redkanga

Well here is a list of things that suck today (in no real order):

• Working at night
• Having no money
• Having too much to do around the house
• Being totally unsatisfied with how this site looks

To start, I’m kinda over my current job. It’s not the people I work with, it’s not what I actually do (although I really loathe disconnecting, moving and reconnecting pc’s when that is what we’re doing) — it’s the fact that I don’t really do what I am best at (sysadmin, network admin, desktop support, etc.) and I am therefore underpaid for what I know (and maybe for what I do but that is another debate). I particularly dislike working nights. I worked nights for over 3 years before I got laid off from my last position. After I was laid off, I transitioned to being a day person. I liked it. During my employment haitus, I got up, looked for work, did stuff around the house, made dinner, ate dinner with Katie and had a nice evening. I was tired of looking for work and because of a good friend, I ended up as a Data/Telecom Technician (a nice way of saying that I install voice and data cabling for a living). I was really into it for a while, but I am now at the point that I really need to get a real job (meaning one that pays more than I make now, which really isn’t that much money) or get a pay raise (I’m looking for red satin knee pads and pink glitter lipstick to use at my next review). I realize know that I know much more than most of the IT guys that I end up doing work for. It is difficult to keep quiet about what is wrong with their routers and switches when they are trying to fix them… and if I do say anything I get a dirty look from the guys I am working with and the look on the face of the IT guys is priceless because I’ve usually told them exactly how to fix their problem.

So working at night, working at my current job really, leads me to the next item: having no money. Between me and Kate, we currently bring in about 50% of what I made before. I actually took my current job for less per hour than what my unemployment worked out to. Now, to be fair, my current employer gave me a 15% raise at my 3 month review (which was 3 months late and was therefore called my 6 month review). However, the fact remains that I make about 1/3 of what I used to make. Katie and I did really well for the first six months of my current job, but the last 6 months have been a slow downward spiral into the poorhouse. This is kinda depressing. As my 1 year anniversary with my current employer nears I wonder what the future has in store… I wonder if I am really doing as well as I think that I am and if I will get a pay increase that is anywhere close to what I think I should be making (at least at my current job).

So having little spare money (who has spare money anyhow?) and working as much as I can (with only the occasional Saturday requested off for family events) it is really tiresome to work on the house. I really have a lot that needs to be done. I need to do all the finish work on the bathroom remodel. I need to get new screens made to replace the ones that Java ate in the front bedroom. I need to clear out the other half of the backyard so that I can roto-till it and plant new grass on both sides. I need to get the front yard looking halfway decent. I need to take down the fan blades on all 4 fans in the house for cleaning and then put them back up. I need to plan out a new electrical system for the house and rewire the it (4 old-school glass fuses just don’t cut it for all of the crap we have). And these are just the things that I can list off the top of my head. I’m sure that if I really thought about it I could make a 2 or 3 page list of stuff that I need to get done.

So that leaves me with something that I actually can control. The way this site looks. I was going for a retro-50’s look, but I don’t think I really achieved it. I’ve got a new banner made, but I think I am going to modify it a bit and write a nice wordpress theme for the site. I don’t know where I will find the time, but I will do it soon.