Year: 2009

hey

I suppose I have a lot to talk about. It is nearly 3:30 am, but I can’t sleep.. so I’m listening to Switchfoot on my phone and decided to type up a blog.

First thing on my mind tonight – was that I do not believe I will get married. Like – ever. I just don’t see it happening. I know people that I could “live” with the rest of my life, but nobody I could “live without” – I know I’m still “young” but I feel old and that life is slipping through my hands. It will be good to have a new grip on life in a couple of weeks when I am living in Portland. I know it won’t change any of my problems, but it will give me a new set of circumstances.

Oh, speaking of that. Stacie and I have been talking.. and if we date- I don’t see anything to come from it. I’d date her, sure. I just don’t think anything would come of it. I am going to tell her that I am not ready for anything serious. I do not want her to have the expectation of getting married – or getting really serious because that option (of dating) is on the table.

Anyway.. moving on.

jay29 is looking to be a winner.. I like it.. I almost went out and bought it a week ago, but I just.. hesitated and I haven’t done so since.

Work! On Monday I let my managers know that I will be leaving- – partly due to all of the circumstance that is surrounding my family. They are going to put me on FMLA- they said it fits in the criteria. They have been looking for jobs for me.. and a few people at work want to get together this week and say goodbye. Jennifer, Aaron and some others.

I was against having a going away lunch, but I was kinda put on the spot about it- because Jeff opened his big mouth about the whole thing. So I gave in and said it was fine as long as they didn’t make a big deal about me. Everyone agreed. So work is going well. My manager keeps telling me that I’m a stand up guy and doing good things.

UAT! I’ve been trying to break the new system for the better part of this week. Testing the first day went really slow (as most of the systems had so many flaws you couldn’t operate in them at all). The second day it was much improved and we were able to break the system all by ourselves 🙂

The whole process ended on Friday, and today– being Saturday means that in 7 days I will leave to move to Portland. It is surprising, and kind of surreal. In some ways it doesn’t feel like it will happen – but then my anticipation for the whole thing is reminding me that big things are in store.

Random thing. I have a new laptop and have been transferring all of my files from my old laptop and old desktop to the new laptop (consolidating everything). I came across a conversation I had with JJ while he was in Ohio. He talked about how he had big hopes but that it wasn’t what he thought it was. That he missed the sun and that he was ready to come back. I really got a sick feeling to my stomach when I read it…

Anyway.. I don’t know why I had that conversation saved.

I forgot to mention that I saw the new Star Trek movie on Tuesday (the 5th of May). It was great. By far one of the better movies I’ve ever seen – and the best Star Trek movie to date. The story line, the cast.. everything was seamless. Not at all what I expected.. but very good. I have recommended everyone to see it.

http://www.traileraddict.com/emd/7408

hmmm,
One week. I can hardly believe it.

Still many things to get straightened out. We will see how this works!

just Pray

p.s. What is the deal with everyone and their sister getting a tattoo lately? They aren’t attractive, or cool.. or the “in” thing.. so why do it? Yet a good number of people I know are either getting/ have gotten/ or want a tattoo.

it is…. annoying.

The last day for Cascade.

It disheartens me. To know that if I ever run into these people that I use to see on campus – it is less of “oh hey I knew you at school” because there is no longer that school; rather we would probably both think about how we once were a part of an intimate christian school setting.

I didn’t get one graduation invitation – that did sting. I wouldn’t have been able to attend (because I was just in Portland no more than two weeks ago..) yet I think if I had gotten an invite I would have worked it out for everything to be in the same weekend. alas….

I won’t be finishing my degree at Cascade (that much is for sure) and really when I think about it… who really knows how many friends graduation I really missed out on? – if any at all.

Moving on.. the Blazers season ended as well. We had the series at 3-2 (Houston leading) and leading after the 1st quarter in Houston (if it would have gotten back to Portland for the final game we would have won) but we didn’t have it in us to finish it out. Houston took this series.

So that is it. On Monday I will give my two weeks notice and then things will really begin to wrap up. I am anxious yet I am also ready to see what will happen after all is done with. Many changes are going to take place, things that need to take place..

I am also to the point where if I make this blog public again, it will be a new domain name… not one I would update – but just a domain redirecting to this blog.

jay29.com ? I’ve thought about that.

Still just kicking ideas around in my head. I knew I needed to get on here and update. It’s already May! I can hardly believe it. As slow/quick as the past few months have been going… heck, how past the fast few years have been going… I just hope time will slow down a little?…

If not before I know it I’ll look up and be in my mid 30’s! (and at one point I’ll probably look back at this thinking that isn’t so bad)

Anyway.. I’m rambling.

p.s. keep Anthony’s family member in your prayers.

just Pray

hey

I just skimmed over my last blog.. it seems as if I have a lot to talk about. More time than normal has passed – and I’ve actually done things in that time.

First – twitter. I have been using it more recent than not. If there were a way to implement the twitter and this site.. I would.

Next- work. I will be giving my two weeks notice on May 4th. That is 11 days from now.. scary! There are a lot of things going on. Still there are countless other things that still need to be worked out. I am less than a month away from moving.

As I said, at work I will be giving my notice very soon. It will be about 2 weeks too soon otherwise I would get a pretty nice bonus. I am going to ask if I can get it anyway (because I worked for it) but I doubt they’ll do anything.

So you know that big event that they made a ton of people to work overtime? The one where they said they would get thousands of calls per minute? Total bust. They expected to get a few hundred thousand new members from the whole event. So far (a week and days after-) they have about 3,000 new members from the show. The whole time they had people working overtime they were just sitting around…. doing nothing.

Glad I wasn’t around for that huge disappointment.

They have cut all overtime off for billing – which I would work overtime if it were available in something that doesn’t put me to sleep. I told my manager that – she didn’t like it. My advice to her is to give me something that challenges me. It would only make sense. Billing doesn’t present a challenge – but it is different than what I’m use to doing. People get mad at me for the amount of work that I do (in comparison to what others do).

It is quite sad really.. but it is the type of atmosphere LifeLock has become.

As an example I listed some numbers below.. these are actual production numbers from today.

100

90*

61

74

36

250

317

147*

131*

143

175

(* means a 10 hour shift) – Guess which number belongs to me? (hint it starts with a three and ends with a seventeen)

It is crazy that people get mad at me for doing work that they COULD do just as easy – they just want to lay back, chill.. talk.. do nothing and fool management into believing that billing is crazy hard. Ugh. It is annoying… very.

Side note: Yesterday it was over 100- its getting near that time of the year….. :

Lastly – The trip to Portland. I flew up on the 18th with JJ. We got our car and went straight to the apartments. The place looked OK. It pretty much looked like the pictures – the only complaint I have is that the kitchen looks cheap. It has everything else we wanted so I’ll let it pass. JJ was impressed and said it was what he wanted to see. That’s fine with me.

Afterwards we went to pick up some playoff tickets (for the Blazers) who just happened to be playing the same day we were in town (for the record: we did not plan it this way). After we picked up the tickets (at a hotel near the Lloyd Center) we visited Stacie – who just had gotten off work. We visited with her for an hour or two and then went to the Blazers game.

The atmosphere was crazy. It was like the arena was going to explode or something – everyone was really in Blazermania. I have only heard an arena that loud one other time (and that was in the AZ Cardinals stadium recently). A distinct difference from a regular season game. The bad news is that we lost horribly. By some 30 points. During one part of the game the whole crowd started chanting “these refs suck” – that might not seem like much, but in most other cities when your team is getting a beat down you will hear the crowd start to boo the team (not me.. I hate when fans do that) – but this city went after the Refs, not our team. It was a nice experience.

Despite losing the game we had a very good night. Afterwards I took JJ around to some places in Portland where you could see the city lights at night (aka Rocky Butte). Then we went back to the hotel and fell asleep shortly after.

The hotel was very nice. One of the nicest hotels I had stayed in. It was a two bedroom suite. It had a couch, a chair, dining room table, kitchen – then in the next room, two queen beds and a room for the bath/shower. I got to really look around at the room at about 6:00am. I woke up from JJ snoring.. and I couldn’t get back to sleep. He was snoring quite loudly. He must have been exhausted.

Sunday! We went and drove around to find gifts for family. Found out GI Joes (aka Joes) is going out of business 🙁 – and that is that. We got to the airport and looked around all the stores and thought of not having to return to Phoenix at all.

This week has been going pretty quickly… all things considered. On Tuesday the Blazers won (tied the series 1-1) and work has been going smooth (other than the haters).

Blazers play again on Friday night (tomorrow).. I feel like I am forgetting things.. yet also feel like this blog is long enough as it is.

Anyway- I’ll leave with a quote that one of my friends at work keeps telling me.

“If you don’t put forth your best, You’re only cheating yourself.” – Aaron Saunders

just Pray

hey

so work has been pretty crazy lately. To prove that point, just on Friday they told me I was going to switch and work billing until further notice. This all comes on the heels of the LifeLock apprentice show (this Sunday, aka Easter) and it will generate about 7000 calls a minute for a call center that typically takes 5000 calls a day.

It will generate a lot of cash, but also a huge backlog across all queues.. and on Monday there is a chance that I might need to get on the phones to take calls.

Calls… ah yes. My director called a meeting and asked every person individually in a group if we could work overtime and if we said no- she wanted the reasons. I gave her my reason.. being that my family might go to San Diego and wouldn’t be back until late. That probably won’t happen now. But it was a reason.. so due to that I was got out of having to work Sunday between 5pm and Midnight.

There are some people in my team who said they were going out of town but would be back at around 9pm Sunday. She had the audacity to sign them up from 9 to Midnight on overtime. It was very low and a very poor way to keep your employees happy while trying to make LifeLock a “paradise place to work”

She went on her little soap box after I told her I couldn’t work. She told us that the company works for our days off and that if there is a big event then we need to do everything in the future to keep those days open, I didn’t like that either 🙂

So I will probably be working some overtime this week — for billing. I am going to try and do it before Friday (as I will be gone for Portland this weekend).

I have started to use twitter again. I had an account a few years ago but just hadn’t used it much since then. If you care… www.twitter.com/jshox

I would add the flash widget onto my blog- but two things stop that from happening. One – I really like the layout as is. Two- I don’t really allow anyone to read my blog at this point in time.

Um.. what else. It rained yesterday and part of today. It has really cooled the temps down… somewhere into the 50’s. We are pretty much at temps right now we would have in January. I know we will be back up into the 90’s next week, but I am enjoying this while I can.

The Blazers have been playing pretty well. They are fighting for a top seed in the west. In the past few games they have beaten San Antonio (in Spurs arena) and the Lakers (at home). The next big game for us is going to be the last game of the season against Denver. That will be on Wednesday of this week. Playoffs start April 18th.. everything seems to be coming down to the wire, all at the same time.

Anyway.. that is all I have for now.

Happy Easter.

just Pray

hey

more apartment drama.

this time from the flip side.

JJ found some reviews about the apartment we had already gotten approval for. The reviews were not good. In fact they mostly talked about how the place was run down. They had photos of dry rot, carpeting that was very bad.. and said there were bugs on the place too. We called the apartment complex and talked to them. They explained that things have been changing recently. However JJ and I are still not 100% confident we will take this place.

We have decided to fly to Portland on the weekend of the 18th to 19th to check things out. The apartment complex said we would lose $280 if we decide to back out. However we would have to sign a 1 year lease. So we want to be safe rather than sorry. My parents had enough miles to get tickets 50% off which ended up being a good deal. Everything will depend on our trip. If we decide to back out I am going to work for at least another week than I had planned to make up the lost money (of the trip and the money from the apartment). Time will tell. We both are hoping that this is just a reassuring trip.

We also went to a Diamondbacks vs White Sox game on Saturday. The tickets were crazy good. I had them given to me at work. Four tickets, $200 each + parking passes. Our parking spot was next to Robert Sarver (Suns current owner) and Dan Majerle (former Sun and currently on the coaching staff of the Suns). It was a cool experience.

The pictures I have of the baseball game will be up on myspace later tonight.

On Sunday we went bowling (with a coupon for an hour free) and over the weekend we also watched Marley and Me. That movie reminded me so much of Oscar. Oscar was the best dog we could have had – but the emotions of losing my dog were flooded and rushed back into my body. It was intense.

I’ve started praying again….. 🙂

just Pray