Job Update
The new job at ConocoPhillips is going quite well. I've pretty much finished my training, and I'm running full-steam with the rest of the team members. In fact, I'm finding myself occasionally helping out several of the people who've had 4 weeks or more experience than myself. I've already created and submitted two procedures to help them troubleshoot and correct possible problems. I'm starting to feel pretty confident, particularly compared to last week, when I was still somewhat overwhelmed. Tomorrow, I start my first overnight shift, which is why I'm up so late tonight (I'm usually crashed by Midnight). Next week, starting Monday night will be my first full week of graveyard shifts. I found today that my schedule will initially be from 6:00pm-4:00am...so I'll actually get home by 5:00 each morning. Hopefully, that'll give me enough time to sleep a bit, get up, eat and head to TCC for a few hours each day before my shift starts again. I'll still probably have to put in some hours on Fri/Sat to catch up at TCC for the week.
I'm still applying for some full-time positions that have been opening up at TCC (FT Computer Lab Paraprofessional, Telecom Technician). I'd still prefer to work a "normal" permanent job over this contract project...but at least it's something to keep a paycheck coming in while I continue to search and apply for other jobs.
I'll keep updating as often as possible....I'll try to get some new pics online soon too.
Cool Photography
Although I have spent far more time behind a digital camera than a 35mm, I have always been interested in true photography. A few months back, I spent many hours looking at pictures and reading about the experiences of a special group of photographers. These folks are obsessed with night photography. They use extended exposures under the light of a full moon (give or take a day) along with flashes using colored gels to come up with some of the most unique photos you'll ever see. You could make similar art using Photoshop...but these are capturing a moment in time with NO post-processing. Very haunting and beautiful.
The first site I found featuring this unusual art was
Lost America. This is run by an individual who spent many hours driving around the deserts of Southwest America, capturing nighttime photos of abandoned buildings, vehicles and other things that we probably wouldn't look twice at while driving through, say, Nevada. He does a great job of narrating some of his experiences, which makes for a great read. In fact, his art and words have been recently published as a book by the same name. Since this guy started his website, another one called (imaginatively)
Night Photographer was also started. They also have a gallery of very similar type photos by many other groups of people....although these are more varied in their subject matter than Lost America (but less interesting narrative).
If you are at all interested in photography or interesting art, you owe it to yourself to check these sites out. Very inspiring. It'll make you want to drag out your old SLR and take a midnight roadtrip under the full moon.
New Job!
Well, I started a new contract job today. It's with ConocoPhillips in Bartlesville, about 45 miles north of Tulsa. It's about an hour commute from my house. I'll be working with a Exchange Migration Team, who are converting thousands of Lotus Notes users over to Microsoft Exchange. Unlike my project with OneOK, where I installed Outlook on the end users' computers, this time it's strictly on the server side, doing the actual conversions. It's supposed to last at least 6 months until December (maybe longer...if I'm lucky). Today was my first day of training, where I had my brain overloaded with procedures and my notebook filled with scribblings. We are converting e-mail accounts all over the world...today we worked on users in Norway (where names have optional vowels and consonants, like Soorlig Kystvannymfe). The good news about this project is that I'll be working 10 hour shifts for only 4 days a week (yeah!...three day weekends)...the bad news (besides the 2 hour a day commute) is that after my training period ends next Wednesday, I'll start working graveyard shifts from 7pm-5am. This ought to be fun, trying to juggle this new full-time job, the part-time TCC gig, and my family! I've sure enjoyed these past weeks, spending extra time with Amy and Griffin...but I have to make enough to pay the bills...so Heigh-ho, heigh-ho...
We had a wonderful party for my parent's 40th wedding anniversary on Sunday night. I took a few pics...not near enough...but haven't got them uploaded yet. I'll try not to slack too much, and keep updating the blog at least semi-regularly.
