baphnedia

The search for a federal or commercial job...

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:17:38 GMT

...bears no fruit. After <15 months, I quit. However, other things are looking up - the free time will help me live my life I hope.

comments

Woot.

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:51:34 GMT

I made the front page of Hollow Paws. :P
http://www.hollowpaws.com/2012/02/intex-more-warning-labels-why/
(gotta read down a bit to get there)

comments

Indecision...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:09:25 GMT

Difficulties in confidence...

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 23:50:06 GMT

So, my career as a (whatever) is tumbling. In 2010, I was making $19.53/hr doing office work, in 2011 I didn't do better than $9.50/hr. Granted the job I had for a little while last year was much cooler, but the pay was much less. The last job I was hired for was a minimum wage job - one that I lost an hour before I was to begin working my first day.

I think its time that I throw in the towel. With the unemployment situation as it is - I'm not competitive at all at this point. There are other things I can focus on more in my life than getting a job. Frankly, with my schedule of appointments at the VA, there's no way I could keep work, what with the number of days I would need off of work. I'm gone anywhere from 3-8 days per month (1d6+2) for medical appointments.

I might have more hope for getting a job, but the last two interviews I've had got me hired. One in Dec 2011 (for that job I was let go from before I started working), and the previous interview to that was Mar 2010. Between 2010 and 2011 I've had three job interviews. Rejection is easy to take, a time or two. After hundreds of times though, it begins to wear on you.

So, on Monday, I will discontinue my relationships with placement agencies and the like. Even though I owe them all a little time every month, the accumulated amount of time spent following up with them on top of applying for jobs and the like is keeping me from having something specific to focus on.

I have no career, and the workplace has no need of (or desire for) me. I feel better for finally admitting it. I have a nice cave, and will see about what I can do to make it nicer. :/

comments

My music is WHAT?!?! O RLY NO WAI

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:02:22 GMT

So, I gave a friend the following link to listen to my moosic... http://www.jango.com/music/Louis+Lamp?l=0

For him, similar music went from mine to Taylor Swift. When I tuned into myself (instead of turning into myself, more on that later maybe), they played a piece of mine and followed it up with Beyonce. Seriously. What the fuck.

Pardon me, I'll be over here, wallfacing.

comments

Fear Storm

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 01:20:54 GMT

The signing of the NDAA (which got no real news coverage), sent me into a spiral. Whee!

comments

Doing too many things...

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:19:08 GMT

So, the year is off to a good start - in part because I forget about the bad stuff. So, here is a list of things that I'm doing actively - and I'm sucking in so many areas because I never have time to improve my mad skillz.

That Gaming Company
- Management
- Game Design
- Bookkeeping
- Hiring
- Social Media (FB, Twitter, G+, DA)
- Community Management (Forums, IRC, Meetup)
- Planning
- Funding
- Marketing
- Advertising
- PR

Performing Arts
- Violin Technique
- Violin Repertoire
- Composing
- Promoting/Blogging/Marketing/Advertising/PR/etc etc etc (same general business needs as the gaming company, listed above)
- Acting Technique

Home Life
- Investing
- Job Search
- Repairing
- Cleaning
- Organizing
- Dieting
- Exercising
- Socializing
- Gaming

Other
- Traveling
- Medical Appointments
- Mental Health Appointments
- VA stuff (other)
- Hearing Research

This is just an infantile list... but I'm up for suggestions as to what to take off of the list.

comments

My remaining time is growing short...

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 10:31:05 GMT

I'm having one of those experiences where I'm just 'too happy' with the bag I've been given. This year was overall a very positive year, one that I enjoyed to an utmost extent. If I were to die right now, I'd die happy. It could easily be said that I've led a full life. So, about that bag...

I am a combat veteran who was a part of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. I participated in some other stuff, too; and was medically retired from the Army in 2009, after nearly ten years of service. Since retiring, I've lived in a supportive environment where I can see how much I've declined on the faces of the other veterans I live with. I've known them for over ten years, from when we were all stationed in Germany together. Shortly before Christmas I answered my water glass and drank from my phone. It wasn't until someone with me in the room got my attention did I realize just what it was that I was doing. It may not have been the first time.

In 2011, one of my investments definitely went south. $18,500 became $0.00. Over $20,000 that I was tracking as 'investments' became apparent to be 'IOUs', and as such got removed from my list of 'assets'. Now, a much more realistic inventory of financial assets reveals a total positive balance that is a small fraction of the aforementioned dollar figures. At least its positive.

Anyway, while my hand is full of crappy cards, I should mention that I'm still pretty happy with how my life turned out. Hence why I'm more concerned about proceeding down a long, psychological tunnel. Rationally, I should be in the midst of a depression. A deep one, at that.

Nope. Happy and bouncy are what I am instead. Anyway, as for the memory issue (answering glasses of water and drinking phones), I do expect that should that symptom to continue, that it will get worse. So, pardon me if I spend my remaining money, time and relative freedom having the best time I can.

comments

I really should update this moar...

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 22:45:42 GMT

Yay, update!
Merry Christmas! (or whatever holiday you celebrate!)

comments

Job, I now hazn't.

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:44:39 GMT

Bleh. :(

comments

Emotional Stability:

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:13:38 GMT

I hasn't. :(

comments

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:52:51 GMT

Job, I haz.

comments

Today...

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:18:31 GMT

I upgraded my browser...
I then spent the rest of the day working on getting Flash to run in my upgraded browser.
*thud*

comments

Consumption as a lifestyle is caroling quickly to it's end...

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:15:42 GMT

There are few survivors of the Great Depression left to ask, but I believe that systems of living such as frugalism and minimalism are quickly becoming the ideal ways of living. In the middle of the 19th Century, you were identified by your trade. Whether it be a farmer, blacksmith, goat herder or cobbler. A hundred years later, you were defined by the house you owned and the car you drove. It still goes on today.

However, consumerism and materialism have fallen out of lifestyle. For this I'm happy - it is the first thing to let go of before budgeting and living frugally begin to really shape up. Granted, I'm not saying that we all become 'freegans' or whatnot. Shelter, clothing, food, communications, transportation and fun are in my mind very worthy things to have in my mind. So much of the world lacks several of these five things, it's nice just to have that.

Choose the things that you're going to hoard (for hoarding and collecting are fine pursuits IF you prioritize in a way that works for you). Also, being selective about what you hoard will allow you to get much more of it - because your budget for hoarding (which would be a part of Fun) will get you a lot more things in one area than a wide variety of things.

As for myself, I'm trying to shave some money out of my budget, partly to get my nest egg going as well as funding my company. I spent $97 on groceries, and will see how many meals I can stand to eat from it. I did not go the Top Ramen route, and bought food that seems to be fairly healthy (salad greens, dressing, cereal, almond milk, cheese, soup - lots of soup and some sweets).

Once I pass 5 meals, groceries will be less expensive for me than Ruby Tuesday's, Denny's or Shari's (I include my tips in this...)
Once I pass 7 meals, the groceries will be less expensive than Shiraz, Davidson's, Thai Delicious, and a number of other restaurants.
Once I pass 10 meals, the groceries will be less expensive than Mia Teriyaki, our local Lebanese restaurant and Bombay Curry. Also, at the ten meal mark, the groceries will be on par with fast food.
Once I pass 20 meals, the groceries will be less expensive than pretty much all other food options.

As of time of writing, I've made it to 10 meals so far. :)

comments

Work - was short and sour.

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:33:41 GMT

So, I got to work today - for the best pay I've had all year so far. All that had to happen, was to swap out a network printer. Easy, right?

Get there - someone already did the physical swap. Great. Does it print? Nope. The printer works - yes. Does it communicate with the network? Yes. Can terminals/users see the printer on the network? No.

How is this best solved? Call the clients' Help Desk to put a work order in with their server team to add the printer to their network. Said work order gets sucked into a black hole. Wait four hours, calling every hour or so to find out what else can be done - or try to find out the status. Nope. Can't find out the status because that section of the help desk is not set up for phone conversations, and is not designed to speak with technicians.

So, out of a mandatory leasing program thing - working printer was swapped out with a new printer, that would work if their help desk worked faster. Handled client complaints about slowness, related my own frustration, closed the tickets and left. So, ticked off client, ticked off me, and hopefully that was my last bit of IT work.

There is no reason why it should take 9 people (the number of people I spoke with at 4 different companies) to swap an effing printer. No reason. None.

comments

Y'know, a veto of the NDAA seems hopeless now.

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:50:07 GMT

So, that NDAA passed the Senate 93-7. Doesn't matter if Obama were to veto it... heck based on what I've read from the Wall Street Journal... yeah. The USA just got really, really ugly.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204826704577073271368204202.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

I'm renewing my passport.

comments

National Deffense Authorization Act S. 1867

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:36:31 GMT

Until this little petition reaches 150 signatures, it won't be quickly viewable at whitehouse.gov for other people to sign, except by direct link. Here's Rand Paul vs John McCain on the Senate floor about S. 1867: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpfS62zrmAQ - John McCain enters at 13:35. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXbwmqq-6Y4 - here's later in the same debate where McCain infers that anyone who is a threat, citizen or not, should be detained and stands by his bill. I appreciate his sentiment, but I think the approach is nothing short of entirely wrong.

So, here's the petition. Please pass it along to those who you think need to at least examine the issue at hand.
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/veto-national-defense-authorization-act-until-it-no-longer-allows-indefinite-detainment-and/BhYXdbQj

comments

Returning to the Seattle area for a bit...

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 06:36:12 GMT

...next month. Please let me know if you'd like me to visit? Thanks!

comments

Anyone in Portland want a 7-yo cat?

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 20:35:37 GMT

Can anyone in Portland take in a lovable, 7 year old kitty whose owners are moving and can't take her? The no-kill shelters in the area, not surprisingly, are all full.

Grabbed from Lupa Bi.

comments

Looking for wit...

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:47:26 GMT

I can't find mine. Looking for witty captions for a whole buncha images (total will be around 80, right now A-G is posted). The best place to reply to is on the forums... http://forum.paradicegames.net/viewforum.php?f=41

comments

So... we can has Stop the E-PARASITE Act nao?

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:10:35 GMT

So, you should be aware of a little petition at the White House...
http://www.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/stop-e-parasite-act/SWBYXX55

comments

Plugging along...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 09:27:16 GMT

So, many things are going on all 'round me and I feel like I'm in the middle of it all. Sorry for being slow on the uptake - I've been remiss in my duties to talk about being a veteran, and share some of my story.

Instead I've been writing, losing my work, and writing some more. I'd also like you to write, too. A number of minutes ago, I started a short writing contest (entries of 50-150 words)... over here: http://forum.paradicegames.net/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=346

I have a ton more to write about... but I also have a lot of sleep to catch up on. :) Sleep first so that I may enjoy Veterans Day for once.

comments

Constellation Cockroach is out!

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:23:14 GMT

For your listening pleasure, you can go to Facebook and start playing from Prelude for a full listen... you're welcome to swing by and listen as often as you like. :)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Louis.....55326481208883

By pricing the EP at $0.99 for the whole thing on CD Baby, I only need to sell 372 of 'em to break even. The individual tracks are also for sale at $0.99 per piece, so please be sure that you're buying the whole EP for the same price. Constellation Cockroach is o'er here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/louislamp4

comments

The Constitution Breaks Bad in Albequerque

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 07:46:35 GMT

http://www.tpalexanders.com/2011/10/19/the-constitution-breaks-bad-in-albuquerque/

This is simply one helluva read, and I wish I kept in touch with some people who I made a bet with back in 2001... that we would become the world's best police state. The comment of the day is down a ways after the article, "With agents like this in the TSA, who needs terrorists?"

comments

99% Declaration - they got it mostly right.

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:37:10 GMT

So, I'm reading the Declaration from the 99%... which can be found here: http://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/

I hope that when they form their General Assembly, that they prepare to write each of these as individual bills. I, for one, do not see the benefit in some of the changes that they're demanding. However, I'll go through the list of grievances and write down my thoughts.

( All the details under the cut... )

comments