It's different this time.

There are a large number of people recently to whom I'm selling guns who have said the same thing to me.

I've never owned a gun before, but now I want to buy one and carry it. I don't know what it is, but it's different now. It's getting scary out there.

Whatever the reason, owning a gun for the defense of yourself and your loved ones is the first step in the long journey toward self reliance.

It's always a good thing.

Making gun stores a better place, one customer at a time.

I was digging through my old posts, and found one called Gun Store Jerks, wherein I explain why gun store employees and owners shouldn't feel justified in acting like jerks.

Having had the opportunity practice what I preach twice before, I realized I was already had my third opportunity.

I couldn't stand the way I was usually treated at gun stores; ignored, eye-rolled, abandoned, sighed at, laughed at, and generally made to feel that I was putting upon the employees with my mere presence.

So when I started working at one, I had the opportunity to change all that, and you know what?

After customers laugh derisively at me, point guns at me, argue with me over verifiably wrong second-hand opinions, wave loaded guns around, break safety rules after being told multiple times not to, and persist in knowing absolutely nothing about firearms and demand I teach them all I know?

I still refuse to treat them badly.

Customers gonna cust. They'll do it in every industry because they're customers. My job is not to stand around all day and wait out the clock, my job is to wait on customers, and provide my firearms knowledge and opinion when asked.

When a customer wants a Kimber as his first gun because his bud told him they NEVAR jam because they say "Custom Shop" on the side? I offer my opinion, and if it is ignored, oh well. I grab the 4473. Customers gonna cust.

When a customer who has never shot a gun before wants a snub nosed revolver for home defense? I tell them a shotgun is ten times easier to use, costs half as much, offers "rack-ability," is cheaper to practice with, and is about three times more effective at stopping someone. I do my level best to explain why a shotgun is a better choice for them, and if they insist? I grab the 4473. Customers gonna cust.

When a customer tells me about how he was in the military in the 70's and shot a 338 Lapua at 3,000 yards and could hit a quarter "not every time, but about every other time." I just smile and say, "Wow! You shot .000000001 MOA out of a rifle that didn't exist with a cartridge that hadn't been designed yet past the curvature of the Earth? Pull the other one so I don't walk in circles all day." Just kidding. I just smile, nod, and walk away. Customers gonna cust.

There is no precedent that lets gun shop employees treat their customers like crap. Don't act like there is.

Catching up to the new normal

We're moving out of the in-law's basement into an apartment, so we've been busy packing and taking loads over when we can. Mrs ET is getting more preggers but she's doing quite well.

Moving out is a great feeling. Even though we are going to be on a narrow budget, there's something comforting knowing that you are in charge of your living space. Don't get me wrong, the mother in law was a great host, there's just an intangible dull pain you get living under someone else's roof. Maybe it only happens to libertarians.

The gun shop is going well, we had a run on shotguns and carry pistols for a while, but that seems to have abated, which seems to indicate it might have been Sandy-related. The shop has been pretty busy, but not nearly as busy as it was the last election. I think everyone already knows what's going to happen.

I'm still expecting the job front to kick into overdrive the day after the election, but I've stopped taking things for granted, and know that we'll be able to keep on keeping on even if it takes much longer. It's hard to go from making more than enough money to making barely enough, but it's a small price to pay when I remind myself that we live in Kentucky.

This place really is special. Lexington in particular. I have a hard time putting it into words, and will give it its own post where I can try to do it justice, but suffice to say: I still catch myself staring at the beauty around me. I can't wait for winter.

There have been a few must-haves, but nothing too fancy. The shop actually wound up with a Microtech Troodon, which has been on my want list for a long time, but I didn't want it nearly as much as a Mcusta that blew me out of the water. I went home, posted a shotgun on Armslist, took the first offer, met up and sold it the next day, and drove straight to the shop to buy it. I can't believe it's a production knife. This thing is art. A R T. It bumped the 940 I carried since I was 16 from the EDC slot. The Mcusta is so good that not a single fuck was given.

I managed to keep my hands off of all the pretties in the shop (being broke helps!), but just had to have a beautiful Glenfield 25 bolt action .22. I sold another shotgun to a friend and picked up the Glenfield for $80. The spiral rifling is incredibly sharp. So sharp that someone either never fired it, or meticulously cleaned it after every range trip. The sights are a welcome relief from the usual "classic 22" style, which consist of a round bead front sight and horns covering a tiny slider with a notch on the rear sight. I can't stand those sights, so I loved that the Glenfield had a square front sight post, and a flat open rear leaf sight, making the sight picture crisp and clear. Speaking of crisp, the trigger is a short, semi-heavy break that still manages to catch a seasoned trigger finger such as mine off guard. Overall style is wonderful. The stock has a classic cut and the long heavy barrel really adds to the appeal of the rifle. The front sight is screwed in close to the crown, making the prospect moving the sight back and getting the barrel threaded quite straightforward. The receiver is thick enough that tapping it for an aperture sight wouldn't be hard, but so far, I'm enjoying the additional visibility offered by the open sights. I can't wait to shoot it, and will update when I do. Being in varmit country, a long barreled .22 bolt gun can be very useful. Especially one with a can. The bolt is turned down near the receiver, making it more difficult to run lefty, but it's not really built for speed, and I think I'd like it less if the bolt was sticking straight out. The only thing bugging me about it is the balance, which, given the heavy stock and long heavy barrel, is right on the magazine, making for uncomfortable one-handed carry. I have plans to cut into the stock, either to lighten it or to put in a compartment for ammo à la the M6 survival rifle. Oh yeah, that reminds me...

I ran into a Savage 42 at a local shop, and began scoffing immediately. I picked it up and scoffed, I shouldered it and scoffed, I checked the sights and scoffed, I balanced and handled it and scoffed, I looked at the price and scoffed. By the time I was done scoffing, much to my chagrin, I liked it. Alright Savage, you did kind of alright. It's not the right kind of style, but it is a kind of style.

More detail on all of the above will follow as things slow down. See you guys on the other side.

Death Merchantry

I don't suppose it should come as a surprise, but I rather enjoy selling guns to people.

Some guns are just for fun, and selling fun things to people who want to have fun just can't help but be fun.

When I recommend a 10/22 to someone and know they're going to be able to do the tin can dance for hours for about $20, and feel great afterwards, it makes me feel great.

Other guns serve more serious purposes, and being part of that is still very fulfilling.

Talking to someone about their worries and fears, and helping them choose the appropriate means to empower themselves and control their concerns is... solemn? I'm not quite sure. It almost feels like a responsibility of having the technical knowledge to speak to the strengths and weaknesses of different firearms. It's definitely special.

Guns can provide us with so much.

Please stop pointing that gun at me and pulling the trigger.

What's got two thumbs and works at a gun shop?

THIS guy.

The IT job are all mysteriously hanging up. Positions are suddenly "in the air" or "under evaluation," recruiters and placement agencies are reporting a downturn in positions, and I'm still only working part time at Sonic.

That changed today because I got a full time job making a few bucks more an hour at one of the local gun shops.

Hopefully this will keep us chugging along until the passing of the invisible fOrce exerting unBelievable pressure Against the jobs Market At this time.

Of course, if that crushing pressure is not removed, at least I'll still have a discount on guns an ammo. WIN/WIN! (Not too worried about that, I'm calling it a landslide for Romney based solely on the positivity I started feeling a few months ago)

I've bumped into a few electronics projects that might be useful, one that might even be golden, so I'm excited to get those going.

I've said privately that I wouldn't want to work at a gun shop because I wouldn't be able to stand being muzzled every thirty seconds, but unemployment does strange things to people.

New Normal Loading... Loading...

Few updates, been busy lately. The business isn't exactly rocketing off to the moon, and I'm looking for proper work now (as opposed to the night job I took to hobble along while working on the business), and I'll just have to see what happens with the business.

Before I moved here, everyone was ready and eager to share with me their predictions of my experience when I got here, and I can't think of a single one that came true. Now that I'm looking for proper work in my field, I disproved another one:

"You won't be able to make 'California money' in Kentucky!"

Actually, I can make more. If anything, my talents are more in demand out here (though I'll be the first to admit my selection is limited). I'm entertaining some high paying offers and a slew of others 10-15k less than my California money. A few cost-of-living calculators indicated I needed to make 50% of my California pay to maintain my lifestyle in Kentucky, so even 20k off should still put us quite ahead.

Actual cost of living here is a little hard to pin down. Mostly, I think, because we've been scraping and saving while looking for work and living off savings. Some foods are cheaper, while a few are more expensive. Oranges are definitely more expensive, but meat is cheaper. Housing is the main difference (which is most welcome, as it's usually the highest).

What we paid for a medium sized 1 bedroom (we had downsized to save money) will rent us a 3 bed 2 bath house with a 2 car garage. I can't wait to have a garage to fill with fun tools for fun projects.

I told myself that because the weather was the only thing good about California, I wasn't allowed to complain about it after moving here. But I think I like the variety more. With the weather comes nature. Birds, bugs, and butterflies, all contribute to the experience out here, and I really like it. The paved-over desert that California is, had crows, brown sparrows, and coyotes that stalked into the suburbs to eat your pet. Here, there's colorful songbirds, geese, (fenced) horses, deer, just kind of hanging out. This place is more colorful and more alive.

I should note that I've only been able to enjoy the passive freedoms Kentucky has to offer, because without regular income, I'm not ready to spend money on all the new goodies available to me.

Despite only recently shifting into job hunt mode, I'm already antsy for instant gratification. I'm applying to other places, but some of these companies are big, and it takes them time to process resumes. Meanwhile, I'm trying not to gnaw my arm off waiting.

Working at my part time job has been kind of nice because it's such a change of pace. I'm working at Sonic, which is the second time I've been able to put my money where my mouth is.

Before we moved, I told everyone I wasn't going to get a job because I was going to start a business. Understandably skeptical, they would answer, "But what if you can't find one?" To which I replied, "I'll work at Sonic if I have to!" When the local Sonic put up a big banner trying to get people to work there, I made it my first stop on my part-time job search. It was a fry cook job that was part-time, nights only, and should pay barely enough to let us eek by. Surprisingly, it was a good fit. As a bonus, I wouldn't enjoy it, which would drive me to work harder on the business instead of taking a proper job and settling in (which I have done in the past).

The other reason I wound up going with this job was the lack of mental stress. I tried to start a business while at my last employer, and found that when I came home I was mentally exhausted. Not like, "I'm tired, I don't wanna." More like, "I-- I'm-- uh... *DROOOOOOOOOL*" I had plenty of interesting and fun projects that I wanted to do, but just couldn't get myself to do them. I'd just stare at the blinking cursor, devoid of any creativity. Eventually, I couldn't even do my hobbies! I wouldn't go to the range, wouldn't draw, wouldn't write (explaining my hiatus), I couldn't do anything except veg out on video games or Netflix.

But when I came back from Sonic after working for 8 hours, eased into bed at 1am, thumbed through my emails, and found some potential work? I shot up like a bolt, and stayed up until 4am working on the project. The mental energy was ready and waiting.

I surprised myself when I realized that I didn't think I hated the job. In fact, I felt like I liked it. The work is simple, I'm constantly moving, a good rush is fun, and I like the people I work with. There is the added bonus of knowing that something real was done at the end of the day, which is a feeling you miss on a primal level only after spending years flipping ones and zeros instead of burgers.

In the meantime, I've been engrossed with the DayZ mod for ArmA which will get its own post. Not engrossed in playing (not buying stuff, remember?), but engrossed in researching, learning, and watching youtube videos.

There's some exciting news coming up next week which may frame my faith or insanity (depending on your perspective) in this series of life changing events, so look out for that.

Right now, I'm just trying to chill whilst waiting to hear back from the companies to which I applied.

Sorry for the delay. I'm starting to feel it again.

Hello, the one reader that stuck with me :) I'm starting to hit my stride again, and I'm reigniting my relationship with my muse. The problem with my smart post is that it's hard to follow it up with a post of my usual caliber. So I've been waiting until I've had something smart to say. How long this will last (or if it ever started) is completely up to you.

Who cares? Enjoy a ketchup post!

I just finished my 6 months probation at the new job, and have become a valued member of the team due to the fact that I actually do work. I was happy to get away from the small company BS, but now I'm getting an introduction in big company BS. It only bugs me a little bit, because instead of taking tons of time measuring how much work I'm doing compared to everyone else and adjusting so I only do the bare minimum, I just do my fucking job as much as I can without dropping the ball. It's amazing how much time and effort people put into not doing their jobs. Maybe amazing isn't the right word. As for that promotion I was working toward, I was assured that I would have gotten it had the job existed by the end of the trial period. More big company BS meant a reorganization in the middle of my trial period for the job. The job I was going for was one of the casualties. I aired my disappointment at the situation, and moved on. I know I'm good, and so do they, so I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing.

I'm not sure that I've said much about my hunting intentions here, but I'm going to change that now. A few years ago I took an interest in hunting, and without a friend or family member who hunted, I reached out to the online community. Bad idea. I'm not sure if it's hunters or just Californian hunters, but they were almost uniformly dismissive, derisive, and even discouraging. Most seemed to think I could only hunt if it did it their way, and the rest were more than happy to help so long as I paid to join their club, paid for their land, and paid for any game harvested. "Ranches" were the next place I looked, but most in the area were canned hunts. I started seriously considering saving up for a trip out of state, but the more I read about Southern Californian deer, the more of a challenge it sounded like. Very few people hunt Deer zone 15 because of the few deer and continually low harvest rates. But if you know me, and you might, you know I like a challenge. So I figured; at worst, I go hiking, get some fresh air and exercise, and enjoy some nature. And at best, I go hiking, get some fresh air and exercise, enjoy some nature, and do something other people don't/won't/can't do because they think it's too hard. And I do it all myself, without paying dues, fees, and respect to people who don't deserve any of the above. So for the last couple years I've been slowly gathering enough information to feel like I'm starting to know what I'm doing. As I've drawn closer to that point, I've been getting more aggressive. I know my way around all the dfg and usfs sites, and I've called ranger offices for the details I couldn't find online. I've been hiking more, and spending lots of time on Google Earth plotting game trails and identifying accessible areas to inspect more closely on upcoming hikes. My boss's boss was a hunter when he was younger and is getting back into it, so he's been giving me tips and advice that have been really helpful. It's starting to get exciting.

I found myself in a magazine. I looked at the cover, and there I was, the headline article. I didn't know it at the time, of course, but something in the back of my mind told me to buy it from the airport duty free shop. As I read the article on the plane, I began to assemble the puzzle pieces in my life that made my story tragic and victorious. Having never seen the box the puzzle came in, I was a little afraid of the picture the puzzle made. There were very few happy endings for people like me. After some research and soul-searching, I decided that whatever may come in the future, I should embrace my gifts now and enjoy their fruits later. I dare believe that my triumphs over what I thought was my disease (could still be, I suppose), would apply to this congenital mental whimsy. Events have aligned since this decision that have lead me to believe it was the right one. All that is left is practice.

Part of the above has been more writing. "Tac" and many others are swimming around in my head, and they need to be let out. As with writing this blog, the exercise is more important than the result. But in practice, I'm trying to make the two of equal import. Half for you, the reader, and the other half for any potential publisher. And yes, The Walking Dead series will continue and be completed (under a new name, of course). Any other bits that don't quite fit in will wind up here, so I welcome your cheers or jeers.

Since the iPad, I've been hoping for an Android tablet to come along and sweep me off my feet. Even as the first real contender arrived, I argued against software, hardware, and price, and waited. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Motorola XOOM arrived with honeycomb fully executed, but at a price I was simply not willing to pay. As I patiently pined for a proper price point, there were some rumblings about the nook color e-reader making a splash in the third party ROM scene. Starting at $250, it certainly looked interesting. Only recently did CyanogenMod 7 start to really come into its own on the nook, just as Barnes & Noble started selling them at $200 (see coupon code), and the decision was all but made. I put up a good fight for a few weeks, but lost (won?) in the end. The Nook color running CM7 is a perfect fit. I get a day of hard use out of the battery, movies played from any format I choose, netflix, the excellent browsing experience Dolphin Browser HD provides with Flash 10.1, e-reader apps (nook app not working for me, fixes available, but I haven't cared), unfettered android market access, multitasking, vnc/rdp on a usable screen, very usable soft keyboard (thumb tap, vertically) all in a light package. There are some issues, of course, the case seems plastic-y and feels like it might shatter if dropped, the screen can seem really sensitive doing actions beyond a quick tap, there's a little chop in my scrolling, it's heavier than the e-ink nook/kindle versions, none of the usual android home/back/menu/search hard buttons (replaced with a hide-able soft button bar which works fine, but still isn't hard), few hardware features (gps, compass, keyboard, camera, flash, etc), and a few minor polish problems with CM7 on the nook. Most of the cons are because it's supposed to be a $200 e-reader, and are severely outweighed by the pros. Plus, most of the missing features aren't required for my use. It has been an excellent improvement to my workflow, and just like my Droid, I know it will only get better with future releases.

A few weeks ago (not really sure when) our cable box, purveyor of mindless entertainment, killer of time, and server of empty mental calories, ceased its assault. When I discovered this I made some halfhearted attempts to fix it, and I told my wife, who said it had broken some time ago, but she forgot to tell me. I confirmed the internet and game consoles still worked, and decided to bring in the box for replacement later. Except I didn't. It's been a month, and we haven't missed it, so the obvious questions arises. Do we really need it? I know the answer is "no, we don't need it," and I know I'll miss some great shows (I can always find them online if I need to), but it really is only for entertainment, and it seems we're getting our entertainment elsewhere. After writing this out, the answer seems obvious.

I brought the M1A out to the range a few more times after finding a great deal on some American Eagle 308. I was reminded of what Jeff Cooper said about ammo stored being potential skill left to gather dust, and decided to shoot it up. A few hundred rounds later, I was ringing the 10 inch gong at 400 yards off irons. I've still got a couple hundred rounds of skill left, and expect to improve. The M1A seems to shoot right when it gets hot, but in its defense, I was getting it too hot to hold. I was getting ready to adjust the sights, when I just let it cool down a bit, and it was right back to normal. That rifle is still very nice.

My wife's employer decided not to renew their lease, and her job disappeared with the building. Fortunately, my new job affords a high enough degree of stability for her to take her time looking for the right job instead of just any job. She's taking some of her time to get crafty with some paintings she's been meaning to make and sell on etsy, giving her that time and opportunity is something I'm happy to do for her.

That's about it for now, see you soon.

Catching up, getting ahead

A mere two months into my current employment, I'm trying out for a promotion, having being goaded on by my boss. Somehow there is little competition for the position, so many suspect me of being the frontrunner. I didn't think I was qualified enough for the position, but the last two months have been very reassuring to me in regards to my ability to pick up new things quickly. I'm way ahead of where I should be, and I think that's why my boss wanted to make sure I at least tried out.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that doing this means I'm essentially doing two jobs. The stress has caused me to get sick, gain weight, and break out. Fortunately, this will only last for the month before they make the decision, then I can focus on one or the other. Interestingly enough, if I get the position my coworkers tell me I'll need two promotions, and two raises, which would probably make me the most well paid and skilled new guy still on probation. A few people told me that they don't expect much from you in the first 6 month probationary period, but I'm not the kind of person who meets those kinds of expectations.

Some things change, some things never change.

It has been a little over a month since I started my new job, and I'm starting to feel like a normal human being again.

The sleep pattern is starting to be the norm, I'm getting over this weird cold that just seemed to linger for a few weeks, the new job stress took a couple hits when I got my first customer survey back (perfect), and some guy who's supposedly awesome was impressed with my work. Things are starting to feel normal again. But not that kind of normal I had at the last place, where things were slowly sliding downhill, and you never really realize that stress until it's gone.

Real normal.

Feels damn good.

I called my old paintball buddy when I decided to go paintballing the next day. The same old paintball buddy who had grown accustomed to me turning down every offer of an outing due to me being on call or some other engagement. And I do mean every. I went so far as to explain to him that I really did want to go, and to continue inviting me, but cosmic forces seemed aligned to prevent me from going paintballing with him.

Kharmicly, he was unable to go due to a prior engagement, however he hooked me up with one of his friends who asked him if he wanted to go the same day.

We hit it off immediately, all he had to do was mention "phantom" and "machine shop" and I could tell we were going to be best friends. He and his friend are stock class players, and run phantoms, so I told him I'd bring mine and we'd make it a triple. Since it'll just be three of us, he recommended we join a walk-on and take them to school. My kind of pump players.

I hit the local shop (the only one that's left) after work, and it turned out the shop owner was there. We started talking kit, and it turned out he was on the socal paintball scene for 12 years. When he found out who I knew and what I used to do, we caught up on common friends, and the ones who were no longer with us. We talked about the scene, the drama, how some things changed, and how other things never changed.

A lot of those times are over. There are glimmers of hope, but the scene is a shadow of what it used to be. The economy is to blame as much as silly drama.

The halcyon days of southern California paintball.

It made me sad that it was gone, but I was still happy to have been a part of it. It felt strange to talk about "the good old days." I'm only 27...

But time marches on, and the oppressive cost of doing business in California, and the high insurance rates for "shooting sports" forced fields to make up their costs by requiring players buy field paint instead of bringing their own. This paint was usually low quality and high cost to maintain the necessary margin the field needed to stay in business. This made players seek lower cost forms of playing, hence an uneasy spike in pump play.

Generally pump play is the polar opposite of the "Agg Kidz" (HK kids) I fought against in the sport. It's really easy to get your aggression going with 2 grand of kit slinging four cases of paint a day. "Whoops, lit up that last guy on the bunker, and he turned out to be a scared little kid just trying out the sport. Guess he won't be back! High five!" I'm hoping the return to pump play brought a return to focus to the game style down here, but I suppose attitudes don't necessarily have to change when play style changes. But I'm hopeful, and I'm going to find out today.

---

Blogging should return to normal once I get this new schedule figured out, and determine where it fits in it. I used to be able to write bits and pieces at work, but that won't be the case now. I'll be back. Don't worry.

The new job is looking good

The commute is considerably shorter than I had expected, which is much appreciated.

I still haven't gotten the hang of the "regular people" schedule of 8-5, so I'm tired when I should be awake, and awake when I should be tired.

The company won a few "best place to work" awards, and it's not hard to see why. This place rocks.

The work is demanding, which beats the hell out of the alternative. So far, I've just been training, so I've spent most of my time straining to understand the complexities of a large business production software. The program is frickin' huge, and twice as complex in troubleshooting. I love a challenge.

The mental drain is worse than the physical drain, and it leaves me useless for blogging afterwards, so it might be a while before I return to a normal blogging schedule. I know you're all waiting on bated breath. :)

Happy new year!

I'll be starting my new job tomorrow. It's going to be nice returning to the routine.

As I said this to my wife, I stopped just before the word "routine" because it seemed odd to crave routine, but she completed the sentence for me correctly. It seems odd to me, but I guess there isn't really a problem with it.

Since I worked evenings before, and am a bit of a night owl, I'm still trying to adjust to the morning schedule. Getting to work 20 miles away at 8am in rush hour means waking up at 5:45, and I haven't been a morning person for quite some time. But if it turns out the commute and hours are the toughest thing about the job, that'll be just fine with me.

The new job will mean less free time (than unemployment?), but I want to keep the list of things I wanted to do with my free time while unemployed. I'm trying to break them up into smaller tasks to make it easier to make progress, and eventually do them.

Speaking of free time, since I knew I actually had a job, I've actually been able to enjoy my free time. With some unexpected cash, we've been living pretty normally this last week. Seeing movies, playing games, hanging out, drinking with friends, etc.

I had planned trip to the desert after my birthday, at first it looked like it was going to be a big group, then one by one, they were picked off by other engagements, and when we were down to the reliable two who always go, they were pulled away literally at the last hour. So we're pushing it off to some later date. But gathering everything together and trying to decide what to bring and what to leave home made me realize I needed to focus on some of my guns more. So instead of dividing my attention on range trips, I think I'll only pick one gun per trip, and use it exclusively. Top contenders for the next trip are M39 and the SKS. The problem is, I have a to do list for the range, zeroing, testing bullet drop, testing mags or ammo, and technically those things should be a higher priority than getting really good with specific guns. Right? I dunno. Maybe I'm thinking too much about all this.

Oh yeah, ordered that one thing. Can't wait to try it out. But I really just want to get some dirt under my feet, and some trees at my sides

What has two thumbs and a job?

THIS guy...

Special thanks to the old coworker who told me about this place. It's actually a large company, so I'm looking forward to not having to deal with a lot of small company BS. Obviously, this also means things will be a bit more structured than a small company, which is fine. I didn't really take advantage of the small company's loose management style, though others did. I'll just be happy to get regular raises, and medical that doesn't cost an arm leg.

The job promises to be the one thing that I missed the most from my last one, challenging. It seems I'm suited for more advanced work than the entry position I'll be going into, but it's the job everyone has to start at to get the base of knowledge needed to move up. Did I mention there's upward mobility? That's the second thing I missed from the last job.


Now, on to the matter of Anon...

A while ago I wrote a post arguing that the people that have exhausted their 99 weeks of unemployment benefits can make my subway sandwich or move. This was something to which Anonymous took offense;

i truly hope somday you lose yor job and see what its like to be in the 99ers shoes,you sit here and make dumb ass comments ,jackass

To which I replied...

You can hope that I'll lose my job, but that won't put me in the 99ers' shoes. Because losing my job doesn't make me sit on my ass for 99 weeks, and then bitch about it when my free money runs out.

But for sitting there and making dumb ass comments, I'm pretty sure you're one of the 99ers, and I'm pretty sure I'M PAYING YOU to make your dumb ass comments on my blog.

Whether that makes you dumb, or me dumb is up for debate.

Meanwhile, the goddamn Subway still has the help wanted sign up. So please Anon, get up tomorrow morning, look yourself in the mirror real hard, and then MAKE MY FUCKING SANDWICH.

Since then, I've had the rare opportunity of having life put my money where my mouth is, and I've come to a few conclusions. They are here.

Quick updates

Things are going pretty well. I have a few promising job prospects, both are better than what I had, as is normally the case. Still running off savings, and we have enough that I don't have to freak out about money while I look for the right job instead of just any job.

I figured that if I ever won the lottery I would retire to some acreage in Montana or Texas or Wyoming, preferably with a quarry, and just fucking relax. Seems like a great idea right? Yeah. See, I've been going nucking futs with all this waiting around. I really thought I'd have an easier time doing nothing. Just play some video games, do some work, hit the range for some .22 practice, and enjoy the time off. Nope. I can't do any of those things unless I force myself. If I don't catch myself, I'll just pace for hours, thinking about jobs and life, and generally driving myself up the walls. I just don't know what to do with myself. Maybe it will be different when I have a few million in the bank, but I just can't sit still. This last week has been the worst because the holiday just shut everything down, and I'm waiting for scheduling on follow up interviews, and I can't call them because they told me they'll be busy going into Thanksgiving, and then Monday rolled around, and I didn't want to bother them today because I know it's the first day back from a long holiday weekend, and blah blah blah. I guess I've just got more stuff to do.

I applied for unemployment benefits after a little goading from friends and family, because I'm not philosophically opposed to unemployment benefits, as long as they're used as intended. That is, a helping hand during a career transition, and not a long term source of income. I did all the stupid paperwork, and weeks later got the first check. It's still sitting on the counter. Filing was one thing, but depositing the check? It's different. I may not oppose unemployment benefits, but that doesn't mean I have to like them. Also, the check is about a third of what I made (exactly how do people live off of this for 99 weeks?)

I've been taking advantage of this time to take some more serious looks at out of state work. It's by no means decided yet, but the plans are definitely moving forward. One of the good opportunities has a lot of people on their team that work all over the country, so being able to move was a bit of a selling point.

I don't lie on my resume or in interviews, but I lied by omission to answer one question asked during an interview in order to conceal my conservative values and general disgust for the way this state is run. When I told my wife about it she asked me why I lied, and I said that for now, I have to be employable in this state, and liberals tend to hate (not disagree with, hate) people who don't conform to their world view. That's why I blog under a pseudonym. Maybe after we move I'll be more open about my identity, but then again, I'm a private person, so maybe fuck off :)

I've been digging back into the California hunting and camping information. Camping isn't that hard, but I want to camp in a place that isn't hermetically sealed from the environment. I want to pitch a goddamn tent, make a goddamn fire, and poop in a goddamn hole. Well, maybe a porta-potty or two wouldn't be so bad. I just gotta get away. I crave that quiet that I only get when I go out to the sooper seekrit desert shooting spot. But California is strongly opposed to letting you interact with anything beautiful about this state. Believe me, if they could wrap plexiglass around every hiking trail they would. I want to feel like part of nature, not just a tourist with a camera. The hunting stuff is just as confounding as ever. The State's websites on the matter are uniformly inconsistent. One wilderness park has maps, marked areas, specific locations, and another has vague mention of separate areas that have different rules. The one thing that is somewhat consistent is that they always recommend just asking at the ranger station, but a few searches has shown many people receiving bad information from random rangers. This is bad. Because depending on the area and the infraction, being unclear about where this zone ends and that begins could mean anything from a scolding to federal prison. So yeah. BLM land seems to be the only truly free place left, but it's almost uniformly dust and scrub in my area. Which isn't really that bad, but what's the point of living in one of the most beautiful states in this country if you can't enjoy it? But for as unhelpful as the state-provided information is, the hunters themselves are even less helpful. I remain astounded at how unwelcoming, and in some cases, hostile a group of people can be who are enjoying a sport that one might conclude they want to keep in existence. I don't know if they got the memo, but hunting is a dying sport in dire need of some revitalization. But I guess they just figure that means more game for them, right? That said, the predator guys seem pretty alright. Predator hunting might be a good way to cut my teeth.

The failure of national opt out day was very disheartening to me. If people aren't willing to suffer a minor inconvenience to make a symbolic stand for freedom, what the fuck are they going to do when confronted with something that actually matters?

In other news, the world is going to hell in a handbasket. North Korea rattles its saber more violently than it has in quite some time, the collapse of the dollar seems closer and more dangerous than ever, drug wars ramp up all over to deal with decreasing demand, Government Motors put out an ad thanking America for their hugely unpopular and widely opposed bailout, Jihadist bomb plots get closer and closer to home every day, liberals pop their collective monocles when they see someone doing that "fishing" thing they read about, Lady Gaga is helping PFCs steal classified information that has the potential to send international relations into a tailspin, and Obama is as impotent as a man who's married to Michelle Obama. Good thing I've got a case of bad news burnout, otherwise I might be concerned.

What has two thumbs and just got laid off?

THIS guy...



I'm excited.

I've been kind of looking for a new place for a while, and I haven't been challenged there in two years. I think the change was overdue.

My boss didn't want to do two weeks, so right afterward, I showed him and an ex-coworker how to manage some of the undocumented scripts and automation I had done for our patch server, and went over some of the other undocumented job functions I had been doing since our previous round of lay-offs. Then I signed out for my phone (god, I hated that phone) and card, and my former boss and I went out to the parking lot and talked for an hour about the company and my honest opinion of him, my coworkers, and the CEO.

I wasn't a dick about any of that stuff because I didn't feel upset. Like I said, I was excited. I told him he needed to delegate more before he wound up in an early grave. I told him he was trying to balance the company on his shoulders, without asking for any help, and it was taking its toll on him. I told him how one of my coworkers was truly suffering from the low pay. I told him how the CEO revealed to me that he was bored with the job. I told him how it was a privilege to watch the company learn and grow over the 7 years (this month!) I worked there.

Then I shook his hand, said goodbye, turned around, looked up at the sky, breathed the free air, and felt great.


On to the next adventure...

For you to succeed, I must fail.

I know that the ideal outcome of a web application vulnerability assessment is that the hacker finds nothing, and reports that the site is very secure.

But that doesn't keep me from feeling crappy when I can't find anything wrong.

Bleh.

Butt in the process of being kicked by work

Rough.

Nothing but quickies for a while.

Terrible true tales from phone support!

Me: Hello, how can I help you?
Customer: Hi, we're having a problem with our tape, it won't eject...
M: Ok, let me log in and take a look...
*Log in, look around, find the problem*
M: Looks like your media didn't mount due to a service error. I've canceled the backup, so you should be able to eject the tape and put in the new one.
C: So then we didn't get the Friday backup?
M: No, it failed, but once the new tape is in, I'll reschedule it to do the full tonight.
C: But what about Friday's data?
M: Those changes will be included in tonight's full backup.
C: But we need the Friday backup.
M: Tonight's backup will include it, so it will be backed up. Can you eject the tape?
C: Ok hang on...
*overhear him talking to someone else*
Other customer who obviously had english as a second language: This won't work because last Friday was end of month!
M: I'm sorry?
ESL: We do tapes at end of month to storage, and we need Friday's data!
M: If you eject the tape, and put in the one you were going to put in anyway, I can make sure Friday's data gets onto that tape.
ESL: But that will be today's data, not Friday's!
C: She's right, I totally forgot, we need that end of month tape.
M: ... But Friday's backup failed. I can get you that data tonight if you swap the tapes.
ESL: But if we swap the tapes then today's backup will be on there!
*carefully weighing the potential outcomes of continuing this call*
M: You know, you have a good point. I didn't even think of that. Let me get you to your field engineer. He'll be able to help you because he's more familiar with your systems.
ESL: Finally! Thank you!
C: Yes, thanks for knowing when you're over your head.
M: Oh, I know when that happens.

Busy busy busy

Light posting lately primarily due to the business taking up most of my free thinking time, and work-work kicking up. Early sign that the recession is easing.

We got our first customer that we have no need to offer a "friendship rate" to. Very nice to charge full price. Beginning to feel like this is getting serious. Oh yeah! We seem to have found a good spot to develop our Big Damn Idea™ (The consultant work is to make enough money for us to make the Big Damn Idea™. The Big Damn Idea™ is what makes us Big Damn Millionaires™.) I figure it'll take about a year for us to get it 75% ready to sell. At first, I thought it was a solid idea, and was happy we'd get rich. But as I thought more about it, I realized the full implications of that level of success, and got extremely excited at the potential of being able to move wherever we want, and take our jobs with us. I'll have that big house on acreage with the range in the back in no time :) (update since I started this post a week ago: (told you I was busy) we've got another Big Damn Idea™. Awesome.)

Gaming has been light. Mostly killing time until New Vegas. Been playing Fallout 3 on Very Hard, and it's... very hard... Still fun though. I'm playing through stealthy-style, which is actually possible with the Operation Anchorage add-on and its Chinese Stealth Armor. Once you get the better criticals and silent running, you just start owning. Ol' Painless is my favorite weapon. I'm really looking forward to the hardcore mode in New Vegas. Ammo weight is going to be... interesting...

Overheard at work

Me: The thing that really sucks about the whole situation is that we have people who can do all the things that would have prevented this failure. We just didn't have someone to tell them to do it.
Coworker: There is no shortage of can at this company. Only a shortage of will.


Damn shame. All this talent and we apparently don't know how to use it.

Do us all a favor

When you're sick, and you work in a small department, that works in a small room, that is understaffed already due to the recession...

Stay home.

I was sick all weekend and two days into the week because of you. Jerk.

You're not helping anyone.