New Job

On Friday the 13th (go figure) I actually had an interview with an employer here in Danville, which was arranged by Trillium, a staffing agency. It went really well and on Monday I was informed that they wanted me to work for them. The company is CCMSI and handles workman's comp. claims, with several offices nationwide. Apparently the headquarters is here in Danville. The title they gave is "Help Desk Analyst" - but it's really not much. All I currently do is answer the help desk phone and monitor the email, write up tickets regarding the given issue, and assign it to the appropriate person or department. So far it's been fairly slow, which is nice because I'm able to do other semi-productive things, such as writing this blog entry.

It's not a resume builder but it's better than several jobs and in this economy you gotta take just about anything, not to mention it also pays almost $5/hr. more than what I was getting on unemployment. The interesting thing is that this is the same company that had some developer positions (starting at $40k/yr.) open not too long ago, which I was being considered for. But Trillium found out they ended up outsourcing them rather than hiring anyone, which kinda stinks. As of right now I am officially a "temp-to-hire" and therefore technically an employee of Trillium, though they think CCMSI will likely hire me directly, which will also increase my pay a little bit.

However, I still want to move and would like something which would build my skillset more so I'm still going to be looking elsewhere in the meantime. My sister informed me of a hiring event at a company in St. Louis where a friend of hers works. St. Louis wouldn't be my first choice, but it's certainly not bad and isn't too far away either. This looks like a really good oportunity which hopefully I'll be able to get in on. One really intriguing position is a Photogrammist, which apparently involves "computational analysis of photographic information" - analyzing things like photos, maps, and charts. We'll see how things go and what develops.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's day this year was great! Which is nice considering I've only had one other meaningful Valentine's in my life, and that was several years ago (followed by a sudden and random breakup the very next week)! Anyway, I had a wonderful day with my amazing girlfriend; and though busy, everything went very well. Amanda gave me several different gifts throughout the day and then took me out for lunch to a very nice and tasty restaraunt which she had researched ahead of time. In the evening I fixed her a full 7-course meal, which took 3.5 hours of preparation. My kitchen was a disaster after it was all said and done but I tried my best to ignore it for the remainder of the evening. Needless to say, I was quite exhausted afterwords but it was fun and well worth it. I prepared a formal table setting with separate red and white wineglasses (using sparkling grape juice), three different fork and spoon sizes (used for different courses), cloth napkins, candlelight, and a flower centerpiece I had gotten for her. I also played romantic music in the background. During the meal I gave her several different gifts including a card, nice watch, and large stuffed bear. She enjoyed it all and said I had done a wonderful job!

Table Setting	Course 1 (Appetizer): Cheesy Biscuit & Deviled Eggs
Course 2 (Soup): Potato w/ Bacon, Cheese, & Chives	Course 3 (Salad): 8 different toppings
Course 4 (Pasta): Fetticini Alfredo w/ Tuna	Course 5 (Poultry or Fish): Cheesy Breaded Chicken & Cottage Cheese
Course 6 (Main - Red Meat): Round Steak w/ Mushroom Gravy & Potato Wedges	Course 7 (Dessert): Lemon Pie!

More Furniture

Well, I know it's been quite a while since I've written last but up until recently there hasn't been much going on in my life to report about. Besides, I'm not sure if anyone even reads this anyway - I'm probably just talking to myself, who knows. Anyway, I've been wanting a couch for quite a while now (specifically one with a pullout bed) and was able to purchase a used one via Craigslist on the 12th. I got a decent condition sofa sleeper, loveseat, and two matching endtables all for $200!! Now that's a good deal even for used furniture.

Getting them in my apartment was a challenge though. I had a friend of mine with a truck, who I'm very grateful to, help me pick them up and haul them. Before actually purchasing them however, I had to figure out how I was going to arrange them to fit well in my apartment, as I'm running out of space. So I got some measurements and went "back to the drawing board," which in my case is Microsoft Visio. I already have very accurate and detailed layout of my apartment floorplan and furniture, so adding the new items in wasn't too dificult. What was though, was arriving at a practical and feasible arrangement. I tried several different ideas to no avail but was finally able to come up with something that worked well and also had multiple advantages over my setup at the time. The weekend before acquiring them I was able to move some of my furniture to "pave the way" but had to save the larger/heavier items for when I could get some assistance.

I picked up the couch and loveseat on Thursday of that week and on Friday my best friend came over to help me with moving everything else. After that i just had the normal mess of random items floating around which commonly happens when making such major changes. With the help of my girlfriend, I was able to get the majority of it cleaned up Saturday morning. Not the most fun way to spend Valentine's, but I made it up to her - see the next post. So the last few days I hung up all my various wall decorations and sorted the remaining surface clutter. Now all I have remaining is organizing my tons of computer cables, after which I can push my desks all the way against the wall. Once that is done I will post pictures of the new arrangement for you to see.