Category Archives: Work

happy ending

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So what, you may ask, is the perfect way to finish up your last day at a job? Well, getting to leave 2 hours early is nice. And having all of your co-workers wish you well and be totally cool about your leaving is also cool. But I have to say, the most awesome thing is having one of your now-former co-workers catch up with you in the parking lot & ask you out now that you don’t work together anymore. It’s funny, I had been told that this guy was interested in me ages ago, but I didn’t really buy it. So I guess it’s true. It’s just odd because we’ve never had a real conversation, and I don’t know if we have that much in common. We’ve mostly just exchanged “hi”s” and other niceties, but he did compliment me when I got my hair cut a couple of months ago, and again when I got my glasses. So what the hell, he’s cute and seems like a really nice guy, why not give it a shot?

The rest of the weekend has been pretty low-key. I had dinner with Nate on Friday night — I don’t think I’ve ever spent $8 on a margarita before, but man it was yummy. (Mmmm…. mango.) And last night I had a date with a new guy, who seemed very nice but very nervous. Which I don’t get because I don’t think I’m intimidating at all, but who knows, maybe he’s like that around all women at first. I had a good time, but I don’t know if there’s anything really there. I guess it all depends on whether or not he wants to go on a second date with me — right now I seem to be in a phase of going on lots of first dates & then never hearing from these dudes again. And that’s fine, I haven’t felt enough of a spark with anyone to really feel rejected when they don’t call again.

But enough about the dating thing, now I’m just getting myself all relaxed & mentally psyched to start the new job tomorrow. I’m excited.

Oh, and happy birthday to Miss Naina Sexpot, one day late.

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Friend plug: Adam’s website Tattoodles was featured in Prick Magazine recently. (Which is about tattooing, not the other kind of prick.) There’s a really good picture of him at the beginning of the article too. Yay publicity!

Not much going on right now. Sort of in the whole “getting prepared to leave one job & start another” phase. Lots of stuff needs to be wrapped up at the present (soon to be former) job, and lots of paperwork needs to be filled out for the future job. Last night I had to go take a pre-employment drug screen. Whee.

I have a date with a new guy tomorrow night. I’m kind of dreading it, our two phone conversations haven’t had a very good flow and I just don’t think we have all that much in common. I’m only going because I couldn’t think of a reasonable enough sounding excuse to NOT go. I’m trying to keep an open mind & all that, but it’s hard. I seem to be going out with lots of guys who are totally not my type — I think my screening process needs a bit more work. I’m just not feeling much of a *click* with anyone these days. Which is probably fine, I’m about to embark on a major transition in my life, and maybe one at a time is enough. We’ll see.

news

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I guess Nate already gave this away with his comment on my last post, but it’s true: I got a new job. I’m the new network administrator for a company that’s one of the leading manufacturers of water skis & wakeboards. They have a pretty big network — 8 servers and about 120 or so users, so I shouldn’t get bored. The ironic part is that I’ll be working for a company that’s based on water sports when I have a phobia of open bodies of water. (Which, btw, I blame on gclark; there was an incident when we were kids that involved a canoe and an alligator-and-water-moccasin-filled lake in the Ozarks. It still gives me nightmares.) But luckily, being able to water ski and/or wakeboard is not in my job description, so it should be fine. The thing is, if I could do either of those activities in a swimming pool, I’d be totally down with it. But if there’s a chance that there’s some kind of live critter swimming anywhere near me, heeeeeell no.

So I gave my 2 weeks’ notice at my current job, and I’ll start at the new place on Monday, March 22nd. I’m really excited about it, but I have to add, I’ve really enjoyed working at TekAgency for the past year & a half, and my reason for leaving is strictly financial. The new place just offered me a heck of a lot more than I’m currently making, and I am in no position to turn that down. I know money isn’t everything, but it sure feels like it when you’re almost 30 (ok, 28, close enough) and still borrowing from your parents on a regular basis. I’m tired of crying every time I balance my checkbook. This should definitely help.

The part that sucks is that I really wanted to go out this weekend to celebrate, and every single one of my friends has plans. So I’m feeling a little hurt & lonely, but I’ll get over it. I wish Kris lived here, she’d go out for cocktails with me. But with that one exception, it’s been an otherwise really good week.

I know it's Friday & all, but….

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Ok, we have this client that sells lumber, or roofing, or something like that. I don’t really care, I just fix their network. Anyway, they upgraded all of their computers (trust me, it was long overdue), so they needed somebody to set up the pc’s at all their satellite offices. And “somebody” means me. So this morning, I go & get on a ferry for about an hour to get to this little hick town on the other side of Puget Sound. From there, I have to drive a few more miles to get to an even more distant (and far sketchier) hick town. I think it’s worth noting that within a block or two of this place are a strip club (with the charming name of — I swear I’m not making this up — Tony’s Topless Bar & B-B-Q), a sex shop with no windows, and several tattoo places.

So I go there and set up the new computers. The guys that work there are all very hot, but dumb as rocks. The hottest of the guys, we’ll call him Dude #1, seemed to be flirting with me a little bit. He kept leaning over my shoulder (like way closer to my personal space than necessary) to ask what I was doing — and the crazy thing is, he doesn’t even use the computers in the office. But hey, I have no problem with getting a cheap ego boost from a cute dumb guy. Meanwhile, one of the sales reps (Dude #2) also seemed to be flirting a little, which made me start to wonder if maybe these guys just don’t know how to act because they aren’t used to having women in their office. It seemed like a good probability. But then, when Dude #1 was out of the office for a minute, Dude #2 asked me if I “like to party”. Being the naive little thing that I am, I honestly wasn’t sure what that meant. I knew it was something bad, and I figured it probably had something to do with sex or drugs, or possibly both. I kind of shrugged and said I didn’t know what he meant. He kept asking me, “Come on, do you like to party?” So finally I went with what I thought was a safe answer and said “Well…. I suppose that on occasion, in my own little yuppie, girly sort of way, I guess I like to party.”

Turns out my suspicion was correct. He & Dude #1 were about to go smoke weed over in the lumberyard, and he said I seemed like a cool girl & asked if I’d like to join them. So there’s a first, I’ve never been offered drugs at work before. I politely declined the invitation — I explained that I had another appointment after I left their office, and at least an hour & a half driving time to get back home, and that I just possibly couldn’t do that stoned. (Nevermind the fact that I haven’t smoked weed in a coon’s age & have no desire to do so because all it does is make me sleepy & quiet.) They left & came back about 20 minutes later, completely baked out of their minds. They seemed like relatively harmless guys, so the whole situation actually struck me as quite funny.

Oh yeah, and one of the computers is set up in one of those hutch-style desks, and the guy had back issues of “Playboy” stacked on the little shelf above his computer. I suppose I should be thankful, it could’ve been one of the more graphic or offensive magazines. Still, porn & drugs in the office — that’s quite an operation they’re running over there. (Hey gclark, I finally saw “The Girls of Starbucks” issue; you were right, it was lame.)

studying, jobs, etc

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For those of you who might need this tip someday, here’s a quick & easy way to make a computer geek’s day: I got home from work today, and my Microsoft books from Amazon were waiting next to my front door. Ah yes, all the studying and splitting headaches I have to look forward to over the coming weeks… I can’t wait! Seriously, I am excited to get going on this whole Windows Server 2003 thing. I think it’s going to be cool. Yeah yeah, I’m a nerd.

So, I read this really cool article yesterday on MSN.com that was called something to the effect of “7 signs that the job market is about to improve”. I was going to post it here so all of my friends who are struggling could read it & take a little bit of hope from it, but of course I didn’t save the link and now all the Google searching in the world can’t find that stupid article. So for those of you who need encouragement: in a nutshell, these economists are saying that recessions are historically always followed by booms in the job market, and they’re predicting that 2004 is going to be the year it starts. (Makes sense… I really try not to be political at all, but I personally think that things will get better as soon as we get a new guy in the White House.) So hang in there, you guys. This too shall pass.

And a totally unrelated side note: has anyone seen the video for “Stacy’s Mom” by Fountains of Wayne? I didn’t really like the song to begin with – the guy having a crush on the mother of one of his peers kind of reminded me of the whole thing with Stifler’s mom in “American Pie” – but the video really managed to horrify me. The kid who’s crushed out on Stacy’s mom can’t possibly be more than 11 years old! I mean, kudos to Fountains of Wayne for getting retired-supermodel Rachel Hunter to play the mom, but the whole take-off of that scene from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” with Phoebe Cates (or Rachel Hunter in this case) in the red bikini…. it really bothered me that a child was playing Judge Reinhold’s role in that scenario. Just watching it made me feel dirty.

no Sexie pour moi

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Originally posted: September 4, 2003

Found out today that Eddie Izzard is playing tonight, tomorrow & Saturday here in Seattle. Part of his “Sexie” 2003 world tour. And it’s sold out. sigh….

Oh well, nothing like missing a show you really, really wanted to see to remind you to update your Ticketmaster.com alerts.

Not much else going on. My mom is stressing me out about my vacation days (i.e., what days I’m going to take off & when), but that whole subject has got me totally bummed out & I don’t really feel like talking about it.

Work is good this week. Last week was slooooooow. I guess people are back from their vacations now & finding all kinds of problems with their computers. I’ve been relatively busy all week. Which is a good thing, because I don’t deal well with boredom. In fact, I’d like to take a moment to thank the hacker(s?) responsible for the creation of all of those viruses that came out during the month of August, because it’s people like them who guarantee my job security.

I’m out of here in 15 minutes, then I’m going to try to summon my strength to go to the gym in this god-awful heat. But more than likely, I’ll end up lying out by the pool with a book. I’m up to #6 in the Stephanie Plum series….