New Photos
Griffin is 10 weeks old today! In celebration, I just posted a handful of new pictures. Sorry they are in alphabetical instead of cronological order. I'm going to switch programs soon so I can sort them the way I want, and easily add comments. In the meantime...I'm just happy I can get them posted online. I've had to go back through the older photos and delete a lot of galleries, since I repeatedly run out of web space each time I add new pics. I'll update the Photo Gallery page soon to reflect the series that have been removed (everything from Griffin's birthday and older). Obviously, I still have backups of all deleted pics, if anyone wants an old shot.

I didn't get my car to the shop yet. I'll have to meet up with Butch tomorrow morning. However, James Doolen came over with his step-son and friend and loaded up all of my arcade games. He's going to "store" the MAME machine in his game room until we get back on our feet and have a place to put it and the rest of the games. The Asteroids Deluxe and Omega Race will probably go into true storage in his workshop out back, along with Jason's MAME cabinet (my old Star Trek cabinet). I feel much better having him hold on to these as opposed to putting them in a u-store-it type building. He's a fellow collector too, so he appreciates the games a little more than the average guy. Hopefully, the MAME machine will still work properly when they get it moved into his game room. They have a big bi-annual poker game coming up on Saturday, and it would be great for him to have it running with so many people over.

Griffin hasn't been too bad after his shots. He's a little more fussy than normal, but doesn't seem to be running a fever and he's still eating the same. Of course, they had to use band-aids with superglue adhesive....man, they're hard to get off. We've got two down, two more to go.

 
Today's Highlights
Here's the short version of how the day is going so far:

o Talked with a RF Engineering firm about doing a network optimization project in the London, KY area. I would check and adjust all cellular RF equipment, as well as clean up switch parameters controlling handoffs and translations. I've expressed interest in the opportunity and will be working with the firm to come up with a proposal later this week. Customer has not asked for this work to be performed, so it'll have to be a win-win-win situation for everyone involved before it might become a reality. Regardless, it will only be a 1-3 month temporary contract position.

o Spoke with Melanie at TekSystems of Dallas. She is a recruiter who deals specifically with wireless and telecommunications projects. We discussed the various types of hardware that I had worked with previously (unfortunately, no Nokia GSM certification/experience), as well as a brief rundown of the various functions I could perform. She had no immediate projects available, but said she would contact me as they pick up new ones.

o Located and applied for 4 new positions listed on Monster.com. The positions included Telecom Administrator, Field Service Engineer for Johnson and Johnson, Manager of Field Service, and NOC Technician. I'm qualified for any of these four positions...we'll see if I get any bites.

o Reserved 26' U-Haul truck for next Tuesday afternoon (24 hour Local rental). It's the same price as the 22', and has much higher ceilings. I'm still checking around to find the best deal on a storage facility to move everything into. Now's the time when I wish I had lots of BIG friends living in the area. At least I was able to rent a utility, appliance and flat dollies to help me move this stuff in/out of the truck without putting me in traction for back injuries.

o E-mail contact x2 with Stu Manning, the technical recruiter in the Tulsa area (former TekSystems employee). He seems to be happy that I'm moving to the Tulsa area with my skill set. Apparently, he doesn't always have people with as much experience available for contract work. Although he doesn't have any project needs immediately, he feels that there will be plenty of jobs in NE OK that he can put me to work on once I've moved up there. I'm going to meet up with him and Neil for lunch after we get moved.

o We took Griffin to the Health Dept. to get his 2 months immunizations this afternoon. They gave him 4 very painful-looking shots (one arm, one in a leg, two in the other leg). He's not feeling too hot right now...but he was a little trooper and only cried (..er...screamed in agony?) for a brief moment. I think it was as hard on his mom as it was on him.

o I'm about to take my car back over to Butch to have the air conditioning checked out. The a/c went out Friday on our way home from visiting my family in Tulsa. Good thing that the temp only reached 70 that day! Hopefully it won't be an expensive fix. I'd hate to have to spend what we have left from the garage sale just to get my car fully operational again. At least we got both of our cars registered and current last Wednesday...so we can both drive around without fear of being ticketed (I was still running with my CO plates until last week).

I better get over to the auto shop before everyone leaves for the day. I'll be back soon.

 
I'm Alive
In computer programming, sometimes you have to make your program respond with "I'm Alive" messages to let you know that it's still running as expected, even though everything is quiet. I guess this entry is somewhat like that.

We're in the middle of garage sale that will run through until tomorrow evening. So far, we've managed to get rid of a lot of stuff that we don't need anymore, and certainly don't want to store when we move.

On Thursday, we took a brief trip up to Tulsa to see my folks. We are preparing for our move up there at the end of the month. Sorry, I don't think we took a single picture the entire trip, though. I have taken a few today during the sale, so I'll try and get some posted before the weekend is over.

Take care, everyone!

 
New Photos!
Just found a minute to post up a few new pictures. When we were at the WIC office the other day, he was weighed at 12lbs 4oz. and 22" long. He'll be exactly 2 months old tomorrow!

I have an interview in the morning at 9:45 with Prince Communications regarding a position in Wichita Falls working on their new cable modem network they are building for Time-Warner/Roadrunner. We'll see what they are all about, and what positions and pay scale they have. Wish me luck! After that, I'm heading over to Bob Lennard's step-mom's house to help her out with her internet access, since it sounds like she has some type of corrupt file preventing her from connecting. We're going to have to postpone the garage sale...we just aren't quite ready, and it's supposed to rain tomorrow. I'm sure we'll be able to keep ourselves plenty busy anyway (I'm gonna have to cut the yard, or hire a combine next week!).

Everyone enjoy your weekend!

 
More Nibbles
I got another nibble this morning from a technical recruiter. They are looking for a Nortel switch operations/maintenance engineer for Pensacola, FL. I told him that I was very interested in talking with his client company regarding the position, and sent him an updated resume. He e-mailed me back saying that there was no management or supervision required for this position, and asked if this was O.K. Hmmm...let's see, I get to do my job, and I don't have to babysit other techs and make sure they do their job...sounds pretty good to me. The lack of those responsibilities probably also affects the salary range, though...so it might not work out. Besides, they may not feel like relocating a guy all the way from N. TX down to FL...but we'll see. I also applied for 5 more positions in the Dallas area via Monster. Most of them were actually for positions that I feel I'm qualified for. We'll see if any of these inquiries pan out. James Doolen just emailed me, and said that he may have 2 days worth of work at the Carrier plant for me to do, getting the work order system all straightened out from the refresh project that we just finished. Hopefully, his company will allow him to bring me back in to help.

Griffin is doing great...sitting here beside me while Amy is packing up stuff in the bedroom. He's been discovering more and more sounds that he can make, and often bursts out with noises that just crack me up. Of course, every time he does it, particularly when it's accompanied by a huge open-mouthed grin as he stares up at me, my heart just melts. We went down to the WIC office yesterday, and got set up. They'll at least cover his formula, and some additional food items during this time that I am employment deficient. It's hard to swallow your pride, and do this...but we'll do whatever it takes to make sure that Griffin is unaffected by our plight.

Well, I better get back to work. Between e-mails and scouring the Internet for jobs, I'm also trying to sort through the stuff in the garage, in order to have a yard sale this weekend. Sorry for the lack of photos...I'll try and get more posted within a few days.

 
Roadrunner Internet / Job Hunt
Timer Warner, our local cable-TV owner, is finally rolling out high-speed internet connectivity via their digital cable network here in the Wichita Falls area. Today I found out that Prince Telecom is handling the rollout in the field, and looking to hire new people to handle the area long-term (with benefits). I've submitted my resume for field manager and tech positions. With the high-speed alternatives here in WF so limited (SWB DSL only available within the "golden circle" and wireless DSL startup costs around $1400), I'm sure that the Roadrunner service will take off. It's certainly good to see at least some type of new network being rolled out here in Wichita Falls. Hopefully it'll bring along some more jobs too.

Not much else encouraging on the job front. Lots of regular scouring and applying on the Internet job sites (Monster, telecomcareers.net, radiofreeq.com) as well as the local and Dallas papers. I'm still trying to get my foot in the door at Cingular in Tulsa. I've sent off updated resumes to the manager of a recruiting company (my brother-in-law's brother), who's going to shop it around OKC and Tulsa. At this point, I'd consider a position almost anywhere, but would prefer to stay in the N. Texas / Oklahoma area. I've been applying for a lot more positions in the IT industry lately, and have updated a new resume to reflect recent IT work I did at the Carrier plant. I've spent a lot of time updating my online resumes and search agents as well, to better target the jobs I'm looking/applying for. I'm definitely getting more interest than I was last month. Unfortunately (or fortunately, I'm not sure which) a position that I had applied for near Cleveland apparently was filled before I got to interview with them. Follow-up calls to US Cellular and Choice wireless have turned up no new positions. I never received a response from the Tulsa-based site management company, which is disappointing, since it seemed a very good fit to me (managing telecommunications tower sites). A promising lead with a medical equipment technician led to a very interesting chat for nearly an hour (the man had trained in the military under Amy's grandfather), but no job opportunity. I'd like to find out more about the GE Capital medical equipment technicians that I saw at the hospital when Griffin was born. I'm sure that they are often trained by the equipment manufacturers, much like the telecom field techs. I couldn't seem to find any contact information anywhere on the web, even though GE Capital has lots of web sites. I may have to go wander the halls of the hospital to track down one of the technicians and ask about any job opportunities or H/R contacts I could talk to.

At this point, if I'm not successful with my job hunt by the end of this month, we are going to have to move up to Tulsa and live with my parents until I can find a job in that area. The opportunities certainly seem more plentiful than here. Anyway...in the meantime, the job search continues...and my head remains up. Griffin, Amy, my family and friends all do a great job in keeping me positive during this transitional period. I know that everything will work out. Thanks, everyone for your support!

Have a great week!

 
Keeping tradition
Staying with the pace I seemed to have established over the past few weeks, I come back from the silence with new batches of pictures. The first set was taken between 4/21 and 5/1. I apologize for the stains on his outfits. Seems that the only time I grab the camera is after a particularly messy feeding. And, of course, you don't notice these things until you start viewing them in high-res on the computer and go "Uh, we should have changed him first". Oh well, he sure didn't care. I was going to name this series the "Just Try and Catch Me Smiling" series....since he would grin like a madman up to the split second before the shot went off...then immediately go stone faced just in time for the picture. He found this quite amusing, and we found it somewhat funny in a frustrating sorta way.

Griffin - 4/21 - 5/1

That set of pictures maxed out my flash card, so we switched over to my backup card on Thursday to catch a few more shots. Yesterday, we went over to James Doolen's house during lunch to take some shots of his new arcade project, a huge Simpsons cabinet he plans to turn into a 27" MAME machine. He recently obtained a new golden lab puppy, Molly, who is 6 weeks old. Molly was intrigued by Griffin and loved Amy, and vice versa.

Griffin - 5/2 - 5/3

As you can tell, Griffin is getting much bigger. He's putting on the "baby fat" quite well...the little Chubboo. He weighs 12 lbs now and he's started outgrowing some of his early clothes, making his mommy a little sad. The yellow outfit in that last set of photos was the one she tried to take him home in (the one that swallowed him). So far, he's remained a healthy and happy boy (although, not without an attitude now and then). His neck, legs and arms are growing stronger every day. I'm sure that it won't be long before I'm chasing him all over the house. But for right now, I'm enjoying the fact that he can't get out of his chair! I bring him in here to geek with me quite a bit. In fact, he's sitting here right now, chilling out. He particularly likes it when I fire up all the old 70s-80s mp3s and sing to him. Don't laugh, my voice is getting better, now that I'm a non-smoker (4 months without a cigarette as of last Wednesday!!). Besides, what can he do...he's a captive audience! He gets to listen to everything from Bach and Beatles to System of a Down and Disturbed. He's gonna be a little music encyclopedia by the time he's a teenager.

Thanks for all the comments. It's so good to hear from all of you! Keep checking back.

Special thanks this weekend to my dad, who sent me a card reader for my camera, so I could once again dump pictures to my computer. I'll make sure and keep 'em coming!