The year of 2008 was one of the best years I have had in a long time. The reason I state that is because it has been, for the most part, full of excitement. I will admit that the first part of the year was dull; the excitement didn’t actually start until I was released from the company I had been with for over five years. It was just after that when I started a very exciting summer full of trips and thereafter a prosperous autumn.

It began as a trip to New York to act in an off-Broadway play. You can see the entries of those exciting times from archives of the month of July here, here, and here.

Immediately after that, at the end of the month of July, I made a trip to Richmond, VA and Washington D.C.
Then, only a couple weeks later, I made another trip to New York for some leisure time to enjoy the city and some of the tourist areas I had never visited.

Once I returned from my second New York trip is when I resumed my career at a new job working for IBM at Disney’s data center. It was only a couple of months before I realized that job was not suited for me.
The remaining year was filled with new tech gadgets, catching up with old friends after making a trip to Tampa for Halloween (pictures here and here) and a trip to Tallahassee for a FSU football game (picture here and here), and then, of course, the holidays.

It seemed halting my career in the first half of the year was a life changing event. Since then I’ve started a second job that has already proven unstable, so there is no telling what 2009 will hold. I hope 2009 is just as adventurous but a little more stable. It is true what some state though, that chaos is exciting and 2008 sure was an unstable and fun year for me.

I hope your 2009 is just as exciting and more prosperous than my 2008.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Being the tech/computer geek (dork) that I am, I bought myself an early Christmas present…actually, I bought it for a new friend, my Dell Mini 9. Since it is winter time, I thought it about time that I put some skin on my Mini 9 to keep it warm(er). I went to Skinit, looked for my device, and customized. I browsed their designs first but I couldn’t find anything that I liked. Then I saw that you can upload your own image for the customization and immediately smiled, I knew exactly what I wanted. I browsed my computer’s hard drive of Blade Runner images that I had collected over the years and found what I wanted. Uploaded, ordered, and $35 later, after shipment delivery, this is the finished product:

When I first saw the skin before I applied it to my netbook I was a little upset that there was a hole in the middle that, once applied, would still display the Dell logo. I was hoping I could cover this up; not because I am ashamed it’s a Dell but because it would look totally lame to have a big Dell logo over Rick Deckard’s crotch. I called Skinit customer service to find out if I could return this to get one without the hole in the middle but due to their agreement with Dell that allows them to actually sell a customized skin for the Dell product, they could not send me one without the hole. However, after application, I have to say that I still dig it.

By the way, for those of you reading this that may not know me, I am a HUGE Blade Runner fan, hence the reason I chose a Rick Deckard silhouette.

I don’t normally like to blog about work but what happened today shouldn’t go unmentioned.

We all have been hearing about corporate layoffs around the country for the past month or so now; companies like Sun Microsystems laying off 6,000, Palm laying off over 1,000, AT&T laying off 12,000, and Yahoo laying off over 1,500. Well the company I work for can be added to the list. I’m not sure how many total employees were laid off, I just know that my entire team was let go today, except for me. I’m really bummed about it being that I am the only single male without a wife and children that was left with a job in my team. Another reason is because these guys I have been working with had been with the company for almost two years or more and know more about the environment, so you would think that I would be the one they cut, but that wasn’t the case. Apparently, the order was the last to hire was the first to fire. See, the other guys had been contractors since their inception into the company. When they hired me in October, I was hired as a full time exempt employee, whereas they were hired as full time exempt employees a week after I started. It’s something that I don’t completely understand but I have to find the grateful attitude somehow. It’s tough to see the brighter side of it and to be grateful when these other guys that have spent the past two months training me on the procedures of the company were released and I was not.

I guess you can say this is definitely the sign of the times and my time may not be far behind…again (*see Unemployment post). If things do not get better in the economy you, the reader, may be next also. I’m just saying is that we may not see the end of these woes for a long time.

The recommendation I can give to you is pray more, save, keep your resume updated, and your mind open to changes.

Seeing the Osborne Lights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios each year has become a holiday tradition for my household.

Here is a video I recorded from last night’s visit using my fabulous Flip Mino. One good thing for me that helped enforce the holiday cheer is that it was actually cold last night; cold enough to even drink hot chocolate while watching the spectacle.

Enjoy.

As we all know, today is Thanksgiving. I want to wish everyone and their family a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately for me, I will be spending it in bed this year. I’ve been sick with a cold since last Friday however, since Monday, I have gotten worse; I may have the flu. Even though the health benefits at the new job do not kick in until after the first of the year, I had no choice but to call in sick on Tuesday and Wednesday. I was even supposed to drive up to St. Augustine Wednesday evening to be with the family for Thanksgiving day then drive to Alabama to be with my Grandma on Friday and Saturday but I just couldn’t get healthy enough quickly enough.

However, despite this current grief, I have so much to thank God for. I may be sick now but I still am in good health. We may be in an economic downslope but I have a job. I have a loving family and good friends. And I have so much more. Like I stated, I have a lot to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!