So what's been going on?
Lot of stuff going on in my life, and oddly enough I woke up at 5am and haven't been able to get to sleep so here goes (instead of reading news, which is depressing...)
School:
Going fairly well. I seem to write a lot of papers, two a week or so. Fortunately I am very good at both writing and BSing. However I am learning some things which is good (ethics in IT is always kind of interesting) and there is still a chance I could have a BS by next summer. We'll see. Not sure why I am doing this, but it's more of a one thing at a time sort of thing. Still enjoying the AS diploma, still impressed that I was able to make that happen.
But there are clouds...
Job:
Job is fine, but a bit silly. Leaving Discovery did mean dumping a fairly significant chunk of my career, I'm back to the classic security blanket title which while fun and silly and cute is not helping me in going towards any goal in particular. However they pay me fairly well, I sleep in till 8:30am or so, come home for lunch, and leave at 5. Easy stuff. At the same time I am doing some very interesting forensics research, have time to take classes, and they seem to want to pay for everything. They still like me, they just don't really know what the heck to do with me. And as I mentioned, I do not seem to know what to do with me. In a way I feel like I tapped out at Discovery, so what kind of job could I get going forward that would be a challenge?
No office, no place for my stuff, no cool staff. But I do have infinite lunch expense ability, and I am going off to Atlanta. And going to the UK could easily be a normal jaunt if I want it. Hm.
Do I want a challenge? Alex is sick, the kids need me, house needs me, maybe I need a lot of flexibility in my life now. But I am also 47, not getting younger, do I have a path or something great I want to do? Ug, complex choices especially because:
Job searches:
Got contacted about being a VP at a credit union for security. Bigger money (probably 40k or so all told), good insurance, pension, 401k match. Did I mention my current health care stinks? Maybe not, but if the Republican dream is "just pay for everything and shut up" then I have it in spades. But people keep dangling the big money carrot, with a corner office, special stuff, all that. Apparently T-Rwe liked me so much they cancelled the position when I didn't take it because they were never going to find someone like me. Hm. Good for ego, but not sure what I want to do with this opportunity. if I took it I would be buried for a year, do I want to do that?
I couldn't commit to Discovery partially because I couldn't throw myself into the work full time and full speed. I kept focusing on the commute and that my boss was crazy. It would have been one hell of a resume builder though, 2 years there and I could do anything. I just couldn't deal.
Health.
Holding together but getting older. Hit 240 on weight, this is very very bad. Can't seem to lose it either, keep climbing up a bit at a time. Very frustrating. Hair is starting to show hints of grey, eyes can no longer focus on detail work without glasses. Using 1.5-1.75 glasses for reading and fine work. Not good. Knees have been twinging again, especially the right one, probably from years of taking the damn metro stairs two at a time. Haven't been sick much, which is good, no obvious cancer signs. Hopefully nothing will sneak up on me and kill me.
Mental:
Managed to finally kick coffee/caffeine and my bladder thanks me. Still hit the bathroom a lot, but able to urinate with less pain. That's nice. However I have replaced caffeine with speed, which is an interesting trade-off. Take half a pill in the morning or my brain does not work. Does make my brain work pretty well, no racing thoughts, no going bananas. Does allow me to step outside myself, watch myself in situations, and go "hm....." instead of immediately reacting. That is nice, and I need to use this as time to see how I think, how I am reacting to stuff. As you have guessed, I am not on anything now at 6am, so my mind is racing.
20 minutes to write the above. Moving on.
Family.
Going well. Love Alex bunches, the kids are all doing ok althoguh Bri is an evil little butt. But I love her so much I can't do much about that. Dylan is doing exceptionally well in HS and college, Tara is crazy but is finding herself, and Alex, though sick, is really doing amazing things with the family. I just wish and pray she could eat more than avocadoes. The lower stress from work really helps a lot, I was getting very grumpy and evil at Discovery and the kids and Alex noticed. The 3 hours less a day commuting didn't help much either, now I have more time to be around here and with the ability to get things done at work week it's giving me more free time on the weekends to focus in on the kids. When I'm not holing away on school work....
Finances:
Unknown. January was coasting on all the bonus money (only half normal, which is very bad) but reality hits in Feb when all of the christmas bills, the shortened month, and such come to hit hard. Still afloat, but with less money in the bank than I would like. Spring and summer are usually pretty quiet, but when things pick up in the fall with insurance, taxes, and everything it is a mess. Speaking of which my taxes were already fucked this year and got even more fucked up in Feb. More on that another time, but finances will be a wreck this year.
Oddly enough Bitcoin continues to plug along, which is kind of neat.
Politics:
Trump is a complete idiot and I can't believe some of the stuff that is being done. Not the stuff everyone focuses on, but the things like having a climate denier in charge of the EPA. Like not having any input from the Science community at all, and promoting anti-vax stuff. It's like abortion, I used to think people would only get riled up over stuff like abortion but it seems you can get people on a 50 year crusade with ANYTHING. Someone once said you could build a pile of rocks, call it "God" and people would worship it. Watching the climate deniers, anti-vax types, and the abortion trolls I have to agree that it really doesn't matter what it is, it can be made controversial and you can have people do the dumbest things in support of it.
Weird to watch actually. But the stock market is still up, Maybe this is the end game for the world. I thought about the rolling back of pollution laws and how people in coal country cheer it. There is a stream behind my great uncle's house in Barnsboro PA. In the 70's when we went up there I remember it smelled and was apparently a toxic runoff from the coal mines. Now when I went up there last summer kids would play in it and it was clean and fresh. It's kind of odd to think of the neighbors being happy with it going back to being smelly with sulphur and polluted, but that is what they want. Which is odd because they went on and on about how nice it was to be all cleaned up. Almost as if they don't understand cause and effect. Oh well, it was nice to see last year and I'll keep that memory.
Anything else?
Watches: Starting to work on a repeater, very complex, need time to figure this kind of thing out. Lot of work there....
Now I'm tired and it's 6:30. Maybe I'll try to go back to sleep for an hour or so. At least I am not having to be on the road at this time...
School:
Going fairly well. I seem to write a lot of papers, two a week or so. Fortunately I am very good at both writing and BSing. However I am learning some things which is good (ethics in IT is always kind of interesting) and there is still a chance I could have a BS by next summer. We'll see. Not sure why I am doing this, but it's more of a one thing at a time sort of thing. Still enjoying the AS diploma, still impressed that I was able to make that happen.
But there are clouds...
Job:
Job is fine, but a bit silly. Leaving Discovery did mean dumping a fairly significant chunk of my career, I'm back to the classic security blanket title which while fun and silly and cute is not helping me in going towards any goal in particular. However they pay me fairly well, I sleep in till 8:30am or so, come home for lunch, and leave at 5. Easy stuff. At the same time I am doing some very interesting forensics research, have time to take classes, and they seem to want to pay for everything. They still like me, they just don't really know what the heck to do with me. And as I mentioned, I do not seem to know what to do with me. In a way I feel like I tapped out at Discovery, so what kind of job could I get going forward that would be a challenge?
No office, no place for my stuff, no cool staff. But I do have infinite lunch expense ability, and I am going off to Atlanta. And going to the UK could easily be a normal jaunt if I want it. Hm.
Do I want a challenge? Alex is sick, the kids need me, house needs me, maybe I need a lot of flexibility in my life now. But I am also 47, not getting younger, do I have a path or something great I want to do? Ug, complex choices especially because:
Job searches:
Got contacted about being a VP at a credit union for security. Bigger money (probably 40k or so all told), good insurance, pension, 401k match. Did I mention my current health care stinks? Maybe not, but if the Republican dream is "just pay for everything and shut up" then I have it in spades. But people keep dangling the big money carrot, with a corner office, special stuff, all that. Apparently T-Rwe liked me so much they cancelled the position when I didn't take it because they were never going to find someone like me. Hm. Good for ego, but not sure what I want to do with this opportunity. if I took it I would be buried for a year, do I want to do that?
I couldn't commit to Discovery partially because I couldn't throw myself into the work full time and full speed. I kept focusing on the commute and that my boss was crazy. It would have been one hell of a resume builder though, 2 years there and I could do anything. I just couldn't deal.
Health.
Holding together but getting older. Hit 240 on weight, this is very very bad. Can't seem to lose it either, keep climbing up a bit at a time. Very frustrating. Hair is starting to show hints of grey, eyes can no longer focus on detail work without glasses. Using 1.5-1.75 glasses for reading and fine work. Not good. Knees have been twinging again, especially the right one, probably from years of taking the damn metro stairs two at a time. Haven't been sick much, which is good, no obvious cancer signs. Hopefully nothing will sneak up on me and kill me.
Mental:
Managed to finally kick coffee/caffeine and my bladder thanks me. Still hit the bathroom a lot, but able to urinate with less pain. That's nice. However I have replaced caffeine with speed, which is an interesting trade-off. Take half a pill in the morning or my brain does not work. Does make my brain work pretty well, no racing thoughts, no going bananas. Does allow me to step outside myself, watch myself in situations, and go "hm....." instead of immediately reacting. That is nice, and I need to use this as time to see how I think, how I am reacting to stuff. As you have guessed, I am not on anything now at 6am, so my mind is racing.
20 minutes to write the above. Moving on.
Family.
Going well. Love Alex bunches, the kids are all doing ok althoguh Bri is an evil little butt. But I love her so much I can't do much about that. Dylan is doing exceptionally well in HS and college, Tara is crazy but is finding herself, and Alex, though sick, is really doing amazing things with the family. I just wish and pray she could eat more than avocadoes. The lower stress from work really helps a lot, I was getting very grumpy and evil at Discovery and the kids and Alex noticed. The 3 hours less a day commuting didn't help much either, now I have more time to be around here and with the ability to get things done at work week it's giving me more free time on the weekends to focus in on the kids. When I'm not holing away on school work....
Finances:
Unknown. January was coasting on all the bonus money (only half normal, which is very bad) but reality hits in Feb when all of the christmas bills, the shortened month, and such come to hit hard. Still afloat, but with less money in the bank than I would like. Spring and summer are usually pretty quiet, but when things pick up in the fall with insurance, taxes, and everything it is a mess. Speaking of which my taxes were already fucked this year and got even more fucked up in Feb. More on that another time, but finances will be a wreck this year.
Oddly enough Bitcoin continues to plug along, which is kind of neat.
Politics:
Trump is a complete idiot and I can't believe some of the stuff that is being done. Not the stuff everyone focuses on, but the things like having a climate denier in charge of the EPA. Like not having any input from the Science community at all, and promoting anti-vax stuff. It's like abortion, I used to think people would only get riled up over stuff like abortion but it seems you can get people on a 50 year crusade with ANYTHING. Someone once said you could build a pile of rocks, call it "God" and people would worship it. Watching the climate deniers, anti-vax types, and the abortion trolls I have to agree that it really doesn't matter what it is, it can be made controversial and you can have people do the dumbest things in support of it.
Weird to watch actually. But the stock market is still up, Maybe this is the end game for the world. I thought about the rolling back of pollution laws and how people in coal country cheer it. There is a stream behind my great uncle's house in Barnsboro PA. In the 70's when we went up there I remember it smelled and was apparently a toxic runoff from the coal mines. Now when I went up there last summer kids would play in it and it was clean and fresh. It's kind of odd to think of the neighbors being happy with it going back to being smelly with sulphur and polluted, but that is what they want. Which is odd because they went on and on about how nice it was to be all cleaned up. Almost as if they don't understand cause and effect. Oh well, it was nice to see last year and I'll keep that memory.
Anything else?
Watches: Starting to work on a repeater, very complex, need time to figure this kind of thing out. Lot of work there....
Now I'm tired and it's 6:30. Maybe I'll try to go back to sleep for an hour or so. At least I am not having to be on the road at this time...