cmilton's Journal

new job

cmilton — 2005-12-01T23:42:37+00:00

I now work as a contractor at MCI in Colorado Springs, Colorado. :-)

leaving Omaha

cmilton — 2005-10-16T19:26:28+00:00

I left Battle Creek for a new contract in Nebraska. I arrived in Omaha in August and am leaving it in October. Now I've got some VoiceXML and other new tricks under my belt. I explored Eclipse a lot more than before. I learned a little about using the Legadero Tempo Governance Suite. Now I'm unemployed again after more than three of gainful employment. Back to my parents' house in Colorado Springs.

Cereal City

cmilton — 2004-10-09T21:15:15+00:00

So, I've been back here in Battle Creek, Michigan, for over two years and the place is driving me nuts. Or maybe it's just me. Growing up we moved every two years, so that doesn't help. I've lived here before and it drove me nuts then, but I also didn't have a car back then...

Collecting Slide Rules

cmilton — 2004-03-20T19:21:38+00:00

This last year I started collecting slide rules. I am 38 years old. I only used them briefly in junior high because of a math teacher who felt that much was being lost to the reliance on using calculators and PCs to do math. I guess I have caught some srt of meme-virus.

Slide Rule Universe is one of the websites out there for addicts like myself. Slide Rule Emporium specializes in Pickett slide rules. The Pickett N600-ES was carried on Apollo 13... And the Sama & Etani 600 is still used by some at NASA...

Raise, or lack thereof

cmilton — 2004-03-09T23:51:28+00:00

My billrate went up last June by US$10, so in
January I got a US$1.50 raise to reflect that
promotion.

Another Day, Another Dollar

cmilton — 2003-12-13T19:14:46+00:00

I had a promotion as of June first. Still waiting for the raise to go into effect.

Oh, yeah, I got a job!

cmilton — 2003-08-07T20:03:27+00:00

I've been working in Battle Creek, Michigan,
since August 19th of 2002.

I love the smell of burning Frootloops in the
morning...

I work in the former Kellogg's Battle Creek
Sanitarium, home of the yoghurt enema (five
times daily).

No, it's not an asylum anymore. No more enemas. :-)

Annoying as all get-out

cmilton — 2002-04-22T22:42:12+00:00

I haven't had any luck finding a job. I am not enjoying dealing with HR professionals and tech recruiters.

I'm not the only one feeling a bit bruised and insulted.

Faith-based Logic

cmilton — 2002-02-21T11:21:28+00:00

I'm waiting for someone to start espousing
a faith-based logic system, wherein 1==1,
0==0, 1==0, and 0==1, as needed, to show
the truth of any possible statement
within any particular belief system.

(Similarly, 1!=1 and 0!=0, ad nauseum.)

Unemployment sucks

cmilton — 2002-01-30T04:36:59+00:00

After nearly 3 weeks of frenzied contacts with
recruiters, a phone interview, and a repeatedly
rescheduled phone interview, all my job prospects
in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, and upstate New York
have vanished down the drain. I am guessing that
the process will begin again next week.

I really feel stupid for leaving my Kansas City job
in June 2001 to move back to Colorado. I should have
known the layoffs would start happening in Colorado
right as I arrived, and that my interviews would
end up being cancelled. I should probably never have
taken the KC job in the first place.

Woohoo! I have a decent job interview!

cmilton — 2001-10-07T07:42:10+00:00

Well, I'm a full four months unemployed and I have a
really cool sounding interview for a contracting job
at NASA! I'm getting all studied on the site, the job,
and the technology I'm likely to encounter. Woohoo! :-))

Darn Conferences

cmilton — 2001-08-29T03:04:42+00:00

I have been unemployed nearly three months, but even when I am making money, I can't go to conferences or even on vacation, either because I work on an hourly contract and would lose money, or because I can't take any time off because of deadlines and scheduling pressure. No matter what lipservice companies give to the idea of wanting their employees to educate themselves, it's just PR. Unless you are already a CTO, Principal Software Engineer, or some other important title. (I'm not counting the Marketing types, since I'm a programmer/developer.)