Memory Association

The brain is a funny thing. Sometimes, it will associate a smell, a sound, an image, with a memory. And whenever one of these triggers are met, it summons up the rest of that memory. This comes up because as I was driving around on my route, I drove over some freshly repaved asphalt. For me, the stench of burnt oil and fresh asphalt will always be associated with my youth. When I was in 3rd or 4th grade, they repaved the playground at the school directly behind our house and all summer we had to deal with that smell. Another memory that is tied to sensory input is the first time that I read through the Lord of the Rings. While I was reading those books, I was listening to the Newsboys. #RandomMusings

The SweatBox

This goes out to all my UPSer friends.

"They shuffle from their concrete cell.

The air is hot and thick.

Their eyes are empty, their bodies are tired and their souls beaten.

And tomorrow they'll come back and do it again."

One Month Later

So about a month ago, the wife said to me "You need to lose some weight."

Well after the initial shock of having my wife tell that I was fat, I thought about it. I weighed myself and didn't really like the number that I saw.

Now, I don't have a lot of time to work out or go to the gym, so I decided to start with things that I could control.

So I've cut out all soda, started eating less and where I can I eat a healthy alternative.

And 1 Month later I'm down 20 pounds. I haven't really noticed a difference but the other day the gas station attendant said that I was looking thinner so I guess it's had some effect.

The Things That Creep In

So I had sat down a couple of weeks ago to plot out the long term plan for my new world (tentatively named Zaria) and how I would bring along the first of the two major arcs that I have laid the very basic ground work for.

I had decided to take one of the major arcs and model it after a major historical scenario. The pieces fit in a generic form, and it should be easy enough to follow a generic form while still injecting my own creative twists and turns.

While I was thinking about this, however, I started to think about how I was going to plot out the other major arc. I put all of the peices on teh table and realized that I already had a good historical scenario to which I could mold this 2nd arc.

So it's just interesting to me that despite the fact that I hadn't really thought about it but I had subliminally molded one of my arcs onto a historical scenario.

The Worlds In My Head

So, I don't remember when I started writing, or really why. I think it was a way to kill time when my family moved over an hour away from where we did everything.

I do remember that the first books that I wrote were terrible. The ideas in them were taken from movies, tv shows, books and games and adapted to the worlds that I created almost literally on the fly. No preparation, no thought.

Slowly, my work began to improve.

As I worked and grew, my worlds started to take their own shapes, developing from a small idea here or there. And as I started to grow as an author, I realized that my stories had to have a strong base before they could be really good. So now, my world's may start from a short blurb that floats through my mind (and trust me I have many of them), I have gotten into the habit of taking that small blurb and building a world for it before I start doing most of the work. Not only does a strong base help keep the world on track, it keeps me from

Once in a great while, I'll get a spark from an outside source and try to develop that into a working world. My most recent experience with this was an idea my younger brother had. He gave me a very rough skeleton and a built a working blurb for it. It still needs heavy work, but he was amazed at what I had done with just a little thought. One thing that continues to surprise me, is the way that some world's will take what I give them and run with it. I have a world I'm developing now that started out pretty tame but has morphed into an elf-having, Griffin riding fantasy. On the other hand, some world's will take my skeleton form and build on it exactly as I had intended/expected. Hopefully one day I'll get published and other people will enjoy my worlds. But until then, I'll continue working on them. If only to keep them from crowding my brain...

The Mobile Lifestyle

I made the realization the other day that my age-group and my next younger brother's age-group are the last generation to grow up without mobile technology being a permeating reality of life.

I was 17 when my family picked up our first real mobile phone. We'd had a pre-paid phone about 2 years earlier but we hadn't really used it much. Even that first cell-phone wasn't very useful. We bought it from a kiosk vendor who swore that our area would have service inside of 6months and that we'd be able to use it whenever we wanted (funny enough, over 10 years later and they still don't have service where my parents still live).

We went ahead and got the phone because I was started college shortly and the town that the college was in had enough signal for their company that I could use it about half way through the 30 mile drive.

I didn't really use the phone that much except to ask my parents if they needed anything while I was in town, or let them know when my shift at work got extended.

About 6 months into my first year at the community college, I wanted a phone that actually worked wherever I went, so I picked up a phone from another carrier (one of the 2 that had signal out in our area) and let my parents use the old one whenever they went into town.

I've pretty much had a cell-phone ever since and as the usefulness of them became apparent, all of my family members followed suit in getting their own cellphones.

Now we all have smartphones, even my 12 year old sister. We use them to varying degrees, myself probably the most, my dad definitely the least. But there are functions of them that we all use quite regularly.

I've noticed that I spend a significantly lower amount of time at a real computer than I used to. Before I got a smartphone, all of my computing needs were handled with a desktop or a laptop. Now, there's very little that I can't do on my phone or tablet. Really the only thing that is left to use my desktop for is gaming and writing a lot (I just like the feel of a full sized keyboard when I'm writing a long story or post).

There's a joke around my family that my son's first word is going to be cellphone related. I don't think so, but it does highlight the fact that my son is probably going to have a cellphone at a very early age and is probably going to know how to use it to its fullest extent. How soon, and how smart the phone is, will be a topic of discussion between my wife and I, but I know that by his teenage years, he's going to be just like daddy and want the best.

I wonder sometimes if he'll ever even use a computer outside of school. Or even there, if the tablet scene continues to explode like it seems to be doing.

Another facet of the Mobile Lifestyle is that nearly everyone has a phone and a large, and growing, majority have smartphones. I've turned it into a sort of a game when I'm out and about and see someone on their phone. Which carrier, which manufacturer, which model. Some phones are easier to spot than others. The iPhone is very recognizable and easy to spot. Android phones are a little harder, especially non-Verizon Android phones. I was sitting in the movie theater the other day, getting ready to watch a movie, when someone in the row ahead pulled out a phone and started playing on it. It took me about two glances to pick out what kind of phone it was, only because it was a Droid X and I just got a new phone like 2 months ago switching from the X.

The increasing number of options for people to get into the smartphone market is just going to further the situation.

So what effect has our increasing mobile lifestyle had on you?

We've Moved!

So its been a while since I've posted, I would in fact have to go back and read previous posts to even know where I left off. So, instead, I'll just recap the last couple of months before I continue with my post.

In my new position at work (OneStop), Inventory and Purchasing Manager, I've been busy working with Vendors on getting new accessories into our stores and working with the store managers on getting all of our store inventories fixed.

At UPS, I'm going through the process to get promoted to Full-Time. Right now, I'm waiting for the results of my last test, the Inbox, and then for my panel interview in Chicago.

Personal life stuff, our son Jay is doing well, over ten pounds and growing like a weed.

So now, the point of my post:

Both at home and at work, I've moved.

We looked for a couple of weeks for a house and had a short list of houses that looked acceptable (most of the houses that were in our price range were in terrible shape) and went back through for a second looks.

There ended up being two houses that we were really interested in, but one of them was on the high end of our price range with an unfinished basement. The other was in the right price range and nearly move in ready.

After we were unable to get the first house price lowered down, we put in an offer to the second house.

After some back and forth, we finally got the price we wanted and started on the closing paperwork.

Despite the fact that the closing ended up costing almost $1500 more than we had expected, we closed on the house on Apr 5th. We started moving in immediately, moving our tv and router in on Thursday, the washer, dryer and refridgerator were delivered and Comcast was turned on Friday.
Friday evening, we started moving in boxes using the In-Laws' Jeep. Then we moved in Saturday with the furniture and cleaned up the rest of the boxes.

At work, we moved one of our Rockford locations to a much larger facility, one with more room in the back. So over the course of the last two weeks I've been packing up our inventory and then moving it to the new warehouse.

I had to buy and assemble new shelving units and change the locks on the doors.

So, We've Moved!

Wierd Week

So this week started off simply enough.

I received a promotion to Inventory and Purchasing Manager at the Verizon Wireless Indirect Agent that I work for, including a pay raise, as part of a company-wide restructuring. Basically, I'll be responsible for ordering, receiving and distributing product and office supplies to the stores as well as coaching sales reps on selling accessories.

On Tuesday, we had what everyone is calling Snowmaggedon 2011, or the Snowpocalypse. 14"+ of snow fell on the Northern Illinois area. Our VZW stores closed down at 5, and UPS actually called us and told us to stay home. That's only the second time that has happened.

On Wednesday, almost everything was still buried in snow and most of our stores stayed closed once more. I received another text message from my boss at UPS telling us that the Night Sort had been canceled, the first time I've ever seen it closed back to back days due to weather.

I was just about to go to bed, at around 1030, when I received another text message from my UPS boss: we had to go in at 430 to run a bunch of Illinois volume through the hub. So I went to bed and got up at 3am, went to work and suffered through a terribly unorganized sort.

I went straight to VZW from UPS and got the store opened and started finally working on my new job, getting some product together for one of our busier stores and a new location that they are opening nearby.

In the early afternoon, she called the bank and found out that my credit had finally been dragged up enough that we were preapproved for a home loan. She has had her eye on a house near our apartment that started at over 120K but has slowly been sinking since then. She said that as soon as we got the pre-approval letter from the bank that we could get with our realtor and start looking at houses in our price range.

At around 3pm my phone started ringing as my wife called me. I was with a customer so I ignored it for the time being but she called several times and texted a couple of times as well. When I had the chance I took a look at the text message and saw that she needed me to call her right away because the Doctor's office had called.

I stepped away and called her and she informed me that because of certain high risk factors, the doctor's wanted to induce labor and we needed to be at the hospital by 5pm! I made sure everything was in line and rushed home to help pack a suitcase and get the wife to the hospital.

I sent out a mass text to the whole family to let them know what was going on and of course hit up Facebook.

I called my boss at UPS to tell him that I wasn't going to be at work and he informed me that one of the other supervisors in my area was also having a baby at the same hospital, funny how things work out that way.

We got to the hospital around 5 and found that we weren't the only ones that were going to have a baby. All of the hospital's labor and delivery rooms were occupied with mothers getting ready to have kids so we had to wait in the waiting room for about half an hour before we finally got into a "Stage 1" room, where the early stages of the process would be handled.

We were there for around 3 hours before we were moved to a "Final Stage" room where they would administer the medicine to induce labor and where the baby would be born. At around 1030 they started the medicine and it became a waiting game.

I caught some nap time for the next few hours waiting for the real fun to begin. At around 6am, my wife was finally at around 4cm dialated and her water broke, a sure sign that our son would be around shortly. In less than an hour she dialated another 6 cm to "Full" and was ready to push, all we were waiting on was the doctor.

Once the doctor got to the hospital and got scrubbed in, it only took less than half an hour for Jaydran Alexander to be born at 726am, 6.6 lbs and 19".

The hospital staff got him all cleaned up and let me be the first family member to hold the newest Johnson.

In short order everyone else that was at the hospital was allowed to hold the baby. Both Grandmas, my dad, my sister and my sister-in-law all got their chance to hold Baby Jaydran.

Peak 2010 In the Bag

So I'm a little late in actually posting this, but I've been a little busy.

I will say that this year's Peak at UPS was a little different than the last two. Two years ago, I only worked the night sort and was rather busy all through the month of December. Last year, I worked the VSort but it was a snoozer and the night sort was where things got hairy.

This year, the night sort was relatively tame, with fewer delays than usual an

d an overall smoother experience. The VSort, however, was a mess half of the days. Monday night/Tuesday morning I didn't even leave UPS until almost 10am and Wednesday night/Thursday morning I was so tired that I fell asleep at the computer doing timecards.

One of my co-workers snapped the picture to the right of me snoozing/snoring.

As for VZW, being that it was my first year working in the industry, it was a bit slower than I had expected, though I'm not really surprised by that considering our traffic as of late.

Overall, it was a busy and exhausting experience and one that I don't intend to repeat next year.

Peak-In-Progress

So its Wednesday, Dec 15 and I'm two and a half days through "Bridge Week" (the week right before our official peak week.)

I started the week with my usual ,9 hour shift at my VZW Store, selling phones, putting together orders for other stores and the like. I decided to get as much sleep as possible so I took a few hour nap before going in to UPS.

Monday was busier than we have been for a while but I have a decent staff this year and we made it th heigh without a hitch. V Sort, on the other hand was pretty silly because of how they have  the supervisors distributed. Instead of having two Supervisors for two areas, they have me doing two belts, one of which gets pretty busy.

I made it through okay, went home me changed and went straight to Vzw. After that, I slept for maybe three hours and went back to UPS. Tuesday was a bit better than Monday but it was still draining.

At this point I've worked around 56 our of the last 72 hours and I have basically two shifts at each job before Friday night when I can try to catch up on sleep.

Everyone thinks I'm crazy and the more I suffer through this, the more I think they are right lol

But I'm going to power through because as of around 545 am I will be into straight pay, making $15/hr and, if my current trend of around 10 hours per day continues, I'll be making $22/hr all of Saturday.

Posted via Blogaway on my DroidX

Cataclysm and Life

So I haven't posted in a little while because I've been really busy with both jobs, but I have a little bit of time so I thought I would throw one up.

First, I've been working on getting my VZW employees trained and relatively self-sufficient so my weekly concern about who I'm going to have close my store on Thursdays (when my usual keyholder is off). They all seem to be relatively competent and I think that all 3 of them will be keepers, even if I end up shipping one off to another location. My only concern is convincing my boss to give them enough of a salary to keep them onboard. One of them has some management potential, but they all need a lot more work on their actual sales pitch and interaction with the customers.

Next, UPS is about to get fun. I found out last night that I did indeed get my V-Sort spot so next week and the week after I'll be looking at almost 100 hours between both jobs. Its worth it though, as each week of VSort is worth $100-150 extra after taxes. Fortunately, all of my employees seem to be working out rather well.

So, outside of work, the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm, launched this week. Its the first time that I haven't gone out and picked up a copy for myself and its a little strange. My wife picked up a copy at midnight and has been playing while I'm at work. I haven't had a fully active account for almost a year now: I was burned out right before Peak hit at UPS and then I got my second job in February so I haven't really had time to play.

And I really doubt that I'm going to pick up a copy at all. Once the baby gets here its not like I'll be able to just up and quit either of my jobs. And if I do, it will be because I got promoted to the point where I don't need both of them and will be working additional hours anyways.

I played for almost 4 years straight, with some minor breaks, and it was a major part of my life for so long. But now, it just seems like a waste of time. So my characters will probably just sit and I'll pop onto the Wife's account every once in a while to play on one of her alts that she doesn't like to play anymore.

Armchair Monday

So coming into the game against the Detroit Lions, I was actually looking forward to this game.

Last week's performance by the Cowboys and the performance by the Lions over the last few years meant this should be a good game for the Cowboys.



While the Cowboy's offense wasn't as explosive in the first half as it was against the Giants, the Defense was just as tight as they were last week. The Offense took their first possession down the field 98 yards, ending with a jump ball touchdown to Dez Bryant.



Their following possessions didn't yield any points, but the defense continued to hold up. A fumble by Felix Jones late in the 2nd Quarter resulted in a touchdown by the Lions, the score 7-10 at the half. Posted via Blogaway on my Samsung Galaxy Tab


The third quarter started off about the same but about half way through the 3rd Quarter the Cowboys came to life.

A punt return by rookie Bryant McCann, his 2nd touchdown in 2 games, put the Cowboys up 14-12 following a safety due to a holding penalty in the end zone by the Cowboys earlier in the quarter.

On the ensuing possesion by the Lions defensive end Jason Hatcher recovered a fumble which then lead to a passing touchdown to Miles Austin.

The Cowboys came to life after that and were leading 28-19 halfway through the 4th quarter with only a long touchdown by the Lions interrupting them.



Nearing the Red Zone once more, Kitna was flushed out of the pocket and ran for a 29yard touchdown, the longest run of his career.



If there is anything that I have noticed in these games, its that the Cowboys need to get better at the run. Felix jones only managed to get around 50, and Kitna was the next rusher with 40 yards on 4 tries. With the 3 Headed Attack that the Cowboys enjoyed last year, they were able to balance things out and keep pounding at the opponent's defensive line.



I'm not sure if its just the age of some of the Offensive lineman, or the fact that Tony Romo isn't the quarterback and the defense doesn't have to worry about his mobility and can bring more rushers, but against top-flight teams, a non-exsistant running game is not going to get the job done.



On the other hand, the Cowboy's receiving corps has shown that it has what it takes to get the job done. Even when he gets hit early after a catch, Dez Bryant has shown his strength and resilience by shaking off tackles and running for those extra yards. It definitely shows why the Cowboys decided to grab him in the first round of the Draft this year.



Even the defense has seemed to come back to life in the last two games. Fumble recoveries, interceptions and interceptions for Touchdowns have all shown that the Cowboys has some major playmakers on their defense, they just need to get motivated to make something happen.







Result: 35-19 (W)

Record 3-7

Posted via Blogaway on my Samsung Galaxy Tab

Armchair Monday

So going into this game, I was not looking forward to hunting for a decent stream on the internet and watching from work. No comfy couch, no beer and I would have to contain my enthusiasm, something that I have a hard time doing during a football game that goes well.


Additionally, I wasn't looking forward to this game because of the way the Cowboys have been playing all year long and especially the beating they took last week against the Packers.


But right out of the gate, the Cowboys looked good.


They held the Giants to a mere field goal in the first quarter and the Offense took charge, Dez Bryant once again showing off why we decided to draft him in the first place. The guy is a monster when you get the ball anywhere near him. The kick by Buehler was tipped leaving the Cowboys up only 6-3 going into the 2nd Quarter.


Buehler added to the score with a Field Goal in the 2nd Quarter and then it looked like it was all unraveling again as the Giants took it down the field to the Dallas 2. But on a 3rd and Goal, a Rookie Cornerback, in for an injured veteran, jumped a botched route on the left side of the offense and snatched an interception 1yard deep in the end zone. And from there, he was off to the races. With a phalanx of blockers surrounding him, McCann dashed to the opposite end of the field and put the Cowboys up 16-3. Both teams put up another field goal, entering the half 19-3 in the Cowboys favor.


Receiving the 3rd Quarter Kickoff, the Cowboys quickly fell to 3rd and 10 as the lights began to dim (reportedly from a blown generator), but then lightning once more as Felix Jones showed the damage he can do in the open field. A short screen and Felix was off, ducking through the defenders and then sprinting up the sideline with Roy Williams flanking him. Cowboys TD, 26-6.


The lights went out throughout the stadium, causing a 12 minute delay and when play resumed, the Giants took it down the field and collected another touchdown for themselves, 26-13.


But the Cowboys weren't finished yet and kept their boots on the Giants' neck, driving another 85 yards in only 6 plays with a touchdown pass to Miles Austin for their last score of the night, putting them up 33-13.


The Giants got a 35 yard pass interference call against McCann and then a 35 yard TD pass to bring the score to 33-20.


In the fourth Quarter, a 4th and 1 stop showed that the Cowboys had showed up to play. They looked to almost add another score to the boards, but Kitna's pass to Bryant in double coverage was picked off in the end zone for a touchback. The Giants started another drive but then Eli Manning dropped the ball and Anthony Spencer recovered, the possession resulting in a field goal attempt that went wide.


The next Giants possession, with less than six minutes to go, drove once more toward the end zone but once again, Eli Manning was picked off by a Cowboys defender. The Cowboys ran it a few times to kill the clock and called it a day.


Result: 33-20 (W)

Record: 2-7







Posted via Blogaway on my DroidX

The Dreaded Interview...

So most people that I know hate going to interviews. You're thrown out all kinds of questions that don't really have good answers, are totally vague, have nothing to do with the job or any of the above and more.

While I'm not exactly thrilled at the rare occurrence that I have had to go to an interview (I know its under 10), they aren't the worst thing in the world.

Now, being on the other end of the sharp stick is a completely different matter. In my years working in various aspects of management for different kinds of companies, I have always hated being the interviewer. Having to come up with all of the obtuse questions and trying to make a snap judgement on someone over the course of 10-30 minutes.

And the only thing worse than a one-on-one interview is a group interview. Fortunately, I've only been in on 1 group interview though, so my experience there has been gratefully limited.

But I realize that as the Store Manager, its my job to interview people for job openings, and soon because Black Friday is only a few weeks away.

Now, as part of the interview process the application is typically going to be the first thing that I see about my potential employees. And the first thing that I'm going to notice is the handwriting. Now, I don't have the best handwriting in the world when I'm writing for myself, or my wife or at work. But when I fill out a job application, I am deliberate and precise with my handwriting. There is nothing worse than an application that is completely illegible.

In the event that people actually turn in their application directly to me, appearance is the next concern. If you come in in a t-shirt and jeans, I'm probably going to look less favorably on your application. Now, not to say that people have to come in wearing a 3-pc suit, but at least look like you're trying.

Once I get to the actual application, more concerns come to mind. I will admit that now we're in the digital age, where everyone has an email and there are more free-email services than I care to count, the first thing that I look at is a person's email. I was recently reinforced in my thoughts on this matter by an article that I read on Yahoo about things not to do when you are filling out applications. It really isn't that hard to hit up yahoo, hotmail, live or gmail and get a simple first initial, dot, last name @ email address. And it isn't like the people that you are going to be giving this email address to don't already have your name, so what does it matter? People who turn in applications with emails like "pixiprincess" "bigpapa" or the like are not very likely to be at the top of my list for people to hire.

Next, we have your employment history. Now, I will grant that most applications only have room for 3 jobs, but turning in a resume allows for much more expansive work history. Unless you have only had 3 jobs, putting that place you worked at for 2 weeks is probably not a good idea. I always look at length of employment when I'm skimming resumes and applications. I'm more receptive to a skimpy work history than one that has half a dozen jobs where you only worked a few weeks or a month or two.

The rule I have for my personal resume is simple: Less than 8 weeks doesn't count, unless it directly relates to the job I'm trying to get. So my 7 week stint as a barista, my 6 weeks working for Domino's after I left Papa John's and my 6 weeks as a Telemarketer get left off unless I'm applying for a job in one of those three fields (none of which I would ever want to work in again, I might add.)

The last pet peeve is for the previous work experience area. The label says "Reason for Leaving". By the very title, it implies that I realize you probably no longer work there. If you still work there, your "From-To" dates should read "Presently Employed", "Present" or "Current. The "Reason for Leaving", in this case, should be why you are looking to quit, or the simple fact that you intend to remain employed.

Putting "Quit" under "Reason for Leaving" is terrible. Considering the fact that there are only 3 options: Quit, Fired or Still Employed, I want to know why you Quit or why you were let go. The best applications I have ever seen explain why the person was no longer employed with that company, seasonal work, lay offs or quit for whatever reason. Now, if why you were let go is too lengthy for the box, "Will Explain" is sufficient. To be honest, I don't care half the time.

And that brings us to the interview. For a job like the ones at UPS, going to the interview with the HR person in casual attire, jeans and a jacket, is perfectly acceptable. You're going to be wearing those clothes more likely than not. However, for my work at VZW, showing up to the interview in jeans is a no-no, especially when I tell all of my interviewees to dress "professionally." Polo shirts are even reaching a bit for that line. A pair of dress pants, or a skirt if you must ladies, and a button-up shirt or nice blouse is all I'm asking. Again, no need to break out the 3-pc suit or tuxedo.

And finally, bear with me. We both realize that interviews suck, but they're a necessary evil.

Final Note: Calling once a week, or once every other week for a couple weeks after the interview is acceptable. Calling every day after you turn in your application is see if it has been reviewed yet is a sure fire way to get it filed in the circular cabinet.

Rest of the Year

So I was reading the wife's blog the other day (here) when I realized that there are really only less than 2 more months left in this year (to be honest, at this point its only 6ish weeks because 1 is behind us and the 1 after Christmas doesn't count). And with that thought came the realization that there really is a lot left to do.

For November, I've got to get my VZW store into shape for the Christmas season: bring in at least 2-3 more employees and get some decent phones in stock (not as easy as it sounds when you aren't the ordering manager).

There's the half-week before Thanksgiving at UPS that is typically characterized by a busy Monday and Tuesday moving more frozen turkeys and hams than I care to count. Followed by a droll and quiet Wednesday where we sit around and wait for the volume to trickle in.

Then we've got Thanksgiving, going out to my parents' this year because we alternate each year between the two families. I've got to pick up my Mom's birthday present before this point because I'm going to give it to her on Thanksgiving (there's a reason for it, trust me.)

Then Black Friday at VZW, should be fun. Hopefully we actually make some money.

Then we're into December. I'm sure I'll be picking up at least another 10 hours per week at VZW and then about halfway to Christmas V-Sort will start at UPS (if I got onto the list this year, it all depends on who wanted to take it and who didn't), so I'll be up to around 40-45 hours at UPS and around 50-55 at VZW.

Then Peak Week, which this year will have a double dose of fun as I'm sure VZW will be just as crazy as UPS (yay for quadrupling volume in the span of 2-3 weeks!). Then Christmas Eve at the In-Laws, then Christmas at the Parents' then we're done!

Armchair Monday

Coming into Week 9, the Dallas Cowboys are 1-6 and looking to snap a 4 game loading streak adc they travel to Green Bay and face the surging Packers.

I knew this game was going to be a challenge when I first looked at the schedule. Without Romo and with the Cowboys playing like they are, I wasn't looking forward to watching this Sunday night contest.

And I was unfortunately not disappointed. An early interception by Kitna, a fumbled kick return that was brought back for a touchdown and a non-existent defense characterized the first half, which ended 28-7. The only bright spot of the first half was the final drive of the half by the Cowboys, with Dez Bryant showing up for the game.

Of course, several calls that went against the Cowboys were obviously incorrect and just continues the example of the refs playing against the Cowboys on a regular basis.

The rest of the game wasn't any better and not really notable, except for the flagrant launch by the GB defense back at Roy Williams that should have resulted in an ejection but because the refs don't like the Cowboys, was a mere penalty.

I think this season is pretty much done for. With a 1-7 Record, the Cowboys would need to run the table against a very rough schedule to even be a distant thought for the playoffs. At this point, I think its time to start playing some of the rookies and get them some game time so next year we have some experienced backups ready to go.

Result: 7-45 (L)
Record: 1-7

Posted via Blogaway on my DroidX

My Smartphone and Me

So you may have noticed that on a couple of my posts I have a little signature at the bottom that reads: Posted via Blogaway on my Droid X. Well, if you were wondering, that means that was a mobile post, made from my spiffy Android-Powered Smartphone.

I wasn't really a strong believer in smartphones until earlier this year. I was very

happy with my LG Versa (pictured right) and didn't

really have the urge to get any thing newer. Well, that all changed near the beginning of the year when my younger brothers (working for the VZW Indirect Agent that I now

work for) picked up their brand new Motorola Droids, the first Android phone to hit Verizon.

The Motorola

Droid had a 3.7" screen, a slide

out keyboard and a 5mega pixel camera, making it one of the most powerful smartphones on the market. I played with it for a little while whenever I saw my bro

thers and eventually, when I started working for the Verizon Indirect Agent and got to play with the phone even more, picked one up for myself.

At first the wife didn't really see the use of it, but soon after she came around as well and was anticipating the next upgrade on our account so she could pick one up as well.

The original Droid was a decently solid phone, but on the horizon more powerful phones soon appeared. I had my phone rooted (giving me access to features and settings on the phone that were not stock) and had the phone overclocked (running faster than the stock settings). But eventually it just wasn't enough to keep me.

So I decided to pick up a Motorola Droid X. An absolute behemoth as far as phones go, the X has a big 4.3" touch screen, an 8MP camera and a stock 1ghz processer (nearly twi

ce as fast as the original Droid.)

If I hadn't already been a solid supporter of the Android platform, the Motorola Droid X would have done it for me. The phone is snappy and responsive and handles all of the awesome Android customization that I have found absolute necessary (a bit OCD, you see).

Most people have a very hard time with my phone when they pick it up, because I've got it customized to such an intense level. Running WidgetLocker, I have my lockscreen set up with different widgets that allow me to change settings in the phone without ever unlocking it. I can get to my dialer, email and messaging applications all from the outside of my phone.

Once into the actual phone, you'll find LauncherPro Plus set up and running. With a 3 page, 5 icon dock, I'm able to put all of my most used applications on the dock and never have to worry about having them clutter my homescreens or about going into the application drawer to find them. A recent addition to LauncherPro added a "Swipe Gesture" to these dock icons. With this option, I can add a second application or shortcut to each of my icons, thus effectively removing 30 total options to the Dock.

For my 3 dock pages I have system functions and misc apps on one (system panel, root explorer, calculator, blogaway, foursquare and GPS settings), basic apps in the middle (dialer, visual voicemail, facebook, twitter, my app drawer button and swipe to lock the phone, text messaging and email) and on the last, quick dials to my 3 brothers, mom and wife with swipes to direct message them. LauncherPro also comes with the ability to hide apps in the app drawer if you don't use them.

Most of my 7 homescreens are cluttered with widgets (a facebook/twitter feed, a calendar agenda, a bookmarks widget, a contact list for work related people) with 2 pages dedicated to actual applications and frequently used settings.

The most use I've gotten out of my Droid was when we went on Vacation a few weeks ago to Texas. Not only did the phone serve as our GPS the whole way down (Google Maps with Navigation, GO!) but I was able to keep up on almost all of my non-work related reading and interaction without the need of a computer.

I can honestly say that I will probably never get a phone that isn't a smartphone and for the forseeable future, I'll be sticking with Android as well.

Ah the irony

So for the last few months, basically since I took over as the Store Manager, my VZW Indirect Store has been slightly overstaffed. Not heavily overstaffed to the point where no one is making any money, but overstaffed to the point where we often had too many people working most of the time.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, my UPS area has been chronically understaffed (as I mentioned in my previous post) and I had been trying to convince my full-time supervisor to get me more people.

Now, coming back from vacation, I find the situations reversed. My UPS area has more people than I technically need (but I'm not telling anyone there that fact) and I just had 2 employees yanked from my VZW store so I'm down to me and 1 other person.

The reasons for the reversal: at UPS we're hiring hand over fist in preparation for Peak (a glorious 2-3 week period where our volume triples and we move everyone's Christmas goodies). On the other hand, the Indirect Agent I work for just took over 5 new stores in the surrounding area and now we need staff to handle those positions.

So while my 25hrs per week at UPS should prove relatively painless, at least through the end of November, I've got about 1 week to get some staff hired and another week or two to train them before Black Friday and the Christmas shopping season. The fact that most of the applicants I get aren't qualified to fight their way out of a wet paperbag is unfortunate, but I might just have to suck it up and deal.

Such is life I guess.

Going back to work

So after having 11 days off from my primary employment, I had to go back to work last night. Surprisingly, however, it was a relatively painless experience.

I will say that it makes me feel good that nearly everyone who had anything to do with my area while I was gone expressed to me their gratitude in having me back. From nearly every employee in my area, to the coverage sup, to the Full-Time sup. It's definitely a boost when someone tells you that they don't know how you run the area without serious problems (questionable competency of the coverage sup not withstanding, she's not that bad to be honest so it's still a compliment.)

On top of the warm and fuzzies from that, I came in to find my area now somewhat OVER staffed, after dealing for almost 10 months with a chronic lack of employees to run with. 11 total employees when literally 2 months ago I was rocking out with 5. No one having to worry about multiple destinations and my heaviest locations get 2 people to pick off and load.

I was definitely a lot more energetic than I have been in recent weeks, thanks to that aforementioned long vacation and I'm definitely ready for the grueling hours that I'm sure to be putting in over the next two months. I signed up for extra time (after the night sort, starting at around 4 and running until 7-9am) on top of the additional time I'm likely to be putting in at my other job. Hopefully this translates into a lucrative holiday season.

An idea

So I've been writing for almost 15 years now. It started as a hobby around the time that we moved from the nearest largish city to the middle of nowhere in the country. I had already been homeschooled for several years, but moving out to the country with no evident method of interaction left me feeling kind of lonely.

So, I started writing.

And I'm going to admit, the first few years were absolute rubbish. Most of it was ideas taken from books or tv shows or games that I was playing and thinly adjusted to meet my story. I still have these "books", handwritten on stacks of notebooks, in my closet, just in case I ever want to read how absolutely terrible I was at it.

Anywho, over the past 15 years I feel that my work has improved greatly. Before I picked up my 2nd job I was working on tweaking what had been a short-ish story into a full blown novel, but without the time to work on it, that has really taken a backseat. I want to get back to tweaking it and finally get it out to publishers, but at this point I'm going to have to wait until next year.

Now, the reason for this post. Once in a while I have ideas float through my head that sound like they would make for a solid story. Sometimes they just float on by, unrecorded, but other times they like to stick around until I get at least the core of an idea written down.

While the wife and I were on vacation, I had one of these seeds land in my brain and stick there. It wasn't anything near a fully formed idea, with barely a plot and just the most basic of character ideas, but it stuck. And sat there for about a week, just rolling around and causing irritation. Until last night.

While watching TV, this nugget of an idea seemed to grab some extra parts as I watched a new TV show and seemed to sprout enough extra material for at least a general plot outline. It's still nowhere near a fully formed plot, but now this idea has some solid mass to it and hopefully I'll get some time to at least write down an outline and some characters so that when I do have time, I can fully flesh this idea out.