Doing something crazy... like the exact same thing.

StoresOnline recently moved their available shift time from any time between 7 am and 6 pm to 10 am-7 pm only. Having evening classes as well as a desire to see my wife occasionally BEFORE the sun sets, I knew I again needed another job.

This inconvenience was compounded by the fact that I wasn't able to work more than 5 hours a day, so instead of working 10-5, which would be less time, but I could keep the job I liked and still go to school, I worked from 10-3.

So, I went looking for jobs, couldn't find anything, and watched our savings begin to go away as my 40 hour paycheck made way for the slimmer 25 hour paycheck. After about 2 weeks of this arrangement, (last Friday) I interviewed for a Tech Support Position at Heritage Web Solutions, a company very similar to StoresOnline, they sell websites and website design to small business owners.

The crazy thing is that they hired me on the spot. The even crazier thing is that I said yes.

I really liked StoresOnline, and felt it was my duty to go quit in person, instead of just calling in saying "tough cookies" or something equally impersonal and lame slang-like. So I told the bosses at StoresOnline somewhere hired me to start on Monday, that I wished I could stay but it just didn't work for my schedule. They understood, after all, a lot of people had been quitting, and I got ready to start my new job.

I've been at Heritage over one week now, today is my first official day on the phones by myself, and I really enjoy it. There are many things here I wish StoresOnline did, but then there are many things StoresOnline had that I wish Heritage has, but it has been mostly a pretty smooth transition, I've gone from Tech Support at a website building company to Tech Support at a Website building company. I hope I can manage.

So far I really like it, I like a lot of the people I work with (I've run into 2 old supervisors from past jobs, and the wife of an old boss already) and am looking forward to a new job full of promise, an honest 40 hours of work, and doing the same thing just for a different company.

It's a Boy!

Well, the little critter growing in Tracie's tummy decided to give in to popular opinion and we're having a boy. When we went to get the ultrasound, it was kind of funny because when they told us we were having a boy, I don't think either Tracie or I were surprised.

Not sure if it's because everyone and their dog have been telling us it's a boy or fatherly intuition, but we've known for awhile now, but it was good to have it confirmed. It was also AMAZING to see our little guy wiggling and moving as we got our first real look at him.

Morgan (the working title) was a little shy, and we only saw his face once, but I can already tell he's gonna be a cutie. He wasn't shy in another way, and made it pretty obvious he was a boy. (As our nephew Tyson explained to us, there's only ONE way to know if he's a boy, and he's definitely a boy)

Tracie's mom Kris also knew among the others (apparently there was some kind of club) that we were having a boy, and so she bought this cute little blue baby pj's for our little fella. I've never freaked out over baby clothes before, I've said "oh, that's cute." but this afternoon at lunch I picked it up and looked at it, started cradling and rocking it, and got emotional- thinking I'm going to be holding my son like this soon!!!!! I then plopped the outfit on a chair, giving myself a mild heart attack, then reminded myself that there is not yet a baby in that outfit, and it is perfectly acceptable to drop newborn pj's on a chair, as long as the newborn is not currently IN said pj's. I need more sleep.

Sorry I haven't updated in forever, I'll write more soon, I have lots of news, like work, school, baby, friends, family, candy, writing, dinosaurs and cartoon characters coming to life. Ok, about half of those I have news and I swear I'll update again soon!

Spring 2009 Classes

This semester, I am taking 3 classes: Writing 2010, Art 1050, and Psychology 2800. Also known as Intermediate Writing, Photography, and Human Sexuality.

As of this post, I've taken the first 2 classes twice, and the third once, here are my initial impressions: (just in case you were wondering)

Intermediate Writing: My first class with this teacher told me get ready for a LONG semester. He seemed awkward, uncomfortable and unconfident, though I couldn't really blame him, he's probably just a year or two older than me. The class meets in a computer lab, ideal for a writing class, (:P) and my seat both weeks has been at one of the computers, with my back to the teacher, so I'm straining my neck most of the time. Fun. My first impression of the teacher was a grad student with little practical knowledge, however, after having a second class with him, I think I'm going to enjoy it a lot more. I realized he was boring and nervous because last week he was going over the syllabus, now that he's talking about English, it was like a different person teaching. He was animated, confident, and a few of his little jokes were even amusing! I'm not super excited about the class as it's mostly essays, not creative writing by any means, but I'm confident it will help me become a better writer, which is hunky-dory for me.

Photography: A bit of an opposite reaction for this class. Last week the teacher was fun, unique, really saw the world in a special way. Basically what you'd think you'd want in a photography teacher. She has an interesting history, from accounting to elementary education to photography, and I still really like her. But I'm one of the minority in the class that doesn't know what shutter speed or 200 film or F stops are. (I'm eager to learn) But what I don't like are the students who are photography nuts, and insist on interrupting class to share their experiences with a particular camera or film, and the teacher doing backflips over whatever they're talking about, which boils down to "Oh, teacher, that reminds me of the time I saw this thing and we took all kinds of pictures of it with a camera!" Hot damn! Exclaims teacher. However, it might just be a little karma biting me in the metaphorical butt for being a metaphorical butt in writing, art, or art history classes. Me: oh, teacher, that reminds me of an obscure work of art by an artist that only you or I would know!
Still, they bug me. I'm glad that most of my class will be done outside of the classroom, with me taking pictures, or in the darkroom.

Human Sexuality: I feel a need to explain myself to anyone who asks what classes I have this semester why I am taking this class. It boils down to my complex and quixotic love of sex. Ok, and I needed a behavioral science credit. I wanted to do something more interesting than basic Psychology or Sociology 101. So there. The teacher is what you (or at least I) want for such a subject. A good sense of humor, candor, but also seems to have a good filter, for example, she's said she makes the class as clean as possible, but it's still Human Sexuality, and we're going to see anatomy. She also has pointed out that the class will be one where we will use what we learn no matter what field we go into, which is good. Very good.

So, those are my classes, I'm excited and eager to get them done, mostly the writing class, because then any writing class I take will be fun fun fun!!!!

January 10th, 2009

Happy Anniversary to Mom & Dad! 33 years of love, friendship, and a model couple for all who know them.

Happy Birthday to Lynette! My brother's wife who's become as much a sister to me as Ammon is my brother.

I wish you all happiness you deserve and give you all the love that I have! :)

Picdump #1

I have all these pictures I've wanted to put on my blog for sometime now, but I haven't found a use for them. So, in an effort to do some January cleaning out my files, I'll put them in the blog. ENJOY!

The Best Laid Plans of Mice & Men

...go awry when you both are super sick all weekend.