It's Time to Bury the Hatchet

Yep.

Here's To The End, Here's To The Beginning

My time at CRI in Findlay, Ohio is over. My first post-college job as a professional programmer was an interesting mix of learning, challenges, and stress. I moved out of my house, I made some new friends, and I learned a lot about myself in the last three years.

Now my attention turns to a whole new set of awesomeness. I get to work a job doing more of what I love (front-end and some back-end web development) in a smaller company, in beautiful downtown Perrysburg. I will be living less than five minutes away from my job (a mirror of my situation in Findlay). What is not to love here?

I looked at an apartment today in the Three Meadows community in Perrysburg. Bingo. Ideal. What I chose is a one bedroom, second-story apartment that is a considerable step up from my dinky hole at Sandusky Square. I will be living in a very nice neighborhood, close to work, in a great city, close to my family and friends - honestly, the next few years of my life should be goddamn awesome.

B3 out.

Let's Review, Shall We?

Oh how I love weeks like this:

• Tomorrow is my last day at CRI. Enough said, I think.
• My sister is visiting this week, and I am looking forward to seeing her, even if it is just for dinner or so at the most.
• I get a little time to transition into my new job, so I will be getting around and ready for that Thursday and Friday.
• This weekend is looking great weather-wise, so I plan to hang out with a couple of friends and spend a whole shit-ton of time outdoors. Biking, perhaps?
• And of course, next week kicks off with my new job.

Fantastic.

B3 out.

Co-Co-Combobreaker

In terms of relationships, I absolutely consider myself to be a fair, logical, and sensible person - not terribly romantic overall, although I used to be in high school. What I am looking for in a relationship right now - as a twenty-six year old successful male - is not unconditional love, but something that is balanced between our careers, our personal time, and our own mutual interests as a couple. In short, I want a relationship where each person involved does not require the relationship for personal happiness.

Do I want to spend every free minute of my time with my significant other? Hell no. Do I want to visit my friends - men or women - on a regular basis? Yes. Does my significant other have to understand or be involved in every aspect of my life? Absolutely not. Of course, I would hope that my significant other shares these ideals. I have not yet found one who does.

I am not entirely cold-blooded, if that is the notion you are taking away from this rant. With the right girl, I can definitely be as romantic, loving, and caring as the best of them.

However, what I may be lacking at the moment is confidence. With my life becoming very stagnant over the last few years, I have lost some of my focus on the above ideals. I have lost what makes me happy.

Given all the changes coming up in my life, I hope that I regain the confidence I need to pursue a strong, healthy relationship down the road.

B3 out.

Rebuilding B3

The me I once knew - and almost everything that B3 stood for in my high school and college days - is part of a past full of drama, mistakes, love, hate - just about everything but regret (life is too short to regret). Unfortunately, some of the better parts of me were left in that past.

I have grown stale over the last few years, complacent in all the worst ways. My job has been good to me, my friends have been great, and I have accomplished a lot personally and professionally, but I have not felt the same genuine excitement, creativity, compassion, and boldness that I once did ten years ago. I am now at a point in my life where I have a chance to rebuild myself.

With so many new opportunities entering my life at once, I am saying this to everyone right now: I am looking forward to the coming change in my life, and I hope I come out a much better person for all that is happening to me in the coming weeks and months.

In all the best ways possible, I want to be genuinely excited for my future. I want to be extraordinarily creative again. I want to be a caring, thoughtful, loving person again. I want to be bold, brave, and confident - something I have lost thanks to me not getting out enough on the weekends.

Everything is changing, and I love it.

B3 out.

To Infinity, And Beyond!

And now the severity of my situation punches me in the gut.

I am changing.

While a part of me is scared to death about all the changes coming over the next few months of my life, the vast majority of me is excited beyond any expressible means. For me, change tends to come in large, chaotic, sweeping waves (versus small, calculated twitches). In my case, I have had a great run of fortune in 2011. My studies have been going well, my hard work on my personal projects have definitely paid off, I am switching to a fantastic new job in my ideal city (seriously, Perrysburg), I am reconnecting with an old friend that I truly missed over the years, I am improving my health every day - this list can go on and on.

Not since graduating college have I felt so positive about my life, and yet at the same time, I find myself in a kind of reflective state: "Am I doing the right thing?" Interestingly enough, I ask myself this question at every major juncture in my life, but this time I am paying almost no attention to the "what if" scenarios. I am moving forward, goddammit, and I have no intention of second-guessing myself back into a corner while ignoring the possibilities of all that could be: a new job, a new home, new friends, and infinite happiness.

B3 out.

Change Comes, I Go

Having informed all the proper people, I can now safely make this announcement:

I am leaving my current job, Corporate Research International, and starting at a wonderful company in Perrysburg called Computol.

I. Am. Thrilled.

First, I can definitely say that I had a wonderful time at CRI. Having been my first post-college job, CRI helped me learn a lot about programming, project management, and being a valuable co-worker. Despite some occasional problems (lots of overtime work, for example), I am taking a positive experience away from CRI, and I thank them for allowing me to work at such a diversified company.

I am shifting gears, however, to a much more IT-oriented company, which will let me grow and expand my craft in ways that I did not feel comfortable doing at CRI. Even better, I expect to be learning new technologies, primarily Microsoft-based, at a very accelerated rate, which is fantastic: everyone knows how much I love learning new tech.

The next two months will be a time of transition for me (bye bye, Findlay!), but they will at least be an exciting two months.

B3 out.

It's April: How Are My Goals Coming Along?

It is month number four of twelve, and that means the year is about a third of the way over. Am I a third of the way complete with my goals? Ha! Here is where I stand:

Become a Better Developer

Through projects at work and personal projects at home, I have learned quite a bit about "the basics" of programming. I have learned a little RegEx, a few new algorithms, and new best-practices in a few languages. I really want to become better with RegEx, so I will be focusing on that for the remainder of the year.

Learn More ASP.NET / C#

I am doing .NET full-time at work now, so this is almost a moot point. In the last two weeks alone I have created a bunch of new ASP.NET classes and objects for my projects, which has been a harrowing-but-exciting learning experience.

Build My Portfolio

The BrandonBruno.com redesign was one of my big portfolio projects. Along with it is Recipe Manager for my family. Coming up: a cutting-edge CSS3 / HTML5 / jQuery demo site and version two of Zombies!!!

Write Two Short Stories

As usual, my writing career has taken a backseat to my programming career, but I have begun one major writing project that will output far more than just two short stories, although I will likely only have two done by the end of the year. I will be spending a lot of time this summer writing.

Blog More Often

Blogging comes and goes as much as my writing does, but I definitely think I am falling behind the times lately. I need to catch up on this.

Finish 40 Pounds Down

Nope, not until the warmer weather gets here. Oh wait, there it is.

All in all, I have some work to do, but I am definitely confident in getting my goals completed this year.

B3 out.

There's a Light, and Hopefully It's a Spark

It is no secret among my friends that I have been busy with work: tomorrow begins week six of another 50 - 60 hour work week. There is light at the end of the tunnel within the next two weeks, however, so I am really pushing hard to get through my busy schedule.

I will make this admission: I did not always have to be as busy as I am. A portion of my extra work hours were by no means the "required" overtime, but rather extra time that I have been spending to studying for my projects; learning new ASP.NET best-practices, tinkering with custom reports, etc. To be honest, I simply want to give my employer the best work that I can, so the extra time is certainly worth it. I am leaning a lot, after all.

Once I am out of the woods and able to get back to a more-normal schedule, I have some major things planned: first and foremost, rearranging my "normal" schedule. With spring slowly-but-surely bringing Northwest Ohio out of a bitter ice age, I will be spending more time outside. Secondly I will be tackling the next set of my 2011 goals, especially the item that reads "write a goddamn short story for fuck's sake." I was actually working on two pieces of short fiction right before work cranked up and took over my life, so I will be getting back to those soon. I am going to be making a big push this spring to find inspiration again - to find a spark for my dead creative flame.

Two weeks. I am counting two weeks, at the most, to my freedom and a total reset of my schedule.

B3 out.