4/28/11 - Muggy Thursday

Woke up to 60 degree temp but 100% humidity today. Feels like the high 70's. Typical Long Island muggy weather. Better than snow.

Forecast is heavy rains this afternoon through the night. In some areas flood warnings have been issued. With the over development of Nassau County why am I not surprised. We a way too crowded.

Posted on Dice.com this morning. Craig's list has been fruitless, but at least it offers some hope.

I was contacted by a headhunter yesterday by email. I think she was just fishing. I sent her my resume anyway. You never know.

The way the job is going, I really cannot wait to leave the company. It is getting bad there. Too much tension and closed door meetings. More so than ever. My wife tells me to sit tight and ride it out. With the way the job market is I really have no choice. So that is what I am doing, riding out the storm to the bitter end unless something better comes along. In the meantime I still have to give it my all no matter what.

Scott Adams cartoon about Dilbert is a real good reflection of the company. I wonder if he has a webcam watching us.

Time to get ready to do battle once more.

'till next time.

4/27/11 - It's hump day!

Hump day, mid week. Over the hump of the week and it is the weekend. Oh happy happy joy joy. Two days  out of the office and doing the clothing change over thing. Sunday looks like that it will be nice.

Yesterday was not bad. Good weather for a change. No rain, no chills, temps in the high 70's (my wife said it 80). The only thing we had was typical Long Island muggy weather. Yuk. I hate it when it is humid. Love the heat but hate the humidity. Then again this is Long Island.

Today promises to be another busy day. Hectic in fact. But the weather is going to be nice which in a way sucks. I have to work indoors so I miss out on the nice weather. Ginger out at lunch is only a tease. When I get home it is too late to really do anything except have dinner then bed.

Spoke to a friend in the U.K. yesterday. He lives near London. They are closing the country for the wedding, a national holiday. He is going to be sure to get far away from there's starting today. Not because of the security, but it is crowded with tourists. More so than normal. He said it I'd hard to move around already. So he is taking a few days and heading to the countryside away from the crowds. Can't say I blame him. He will be back at work on Tuesday. Monday is a bank holiday there as well so take full advantage of it. Two days paid vacation with two days paid holiday and toss in the weekend, great deal.

I received an email from a head hunter last night. Someone in the city. I wonder...

In any case it is time to leave and do battle with self-important morons.
'till next time.

4/24/11 - Happy Easter

Happy Easter to everyone!

Easter Sunday, looking over towards the west I see dark skies threatening rain. The weather forecasters said down pours this afternoon. Yuk. Still a bit chilly but not like it has been. Still not spring weather.

Going to spend a good part of the day doing paperwork. At least I will not be interrupted by phone call after phone call. And this work that I have to do is very critical since it is related to DRP/BCP. Everyone thinks there will be another 9/11 so the whole world is in a panic. So I have my work cut out for me.

Went to church last night so we are not going today. That really frees up the morning.

Spent most of yesterday trying to clean that virus off the computer at work. Brought the drive home and ran several tools on it. I had to use both Linux and a Window live CD on an old laptop that if it gets infected I can wipe out easily with no loss. So far I didn't make much headway. There is a root kit that will not get removed. Symantec did a great job alright. Really horrible anti-virus.

Tomorrow is going to be hell- on-wheels. I am going to be swamped with meetings all day and vendor visits. Better eat a ton of lamb today for the energy.
'till next time.

4/23/11 - Cold wet Saturday

It is totally miserable outside today. Cold and pouring rain. At least there is no snow thank goodness. I doubt spring will ever get here at this rate.

The price of gas has hit a high of $4.25 for regular. Soon it will be at $5. Last time it hit that high was right after Katrina hit the oil rigs. The oil companies put a gun to our heads and ripped us off. Now they are doing it again. If there is any commercial enterprise that should be investigated for ripping off the American consumer it is big oil.

They like to put the blame of the high price on the Mideast oil cartel but we buy very little from them. Maybe 10% at the most. So you know that we are getting hammered.
 
Today we are getting ready for Easter. No young kids so we do not have to do the egg thing. But last minute items have to be bought for dinner tomorrow. We have the lamb already. Talk about small! We has to buy 2 legs instead on one. The are not letting them grow enough. Guess they want to push the volume out. At least the price was reasonable.

'till next time.

4/22/11 - This is not spring!

It has been cold over the past few days. This is not spring by a long shot. I am glad we didn't start the spring clothing change over. Someone has to tell the powers that be winter is over and done with.

Haven't posted on Craigs List in a few days.

The more I learn about Key West is making me re-think about going there. Maybe I should target another part of the country where it never snows.

I'm still not happy at the job. I am so tired of dealing with morons with their heads shoved up their butts. But there are no jobs on Long Island. We have to be as bad as what I am learning about the Keys. I am sure I could get a job flipping burgers for $10 an hour. But that does not come close to what I earn now, not even close. "C" level jobs are beyond hard to get. So I have to deal with the self-important jerks.

Had a doctors appointment in Manhasset, a slight drive from where we live but we've been going to him for sometime. Great doctor, knows his stuff not only that a great personality too. That is very important. Anyway I pass 3 Nassau County police cars parked next to each other with the cops in the talking away. It was obvious it was a b.s. session. You see it all over. Everyone stops what they are doing just to b.s. Nothing wrong with that.

The appointment ran over an hour, things at the doctor got backed up from some issue earlier on. It happens. Left his office, stopped off for a cup of coffee and headed back home. Real exciting stuff. But what is interesting is that when I passed the spot where the cops were, they were still their. No one moved. More of our taxed hard at work.

I've even come across cops dozing in their cars at night. Great protection we have.

Went to the theater last night. The performance was outstanding. But the dinner before hand sucked. Seems like whenever you eat out in NYC you should eat at home first. They put very little on your plate and charge you a fortune for it. But that is NYC for you. Over pricing is the specialty.

It is Good Friday today and the office should be quiet. I need the break. But I am going home early myself. Why not? With the way I am respected there I might as well take advantage of it. Maybe I'll hit Monster dot com or a few other sites like that during the quiet but then again I just might be busy.

'till next time.

4/19/11 - Another Tuesday

Yesterday was very busy at the office. The meetings were boring as usual. Vendors trying to make a sale. When I was younger I would have told them to take a hike but these days I listen to what they are offering. Never know what turns up down the road and their sales pitch may come in handy.

We wrapped up the shooting the video around 1am. We didn't leave until 2ish. I got home and was thinking why go to bed only to be up again in a few short hours. But the sandman caught up with me and won.

The town has a new street sweeper. Nice looking machine but what a crappy job it does. The driver went up and down the street five times and still left a ton of crap behind. Talk about a waste of tax payers money.

Saw the TV article about the city of Patterson acne their financial woes. The mayor asked that the employees take a furlough, that is an unpaid vacation to save some cash. Even he took one himself. I have to admire that. They had to cut 1/4 of the police force. The cops didn't want to play ball and take a furlough. They held their ground so there was no choice but to let them go. Not good. The citizens have been put at risk. But if the cops worked with the mayor they would still have their jobs.

They could have taken a day here, a day there and spread it out so no one got hurt. But because of the stubbornness they are now unemployed.


Anyway it is Tuesday and I have to get ready to go out and do battle once more.
'till next time.

4/17/11 - Palm Sunday

Yesterday it poured cats and dogs in the afternoon.  The wind even picked up to the point that you would think that you were in a gale.  I saw shopping carts get blown across the parking lot.  One gust was so strong it move one of those shopping cart corrals where customers should return the carts.

Not only that...IT WAS COLD!  Where is spring?

During the storm that night we turned off the lights made popcorn and watched a cheesy movie from the late '50s.  to think when it was made that was high drama.  But today it is pure corn.

Sunday was Palm Sunday.  The weather was much better but not perfect.  At least we didn't freeze our tails off like Saturday.

Didn't do a heck of a lot today.  After church we stayed home, putted around the house watched a little TV.  Did some pre-spring cleaning.  That is planning on what we are going to swap out and when.  Big fun.  Try on clothes to see how much we gained over the winter months.  Something I am not looking forward to.

Sent out a few resumes to ads on those job sites.  Never had much faith in them, but gotta give it a try.  Nothing for Key West that is for certain.

I was speaking to one of the women at the office.  Her father moved down there and tells her how depressed it is there.  No jobs.  Only a few are working and those are in the hospitality business.  Like what I spoke about earlier.  She tells me that once the place had plenty of space and you could make a living there.  But now it is so built up with houses on top of each other.  With the large population it is no wonder that jobs there are sparse plus add in the down turn of the economy.  Which by the way I do not see it improving much soon.

Those words from her only helped cement what I have been finding out by using street view and glancing the ads.  Key West just might not be paradise after all.  Maybe if I was ready to retire but now???

Tonight we are going to put on another movie and kick back a bit before calling it a day.  I have a full schedule for Monday.  A vendor meeting, discussing DRP, a meeting with a member of senior management, running over a few thousand lines of programming code, ordering a few computers, meeting with another vendor, diving into a problem with one of our servers, then a full night ahead.

Tuesday is going to be a little better, not by much.  I am going to be in a video and they are shooting it Tuesday evening.  Don't get your hopes up, it is not with any big stars nor will you ever see it on the silver screen or YouTube for that matter.  It is a training video on using some computer hardware.  If you are curious, yes I am the star of the vid.  But don't go out trying to find it.  It is to be used in-house.

'till next time.

4/14/11 - Thursday

Today started out with a chill in the air but later it turned out to be a near perfect day. I'd give it a solid 9. Shame had to work inside on such a wonderful day.

On the way home Tonight we were nearly hit several times by morons in their Mercedes and Other luxury cars. They thought they owned the road. Some even blew through red lights thinking that it was ok for them to go on ahead. We saw a few talking away on the cell phone not paying attention to what they were doing. We nearly bought the farm by one and they had the never to flip us the finger.

I have to admit that it is getting worse by the day around here. Morons with money thing that theirs don't stink behind the wheel of expensive cars. Unfortunately I work with a few just like that. I hate Long Island.
On the flip side of the coin there are a lot of Hispanics here as well. They would be at the other end of the spectrum. They would be the housekeepers, landscapers, cooks, etc. For those with that drive like morons. I hear them outside of the house all night. I am a stranger in my own country. I really hate Long Island.


Had a call for a job today, someone wanted a server architect only I could not understand them very well for they were calling from India. My least favorite country in the world. Too many of our jobs went there putting Americans out of work. Sorry but if you cannot speak clear English and are calling from India, do not waste my time.

It is time to call it a day and grab some dinner and head for the bed. Tomorrow will be another day in paradise.

'till next time.

4/12/11 - Rainy Tuesday

Woke up to overcast skies this morning. They predicted rain and sure enough it started to do so late this morning.  Hope it does not last long.  But better rain than snow any day.

Saw that Texas is having a rough go of it with all the fires.  They have had little to no rain and the brush burns very easily.

Iowa was hit by some bad weather.  Twisters touched down and did quite a bit of damage.  We had three of them here in NY last year.  Something that never happens in NY.

That nut that made the slanderous comment about me in writing went after one of my associates here.  She thinks that she is in charge of repairing the computers.  Like I said earlier she is only a bookkeeper with no technical training or knowledge.  I went to her boss and told her that the reign or terror from the nut has got to come to an immediate end.  Everyone here has had trouble with her.  Big trouble.  But you think I was listened to?  No. I am only a VP, not an accounting officer.  Yep time to look for another job and get the hell out of here.

I used the new version of Google Street View last night and cruised around Key Largo.  Seems that I might have a slightly better chance of landing a new job there instead of Key West.  But like Key West the houses are all on stilts.  Not a good sign.  The next place further north is Miami and from what I hear, that is not the place to be.  A relative was on the job there many years ago and he said it was turning into a little Havana with the influx of refugees.  A friend of my wife went there about two years ago.  She is Spanish and she could not wait to get out.  She said it was so bad that it was like she stepped off the plane in the middle of Havana.  Not a good place.  She even feared for her life.  No good by a long shot.

Had lunch with a V.I.P. and we talked shop, of course.  It was good to get out of the office in any case.

Tonight should be simple.  We are going out to eat.

I was going to make weekend plans but since we are entering Holy Week that kinda puts a halt on them.  We have a few commitments with the church.  Gotta play nice once in a while.

But in the meantime I still have a lot of work to do.

'till next time.

4/11/11 - Boring Monday

Another boring Monday at the office. Worked on a proposal for renovations to our systems which will cost several hundred thousand. I am sure that I will get the money.

It was a perfect day out today. To bad it couldn't be this all the time. But this is New York.

Saw that the NYC school chancellor was forced to resign after only a few months in office. Her mouth runneth over with a degrading comment. Her career is over.

Saw a police officer driving in his cruiser talking on his cell phone. We have a hands free law here, guess he didn't hear about it. But he is not the first. I've seen many on the job doing just that. Some think that they are above the law.

Not going to do much tonight. Maybe watch the tv but is generally a waste since there is nothing on. I just might call it an early night.

'till next time.

4/10/11 - A cold Sunday

Yesterday was next to perfect.  If it was a few degrees warmer then it would have been perfect.  Today is no comparison.  The sky is overcast, chilly, damp in other words, yuk.

Went to church and started to fall asleep during the sermon.  I am probably not the only one.  Now what did he say?

A little talk afterward was the budget crunch that threatened to close down the nation.  They are going to slash programs and hurt the regular American.  Here is an idea, get rid of the over paid politicians, stop wasting money of nonsense projects and items, stop sending billions and billions of dollars over seas and stop fighting other countries wars.  Imagine the amount of money you would save. If I wasn't so honest I should run for office.

Today we are going to start our spring cleaning.  Oh happy happy joy joy, what a lot of fun.  If I am lucky I might just skip out for a spell and find something more productive to do.  Like tossing down a few cold ones.  But with my luck no way will that happen.

'till next time.

4/8/11 - The end of the week

Getting to the end of a long week.  I cannot wait for it to be finally over.

Thursday was very unique.   The woman that made a slanderous remark about me went after one of my assistants.  She told him that she was the boss and in charge of what goes on with the computers.  Mind you she is only a bookkeeper.  Nothing more and nothing less.  Part of her job is to be the admin of a hosted program.  Period.  And she guards that like a hawk.

One of the women here came up to me this morning in a panic.  Her computer was hit by a virus at home.  She was so sick I had to hold her hands to stop her from shaking.  So I had to go there after work to fix it.

Now Friday is here, the end of the week. I am glad it is over. Only a few more hours and I am out of that hell hole of a job for two days.

Looking outside it looks like another damp day. At least I will be indoors.

There is a big project I need to address today as well. I just might keep my office door closed to concentrate on it. I get too many interruptions during the day but will be damned if I work at night on it.  But you never know.  I need the job.

Saw that Google Earth has a new way of incorporating Street View.  Now they bring back the little man icon that you drop onto the streets.  Instead of using the mouse to move around you can use the arrow keys on the keyboard.  Almost like a virtual car.  But it has problems. Since they are piecing individual photos into a 'seamless' photo you get these stretched out images where the breaks in the images have been pieced together.  Not bad but has a way to go.

I used it on Key West for a tour of a few streets.  I have to admit that I am getting more and more disappointed at the prospects of moving down there.  Houses crammed close together, no yards many newer houses are on stilts.  For the few streets that I've seen there is no industry.  At least nothing that would require my talents and skills.  I think the largest employer there is the power company.  There are tons of hotels and clubs.  But I am not in the hospitality industry.

But I will keep on checking the place out.

'till next time.

4/7/11 - Good grief it is Thursday

Almost the end of the week. One more day to go. Can't wait for 5pm Friday.

Yesterday was not too bad. Pretty quiet really. I had a chance to concentrate on high end projects.

Went out at lunch time. It was not bad out there. Went for a nice slow walk to grab something and to enjoy the quiet. There is a woman at the office that I go to lunch with from time to time and was going to ask her to join me. But she was deep in a project on a time constraint and couldn't go. Plus she was getting over a cold and I wouldn't want her to get worse. If she was a few years older or I was a few years younger and not married...

Didn't do a thing last night. Went home, had supper, we watched part of a movie and then to bed. Real excitement. It is nice to call it quits early once in a while.

Today it is dark and rainy outside. Another good day to stay in bed but that does not pay the bills. Have to go into the office and deal with the insanity. Such is life.

Anyway gotta get ready to do battle once again.

'till next time.

4/6/11 - Ready for another day

Woke up to a chill this morning. Sun is shining but there is a true chill. Still am going to go to work without the overcoat.

Dinner last night made us sick. We had my fav and that is corned beef. It was very greasy and I think that is doing a number on our insides. Every year it seems like that the corned beef is getting worse and worse.

I updated my info on LinkedIn last night.  One person that wanted to connect was a recruiter.  I of course accepted.  Who knows what will happen down the path.

I hope to get out of the office on time tonight.  Go home, a quick snack and then to bed...early for a change.

'till next time.

4/5/11 - Ugly Tuesday

Woke up to ugly weather today.  It rained last night and the weather man said it will do so again during the day with high winds.  Even more rain for the rest of the week.  At least I was able to go to work without the overcoat for the first time in a while.

I spoke to the HR woman yesterday about that nut job that made a slanderous statement in writing about me.  I told her that what was done is actionable on my part and we need to discuss if there will be litigation or not. 

She tried to to do a run around but I have the email in my hand.  Told her that the only way to stop any form of law suit is to get rid of that person.  She has a very long history of making trouble for me that is well documented.  She is know to make trouble for several other people as well.  Gotta wonder why they are afraid of her.


I posted again on Craig's List.  I am not hopeful but like I keep saying, you never know.

Did my taxes last night, OMG. Talk about getting slammed by the IRS.  I still feel that it is a waste of time that we have to file 1040's even though the government takes the tax out already.  Look at all the trees we would save by not having to fill out tax forms.


Time to get back to work and dealing with the insanity of the day ahead.

'till next time.

4/4/11 - Nassau County is out of control

I was reading one of my e-papers from my in box the other day and the story was ridiculous. Our current county executive wants to slash jobs to help balance the budget. More jobs lost and higher unemployment for Nassau.

Here is an idea, instead of cutting jobs, cut some of the wages of the over paid politicians.

As an example, the Nassau County police department is the second highest paid department in the United States. Cut some of those wages and you will see a savings.

The teachers in the local public school should also have their wages slashed. They work only 9 months a year and even then it is from 9 to 3. Ok I'll let grading papers slide for a few extra hours. Plus the class sizes are getting smaller and smaller. One year half of the graduating class from the high school was functionally illiterate. And these people demand more money and the budgets get higher and higher. That is to help the teacher buy a new Mercedes every year. I watch then line of them parking in the teachers parking lot on the way to work every day.

Teaching at one point was a noble profession and the teacher made very little. Now they teach the kids to get out of their was as they pick up their 6 figure paychecks.


The roads in Nassau are in need of major repair. Where is the money to do that? In some politicians pockets of being pissed out the window.

If the county executive wants to slash jobs he should do it in his own backyard first and then force the salaries of the high paid workers to be rolled back. We would save a ton of money and keep jobs as well.

'till next time.

4/3/11 - Saturday was a surprise

Yesterday I woke freezing my tail off. It was very cold. As the day went on it was quite nice. No jacket required. I hope today is a repeat.

Couldn't get the taxes done yesterday but will need to do so today. Got no choice.

Not much more to say at this point. But I do have something on my mind about the way Nassau County is being run. Run right into the toilet. That will be later.

'till next time.

4/2/11 - Saturday..it begins

I got up to the cold this morning. It is freezing! I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog that on my way to work it was snowing! Hey this is April and there should be no snow! At least it didn't stick and was gone before I was able to grab a cup of coffee at work.

Typing this blog on the iPad is interesting. I cannot use the regular composer for it will not work with the browser. So I have to do it in clear text and add the tags for the carriage return. Thankfully I know HTML. The auto correct can be a pain and in my previous entries I had it turned off. Even with it on there are errors.

The game plan for today is to sit down and do my taxes. I hate doing that. A royal pain in the ass. Thankfully I use Turbotax which makes it a bit easier. I hope that I don't have to write a check to the IRS. Talk about thieves. They tax those that bust their asses all day and the rich seem to get away without Getting hurt. Then again they have all these tax shelters to protect themselves. I can't afford that.


I am going to try and post my resume on a few job websites today. Most of them are a waste of time, no make that all of them. The jobs do not exist. But you never know. They claim that things are getting better in the job markets.

I was at the store last night picking up a few things. Some customers were beginning to panic about the radiation from Japan. Nothing to be done folks, besides Chernobyl was a lot worse and the radiation from that did not effect us even thou it was detected around here. I never grew a third arm or anything. People have to calm down.

'till next time.

4/1/11 - Been a while

It has been a few days since my last post.  Work has been insane with no end in sight.  At least is is a job and I have to stick it out until something better comes along.

Today is clean up day in the office.  Big deal we gt to wear jeans for the first time and not get yelled at.  Plus we get to top all work for a whole five minutes to clean up.  Then back to work.  Wow I can hardly stand the excitement.

I posted again on Craig's List in hopes of  a new job in Key West.  I know that I am having second thoughts about moving there but if the right opportunity comes around for the right money I would jump at it.

Saw on the news this morning about the newscasters that were released in Libya.  One of them was a woman and she went on how she was brutalized.  Bet you that she was raped as well.  She is not the first by a long shot.  Here it is in that section of the world they demand that the women stay covered head to toe claiming that they are a treasure only to be seen by their husbands.  Yet women over there are brutalized, raped, humiliated, tortured and more all because they are women.  If they try and stand up for their rights they get gang raped and in some cases stoned to death in the streets.  I think they are animals and we should just fly a few B-52's over head filled with nukes and make the place glow at night.

Here is something real sick, Elliot Spitzer has a show on CNN and in one episode he talked about women's rights.  Now that is laugh, he was caught with pants down with a girl that was not his wife.  What about his wife's rights.  He never thought about those.  Talk about a disgrace.  I met Elliot a few years back and what a pompous stuck up ass.  I am glad his wife dumped him.  He was a rotten governor as well.  Not as bad as Paterson but a real close 2nd.

'till next time.