one) that have a little to do with what I know, but more to do with taking calculated risks to make results. What I mean is this: We were wanting to reprogram something that we have (a Cisco Router for the geeks out there). I've never done it and nobody else here has either. We were going to spend $80 on 1 cable that would get us to where it would allow us to do our work, but I said that I would see if I could figure something out with what we had. I took a laptop, some cables and some parts down to the server and figured out the stupid thing. Saved $80 and learning some really cool stuff in the process. To me...this is what it's all about. Take what you know and make the next big leap over what you don't know to land safely on the other side. Sure...you'll fall down sometimes, but damned if you didn't learn something then too.

One top of that, everything else has been going well. We went to this place called “Gates of the Mountains” last weekend that was really nice (mountains, a boat ride on the river, goats, wild eagles) which is where the picture at the top of the blog comes from. This weekend, we plan on going to a concert at Carol College with fireworks and everything. Should be a great weekend.

All Good Things...

Hello one and all. I’ve got some news that’s pretty good, but that can wait for a bit.

Happy belated Fourth of July! Groovy and I went over to Mr. and Mrs. EPA’s house and ended up watching the fireworks in East Helena from their balcony. There was some plant that apparently puts on a firework show every year that was REALLY cool…but the thing that got me was that it seemed like EVERYONE in the valley (they live up on a mountain) was shooting fireworks. I mean EVERYONE! It was like listening to a war going on between the residents of East Helena and the surrounding mountains. I’ll be honest…I don’t know who won. Both sides had casualties (Mr. and Mrs. EPA lost a mailbox as did some of the other mountain residents), so it probably was considered a draw.

Before that, Mr. EPA, Shocker, one of their friends and I went to play golf at the local course. It was the second time in a week that I had gotten to play and to be honest - I improved over the first time…but not by much. I’ve never played for anything more than “fun”…and it really was a lot of fun…so mission accomplished. I even sunk a 30 (or so) foot putt. That even surprised me. I made par! Zero balls lost…and made par once!

Ok…so on to the good news. It looks like some of you will be happier about this than others…but nobody will be as happy as I am. It looks like we are going to be moving back East. Yeah…the whole trying to find a job thing here in Missoula proved to be nigh on impossible and it got the better of both of us. So, we’re going to end up packing up everything that we own and will move east. I know, I know…we never should have moved out here without a job to begin with…but sometimes you have to take a chance for something that you think is right…regardless of how stupid it sounds to everyone else.

I guess the better thing about this is that I already have a job lined up for me. In reality, I actually start on Monday of this next week (7/10)…so that’s even better news. Now…before I get going too far and you all start to worry about me/us…we’re only going to be moving about 2 hours east to Helena.

I was reading through the paper (online, of course) on Friday of last week and noticed a job opening for a geek extraordinaire to work at a law firm in Helena. They wanted me, to be honest. I was psyched and faxed my resume’ over to them just as soon as I could and, before we had even made it back from Staples, there was a message on the answering machine from the place that I had faxed my resume into saying that they wanted to interview me! Wow…that was fast! I called them back and we set up an interview for Wednesday. Wednesday came and I went to my interview at 11. Two hours later, I walked out of there (2 hours!) with the knowledge that they wanted me to stick around as long as possible so that they might be able to do the second interview during the afternoon. I went back to Mr. and Mrs. EPA’s house and had lunch with groovy and Mrs. EPA when they called back and asked for another interview at 3.

The first interview was just one guy, but the second interview was with 3 people. I can handle 3 people, luckily…so it wasn’t that big of a deal. I left there (1.5 hours later) thinking I had done a good job and was pretty positive about the whole experience. We left Helena around 5:30. By the time we got home, they had apparently called Mrs. EPA and left a message for me to call them back. So, I did and the first guy I interviewed with said that he wanted me to meet with a group of the staff to chat with them and to be able to ask them questions. We set an appointment for 10 this morning (keep in mind, Helena is 2 hours from here).

I woke up at 5:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep at all so I got up and got ready. After leaving at 7:30, I got to Helena at 9:30 (Curly…the half hour early to things didn’t quit just because I left FCC…hahah) and was met by 7 people. SEVEN! Ok…I can handle 7 people. They made the mistake of asking me if I wanted to ask them any questions, so I asked all of them the “What is your favorite thing about working here?” and “What is one thing you would change?” questions. Talk about turning the tables! Anyway, it all went well. I ended up leaving Helena around noon and got home around 2.

At 4:45 this afternoon, they called me and said that everyone was impressed and that they wanted me to be a part of their team (I’m guessing that’s legal speak for “You’re Hired”). I, of course, accepted…so I’m no longer jobless! WEEEEE!!!

Now comes the interesting part: Getting out of our lease here in Missoula and finding a place in Helena. I start work on Monday and will be staying with Mr. and Mrs. EPA until we get things squared away (THANK YOU VERY MUCH GUYS!!!) which hopefully won’t take long.

I am SO excited…they say that their work can be stressful. I say, “Bring it on…I worked at FCC and Grambling!”