Where oh Where has our little Mat gone?

Well, lots has been going on lately… I’ve got the housework about 90% done. All that is left is to do some minor repairs (replace lightbulbs, fix some door issues), finish moving out, have a cleaning service come and then I’m done.

Still no job, but have been working on starting my own company. I know, I’m such a people person, however this will be a software company focused on scuba diving related software. I’m converting www.tenfathomsdeep.com into the company name/website so, at some point my personal stuff will be moving to some other name, what I’m not all that sure yet. However, it’ll get there.

So, mostly I’ve been focusing on getting the software designs ready for coding, and starting the coding aspect, as well as studying for my instructor’s certification. Which starts next Wednesday.

I’ve spent a ton of time in NYC this month, in fact I spent about a week here, and the rest of the time up there. Meeting some cool people, Basically living the life as a +1. (I’ve got an idea just now, I’ll have to see how it pans out.)

I’ve realized that I really don’t like Career Counselors… Maybe it’s not all of them, but at least the guy I’m working with is a complete douche. I know, I know, but this really is my open-minded assessment of him.

I’m sure there is lots to rant about, but right now I am just trying to keep my brain from turning to water.

I’ll write more soon, I hope..

I wonder If I could get this carry on, through airport security?.

Job Hunting Blues….

So, last week I had a meeting with my career counselor.  He’s not making it very easy to get behind this whole, “new leaf” effort.  He returned my resume with his “comments”, all of which where centered around a stale, generic resume format.  Then proceeded to tell me how it’s format helps me stand out.

Retarded.  The problem with career counselors is they haven’t gotten a job your field…  However, they try to hold themselves out as an expert on getting a job.  I’ve hired people in the past, and I’ve been actively in the IT/Telecomm industry for over a decade now, and the stuff he’s telling me is just stupid.  I used to argue with anyone who would say “If you can… do. If you can’t… teach.” It’s idiots like this that make it hard to argue with that.  Though maybe it should be modified to say “If you can, do. If you can’t, become a career counselor”

I am still trying to keep an open mind here, and there is this huge database of job sites, so I am going to to start getting that stuff working.  I’m sure you’ll see a few of them on here.

Water, Water Everywhere and nothing to drink…

Well, last weekend Kyf was being honored at her Alma Mater, Stephens College (official site). A quick bit of important trivia, this is the 2nd oldest girls school in the nation. It started as a finishing school in 1833, so this was the “175th reunion gala“. Kyf was the the guest speaker, which is a pretty big deal.

Okay, so I have to admit as a guy I was thinking, “All Girls School? Sign me up!“. However, apparently I didn’t take seriously enough the “175th” part of it. I think that might have been the median age in the room. I’m pretty sure instead of condom machines in the bathrooms, there were coupons for 10% off hip replacements.

This is a stark contrast of fantasy vs. reality. Which seemed to be the running theme.

Fantasy: Sitting at a table with 9 women… at a black-tie cocktail party… in an all girls college… with the nickname Studmuffin…

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The DUI “try it on and walk around” days.

Well, a couple weekends ago was DUI Demo Days, in scenic Branson, Mo. To give you a quick idea of what this is, it’s a basically a chance for DUI to showcase it’s drysuits, and for scuba divers to test drive a drysuit, before they buy. Which is a good thing because they start around 1,800$ and can run upwards of 3,000$.

However, someone must have pee’d in Mother Nature’s Chili a few weeks before, because the lake was at record levels. I have never seen the lake this high, as of today Table Rock lake only has 2/10th of an inch of capacity left.

They had all 10 floodgates open, during this event. Now, those blue doors are maybe 20ft tall. They are the ultimate top of the dam, and if the water goes higher than the doors, it will simply spill over the dam. Think of this as a potential hillbilly Katrina.

What’s amazing is that the chop in the water, was splashing over the doors. If you click on the thumbnail to the left you can see the spray from this. The doors where open about 18″ in this picture.

It’s like something out of the 100 acre woods.

So, what’s the big deal? Well the dive site DUI set up on, (there wasn’t any others accessable) is right next to the Dam. These doors being open can create a massive undertow, so no diving was allowed. All of this added with the fact that it was cold, windy and overcast meant we had more help than actual attendees but, it was nice to get out of town a bit, and meet some new divers.

Kyf once told me that stand-up comics are like real life immigrants from The island of misfit toys. A fact that drives itself home like a railroad spike if you’ve ever hung out around comics off stage. However, I can honestly say now that Scuba Divers are some of the stranges and most varied people I’ve ever met. They range from a little off, to downright strange. I wonder if that’s why I fit in?

Oh yeah, here was something you don’t see or hear about every day… A boat dock/marina broke loose, and was stopped just short of taking out a major traffic bridge. Here’s a picture on where it’s stopped, I would suggest clicking on the thumbnail to get an idea how close it really got. Definitely a “Oh, Shit.” moment.

Here are a few other pictures from the lake:

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Becoming one of “The Great Unwashed”

Part of my separation package includes what amounts to placement assistance. I was kind of excited about this. I was expecting a multi-national corperate headhunter service. Boy, was I wrong. So, Monday morning morning I contacted the person assigned to me. He outlined “the benefit”, that I was entitled under the package my former employer purchased. It’s not really a job finding service, it’s essentially a professional career counseling company. Ugh.

Let me digress at bit, and explain something. I personally think Career Counseler is one of the most phoney jobs you can have. These are people who’s entire focus is to help you create resumes, cover letters and interviewing tactics for positions they’ve never held, in industries they know nothing about. One of my best friends is actually a professional Career Counselor, and he and I have had these discussions. He naturally doesn’t agree, but that’s okay. Don’t get me wrong, I see how some people could use these services. People who have been in the same position for decades, or just haven’t done much job hunting in their lives. This is part of my revelation that not everyone out there is just like me… More’s the pity.

So, in the interest of turning over a new less cynical leaf, I am going to participate in what this guy suggests… before I dismiss it as complete crap. Hell, part of it is my fault. When he asked me what I wanted to do, I replied that I was waffling between staying in IT/Telecomm or Signing on to a Scuba Dive Boat and just exiting society for a while. My penance for that bit of honesty is his recommendation I take the Birkman Method. Great, 298 soul searching questions that will outline how I should investigate opportunities in waste managment, or as my high-school guidance counselor suggested “Have you thought about construction? It pays well, and you don’t need to be a brainiac.”

There are a few “webinars” that I can take, some pre-recorded, some live. He mentioned that there is one set on entrepreneurship. That’s kind of interesting. I like the idea of starting my own company, maybe teaching diving, or something. Not sure if I could make a living at that, thought it would be fun… So in all seriousness, I’ll give it a chance. Hey it’s free, so what have I got to lose? Heck I might learn something. It wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong… probably not the last either.

However, I have noticed that I am becoming kinda funky. I haven’t shaved in a week or more, just haven’t felt the need. I need to be real careful not to become too comfortable with this life of leasiure. Hah! I’m busier now than I was when I was employed. I’m quickly becoming this guy! Now, the picture itself is kind of funny, but look a little closer… He’s inside, and there is a tent pitched in the background. This leads me to believe he’s some kind of house guest… This could be me in only a few short months… anyone have a little extra floor space?

We can have a campfire in the fireplace, roast hot dogs, make s’mores and tell stories… About the good old days… or if we don’t have any good old days, we can just make up some days. Heck, Imaginary days are almost as good as real memories, aren’t they?

I need to post about the weekend at the lake. Let me just leave you with this teaser news article…

Flooding Causes Gamut of Problems.

The fine line between tough and retarded….

You may have noticed a little better looking page here. That’s my making slow (and hopefully steady) progress on this blog. Hopefully more to come.

This weekend, I’ll be heading down to Table Rock Lake, for DUI Demo Days (pdf). This will complete my Drysuit Certification, which will be nice. Though coming up with the $2800 for a new drysuit (for the one I want) will be a pain, since I’m unemployed. Not to mention, they aren’t exactly a pair of sweats, so as my weight drops I’ll have to buy another one. So, that will probably have to wait a bit. I’ll take my camera, and hopefully have a couple pictures to post.

Okay, so today marks 2 weeks since my last work day. I have made some progress with job stuff, and I have made some good starts to my NAUI Instructors certification. The Kitchen is currently cleared out. Making my sun room and dining room, look like some strange condensed garage sale. The next steps are to clean up all the crap,on the floor that was under the refrigerator and stove. This is no minor task actually, there’s some serious crap there. I need to pick up the paint, and see if I am able to remove some paint that the previous owner painted over some trim. Then prep the walls and trim for paint. (Sanding the trim mostly.) And then we get to painting. I don’t mind painting, it’s all the prep that sucks for me. Anyway, I’m on track to get that done next week. Once the kitchen is painted, I’ve got mostly a bunch of small things to get done inside, and a general clean up of the outside for curb appeal. I expect at this point to have the house on the market by the end of the month.

I need to figure out how/what I’m going to do once I’m homeless. Do I find an apartment? Do I pack the essentials in my truck and find a new hometown? I dunno. On a plus note, Jorjia is apparently getting along better with Ks’s dogs. Which is good, I’m hoping that they get along well. A late entry in the Jorjia game is Kyf’s parents, are suggesting they would be interested in taking her. I’m a little unsure about that one, it’s like letting someone date your sister… I’l have to give it some thought.

This week, there was a catastrophe at The Dive Shop. Their computer caught a lightning strike to the motherboard. Luckily, it was on the closed day. I spent 11 hours Tuesday building, installing and restoring a new computer set up, then 8 hours Wednesday finishing up the backup software, and configuring the wireless internet. So, after 2 days, they are back up and running completely…. a little better than before. It took two days out of my week, but they’ve done a lot for me over the years so, it’s not a problem.

I’m going to try including some random image to the end of my rambley wordy posts, lets see how long it lasts this time.

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Wish it where Sunday….’cause that’s my fun day.

Yesterday turned out to be pretty busy. I went to the Zoo with DS and her brood. I needed the exercise, and while the day started out over cast and sprinkley… it shaped up to be a pretty nice day. After that, I headed over the dive shop to divemaster/instruct the Sunday night class. You know sometimes I really love teaching people diving. Other times, I think it might not be a bad idea to use a speargun as a teaching aid.

I didn’t take a tremendous amount of pictures, and those I did take weren’t of anything especially exciting, there’s a reason for this. As explained by this sign, that was on most of the habitats…Apparently, here in Kansas City the animals actually become invisible with changes in the temperature.

There was of course the Rhinoceroses, or as I like to think of it… The Rhinosages. Which reminds me of a song by Flight of the Concords, Hip Hopopotamus Meets The Rhymenoceros. Oh look I have some of both..

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Memory lane is full of potholes.

Yesterday, I took my couch and love seat over to DG, and today I am taking a load of things out to storage. It’s interesting when your going through everything you own, you will inevitably come across items that trigger memories you hadn’t thought about in forever.

In this case, two fake trees I got over a decade ago, my girlfriend at the time worked at a local furniture store, and she got them along with a zebra patterned rug, if recall correctly. Ironically, was also loading some tables and a different rug I purchased from her (she was the sales person) almost exactly a decade later.

I tend to be a bit sentimental about things. My memory is so ventilated, that these things seem to be the only way I can remember some things. It’s some of the traditional things like cards, letters and pictures of course, as well as some other more obscure items. Most of my wall hanging pictures, have stories behind them.

It reminds me of people who I haven’t thought of in forever. Past friends, loves, lusts and enemies. I wonder how some of them are doing.

It doesn’t make this choice in life any easier, but there are enough memories to remind me of the person I used to be, of the ultimate reasons that drive this choice. The need to live life, instead of watching it. As I enjoy the memories these things bring up, I find myself looking forward to creating new memories. Wondering what the future holds.

I don’t want to cut out the memories, bad or good. However the trick seems to be how to blend the two together…

Apparently these are pretty common traits of a Cancer, if you follow such things…

I’m so transparent, tomorrow I’m going to the zoo with a friend of mine and her kids… There may be pictures!

A so it begins…

Well, exactly one week ago today, I left my position at Sprint. Without getting into the details, I was laid off… more or less voluntarily. It always amazes me when I’m leaving somewhere how many people seem to genuinely be sad that I’m leaving. When I graduated high-school, I was surprised how many people cheered for me. I expected crickets. On my last day at Sprint, many people expressed their sadness at me leaving, I suspect some of it is crap, but most where sincere. It’s nice to know I’m respected and liked in that enviorment.

So, when people found out about my choice, the primary question I was asked was “Why?”. There are lots of logical, short reasons to make this choice. A) The company isn’t doing so hot. B) Time for a change. C) No incentive to stay. All of which are true, and valid reasons. They all figured into my decision, but I don’t know I ever really put why out there?

I made this choice, because my life has become something I wasn’t proud of. I have become stagnant. I wasn’t happy with where my life was headed. Sure it was great by some standards, a good job, my own house, a budget that would allow me to indulge in most every (realistic) whim, a relationship with a woman who loved and adored me. It looked great on paper.

It just didn’t feel right, if that makes any sense. I felt like there was so much of life that I was missing out on, so much that I needed to do. However, my life had slowly started moving towards being ruled by “Have’s” instead of “Do’s”. So, I needed a change.

This opportunity presented itself with Sprint, and I took it. All the logical reasons are still true, but I also need to get out of my rut. I believe it was this rut that killed my relationship. I need change, I need to Do. So, here I am. Jobless, and working to sell my house. Ready to see where the wold will take me.

I don’t have any job offers. There are a couple prospects out there, and I have severance for a little while. However, right now I am living by the motto “Providence will provide.” Let’s see what if gives me. I am working on my NAUI Instructor Certification, and getting the house ready to sell. This month will hopefull go by quick.

So, with the moving of tenfathomsdeep.com to an actual hosting company instead of the servers in my basement, it’s time to start a new blog. So here I am. I am going to try to write something each and every day again. It may have to do with Diving, since I’ll be studying like crazy. Though, this will more than likely be just my person blog again.

With all the changes in my life, I think it’s time to start a new chapter in my blogging as well.

Here’s to a hopeful, move forward!