Wednesday, May 31, 2006

2nd Day In Hell, Craziness At Home and Teaching Parents about Technology

It's been a busy day. I was supposed to meet my new employer for breakfast this morning but that didn't take shape. It's okay though because we eventually caught up with each other later and had lunch. So far, I like them. I'm planning to go see them at their offices tomorrow. I had two meetings today to try and help FHMS set up what they want to accomplish. It was amazing how little things have changed... but being in the position I am now in... I can better dictate how things should go. This is a good thing. This means, I might be able to actually get some work done now. When I saw how it was starting to go, I just ... took over the meeting, basically, and told them how we were going to do it. I was surprised at the response... it was pretty much welcomed. They seriously needed direction. They're scared about the migration because they don't know who will support it. But as long as I'm around (and they pay me for my time), I'll help support it.

The other nice thing here is that if I ever get tired of working with them, Unison can move me to another client. Yay! If I don't want to work, I don't... I don't get paid for it... but that makes sense. Anyway... I already said that before.

Earlier today I found out that one of my roommates who had been jobless for a while, finally got a job but within the same hour totaled his car. I felt so bad for him. Especially since the job is all the way on the other side of town. My quandary here (as it often is) is knowing where to draw the line between showing compassion for someone vs. enabling them. He still needs to have a job. It sucks that this happened... but he still needs to help me out if he's going to stay there. I just hope he does the right thing. I love him to death and just want to see him succeed.

Back at work... they want to fingerprint me again. Whee. It sucks but I guess I have to do it this time. I'm not doing it until after I hand over my paperwork to Unison tho. I want to be hired somewhere before they do a background check, find that I had a bad credit rating 4 years ago and decide I'm not bondable or something stupid like that. It's BS. Total BS.

There's other BS going on too in other friends' lives and it pisses me off to see it. Not that I'm a saint, by any means. I have my grand moments of stupidity. We can often see the speck in other peoples' eyes and overlook the log in our own. That's part of humanity, I guess. I try to be humble about it ... but sometimes I'm an ass. But I have good, caring friends that smack me when I need to be smacked and lift me up when I do something right... just as I do for them. Sometimes I get smacked more than I get lifted up... but that's when I'm being stubborn, usually. That's a very Ramsey trait, by the way.

Anyway... I also decided to help my parents install Yahoo Messenger tonite. Since I have the webcam with me and we've talked about it for... oh... forever... I figured now's a good time. *smirk* So... probably about 120 of my minutes for this month are gone now for that. Yay. Oh well. Life goes on. I'll deal with it. Anyway, we got it so they could see my cam and now my dad's motivated to get his working. He thinks it's pretty cool... which of course... it is. *grin*

Anyway, that's about all for now. I'm going to watch a movie or something and relax a bit. More Later.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Back In Denver

Well, today was my first day back at FHMS. I haven't even met my new employer, Unison Systems, yet. All I know is they misspelled my name on most of the forms. I wonder if I should leave it that way and then deny everything later. Hmmm. Anyway... Showed up today and they had a desk with no chair, no phone, no way to log in, no e-mail access, no RDP access, no tools to use (like Aqua Data Studio or VB or anything)... no access to sharepoint. Yeah... that's a lot of no's. Think they were prepared? Heh, whatever. I know what they want. They don't want my abilities, they want my knowledge and then it's adios muchachos. That's okay. $40/hour for every hour worked plus expenses and travel time paid too... why not?

Besides, my employer is Unison and hopefully I can impress them enough to get me something going in Orlando. That would be the bomb-diggity. I'm going to have a long heart-felt talk with my recruiter tomorrow and see where she stands... then we'll see. There were definitely some things I did not understand in the offer letter... stuff like no vacation days... no sick days... gotta find out what that means exactly. That may mean that I can take time off but I just don't get paid. That suits me fine, actually. It seems more equitable to be paid for work that is done... not for me to sit around and do nothing. But then, I have a weird way of looking at things I'm told.

Anyway... they tried to get me everything I needed... but apparently I don't get e-mail. That made me giggle. I figure it's because how direct and to-the-point my last e-mail to FHMS users was. I guess the truth hurt a little. Well, that's too bad. I won't live a life that has falseness to it anymore. I've conformed and I've looked the other way too many times. Done with that. They can just learn to deal with me or not.

Gonna try to get to the Snake Pit at least once or twice while I'm here. Hell, when I return I'm gonna be here for like... 3 weeks. I might be able to spin there if I ask nicely enough. Of course, that means bringing records next time... that could be interesting. Heh. We'll see. I miss my peeps already, though. I miss Twink and Josh, Steven, Kowboi and yes, you too Rob. I miss the cats. I feel isolated out here and I know the next trip is going to be even worse. When I prepare for that one, I'll have to make sure I bring everything I need for an extended stay.

I hope the boys take care of the house. I hope they also do what they said they were going to do. It's hard being away from home like this. I'm not so worried about this trip as I am the next one. That will be a rough one. At least I'll get a reprieve the weekend of June 16th. Not sure how I'm going to work that yet but I'll figure it out. It'd be nice to bring some people up here with me next time even for a short visit. That would be pretty cool. I don't know how I'll afford the car for the next trip, though. Gawd. What did I get myself into?

Blah.. enough of that. The one thing I do know is that this will hopefully enable me to continue to work as needed to get money in the door and pay the bills so that my coffers, the money I've saved, need not be used for that and can be used for the business. That's the plan anyway. Wish me luck. Well, I'm tired and going to bed. More later.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Saturday

So the weekend is here. Whoop! Placed another order from DBI last two nights ago and I'm working on a new order from Watts today. We're also getting some Kaleidescope records in too from another source. Life is good. The adwords account is done, all the promotional stuff for orbital grooves has been sent off, the contract is done to send to Yellow Brick Management, made a few more contacts... the groove pool is gettin' bigger. :) Life is pretty alright.

Last night I spent the night with Kowboi diggin' into old music we listened to growing up. It was fun to share that with him as his musical tastes are as wide and varied as mine. It reminded me of several nights doing the same thing with Twink. I miss just hangin' out with her, listening to music and shooting the shit. These days it seems like there's always some plan or agenda we're dealin' with. Business stuff, usually. We all need a party to go to ... or we need to go out to the beach and just chill. Somethin!

I've figured out more about this keyboard. I had to get a new sustain pedal for it since the one I had didn't work with it. Hopin' to get back to writing music again soon, too. But with work in Denver coming up and stealing an entire month from me... it's gonna be difficult.

Today, my plan is to get the Watts order completed, work on some tracks and then tonight I'm going to see Scooby and KK. I miss them too. Haven't seen them in a hot minute and I'm looking forward to it. It will be good to see Logan too... I imagine he's quite the character now at 9 months.

Well, that's all for now. More later.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Monthly Update ...

Blah,

I keep forgetting about this place. I'd like to keep this place updated more often but I let my life keep me pretty busy, as usual. So, what's happened in the last month... a lot actually. But a lot can happen in that amount of time, now can't it? Let's see, the last time I wrote in here was April 11th. Okay, here goes.

Okay, since the breakup with Paul, I've pretty much said "screw it" to relationships. Most of the fuckers that come after my ass are interested in just that.. my ass... and nothing else. So whatever. That's not a relationship. That's just sex. Not that I have anything against sex... but at my age and with my experience... what's the point of doing that with someone I don't care about and who doesn't care about me? Doesn't mean I don't get lonely or horny.. shit... I'm still human... but I can deal with those feelings without going crazy.

I have two additional roommates now. Kowboi and Steven. They are good guys, young, unexperienced (even though they think they know it all), but good guys none-the-less. I've had the chance to really get to know them both and it's probably been the best experience in roommates ever, so far. They're helpful, thoughtful, respectful... it's a good thing.

We got the e-commerce engine going on the website for plurrecords. We've gotten shipments of records, mailers, stickers... getting ourselves all set up. No business yet, but that just takes time, patience and promoting ourselves... letting the world know we're here and able to serve them. That's my next project: establishing relationships with people that can help us get our name out there while we help them in some way. We're also planning a big promotional event too, too get pepole to realize that we're here. So... as you can imagine, life has been pretty busy.

I threw a party for Heather and Laura's birthday. That was fun. It was nothing huge... they aren't very big these days, but that's not what's important. The big party is coming up... that's at a venue that can handle it. It will take some major work to pull it off, but it can be done and I think I have the right people around me to help me make it happen.

My life is starting to make sense to me again. This is a very good thing. I've been very confused about myself and my life for a long time and that confusion is finally clearing up. I've been looking for my motivation, my raison d'etre and I believe I finally found it in plurrecords. I've not been this focused, this determined, this clear-headed in a long time. I could sit here and wish I had done this a long time ago... but that's pointless and wastes precious time. So, why bother?

I left GCS. I left them with a nice little letter too that described exactly how I felt about their practices. Since then I've been going full-force on plurrecords (as well as finally taking some time for myself). It's been a good thing. Not accepting any bullshit anymore and making sure that people live up to my expectations or they don't need to be in my life. Not trying to be mean there... just being honest with myself and what makes me happy.

Went to Hell City, a tattoo festival in Ohio, with Josh and Liz. That was great. I got to meet the guy who did Josh's horns and found out he also does elf ears. That's something I plan on doing when I get the opportunity, you can count on that. I think they look cool and I can hide them when I want or show them off and adorn them when I want. Also got a tattoo of the company logo on my shoulder... Liz did too. She's just as committed to this as I am, even with all her other committments to her family. I am very thankful and grateful for having such good friends in my life. They've been very patient and understanding and I can't thank them enough for it. My thanks to them will come soon, though... and it will be big... that I promise.

Rob and I are starting to get better, I think. When we don't try to dissect "what went wrong" and simply move forward with our lives, we get along better. This is a good thing. I hope this trend continues because the stress isn't good for anyone, that's for sure. It drives people away, in fact.

Well, there's more to talk about, but a lot of it has already been said or doesn't need to be said here. I'm gonna try (ha!) to keep this more updated. We'll see, right?

Peace,
Jenna