Happy Fathers Day DADS

I have two weeks before my contract is over and then I will be continuing the job search.  This is not something new under the sun.  I have been doing this on and off for 16 years and I must admit that I am sick of it.  Once upon a time companies had internal IT staff that took care of their network and the only time they brought in contractors or consultants was for large short term projects that was beyond their ability to handle.  For whatever reasons corporate America has decided that it is cheaper to have contractors doing more of the work than full time IT staff.  One of the money savings for employers is that they do not have to pay benefits for contractors so I guess I understand WHY they do it.  Understanding the reasons why does not make my life any easier.  

I am currently entertaining two options after this contract ends.  One is a full time position with a credit union here locally and the other is a 9 month to one year contract with the SC DMV which could turn into a permanent position at the end of the contract depending on how well the contractors do with providing support to the DMV offices in the state.  I am hopeful that I can land the full time salaried position vs the contract position but I will be happy if I can land one of them.  If I can not land either of them for whatever reasons then I will be forced to continue looking and find whatever job I can to supplement Katy’s income.  

If I wind up not being able to find a job or contract in the IT industry AGAIN I have decided that I will take the necessary steps to get OUT of the IT industry once and for all by going back to school and training to do something within the Healthcare industry like X-ray tech or whatever.  I am sure that Trident Technical College has several programs that I could get involved in.  I would have to get another student loan to do it but that is fine with me if it gives me the ability to find something stable for my future.  

If you are reading this and you are wondering if there is any value in a college degree please let me use my life experience and tell you that there IS GREAT VALUE in having a college degree.  There are so many more doors open to you because of the advanced education.  That does not mean that you should just go get a degree in basket weaving.  What it means is that you should target those industries where there is always going to be a need and those companies within that industry will have a track record for providing a stable working environment that will not just go away because the economy is having a problem.  Government, healthcare, law enforcement is three industries that will never go anywhere and will always be looking for a few good men and women that can provide them with a good workforce.   Information Technology for some reason does not provide the stability that the last three do.  If you do not have even a high school diploma let me tell you that you are going to be in a LOT of trouble if you hope to find a decent job of any kind.  Almost ALL of the jobs that I have ever pursued required that you have a MINIMUM of a high school education.  So, if you dropped out of high school to pursue your dream be sure to go get your GED certificate.  Without it you will be in deep trouble.  

Katy is halfway through her PACE class that is two weeks long and that started after summer vacation started for the kids here in the low country.  Katy will be so happy when this next week is over and she too can have a break of sorts.  Katy has been working very hard studying and studying and studying.  I think that she feels as if her brain is going to explode with all the stuff they are cramming into her head.  Go Katy Go!!!!  You can do it!!

Did I tell you that we switched from MaBell over to Vonage for home telephone service?  I just paid my first bill with them.  We paid 19.11 vs the 35.00 + that we paid with MaBell.  Wooohooooo, I LOVE that.   The talk quality is just as clear as MaBell and you can manage your account details and see the call information online.  You have to have a broadband connection to the Internet or it won’t work.  So, if you have DSL or a CABLE modem and have an always on connection to the Internet and you want to reduce your budget you can switch to Vonage.  If you are interested in all the features go to www.vonage.com and read up on it.  If you think about joining tell me and I will send you a referral link so that we both can get a free month of service.  It took me all of 10 minutes to hook up the Vonage switch in my existing network setup.   The only problem that we discovered after it was all hooked up is that we lost the ability to print to the network printer that is shared off of the main gateway pc in our home.  We have two computers and two laptops hooked up to our internal network.   I wrote Vonage tech support and they told me to give them an exact diagram of how the network was setup.  So, I was armed with my first cup of coffee this morning and a lamp and I discovered what the problem was.  My main Gateway system was the only pc on my network plugged into one of the switch ports on the Vonage switch.  All the other computers either connected wirelessly to the existing wireless router or the switch ports on the wireless router.  Once I unplugged the gateway from the Vonage switch and plugged it back into my Motorola switch/firewall/router/wireless device all the computers on the workgroup were able to see it again.  We can also print to the network printer anywhere in the house again.  Wooohoooo  If I had one of those EASY Buttons from Staples I would push it and it would say THAT WAS EASY.  LOL….

I have been working really hard at counting calories and going to the gym since the first of this month.   I have a fifteen pound window that I seem to be bouncing around in.  The other day I got on the scales and I had gained to pounds back that I had recently lost.  That was AFTER reducing my calorie intake and exercising four times per week.  I just could not believe that I had gained two pounds back after all of that.  LOL…  One of the things I have to realize is that I did not get where I am physically over night and I won’t lose all the weight over night either.  The other thing I have to realize is that as I use the weight machines at the gym that I am going to start to gain back some muscle cells that I have lost and I am going to be convert fat to muscle which will mean that I will gain back a few pounds.  The important thing is that I eat less, exercise more and drink water and lots of it.  I am supposed to drink 8 eight ounce glasses of water and I am falling way short on that folks.  I love sweet tea but that is not pure water.  If you drink a lot of water it will help you shed those pounds.  

Well, it is time to stop writing here and get ready for church.  I hope you have a blessed day and a good week coming up.  God bless