Hallie’s started in a Salvation Army basketball league and seems excited about it. I wish it was a bit more organized, though: the staff is still trying to locate a coach.
Hallie went to her first practice yesterday and she and 9 other kids stood around until the athletic director asked if I could pinch hit as a coach for the day. While I’ve often considered volunteering to coach youth basketball, I expected to be more prepared before I took on my first team.
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I spent a good portion of the day away from the keyboard, taking the kids to/from school and getting some easy-but-long-neglected things done around the house. It felt good to not be in front of a screen for a bit.
I should have some interesting things to say tomorrow as it will be my first day at the new job. Wish me luck!
I spoke with two different news organizations today about two different topics. The first was getting my comments on recent security issues at a local high school in my CAC area. The second was about my inability to access the N.C. Employment Security Commission website to file my claim.
The first interview was for a local TV station. I put on a sport coat and met the photographer at nearby Lions Park. I don’t think my answers were as smooth as I’d hoped. I still get hyper when a camera’s in my face. Got to shake that habit, I guess. I didn’t see the segment on the 6PM news so I don’t know if any of it will be used.
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The big thing that defined 2008 for me was my working for an address verification company in Raleigh. Getting that job made a lot of things possible and losing it made many not as possible.
A friend of a friend told me about the company in late 2007. I met the local boss and liked what I saw. I had been feeling frustrated by the one-way communication I got from my boss at my work-from-home job, so I needed a change. I met the owner and liked him. We agreed on a salary and a general job description: North America Support Manager. I came onboard the first of February and was generally happy I did.
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I’ve been glad that one thing hasn’t gotten derailed by my job situation, and that is the talk I’m giving Friday to a fifth-grade class on Global Positioning System. While I’m no expert on GPS, I can tell the students how I used GPS in the Navy and some basic information on how it works.
I’m really looking forward to it!
I’ve been dreading renewing my driver license because I never look forward to spending half a day waiting around. Since my license expires in two weeks my options were running out.
That’s why I was glad I went to the N.C. DMV website and discovered the mobile DMV office. It just so happens it would be downtown today and tomorrow, so I figured I’d take my chances there. My hunch was that since this office is mobile there would be no lines. I was right!
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The biggest thing I’d change about my new job would be its hours. I’m really going to miss the opportunity to walk Hallie to school. It’s a special time between me and her that I have to give up if I need to be in RTP by 8 o’clock.
Since I won’t be starting the new job until next week (as I alluded to before), at least I have one more week to enjoy this special treat.
I pity the fool who robs Crazy Fire. He’s lucky he didn’t get a beat-down from all the geeks who eat there.
I wouldn’t be surprised if his rap sheet mysteriously gained a few prior convictions.
The MT.Net reader knows I’m a political junkie. Some say its incurable. The year 2008 offered many fixes for my habit.
First off, America (and North Carolina!) elected Barack Obama to be its next president. What a breath of fresh air he promises to be! While he did disappoint me last summer, he still was better than the alternatives. I said a year before the general election that he’d get my vote and he did.
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Remember the trouble I had with filing my unemployment insurance claim? Tonight the N.C. ESC’s website is non-functional again.
Since I didn’t work last week (and won’t work this week as my start date has been moved back a week), I’m looking to spend my 30 seconds filling out the ESC’s five question form so I can get paid. Ain’t happening so far.
This is yet another troubling sign for North Carolina’s economy.
Here’s the error message I get (when I get an error message):
CICS.XFAPIN.1 error ‘800a0837’
(2103) The connect request failed. IP Address: 207.192.50.90, Port: 3020, Error description: Connection timed out
/include/login/gLoginCode.asp, line 74
Update 5 Jan 12:30 PM: WRAL has an update. Seems “too many people” were accessing the site. Also, I just successfully filed my claim. Looks like the site is still being hammered, though.
