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1.75 Weeks Notice

I came home from delivering Christmas cookies Monday night to find a message on the answering machine (side note: I am one of about 4 people that still have a ‘land-line’). My first impression was “WTF?” but then I checked the Caller ID and it was from a company I had interviewed with the Friday prior, and apparently I passed muster and they wanted to make me an offer.

I called the company back this morning and they made an offer which was very agreeable (just over a 22% increase in pay) and so I typed up a letter of resignation during lunch, designating Christmas Eve as my last day…

Somehow, I don’t think I’ll be complaining too much about working on Christmas Eve this year.

I gave The Boss (and his The Boss) the news, and they both congratulate me, wishing me well and understanding why I am leaving.

I’m not too sure about that, because in this case (unlike the last time) this has nothing to do with money. Granted, I will be making more at the new job, (which is nice) but the reality is that 1) I’m worried about job security 2) I want to go back into programming full-time, and 3) I am sick of tech support and never want to do this crap again as long as I live.

In any event, now comes the excitement of doing New and Interesting things and meeting new people going to a new office and all that fun stuff. I can’t wait.

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Annoyed Man’s Intersection

I’m waiting for the light to change at Huebner and 10, just at the leading edge of rush hour. I was going to a friend’s house to pick up my Rock Band drum set, as I had loaned it to him (much to the chagrin of his wife) while my 360 was out getting fixed. Anyways, I’m sitting at the light listening to music and BAM I get love-tapped from behind.

I check my rear-view mirror, and the other guy looks more upset than I am. We both turn on our blinkers and get out of our vehicles. According to the driver, his brakes went out. I don’t argue the point, but take a quick look and the Reliant looks okay. I feel fine, so I get the guy’s name and number, write down his license plate, and tell him that he’ll be hearing from me if something ends up being wrong with the car (I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine).

Funny thing is, this is the second time this has happened at the same intersection, though not at the same exact spot. Oh, well.

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No Longer Hip To Be Square

I recently got upgraded to dual-monitors at work (the old tube kind, so don’t be too impressed) and it got me thinking that it would be really nice to have dual monitors at home as well, especially since they have become so inexpensive as of late. Curiosity in hand, I go browsing for a monitor to place aside my trusty Gateway 19-incher.

As I look around, I notice something…my monitor is an older “square” type (actually, its not REALLY a square because of the ratio, hence the quotes, but that’s my anal-retentive programmer side talking) and all the new ones are of the widescreen variety. Even the inexpensive ones are all widescreen now.

I abandoned the idea because it would just look weird to have a widescreen monitor sitting next to a square one…its bad enough the ones at work are of different sizes, the last thing I need is to screw up my eyes even more with different aspect ratios…

Of course, I could just buy one HUGE monitor instead…hmm.

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Its Beginning to Sound a Lot Like Christmas

I’m one of those oddballs who genuinely likes Christmas music. From the hymns sung in church, to the classics, to the contemporary renditions of those classics, I love it all. Suffice it to say, every radio I own has been almost completely locked to the local Christmas music 24/7 station (101.9). While unpacking my things from visiting the folks for Thanksgiving today, I turned on the radio for some background music, and decided to tune to a different radio station for a little while…come to find out there are now TWO radio stations doing the 24/7 Christmas music thing (105.3 being the second)

The Grinches out there may want to stay away from the radio this holiday season. I love it, though.

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Five Words…

I got the news today that I was not picked for a job I had interviewed for. I’ve gotten rejection letters and emails before, but I think this is the first time I’ve actually gotten called by someone to give me the bad news.

Frankly, I’m not sure its much better. The attempts to sugar-coat it and reassure me that “you would have gotten the position…BUT” don’t help soften the blow any…I just kept waiting for the HR gal to JUST SAY IT…JUST SAY IT and get it over with so I can spend the rest of the day second-guessing myself, and next few days being a grouchy jerk…just in time for the holiday, too.

Just spare me the BS and just say “You were not good enough.”

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Metal to the Pedal!


Metal to the Pedal
Originally uploaded by EdSoliz

At first I was considering a repair kit for my beleaguered Rock Band bass pedal (see previous entry). A repair kit has a metal plate which is attached to the busted pedal with self-tapping screws. It would do, but there would be nothing to stop the underlying plastic from breaking further, and driving some screws into something made out of plastic might make that happen just a bit quicker too.

Cost: $25 Certainly a few more bucks than I what wanted to spend, but what the hey, that upgrade to Rock Band 2 wireless drums can hold off a bit.

I then read about PedalMasters who sell a complete metal replacement for the entire pedal. There would be some work involved in removing the plastic pedal completely and replacing it with the new one.

Cost: $30 A few more bucks, but hey, there would be NO chance of that sucker breaking. After an agonizing 3 days waiting for the Postal Service, I got my prize and put it all together. Even for someone as mechanically un-inclined as myself, it was fairly easy, though there were a few rough spots. The verdict?

This. Kicks. Ass.

I can’t say it any better than that, the pedal now has a much better feel to it. The increased weight reduces the push back from the spring underneath and it is much more comfortable to use. Even after playing “YYZ”, “Call Me”, “Ballroom Blitz” and “Rio” on Hard difficulty my leg felt pretty good. I can hit the triple-bass notes in YYZ (though I can’t say much for the REST of the song) and it ROCKS.

Once I get the Rock Band 2 set, I may replace its stock pedal with this monster. Big thumbs up to Pedal Masters!

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