Thanksgiving was a nice break. Didn't do much, which was just they way I like it. Jennifer and her mother went shopping most of Friday so I had the whole day to myself. Surfed some on the net, but also finished reading Conversations with God and The Unbehead King trilogy. Saturday we saw 2012. Bleh. I will say this though, Joyce lays down a MEAN Thanksgiving day table. It was delicious. The turkey was the best I have had in years. It was Jennifer, myself, Joyce (my mother in law), Dick (her husband), and two of their friends who lived near by. There was also football watched. I am not a football fan, but I watched with them to be social. Despite some misgivings about A&M, I was still pleased that they performed as well as they did against UT. Right now I consider myself more an alumni of Boston University than any other school (that is, it hasn't kicked me out because I missed a single test or made me so angry I would want to spit nails at faster than the speed of sound)...but I never physically attended...and so far as I know, they have no major sports teams. But the more I find out about them, the more I like them. I attended an alumni networking event recently that was quite cool.
This week has been redonkulously busy. Monday night I played board games at a friend's house. Tuesday night I ran a MUSH event on the internet and last night I went to a Christmas party for the people I did the grant writing for (Mythic Imagination Institute)...but there must have been some kind of miscommunication because no one was there...'s OK really, I brought the chips for the potluck home and Jennifer and I ate them. :) Wednesday, I spent the night with Ken hammering out the last portion of the 4th novel.
The job market is definitely improving. I've had a lot of recruiters contact me recently. I think that might be why my current contract has been extended again to Feb 30th. I guess they (mostly) want to keep me. There are a few other issues I won't disclose on a public blog (yet anyway) but I get along great with my boss and my boss's boss.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving
Things are going fairly well. The trip down to Florida was long due to traffic but otherwise went fairly well. My contract has also been extended until Jan 29th, which is a good thing. The dog seems to be enjoying himself. Joyce cooked a remarkably excellent Thanksgiving dinner. The bird and potatoes were just right. Jennifer seems to be enjoying herself immensely.
Looks to be a nice and relaxing vacation, which will engender no complaints from me. :) Last weekend was also moderately uneventful, though I did go to Augusta with Mom and Grandma to help clear Grandma's house. It will take some time but we made a dent in it.
Looks to be a nice and relaxing vacation, which will engender no complaints from me. :) Last weekend was also moderately uneventful, though I did go to Augusta with Mom and Grandma to help clear Grandma's house. It will take some time but we made a dent in it.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Update
So its been an interesting two weeks. I think the first thing that bears mentioning is that I was on television yesterday. That is not entirely correct. I was taped for television yesterday and it will appear next week. It was on a local cable access show at Clarke University for a show they have called ‘Reel Cinema’. I was invited by J. Weilin (creator of the Sentinel Chronicles) to answer a few questions as Sr. Writer. It is rather fun. I gave him a ride home and we discussed how to flesh out some of the ideas and back story in his universe. Madeline (who was in my short film “Other People’s Musicals”) and Sophia (who is Madeline’s friend and an actor in the SC) were there as well. If I can find the thing broadcast on the internet, I’ll send the link.
The good news is that my current contract has been extended, though only to December 4th. The better news is that I’m getting calls from recruiters at a time of year when I normally never get calls. Now, I’m not entirely sure if it is because I’m getting better at searching, I’m attracting more attention because I’ve got more credentials, or simply because the environment is better. To be honest, what I think it really is is that most companies saw the hand writing on the wall at the beginning of the year and have been in deep storage (“siege”) mode during 2009, and have thus put off ‘optional’ things like Technical Writing and now the work has piled up. The truth is, about half of the jobs in my career have resulted from people piling up the tech writing in the ‘wait’ category until its coming out their ears. It quite often makes a lot more sense in the long run to simply keep one either on contract (as needed) or on staff full time.
However, I am still trying to get out of tech writing and into project management. The good news is that I’ve had recruiters approach me, but the bad news is that most of the things they’re approaching me for require experience. To get the PMP they want 3 years of experience in a project based environment. Yeah, I have one, while I was at Openspan. The others might have used projects but I wasn’t involved in them. So right now I’m drawing up the blue prints for around five projects helping others that at the same time will help myself. Four of them could theoretically earn money and one of them will be for charity. I’ll include more details as they come up. I’m almost tempted to start writing a Project Management blog on linked in, or to continue that “Pulling Teeth Electronically” blog I had to do for my ecommerce class, but …well…here is my list of current blogs and you tell me if that is a wise idea.
This blog (Weekly)
My live journal (As I feel the need to rant)
My Obama blog. (As I feel the need to rant about the media)
My Dailykos blog (As I feel the need to rant about specific things in a targeted way)
Let Me Tell you about my Character (For roleplaying game summaries and the like, about every two weeks)
Tossing Grenades at Windmills (my writing blog)
Memes of my Father (my strange/quirky things blog or where I put memetic answers)
I have an Opinion About Almost Everything (my review blog)
State of the Anvil (The Red Anvil Productions blog, as needed plus the monthly podcast plus updating the website)
So that is…9. Yeah, as tempting as it is to make an even 10, I think I’ll pass. Plus I should have something to write about in this. I mean, I put links to reviews I write, but I don’t put political stuff, roleplaying stuff, reviews, writing updates, product updates or the like here…then again, most of that would probably bore you to tears anyway so its probably just as well that I do so…
Plus one of the ways I get away with juggling so many different things is fooling myself into thinking its not really that much…breaking it into small chunks which I do here.
We celebrated Grandma’s birthday last night. Mom, Skip, myself, Jennifer, Grandma and Mom’s friend Daniel were there. We watched Up. Did I mention that it is an awesome movie? Jennifer and I gave Grandama a copy of Redwall (which is about a talking Mouse) which I am quite sure she’ll love.
This past weekend, Jennifer and I went out to eat a rather nice Persian restaurant. The food was fairly cheap. It had to be since we’re watching what we spend. Many of our gifts will be hand crafted this year (though not all of them of course). But I’ve discovered that I LIKE Persian Food and Thai food as much as I like Mexican and Italian. To be honest, most far Asian stuff or Mediteraian just doesn’t do it for me. Its not that I dislike it, its just that I have to carefully navigate to find what I like. Not so with Thai or Persian. I have to go out of my way to find something I don’t.
The good news is that my current contract has been extended, though only to December 4th. The better news is that I’m getting calls from recruiters at a time of year when I normally never get calls. Now, I’m not entirely sure if it is because I’m getting better at searching, I’m attracting more attention because I’ve got more credentials, or simply because the environment is better. To be honest, what I think it really is is that most companies saw the hand writing on the wall at the beginning of the year and have been in deep storage (“siege”) mode during 2009, and have thus put off ‘optional’ things like Technical Writing and now the work has piled up. The truth is, about half of the jobs in my career have resulted from people piling up the tech writing in the ‘wait’ category until its coming out their ears. It quite often makes a lot more sense in the long run to simply keep one either on contract (as needed) or on staff full time.
However, I am still trying to get out of tech writing and into project management. The good news is that I’ve had recruiters approach me, but the bad news is that most of the things they’re approaching me for require experience. To get the PMP they want 3 years of experience in a project based environment. Yeah, I have one, while I was at Openspan. The others might have used projects but I wasn’t involved in them. So right now I’m drawing up the blue prints for around five projects helping others that at the same time will help myself. Four of them could theoretically earn money and one of them will be for charity. I’ll include more details as they come up. I’m almost tempted to start writing a Project Management blog on linked in, or to continue that “Pulling Teeth Electronically” blog I had to do for my ecommerce class, but …well…here is my list of current blogs and you tell me if that is a wise idea.
This blog (Weekly)
My live journal (As I feel the need to rant)
My Obama blog. (As I feel the need to rant about the media)
My Dailykos blog (As I feel the need to rant about specific things in a targeted way)
Let Me Tell you about my Character (For roleplaying game summaries and the like, about every two weeks)
Tossing Grenades at Windmills (my writing blog)
Memes of my Father (my strange/quirky things blog or where I put memetic answers)
I have an Opinion About Almost Everything (my review blog)
State of the Anvil (The Red Anvil Productions blog, as needed plus the monthly podcast plus updating the website)
So that is…9. Yeah, as tempting as it is to make an even 10, I think I’ll pass. Plus I should have something to write about in this. I mean, I put links to reviews I write, but I don’t put political stuff, roleplaying stuff, reviews, writing updates, product updates or the like here…then again, most of that would probably bore you to tears anyway so its probably just as well that I do so…
Plus one of the ways I get away with juggling so many different things is fooling myself into thinking its not really that much…breaking it into small chunks which I do here.
We celebrated Grandma’s birthday last night. Mom, Skip, myself, Jennifer, Grandma and Mom’s friend Daniel were there. We watched Up. Did I mention that it is an awesome movie? Jennifer and I gave Grandama a copy of Redwall (which is about a talking Mouse) which I am quite sure she’ll love.
This past weekend, Jennifer and I went out to eat a rather nice Persian restaurant. The food was fairly cheap. It had to be since we’re watching what we spend. Many of our gifts will be hand crafted this year (though not all of them of course). But I’ve discovered that I LIKE Persian Food and Thai food as much as I like Mexican and Italian. To be honest, most far Asian stuff or Mediteraian just doesn’t do it for me. Its not that I dislike it, its just that I have to carefully navigate to find what I like. Not so with Thai or Persian. I have to go out of my way to find something I don’t.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
This week
Well it has been quite a week. I think the most shocking thing was the death of my paternal grandmother. Most of Wednesday was a scramble to find a way to pay for a ticket. Unfortunately, I’m currently in a very short term contract which meant that I had to watch the numbers very carefully. Finally, it became apparent that it just wasn’t going to happy. The even greater irony was that my maternal grandmother was willing to pay for the ticket, but I didn’t find out about that until Thursday, which meant that my ability to make up the lost hours during the week was effectively shot. I was willing to have her pay for the ticket given the circumstances (although reluctantly since having helped Grandma with her house situation I know that wasn’t an easy sacrifice for her to make) but I was not going to have her do that AND pay to make up the hours I would lose if I flew in on Friday.
Which meant that we pretty much kept up plans as usual on Saturday. I mean, on the one hand, it was fun going to two Halloween parties. And they were good parties. On the other hand, it was kind of surreal going and celebrating a relatively minor (and certainly not to me Spiritual (though I know it is to others)) holiday and at the same time my extended family is gathered on the other side of the country mourning and celebrating my grandmother’s life. I tried to do the ‘I’m enjoying life to celebrate her death’ thing but that’s kind of hard since, while Grandma certainly enjoyed her life, she was not exactly what I might call a “Carpe Dium” kind of woman, at least not in her later years where I knew her. They certainly traveled a lot, which was fascinating to hear the anecdotes from.
The most interesting thing to come out of the two parties we did attend was seeing the first episode of the Sentinel Chronicles’s second season. Jay is very talented, as are many of the people that work with him, but you can SEE the differences between Season 1 and Season 2. By Jay’s own admission, he spent over 250 hours in post production. Granted, this was mainly from special effects of things like Shell Casings, but the thing is, that ironically they’re mostly things you take for granted or that slip into the background. Case (no pun intended) in point…the shell casings from the guns? CGI. Also, sometimes the scenes flash by so fast that you don’t realize that one of the two sides fighting are CLONES, which means that he had to literally imprint the same actor three times onto the screen. Then again, the best special effects, particularly CGI effects makes the special effects flow into the background so the story itself can be paramount.
The second party, a white wolf international Camarilla event, had an amazing floor show. It also had an extremely celebratory atmosphere and I admit I did enjoy dancing with Jennifer while we were there. I dressed as a Mad Scientist and Jennifer dressed as Nyx, Greek goddess of the night. I still need to get a picture of her costume on here.
Currently Reading : Conversations with God, The Clocks of Iruz
Currently Watching: Supernatural Season 3
Which meant that we pretty much kept up plans as usual on Saturday. I mean, on the one hand, it was fun going to two Halloween parties. And they were good parties. On the other hand, it was kind of surreal going and celebrating a relatively minor (and certainly not to me Spiritual (though I know it is to others)) holiday and at the same time my extended family is gathered on the other side of the country mourning and celebrating my grandmother’s life. I tried to do the ‘I’m enjoying life to celebrate her death’ thing but that’s kind of hard since, while Grandma certainly enjoyed her life, she was not exactly what I might call a “Carpe Dium” kind of woman, at least not in her later years where I knew her. They certainly traveled a lot, which was fascinating to hear the anecdotes from.
The most interesting thing to come out of the two parties we did attend was seeing the first episode of the Sentinel Chronicles’s second season. Jay is very talented, as are many of the people that work with him, but you can SEE the differences between Season 1 and Season 2. By Jay’s own admission, he spent over 250 hours in post production. Granted, this was mainly from special effects of things like Shell Casings, but the thing is, that ironically they’re mostly things you take for granted or that slip into the background. Case (no pun intended) in point…the shell casings from the guns? CGI. Also, sometimes the scenes flash by so fast that you don’t realize that one of the two sides fighting are CLONES, which means that he had to literally imprint the same actor three times onto the screen. Then again, the best special effects, particularly CGI effects makes the special effects flow into the background so the story itself can be paramount.
The second party, a white wolf international Camarilla event, had an amazing floor show. It also had an extremely celebratory atmosphere and I admit I did enjoy dancing with Jennifer while we were there. I dressed as a Mad Scientist and Jennifer dressed as Nyx, Greek goddess of the night. I still need to get a picture of her costume on here.
Currently Reading : Conversations with God, The Clocks of Iruz
Currently Watching: Supernatural Season 3
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Focha Ricks
Focha Ricks, my paternal grandmother, died last night. She died in her sleep and she was surrounded by loved ones. She had slowly lost a bit of her memory, I am told, in her latter years. I was happy to be able to help my family (my Father and his children) make a video to remind her about who were are and tell her that we love her at our last family reunion. It had been about 6 years since I last saw her.
I think that the first lesson she taught me was the importance of record keeping. Grandma used to maintain the family circle letters like clock work. Some memories are worth keeping. Half the blogs I keep, I keep for my own records, not necessarily because anyone reads them. These family circle letters also taught me the importance of family gatherings and family rituals. I was raised to believe family’s are eternal and are one of the only things that last in the world. I still hold family to be of paramount importance.
Her letters always talked about the meals that she ate in great detail. This taught me a lot of things. It taught me the importance of putting details into the writing I do, finding little anecdotes and latches that help people connect with it. It also, ironically, helped me understand the importance of enjoying a good movie. Despite the speed at which I eat my meals, I do enjoy their taste and do what I can to relish the experience as an experience itself. Its part of enjoying life for what it is.
Grandma Ricks put great stock in the importance of her pioneer ancestors. She was a direct descendant of Edward Partidge, one of the founding leaders of the Mormon church. At many family reunions we were told tales about the great things our ancestors did. This taught me about the importance of passing on traditions and oral family lore. It also taught me to respect those who have come before us and to recognize the great sacrifices that they have made. This in turn has helped me to understand the importance of history. Even now, when I study a thing, I first study its history. Knowing about the history of a person or organization helps you put it in the proper context of everything else it does.
Grandma was a powerful woman, but also a quiet one. She was, beyond doubt, a stoic. This taught me that sometimes finding the diplomatic solution to solve a problem will get more results than a more belligerent approach. I might not always remember this lesson, but it is nevertheless an important one to me. Grandma also taught me the importance of equity and dependability with her Christmas gifts. I was rather surprised to learn that they didn’t always receive Thank You’s when they sent them, but I was glad that I had been able to do so.
Most important of all, I am glad that I got to know her, both as a youth and in my second awakening of Adulthood. All of my many selves have respected her and the role that she has been able to play in her life and in family affairs. She is worthy of respect and will be missed.
I think that the first lesson she taught me was the importance of record keeping. Grandma used to maintain the family circle letters like clock work. Some memories are worth keeping. Half the blogs I keep, I keep for my own records, not necessarily because anyone reads them. These family circle letters also taught me the importance of family gatherings and family rituals. I was raised to believe family’s are eternal and are one of the only things that last in the world. I still hold family to be of paramount importance.
Her letters always talked about the meals that she ate in great detail. This taught me a lot of things. It taught me the importance of putting details into the writing I do, finding little anecdotes and latches that help people connect with it. It also, ironically, helped me understand the importance of enjoying a good movie. Despite the speed at which I eat my meals, I do enjoy their taste and do what I can to relish the experience as an experience itself. Its part of enjoying life for what it is.
Grandma Ricks put great stock in the importance of her pioneer ancestors. She was a direct descendant of Edward Partidge, one of the founding leaders of the Mormon church. At many family reunions we were told tales about the great things our ancestors did. This taught me about the importance of passing on traditions and oral family lore. It also taught me to respect those who have come before us and to recognize the great sacrifices that they have made. This in turn has helped me to understand the importance of history. Even now, when I study a thing, I first study its history. Knowing about the history of a person or organization helps you put it in the proper context of everything else it does.
Grandma was a powerful woman, but also a quiet one. She was, beyond doubt, a stoic. This taught me that sometimes finding the diplomatic solution to solve a problem will get more results than a more belligerent approach. I might not always remember this lesson, but it is nevertheless an important one to me. Grandma also taught me the importance of equity and dependability with her Christmas gifts. I was rather surprised to learn that they didn’t always receive Thank You’s when they sent them, but I was glad that I had been able to do so.
Most important of all, I am glad that I got to know her, both as a youth and in my second awakening of Adulthood. All of my many selves have respected her and the role that she has been able to play in her life and in family affairs. She is worthy of respect and will be missed.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Last Weekend
This weekend we had a lot of fun in North Georgia . We had planned the cast party for “Other People’s Musicals” on Sunday night, so we decided to make a weekend of it in North Georgia . Once I dropped Thunder off at Wag A Lots Saturday, Jennifer carefully looked for a hotel for us to stay in. This proved no easy task since almost all of them were full. She managed to find a really good one for around $70 a night, when most of them were going for at a minimum $150 a night. When we got there we took the evening pretty light. Just enjoying a chance of pace. We went out to eat at Schlotskies, which we both liked a lot. Then we read and then slept. Right now Jennifer is reading “Celtic Blood” about Gaelic vampires. Bram Stoker and a lot of the original vampire writers were all heavily influenced in Ireland , and apparently the earliest legends of vampires occur in Ireland . Sounds like an interesting book. I’m reading “Conversations with God” which was lent to me by Rita Moore (one of the two people that helped us meet) and “The Reluctant King” by L. Spring Decamp. When I’m done I’ll post a review on the review blog.
Sunday we had a continental breakfast. I was really tired because I’d been fighting evil things in my dreams…note…this was not a nightmare. I was kicking their imaginary…asterisks…and took a nap later to finish the job. We had lunch in Helen Georgia at the Troll Tavern, which is awesome. I had the Spaghetti and Meatballs and Jennifer had the sampler which was authentic German cuisine. We wandered around the town which is both beautiful and awesome. We skipped the Live Tarantula museum. I’m really mixed on that. I mean, on the one hand, it’s a live tarantula museum. How often do you get a chance to see one of those? At the same time …FRACKING SPIDERS….so….maybe next year. Then we got Funnel Cake with ice cream at Grandma’s Funnel Cakes. They were quite delicious. We ended up buying a tiny glass dragon figuring for only around $15, which made me feel better for not being able to get any art at Dragoncon this year due to budgetary concerns. It had a little light up stand, though when we took it home we declined to use it because apparently it highlights the phallic imagery in the castle the dragon is wrapped around that isn’t quite as apparent when it is just in normal daylight. It does look awesome though. We drove around and looked at the beautiful mountains and beautiful leaves.
Later that night, we went to the Singer’s house. Janie, Patrick, Rita, Jennifer, myself and the Singers were able to make it. They had an amazing log cabin house, modified off a template on the internet. It’s the kind of place you always imagine living in some day, and they actually did it. The food was amazing, a combo of barbeque and Philipino food. We then wrapped up the evening by singing from “Professional Karioke X”. The secret was staying on key at the end and volume. As you might imagine….I did rather well. Jennifer’s first song didn’t go so well but her second “Puff the Magic Dragon” got an excellent score.
Other things: We’re watching Heroes….moderately interesting. The Carnival of Doom might be cool or it might be stupid. But we’re hanging in there to see where it goes. We have TWO Netflix disks for supernatural right now because I shut down my movie queue (in part because I have a job now) and shifted the disk to the TV show queue. Supernatural is *AWESOME* as a show.
Sunday we had a continental breakfast. I was really tired because I’d been fighting evil things in my dreams…note…this was not a nightmare. I was kicking their imaginary…asterisks…and took a nap later to finish the job. We had lunch in Helen Georgia at the Troll Tavern, which is awesome. I had the Spaghetti and Meatballs and Jennifer had the sampler which was authentic German cuisine. We wandered around the town which is both beautiful and awesome. We skipped the Live Tarantula museum. I’m really mixed on that. I mean, on the one hand, it’s a live tarantula museum. How often do you get a chance to see one of those? At the same time …FRACKING SPIDERS….so….maybe next year. Then we got Funnel Cake with ice cream at Grandma’s Funnel Cakes. They were quite delicious. We ended up buying a tiny glass dragon figuring for only around $15, which made me feel better for not being able to get any art at Dragoncon this year due to budgetary concerns. It had a little light up stand, though when we took it home we declined to use it because apparently it highlights the phallic imagery in the castle the dragon is wrapped around that isn’t quite as apparent when it is just in normal daylight. It does look awesome though. We drove around and looked at the beautiful mountains and beautiful leaves.
Later that night, we went to the Singer’s house. Janie, Patrick, Rita, Jennifer, myself and the Singers were able to make it. They had an amazing log cabin house, modified off a template on the internet. It’s the kind of place you always imagine living in some day, and they actually did it. The food was amazing, a combo of barbeque and Philipino food. We then wrapped up the evening by singing from “Professional Karioke X”. The secret was staying on key at the end and volume. As you might imagine….I did rather well. Jennifer’s first song didn’t go so well but her second “Puff the Magic Dragon” got an excellent score.
Other things: We’re watching Heroes….moderately interesting. The Carnival of Doom might be cool or it might be stupid. But we’re hanging in there to see where it goes. We have TWO Netflix disks for supernatural right now because I shut down my movie queue (in part because I have a job now) and shifted the disk to the TV show queue. Supernatural is *AWESOME* as a show.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
I have a job
Albeit a very short one. The contract is only for 4-6 weeks, and by the tone of the interview, I suspect that it will only be four weeks, but it is work and will help make Christmas a little more enjoyable this year. I am supposed to start this Thursday. The really good news is that it is at the best place I've ever worked before and I'll be quite busy. I always enjoy an assignment when I'm up to my eyeballs in stuff to do and can really push myself to the limit.
We saw Zombieland this last Friday and enjoyed it quite a bit. While the world is not perfect, it could be worse. Jennifer is enjoying her job quite a bit, and I'm taking time to enjoy the little things in life.
We saw Zombieland this last Friday and enjoyed it quite a bit. While the world is not perfect, it could be worse. Jennifer is enjoying her job quite a bit, and I'm taking time to enjoy the little things in life.
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