& that's the way life goes

This post is about 2.5 months overdue. At the time it happened I was in denial and my feelings about the situation were at opposite ends of the spectrum. On one hand (the selfish one) I was SO sad and on the other I was SO excited.

My co-worker Matt left to take a job at Google. I’ll let that sink in.

Matt was an awesome guy to work with. He always had time to help me with issues that made me want to bash my head against my desk. He encouraged me to get self-hosting for my blog and helped me with design ideas and tweaks. This doesn’t even scratch the surface of all the help Matt gave me. He was also pretty hilarious dancing in the office and commenting with snarky remarks when you were least expecting it.

Somewhere over the 3 years we worked together a gang was formed. Venom, Viper, Vapor & Matt (aka V3M). Matt always complained he never got a good nickname and this was no exception. We used to go to lunch and bitch about work and all the douchebags DBs that the company contained. Though Matt never called anyone a “database” out loud.

At our farewell celebration before Matt left for the Googleplex  he finally earned a nickname.  From now on our historical gang was Venom, Viper, Vapor and Vag.  Yeah, Vag.  Not even sure how we got there now.   I totally expect to have some type of cool invitations for some of the Google stuff that Matt will be producing.  If not the V3′s are going out to Cali to kick some Vag ass.

Our office isn’t the same.  The balance is off now.  We are waiting for the new guy to start.  Keith seems to think he’ll be alright.  I’m hoping he’s not one of the DB’s we used to bitch about at lunch.

Maybe it’s just the mood I’m in.  Or maybe I’m realizing that something needs to change.  Like a lot of people, I have a college degree.  I have a gigantic student loan that I will have until I’m dead (I’ve accepted this).

I’ll admit I’m not highly motivated.  I want a job that will pay the bills and that doesn’t drive me insane.  But I do not want to answer phones the rest of my “career”.    I’m restless.  I mean don’t get me wrong there are many things about my job that I love but the parts I don’t love so much are really getting on my nerves.

I guess this stems from people leaving my office and watching other people move in.

As of this moment (which means that in like 10 minutes I’ll likely change my mind) here are what I think my options are:

1. Not come home from up north this weekend.  Kidding, kind of
2. Find another degree program

Option 1:

There is part of me that wants to drop everything here in the next couple years and just find a small town and try to settle in.  Sure I wouldn’t make a lot of money but things are cheaper up there and the scenery is pretty. Maybe I’d find more time for myself.  Taking long walks in the woods with the dogs, scrapbooking, photography, writing and maybe something new.

Option 2:

I’ve been looking into Graphic Design  and Computer Science.  Graphic Design seems to artsy/creative for me and Computer Science seems to technical and MATH.

Side note: Math.  I don’t know if I actually hate math as much as I think I do.  I did pretty well in Algebra in high school and it’s always nice to have an exact answer.  I also passed the math equivalency to graduate college so I mean at least I know I can do it.   I do know that I HATED, LOATHED, WANTED TO MURDER Geometry.  So maybe my hatred of math is a preconceived notion that isn’t exactly true.  I’m thinking about taking Algebra at the community college and see how that goes.

I kind of need to make up my mind about school though, it is almost August.  Actually the beginning Computer Science Classes are almost full at my Alma Mater.  FUCK.

Something has to change.  I’m kind of just lingering right now.  If I could create my own position at the job I have now I’d do everything happily except:

• answer the stupid fucking phones
• schedule dumbass meetings
• order the office supplies
• reconcile  purchase statements
• attend useless financial meetings

Oh and also I want an office where I can close the door and hibernate without being interrupted.

Obviously this is too much to ask for.

In more happy news, I picked up my new glasses last night.  I think I like them. A Lot.

I had the dream last night.  It varies in the storyline but the same people are always present and one of two things always happens.  I have it quite frequently but it’s been at least a month since I’ve had it last.  I woke up agitated and restless like I usually do.  I wonder if it will ever stop?

…still be upset I got overlooked for the 20sb blog swap for the SECOND time in a row
…think about the basement flooding because our power is out and the sump pump isn’t working
…let C’s crabbiness get to me
…feel self conscious because my hair is a little scary b/c I coudn’t use my straightener or my hair dryer
…think about MA leaving our office to go work at GOOGLE in California (psshhhh)

I will give you some more pictures from our up north vaca (which we will be going on again in a week!!)

Liko found a "suite" in the bow of the boat

Scooby looking out on lake huron in Oscoda

chillin with 'dad'

relaxin on the boat

Nani's driving with C (he's her favorite)

It was a little chilly

Holy crap.

I really like my job most of the time.  I get to learn new things break websites and then teach myself how to fix what I just broke.  Maintaining and updating other people’s code makes for good learning.  There is this one designer who had her head up her ass and since she left and I’ve been maintaining, updating, FIXING her code I’ve definitely learned what not to do EVER.  (ex. hard coding the navigation on EVERY page in a 5,000 page website…ok not 5,000 pages but it seems like that many.  virtual includes people)  Anyhow…

So I have a project list, not quite as extensive as the developers, cuz you know that’s not my job.  But I have this list and it’s keeps growing.  Then I have all this crap sitting in folders that needs to be done.  I’m waiting for content or a file (ahem…Keith).  Then I have to answer phones for another department while they are on lunch and the calls are interrupting my train of thought.  And I think that my head might explode because all I wanted to do was knock out some work so it was more ankle deep, than you know, shoulder deep.  Are you following me?  No.  I don’t blame you cuz I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about either.  (Get to the point)

I was stupid busy yesterday & I didn’t have any time for my blog (boo!).  That is all.

OMG moving on…

So you know I’m leaving to go up north this weekend…SO EXCITED…especially because we are taking the doggies.  Gosh I can’t wait to see them in the water.  They know when they get to go on vacation.   Last week I knew I needed to get them pet tags (I know we are bad canine parents, they don’t have any).  According to The Dog Whisper’s newsletter, the statistics of a dog being returned to an owner is only about 10-12%.  Isn’t that sad?  I’ve been wanting to get them id tags for a long time now and our trip made me realize I had to get them NOW.

I found the perfect ones on etsy, of course.  Unique Tags to be exact.

their names are engraved on one side with our phone numbers on the other

In other catch up news.  Besides the lameness I talked about, the 4th was pretty fun.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the night.  My camera battery was about to die so I didn’t take as many pictures as I usually would have.

I’m working on the newsletter at work.  For the last month and for a couple more I’m previewing online photo editing applications.  I love it.   They are all really similar but give picnik and fotoflexor a try.

Here are the last 2 I did.

I used picnik.com

I used fotoflexor.com