Fundamentalism / Extremism Makes Me Sick.

During a time of year when 'goodwill to men' is the majority state of mind across all religious and ethnic backgrounds here in the States and across much of the globe it boggles my mind why I would receive the following message from an anonymous 'donor' at the local Wal-Mart.

First Day! (short blog post...)

Well... We'll start with the good, first...

It was really awesome to get to program for a living today and it felt good to be productive again.

Now, the bad...

I have a six month probationary period to get through before I'll see any kind of benefits and my health insurance (dental and vision included) is going to cost me $150.00 A WEEK when it kicks in...

So, I guess I'll be looking, seriously, for freelance work and whatnot to try and afford my benefits...

Anyway, I'm VERY happy to have a real job so I'll find a way to deal with the negative bits.

Now, I'm off to eat dinner and study up some on ASP .NET.

Later!!

Indy Irish Fest 2009

To all of those folks in the greater Indianapolis area with a wee bit o' the Irish in your ancestry or a taste for good music and good libations, Indy Irish Fest opens tonight at 4:30pm at Military Park in Downtown Indianapolis.

There are plenty of food and drink vendors, an Irish market, an area of fun just for the wee folk and plenty of live music and demonstrations of Irish culture.

Early bird specials get you in for free from 4:30pm to 5:30pm today and there are similar admission deals for the rest of the weekend, too. Check the Indy Irish Fest Web site for more info.

I plan on being there today so maybe I'll see some of you around!

Finally! A Break!!!!

For those of you who haven't heard, I'm officially employed again!

After what seemed like a very short (in a bad way) interview at 10am yesterday morning, I got a call around 2pm with a job offer!!

I'm now (pending a successful drug test) an Application Developer with Carter Logistics, LLC!

Words cannot describe how truly happy I am with finally getting what I'm certain will be a great job with a great company doing what I LOVE. I start on Monday at 8am so I'll try and post again after my first day to record what I think.

Until then...

It Keeps Getting Better!

Just a quick update on my health.... I found out I have a scratched cornea to go with my glaucoma in my left eye... I'm now on five different medications for my left eye... Fun stuff, yes?

Anyway, that's it for now.... I apologize for any typos but my vision's a bit blurry... ;)

An update...

So... I've been back to losing weight for a month now and I've shed over 10 lbs. Unfortunately, it's 10 lbs I'd already lost, once, but I'm down from 330 to 318 so I'm moving in the right direction. I recently read the book An End to Overeating by Dr. David Kessler and it was a real eye opener concerning why many of us overeat.

And, speaking of eyes, I had an appointment with my eye doctor today to check my glaucoma which is still running rampant at a pressure of 30 in my left eye (it should be around 20) and he says that if it doesn't come down with medication in the next month, I'm in for more eye surgery.

Physical health aside, my mental health is of a questionable nature right now as my ADHD daughter is driving me insane. Everything is a fight and a tantrum and I'm at my wit's end. We've got her on medication and in counseling and none of it seems to be working... I mean, the medication makes a difference, but it doesn't seem like enough...

I'm still unemployed so that's not helping me, mentally, either. I'm stressed and depressed and frazzled. I am continuing my pro bono stuff, though, hoping that I can add it to my resume and improve my chances of getting a decent job.

So, anyway, that's all for now.

Another Day...

Well... For those of you who didn't know, already, I got laid off from Foxconn in February of this year and have been unemployed ever since. In that same time, however, I've completed my Master's Degree and have started several projects to try and build my resume.

One of these projects is Quick Mobile Weather (QM:W), a Windows Mobile Today Screen plugin that provides current and forecasted weather data. It's still in the planning stages at the moment but I hope to start coding on it soon.

The other project, which is on the front burner, is the design, development and administration of a local neighborhood group's Web site. Cold Spring Road Neighborhood Community Engagement Initiative sent out a survey a couple of months ago and asked for any volunteers. Being unemployed and in need of experience, I happily volunteered to do their Web site and help with any other IT needs. I'm hoping that this volunteer work goes toward improving both my skills and my resume.

So, today, I have many things to do, and one of them is to get a decent design figured out for CSRNCEI... I've had designer's block for the past month or so and I'm finding it very challenging to design this site but the domain should be ready soon and it needs a site!!

Anyway, I'm off to go get my allergy shots. I'll be thinking about design the entire time. Hopefully I'll come up with something...

P.S. If anyone knows of any programming or network administration or even help desk jobs in the greater Indianapolis area, please let me know. I've had 0 success landing a new job and things are starting to get ugly... LOL

It's been awhile...

It's been awhile since my last post... I've been blogging on MySpace a little bit more than here, but I haven't been blogging religiously anywhere, really.

However, I'd like to do something useful with my writing abilities so I may start blogging more frequently if I can think of something useful about which to blog.

If you're interested, keep an eye on the ol' blog page and we'll see what becomes of it.

Yours,

Grant

I AM DONE!

The title says it all. I'm done. I'm done trying to help and I'm done caring. This BS is killing me and I've got enough drama in my life without it.

Simple and to the point.