New Year's Eve's Year in Review

So here it is, New Year's Eve. Since I live on the East Coast of the US of A, I have a little over 14.5 hours till the bell chimes midnight. So I thought that this would be a great time to write about what has happened over the entire year. I mean it couldn't be that much right? So here it is, 2008 in review as from my point of view.

This year was a year of first. It was the first time in my life that I have witnessed, and felt the affects of a finacial recession. This year I met tons of new people, my fellow DIC Heads at http://www.dreamincode.net, as well as connecting with old friends from years past. I also started blogging, although sparse, I still try to do it. I was playing for my church as well as trying to write some songs on my own. Things were tight financially, but we made it through. There were times to laugh, times to cry like when it was anounced that a member of our church accidently ran over and killed his 9 year old daughter. There were times of fights, mainly with the wife, and times of peace. We saw tons of stuff in the news about people going missing from cruise ships, as well as having modern day pirates attach ships in Africa. We elected our first black president, and saw other politics crash due to scandals. There were just so many things that happened this year that I am glad to say, "See ya 2008!! Welcome 2009!!! You better bring a load of new, and good things for me this year."
So walking into 2009 where do I stand? Well, the person I voted for is not going to be president, I have no money in my pocket, with no raise coming in '09, and a small raises closing out the year. I am behind on my car payment, and was notified my my insurance company that my policy was cancelled. My wife is pregnant with number one, and having issues with the pregnancy. I have had family break promises, and the government keep them. Yes, that is backwards right? We got the stimulus package, and more money for school than I thought I would get. So I can walk into 2009 waiting for money from school to come to me to the tune of 5k+.
So all in all, 2008 sucked, and 2009 better be better than 2008. Hope you have a great, happy and safe New Year's and look forward to venting to you all next year!

Christmas Eve

So here it is...it's Christmas Eve, and I am sitting at work waiting for the clock to strike 12:30 pm est so I can get the heck out of here. All I have done today is run my normal reports, and my update query to make sure that everything is fine for a project of mine next year! Now, for the last three working days of the year, I will be at all supervisors beck and call to write queries and formulate reports for them. The part that sucks really bad is that it could take that entire time to just figure out what they need! I hope not. I hope that for the 3 days that I have to work between now and New Year's will be slow and smooth sailing! Oh wait...I have a half day on New Year's Eve. Looks like only 2.5 days left for working for me!! Then, on January 2nd, I will be here all alone. Everyone in my department, there is only 4 of us, is taking off. Guess I will be blogging that day, and praying I don't go insane!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Dang it's Cold Out

So I wake up today, pop a cough drop in my mouth, as I head out the door for the bus. As I step out the door with said cough drop in mouth, I take a breath, and feel this icey chill go down my throat and into my lungs!! My first thought is "Man, it is cold out here"! As I keep breathing, I notice that I can not get the chill out of my airway, or lungs. So I deal with it till the bus comes. Eventually, I get to work, after 30 minutes of freezing my toes (among other things) off, only to find that the facilities personnel had yet to turn on the heaters for my department. I mean, it's bad enough that there are only 4 of us in the department, so it is normally cold, so we don't need the extra help on the freezing part. Not to mention I am wearing short sleeves today. So, I get in, and decide to check the weather outside. No, I did not do that before I left. I find out that it is 15 degrees outside with a wind chill of -2 degrees. It would not have mattered if I had not been sucking on a cough drop or not, I would have still frozen my lungs. So here I sit, starting to get freezer burn, and frost bite on my fingers and toes. Each press of the key board is very painful! THIS STINKS!!! Hope you are all warm!

Ahh....this Sucks again

So here I am at work, like normal, bored out of my skull. The people that I normally talk to, are not available to talk. Ones hubby just got home from being away for a death in the family, another has a mean boss that won't let her relax, and others are just simply not available to chat. I have no work to do since 99% of my project will not start until after 1/1/2009!

Wow...1/1/2009...it's only a few days away. Here we are, we have less than 2 years left till we will have completed the first decade of the new millenium. Looking back thus far over the past 8 years, a lot has happened. Most recently, we voted in our first, non-native born black president. We have hit a recession, and other things have happened like the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001. Have you forgotten what happened that day? I sure haven't. Each day, I think about how I will be with family and friends over the holiday, and can't help but to think about all those that lost their lives then. Today was a cool day for me. I went to one of the other departments, and signed about 20 cards that will be heading to our troops overseas.

Well, time to get back to doing nothing.

Gosh this Sucks

Ok, so as well all know by now....the good 'ole US of A is in a freaking recession. The only issue I have is that I HAVE A MINI CODER ON THE WAY AND CAN NOT PAY MY BILLS!!! This sucks! I have a good steady job, but can not make ends meet. The worse part is that I can not find help. Can't go to the bank and get a loan to consolidate my loans, even a private student loan. I have had so much stress on me that I am drinking again, at least not as much this time, but just enough to let me start relaxing again. I don't want to live at times because I know that my wife would have a lot of money if I wasn't here. I have stopped playing for my church, pawned everything that I have of value, and started to look for a second job. Yes, that would mean that I am working 60 hours+ a week, in school for 40 hours a week, and having to deal with a pregnant woman full-time till March. Not to mention that she is sick, and I have to get her meds, but I only have $8 to last till next friday when I get paid. Getting paid used to be such a joy. I loved it. Now, I dread it. Everytime I get paid, it evaporates into thin air. Of course I am in this situation because of stupid choices I have made, but does my wife and un-born child have to suffer because of me? Why is God letting this happen to me? Why can't I find help from somewhere? Is anyone there to help me, to pick me up when I am down? I have done it for so long to everyone else, I just wish that once someone could help?

Just Shoot Me

So here it is, Tuesday night, and I am sitting in class, and I am bored off my rocker. The professor for this class is a douche bag and a half. I have tried to explain things in an easier fashion then what he is doing, and it is not working!!! I have been bored off my butt the whole class. I can not believe that he is this bad. On top of class sucking majorly, the wife got a call the other day from the doc that the baby is not in the right place. He is a little too low in the tummy. It is a concern of theirs, and if he does not move to the right place, then he will be delivered by c-section. Oh well....at least I still have my brain, for now!!!

This Day Sucks....

So today has started off on the extremely wrong foot. First off, I wake up to find that the country I love, America, is filled with complete idiots. We have elected an non-native born, muslim to run our country. Flame me if you want, but just because he is black doesn't mean that we owe him the election.
The second thing is that a classmate was being a complete jerk to me last night. I was dealing with things, and didn't need someone picking on me all night.
Then this morning, I drive into work because I have to leave early, and get into a freaking accident on the way in. This guy was freakin tailgating me, and rear-ended me. Thankfully there was no damage to my car. His however, has a messed up grill!!! That's what you get for tailgating.
So what is up with all the "African-Americans" cheering "We Won"? Last time I checked two things were wrong with my last statement. First off, 97% of the so-called "African-American" do not hail from Africa. They might be able to go back about 100 generations, and find a relative, but unlike my mom, they did not move here from Africa. Side note: My grandmother was born in South Africa, and lived there most of her life. At the same time, over 99% of my grandmothers family was born and raised in South Africa, while my grandfather is from Ohio!!! That makes my mom a true African-American. The other issue with the first statement is that they didn't run. They were not on the campaign trail with Obama. They didn't do all the work. They voted. How can you win when you vote? The right statement is that the idiot they voted for won, and not they won.

So today has the likelihood of getting better. As I mentioned, I am leaving early. The reason, because I have to take my wife to the doctors. The other good part about that is that we could be going to get the ultrasound, and seeing what the little head is going look like, and what the gender is, and we can finally lay to rest our debate on if its a boy or not. My sister has a Chinese calendar, and she says that according to the calendar, it will be a boy, and the calendar has never failed! We will see, and hopefully soon!!!

WOW!!!

Ok, so the last post was in August. A lot has happened since then....I think! Let's see, the wife changed baby doctors, has to take a glucose tollerance test, I have been having my sugar crash when I play in my band, I am very close to getting some free money from my parents since I will have 60 college credits by Christmas, and a bunch of other things. One thing that has stayed the same is that the wife has started driving me nuts. She is in constant pain, and there is nothing I can do about it. The part that is really bad is that the doctor's don't know what is going on either. Oh, did I mention that she gets upset with me no matter what I do? Like, our heater is not working, and since my parents are the landlords, I told them that it's not working. The wife is now upset because they might come over today to look at it. It has been terribly cold, remember I HATE cold weather, and would like the heater to work right so we don't have to use the space heater. She's upset because she has not done any cleaning in the house in about 3 months. I have done more around the house than she has. Yes, I know that she is pregnant and everything, but come on, can't you take some time out to do something? I work all day...most days. Today, I am bored....I am running update queries all day to update a huge table that I have for a 10 year project. Oh, speaking of being with my company for that long, I have been looking around for a new job, and made the mistake of telling someone, and they went straight to my supervisor and told. Man, I hate people that snitch on people, specially when this person said the same thing that I said....I just didn't go running to their supervisor to tell on them. The company has been going through a huge transition. Mainly getting rid of people that are at or near retirement. Oh well. I have to go for now. Drop me a line if you ever get to read this.
Thanks
P4L

Band Issues

Ok, so many of you don't know that I am a guitarist for my church's praise team. If you are reading this as a friend from then you might want to skip this blog, it's about church and stuff. I have been having the issue since we got into our new building of being able to hear myself play. Well, let me start by say that for the size of the church, we have a HUGE band. We average about 50 to 100 people a week, and a have a praise team of 10 to 15 people, if everyone is there. I play the acoustic guitar, and think that I am ok at it. I am still trying to get better at it though. There are 2 other guitars, one being a 12 string, and the other an electric. Well, the main issue is that the building is smaller than the team. It is so small in fact that I am squished into a side aisle in front of the house speakers. This brings about a really bad situtation. All I hear is whomever is coming out of that side of the speakers. The really bad thing about it is that it is all of the musicians. I think I would say that I start about 50 to 75% of our songs, and play in close to 100% of them all the time. Well, common sense would be that if someone is the lead guitar, you put them in the front, and make sure that they can hear themself. Well, that is not the case here. I very rarely can hear myself because the 12-string guitar is up so loud. Everytime we come in, that guitar gets turned up louder. Oh, and he is the only guitar that I can hear, or at least was till this week, when I could hear the electric really well too. Sad issue is that everyone thinks I am going deaf, and have on more than one occasion said so to my wife. The worse part is that no one will stand where I stand and listen. Oh did I mention that I stand on the same side as the drummer, and bass player? Yup, that's right all musicians on one side of the church, and all the singers on the other, and that includes in the speakers as well. So now you have the issue of the lead guitar not being able to hear where the lead singer is going! Oh this is great!!! And what do I get told? Pretty much to suck it up and deal with it. Well, maybe I got through to the leader, and things will change. If push really comes to shove, I might just sit back, and watch them implode without me there. I'm always getting the leader upset since I've been taking off a lot recently. We will see

Holy Cow....I'm Gonna Be A Dad

Yes world, it is true. I, programming4life, will have a little head here on the earth in about 7 months to continue on in my footsteps of terrorizing the human race! I am still not sure how it happened, all I know is I was there for the event, I think!!! The baby is no bigger than a grain of rice at a whopping 4.6 mm long, and it has a heart rate of 120 bpm! I am a happy guy right now, but still nervous! There are so many things going on right now that I am not sure whether or not I am ready for this. Well, ready or not, here it comes. I am just hopeing for a boy. If it is a girl, watch out world 'cause I'll be armed. Already have plans to get a 9 mm handgun, and maybe a few other pieces to scare the tar out of any guy that wants to date her. Now the biggest arguement that the wife and I are having is about names. I want Michael Alexander if it is a boy, and she wants Joseph Michael. I guess I like exotic, not normal names, but won't be naming my kids like the Hollywood stars do! Once I can get the ultrasound pics off of my phone, I will post them.

Wow, has it been that long?

Ok, so it has been a long time since I last was here. Not by choice, even though I don't think I have any readers, but it is nice to get somethings off my chest. So here we go. Over the last month, the wife and I have really been struggling financially. I mean really struggling. We have currently pawned our wedding rings, and might end up losing them if I can't get the money soon, our digital camera, and my mp3 player, with about a week and a half left till we lose them as well. So I am kinda upset about the money situation. On top of that, I had pawned my guitar, which I use every Sunday at church, but the church paid for me to get it back. Well, now here it is, the weekend before a pay week, there is $10 in hand, nothing in the bank, and no sign of relief anywhere on the Horizon. Well, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The utility company, who just got allowed to start making the rates jump out of control, called, and are wanting money for the services provided. Well, we don't have it, and are looking at having the lights turned off. On top of that, my car insurance has been cancelled, and I am now driving without it. Couldn't pay two months in a row, and we are behind again on the car payment. To top all that off, my parents called, and are going to evict us from out apartment since we are behind, and my wife just announced last week that she is PREGNANT!!!! Yes world, it is time to terrorize you with a miniature version of me.
Now what am I gonna do? No money, possibly no car, or house, working full-time, and a full-time student. I am thinking of a second job, and she is trying to get a job for up till the baby is due. Lord only knows how far along she is. This is about the time that I am to start feeling hopeless right? I mean look around me, all the circumstances are showing me that nothing is going to get better, and that I am going to drowned in debt. Saying all this, I am reminded of what Paul wrote in the Bible, "For whatsoever state I am in, there I will be content!" Content? How am I to be CONTENT? Nothing seems to be going right. And then, I am reminded of another passage of Scripture that says, "I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging for bread"
Some how, I know that God will provide for He is my Provider. I don't know where it will come from, but I have to do like the song says, "I walk, by Faith, each step by faith, to live, by faith, I'll put my trust in You!" Trusting in Him, it's the hardest thing that I have to do. Writing a program, or query is easy stuff compared to trusting in God. Some people say that it is impossible to trust in something that you can not see. But you don't see the wind do you? No, you see the affects of the wind.
So over everything that is going wrong, I have to trust that God is watching me, and looking out for me to make sure that everthing happens in His timing.

Back to Work

So after being off for 4 days, I came back to work on Monday with close to 400 emails through my various email folders. The worst part of all this is the fact that most of the emails were auto-replies to my Out of Office auto-reply! Isn't technology grand? So after sorting that mess out, I finally get to the good emails, you know the various requests that one might get that sound like this, "Can you write me a query getting x and y, but I have no clue what I really want?" Or my favorite is, "Can you download the information from this mainframe query to the PC level?" Of course, I am the only person that can accomplish this, as was proven to me by my super, who work "I can not access the required system." Of course they accessed the system every time they ran the reports in the morning, but did not possess the knowledge to accomplish the task. So know here I am three days after returning, all tasks completed, and I just received a new toy in the mail, and it is time to play with it. So I will talk to everyone later.

Vacation is Here

Today I started my vacation. This means that all I have to do is wake up at 11 and watch tv most of the day.
Today, I watched tv until about 1:30, and then went and worked on my aunt's computer until 4:30, and now I am sitting in class.
For the rest of the week, I really have nothing to do, and it feels great. Of course since my birthday is this week, I do have a double date with my parents, and we are talking about going to see hancock or wanted. I really can not wait till Thursday. Yes, I will be 26, and will be 1 year closer to getting old, but that is the price of being born!!!
Ah, vacation....isn't it great?!

Can it get any longer?

Today seems to be just dragging by. I guess that it doesn't help that most of the stuff that I do was required to be coded, tested and ready for use by Tuesday, which means that earlier this week, when the mainframe wasn't down, I did a ton of work. It also doesn't help that my cell phone, and main way to get Tweets is no longer working. Dang it, I knew that I forgot to do something....pay the darn cell bill. Hopefully, since I am currently broke, my friend, who owns the service, will pay it so that we can have all the fun in the world talking, texting, and sharing with others the crap that is going on in our lives. Speaking of crap, my parents are trying to bribe me to stay awat from their house tomorrow, essentially killing my 4th of July plans. All this because I have a small staph infection on my hip. Did I mention that I am an avid supporter of wearing clothes in public? That being said, I have no only a bandage over it, but clothes as well. I have also been on three different anti-biotics for 3 days, and when I first went to the doc's, they hooked me to an IV for a fourth anti-biotic! So please do not tell me that I am sick, and can not come over. Oh well, they said that they would fill me gas tank so that my wife and I could visit her family. How about this, just give me freakin' $200, and we'll call it a day. You know what sucks even more than being bribed not to hang out with family? I am off work all next week, and I can not do anything since I am broke. Oh, and not to mention that it will also be my birthday next Thursday, and I can not do anything for it. Oh and I am not going anywhere for vacation either. I better sleep pretty darn good all next week.
At the tone the time will be 3 o'clock.....bong!!!! One and a half more hours till I can leave.
Have a great 4th of July, and for those that are not having to work this weekend, and it will be at least three days before you return to work, be safe, and have a blast...not to mention drink a pint for me!

FINALLY!!!!

So I had been waiting for almost 2 months for my review. It finally came at the beginning of this month, so I was waiting to see what my raise was going to be. So today I check my paystub online and see that I got a 13% raise!!! I am so happy. Oh, did I forget to mention that they prorated me the rest of my earnings for the past two months? That means that the check I get this week is over $1000!!!! That is the most I have ever gotten at one time!!! I am so happy right now, plus I am looking forward to class tonight. I get to learn more JavaScript functions, and how to incorporate cookies and other fun things into my web coding!!! W00T!!!!

Going to SCREAM

So today was going great. I was listening, practically all day, to the same song because it is an awesome song. Got through a really grewling day at work, was getting ready to leave, and the phone rings. Of course I had a few other scars today, like getting a message from my boss telling me that I had to work on Sunday to do some more system tests. Of course it will be the third time in a row, and my supervisor reminds me that the last few people that held my position didn't know how to do it, so she did it for ten years. Of course the testing was cancelled since our home office in Cedar Rapids, Iowa is under water right now, and plus we tested last month, and it is a quarterly thing. Ok, back to where I was.....darn bunny trails. So I pick up the phone thinking that it is my wife, only to find out that it is someone from the car company. This lovely individual tells me that I need to get $800 by 9pm est or the car is to be reposessed, and I will still have to finish paying the lease off. GREAT!!! EIGHT HUNDRED BUCKS BY 9 PM. I am in so much trouble. I need a miracle for me to get the money. Well, at least I have a prayer.

OK So here we Go (Part 2...and a few weeks late)

So my wife and I have been going through a really rough time financially. Part of me lives in fear everyday that our car is going to be repo'ed, the electricity is going to be shut off, and my parents are going to kick us out of the apartment. But I have found one thing to hold onto. It is the scripture reference in the Bible that states that He (God), will never let His children go hungry, or His seed begging for bread. We have found that no matter how much money we don't have, God has always provided for us, and allowed us to have food, clothes, gas, and whatever else we need. Yes, were are still 2 months behind on the rent, electric, car, and even farther behind on credit cards and such, but I have a sense of peace, like everything is going to be ok.

OK here we go....(part 1 programming related)

This is going to be one of 2 blogs that I post today. This one is going to be a rant about something that I am trying to program for work, and in no way reflects the views of my employer.

So I am trying to create a batch file. I have to run about 30 different reports every morning, and in an effort to automate these reports, I have some processes in place, but instead of letting me purchase the licensing for the program that I am currently using, I have to re-create the files into a batch file to be executed. So I am really back to the drawing board since it has been about 12 years since I last wrote a batch file....and even then, it was written in QBasic, and I have forgotten how to write them. Plus, to admit, I was not that good at writing complex files. I just had to get the computer to start Windows 3.1 automatically. Well, at least I can get a little help from one of the experts here at work, just too bad that it is not a true programmer.

Short Week

Ok, so this week was really short for me at work. The only issue that I had was the fact that after reviewing my list of stuff I've done this week, it looked kinda small, but it felt like I did a ton at the same point in time. Grr...this stinks. Oh well, next week will hopefully bring new and exciting things, plus I am supposed to have my review, and am hoping that this review come with a nice raise. Stuff is so expensive.

Oh yeah, in case you didn't know, I have had an interview with a staffing firm that is going to try to get me some contracts. Hopefully I can get one soon.

Ok, Let's start

So this is my first blog in a long time. I will not only be blogging about programming, but life in general.

Thank God that today is Sunday, and I am off work tomorrow. I am getting tired of having to work, and my counselor has telling me to go on a vacation for about a week, and not think of all of the stuff that has been giving me anxiety. Oh well, we will have to see how things go.

Well that is all for now.

Oh yeah, If you do programming check out how to Dream.In.Code