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23 February Here I am!So I've been missing in action for long enough. My good friend Brandon sent a ping mail to find out where I've been, so here goes nothing.
Most recently, I've decided to move on from Nordstrom for a better career development opportunity. I put my resume on Monster and in 5 days had 132 views and was contacted by 14 companies via email and phone. Let's just say there's no shortage of technical work out there. 3 opportunities have presented themselves, one of which I accepted perhaps prematurely. While returning to Microsoft as a vendor would be a good opportunity, a direct hire with with these other two companies would be GREAT opportunities. I should receive an offer by noon today and another Wednesday of next week. Both companies build on Microsoft platforms, utilizing some neat technology. It's coming down to benefits, paid holidays, and paid vacation at this point. One threatens an 8% bonus which ain't bad either.
It's weird, but basically these decisions and the energy that goes into managing thirsty-for-answers recruiters and head hunters is consuming. The stress is large enough that I can't sleep or focus on any one thing - really the part that frustrates me is my inability to give my family the attention they need and deserve. Hopefully the job will get picked and we can return to a normal cycle of work/life balance.
Speaking of which, the new Coleman tent camper we purchased should help out in that arena. For those who haven't seen, it's a 17' trailer we can tow anywhere. Looks like a big box. When we get to our destination, we crank it up like a jack-in-the-box. The top raises, exposing canvas, plastic, and screen. Then ends pull out turning it into a 25' home on wheels. There are queen beds on either side, a dining area (where the table drops down for another twin size sleeping area), sink, stove, shower, heater. We won't be roughing it anymore! Can't wait to take it on a trial voyage without children this weekend.
School continues to putt along. Again I start a class tonight about business globalization - another UoP attempt at boring the snot out of high paying customers. Content prolly has nothing to do with anything, and the added stress of managing deliverables will again haunt me as I try to make time for everything.
Since I didn't have enough to do, I signed up for WMRRA novice (Washington Motorcycle Road Racing Association). I'm going to race a couple of sprint races on my ZX-10R this year. Between the racing and marshalling for 2Fast Motorcycle Track Days & Instruction, I should hopefully get enough laps to make me smoother, more comfortable, more competent, safer, and in the end, faster. I have dreams of wild paint for my race bodywork and onboard camera, dvr, and a data acquisition system, but we'll see how many sets of tires I need first. I should have taken up frisbee - I hear I can get into that for like $15, and that includes lunch.
Kelli and I will be traveling to Texas next month for the food. Oh, er, I mean to visit her cousin's new baby. I'll finally get to see Grandma's house (Katrina and Rita pretty much blew it for me last time - no pun intended). We'll finally get to cross into Louisiana for beers on Lake Charles. Kelli's brother Ian claims the beer at the B&B is served colder than anywhere on the planet. When we come back into Houston, we'll plan something with Brandon, Christy, and Casseia (who I hear is rolling around on her own, and even sitting up!) - it'll be great to see our friends again so soon (since October).
I don't know how much longer I'll be able to stomach driving my truck around. The ZX-10R is off the street for good. I don't enjoy riding it unless it's on a track. I have very little control over my right wrist when I climb on that thing - the bike is like a whiff of tequila to my body. I just turn dumb... Dumb and street don't mix. I'm working on debt consolidation to save money in interest every month and to make my credit look a little better. Our goal is some land, hopefully in the Leavenworth area. My short term goal is a '06 Husqvarna TE450 that I can convert to supermoto for commuting and racing (and a 30 minute conversion back to a dirt bike to play with the family). I do need to ride on the street, just not a liter bike - and not rollin' around in a Yukon.
Never a shortage of hair-brained ideas, or plans on how to get every inch out of life. I'm still around, just not consta-blogging. Perhaps I'll remedy that, again.
//bikerscum 21 December Dying SamsungSo my super sweet (to some) phone is starting to die. It took me about 3 calls to figure out what the problem was, and about 2 calls to decide what to do about it. I don't do well with technology that doesn't do what I bought it to do. Enter: Comcraptastic DVR. I heart Tivo.
It started sitting at my desk. I'd make a call, and continue doing what I was doing while it connected, rang, until someone answered. It dawned on me that I'd dial, then sit there forever, never hearing anything. After a while, it'll kick in. Very strange. So I'd make 3-4 calls in a row, prolly embarrassing myself to whoever is on the other end, then hang up. I'd call voicemail and sit and wait - sure enough, the speaker would come back in the middle of an archived message.
I wandered over to the T-Mobile store to see what they could do for me. Sure enough, there's a recall on my model Samsung. Does that matter in my case? Of course not. Why should it? It's me. The one year warranty expired in August (along with my phone), and they won't cover the busted state of my hardware.
"No problem", I think to myself. That's why I pay the $3-$4 per month for the insurance (in case of loss, theft, breakage, children, water hazards, etc). I call, they ask all the regular dumb questions (is it on, do you have signal, have you poured booze on it, thrown it against a solid stationary object, a solid moving object, or shot it with a modified Red Rider BB Gun). We get to the point where you hard reboot by taking the battery off and holding down the power button for 20 seconds. Call back in 24 hours if it still has issues.. Um, OK.
So I waited 20 minutes and called back. Kept referring the lady to the notes made on the account when she repeated questions, and once satisfied, said we'd have to go ahead and file a claim. No kidding. There were two questions I had at this point, but only got one answered. I wanted to know how much the deductible was and what replacement models were available to me (prolly a like phone, since this one is prolly retired - so tired in my case, I can't hear).
She mentioned she'd have to collect a $110 deductible for my replacement phone, and could take a Visa or MasterCard. I told her she could take neither, and that I can go hit up the phone upgrade program with T-Mobile, and for no more than they wanted for a deductible, I could have 90% of the models available to me, brand new.
So, in the future, after I purchase a new phone and something newer, cooler, and cheaper comes along, I will be cancelling this so called "coverage" and bite the bullet if I drop my phone in the lake. Makes no sense to hand them nearly $50 per year so that I can have a $110 deductible on a phone that cost me $250 when it was new.
Merry Christmas to me. I'll be enjoying a lot of features on my new Samsung t809.
//bikerscum 13 December Modified Red Rider WeaponryMany years ago, I bought Charles a Red Rider BB Gun for xmas. The idea of only him having one was silly, so I bought two. He was pretty stoked with his new gift, so we stepped out on the porch at mom's house with the intent of plinkin' cans.
Charles' first shot scared me a bit. The can went in the air, up went the barrel of the Red Rider, and *tink* - first shot, first toss, deadly accurate. Had it been Indy, my surprise would have been bypassed, but Charles? (We won't get into how neither of us could hit a thing after that)
Good times. We were chatting about the memory today, and got into home security. It's a pretty worthless $30 rifle when it comes down to it. I mentioned the plastic butt might sting a bit if he swung it hard enough at a perp, and then came the idea of the 4" Henckel bayonet.
I use Photoshop for all my design needs. The obvious flaw (lack of bayonet mounts) on the Red Rider was really no exception for redesign. Click here for the full on Red Rider BB Gun with Henckel Bayonet Option.
//bikerscum 14 July How's John?If you've kept up on any of the endless ramblings below, you'll know that my dear friend John Parrish crashed his CBR1000RR at the track a couple of months ago. He sustained injuries to his clavicle, scapula, ribs, and lung. All is well but his clavicle.
He went in for surgery (finally) on Tuesday. Apparently it was broken quite badly in a couple of places, and would never healed correctly on its own. They removed a number of bone fragments, cleaned up the area, and reconnected his natural strut with a plate and screws.
The surgery went as expected, and while he's in quite a bit of pain, not as much as the initial fall. We were cleverly able to avoid more pain by taking him to the hospital in civilian clothing versus the 1 piece leather suit. If you've ever witnessed me crawling out of my 1pc textile suit, you'll understand that wriggling out of leathers is even more difficult, especially with an exploded shoulder.
We transported him home last night. Fresh out of the hospital, his nausea subsided, but the pain started to set in. After a stop at the pharmacy, we got him set up at home so he could work on some signs to hang around Tacoma. Offloading hard to get narcotics around T-town is not difficult, but you have to advertise.
Get well soon, my friend. Mebbe you can make SBNW!
//bikerscum 23 May Update on John Da HutWheelie Boy John Parrish is doing great! No more heavy narcotics (he sold them all to his neighbors down in T-town so he could afford new plastics for the RR). Still plenty of pain to go around, along with a strange, strange sensation of not being able to lift his arm very far before feeling like he's physically restricted by weight. We got to see a snazzy dressed John at Terry and Lynda's wedding reception on Saturday. (Congrats!!!) John was anxious to hear about my 2Fast day, and excited to hear there was a series of pictures posted by a photographer of the actual crash. The images correspond with his memory of how things went down (sorry, John - that pun was way too easy), which is a good thing. Now we can rest at ease knowing the only factor in the crash was a cold tire. We went to Sushiman in Issaquah after the reception. It was great to have my friend back in his constant rare form. He's damn funny to me, that's for sure. Not being able to use his left hand for the chopsticks, we watched in awe as he did quite well with his right. As a gesture of sympathy, I gave a piece of hamachi a shot with my left hand. I think there was more head/neck action than there was arm/wrist/hand movement, but I was able to git 'er dun! Everything we had there was totally awesome. Definitely some of the best sushi we've had in a very long time. John's progressing every day. Not without pain, but movement is increasing, and he's quite chipper and has lost no ability to laugh at himself. Yay! //bikerscum 11 May The John Report, part duh...John is doing great! Doctor says he's 99% sure there will be no surgery needed. John is expected to make a 100% recovery - they'll know more when the swelling continues to go down. All the bones should line up and heal themselves. John now has some exercises he can do at home, and with enough progress, he may not need any PT at all! Still every day is better than the one before as far as the pain, mobility, groggy feeling, etc. Good news. Optimistic, John's hoping to be back on the FJR in a month. He pretty much has to be since commuting to Redmond from Tacoma in a truck is capital L-A-M-E. Thanks for being ok, John. It's a big relief! 04 May The John ReportElton Ice Man Iron Butt Prospect John Wheelie Boy Parrish is now home. He sustained a shattered clavicle, shattered scapula, fractured rib, and pulmonary contusion from a fall early Sunday morning in T2 of Pacific Raceways. Spending two nights at Valley in Renton, John had made much progress in the area of uber pain. No longer on the morphine drip with the magic button, he was discharged and ready to further his drug induced sleep at home. I picked him up just before 7pm and made our way to the truck. I was super concerned about road vibration, pot holes, etc, jarring his body. He did great all the way to the pharmacy, and then to the grocery store. These little errands were the furthest he'd walked and longest he'd been sitting up since Sunday morning at the track. The pain caught up with him at the store. We got the groceries paid for and headed for the house. Keith and I managed to thoroughly screw up the garage door (even with instructions on how not to), so it took me a while to get it open. Once I did, John came in to survey the damage. Either the idea of broken bike or the Oxycodone was making him feel ill, so that was enough for the night. He was happy to see the leathers held up much better than Mike's. All settled in the house, I finally left. Again, a lot of pain if he's not just hanging out. Still great spirits, making really classic John jokes - the kind that are pretty much only funny to him and sometimes me. Thanks to Keith, Kelli, Terry & Lynda, Bryan, and Jesse for the help and offers to help. John's lucky to have us! We already joked about me not crashing because it would really inconvenient to John. =) |
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