Posts (page 2)

It's a little bit better.
My four month long vacation has come to an end - if only temporarily.  I'm actually thankful to be running around the city (or the country as I did today/tonight) rescuing grandmas, small biz owners, and myspace deprived teens from evil trojans, photo eating viruses, and misbehaving linksys devices.  I've not done any sort of system support for well over 10 years but it pretty much came back to me.  Thanks to a key reference, I got in with a rapidly growing 5 person company as a sub contractor.  My pay is 60% less than what my previous pay was - and comes with no benefits so maybe it is really an 80% pay cut.  Well actually, I've driven a company van to and from home both days so that's a nice bene I suppose.

This is much more
pleasant than meeting self aggrandizing suits, politicing sub-agency directors, and fat cat federal "consultants" in Crystal City or Georgetown.  How could I trade Greenwood or Fishers for Crystal City or Georgetown?  I couldn't, I wouldn't.  I received bigger, more sincere thanks for trivial home pc repairs than for the $3B deal that my former employer won last fall based largely on my technical design.

I mean, how
could I turn down the sweat lady that wanted her sewing machine in the basement to be able to connect to the laptop so she could download her patterns?  What, do you mean I can help someone make clothes or indulge in a lifelong hobby?  Or I could have been stuck in the Arlington VA Hyatt?  Or stuck in that damn circle in Georgetown on a Friday evening.

I was supposed
to go to Spokane on Mon/Tue/Wed for interview and familiarization for job - Followed by The Woodlands TX on Thu/Fri for pretty much the same with another company.  I canceled without going to either employer.  Man what was I thinking?  Did I really think that I was going to put more distance between Circle Face and I?  Of course Circle Face's mom was none to happy to find out that I 'turned down' jobs in TX or WA.  I just don't know what to think about Cherie being so eager for me to leave town - be away from our daughter for extended times.  Tonight, my anger over her attitude towards me and Becca's relationship pretty much boiled over.  I've never been so angry in my life - I was so angry that I called her a "bitch"  - something I never did even during the worst of times with her - but damn, I slipped.  Man was I angry.  I felt instantly like a big piece of shit for calling my daughter's mom something like that.  I know alot of people think that calling people a bitch isn't a big deal but it was (and is) to me.  I'm an alcoholic, an addict, and a failed husband but just not a person that would call my wife/ex-wife/daughter's mom a bitch.  Of course Cherie will never accept my apology and will now use it against me at every turn.  Man, those words just won't go back in my mouth.

Why in the hell
is Obama taking 4 days to sign the stimulus bill?  Why wait til Tuesday when it was approved on Friday?  Strike 1.

Not that kind of domination ... settle down

One of the Indy suburban
schools, Carmel High School has won the Indiana State High School Swimming (Girls) title for the 23rd straight year.  They are so dominating that I have never heard of their streak until now?  How did i miss this in the past?  Anyway here is a link to the story:  Carmel High Wins Indiana Girls Swimming Title for 23rd Consecutive Year

I just happened
to stumble on this:  http://www.sixapart.com/celebrating-2-years-of-vox.html

Of course there
is yours truly about half way down the page - with a post about my first anniversary in Oct 2007. I'm figuring this was put up last summer/fall...  I'm surprised - this must have been automated because I've not been very active for a year or so now.  I became sober and my posting slowed way down.  I swear all of my pre-sobriety posts weren't when I was drunk.  Most of those I deleted out of embarrassment.

I'm trying
to reconnect with my Vox Neighborhood but the funk just keeps me away.  I'm trying.  I know one thing that slowed me down was when I traded my LG camera phone in for a BlackBerry without a camera.  Verizon didn't have a BB with a camera at the time and had to have a BB for work so ...  anyway.

hello world

I just wanted to show off some after and before pics ...  I still have lotsa work to do - unfortunately, I'm losing motivation.

AFTER ...  but still working

The jobs are starting
to come back for my skill set.  However, none of them are in Indy.  I'm working on 3 opportunities:

• tech company in Spokane Washington
• energy company in Dallas, TX
• a chemical company near Houston, TX

Only one of them
is willing to help with relocation or transitional living costs.  The others are of the mindset: "um we are offerring you a job and you should be feel priviliged to take a 60% pay cut - you have some nerve to ask the company to pay for your airline ticket to the job site...."

I always thought that
I would work at McDonald's before moving away from my children.  The reality is that company's like McDs don't want guys like me coming onboard when I'm just going to leave in a few months when I get an offer that is for 5 times the pay.  I don't blame then but damn - I've been turned down by a convenience store, a grocery store, JC Penney, and a Ford dealer because in so many words - they think I'm "overqualified" ...  I even told the car dealer that I'd stop looking for a job for 6 months if they'd hire me.

If I don't take a job outside of Indy then I have my children aren't being supported financially.  If I do take a job out of town then my children aren't being supported emotionally.  I already have a tough time missing my Tuesday overnights with Circle Face - how's it going to be when I see her once every couple of months....  man this shit sucks so bad.

If anyone reading this works for an organization that needs a Telecom Manager/Engineer/ Avaya expert then please let me know.  Maybe I should just attach an anonymous version of my resume ...  ahhh good idea, see below:

Summary

18+ years as IT / Telecom Professional including 6 yrs as technical manager/mentor Avaya: CM(2.x-5.1), S87xx, LSP, Definity(v6-v11), CMS, vectors, gateways, messaging Cisco: Integration w/ Avaya (PRI, SIP), Switch port config for Avaya VOIP (H.323, SIP) Interactive Intelligence: (I-3): Certified CIC 2.3 & Dialer 2.3, SIP, Call Recording, IVR Microsoft SQL, Witness QM, Blue Pumpkin WFM, Genesys / Voice Genie IVR, Edify IVR

Experience

Sr. IT Advisor / Engineer, Enterprise & Contact Centers Defense Contractor in Indianapolis | Aug 06 – Nov 08 ·         Implemented Avaya & Genesys based contact centers for DHS, TSA, FEMA, FTC, and HUD. ·         Mentored remote & on-site telecom staff on voice systems admin and best practices. ·         Lead technical architect for Federal contact center line of business – 80% win rate. ·         Tier 3 support for install base of Avaya enterprise and contact center systems.   Manager, Network Infrastructure Large Central Indiana Bank | Mar 04 – Aug 06 ·         Savings: $173k in credits for telco overcharges, $680k annualized going forward. ·         Managed staff responsible for LAN/WAN, Servers (Windows, Linux, Solaris), Databases (Security infrastructure (FW, IDS, Policy), PBX/VoIP, and IT billing. ·         Authored IT standards focused on SOX, information security, and change control. ·         Negotiated software, maintenance and telecom service and equipment contracts. ·         Managed 29 site deployment of Avaya CM with S8700 and S8300 LSPs.   Telecommunications Engineer Third Party Logistics near Indianapolis | Sep 97 – Nov 03 ·         Savings: $346k in credits for carrier overcharges, $128k annualized going forward. ·         Avaya PBX admin; Definity G3R/G3Si, Intuity Audix and CMS. ·         Directed the telecom portion of multiple call center & office relocations. ·         Supported multi-site ACDs; 100+ seats in Indiana and 200+ seats in California. ·         Supported critical telco circuits; Sonet, ISDN PRI/BRI, T1, DS-3, Centrex, CO. ·         Managed vendor relationships supporting business continuity and toll free routing.   Customer Service Engineer Retail Building Materials Chain near Indianapolis | Dec 95 – Sep 97 ·         Migrated 19 backroom systems from legacy ICL platforms to IBM E20 (AIX on RISC). ·         Performed preventative and corrective maintenance on IT assets in a 6 state region. ·         Installed and configured routers for frame relay circuits at 23 locations.   Cryptologic Telecom Technician U.S. Navy | Various Places | May 90 – Nov 95 ·         Supervised 10 telecom technicians with varied experience and skill sets. ·         Provided on-site support to 12 overseas telecom stations with a 48 hour response time. ·         Maintained US Navy Special Intelligence Communications network. ·         Awarded Navy and Marine Corp. Achievement Medal for meritorious service – two times.

I finally have a PC
at home again.  It's loaner from my good buddy Ross.  He's been in touch on a weekly basis since I became unemployed.  I told him that I had to sell my car (as a last resport) or I'd be sleeping in it (seriously!!) and that I planned to go to Walmart by buy a cheapo so that I could job hunt and do some consulting from home.  He told me that he had parts all over the place and that he put one together and deliver it to me.  Not only did he deliver a nice little Dell - but he brought a bunch of frozen food to stock up my freezer.  I'm beside myself with the level of care and concern that he has shown.  He worked for me a few years back when I was infrastructure mgr at a bank.  Maybe I was a good boss .... nah, he is just that good of a friend.  I never knew that I had such a friend.

Man - it's nice
to be able to connect from home and to actually post with a browser rather than via an email from my blackberry to vox.  Ok, I have to go do some job hunting stuff.  I'll be back later to post an update - and maybe actually read some my neighborhood's posts - it's been months since I've been able to do that.

I am one of those that has a big fat square 19in TV with rabbit ears. I wasn't looking forward to losing my 3 fuzzy channels ....