I'm back with pictures!

At least when you view baby pictures online, you can stop whenever you want. I've just posted up a new batch of pictures for those who want to see lots of new shots of Griffin. Actually, some are rather old now, since they date back to 9/11/02. There's a few shots of our visit to Wichita Falls last weekend, as we prepared to move all our stuff from TX to Tulsa. There's even a couple of pictures of the inside of our new apartment before we put anything up on the walls or windows.

The fall weather has come, and the trees around here are absolutely beautiful. This weekend, I'm taking the camera out to try and capture some of the color surrounding this area. I'll try to keep up with the blog as best I can, as my workload increases. Good night!

 
I'm Gonna Be a Geek

Oh, wait...I was already a geek to begin with. Well, as tempting as the game tech job appears, I believe it's in my best interest to take the one more closely related to IT. Tonight, I called and let Celebration Station know that I wasn't going to be able to accept their offer. They wished me the best of luck, and told me they were sorry I couldn't join them. I am too, because they seemed to be a really decent group of folks who would have been fun to work with. Also, what other job requires that you play every game in the arcade each morning when you come in. Great job...just a limited future. So, I'm going in tomorrow afternoon to fill out paperwork to get started with Geek Rescue on Monday.

Thanks to Bob for offering assistance on the database project I'm about to start. I'm sure I'll be taking you up on it soon. I'm just awaiting the final info from Lufthansa.

I'm gonna work on some pics right now. I'll be back.

 
Decisions, Decisions

Well, now I have TWO job offers...and I can't decide which one to take. I have the offer at Geek Rescue for an on-site computer tech (complete with cape!...not). They called me today and told me that they want me to start on Monday morning. It looks like the best choice for staying in the IT field, while continuing to build up my skills to jump to something better. Certainly the more "career-oriented" offer. But, this morning I went to Celebration Station, the arcade that's looking for a lead game technician. I walked in, telling them up front that they probably have the wrong guy, and that I'm really not much of an electronics person (I can replace boards, but rarely have I had to replace electronics on the circuit boards). He said he understood, but could I just spend a couple of hours working with him on a problem he was having. It was a Cyclone machine...the lights spin around in a circle and up to 4 people try to "stop" the light while it's under their double hooped neon bridge. Anyway, before I knew it, I was holding a soldering iron, going at replacing a couple of voltage regulators. By the time I spent a couple of hours there...they were telling me that I was underestimating myself, and that I could learn this stuff quickly. They offered me a full-time job with benefits, starting tomorrow morning at 08:00. So, now I'm pretty sure that I should call back Celebration Station, and inform them that I've taken another job and can't accept their offer. On top of this, after weeks and weeks of complaining to her management, Amy finally was given a "fixed" schedule today. And of course, it includes 4 days a week, starting around 5:30 in the morning...mornings I'm going to have to be working. Since we don't have anyone to watch Griffin at this point, she's going to end up having to quit her job, or go back and tell them "Now, I want you to re-work that schedule and only give me a couple of nights". They may not be too keen on that...she'll probably have to leave the Hilton Corp. to get new nighttime hours. On top of THAT, I am going to attempt to keep my TCC job and classes going at least through December.

It's starting to get interesting again....I'll keep you posted.

 
Changes

I've got a CompactFlash card full of new pics, along with lots of new stuff to talk about. However, what I don't have right now is much time before I have to feed Griffin his "dream" bottle. He'll be 8 months old next week. Last week, he cut his second bottom tooth for a matching pair. He likes all kinds of foods, but he prefers Hideaway Pizza crust over most anything except maybe Cheerios (Os). We have moved into a 2bd/2bth apartment off 71st street. We can't even begin to show my family how much we appreciate all of the love and support they have shown us. After two soggy days in TX loading a 1-way U-haul, we made it back last Friday. BTW...thanks very much to James Doolen, who gave up his lunch hour to drive out to nearly Iowa Park and help me load 5 pieces of furniture into the truck. After a quick unload, thanks to Tina, Melissa and Rusty, the unpacking has taken somewhat longer than we wanted. We finally got all the boxes cleared out earlier today, and it's finally starting to look like someone lives here. We still have completely bare walls, which is somewhat disturbing...but I'm leaving it up to Amy to choose where to hang the pictures. It's nice to have my computer back together again. I'm getting a decent 53.2 Kbps connect on my way too expensive basic telephone line (didn't even get call waiting). Work at TCC is still going good. I'm learning quite a bit in my Network Infrastructure class this semester. Unfortunately, due to problems with the state's finances, they have cut our hours back, and I definitely need an additional job. I'm going back for my 4th interview with Celebration Station, who have a Game Technician/Manager position open. They know that I'm not formally trained in electronics, but they like my enthusiasm and experience so much, they're still calling me back. It would be an interesting job, but very challenging until I ramped up the learning curve. Monday, I had a very promising interview with an eye clinic here in Tulsa who are looking for a Part Time MIS Tech to completely design/implement/train/maintain their network. I picked up a MS Access project from Luftansa Technik, where they recondition reverse thrusters for 747 and DC-10s. I'll be learning a lot as I go along, since I never have done much more than a simple database or two with Access. Last, but certainly not least. I've been offered a contract to hire position with a company called Geek Rescue. They are primarily a web design firm, but branched out to on-site and in-house computer service last year. I will most likely go work for them full-time starting Nov. 11 or 18th as a Mobile Service Technician (or something like that). The contract is for 4 months, at which point they will hire me as an employee, unless I turn out totally incompetent, which is unlikely.

Nothing quite like a single dense paragraph of completely unrelated thoughts...sorry 'bout that. Gotta go feed the little man. I'll get pictures posted soon, I promise! Good night.