Work...Work..Work

I’ve been at my new job for a month now and things seem to be going pretty well. They haven’t fired me yet! I work with really nice people and I get along with all of them really well. About half of my team has been there six months or less, so I’m not the only new guy.

As for the job itself, I like it so far. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the company sells software solutions for retail businesses. (Customer List) While our main software suite is pretty flexible some of our customers wish to use a more customized interface. That is what my team does. We add functionality to the existing software to make it all fit together really nicely. For example, a auto lube chain, may get all of the functionality they want from out software for sales, inventory and employee scheduling, but they also want something that can track vehicle service history and provide a list of recommended services for a specific vehicle with specific mileage. So my team will take those requirements and create a system that will do what they want and tie it into the retail.net side of things.

We use java, which I used at Teltronics, so the language isn’t really too new, at least the basics of it. I used to have my own office with windows that overlooked Sugarhouse Park, now I’m in the basement of an old building. I went from covered parking to having to park in a lot a block away and walking to the building. Those are the big drawbacks, the positive side far outweighs the negative. The people I work with are great, I have good equipment to work on, we have quality procedures and QA people to help test, and I’m having fun sometimes.

In summary I have better benefits, better pay and a better environment. Teltronics taught me some good things, and it was a great stepping stone, but this job already seems to be better place and better for me. Plus I have done some good work already and feel like I am contributing to the project aka. I'm useful.

I would like to thank all of the little people...

I decided that I was going to write down a few things for which I am thankful. Maybe it’s the time of year that inspired me and maybe it’s just because I am feeling loved and glad for the happy things in my life, so here goes:

• I am very thankful for a wife who cares about me and sacrifices all of her time, energy and dreams to care for our family. I couldn’t do it and sometimes she makes it look easy.
• I am thankful for a family who brought me breakfast in bed.
• I am thankful for being able to enjoy a good football game, once in a while.
• I am thankful for two loving children who continue to love me in spite of all the mistakes that I make while trying to raise them.
• I am thankful for cooler weather, warm blankets, and children to snuggle with.
• I am thankful for all of my family (both sides) and their love and support of me.
• I am thankful for being healthy.
• I am thankful for good entertainment and friends to share it with.
• I am thankful for all of my friends who forgive me for not contacting them all of the time, but who know that I still love them.
• I am thankful for hugs and grandma’s who give them.
• I am thankful for love, and those who give and those who allow me to give it to them.

I am blessed with many things in my life, some large and some small, but I hope that I can try to be thankful for them all.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat....

Some of you may have heard that I was quite lucky in my new job search and I will be starting the new job tomorrow. I'm a little (or a lot) nervous but I think that I will be able to do the job. I think change always makes me a little nervous. It sounds like a good company, but I am sure that I will find out more in the days to come. The company name is Tomax and they do software for retail businesses. The location is pretty good, close to downtown and about six miles closer to home than the last job. (I am always in favor of shortening the commute.)

I can't help feeling that this is a process that I will need to get used to. I think that in the field of Software Engineering it is quite common to get a new job every few years. That seems weird to me but at the same time, perhaps a little exhilarating. Change is hard, but most hard things turn out to be good things in the end. So we'll just wait it out, raise our glasses and make a toast to the future. Hopefully it won't be happening again for at least a couple of more years.

Oh sNOw!

I can't believe how much snow we got last night. It's too early for this kind of stuff. I even had to break out the shovel. BAH!

After the Flood Part I

So I took some pictures of the basement after it's all dried out. The damage is pretty extensive and will take some time to fix. Hopefully the repair work will start later this week. It's been fairly interesting to live in the guest room once again, but this time with two little children. It's hard not having our stuff accessible or having our own space, but we have to recognize how blessed we are that we have a place to live and friendly people to live with.

Thanks

As some of you know, on Friday, Crystal and I came home to find about three feet of water in the cold storage room and then water damage throughout other parts of the house. I can't express the gratitude that I feel for all of those who showed up (and there were a lot) to help us in our time of need. Many ward members and family and friends were there in an instant and worked all night beside us. To all of them I say THANK YOU! We couldn't have done it without you.

The "No Thank You" Bite

We have a little rule in our household (I believe that we picked up this particular rule from Crystal's sister) that in order for someone to leave the dinner table they must take at least one bite of all of the items on the plate and then if they do not wish to eat further they can say, "No thank you". Beepers was being his normal self tonight and didn't want to eat any of his cheesy potatoes. After a verbal struggle, two stints in the dreaded "corner" and he finally took a small bite of potatoes.

Crystal and I were basking in our small victory when suddenly Beepers in the middle of chewing his potatoes, suddenly and without warning vomited on the floor by the table. All of us kind of stood there in shock for a minute and then we couldn't help but laugh. I don't think we will ever know if Beepers had a sick stomach or if he just convinced himself that the potatoes were not going down, but either way they didn't make it.

Being a parent is interesting difficult work and this will probably turn out to be one of those "you had to be there" moments, but sometimes you just have to laugh at life, even at gross as something as this, or it will literally drive you insane.