Port Move - Day 1

Well...so far it's the disaster that I expected.

I got in this AM at 6:30 and there was the smell of disaster in the air. Nothing was right in my cube other than the orientation. I'm missing my extra nextwork connections, the height wasn't right, and overall it's been a complete fuck-up. They misplaced the box of cables for the plotters for 5 1/2 hours, and we were concerned that they wouldn't show up. We finally found them and I spent 2 hours hooking everything back up. Needless to say, it still feels like a cardboard hobo town.

So much is left to do, so it will be another waste of a week while we unpack and get some semblance of order to the chaos.

Going on a Cruise!!!

Well,

It's official, Brenda and I are going to spend Valentine's Day on Celebrity Solstice for a 7 night Eastern Caribbean Cruise.

We're both very excited, and we got a great Ocean view cabin on Deck 8 - on the opposite end of the ship where we stayed during our shakedown cruise. I let the PM for the project know and he's pulled a few strings, so as I understand from the Guest Relations Manager, we're going to be treated "famously".

As soon as we return, I'll post some pictures so you can see the BEAUTIFUL vessel.

On a side note, our move back to the port offices is underway, and as usual, is a disaster in the making. It will be all over next week, so I'll be ready for a serious vacation.

Well, dodged a couple of bullets

Well, since Faye turned north and Ike went south, we dodged a couple of serious bullets. We're not done with the season until Dec 1st, but so far things are pretty calm. Brenda and I were ready for the most part, and had no plans to evacuate.

On another note, in July, we let another couple of people go from our group. All of my interns are now gone, so I have only 1 person reporting to me now. We also lost two people from the Solstice team, but that project is now 45 days from delivery - so while I can kinda see why, it still makes no sense to me.

On a positive note, we are at our current projected head-count for EOY 2009, so unless shit really hits the fan, we're safe from any additional cuts.

That's all for now

Guess who got married

Well, after almost 5 years, Brenda and I are finally married. We got married IN Disneyworld Magic Kingdom - right in from on Cinderella's castle. Both of our parents were there for us, and my Mom did the ceremony (she's an ordained minister).

It was a blast, and what memories...

Below are a few photos for you to see...

6 month Update

Well, after the craziness of October, things are finally settling down 'round here. I now manage one employee and have begun to make a name for myself. I got a decent review and got a bonus with my annual review to boot - Yeah me!!!

Things are better now than they were, I managed to make some adjustments in my monthly child support payments, so that ended up giving me another $600 a month for my expenses, and boy did I need it.

I've made some real great allies in the ship captains, and am planning on taking a cruise in a few weeks. I'm going to get the "royal treatment" for my efforts in helping the port captains, so it should be fun.

Brenda and I are planning to get married in July, and on a cruise no less. My mother will perform the ceremony (she's an ordained minister) and we're going to have her folks and my folks and her kids here for the ceremony.

All in all, things are looking up and we're both getting to a better place. Brenda loves her job as a forensic accountant, and boy some of her clients have money to burn. She handles divorce cases and spend her time doing lifestyle analyses. She then see how much they spend and where it all goes. I can't even fathom some of these guy's house payments...$13K month for a nice place near the beach, and they eat out to the tune of a few thousand a month....god would I love that lifestyle....NOT!!!

Anyway, I figured an update was due, so here it is....Enjoy!!

Well....the bad news is done

Well...the last month has been absolute hell....we were planning to layoff 11 people in our department and I got involved in the process. I'm still there and I have a heaping helping of new responsibilities added to what I'm already doing.

The worst part is that my boss got the axe...and I didn't know until it was too late to warn him about it. all in all, it was done ok, not well, and I ended up being at the office for 11+ hours, trying to pick up the pieces, shut down holes, and basically think of anything else that could go wrong.

I'm going to be having someone report to me....so it looks like I may be moving up a little...only time will tell.

So time to drink until I can't feel anything and rest and recouperate the rest of the weekend.

Week 11 in Miami

Well it's been a exciting couple of weeks. I made my 90 days with flying colors and got my signing bonus. So I decided to treat myself right and bought a car.

I ended up with a Toyota MR2 Spyder Convertable...woo hoo...it's my mid-life crisis car :) and I got the car with only 38K miles...less than 6K /yr previous one owner....spectra blue mica...gotta love it!!!!

Brenda and I got the kids shipped back to Tacoma on the 23rd of August and we've been settling into our DINK lifestyle. She got a job last week and started yesterday. It's with a great CPA firm and so far things are looking up.

We haven't done much since the kids left...too little money and no motivation to go anywhere....but I think we'll be taking a morning drive through the everglades with the top down before too long.

We're about 5 minutes from the beach and that rocks. We live in a very nice apartment complex in a very quiet community.

That's about all for now....I'll try and catch up with more details later....