Tag: work

Another Winter Semester

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Monday marks the beginning of the winter semester at SVSU. The week at work went by suprisingly fast since I was dreading working again after the long vacation. Students were registering for classes at the last minute, as usual. New faculty wanted access to their accounts at the last minute, as usual. It still amazes me that the majority of society loves to procrastinate.

My sister moved back into the apartment yesterday after living with our parent’s for the holidays. It’s good to have her back. Heather is a great cook and we have some fun when we go out to the stores and shit. I don’t know how we ever hated each other so much during high school. All a part of growing up I guess. Her friend Katie should be moving back in today or tomorrow, I don’t really know for sure.

Once this semester is over, I’m either going to have to find a new place to live or get some new roommates, since the girls will be done with classes. I definitely can’t afford this place on my own! I guess it all depends on if I still have the same job or not. I don’t anticipate still working for the Help Desk, but who knows. I have a bet with my friend Lindsay that I’ll have a new job by September. I don’t intend to lose that bet! I’ve had thoughts of maybe buying a house if I get a new job in the area. It’s a big step and I’m not sure I’d be ready for something like that, but renting sucks ass.

All of my friends are coming back from their holiday break today. I’ve missed hanging out with them. Not going to Hooters every Monday has been a killer. I think I’m in withdrawal from not having the chicken wings as a part of my weekly “diet”. Tonight we are planning to do some drinking. Maybe at my place, maybe in Bay City at their house, maybe at the bars, maybe hit up Midland Street. It’s all still up in the air. I’m looking forward to a long night of drinking though.

I’m feeling better already after running for the past 3 days. I finally got up the nerve to weigh myself the other day and WOW! I’m up to 185. I was thinking maybe 180 tops. It’s not the most I’ve ever weighed, but it’s close. I need to get back down to the 175 area. I suppose I should go run and then get in the shower…the day is wasting away.

The Future is Brighter

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Things are starting to look better already for 2004. I got a call earlier today from a company asking if I was interested in a position, but it was a software support position. It would be similar to what I’m already doing and this is what I want to get away from. He said he was going to keep my resume and get in contact with me again if they have any programming positions become available. So things are on the up and up!

I also had a nice talk with my brother. I never knew how much he has looked up to me and modeled things after what I’ve done. Feeling pretty good about that and about our relationship getting stronger. I guess I’ve never really been the big brother that I could have.

All this and it’s only the 5th day of the year!

2003 Comes To An End

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2003 has been a different kind of year for me. If I had to come up with an event that has shaped the year, I don’t think I could. In 2002, I got a full-time job, moved off-campus, and graduated from college, which were all rather large steps in my life. 2003 has been kind of dull and boring.

I have learned a few things in the past year though…

I’ve always said that your job should not seem like work. You should love what you are doing so much that you would do it for free. About 6 months ago, I finally hit the wall at work. I never planned on staying there long, but I can’t stand computer support and answering phones any longer. The only thing keeping me sane at work are the friends I’ve made there. Our crew (all young) is really a good group, but we aren’t appreciated for what we do.

I for instance, could do almost anyone’s job in the department with a few weeks of training. I’m not trying to brag, but I’ve always caught onto things quickly. I breezed through high school with a 4.0 and college was almost as easy (3.976). My skills are not utilized like they could be at SVSU. Hopefully 2004 will bring a new career path. Haha…that reminds me of something one of my cousin’s said at Christmas…”Anyone can find a job, I’m looking for a career.” I think that someone calling herself an Event Planner might have a hard time finding a job, let alone a career.

More and more people these days are asking me if I have a girlfriend yet. I don’t. It’s been about 4 or 5 years now since I’ve had one. Mom is the worst, especially around other people. She always has to bring shit up and acts like I should be in some kind of rush to get hitched. I’m only 24, there’s no hurry. I really hate it when people get on me about the subject. But…I have realized that I’m missing something in my life. The puzzle always seemed complete (for the most part) when I had girlfriends.

It was just so much easier for me back in high school. You saw the same girls everyday, making it easy to get to know them. I need to find a way to get over my shyness so that I feel comfortable talking to strangers. I will very very rarely go up to a girl I don’t know and start talking to her. Maybe if I’m drunk, but that is even pushing it. Some of my friends can’t believe I don’t have a girlfriend yet because they say I’m the nicest guy and I would treat a girl right. Sure, but meeting them is the first step and where I struggle.

Recently I’ve come to understand that helping other people is more rewarding than doing something for yourself. Christmas was a prime example this year. I didn’t really care what I got, I was more excited to see how everyone liked the gifts that I bought. Helping Mo with his website is another example. Sometimes I get extremely frustrated, but when we finally get something working correctly, it feels great. I want to do my part to better the world around me.

Look for a post tomorrow relating to some of the above lessons I’ve learned.

Well, the plans for tonight are to head over to Greka’s Tavern with some friends since I’m still up here in Rogers City. Their slogan is “The Best Bar on 1st Street”, but anyone who knows this town could tell you that it is the only bar on the street! I plan on getting extremely drunk so that when we walk home it won’t feel so damn cold.

Be safe, don’t drink and drive, tip your bartenders well, and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Eat & Get Fat Day

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Tomorrow has been labeled “Eat & Get Fat Day” at work. We are all bringing some type of food to snack on throughout the day. Mom was down last weekend and brought me big back of chex-mix so that is what I’m taking. I can’t bake or make anything great, so I’m taking the easy way out. We have about 14 people bringing food in, so it should make for an interesting day of work. At least I won’t be hungry!

Tomorrow night we have our Holiday Party for work. We’re going somewhere in Frankenmuth to eat, bowling afterwards, and then to the bar. It should be an event filled evening.

Let The Shopping Begin

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I finally started my Christmas shopping today. I’ve been dreading going to the stores, but it wasn’t all that bad today. After work I changed and then went to swipe the credit card a few times. I picked up gifts for my mom, sister, and friends. I never really waited in line anywhere and didn’t run into any crazy shoppers attempting to run me over.

This is the first year in history that I’m not all concerned about what I’m getting for Christmas. I guess getting older (24 on the 26th) is part of it, but I’m also paying more attention to the gifts I get for people. So you could say that the “giving” part is playing a bigger role for me. I also have not snooped this year and won’t get to since I won’t be back at my parents until the night of the 23rd of the day of the 24th. Heather (my sister) accused me of snooping through her room, but I swear on all my cool gadgets that I haven’t.

This is a little off topic, but….Today at work I wore black dress pants and realized that for some odd reason I feel a lot more “dressy” in black pants than when I wear khaki, brown, navy, etc. I could be wearing a nice button up shirt with another pair of pants and not feel nearly as dressy as today when I wore a red shirt with a black stripe across the chest. And this shirt is about as close to being a sweatshirt as you can get without being considered one. Mohamad even said, “look at this guy all dressed up,” so I must not be the only one with the feeling about black pants.

Also at work today I was giving another free t-shirt by someone at SVSU. The Dean for the College of Business and Management gave me the first t-shirt from a batch they just had made for all of their faculty and staff. It feels good when people appreciate the work you do for them. My “free t-shirt count” now stands at 3 (not including the ones that Gateway gives us periodically)!

Find Your True Calling

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I believe that everyone has a common goal in life. We all want to find our true calling and end up doing that for a career. Every human being has that one thing that puts us in “the zone.” The hard part is finding out what that is.

Athletes thrive on competition, doctors live for saving people’s lives, and teachers love seeing a student’s face when they learn a new concept. Everyone has their own thing and some people even have a few things. It is important to find this calling, because then work seems like play. Going to work never really seems so bad compared to if you’ve ever had a job that you didn’t like.

A few years ago when I was taking classes for my CS degree, I found my calling. I absolutely love computer programming. I never had problems getting assignments completed on time for my CS classes, because I enjoyed doing them. It never really seemed like homework to me. For some reason, I always did my best work late at night when no one is around. I guess that is partly due to the fact that interruptions can really impede your thought processes when working on a computer program. Everything flows in a series of logical steps (for programming) and if that thought process is broken, you usually have to start over.

I’m a very good logical thinker, which helps me tremendously in programming. Another reason that I like it so much is because I get to manipulate the code to get the computer to do what I want it to do. Although it can be extremely frustrating at times, it’s a great feeling when you finally figure out where the problem/glitch was.

I hope to move along in my career path soon and make work fun again.

I’m curious as to what others think of having a true calling. Have you found your calling? What gets you going? What makes you tick?

Performance Evaluation

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I had my 6 month performance evaluation this morning and it went well. My boss praised me for being such a good employee and all that good stuff. We talked about some of my goals for the future, when I informed him that I’ve been looking for a new job for the past month or two. I explained how I hate answering phones and don’t really have any motivation for my job anymore since it’s not what I want to be doing for a career. He took it well because we had discussed in one of my previous evaluations that I wanted to get into programming. It’s what I love to do and when I’m doing it, it doesn’t seem like work to me. He also has always known that I wouldn’t be around very long. Sometimes I wonder how I’m still there after almost 2 years. Hopefully an opportunity will come my way soon.

We also talked about our upper management, raises, workflow, office procedures, student workers, and various other things. It was a good hour of talking about things we don’t normally talk about. I also made some suggestions for improvements to our Support Center and Help Desk. On Thursday afternoon I have another short meeting to review goals and sign my evaluation. I wonder if anyone has ever declined to sign their evaluation (maybe if they got a bad one?).

One thing that I have realized since returning to Saginaw yesterday afternoon is that I’ve kind of been slacking at work. This is due to the motivation factor (lack of). I’ve also realized that this isn’t fair to my co-workers or our customers, so it’s time to step it back up and get the work done.

Vacations Are Nice, But…

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A vacation from work and normal life is always a nice thing. It helps to clear the mind and gives you time re-focus on things. It’s fun to get away from all of the normal, everyday responsibilities that we have. Vacations are a time to relax, have fun, un-wind, and “free your mind” (couldn’t help myself with the Matrix quote).

I enjoyed a long 5 day weekend up in northern Michigan with family and friends. Went out to the bars a couple of nights and played poker every single day that I was home. I’m not the only one becoming obsessed with the game! I think I’m going to take this week off from playing…I’ve had enough for awhile. The Lions pulled out a win on Thanksgiving, which made the food even more enjoyable. I got to sleep in until at least 11a.m. each day that I was home, so that was awesome, but I’m dreading waking up early again in the morning for work.

Is it just me, or is it that a vacation is never long enough? I never want to get back to work after a period away from the office. I like getting back to my regular life, but the work part is never fun to go back to. Maybe it’s because I know that I’ll just have to put up with the same old bullshit. Hopefully in the future I’ll work somewhere that I don’t feel that way. :-/

Well…I suppose I should try to get some sleep. My body isn’t going to agree with early to bed and early to rise after 5 days of long nights and sleeping in.