I thought I’d give all 2 of you who read this blog (LOL) an update on my job search. There have been a few developments …

1. Yesterday, I was offered a position at the company I interviewed with on Tuesday. I’m thinking about it. I told him I would give them an answer on Monday. The biggest thing about this one is the pay cut I would be taking if I took the position. The pay rate is $2.50 less than what I was making when I left my last employer.
2. The opportunity to go back to my last employer fell through … at least for now. They’re still negotiating, but won’t have anything sorted out this week.
3. I got a response from the first company I interviewed with (2 weeks ago). They want me to come in for a second interview. He asked for times when I was available. I said this afternoon and again Monday … preferable in the morning. I haven’t heard back yet as to a time for this second interview.

So … I’ve got some options out there. I’m really glad I have an opportunity to have a second interview with the first company I interviewed with. I really liked that place. I’m not sure how many other candidates there are for the position there. I kinda wish I knew.

I guess I’ve got things to think about over the weekend. What to do about the job offer when I have another opportunity out there, but that I’m not sure of. Having a second interview is good … but it’s still not a sure thing.

Man … I hate life altering decisions … LOL.

Mood: unsure   Froggy 99.9FM

I’m one of those silly people who read my horoscope. I don’t believe them, but I do like reading them and hoping they pan out. On my Google homepage, I have 2 horoscopes. I really like one of them (from CaliforniaPsychics.com) today, especially the highlighted part. Maybe this will be one horoscope that actually comes true.

Scorpio
October 24 - November 21
You should be able to make enormous strides when it comes to smoothing over some financial issues today. And some positive developments regarding a career or family matter could leave you feeling a little relieved right now as well. Just try to throw any doubts or fears aside and enjoy yourself a bit today.

Mood: hopeful   Froggy 99.9FM

… I moved in to my new apartment. Yep, that’s right … I’ve been in my apartment now for 1 year. It was a good choice. I like this apartment (and my neighbor is cute too … ). I wanna stay here for quite some time. It’s in a good spot in town too.

But that all depends on how the job search goes. Man I hope everything gets straightened out at least by the middle of next week. I HATE this waiting.

Mood: nervous   Froggy 99.9FM

I’m not really sure what to do for my job search right now. I’ve got 4 or 5 opportunities up in the air currently. There really aren’t any other opportunities in town right now … at least not that I can find. So … to keep myself from going completely crazy, I’ve decided to work on my websites.

For quite some time now, I’ve wanted to create my own database connection and recordset classes to use on my sites. I wanted something where I could use similar syntax as what we were using where I was working last. I did create a class sometime last year that connected to the database and manipulated the recordset (all in one class). But I wasn’t really happy with that. So, this morning I decided to work with it again. I just got something working the way I want … one class for the connection and one class for the recordset. It’s really simple and primitive, but it works for me right now. It does everything that I need at this point. I’ll add stuff to is as I need it.

If anyone is interested it using these classes, let me know. I know there are lots of other classes out there that do the same thing, and probably better. But I thought I would extend the offer. I might put them up for download later if I develop the classes further and feel good about them. I just need to keep busy.

Mood: working   ATWT

As I mentioned yesterday, I had an interview this afternoon. I wasn’t sure what to think going into it since it was for an aviation company and not a web design company. But it seems like it would be a good opportunity. The only thing I’m concered about there is that it would entail learning new programming languages. I guess they use a lot of perl there, and the database is Postgres. I just don’t know. I do like learning new things, but I’m most comfortable programming in php.

And last nite, I got an email from my former employer asking if I would be interested in doing contract work for them. I AM interested, but I’m concerned about my availability. Right now, everything is up in the air. And I hate that. I have interviewed for 4 positions now. I *should* hopefully hear back from them this week. At least I hope I do. If I was offered one of the positions (and accepted), then I wouldn’t be available for many hours to do the contract work. And I don’t want to leave them in a bind (by starting something that I can’t finish). I emailed him back to let him know this. I got a subsequent email from saying there is a possibility that they *might* have full-time work available again. It depends on how negotiations go. If they do have full-time work available again, I would be willing to go back. As long as my pay rate was at least the same as before. AND as long as I wasn’t offered a better opportunity (i.e. more money) elsewhere.

I guess I should be in good spirits. I do have several opportunities. I just hate this not knowing. And I REALLY hate not having an income right now. Hopefully everything will be sorted out by the end of the month or at least during the first week or 2 of October. I really want things to get back to some semblance of normal soon.

Mood: anxious   FoodTV

I know what it is that I want. I know where I want to live. I know what I want to do for my career. What scares me is that I don’t know if I can have what I want.

I want to stay here in Fargo. I know that. Yeah … I might complain about the weather during the winter and complain that there’s nothing to do at times. But all in all, I like Fargo. My friends (what few I have) are here. My family is near here. It’s not too big and it’s not too small. It’s just right … for me.

And I want to stay working in web development. I really enjoy doing that. Yeah … it’s something that started as a hobby, but it’s more than that now. I really like turning an idea from a client into something out there on the web that can help their company grow. I like working with the code. Yeah … I might not have any education in the field, but I have 2 years of very good experience at the company I was just at. Not to mention all of the other experience I’ve gained working on my own sites and the Avalanche site. That should count for something.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mood: listless   GH

Okay … this is an audience participation post. I wanna know who’s reading my blog. It’s just utter curiosity on my part.

So … here’s what I need you to do. If you’re reading this post, leave a comment. Let me know who you are. Tell me how you’re reading my blog … either coming to the blog itself or reading it in a feed reader. And be sure to leave the link to your blog, if you have one, so I can read it, if I don’t already. And leave any other comments you want.

That’s it. That’s all. Just a simple request.

Mood: curious   Get Color!

I just got a phone call. It wasn’t a number I recognized, but because of my job search, I answered it … just in case.

It was a recording from Verizon. I guess there’s a new calling plan for my area. Why don’t they just send a letter instead of calling … with a RECORDING … that is using up my minutes?

Mood: irritated   Charmed rerun

Okay … I’ve got the newest version of WP up and running now. Everything seems to be working fine. I still have some tweaking to do so I can have my smilie popup in the admin interface. But other than that … and adding content to the pages … everything is ready to go.

If you run across any issues, please let me know. Either post a comment to this post or use the contact form on the Contact page.

I’m going to try to start posting more technical content as well as my usual babble. And I might even try to do some WP plugins. I’m goting to rework the one that I have and am still using. I’ll post that when I get things done.

And out of curiosity … what do you think of the new look?

Mood: accomplished   Charmed rerun

This is the first post I've posted with the new version of WP. I'm testing out a few things to make sure everything is working properly.

This is a quote

Mood: working   Cup qualifying