September 11th, 2009
So I finally got my college acceptance letter in the mail. So now I have 17 days before classes start to get everything in order and register for classes. Assuming I can afford them.
I’m currently without Internet at my new place. We actually have to wait for comcast to show up an install it for us (assinine), and that happens next Thursday. Maybe by then I’ll have some photos of the new place to show you.
Cheers!
August 28th, 2009
Welp, today’s my last day of work. Again. Although this time it’s of my own choosing. Originally the plan was to get my old job back and go to school part time. But then they downgraded my old job, so I’m just going back full time now. I think this is a much better idea.
So today I’m done with OHSU, probably for the last time. I’m also moving to the Sellwood area of Portland. It’s about four miles south of downtown on the other side of the river. I’m going to be rooming with a girl name Fiona that I was going to meet when I posted back in May. I don’t k ow her that well, but I feel better about her than I do about someone random off of Craigslist.
My move-in day is the first, and classes start on the 28th. Now I just have to focus on cleaning, packing, moving, studying and, oh yeah, actually getting accepted.
One hurdle at a time.
August 4th, 2009
I realise I’ve been neglecting to post because I’ve been waiting for something to happen. Namely, I’ve been waiting until I get accepted to PSU (Portland State) and can officially say I’m going back this fall. It hasn’t happened yet, though I am still within their parameters for a response. Because I’m going for a post-bac degree, my application was literally just my contact information and what course I was interested in. So it’s not like they can reject me on merit.
Regardless, I’m waiting. Waiting to get accepted, waiting to find a roommate, waiting to move, waiting until my temp job ends (finally!). I am excited to start studying again, and I’m excited to see what a degree in engineering will bring. Still scared of the calculus and the physics, but we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.
May 14th, 2009
After being laid off, I have been going back and forth trying to decide what to do with my life. I knew I didn’t just want to go back to what I was doing as it wasn’t challenging, nor interesting. And at the same time, I didn’t have any qualifications for what did interest me.
So last weekend I finally decided that I am going back to school, this time for my degree in Computer Science. My plan is to get a Masters, though unfortunately I don’t have enough background for that. This leaves me with two options. I can either teach myself everything I missed and then prove to them that I know what I’m talking about, or I have to go for a post-bac degree. I’ve chosen the latter.
This of course means another couple of years getting a second bachelor’s before I can go on to my Master’s. This also means a lot more debt. Because of this, and because I’m going to need to pay rent and tuition, I can’t afford to live in my nice one-bedroom by the park. So I am planning on moving yet again and getting a roommate as well.
I’m actually on my way to meet a potential right now, and I’ve already started filling out forms for school. Now I just need a job and a place fairly cheap to live. Well, cheap and not scary.
March 26th, 2009
Well, I’m back. Have been for a little over a week now. Rome was a great break from the reality of not having a job. Chris and I saw tons, some I hadn’t seen before, some revisited. We also at mass quantities of gelato and pizza. Pizza by the weight. By far the best idea ever. I have pictures on the Internet. I’m still debating whether to link to them or not. It’s almost entirely old churches and ruins with no captions. But I’m afraid if I wait until I do label them, it’ll never happen.
So right now i’m sitting by the Salmon Street foutain, typing this on my jPhone watching the Williamette. It’s a beautiful day (after many rainy) and I’m just enjoying it.
I’ve been job searching, but nothing looks promising. Thankfully, I have unemployment this time. And a nice bit of saving. So I’m not hurting. While I really don’t want to deplete my savings, I’m also not pressured to jump at the first job I find out of desperation. That’s somewhat comforting.
In the meantime I’ve been doing a lot of knitting. I’m making a sweater just in time for summer, but it’s coming along a lot quicker than I anticipated. This past Saturday I went to the Gorge to hike only to find it rainly only there and only while hiking. Those photos I’ll post.
So there that is. Here’s to a quick end to the Great Recession.
March 3rd, 2009
So, thanks to Joe Dolan and his advice/not wanting me to be able to sit home while he has to work, I’ve gone and got myself an interview with the Portland Development Commission on Thursday. I’m not entirely sure what the job is, but it seems to be part admin, part coordinating, part technical. Which could be right up my alley. Apparently it’s the sort of place where it would behoove me to wear a jacket and tie for the interview. And you all know my wardrobe :-/
I’ll let you know how it goes. And I’ll leave you with a comic I thought fitting. To wit:
February 13th, 2009
Yesterday I received my official “displacement” notice. I also figured out who stole my job. My poor bosses… this person really can’t do the job, nor will she do it well. Which is why I thought it humorous that HR tried to convince me that I was being displaced by a “more senior, more qualified” person. Just because because she’s older than dirt doesn’t mean she’s more qualified. I bit my tongue.
I have seven days from yesterday (19/02) to decide which layoff option I’m going to take, and then an additional eight days beyond that (27/02) will be my last day in my current role of “That Guy”. I technically have six choices. Eliminating the ones that are not relevant or bad choices, I’m down to two: take the severance and run or try to steal someone else’s job.
If I decide to take the severance I would get 4 weeks pay plus accumulated vacation and one month of COBRA.
Pro: I get money… money is good
Con: I have no job.
If I decide to try and steal someone’s job, it would be a lower position and a pay cut. Plus there’s no guarantee there is a position. Additionally, there’s no guarantee I wouldn’t get “displaced” again.
Pro: I would potentially still be employed.
Cons: If I do steal someone’s job, my new co-workers will hate me, just as I’ve made sure my current co-workers hate the Usurper. Pay cut. If they can’t find a job for me, I get no severance. They basically wash their hands of me. I could be displaced again.
I’m leaning toward taking the money and running at the moment. I really don’t like the idea of stealing someone else’s job and making them unemployed. And the jobs I would be taking aren’t exactly difficult to fill, which means everyone would be vying for them. Plus, being easy to fill means I fear for future displacing. There are a lot of people who have been here a lot longer than I.
Now granted, four weeks of severance is nothing, but I do have a hope. My current boss and a co-worker and I have been scheming. My co-worker used to work as a web administrator in DCH (children’s hospital on the hill). He said it was an awesome job and the person he trained to replace him a year and a half ago, just left. The position hasn’t been filled yet. It’s also paid for by a private fund, not OHSU money. He also has an in with the manager who would most likely hire me on his recommendation.
The only obstacle… THE UNION! (bastards)
But, the minimum requirements aren’t something that just anyone can fill. They require HTML knowledge, programming, that kind of stuff. So it narrows the field. Plus it’s in the HemOnc ward, so we’re trying to angle it as someone needing to be okay around really sick children (heart of stone for the win!). And if we make the position .5 or .7 FTE instead of full time, I think less people would be interested in it.
The reason I’d be okay with the fact that it’s not full time is that being displaced has helped me get motivated to go back to school. It’s too late to matriculate, so I’d be taking classes on the side. And if I work at OHSU at least .5 FTE, I still get tuition discounts at any school in the Oregon University System. It’ll still be expensive, but it’ll be $450 a class cheaper at least. I’ll just have to see how I can survive on that salary.
So, I need to make a choice. Any thoughts? Oh, and happy long weekend if you get one.
February 10th, 2009
So like hipsters, I was previously ambivalent toward unions. Sure, I’m part of a union, but it’s not like I have any choice. My alternative is to leave the union and still pay the dues. Fat lot of good that would do. And unions did bring us 40-hour work weeks and paid holidays and weekends, so they’re not all bad.
But then, like hipsters, someone ruined it for everyone. The former was my neighbour. The latter was their recent decision.
I mentioned in my last post that I had survived the layoffs. I thought I was in the clear because I was loved by my current and former bosses. But then the union struck. Apparently, if you’re inept and get laid off, you can bump someone else out of the way if you’ve been here longer. That someone else is me.
Yes, I am apparently about to be laid off. [EDIT: I was in fact laid off. I still have to decide if I want to steal someone else's job or not just as mine was stolen from me.] Not because my job is unnecessary. Not because I cannot perform my job. But because someone else couldn’t maintain their job. Meanwhile, I am surrounded by any number of inept people who have no risk of losing their jobs because they’ve managed to hide their ineptitude long enough to be virtually untouchable.
A brilliant business move. Maintain the incompetent at the cost of losing the abled. Both my current and former boss, who share me, are trying to think of ways to finagle the system. But the union is a behemoth who can’t be touched. And as a result there’s little recourse.
If I do find I get laid off for the simple reason of being the one with the least seniority in my position, I too have the option of bumping someone else lower than me. Menial work and a pay cut for the win! Huzzah.
What motivation does this provide anyone? “Oh, well I’m not the one with least seniority, so I can’t be touched no matter how bad I mess up.” What a dumb-assed plan.
I can safely say that this is what caused me to become anti-union. If there could be some middle ground between an unchecked plutocracy and the unindustrious union, I might give it another chance. But until then, I’m thumbing my nose at the whole thing.
I’m now more than ever entertaining the idea of going back to school. My problem lies in the fact I don’t know what I want to study or how I could apply that to a job. I don’t want to have a doctorate and be homeless. Sigh… I need direction.
I find out if my job still exists in the next day or so. I’m sure I’ll be back to let you know.
Cheers.
January 30th, 2009
Jan 13
I bought a fedora. There. I said it. But not a felted fedora. More of a linen one. Rather stylish. Looks awesome. Keeping with current trends, there are no photos posted of it.
In other news, the economy finally came to Portland and OHSU had to make significant changes and layoffs. As a result I no longer work for ITG, but instead for the newly created Clinical Informatics department. The director of this department is the doctor I’ve been work with basically since I’ve started, so basically little real change. Oh, and I didn’t lose my job. That rocks.
Jan 30
I wrote the previous bit about two weeks ago, with the intentions of finishing it. That obviously never happened. And a few things have happened since then. Like I said, not losing my job was one of them.
With the enonomy as it is, the healthcare industry had to make some cut backs as well. My department had to lay off a large number of people. Thankfully, I was not one of them. I did get my job shifted a bit. I no longer work in ITG, but for the newly created Clinical Informatics Department. And my boss switched to the doctor for whom I had been loaned out to since I had started working. So at the moment, very little has changed for me in that respect.
OH! And the humidity thing. I had almost forgotten about that. My apartment has basically been like living in a rainforest. It was horrid. It got so bad that mold started growing in the window sills and doors. So I bought a dehumidifier. In 72 hours, that sucker pumped out a whopping 6.25 gallons of water. And it continues today. I can’t wait to see what it’s going to do to my electric bill.
Lame excuses time. I had thought about blogging the past two weeks. Two weeks ago I traipsed about Forest Park and last week was an ad hoc trip to the coast. I took some photos on my phone, and they exist somewhere, but not on the interwebs at the moment.
In other news, I finished my Smokin’ Jacket (the photo is the original by the designer… mine’s blue). I should say it’s mostly finished. I need to attach the second pocket and go shopping for buttons. I still wear it in its almost complete state, but I’m not calling it until then. As a result, pictures of that are scarce too. I really should work on my pigritude. My next project is a pullover. We’ll see how that goes.
I don’t think there’s anything else of interest to report. I’ll try and be a little more diligent about updating my life for the edification of all. And then there is always Twitter…
Cheers.
December 22nd, 2008
I thought the fact that it snowed last week to be of note. It remained peculiar all week and the snow all but disappeared by Friday. They talked of some more snow over the weekend.
I didn’t take them seriously. I’ve also been wearing the same pair of clothes since Friday as a result.
By Saturday morning there was already a good amount of snow on the ground. We were over at Chris’s parents, making the annual 50 dozen cookies (no exaggeration) and it was a good day for snow. Saturday night, very few people were on the roads. I went with Chris’s dad to pick him up from work in their 4×4, and while we had to drive slowly, it wasn’t bad.
The next morning went from Chris’s back to his parents’ to finish making the cookies. Now the roads were getting bad. Yet it kept snowing.
Keep in mind this is a city that has about five plows just in case we get that odd inch or two. When we get the fourteen inches that we did, they’re in over their heads. Most of the busses have shut down, and the roads are barely plowed, if at all. I’ve heard downtown is a little better, but that hardly helps all the way out in Mt Tabor.
It’s funny that one of the reasons I moved to pdx was because it almost never snows here. Now they’re not sure when it’ll stop. It’s not coming down heavy, just very steady. And it doesn’t help that I also don’t own the appropriate clothing for the snow. Assuming I can get downtown in the next day or so I’m going to try to take advantage of the sale at REI. We’ll see how that works out.
I’ve thrown in two photos. The night time photo was taken Saturday night. The daytime photo was taken this morning. It’s probably hard to see much as they were taken through the front window, but trust me. Mondo snow.
Okay, enough complaining about the snow. It’s a few days to Christmas, maybe it’ll be white this year. I’m pretty sure my package won’t make it to my parents’ house on time. But that could be because I haven’t mailed it yet. Oh well.
Be safe and warm!
