Laboring To Be Human

I've always lumped Labor Day into a generic group of holidays that are anything but to me. Don't get me wrong, I fully understand the point of Labor Day, Columbus Day, MLK Day, President's Day, etc. etc. But truth be told, my family has almost zero tradition of doing anything for these holidays. Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are generally the only holidays that see real celebration, namely because they are "the big three" - holidays that seemingly all of America celebrates.

So for this Labor Day weekend, I'm doing nothing more than my usual: working, working, and working.

I'm also trying my hardest to plan ahead for some things that I would like to roll into my daily routine. First and foremost, I'm spending a couple hours outside everyday, mainly to enjoy the tail-end of summer, but more so to prepare myself for a daily, schedule exercise routine. I'm not talking about lifting weights or running five miles. I'm looking to take 30 minutes to an hour out of my day to be active - either lightly or extremely. Fall will be a great time to do this, as I will have a variety of things to do. Come winter, I will have to be a little more diligent about it (probably spending time at the Community Center).

Also, I'm ramping up my job search after being rather dormant for the past month. With everyone back to school, I'm hoping to get more time poured into my job search, and I'm trying different avenues of seeking openings (newspapers are a wonder!). Still, I'm not terribly excited about moving up in the world, especially since my skillset is apparently not up to anyone's standards. Thanks, BGSU.

I'm also experimenting with some new toys. I will elaborate later, but the short list looks like this: Chandler for organization, Google Sites for quick and dirty information sharing, and Apache on Ubuntu for finally hosting my own web server! Fun times!

Now I'm off to bed for a long Labor Day at Meijer!

Late Yet Again

I've always been a late bloomer with a lot of things in my life, but lately I've been amazed at the number of things that I have accepted as "normal" for me. Chief among the things that I "like" now includes reading. Yes, reading. I've never, ever liked reading in my life, outside of all the times that I was forced to like it for the sake of school. Granted, I've only read two books since my new addiction has begun, but I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. For as much as I have loved writing creatively in the last decade, I never have enjoyed a good fiction read. Now my favorite book thus far is "Dreaming In Code" by Scott Rosenburg - a non-fiction piece!

It's weird and new for me still, but I'm finding that I am more organized, sharper to wit, and happier to kill my free time with a book. I'm not sure if my reading style is traditional or unique. I still don't like sitting down with a book for hours on end - I have too many other things to do - but I do enjoy killing ten or fifteen minutes every so often throughout my day with a book. I look forward to my breaks and lunches at Meijer for the sake of reading.

Most interestingly, I'm a fast reader. I always have been quick with reading, but when I really enjoy a book, I cruise through it (albeit, in those little tiny chunks I just mentioned). I'm oddly interested in all sorts of books too: fiction, non-fiction... and I'm rereading one of my old textbooks right now (of course, this is for learning purposes too -- that in a near-future post!).

So all told, I'm kicking myself: why now do I enjoy reading? Why couldn't I have loved it this much back in college, when it mattered a lot more?!? Why couldn't I have enjoyed something that I needed to do pretty much every night for five years?

Well, I suppose there are some drawbacks to being a late bloomer.

Out.

Updates, Updates, and... Not So Much

Until something utterly world-changing happens in my life, I'm pretty sure that Critically Correct is on a bi-monthly update kind of schedule. Luckily for me (and my loyal fan base - all three of you!), some rather neat things are worth blogging about.

First, a general update on the summer. The last couple of weeks have been mostly the usual: WoW, Colleen, and work. As it has been since graduation, I don't mind this routine at all, especially since I'm so ingrained and comfortable. I do find that I'm a rather money-saving whore, however. I have never in my life been this thrifty over a summer. Three years ago I can remember blowing every last penny I earned every week on friends, food, and games. This summer I'm barely pushing past $60 a week in expenses, which has helped to beef my savings account up fairly substantially. Colleen might argue with this practice (I am rather stingy with spending on her and I when we are out), but I'm simply making sure that I'm totally prepared for the coming near-future with bills and loan repayments.

So despite not having as much fun as I would like, I am looking forward to new work. I have my foot in the door at several quality places right now, and both potential jobs excite me quite a bit... either one requires me to learn new skills rather quickly, although I'm most importantly working on ASP.NET, which brings me to...

This week begins school for some of my friends at BGSU. Interestingly, I'm sort of going back to school myself this week. Ever since graduation I have been wanting to get into a stable, weekly routine of honing my skills and expanding my computer science knowledge. I've choosen to remain fairly social, however. With school beginning, I'm adding several events to my calendar that see me working on further learning on a scheduled, weekly basis - just like classes. First up, I'm beginning this week by starting an ASP.NET project that will take two or so weeks to complete, and I'm committing at least 5 to 6 hours a week to it, pushing aside WoW and my social life if need be. I have to keep learning, and I have to take the time out of my life to do it.

Despite the desire to continue learning, I still have lots to look forward to in my free time. Tomorrow *might* see the release of Super Mario RPG on the Wii Virtual Console - a game that I hold so dearly close to my heart that it might as well be a child of mine. I have 800 Wii Points reserved for such an occasion. That will certainly keep me busy for a few more weeks, which is perfect, because on September 7th, Spore is released for the PC, and despite minimal initial interest in the game, I'm now fully behind the hype machine and ready to drop the $50+ on it. I think it'll be a unique experience.

With that, I'm anxiously awaiting word on my potential jobs. If one pans out (like I think it will), then I'm going to be working in a cozy little city just down I-75 from BG, which will allow me to see all sorts of disposable income find its way into my wallet. If my other job pans out, I will see a significant pay increase, along with a move into central Michigan (although this would be really sad for my social life, not to mention Colleen). But still, I went to college primarily to prepare for a decent job outside of retail, and I am making that my first priority above all else right now.

Oh, plus I can use the money to fund my WoW addiction. Figures.

B3 out.

Stress: Terminated

Something unbelievably amazing happened in the last 24 hours, and it has entirely changed my outlook on the future.

My parent's - whom I couldn't possibly love enough right now - paid half of my student loan back all at once. This cuts my responsibility in half come November 2nd of this year. In fact, they are still going to pay half of that payment, which leaves me with a minimum dedication of just $100 a month for my student loans. Unbelievable. I'll be thanking them for months to come, although I already started by promising at least $200 a month beginning November, reducing their load.

Suddenly I'm not fearful of being "jobless" come November. Meijer is an excellent job, for sure, but it would not suffice once my loans start pouring in. In fact, Meijer would not cover a damn thing for me after considerations are made for insurances (health, dental, vision, car), bills (cell phone, car payment, student loan, however small it is now), and the eventual desire to leave home (rent/mortage, daily expenses, etc.).

So despite the fact that I still need a far better job than Meijer to get by on my own, I'm not nearly as stressed about what the next year will look like - no matter what happens, I should still be able to get by just fine until I can eventually get myself into a comfortable position to get a solid job.

Whew.

B3 out.

A Few Comments About Religion

I am an atheist, of course, and most of my friends make light of this fact. Atheists tend to get a generally bad rap in society, thanks no doubt to some past history. It's sometimes readily apparent that our nation of hypocritical politics extends to religion: the First Amendment protects freedom of religion, yet having no religious beliefs at all seems to be a problem for a lot of groups. For one, I've been told more than once by those of Christianity that because I'm atheist, I'm going to go to hell after I die. Really? I'm going to end up in a place that I don't even believe in? That takes guts to say to my face.

I think a lot of atheists are frowned upon because there is an image that portrays atheists as wishing to abolish and speak out against organized religion. To me, those atheists are idiots. I could care less what any one person believes in. I just want to believe what I want to, and without being told that I'm wrong. I don't hassle people for their religion, and I respect the views of all others --- and I expect the same in return. Sadly, this isn't the case... and because I feel as though I'm in a minority, I tend to keep my atheism quiet; unless of course, I'm asked about it!

I overheard a couple at Meijer arguing about their religions earlier today, and this short write-up has been on my mind since then.

Out.

Updates From The Summer Front

I'm obviously not a big blogger this summer... hell, looking at me total posts for all of 2008, I'm not even near a quarter of all the posts that I published in 2007. I blame this mostly on school: my final semester at BGSU was every bit the hellish, busy, monster that I thought it would be, and my writing (both fiction and blogging) was the first thing to go.

Now with summer here, I've made it my goal to just relax to the max. I've poured five years of hard work into BGSU, and before I go sniffing for a job all over the country (in search of the American Dream, no doubt), I'm taking this whole summer off to relax. I originally planned to write a few Windows applications, learn some new technologies (well, I am doing that, actually), and write like my life depended on it.

Instead, Wii, WoW, and nature are sucking up all my time.

So I'm working on getting BACK into the groove that I should have been all along. It's not a matter of if, but when... I'll eventually be back to my old, productive self... eventually. Without further ado, some updates:

• I'll start off with a success: I am learning a few new technologies this summer, and I'm enjoying the experience quite a bit! Seeing how many jobs out there actually use Microsoft technology, I'm working to learn ASP.NET, and in order to bring my web skills up to date, CSS as well. Both technologies are very easy to learn, kind of fun to use, and CSS outright rocks. I'm never going to use full-blown tables for webpage layouts again. CSS is a fundamental shift for me in designing webpages, and I'm glad I learned it. I also recently took up Javascript as well, and I'm well on my way to integrating that into my growing list of skills.

• I'm contemplating writing a series of short stories - something quick, that will allow me to push through a short piece without losing interest, while still allowing for a longer narrative to be told. I'm really stuck, because half of me wants to draw on past experiences, and the other half wants to unleash inner ghosts that have hundreds of things to say. I'm just not sure which way to go yet.

• I've done some really crazy things lately. First, a geek thing: As many people know, I'm not a big fan of Windows Vista... In fact, I've sworn to upgrade my parents to Ubuntu before they see Vista installed on their computer. But in fact, my favorite operating system is good old XP - why fix that ain't broke? So I finally got around to doing something wonderful: I've created a custom version of Windows XP that does not require a CD, nor activation, while still maintaining all the latest updates from Microsoft (Service Pack 3, IE 7, Media Player 11, etc.). Essentially, a version of Windows that I can use privately ad-nauseum without worrying about those damn product activations all the time. I also tweaked it a bit to cut some crap out (extra software, drivers, languages), and put some bonus stuff in (decent themes, commonly used software - Firefox, OpenOffice.org, etc.).

• Also, I signed up for a deviantART account. I've been skipping around the web for years, always noticing tiny bits of the web served up from or pointing to deviantART... and I said "what the hell? Why not try it?" So I did. I'm not the insanely artistic person that I once was, but I still have some interesting bits that I would like to put out there (including some that might make your jaw hit the floor twice over).

• I'm horribly content with Meijer as a job right now... which is halfway scary. With big payments coming up in November (it's been three months already!? Halfway there!), and a growing sense of urgency to move out of my parent's house, I'm really wanting a good job. And yet, since Meijer pays the bills and then some so well, it's hard to really be stressed about a job right now. To be honest, I want to do some more learning before I dive into the workplace: namely, I want to learn the technologies that I'm working on, and perhaps get a Microsoft Certification or two. I *am* plugging away on these goals, however, unlike some others that I've had (*cough*fiction*cough*).
  

But all in all, I'm enjoying my summer quite well, although to be honest, I think the upcoming school semester will be good for me. No, no, I'm not going back to BGSU, but a lot of my friends are, and I plan to take more time for myself for both personal reasons and professional reasons. Of course, I will be helping my remaining friends at BGSU get through their last year as smoothly as possible. Graduating feels good... trust me on that!

With that, B3 out.

The Week Ahead

I have quite a busy week ahead of me, the least of which is obvious: returning to work. But aside from that, what else do I have to do?

• Job Search: I'm read to crank my job search into high gear, and I'm setting aside lots of time this week to do tasks related to getting a decent job beyond Meijer: updating my resume, looking for quality posted openings, etc.

• Skills Update: If a job search is only half the battle in finding a job, then keeping my skills up to date is the other half. I'm spending a good portion of this week expanding my skill-sets in two key areas: I'm continuing my ASP.NET education and learning JavaScript at the same time.

• Reading: I want to eventually get back to writing fiction on a regular basis, especially since I haven't done a word of it since I graduated. I'm trying to get back in my creative groove by reading one of my favorite books, Jurassic Park, this week.

• Nature: Given the awesome weather we have been having, I feel bad for not getting outside enough. I'll be finding time this week to spend outside, either for my own personal enjoyment or for my mental health, whichever I find to be the most important.

Anywho, with that, I'm off to bed for work in the morning :-( My five days off have been wonderful(ly short), but I'm halfway looking forward to going back to Meijer... weird.

B3 out.