Pet Peeves

There a number of things that bother me like any other human being. For a while I've been contemplating whether or not to post some of them because many of them come from people I know.  I've wondered how people will react (not that I have that many followers or anything), but in the end it doesn't matter to me.  (If people want to unfriend me on Facebook, let them.  I don't get upset by that and think that people who do get upset over that have other issues.  I will keep in touch with the people I truly care about.  Ok, enough sub-blogging...back to the main topic.)  So here are some of my pet peeves and associated sarcastic or not so sarcastic comments.  I also understand that I may very well be guilty of these as well.  I certainly try not to be, but I am human.

• Double standards - This is one of my top ones.  It is extremely irritating when people think the rules don't apply to them or they are an exception to the rules or they find a way to "work around the system".   One example that I'm sure will rile people up is the whole gay marriage thing.  Those who don't agree with gay marriage are often referred to as bigots, while those who calling them that name are just as bigoted as they claim others are because they are not willing to consider the other side's point of view either.
• Hypocrites - People who practice what I described above.  In my opinion, these first two typically go hand in hand.
• Holding grudges - I will admit this is easily the one I am most guilty of.  While I often find myself telling others (to myself) to get over it and move on, I almost always immediately thing of something I hold onto and still feel at least somewhat bitter about.  (I could easily rattle off about half a dozed things dating as far back as 20+ years ago.)  I do try to work on changing this part of me, but it is very hard.
• Arguments based on false assumptions - I have no problem following an argument that is logical.  However, if you base that argument (or opinion or whatever) on false assumptions (things you assume to be true that are in fact false), you lose credibility with me.
• Extremists - I'm not talking about religious (i.e. Islam) extremists.  I'm talking about people who when they tell you something, make it seem as though it is the best thing ever or the worst thing ever.  I understand things don't always go our way, but that doesn't mean it's the end of the world.  When things dd go your way, it's not the lottery or a life-changing event every time.  It gets old really quick and makes me realize that they probably are also guilty of the following pet peeve.
• Attention seekers - This does not just apply to the extremists.  There are also those people who while having a 1 on 1 type conversation will speak louder so that others (whoever is around) will hear them.  The worst is when they make the statement while looking at you when you're not in the conversation or look at you right after like they expect you to make a comment.
• (Facebook specific) Kid pictures...tens, hundred, thousands per day - Those of us with kids love our kids.  I think that's pretty standard, at least among the people I know and hang out with.  However, if you spend all day posting pictures of your kids and/or telling everyone how special they are, it gets annoying...quickly.  We all post pictures of our kids (or nieces/nephews) and I think that is to be expected, but at some point it passes the point of obsessive.  Hopefully I'm not guilty of this one, although I would understand if people claim that I obsessively post about the Dodgers.  (I won't argue with that one this year.)

That's probably enough for now.  I'll let you start chewing me out for my bigoted, hypocritical, extreme opinions...judge me as you will.  Have at it!

The Dodgers Truly Historical Run

Obviously, I'm a bit more excited this baseball season than most.  The reason, in case you have been living under a rock, is because the Dodgers have been so hot for nearly two months now that they are being compared to records and stats that have happened in over half a century.  So, with all the stats being stated, I thought I would try to compile some of them here to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about.  I'm pulling these stats from a number of places.  (Plus, being a math geek and number nerd, this stuff is awesome!)  Here we go.

• The Dodgers record on June 22 (when this hot streak all started) was 30-42.  After today's win, it is 71-50.
• On June 22, they were in last place in the National League West, 9.5 game behind the first place Arizona Diamondbacks.  After today's win, they are in first place, 8.5 games ahead of the second place Diamondbacks. (They took over first place on July 22.)
• Over the past 49 games, they are 41-8.
• Over the past 49 games, they have made up 18 games in the standings.  Before tonight, they had made up 17 games in a 48 game stretch.  The last team to do that was the 1995 Braves who made up 17 games in a 37 game stretch.
• During the streak, the Dodgers set an all time Dodgers record by winning 15 straight road games.  (Keep in mind the Dodgers have been around since 1890!)
• Before tonight's game, their 40-8 streak was the best since the 1942 Cardinals went 41-7.
• At the All Star break in mid-July, the Dodgers were at .500, 47-47.  Since then, they have gone 24-3.
• In July, they were 19-6.
• So far in August, they are 14-1.
• They have now won 9 straight games.  The last time they won 9 in a row was May 2010.
• Side note, and kind of interesting: during their streak, they have beat pitchers by the names of Lee, Harvey and Oswalt.
• The Dodgers collected their 15th shutout of the season tonight, which is tied for most in the majors with the Indians.
• The Dodgers now have a better record than all three division leaders in the American League.
• The Dodgers have the best road record in the National League: 34-25.
• Their 8.5 game division lead is the second largest in baseball behind the Braves 15.5 game lead in the National League East.
• If the playoffs started today, they would face the Pirates (who have not been to the playoffs since 1992), whom they are 4-3 against this season.
• With 41 games left to play this season, the Dodgers magic number (combination of Dodger wins and Diamondback losses) is 34.  One way to look at this is if the Dodgers were to go 34-7 the remainder of the season, they are guaranteed to with their division and therefore make the playoffs.  If the Dodgers only go 21-20 the rest of the season, the Diamondbacks would have to go  30-12 in order for the Dodgers to not make the playoffs.

 I'm sure there are more, but maybe I can add to this as the streak continues.  Many people now seem to be saying that the Dodgers are World Series bound.  That would be awesome considering the last time they were there was 1988, 25 years ago, when they won it against the A's.  However, there is a long way to go to get there.

I went to my first Dodger game in 1984, 29 years ago.  I have never seen them play as good as they are right now, which is why I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can.  Seasons like this are very rare.  Also, it's kind of nice that the Angels are doing so poorly, which makes any comments from my Angel-fan in-laws empty.  The Angels current record, entering tonight's game is 54-66. They are currently losing in the 9th inning (to a team that already has 81 losses) and if they lose tonight, they will be 54-77.  Another way to look at this is that if the Angels and Dodgers were in the same division, the Angels would be 17 games behind the Dodgers.  Yes, it is a good year indeed.

However, the Dodgers' second season, the playoffs, begin on October 1.  You think I'm crazy into the Dodgers now, wait until the playoffs...especially if they do well.

Feeling Better and Looking Forward

I have been feeling much better the last few days.  It seems like I get into a bit of a funk every once in a while, and sometimes it's when I've missed my meds for a few days.  Other times, it just things wearing on me.  With that being said, the last few days have felt pretty normal and the family has noticed as well.  Thank you to those who have expressed some concern. 

That's been helped a bit with work lately. Our department manager retired a couple of weeks ago and we weren't told until her last day.  However, it appears that it was either retire or be fired.  Regardless, the new boss, who has been temporarily promoted and will probably get the job officially soon, is much more approachable.  So I've been asking questions and having good discussions with her.  It has encouraged me and gives me hope for my future there.

Plus April is going to be a great month.  Even if my birthday wasn't next month, the fact that we will be spending one weekend in San Diego and another in Arizona, is going to make it an eventful month.  I love traveling, but unfortunately, we aren't able to take a lot of trips due to finances.  Thus, April will be awesome! Oh yeah, and two Dodger games over a 3-day period!

The Daily Challenge

Can you tell blogging has not been a priority of mine lately?  9 months since the last post.  Oh well.  A lot has gone on since then, but there's no need to rehash it since you probably already know what about the move and transition back to Whittier, which has been great.

Anyway, I just felt the need to spill my heart right now, which usually doesn't mean good things, and that would seem to be the case here again.  Sorry to seem so negative, but this seems to be a good outlet for me to let things out which is much better than holding it in and letting everyone at home suffer with me.

As you probably know, I went through major depression almost 4 years ago now, and since then I have being on medications and seeing a psychiatrist regularly.  Since going through depression, I think I have changed in the sense that I am more irritable and don't care as much about who may be upset with what I say, with the exception of my wife and kids.  All this to say that is why I don't feel the need to be as concerned about what people think about what I say. This is who I am; take it or leave it.

Ok, so now the topic that I really wanted to write about when I first signed on.  Recently (a few weeks ago) I was contacted by a recruiter for a position that would have been amazing and probably would have changed how we live for the better.  Fortunately, the process didn't last very long and I didn't even get an interview even thought the recruiter seemed pretty interested in me.  I have a great job that I really enjoy right now with Hyundai.  The only way I plan on leaving this job anytime soon is if somebody makes me an offer that I would be stupid to say no to because I like where I work and feel like I am a good fit with the team.  Plus with our department manager having retired a week ago (without warning), it seems like a good opportunity to further establish myself there.

However, the whole situation with the recruiter made me start reflecting (more than usual) on where I am at in life in two sense: personally and professionally.  Personally, I'm pretty happy.  I love my family and am so glad to have them in my lives. (And just to clarify, by family, I mean wife and kids.)  I wouldn't change anything.

Professionally I have issues that really get me down.  Like I said I do enjoy where I work now, but looking at the bigger picture of my career, it is nowhere near where I think I should be at this point in life.  I'm headed into my late 30's and seem to have made pretty much no vertical movement in the nearly 12 years I have been out of teaching. I am very glad I left teaching, especially with all the crap that profession is going through right now in California.

Based on the goals and direction I planned in taking my career once I knew I was where I wanted to be, I have been a failure, and I do not deal with failure well, which is a big reason as to why I went through and still battle depression.  I expect a lot from myself and expect myself to to succeed at whatever I try to do. Needless to say the setbacks I have had in my career are probably why I am where I am professionally now.  The big three that have caused setbacks: being fired from my job in '07, depression in '09 and being laid off (and unemployed for a year) in '10. 

If I had been able to get this job the recruiter had contacted me for, it would gotten my career back on track to about where I think I should be at this point.  That's where this emotional speed bump originated. 

The reason it seems to persist is because of another major fault of mine...the need to compare myself to others in order to determined where I stand in life.  It's something I wish I could change easily, but it also feels like me changing that fault is about as likely to happen as terrorists are to completely disappear.

So who do I compare myself to, you may ask? Pretty much anybody...friends, family, whoever.  I spend a fair amount of time on Facebook, probably too much time, and it seems like so many people have perfect lives.  They are taking trips, having family outings to these places that cost a lot of money, and just generally looking like they don't have a care in the world. I realize that's not always the case but I do generally respect those that post the occasional life struggle on Facebook.  It's a good reminder that I'm not the only one struggling in life. Regardless, everyday (lately) I see how short I have fallen of where I should be.  My job should be at a higher level; I should have been at my employer for at least 7 years, not 7 months; retirement is seeming less and less likely as we had to use a chunk of my 401k for expenses and although I am contributing to it again, it's not much because we have other things that need to be taken care of now.

Then there are the health issues I have to deal with: depression, as I already mentioned, and Atrial Fibrillation, which could technically kill me any time I have an episode.  I'm 36 (almost 37) and I have to take 11 pills daily as a result.  That's ridiculous!! My high cholesterol has been determined to primarily be genetic, atrial fibrillation is something I'll just have to live with unless they determine there is a need to do surgery, and the depression feels like something I'll always battle for the reason mentioned above. 

I know there are people who are concerned about my health, specifically being overweight and not having the best eating habits, so I care a little because they care, but at the same time, I don't care that much.  I hear it almost daily whether it be from family or friends at work and I've gotten to the point where I feel like rolling my eyes anytime it is brought up.  I'm just tired of it.

It's certainly not the life I pictured I would have at this point, but it is the life I have.  I trust that this is all part of God's purpose for me, but I'm tired of trying to figure it out; what happens, happens.  So everyday, I will continue going through this life enjoying it as much as I can, knowing the whole time that I am a disappointment (at least to myself).  Hopefully someday this will turnaround, but I don't see that anytime in the near future.  However, I do appreciate that God gives us the opportunity and hope of a new day.  That keeps my hopes up that things will turnaround eventually.

Chick-Fil-A

Ok, so here is one of those rare postings from me where I express my opinion on a controversial topic.  I know not everyone will agree with me and that's fine.  This is the USA and that's your right, but it's also my right to express my view.  Don't like it?  Then don't read it!

So what's the fuss lately about Chick-Fil-A?  After reading this article, I now know what everyone is talking about since it is apparently the article that is creating such a firestorm.  As you may or may not know, Chick-Fil-A is owned by a Christian family and they incorporate their Christian values in their operation of the company.  That's what people are upset about; a marriage being defined as being between a man and a woman and the fact that the owners of the company believe and endorse that.

If people are upset about it, so be it.  If they want to boycott Chick-Fil-A because of that, so be it.  That's their right.  If us Christians want to have a night to support Chick-Fil-A because we agree with their values, so be it.  The two sides may not agree, but they both have a right to express it.

One of the big companies coming out, so to speak, in opposition to Chick-Fil-A's stance, is the Jim Henson Company, better known as the company the Muppets come from. A lot of people seem to be supporting them and posting Muppets pictures and statements against Chick-Fil-A.  Let me tell you something.  I like the Muppets and I like Chick-Fil-A, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  My values just happen to be more in line with CFA than JHC.

Below is a paragraph copied from the article linked above, that I very strongly believe:
Cathy believes strongly that Christians are missionaries in the workplace. "Jesus had a lot of things to say about people who work and live in the business community," he said. His goal in the workplace is "to take biblical truth and put skin on it. ... We're talking about how our performance in the workplace should be the focus of how we build respect, rapport and relationships with others that opens the gateway to interest people in knowing God.
What Cathy says is one of my core beliefs and why I try to live a life that makes God proud and lead by example.  Even though I have been through some tough times in my life, God has blessed me in more ways than I deserve and I want people to know that.  I believe it can open a door to leading others to Christ, just like Cathy says.


That's who I am and just part what I believe.  If you hate me for who I am and what I believe, then so be it, but just realize that makes you as much of a bigot as you claim I am.

Hello, Goodbye

Wow, 3 months since the last post. I guess that's a sign that nothing much has gone on lately. So a quick rundown, in bullet format since I feel like it.

• Took the girls to the Epicenter in Rancho Cucamonga to see a Quakes game and fireworks...oh and Matt Kemp was playing on a rehab assignment.  The girls are now big Matt Kemp fans.
• Hard to believe that I have been at my job for 9 months as of next week.  I'm still enjoying it, embracing it, and looking for ways to challenge myself and step up in preparation for advancing my career elsewhere eventually.
• Living the bachelor life until Friday when I drive down and meet the family, which is camping with the in-laws.
• Disappointed in the Dodgers' play lately.  I had high hopes when Ethier and Kemp returned after the All Star Break, but it  hasn't been pretty...except for Matt Kemp's walk off HR today!  Those are always sweet!
• Super excited that after racking up way too much credit card debt over the last number of years, they will be paid off this month!  We should actually have a little breathing room now.
• The Summer has been pretty mild up here in the desert.  Mostly in the 90's except for a couple of days a week or two ago when we hit 110 and 109 on back to back days.  Just got the A/C bill today...ouch, but better than melting!
• Must go help defeat those pesky pigs.  Those poor birds never get a break...no wonder they are so angry.

Life Goes On

As we near the end of our fourth month living in Victorville, it seems like we continue to feel more at home. Don't get me wrong, Whittier still feels like home, but as we get more involved up here, it feels more like home.  The girls have adjusted to their school pretty well.  My work continues to go well and be extremely busy.  Traci has been attending MOPS and going to the gym regularly.  I've been to the hospital for my first stay since I was 3, and this week we visited a vet for the first time when Princess was obviously not acting like herself.  Turns out she may have Pancreatitis.  So here's a little more detail of what's been going on.

We signed the girls up for soccer since they were both very excited when we asked them if they wanted to play.  They have played a few games already and have about a month left in the season.  They seem to be having fun and getting good exercise.  It's amazing to see the difference in skills and competition from the indoor soccer league at our church that they both played in last year.  But that's good for them.  Tomorrow should be fun since I will be coaching Skyler's team for the game since the coach and his family are out of town.

The soccer field has been brutal so far, though.  Everytime we are there, it is very windy and cold.  Last week was the worst.  According to my phone, during the first game, we were watching soccer with a wind chill of 35!  By the time the second game was over a couple of hours later, the wind chill made it up to 40.  Very cold to say the least.  Tomorrow will be much different however.  We have been in the 90's the last couple of days so it should be pretty warm.  At least the first game is at 8:45 so it shouldn't be too warm.

This week, we took Princess (our dog) to the vet for the first time.  Actually, that was just yesterday.  She was very lethargic and didn't want to move, eat or drink.  Today she got lots of tests and x-rays done to see if they could figure out what was wrong.  From the sounds of it, she might have Pancreatitis.  She has one medication and a bland diet for the next few days.  Tonight, she was already acting a lot better than last night.  She's still not herself, but definitely on the road back.

Traci has been attending the one MOPS group there is up here in the High Desert and seems to be enjoying it.  She has also been hitting the gym regularly and getting results.  She makes me so proud.  She has an amazing work ethic and motivation.

My work has been really busy, but I have been cranking out contracts lately which feels good.  However, since one of our purchasing colleagues is refusing to move out here for the project, they are removing her from the project.  All of her work is coming to me, which my boss confirmed with me today.  That's fine since my load has been getting a little lighter lately after completing so many contracts.

I was able to make my first trip to the site where the solar field is being built (in Hinkley).  It was pretty cool to see that there is really nothing but land there now, knowing that it will be completely different 2 years from now. The car ride out and back had to be the most fun car ride I have ever been on.  There were 7 of us packed into a car (SUV), blaring rap music and laughing the whole time with everyone acting crazy.  I can't describe how fun it was, but trust me, it was a blast!

Another thing about work that has been fun to see is how the company has grown since I was hired about 6 months ago.  When I hired on, there were maybe 15 people in the office.  Most of us were in one small suite.  now we have filled that small suite, a huge suite across the hall and have knocked down the wall for a new suite that now connects to what was the small suite.  All of the engineers for the project are moving out here next month, so that's another 30-40 people from what I hear.  That means we should be about 100 strong in the Victorville office.  And that doesn't count the people that are working out at the site itself.  There aren't too many right now, but even that groups is growing as they prepare for activity to ramp up quickly pretty soon.

How can I forget to talk about my Dodgers?!  They are off to an 11-3 start, which is crazy, but if they can keep this up, it will be a very fin season.  Matt Kemp is off to an amazing start, leading the National League in average, home runs and RBIs.  He may even lead all of the Majors in those three categories.  I'm excited that that the team's ownership will be changing  hands in just over a week too.  The only bummer is that Frank McCourt is not completely gone as he has formed a joint ownership for the Dodger Stadium parking lot.  If they can figure out a way to get him out of that deal, the Dodgers will be better off.  Regardless, despite my distance from the stadium now, I am still as big a fan as ever and am enjoying this hot start while I can.  Who knows what the rest of the season will hold.  That's what makes the long season so fascinating and fun to watch!

It's getting late so I should head off to bed with the busy day we have tomorrow.  Besides, knowing what is coming up this next week, I want it to get here quicker!

Settling In

We have now been in Victorville for two and a half months and it feels as though we are settling in as well as we can.  The girls are doing well at their school.  It feels like we have found a home church.  We have a dog.  We've gotten to know the area a bit better and the girls are signed up for soccer.  It's definitely not Whittier, but it will do for a while.

There are a couple of things we are still getting used to, mainly weather-related, besides the area in general.  We have had snow twice now.  We actually have a decent chance of snow this weekend, which will be a nice change since the last two times it snowed, I was at work for one and it was at the girls' bedtime for another.  It barely stuck the first time and accumulated maybe a half-inch the second time, although it did last overnight that time.  We'll see what happens this weekend.  Also, the winds are crazy.  It seems like we are always under a high wind watch or warning.   There have been at least 1 a week since we've lived here

My job is keeping me plenty busy to say the least.  I haven't worked this much with any job in the past, except maybe for teaching.  While I typically have tried to leave around 5:00 each day, it is becoming increasingly hard to do so.  The main reason for that is that I have been in so many meetings with suppliers lately that I haven't had much time to do much work.  I'm working on 7 difference contracts right now, with the largest one being worth about $20,000,000.  The bright side is that I'm learning a lot about what can and can't be negotiated withing the contract.  From that standpoint, this job is a great experience.  It is a little frustrating because everything is "urgent".  I don't know if it's a Spain thing, but I know Chevron wasn't like this.  We knew what was coming up and it was our responsibility to make sure it happened on time.  At my current job, it's different.  We know what we are responsible for, but the expectations for the timeline to complete it as well as the actual scheduling of the project seem to be out of line with what I've experienced so far.  Maybe it's just part of the learning process, but I am adjusting as well as I can.  Don't get me wrong, it's a great job and I enjoy working there.  Some aspects of it are just frustrating, which I think is the case with any job.

Although today (and this week) ended in a very frustrating way, it was a good week and today was nice overall.  Since our two assistants were helping me with stuff I needed to get done while I was in a meeting, I treated them to lunch, which they seemed to appreciate.  It was also fun since Traci and the girls met us at Red Robin, where we ate.  My co-workers are definitely one of the reasons I really enjoy my job.  They are very fun to work with; probably the best group I've ever worked with.  We are always helping each other and having a lot of fun in the process.

On a good note, since my little stint in the hospital a month ago, my heart has been fine and I haven't had any issues.  I am very thankful that we have had insurance since January.  Without that, we would be screwed financially.  I've seen the charges from the hospital.  All of the doctors have been between $300 and $700 each, and I dealt with about 3 or 4 doctors while I was there.  Then there is the actual hospital charges which are just over $11,600.  Fortunately, our plan has a $2,500 deductible, $1,500 of which I can get reimbursed for.  So really, we have to come up with a $1,000, which, all things considered, isn't bad.  There are still plenty of follow up appointments to go to, including some blood tests and a nuclear stress test. 

One thing that is frustrating is how many pills I have to take every day.  Each night, I take out and open 7 bottles for a total of about a dozen pills.  The breakdown: 3 antidepressants (5.5), a multi-vitamin (1), and for my heart...low-dose aspirin (1), vitamin/supplement (Magnesium, 2), and one other medication to prevent the A-Fib (2). That's a total of eleven and half pills a day!  Anyway, life goes on.  Hopefully eventually those will all be gone, with the exception of the multi-vitamin.

It's almost midnight and I've got a couple days of weather watching coming up, so I suppose it's time to head to bed.  Plus we have some fun stuff planned for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow.

What a Week!

This last week was quite the eventful week.

Sunday, we had our first party at our new house for Traci's birthday.  We actually had pretty good turnout.  I wasn't expecting so many people to make the drive up here, but they did and we were glad, especially Traci. Little did I know that the next day would be much different.

Yesterday (Saturday), we went down the hill for another party.  This one was for Courtney's birthday.  She had some of her friends from her old school there and the girls' teachers even showed up, which the girls were very excited about.  It was another fun party and she loves all the gifts she received.  She has been using or playing with as many as she can today.

While the parties were plenty of fun, Monday and Tuesday were a bit on the scary side, personally, as I was admitted to the hospital for the first time since just before my 4th birthday, 32 years ago.  I have had this same thing happen before, but it was not as bad as this one and has never lasted this long (7 hours).

I was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation, or A-Fib.  I would explain it, but it's much easier to include a link.  It felt exactly the same as it did back near the end of high school and early college.  All of a sudden without warning, my heart starts beating very hard and very fast.  I can feel it within my chest with some discomfort, feeling like someone is pushing lightly on my chest.  Also, I got very light-headed feeling like I was going to fall while in the shower.  Fortunately, Traci was nearby, so I went and laid down on the bed to rest and see if that would help my heart come down.  It didn't.  The feelings were all the same except that I was laying down and didn't feel light-headed.  I told Traci I thought we may need to call 911.

About 15-20 minutes later, the chest discomfort went away, but the fast-beating of the heart continued.  At that point, I didn't think 911 was needed, but since I still didn't feel right and knew my heart was still beating like crazy, we decided I needed to be checked out.  We went to Urgent Care to see if they thought this was something they could handle, but they told us to go to the ER, and so we did.

Upon arrival, Traci checked me in while they told me to go straight back once she told them what my problem was.  So back I went.  Once I had my hospital robe (pus jeans) on, they did an EKG, which immediately showed them something was wrong.  My heart was beating very fast and was irregular.  The heartbeat would generally range from about 120 to 170 beat per minute!  The highest it got was 181.  (That's 3 beats per second.)

They tried three times with medication to slow my heart, but none of them worked.  Four hours after the last medication, and after about 7 hours of the rapid heartbeat and on and off light-headedness, my heart went back to its normal rhythm on its own.  This is the joy of Atrial Fibrillation.  Since mine only occasionally happens (the last big episode being about 17 years ago), they did not give me any medication for it, but did put me on low-dose aspirin as a blood thinner.  The reason for this is because blood can pool in the atrials of the heart as a result of this condition, it can clot, and if it clots, then leaves the heart and winds up in the brain, a stroke is very possible.  That is pretty scary.  Fortunately the only change I need to make in my diet is to avoid caffeine.  So far, I haven't had caffeine since last Sunday at Traci's party (not counting some chocolate).

After I had an IV inserted into my arm, had three blood draws (two not from the IV) and three shots (two in the stomach which were the most painful out of everything), and I had been diagnosed with A-fib, they released me on Tuesday, which was Valentine's Day.  Fortunately I was only in the hospital for one night although it felt longer.  So now I continue on in life knowing I have a heart condition and wondering if that means I can no longer do roller coasters, which I love.  So after being released Tuesday afternoon, it was very nice to get back home and to be able to salvage Valentine's Day.  We did celebrate that night by going to John's Incredible Pizza. 

Wednesday it was back to work, which was good.  There were a number of contracts I was supposed to get approval on early in the week which did not happen because I wasn't there.  I was glad to get back to work on those as being at work was more relaxing then being it the hospital.  I was able to get most of those contract approvals released in those three days I was at work. 

However, Wednesday turned out to be a very interesting day, in a much better way, for the Steinman family.  We experienced our first snow at our new home.  It was also the first time the girls have ever seen it snow. The snow was sticking just enough for them to make small snowballs and throw them at each other. Needless to say, they were very excited. It started snowing bad enough to where they closed our office and let us go home.  I still did a little bit of work at home, but it was nice to be able to do that from home.

So while it was a very eventful week, I'm hoping this week is much less eventful.  I know it should start off fun as Courtney's birthday is tomorrow and we'll all be home.  Here's to a hopefully normal week!

Chnages, Changes, Changes

I haven't blogged since back in October, and man has life changed since then.  I'll try to cover it all, but it may be tough.  I'll also be as brief as I can while covering what I want to say.  How about bulleting so you can pick out the main points if you don't feel like reading the whole thing.

• I returned to work on Monday, October 24 for Teyma USA, which is a firm that is partnering up with another firm or two to design and build a $1.2 billion solar plant in the Mojave Desert.  I am a buyer which means that I am constantly doing RFQ's, performing analysis and negotiating contracts, many of which are multi-million dollar contracts.  Since the office is located in Victorville, this meant a 73-mile, one-way commute to work each day, five days a week.  On the bright side, it meant a regular paycheck and benefits that just kicked in January 1; the first time we have had health benefits since November 2010.
• Getting a job that far from home meant selling our house and beginning a house hunt of our own for a new home to rent in the high desert are of Victorville-Hesperia-Apple Valley.  We made multiple trips up there to look at houses and meet with our realtor, who I went to high school with, Bryan Bagwell.  He was great to work with and did a great job of helping us look at places.  He just moved up here last summer so he  has gotten fairly familiar with the area and real estate market up here.  Now, house hunting, as we had forgotten, is not all fun.  It was frustrating as a few houses we wanted to rent were rented before we were able to apply.  However, the one we are in now is great and we are thankful for this find.
• As for the new house, it is much different from our house in Whittier.  It is just over double the size and significantly less expensive, which is good because of the pay cut I took to accept the job I have now.  Also, the back yard is huge, although all dirt (which is very common) and the front yard is nice with some landscaping.  We have a three-car garage with a pull through into the back yard (for one car)  We went from 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom to 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms plus a bonus room.  Needless to say, we like the house very much although we do miss Whittier.  At least we are only a little over an hour away.
• After having lived in our house for 10 and a half years, it was interesting to move.  It was a little tough on the emotional side because we loved our house and are only moving because my job is too far away to do that commute every day.  We are very fortunate to have friends and family that are so supportive and helped us move.  We probably had around 10-15 people each day of moving activities.  On New Year's Eve, we packed up the moving trucks, which went surprisingly quickly, about 4-5 hours I think.  On New Year's Day, we made the physical move to Victorville with a caravan of 5 or 6 cars.  Moving in took longer and was a little more complicated since a number of items had to go upstairs.  Fortunately things we pretty smoothly and there were no injuries (that I know of).
• During moving, I was sick, which is always how you want to feel when you're moving.  I was extremely miserable the night of New Year's Eve and was contemplating going to Urgent Care even though benefits kicked in the next day.  However, I fought through and felt better the next morning for moving.  However, by the next day, January 2, I was just as miserable and decided that since we now had benefits, there was no sense in feeling that bad.  So off to Urgent Care I went.  Two hours and four medications later, I was one the road to recovery.  I was fighting a throat infection it turns out, so, as I mentioned, I was prescribed 4 medications.  They were (for): antibiotic, pain, cough and congestion.
• One fun note about the move: Skyler lost her first tooth on the day we moved in.  She was very excited and so were we: the first big event in our new house!  Good thing we have good connections with the Tooth Fairy as (s)he made the visit to pick up Sky's tooth and leave her a little cash.
• One of the worst parts of the move, in my opinion, is having the girls change school mid-year.  That is one thing I absolutely did not want to do.  However, they started their new school this week, and let's just say that we miss Orchard Dale.  I'm not saying they are at a bad school.  I'm just saying it is not Orchard Dale.  Skyler has had a substitute all week since her actual teacher is pretty sick apparently.  Courtney seems to be doing fine.  Some differences from Orchard that I am not impressed with: Courtney had one sheet for homework for the week, which is like what she had each day before, Skyler has had no homework (although this may be because of the substitute) and Courtney's teacher did not leave a good impression when we met her Tuesday morning for the girls' first day.
• One great thing about this move is that I appreciate my family a lot more than I did before.  It was almost like I tool them for granted before, but now I truly appreciate what God has blessed me with.  Since we don't have family nearby, we have each other and therefore spend more time with each other, which I have enjoyed for the most part.  
• Another huge benefit is that I get an extra 2+ hours more each day with my family thanks to my 5-minute (2.5-mile) commute to work.  You cannot put a price on how precious that time is.  Actually, the girls have to be at school before I have to be at work.  I'm supposed to be there around 8:00 and their school starts at 7:40.
• Searching for a new home church is another challenge we are facing currently.  I have a feeling we will not find a church we enjoy as much as WACC, but I know we can find a church that will meet our needs.  We've been to one so far and it has left a great impression on us so far.  We do plan to visit a few more to see how some others are, but I don't think we would have any problem returning to that church.  Plus the girls loved it and Skyler wanted to make that our new church as soon as we picker her up from her Sunday School class.  (That's a very good sign!)

So, you can say that we are making the adjustment as well as we can. It will be a long transition process since we lived in Whittier for so long and that's the are where most of our family and friends are.  It also doesn't really help knowing that we will probably be moving again in about 3 years (or less) since the project I am working on is supposed to last for about three years. 

Despite all the worries I have and the guilt I feel for putting my family through this, I am grateful that they have been so supportive and willing to go on this adventure together.  God is changing our lives in a way that is out of our comfort zone, and sometimes, that is when God does His best work.  So we continue on this adventure as a family, learning and growing along the way, waiting to see what God has in store for us.

Looking Back and Looking Forward: Big Changes

The drought is over! Last week I was offered and accepted a job. Who knows how many jobs I applied to, easily in the hundreds, and the several interviews, probably 20+, that I had, but it has all paid off. This Monday, I help decrease the unemployed population by one! It is a significant pay cut, but it is a job that will be a great experience and uses and builds off of what I have already been doing. Plus I will get to learn more about solar power and how it all works. I will be a Buyer for a company called Teyma USA. Their offices are in Victorville. They are helping build a $1.2 billion solar field in Mojave. When I interviewed for the job, the purchasing department had 3 or 4 people in it. I was told that when it was filled, there would be 10 to 12 people, so I'm getting in kind of early. I also know that there are two others that started this past week. It will be an interesting start too. I received an e-mail today saying that I have a hotel reservation for Sunday night at a hotel where I will have training all day Monday. Where is the hotel? Costa Mesa: about 1/3 of the distance to Victorville. The sad thing is it will probably take me as long to get home Monday from Costa Mesa as it will from Victorville.

Looking back at this unemployment journey, it has been a very long road. Only by God's blessings have we been able to make it as long as we have. I never pictured myself being unemployed for a year when I was let go last October from Chevron. As I mentioned, I applied to a ton of jobs. I was fortunate to get a number of interviews too. There were three companies I actually had multiple interviews with: Kaiser Permanente, Southern California Gas Company and Hawaiian Airlines. The rejects of the first two of those were disappointing, but the rejection from Hawaiian really hurt. When I was told why I was not chosen to move on, there were three reasons given, two of which were based on assumptions made by the interviewer, which were false assumptions. (The third one was legit.) That really upset me and changed my attitude somewhat for a while back around June. There were also many other companies I interviewed with a single time and was ultimately rejected from, including my dream employer Disney. Although I got rejected by Disney, I am glad that I was at least given a chance to interview. Now I can eliminate the "What if they just gave me a chance to interview?" question. So with all the experiences from my year plus of unemployment, I have a new chapter of my life complete. It just adds to my personal testimony of faith in God. Looking forward, there will be some big changes, which I'm sure will add more to that.

Since the job is located in Victorville, some 73 miles from home, it is not ideal, long-term, to commute daily. For the short-term it will be fine. So starting Tuesday, my first day in V-ville, I will do the nearly 150-mile round trip drive daily. One thing in my favor is that I will be going against traffic (headed to L.A.) The two times I have been to Victorville, for the interview and house hunting, it has taken about one hour and 15 minutes each direction each time. I can live with that. It's really not to different from the time spent driving between home in Whittier and my previous jobs in Irvine and El Segundo.

However, the biggest change that will occur as a result of this job, is the family and I will be moving to Victorville. The last time Traci and I moved was 10 years ago when we moved into this house, had been married for just 2 years and had no kids. In the last 10 years, we have accumulated a number of things, including our two kids. Well, maybe we didn't exactly "accumulate" them, but you know what I mean. As I mentioned above, we (Traci and I) have gone house hunting once so far. We saw four houses and liked two of them. On the 30th, we, this time all four of us, will head back out there for some more house hunting.

With me being a nerd, I have done my share of analysis over the last week or two. Lately this has focused on the school districts out there. This has also helped us to nail down the city we would like to live in. There really are three cities that would be fine to live in logistically: Victorville, Apple Valley and Hesperia. After looking at the three school districts, here is what my analysis has shown us, and why we have chosen Victorville as our city of choice. Apple Valley has generally good schools, and not so great homes (for rent). Victorville has a mix of schools and some great homes. Hesperia has some great homes, but the schools are generally not that good. So with Victorville's mix of schools and good housing options, we are planning to move there. Also a plus for Victor Elementary School District, is you can enroll in any school in the district, about half of which are charter school and generally perform very well, regardless of where in V-ville you live. So, like many people, you can tell us the schools in Victorville are not good, but based on my research, it depends on what school you are looking at.

Back to the houses in Victorville that we have seen. The first one we liked was 4br, 3ba, 2334 sq ft with a very open floor plan one-story house. The second one we really liked, we would have tried to lock up instantly if we were at that point. It was 4br, 3ba, 2788 sq ft two-story house with an upstairs bonus room that was at least the size of our kitchen and living room combined. (I tried to claim it as a man-cave, but Traci wasn't too keen on that idea...I can't figure out why.) We have another appointment to meet with my friend from high school, who is a realtor out there, a week from Sunday. It actually works out really well because not only will we be taking the girls with us this time, but our realtors (at home) are holding an open house at our home that day. Just in case any of are looking, or know someone who is looking, to buy a house, here is the link to our listing and here is a virtual tour of our house.

On the flip side, it has been some experience putting our house up for sale. It was something we never wanted to do, but here we are with the sign in the front yard, the lockbox on our front door and the fliers ready for prospective buyers on our coffee table. I happened to be mowing the lawn when they guy came by and put up the stake-thing for the sign. It felt like a little piece of me had been taken away. Then later that day when I returned home, the realtors' sign was up and that took a little more of me away. It is sad to be going through this, but I am trying to set my mind as right as possible. I know that home ownership is the "American Dream", but ultimately, it seems as though we are living out God's dream for us, and that is what comforts me somewhat. Although we won't own a home anymore (believe me, we've looked at our options and this is the best one), we will still have a home to live in out in Victorville and for that we should be grateful since there are millions (if not billions) of people worldwide who would kill themselves to live in something the size of our bedroom, or smaller. Our home has been a bog part of our lives for 10 years now, and it's the only home Courtney and Skyler have known, but in the end, it really is just a temporary home anyway. God has prepared a permanent residence for all 4 of us in Heaven. So anything we have on Earth is nothing compared to what we have with Him.

I have to admit the one thing I was really hoping not to do was have the girls change schools mid-year, but that is the path we are headed down. On the bright side, they are both very friendly and make new friends pretty easily. I have a feeling that will come in handy with the move, at least I sure hope so. Which school they will go to...well, that's something we're still working on. Plus whatever school we choose, we need to make sure they actually have openings for the girls.

So back to work I go on Monday. I haven't been this excited to work in a long time, if ever! Traci will have to adjust to me being gone every day again. I will have to readjust to not seeing my family as much as I'm used to. We will all have to adjust to the changes associated with moving (around the holidays, no less). Fortunately, we are a strong family with strong faith in Christ. He will ultimately get us through this transition, and who knows what he has planned for us out there. And besides, I'm sure it will be the adventure of a lifetime for our family. Here we go!

1 Year

It's hard to believe that as of tomorrow I will have been unemployed for 1 year.  And if you told me that we would still be in our house and not have touched our 401k's, I would have thought you were crazy.  However, here we stand one year later and it's all true still.

I'm still searching for jobs just as hard, if not harder, than I have so far.  And lately it's paid off somewhat.  I had one interview this past Monday, one yesterday, and have one more coming up on Monday.  All the while, I'm still in the running and waiting to hear back from Paramount Petroleum (in Paramount) about the purchasing position at their refinery.  Of the four jobs I'm currently in the running for, Paramount is easily the top choice, with Southern California Edison (Long Beach...past Monday) being second and Abener Teyma (Victorville, yesterday) being third.  As for where Monday's interview's company lies (SF Bay area), we'll have to wait and see my impression of the job after the interview.  My guess is that it will wind up as my second preference behind the refinery job.

As for other things in life that are keeping my spirits up and my mind off being employed, coaching soccer is at the top.  Even though my older team is challenging in the sense that it is hard to keep their attention, I still enjoy coaching them.  Skyler team is low maintenance and always fun. 

Today I did something else that I really enjoyed.  I went to the girls' school for Read Across OD Day (for the first time) and got to read a from a couple of books to Courtney's class.  They were so quiet and paid attention the whole time.  It was great!  Also, since I had expressed interest to the teacher about helping with math in the classroom at Back to School Night, she asked if I would like to come in for 45 minutes of Fridays starting next week to do just that.  I agreed and therefore will be helping in her class on Fridays.  That should be a lot of fun.

As for this coming weekend, church should be more fun than normal.  We'll be celebrating our church's 40th anniversary and there will be a huge picnic type thing starting after the 9:30 service.  While I was at church taking pictures of Courtney's choir for their Christmas performance, I heard the band practicing for Sunday's service and they were practicing my favorite worship song..."Everything".  It is an amazing song and I don't think I could ever get tired of that song.  It's on my song blog so you can check it out here if you'd like to.

Hopefully I'll have some good news on the job front in the next week or so as I expect to find out about the Paramount job next week.  Stay tuned...

The Horror of the Summer, 8/5/11

It's been a little crazy since my adventures to St. Louis.  I can't believe I haven't blogged about the accident we witnessed and suffered some minor car damage from back in early August.  So here it goes.  Warning: some of my descriptions will be pretty graphic.

The first weekend of August is traditionally when we take off on our annual camping trip with Traci's family.  Normally it's off to Shaver Lake in the Sierras east of Fresno.  However, this year, we headed to Lake of the Springs, which was about and hour and 20 minutes north of Sacramento (460 miles from home roughly).  So we hit the road pretty early, just after 4:00 AM. 

Over the Grapevine we go and down into the Central Valley.  Maybe a half hour after the Grapevine, we witnessed the most horrific accident any of us have ever seen, and hopefully never see again.  Let me give you a play by play as best I can.  This happened around 6:1 5AM on August 5.

Cruising along at about 60 MPH, following Traci's parents who are towing a 5th wheel (trailer), I happen to notice a white SUV (Suburban) passing us in the left lane (on a 2-lane each direction highway).  While I'm watching it after it passed us, the rear right wheel--tire on rim--rolls right off the car.  Instantly the back rotor hits the road and starts kicking up gravel and sparks right onto our car which is maybe 100 feet behind them in the neighboring lane.  That pulls the car right, slightly into our lane, freaking me out.  Then it swerves left across the lane they were just in, continues into the center median which is all dirt and dry brush and about 40-50 feet wide (we were west of Bakersfield on I-5) and then begins to come back up onto the road into the left lane where they began.  As soon it was back up on the road, headed almost straight across our side of the highway, it flips.  Not just once, but several times, with at least the first complete rotation occurring completely in the air.  Once it lands back on the pavement, it continues to rolls at least a few more times.  I estimate it probably rolled a total of 4 or 5 times in all.  Meanwhile, everything is flying out of the car.  This was part of a family from Baldwin Park headed to Napa Valley for vacation we found out later, so the back of this Suburban was packed.  Suitcases flew out, which opened sending all contents flying, at least one ice chest opened as it flew out sending everything in it flying.  This doesn't count all the pieces of gravel, which were like little fireballs from the friction of the accident as well as parts of the car flying all around that car and into our car which I was in the process of stopping to avoid running into this flying, rolling car.  During this scene, something very large and metal hits our car, which is where our damage came from on the passenger's side of the front of our car.  Eventually the SUV stops, right side up somehow amazingly, and we are in shock as we are the closest car to them.  Once we make sure the girls were ok, and they were thankfully, we told them to stay right where they were so that we could help the people in the car.

There is nothing that can prepare you for this scene if you are not an EMT, cop, etc.  When all is said and done, our car is within 150 feet probably of where the other car came to a rest.  I-5 is now completely shut down going north since they are in the middle of the two lanes on our side of the 5.  Debris is covering from the freeway from several feet behind our car to probably over 100 feet ahead of where the car stopped rolling, from gutter to center median: clothes, ice, drinks, car parts, shattered glass...you name it, it was on the freeway.  Fortunately, the one thing that did not fly out of the car and onto the freeway was bodies.  All 7 people in the car had seat belts on.  As we (Traci and I) approach the car, it was like something straight out of the movies or tv (like ER).  Everybody in the car is in shock and has blood running down some part of them except for a 5 year old in the middle of the back (3rd) row.  The driver's head, an older gentleman, is cut and has blood running down his head and face.  The passenger next to him, his sister we found out, was dead and had a major gash in her forehead.  This went from the middle of her forehead just above the point between her eyes, to past her right eye by a good inch, and was wide open, at least an inch and a half, so that when I saw it, I was looking at her scull.  In hindsight it was obvious that she was dead.  This huge wide open gash on her forehead did not have blood flowing from it, meaning the heart was not beating.In the middle row of seats the people were able to get out on their own, but had blood all over them.  The back row had the other most disturbing injuries to a person.  The little boy in the middle looked just fine, no blood, no cuts or scratches that we could see.  He was strapped in his booster seat.  The driver's side passenger was injured and had blood going like everybody else. The passenger on the passenger's side was in and out of consciousness.  Her shirt was saturated (so much so it was kind of shiny, you know like when you're fresh out of the pool in your bathing suit) in blood.  When she was conscious, she would just moan/cry/scream.  Her face had blood running down it as well.

The car that was behind them in their lane when this went down also got out to help and was the first to call 911.  He approached the car just as we did.  Meanwhile Traci's parents were freaking out.  As I said we were following them, but they were ahead of the accident.  When it happened, all they saw was a cloud of debris and dust behind them.  They lost sight of us and thought the worst.  Fortunately, when the dust settled, they saw that we were ok and backed up to come back to help.  They stayed with the girls in the car for the most part, although Traci's mom helped the family as well since she used to be a nurse.  There was another car that backed up to help out with the accident as well.  It was the other part of the family that was in the car that just flipped.  They were amazingly calm after seeing what had happened to their family.  They helped out where needed with their family.  They comforted the two injured girls that were crying, initially from their own injuries and then more when they realized that they were looking at their dead mother.  They also helped the other that were injured.  They seemed very appreciative when we said goodbye.

We wound up using 6 of the 8 towels we had packed on the people of the accident to help stop all the bleeding.  Traci applied pressure on a girl with a severs cut to her foot (that literally gushed when she showed it to one of the EMTs that arrived).  Traci mom helped with compressions on the dead woman once I and two other men helped lift her body out of the car and onto the ground.  Not what I had planned for vacation, that's for sure.

They wound up closing both sides of I-5 as a result of the accident.  They needed to land a helicopter to airlift the one girl in the back seat I talked about.  Let's just say it was controlled chaos.  Ultimately there were 3 or 4 cops/highway patrolmen, two fire trucks and crews, and at least two ambulances with their crews.  Once they arrived, it was amazing to see them go to work.  I learned that code black = dead, code red = severe/life-threatening injuries, code yellow = injuries, but not severe and code green = fine.

After it was all said and done and I had calmed down as much as is possible after witnessing something like that, and we had given the cops our statements and got their clearance to leave, we headed back on our way.  This was about an hour and a half after the accident occurred, so we still needed breakfast.  So we headed to IHOP and continued as best we could to our vacation.

The girls were fortunate enough to have been each given a teddy bear from one of the firemen on the scene.  It was very cute and they were very happy about that.  It was also fortunate that all they saw was the bloody driver and a the girl being carted to the helicopter.  They didn't see much if any of the accident as it happened.

I may have left out some details, but I really don't feel like trying to figure that out.  We were also very fortunate that all we had happen was some minor damage to our car.  Repairs totaled just under $3,000, but we wound up not having to pay a penny once our deductible was refunded to us.  The one thing I can really take away from this is to cherish each moment you can because you truly do not know when God will call you home.  You never plan on something like this happening, but you also never know when it will.

St. Louis

If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I was in the St. Louis area a couple of weeks ago.  This was because one of my good friends (Eric) was getting married and I was lucky enough to be asked to be a part of the wedding.  So it was off to St. Louis on July 28.

I had never been to St. Louis prior to this trip so I had some high expectations about how fun it would be, although I realized most of the trip would be centered around the wedding, which was to be expected.

Once I landed it was off to get my rental car, which wound up being a Chevy HHR.  (Not a bad car for a rental, but it's not a car I would want to buy.)  From there it was off to my hotel in Downtown St. Louis, across the street from The Arch.  I was excited when I arrived at the hotel without getting lost.  It was about half the distance from LAX to Whittier.

Eric, who I shared a room with that first night, was not yet there since he was still out helping with wedding preparations.  Once he got there, it was up to the room to drop my stuff.  Not too long after that, it was off to Busch Stadium to take in a Cardinals game.  This is another stadium that has been crossed off my list of stadiums visited.  I've now seen MLB baseball games at Dodger Stadium, Angel Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium (pre-Petco San Diego Padres), Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox), Minute Maid Park (Houston Astros) and Busch Stadium.  It was so fun being in another stadium.  The weather really sucked as it was 97 degrees at game time, versus 105 when I first arrived in St. Louis, and the humidity was very high, which made it that much worse.  After the game and some freshening up, it was down to the hotel lobby for Eric and I to hang out and chat.

Friday was a whirlwind as I ran around with Eric and his fiance (Stacey) doing some final preps for the wedding and a family brunch.  I just remember that once we left the brunch in the early afternoon, the intensity really picked up since the rehearsal was only a couple of hours away.  Once we got back to the hotel, I met up with another friend, Micah, who came in from Texas for the wedding, who I roomed with for the final two nights.

The rehearsal went well and was fun.  The dinner was even better as went to a local Benihana-style restaurant called the Japanese Garden.  I had never been to a place like this so it was very fun and fascinating seeing the chef cook on our table and all of his tricks while cooking.  The food was really good too!

Once back at the hotel, it became social hour for those who were in town for the wedding.  Lots of drinking and hanging out, making new friends and meeting up with some who hadn't been seen in a while.  Being the introvert, I didn't do as much talking as most other people, but I did more than normal.  I was just enjoying how happy everybody was and that everybody was there to support Eric and Stacey.

Saturday was the wedding, which meant lots of busyness.  Eric, Micah and I headed down for breakfast in the hotel lobby's restaurant.  It's hard to go wrong with a breakfast buffet, and this was no exception.  After that, it was wedding prep time and, well, after that was the wedding.  It was a beautiful wedding and everything went as planned except for the wrong verse being read, but fortunately, the verse still fit.  It was off to the Paebaek (Korean traditional wedding ritual) and reception at a country club in Belleville, IL after that.  It was very fascinating watching the Paebaek, as it was very colorful and symbolic of the two families coming together to support the new couple.  Everything ended around 11:00, with the wedding ceremony having started at 2:30, but it was a lot of fun.  I was very happy to be a part of it.  I could tell Eric and Stacey were loving it all and taking as much of it in as they could, which is the way it should be.

Sunday was very much a wind-down kind of day.  It started with a family brunch back at the country club.  After about an hour there, I took Micah to the airport since he had an earlier flight than I did. After dropping him off, it was back to the city for some sightseeing.  I headed to the Arch with plans of going up in it, but when I found out my ticket would have been for two hours later, I opted for a one-hour Mississippi River cruise that started in about a half-hour.  It was cool and worth it.  After that, it was off to the airport for my evening flight back home.

Surprise! My flight out of STL was delayed by 3 hours (due to weather in Florida), which meant I could not make my connecting flight out of Las Vegas.  Fortunately, Southwest was good enough to rearrange my flights so that I would go to Houston and then LAX while getting home about the same time.  It was good to be home and see Traci and the kids again.  I missed them, but had a great trip.  Congratulations to the new couple, Eric and Stacey!!!

Time of Month, Update #1

I can add another name to the potential employer list.  I talked with DirecTV this morning and they are passing my information onto the hiring manager to see if they want to interview me.  The pay is great and the position would start as a 3-month contract assignment and then transition into a DirecTV employee after that.  It's in El Segundo, across the 105 from LAX, an area I'm familiar with as Chevron is about a mile and a half from there.

I also sent a follow up e-mail to Accenture since they said they should be in touch with me by today.  We'll see what kind of response I get.  Hopefully I'll be posting another update soon.

That Time of the Month

Hahahaha.  The title of this entry cracks me up.  No it has nothing to do with the female species or my wife.  It just happens to refer to a pattern of activity I have noticed during my job search being let go last October.  It seems, very much so, that this job search thing is cyclical.  There will be times of dealing with multiple potential employers, and then there will be times without any contacts.  It seems as though the entire cycle (busy to slow and back again) will last about a month to a month and a half.  Right now is one of those busy times, and it happens to be the most exciting activity I have had yet.  That is because I will be setting up an interview with my dream company: Disney!

I worked for Disney as a Ride Operator in Disneyland from 1995-1999 and only left when I became a teacher.  They offered me a promotion to stay at Disney, which in hindsight I should have taken, but I elected to pursue my desire which was teaching.  Ever since I left teaching (2001), I have sent in multiple resumes for a number of positions at Disney.  I have never been contacted by them other than the generic "Thank you, but no thank you" e-mails.  When they initially contacted me via e-mail last week, I couldn't believe it.  After speaking with the Disney HR recruiter last week, she let me know that she would pass my information on to the hiring manager and will let me know if they decide I should move forward with the interview process.

Yesterday (and today) I received an e-mail stating the hiring manager/team would like to meet with me, as well as a call making sure I received the e-mail.  She said that one of her recruiters would be contacting me to look at my schedule and setup an interview for the week of August 1st.  Needless to say, I am very excited to have gotten this far.  I feel like this is my one opportunity to get back in at Disney.  I will feel horrible if it doesn't work out, but I will feel a little better knowing that at least I was given a chance.  Hopefully at this time next month, I'll be making the long drive to Burbank on a daily basis, but only God knows if that will be the case.

So while Disney is easily my main focus right now, they are not the only potential employer that I have had communication with.  I also had a screening call with Accenture (based out of Mountain View/San Jose) and am awaiting a notification (tomorrow probably based on what the recruiter told me) as to whether or not they want me to move forward in the interview process with them.  I also received a confirmation from the federal government (yes, in Washington, DC) that I had been certified to have my information forwarded to the hiring manager.   I haven't spoken with anybody yet, but I made it past the first small step apparently, which is a step in the right direction.  I also expect to hear from Chevron next month since I put in for a position at the Salt Lake City Refinery for the same position I was doing at the El Segundo Refinery.  If I don't at least get considered for that position (assuming I don't already have a new job), that will tell me that there may be more problems with Chevron than it already seems there are.

One of the nice things that makes more confident about wanting to pursue the three opportunities (not Chevron  yet) above is that I know salary will be not be an issue with any of them.  Disney's target/goal for salary is slightly above what I was making at Chevron, Accenture didn't have a problem with my minimum requirement, and the DC position starts at about 10% above what I was making at Chevron.

So it is that time of the month where I enjoy the job search activity and get very hopeful.  However, the stakes feel a bit higher since Disney is in the picture.  Oh, and for what it's worth, I applied for this Disney position back in April.  Here's to hoping the end of unemployment is near!

Summer Travels

After spending a long day in El Cajon last Saturday, helping our pastor friend and his family move, I realized that this coming weekend (starting in a few minutes), will be the last entire weekend I spend at home/in town at least until mid-August.  I guess I better enjoy it.

Next weekend, we head to San Diego for a day for Traci's family's (dad's side) annual family reunion in Mission Bay in San Diego.  It's always fun and when it's not overcast, it's great weather usually.

The weekend after that, I am in St. Louis for my friends wedding, which I am a groomsman in.  I'm very excited about this because we have been friend for about 20 years now.  Also, I've never been to St. Louis, and the night I get there (two weeks from today), I will be enjoying a Cardinals-Astros game at Busch Stadium; another ballpark I can check off my list!

The weekend after that is our annual camping trip with Traci's family, which normally is at Shaver Lake, but this year will be at a new place in northern California.

Th weekend after that, we will be in the San Diego area (again!) to support our pastor who is being installed as the new Co-lead Pastor of a young church in La Mesa.

The weekend after that, we are all home for the weekend.  The weekend after that, I will be camping with the guys from my Bible study group.  And believe it or not, that leads up to the week that the girls go back to school.  No wonder Summer flies by so quickly!

Hopefully somewhere in all that craziness, I will start a new job.  I have a few prospects out there, and they are scattered all over the U.S.  The job I want the most is also the one local prospect I have right now:  Disney!!!!  If you know me, you may know that I worked at Disneyland (1995-1999) while working on my undergraduate degree.  I loved it and once I realized teaching was not where I wanted to be, I wished I had stayed with Disney because I loved working there.  Well, this may be the one opportunity I have to land something there.  I have sent them so many resumes over the years and to actually talk to a Disney HR recruiting employee this week was awesome!  It seemed like the screening call we had went pretty well.  I should know by Friday (tomorrow) whether or not they want to interview me for the position.  The commute would not be fun as the job would be located in Burbank, but for Disney, I would do it in a heartbeat!  I'm praying and hoping that this works out.  Only God knows, and I hope this is His plan for me, but that is for Him to know and me to find out.

I also have a resume in with Chevron for the same type of position (same exact work) I was doing before the layoff.  However, this position is located in Salt Lake City.  That would be interesting since the weather is a lot different than here and we have no family there.  Fortunately we do have some friends that live in that area.  I haven't heard anything from Chevron yet since the posting is open until July 29.

The other prospect is for the government, and is located in Washington, DC, but the salary starts at about 10% above what I was making at Chevron and goes up from there.  Again, much different weather, but for that much money, it would be worth the move, and the extra money could go towards travel to come back and visit family once in a while.

However, I still sit here waiting for more calls regarding positions I've applied for and continue looking for new jobs and using new job search resources I learn about.  I'll tell you though, if you are currently searching for a job, I highly highly highly recommend LinkedIn.  I have been contacted by a number of recruiters who came across my profile there.

I should probably sign off now since it's about midnight, which means it's almost Friday, which means it's the day I should hear back from Disney, which could be the beginning of something magical!

Crazy Week

This week has the busiest one in a while and it's not slowing down.  The girls started swim lessons this week and will finish them up next Friday.  i love watching them because they love to be int he water and swim.  It just makes me a proud daddy...makes me very happy.

It all goes back to Sunday.  If you remember, last weekend was a bad weekend emotionally for me due to the rejection from Hawaiian Airlines.  But nonetheless, life goes on.  Sunday after church, we went to a picnic at the park with my Bible Study group and their families, which was pretty fun.  After that we spent the evening at our church for their Patriotic Concert on the Lawn.

Monday, of course, was the 4th.  We started off going to a friend's house for an lunchtime holiday BBQ and the kids had fun with some water play.  After that it was straight to Traci's aunt and uncle's house for a huge block party and fireworks.  Skyler was scared by most of the fireworks, especially the illegally professional ones that were very loud.  There was actually one down the street that exploded before leaving the ground.  I couldn't tell if anybody got hurt, but it was pretty scary to see.

Tuesday the girls started swim lessons and that was pretty much it besides my quarterly psych appointment.

Wednesday after swim lessons, we headed to the beach for the first time this year.  Of course the girls had a ton of fun.  This also represented the first time that we let the girls go in the water without holding their hands, so Traci and I were kind of on edge watching them nearby.  They actually did pretty well and between that and playing in the sand, they were pretty happy.  After that we headed to my sister's mother-in-law's fiance's house for an impromptu BBQ.  She treats our girls as if they were her own granddaughters which is very sweet.  It gave us a chance to get to know her fiance a little better too, which was nice.  He has two dogs and the girls enjoyed playing with them and petting them.  Dinner was also great!  We all even took a walk to a nearby park where the girls got play a little before we finally headed home.

Thursday after swim lessons we headed to a friend's house for some fun swim time.  I was used as a floating jungle gym by the girls, and it was a lot of fun.  It's times like those I really cherish.  After that, we went home for a little bit before heading off to my kickball game, the first time Traci and the girls had been able to make it to a game.  I enjoyed having them there to watch, and we won so that was pretty cool too.  (We are 2-1 now, by the way!)

Today after lessons, our swim day was cancelled which was nice because it gave enough time to come home and prep the girls for their auditions today.  Yesterday we were notified that each girl had an audition today, so Traci took Skyler to her audition in Santa Monica while I took Courtney to her audition in Hollywood.  When Courtney and I arrived, we learned that the casting people were on lunch for another 45 minutes so we walked down the street (in Hollywood, remember) to a nearby Jack in the Box for a snack.  As we arrived, there were a man and a woman yelling at each other looking like they were going to go at it (fight) right outside the JITB.  I calmly walked Courtney way around them and into the restaurant to make sure we were both safe.  Once inside we got our food and I had to let Courtney know not to stare at a woman who was talking to people who weren't there, if you know what I mean.  Ahhhh...just another day in Hollywood!  After we made it home, we had a chance to eat dinner and get the girls packed and over to Traci's parents' house for a sleepover tonight.  The reason for the sleepover?

Tomorrow morning, Traci and I head over the house of one of our pastors to help them move to their new house in El Cajon, near San Diego, since he is becoming Co-lead Pastor of a church down there.  Needless to say it will be a busy Saturday...again.

Despite all this busyness, I have still made time to apply to a number of jobs.  How many will I actually have a chance at?  Based on my success so far...none.  But if I don't keep trying, nothing will happen.  However, I am getting in touch with a recruiter that helped one my friends a little while back.  I'm hoping that may help end the drought, but I'll believe once it happens.  So in honor of Will and Kate's visit to L.A., chin up!

Rough Weekend

Usually this is a very fun weekend as we celebrate the birth of our country.  This year has been a little different so far, though.  As you may or may not know, I recently had two interviews with Hawaiian Airlines.  This would have been a major move as we would have needed to relocate to Hawaii since the position was based out of Honolulu.  However, yesterday morning I received an e-mail from the recruiter who originally contacted me about the position.  It said that they decided to pass on me and provided 3 reasons the VP, who most recently interviewed me, gave for taking me out of the running.  Two of those three reasons were total crap, which is the main reason I am so pissed and upset about this missed opportunity.  The one that gets me the most is that he didn't understand why I left Chevron because he assumed they were doing fine.  Here's the two part problem I have with that.  First, he assumed!  Secondly, he never asked me!  I'll give him the fact that although Chevron was crying that they weren't doing well (I guess only making $10 billion in 2009 isn't good enough, never mind the $20 billion they made last year, you know, the year they made all the workforce cuts...don't even get me started on that).  Most companies would be fine with that, but not Chevronor other oil companies.  Regardless, if he wondered about it, why didn't he freakin' bring it up?  But, what's done is done.  However, if the first guy "really liked" me (per the recruiter who talked with him), did he talk to the VP?  Now I'm just running "what if?" scenarios through my head.

Of course our parents are glad that we aren't moving, but I don't care and don't want to hear that right now.  That's almost motivation for me to look exclusively for jobs outside our current area.  (Can you tell I'm a little bitter?)  I really had my hopes up for this possibility, especially since the first interviewer liked me so much.  All I've got to say is thank goodness for my meds.  If I didn't have those, who knows how low I would have gotten this weekend; yesterday was bad enough on them.  At least I have my next psych appointment on Tuesday.

I have applied for a couple of jobs since the rejection, one based in Texas (with another airline) and one based locally with a high-end sunglasses company.  I'm not expecting anything to happen, but at least I've applied.

I have become very frustrated with this whole job search thing.  My career coach said that if you get in for an interview, you are 80% of the way there (to getting hired).  He also gave me a stat about if you get a second interview.  I think it was over 90%, but I'm going to assume only 90% for hte purpose of the following calculation.  If it were true, that would mean that I have a (.1 x .1 x .1 =) .001 = .1% chance of not getting hired by any of those three employers.  So does that mean that I suck that bad or am I just lucky to be the one person out every 1,000 that has 2 interviews with 3 different employers and doesn't get hired.  See where I'm going with this?  If I assume that the probability was 95% instead of 90%, there would be a .0125% chance of me not getting any of the three jobs.

Now that I have passed the 9-month unemployment mark I feel like my faith is starting to be challenged.  I know God has a plan for me, but what is it and how long will this continue?  Is He going to take me to the edge again, like 2 years ago?  Is this some kind of test?  Whatever it is He's doing, I hope He enlightens me soon.  I'm getting sick of this waiting game!

Oh and on top of all this, there are other things to worry about...big things.  We have only one payment (for August) left on our temporary loan modification plan.  After that, we are done with payments if I'm still unemployed, which means we will have to get rid of the house.  Then, after October 1 (ironically, the 1-year anniversary of me being unemployed), my unemployment claim maxes out and we will have pretty much no income.  Feels like a perfect storm is brewing to me.

One more thing that irks me is that I keep hearing that those who are currently working have an easier time finding a new job that those who are unemployed.  Please tell me I'm stupid, because this doesn't make sense to me.

Ok, I think I'm done venting.  Now I just need to calm down so I can actually sleep tonight.

Summer Vacation

It's hard to believe that Skyler is on vacation already and Courtney will be once she finishes up school tomorrow.  When I was let go back in October, I never imagined myself still being unemployed come Summer Vacation.  But here we are and here I am.  All in all, I'm kind of excited about it, though.  It will be fun to spend a lot of time with the girls being home all day.  I'm sure there will be days when I don't feel that way, but I think it will be fun overall.

This is shaping up to be a very interesting and potentially big-changes kind of Summer.  I'm currently in the process of working on three job leads.  One feels dead though since my last interview was the end of March, even thought they have told me they haven't filled the position.  One is just getting restarted thanks to a request for a lower pay rate.  The other, most promising, opportunity is being delayed by people taking vacations.  This opportunity would relocate us pretty far away, but I have at least two more rounds of interviews, so it's far from a sure thing.  They have told me they are in the process of coordinating schedules for the second interview, but with some people being out of town, that really slows things up.  I'll know next week though.  I won't give any more details on it because there is such a ways to go in the process.  However, if I get flown out for an interview, that will sound like a very strong possibility and will probably give more insight then.  For now, we wait.

Our family has our first fun Summer activity planned for next week.  We have our first visit to the Getty Museum planned for next week.  I'm not a big museum guy, but this should be worth it.  It will make for a good day trip.  It happens to be on the 17th anniversary of my high school graduation, which is pretty scary to think about.

I'm also doing something kind of crazy.  I am on a kickball team.  Yes, a game that I hadn't played since elementary school until our practice this past Monday.  I am still recovering physically from that, but it was a lot of fun.  I'm looking forward to playing, currently as a sub, and seeing how that all goes.  The first game is Thursday next week and we'll have to see if I'm able to get out of bed on Friday.  Hopefully I will...me and Traci's 12th anniversary is that Sunday, the 26th.