Year: 2011

Sleepless in Tempe.

In some ways I think I’ve gone totally nuts.  Why?  The path my life has taken me.

Jobless.

It’s enough to make me somehow lose my self-worth.

I cant stand going through time and feeling like I’m sliding backwards.  I don’t even feel like I’m pushing forward at all.  Just a constant backward pull.  What can I do?  I have begun to entertain the idea of going back to school and finishing up.  Even if I just wind up with that stupid piece of paper that the world finds so much value in.. At least I’d feel like along this life of mine I was able to accomplish something.

Sigh.

I don’t have an answer.  I wish I did but it’s simply not there.

I wish that failure wasn’t such a prevelant part of my life.  I also wish that I could hear God speak.  I’d like to be able to say that I’ve never wandered… But like that Chris Rice song… we are prone to wander.

Things otherwise have been pretty good.  Haha, funny but true.

I got fed up with some issues I was having with the ipod touch.  I returned it.  It was freezing and they had tried resetting it in the store to no avail. I gave up. It simply cost too high a price to have various basic complaints.

So anyway on the sports front… the Mavs beat the Heat to win it all last night.  Who would have thought?  Glad it happened though.

It is now past 2:30 am & I am wide awake.  Ugh. Yet it’s still like 80 or 90 some degrees outside. Bleh.

I haven’t heard back from either job yet.  Chase and US Airways are M.I.A. so who knows what will happen.  Here’s hoping for some good news because even if isn’t a job ill love working, something is better than nothing.

I doubt anyone still reads this blog but… Here is a question for you all.  As a Christian.. during an interview should white lies (or any lie for that matter) be acceptable?  Aka Id hate to work call center again + I can’t stand the rate of pay but during interviews I obviously say otherwise so I at least hold a chance on just having a job again.  I know it’s not right.. but what are your thoughts on it?

Anyway.. that’s all I have for this episode.
I think I’ll go turn on some music.

just Pray

This is my first update from my iPod. This might be the new way for me to post.

How did I get an iPod? Airline miles. I had signed up for a credit card with Capital One and they matched my miles I had with Alaska. In light of that I cashed them out and got an iPod for Maryia and Myself.

I like it. I just feel like it’s an addictive little device which I may have to distance myself from using too much. I really just hope it’s the new-ness that hasn’t worn off yet.

Thats all I’ve got for now.

Happy birthday Mathew Graham.

Until next time,

just Pray

Hey

Lots of updates to write about.  I just haven’t gotten to a point of sitting down and writing the actual blog.

First off, today Maryia is going to be graduating.  At about 2:00 it will start.  I surely hope that all, if not most of her family shows up.  We aren’t in a great financial position right now but she made a point of going back to Portland to graduate with the express concern of her family.  If only 3 or 4 members of her big family show up, I will be more than upset.

What else… that interview that I had.  Oh yes.  It went as well as an interview could go.  The HR rep even went as far as saying “I hope you accept our job offer” and “I think you will be a great fit with our company” and after telling them that I was still seeking jobs elsewhere until an actual offer was fabricated they said “we are a better fit..  and I hope you feel the same way” so you would think, walking away from that interview that I had landed the job.  All of these very obvious communications saying that the job offer was just a formality.  The real surprise was when this arrived in my inbox:

Jason,

Thank you for meeting with me recently to discuss the Customer Service Specialist position with our company. After further review of your qualifications, we have decided to continue our search at this time and consider other candidates with more specific software support experience.

We appreciate your interest in Citation, and we wish you the best in your future professional endeavors.

Deborah Wahl, SPHR

Vice President, Human Resources
Citation Technologies Inc. / CyberRegs ^®
5111 North Scottsdale Road, Suite 200
Scottsdale, Arizona 85250
Toll Free: 800-808-3372
Worldwide: +1-480-994-4560

Direct: 480-424-0109
Direct Fax: 480-424-0196
dwahl@citation.com
http://citationtechnologies.com

I attempted to reach out to them and find out what exactly took place in the time that I was to be offered a job.  I have not received any such comment or explanation from them.  Not like I could really do anything, but I wanted that job and they made me feel like I had it, only to give such a cold blow afterwards.

It is rather frustrating.  Technology has it’s setbacks.  Like with LifeLock, they told me that I can’t apply to any job at their company going forward.  So yes, this company to which I’ve worked my butt off for years has turned their back on me and said I am now “not hirable” and the reason they say is some rogue email that they got from me.

Back in February and March my emails had been phished and some emails were sent.  Some were just with links, and others sounded like somebody was talking to the recipient.  Most of the people who these were sent to (out of 10 or 15 people in my contacts) had emailed me back letting me know something wasn’t right.  I guess something was also sent to LifeLock.  Alas, any explanation to the company and asking for the situation to be rectified fell on deaf ears.  I had even asked Amanda to check into it and press the subject with management but since that time she hasn’t talked to me.  Not even once.  What have I done?  After I found out it happened I closed down all of the emails affected (2).  I was thinking of downsizing emails either way.. so it kind of worked out.  But really?

Fantastic.  I really feel betrayed by that whole thing.  And LifeLock, a company that I use to think of rather highly has fallen off their high saddle and now ranks to one of the worst post-employers I’ve ever had to deal with in my life.  Sometimes I hope they go out of business.  I admit this wouldn’t be ideal because I still have some friends working at the company.  It is just outrageous.  In the digital age, you can’t do much.

It is rather fantastic isn’t it?

Moving on…. so recently I interviewed with GE and that whole process has went fairly well.  I was able to go into their center and meet with management.  It seems like it is going in the right direction.  I have another interview with them in the coming week.  The only downfall to that, is the job wouldn’t start until July.

I will continue to keep my eyes open and apply to other places in the meantime.  I also have an interview (a phone interview) with Unique Home Designs.  I hate phone interviews.  Regardless, we will see how that goes.

This might be my last post ever if the world ends in a few hours.  There is some guy who hosts his own radio station with help of supporters and has predicted that the world will end at 6pm.  So… as nice as it would be to be hand in hand with God by the end of the day… I don’t really think it will take place.

I do find it entertaining that some of the workers of this guy’s prediction are planning on showing up to work on Monday.  In fact when interviewed they said that some 80% of the workforce doesn’t believe it will take place.

The weather lately has been very cool… I mean we are talking in the 70’s just in the past few days.  For that cool of temps in May.. in the Phoenix area is unheard of.  I’ll take it though.

Sports news: Mavs swept the Lakers and advanced.  The Grizzlies took the Thunder to a game 7 and failed to become the first number 8 seed to advance further than the 2nd round.  Mavs vs Thunder and Bulls vs Heat, both series are tied at 1-1.

I think tonight I’m going to head over to Central as Maryia is out of town until Tuesday.  Last week we went to a small church and it wasn’t so bad.  We are going to check it out again once she is back in town.

Last bit, is that recently with the finances being as tight as they are we were forced to drop texting from our cell phone plan.  This is huge, I hardly touch my phone now and when I do out of reflex I still check for text messages.  All will be fine, I am planning on getting an ipod and using google voice on it.  How will I afford an ipod?  Airline miles.. of course.  Therefore there is no out of pocket cost to me.  Then I can text, talk and surf for free as long as I have wifi.  Sounds like a more affordable option to me.

So it may take a while for me to get back in the flow with multiple posts in a single month.  Until that point I am going to try and gradually increase my posting.  So for the next few months my goal is 2 posts a month.  I barely made that goal for this month.  We’ll see how it goes.

That is all of the update I have in me for now.

Until next time

just Pray

Hey

So today marks the 4th anniversary since I was hit by an uninsured, drunk, illegal alien, driving a stolen car with stolen plates.  I’ll probably always correlate that with Cinco de Mayo for the rest of my life.  Who knew… that was a pretty crazy event, and to this day I’m still short my deductible.  Oh how a few seconds can change someone’s life.  Who knows what else that little event altered.  Today also marks my 800th post.

2Nine Studios is going through some major financial cutbacks, and unless our team is able to come up with a new web address that is user friendly we will be just running of personal links for the business until the issue is finally resolved.  It will still be around, we will just have less of an opportunity to highlight our history and future.  For the first time in a while 2Nine studios is running out of two states.  Oregon and Arizona.

I found out today that an old co-worker of mine has cancer, terminal cancer.  Cancer to begin with is bad news, but terminal… this sweet lady that I’ve known since the days that I was working at Target in Beaverton… sigh.  I’ll be praying for her.

I got to do something I wish I never had to do again….. but did yet again.  As crazy as it is, we are back in Arizona.  I have to say, I wasn’t looking forward to it.  If you have been following my twitter then you know what I’m talking about.  If not, feel free to follow @jshox  It has been quite an adjustment.  Maryia is taking the move harder than I thought she would.  It isn’t so much about the big things that have her … down.  It’s more of all the little things that don’t seem to be working out.  I think that will improve with time.  Everyone has kind of seemed a bit off since we’ve been back.

Jake (our cat) has even seemed a little off since moving.  He use to eat twice a day and eat it all within 15 minutes.  Now we feed him once and sometimes he doesn’t eat all of the food throughout the day.  Kind of a crazy change in such a short time.  On the trip down we introduced him to Mayer and Max.  They both went spastic for him but with training from a squirt bottle (and hours of it) they ended up being much better.  It has also proven that Max is totally trainable, just takes consistency on the discipline end.

I’ve been applying at several jobs, but have not gotten much for feedback.  I have one interview on Monday.  We’ll see how that goes.

Recently my teeth have been hurting me when I eat.  Not all of them, only those on the upper left side of my mouth.  The same place where a few years back I had a dentist mess some stuff up and it’s really never been the same since.  Anyway, it’s been kinda quiet for a couple years but it is starting to flare up as of late.  If I only had the money to get it taken care of… or at least get it checked out.  It’ll just cost more in the long run, but without stable income and the savings drying up… what can you do?

On the sports front the Blazers took the Mavs to six games and lost.  Simply put, we were out played.  We were down in the series 0-2 and came back to even the series thanks to Brandon Roy.  On one of the games we came from 23 behind in the 2nd half and won.  Having tied the series 2-2 you would assume we would keep winning.  However we tanked and lost in Dallas and the final game in Portland.  Such a waste of a good season and another 1st round exit.

The only other bit of information to give is that the US Navy SEALS caught Osama bin Laden a few days ago and killed him.  The reaction from Americans was somewhat disgusting.  We celebrated his death, sang our national anthem.. etc.  Even if he is guilty – as he was… I find it wrong to celebrate his death.  Our celebration really showed me that we are no better than anyone else.  Remember after 9/11?  Overseas the radicals celebrated the joyous victory they had.  We now do the same in retaliation.  Does it make it right?  No.  I thought it was a sad day.  Still today people say they would never celebrate a death but for him “they will make an excuse” because there is “no hint of innocence” – I think we just might be missing the point.

I leave you with a couple quotes.  The first is not an MLK quote, but a good quote none-the-less, the second is from MLK:

“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” – Unknown

“I’m concerned about a better world. I’m concerned about justice; I’m concerned about brotherhood; I’m concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can’t murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can’t establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can’t murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.” – MLK Jr

Until next time.

April 14th?

Where is the year going?

The other day we were at the store and picked up a small grill.  It turned out to be a good buy as we have already used it on cookouts for hotdogs and buffalo burgers.  The same night that we bought it Maryia and myself made some sort of make-shift bon fire.  Only on a small scale.. to cook some smores.  It turned out well.  We enjoyed ourselves and we picked the best night in a few to do so.  The night was clear, cool and just right for roasting.

In a short time I will be moving back to Arizona.  Again.  It is coming up in a few short weeks.

Yes, I know how crazy that sounds, but it is reality.  Hopefully I will be able to find a job rather quickly.  I’ve been applying at some places that aren’t call center jobs.  I might have to revert to just call centers if I don’t find something within the next two months.

My brother is homeless after having been kicked out from two separate places.  Once for having been drinking and the other time because the person couldn’t afford to take care of him any longer.  He also lost his job that he had.  Haven’t heard from him in a while.  I think my parents are going to try and call him in the next day or two.

HP: So I sent my laptop in and it has been fixed, however only 1 of 2 problems were actually fixed.  Now I have to send it back in and have it fixed for this other issue as well.  *sigh* At least they were able to fix one of the problems.  The computer also runs better now that I’ve upgraded the memory to 8 gigs.  It practically purrs.

Sports news.

Blazers lost their season finale last night, but it was an irrelevant game.  We had already been locked into 6th place.  Then with the Lakers winning and Dallas falling— the west coast is finally set.  3 vs 6 and that means that Portland will be playing Dallas in the first round this year.

On a side note, the Suns missed the playoffs.  That made me very happy.

I believe our first game is this Saturday and I want to go downtown to the Rose Quarter to watch this game live (as live as it would be on TV as it is an away game) but I still like the idea of it.  Plus it’s free and you get to go watch the game with other fans.

I suppose that is all the update that I have in me.  Once I won’t have to worry about sending my laptop in for repair any longer I hope to post updates a little more often than once or twice a month.  We’ll see.

Last note… it says this is my 799th post.  I think thats crazy.

Take care.