Rant: I was driving down the street in my small town today and glanced at a guy who was walking down the sidewalk. As soon as I saw him he flipped me off. Like instantly, like he was just waiting for me to look at him. I didn't recognize him, and was more puzzled than anything. I turned around and started driving the other direction with the intention of asking him what the fuck I ever did to him to deserve the middle finger. I wasn't looking for a fight, I just wanted to know why he did it. As soon as I got within a couple of blocks of him he spotted me and took off running down an alley. Nice, you fucking coward. I shouldn't give a shit, but now I'm spending the rest of the afternoon wondering what this guy's problem was. Did he recognize me from somewhere else? Maybe he thought I was someone else. Maybe he simply doesn't like the way I look. Maybe he's anti-war and didn't like my veteran license plates. He's black and I'm white, maybe it was a racial thing. Perhaps he's a Prius owner and doesn't like my F150 (there is a liberal arts college here and students will shout profanities at farmers and construction workers for driving pickups instead of tiny hybrids). Rave: Interviewing a guy tomorrow who will make my job 80% easier if I can get him on board.
Rave: So after nine months of trying to get back into the IT industry I finally landed a computer programmer job. This is a huge relief for me as for the past 9 months I've been working back breaking manual labor. I'm not complaining about the job itself, work is work, but the pay was nowhere near enough for me to make my mortgage/bills. I was getting so behind on things that threats being made by the collections people were getting very serious and I was getting pretty nervous about my future. Hopefully I can breathe easy for a bit now.
Rant: Tripped over the baby gate. Bit about halfway through my tongue, and my teeth went through my bottom lip. Concussion to boot. Fun trying to clean that blood up. It's been almost 24 hrs now and I still look (and feel) like I got in a car wreck. Baby proofing sucks.
Rant: Two raccoons were FUCKING TO THE DEATH in my pool. Thought the neighbor's cat was being eaten alive, but it was 2 raccoons chittering and banging. Sex in nature is absolutely terrifying. When I scared them out of the pool, they just went around the house to continue banging while a third one appeared to, presumably, leave a huge blueberry shit in my pool. Again. Rant: Which begs the question. Whom was the diversion for whom? More importantly where is this thing getting all these berries? Nobody around here has berry bushes, let alone enough for this fat, wild bastard to leave a mountain of berry shite on the top step of my pool fortnightly. Rant: Grabbed a broom, the maglite, but not my phone. A picture of this thing trying to animal rape the other would have been my next Christmas card.
Rant: Bachelor Party or not, Atlantic City is a fucking dump. I think I hate that city more than any other. I do not understand why people insist on going their for a bachelor party/weekend getaway/whatever. Its terrible. Don't ever consider it for a destination for anything. If you live on the East Coast, drop the extra $300 for a plane ticket to Vegas. Rant: The guy's bachelor party wasn't great. Being the only groomsman who didn't know every one else, I had to just go along with the crowd on it. There's something seriously wrong when people in their mid thirties are roving around in drunken belligerence. Harassing strangers, assaulting strippers, and being just garden-variety douche bags wasn't as fun as it was embarrassing. I was the youngest one by about 5 years, but I might as well be 10 years ahead in maturity and 20 years ahead career-wise. A few of these guys were trying to sell Aderall on the boardwalk to make some gambling money. When we got there I tried to be cool with everyone by buying a round of drinks. The favor was never returned once, and I was called a cheapskate when I didn't want to split the $1800 cost of bottle service (read: 2 bottles of vodka total) at a club. Hey guys that's great that you think you have money for designer clothes and clubbing because you still live with your parents, but just because I can afford it doesn't mean I want to.Thankfully the groom has to keep his head straight for the most part, but god damn were these guys losers.
Rant: Because my father passed away right after I finished high school, I received finacial support from the government during med school, which is nice. This is will stop in june, because I'll be finished with med school by then, but it causes massive paperwork with all kinds of insurance, because apparently I fall into some kind of unknown category now. After I finished hashing things out with my health insurance today, I already have the next insurance to call tomorrow. Just what I need with the final exam coming up.
Rave: Biking in to work is awesome! Rant: Biking home is a whole hell of a lot more of a workout than I anticipated...forgot how much 2-a-days can suck.
Rave: Went to TPC Sawgrass practice rounds yesterday. For $20, and free parking, we got to walk around the course. We ended up sitting near the 17th Tee, which gave views of the 16th fairway and 17th hole, which for golf fans, is one of the iconic holes in golf. We were about six feet away and watched Mickelson, Fowler, Spieth, Baddeley, Hoffman, Streelman, Watson, Garcia, and many others tee off. We were talking to a father and son from Charlotte who moved to Florida, and were big fans of Streelman, who went to Duke like the dad. The father mentioned something to Streelman as he walked up to the box, and Streelman smiled and walked over to the ropes and posed for a picture with the dad, which made his day. Garcia was a complete gentleman. All the way from the 16th green to the 17th tee box, he posed for pictures, talked to fans and signed autographs (despite the signs that said do not ask for autographs). It was amazing to watch these guys up close hit the ball, tv doesn't do it justice. Very fun day.
Rave/Rant: I was just offered a dream job of sorts to be a professional stockmaker and gunsmith for a custom gun maker. Completely out of the blue. However they are located in Illinois and I am not, which is a major bummer. Rant: Fucking RFPs to fill out, one right after the other. This next one is due on Monday and I am not happy with myself for not finding it sooner too. My plans for the weekend (turkey hunting and fishing up North) are in jeopardy now.
Rave: Put in an offer on the PERFECT house. Is it possible to jump up and down and puke at the same time....without choking to death?
Rave: Went skiing up at A-Basin yesterday with a friend from Florida. It was spring conditions so not great, but he's never skied a real mountain before so he had a blast which was nice Rant: He got pretty significant altitude sickness. He went basically straight from the plane to skiing at 13,000ft. Thankfully we were only on the slopes for three hours or things would've been much more miserable than they already were for him
RANT: Had multiple interviews for a pretty cool position on a newer team at a Fortune 50 company. Id been pretty upfront about why I was looking to move, what I was looking for in a position, compensation, etc... Conversations with the company recruiter and multiple members of the team went really well. I was excited about it and mentally weighing the pros and cons of accepting the offer. They contacted me on Tuesday echoing the positive sentiments...and then offering a lateral move. Mind you I have over 2 years experience in role at another Fortune 50 CPG company, and they were the ones who contacted me about the level up position. I reply politely but confidently about my concerns, my continued interest in the team, as well as probing for more information. If it was a short-term lateral move trial towards promotion I could deal with it potentially. I received a call back today basically informing me that I was viewed as "high potential" thus I would be looking at 18-24 months with the "goal, but not guarantee" of promotion after that time. I was mad enough to spit. But it got better. I was very upfront about compensation, came up twice and was reiterated. My compensation asks were well researched and vetted by both recruiters over the last few months and other sources like Glassdoor. Not only was the position lateral and growth delaying at best, the compensation was 30-35% less than the figures discussed, over 10% lower than my current salary. It was astoundingly tone deaf and horrible negotiation if they truly wanted me. I imagine they filled the position and tried to scoop overqualified talent for a lesser headcount for pennies on the dollar. Fuck them. I really liked the team and the direction, but I've pretty much written them out of consideration going forward. RAVE: Its beautiful out and I have a soccer game under the lights in likely 60 degree weather, can't beat that.
Rave: Taking the job offer more seriously and so far, it sounds good. Still feels surreal to be considering this now though. My girlfriend threatened to kick my ass if I didn't look into it and there may be a way for her to continue with her current job too. Rave: I am scrambling at work today but headed up North this evening. Still doing my cast and blast on this weekend.
Rant: I like where I work, really. I work with a lot of good people, some very smart ones. But today is one of those days where I feel like I can't trust anyone to do a good job without me holding their hand.
Rave: New Rush tour starts tonight in Tulsa! Rant: I won't be there. Mother effing Rave: Spoiled and looked at a live-tweeted set list. Mother effing eff. That show kicks all kinds of epic ass.
Rant: A trip that was supposed to take about 5-6 hours took closer to 14. Rave: Finally here and checked into hotel. Only my second time in St. Louis. Rant: It's for work. Rant: What the fuck is there to do in St. Louis on my nights off here since the Cardinals are out of town? If anyone has any suggestions PM me, because the alternative is going to be me getting lit in the hotel bar by myself until the rest of my group from work gets here in a couple days.
Rave: Got a new laptop. Rant: Because the old one shit the bed, and now I have to get used to this windows 8 shit. Goddamnit microsoft! You used to have start button and all the programs lined up on my desktop for me. It was easier that way. None of this switching and "apps" and jesus christ did you preload this fucking thing with enough pointless games and programs and shit I'll never use so now have to delete? Windows 7 wasn't broken, and so why the holy fuck did you fix it? Rave: But this 17 inch touchscreen is kinda slick.