Substantial Post, as promised. Sorta.
I've gotten so used to tweeting and short Facebook posts and Loopt and so forth that trying to type out a meaningful post here on Livejournal is like attempting to walk after being paralyzed for five years.
So I've been working for the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria since June and I have to say that I really do enjoy this job. It's not the most money I've ever made, but I don't hate life when I'm on the clock and I have been given genuine responsibility. I started out as an "Administrative Assistant" and I'm still not quite sure how it happened but I somehow wrangled my way into the IT/Network/Database/General Techie Person arena.
When I started there, we were pretty much entirely paper-based. We were still writing physical paper receipts when people purchased pet supplies. Our database system would have fit right in at the Reagan administration.
Well, a couple of months after I started we got a fancy new database built specifically for animal shelters called Chameleon. It was shiny and new and powerful and it seemed like very few people there really knew how to use it. I cannot fault anyone at the League; they do what they do incredibly well and that is finding permanent loving homes for animals in need. It isn't MIT.
So I just sorta played around with the new database, learning its ins and outs as best I could. I figured out how to utilize the database's Point-Of-Sale utility, and I've spent the past couple weeks installing and prepping our spanking-new barcode scanners for retail sales. I've been learning Crystal Reports, which lets me pull out and organize any data I want, and present it in any fashion I want.
And so my co-worker Ronnie and I have been come the de-facto Chameleon gurus of the bunch, it seems. Enough so that they're sending us to training conferences being put on by the company that created this software. Thus I will be in Chicago from Feb 23 - 25 (my birthday) and I'm pretty excited about it. Anyone in Chicago want to hang out?
So yes. Stuffs are good. Thus concludes my first (but not last!) LJ post in quite some time.
So I've been working for the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria since June and I have to say that I really do enjoy this job. It's not the most money I've ever made, but I don't hate life when I'm on the clock and I have been given genuine responsibility. I started out as an "Administrative Assistant" and I'm still not quite sure how it happened but I somehow wrangled my way into the IT/Network/Database/General Techie Person arena.
When I started there, we were pretty much entirely paper-based. We were still writing physical paper receipts when people purchased pet supplies. Our database system would have fit right in at the Reagan administration.
Well, a couple of months after I started we got a fancy new database built specifically for animal shelters called Chameleon. It was shiny and new and powerful and it seemed like very few people there really knew how to use it. I cannot fault anyone at the League; they do what they do incredibly well and that is finding permanent loving homes for animals in need. It isn't MIT.
So I just sorta played around with the new database, learning its ins and outs as best I could. I figured out how to utilize the database's Point-Of-Sale utility, and I've spent the past couple weeks installing and prepping our spanking-new barcode scanners for retail sales. I've been learning Crystal Reports, which lets me pull out and organize any data I want, and present it in any fashion I want.
And so my co-worker Ronnie and I have been come the de-facto Chameleon gurus of the bunch, it seems. Enough so that they're sending us to training conferences being put on by the company that created this software. Thus I will be in Chicago from Feb 23 - 25 (my birthday) and I'm pretty excited about it. Anyone in Chicago want to hang out?
So yes. Stuffs are good. Thus concludes my first (but not last!) LJ post in quite some time.