Today's post is on... other people. I often wonder what family and friends are doing. I don't hear from many people so I am almost always out of the loop. I know my dad reads this blog, some cousins might, my aunt Arlene might and even my aunt Linda. My brother Ron sometimes reads it as well. Then my cousins kids might even read this. I am not sure if my sister reads this either. For instance I had 9 Pennsylvania visits and 57 New Jersey visits this last month. Oklahoma had 13 and Massachusetts had 7. Texas wins by far with 133. I think that is Peety, Benz and Mr.T visiting. We missed our family Christmas last year so it has really been a long time since I have seen any of the Basses. I talk to Melinda occasionally as she is getting ready to go to Australia. I can just imagine how mad she is with the Visa people. By now she has probably made some enemies. If Holly and I had the "coin" we would travel there Christmastime. That would be cool to have Christmas in Australia. Anyways, anyone reading, listening, lurking???

Halloween is coming. Scary Halloween. Holly and I will be volunteering for the church's fall festival. I still wish we had those around when I was a kid. Instead of trick or treating at houses kids trick or treat at each fair ride. Hopefully we won't be doing a bounce house this year. Like 4 years ago when kids kept on kicking me and when I said stop they said,"no". Halloween is fun. I even like to partake in Rocky Horror Picture show if it is playing. Usually at midnight. I am kind of burnt out on haunted houses. I think once you hit 30 people jumping out at you going boo! doesn't phase you one bit. I haven't seen many horror movies lately. I think it is a guy thing as the wife doesn't like em at all. Although horror movies and gore doesn't scare me either. Today's horror movies have to have the f word in em or its not "realistic". Give me a break. Bring back sixth sense, poltergeist types of movies. Somehow they were successful without swearing. Now those were good.

Here is my bet as to the top 10 costumes we will be seeing this year:
1. McCain
2. Obama
3. Palin
4. Spider Man
5. The Hulk
6. Batman
7. A Jedi
8. A distraught stock broker/e-trade baby
9. Joe the plumber
10. A princess

Let's see what the number one is really going to be. I suppose I could go as global warming. Now that's scary....

What to talk about today? Since this blog is labeled "thoughts" I suppose I should talk about my thoughts. I was thinking about how Obama will probably need twice as many secret service guys when he is president. I can picture a large gang with him taking care of any troublemakers wherever he goes. He is the Godfather. I also saw his wife on Leno the other night. She seems to be clinically obsessed with him winning as well. I think he is to. When asked about her kids she basically shrugged it off and was like, let's talk about the presidency. It looks to me like they are basically ignoring their kids and their lives to win the presidency. Let's see what happens in the next four years. Holly noticed how she talks just her husband. Maybe they lived in the same region? Other thoughts, Holly's grandfather is in the hospital with pneumonia and swelling in his body with some kind of c02 acidosis, so thoughts and prayers are requested. Other thoughts, I have to finally learn Java to get a mapping application working. Funny thing is, no one else here knows it either. Other thoughts, I am finally paid. Wow, I couldn't believe it. I am now bringing home the bacon again. I think it is good to work and can now understand how rock stars and retired people let themselves go. It is very easy to do. I think I will work until I die. That sounds good. Either that or work until I can afford a yacht to sail around the world. That sounds even better.

Welcome to fat season. Beware candy in every other cubicle. Tempting, yummy, candy. I often wonder how thin people can eat candy and hamburgers and stuff when I eat the same stuff and it goes to my belly. I am currently conquering lunch since I have already conquered breakfast. That seems to be working a little. The problem is all this candy around... Once I have been successful I will write a book - "The picky man's guide to losing weight." I think there is a good market for it since most diet books are made for women who eat vegetables. There are 2 properties of any meal - quality and quantity. Most diet foods are low in both, which makes them unappealing to the picky man. A successful conquering of lunch has only one of them. Mine is high quality low quantity. It's like what would I rather have for lunch, 1 gallon of salad, or 1 slice of pizza. I'd go for the pizza any day. I just have to quit being hungry, that is when all this candy becomes enticing, candy candy candy. Halloween candy. Candy corn. M&M's, and my favorite Twix. Gotta go cube patrolling....

And now that I am exhausted it is time for the week. On Friday we went to one of Holly's coworkers housewarming party 45 minutes away near White Rock Lake. As the husband, I know no one. So I talk with a couple of people and take a tour of the house. The women there is an artist and it makes me think about taking an art class. I need to be able to draw people hugging for a project and I am not really an artist. On Saturday I watched Texas Tech get one step closer to number 1. I then went to a comic con with Peetey. We saw Bruce Campbell, the guy from Bubba Hotep and Army of Darkness talk. He was pretty funny. Someone's cell phone went off and he said, "give it to me." and proceeded to tell the guy's wife she'll never see her husband again. I got a Star Trek t-shirt and a dvd of the cartoon series of Pac Man. Saturday night we went over to a friends birthday party. I ended up playing Axis and Allies the whole night. Sunday I slept in, oops, while Holly went to her chemistry class review. I then watched the Cowboys actually win. Then we went to another BBQ 30 minutes away for Holly's old Sunday school class. Now I am at work and just found out I will be given another project to do so if the current one ends I will be able to continue working here. And I am tired. How was your weekend?

So what to talk about today. I am a little tired from a bout with tossing and turning last night. Work and life get on my brain too much. That happens sometimes. How is everyone really doing? You know I have found one of the major keys to happiness in life is "Active Participation" - copyright 2008. For instance if you want to be happy in work you need to participate and you need people to work with you. If you want to be happy in marriage and family you need to participate in each other's lives. If you want to be happy on the internet you need to participate in other peoples lives as well as your own. If you want to be happy spiritually you have got to participate spiritually - by praying, reading the Bible and going to church. Giving content out is part of getting content back in. That is the crux to being social and really being alive.

I think I understand all of that but doing it will always be a learned behavior. The next key is called "Active Communication" - copyright 2008. It is a subset of active participation where part of what you do is communicating on an authentic level. For instance the standard "how are you", "OK" dialogue is severely lacking. I remember how mom used to say her life story about being divorced with 2 kids when we were younger to anyone who asked "how are you". Back then my embarrassment meter would get raised, but really she was just being honest.

The part that is hard about active communication is the active part. When your personality is a mix between passive and active it makes it harder to communicate. As the years go on your barriers start to break down. I think it has something to do with frontal lobe degradation, the part of the brain that tells you to mind your manners. In our Sunday School class we work on being authentic with one another. In another married's course there is a policy of radical honesty. The problem is we are not raised like that. In white middle class America we are told by parents in nonverbal cues to keep these things inside, to bottle them up, no one cares and etcetera... To not wear our hearts on our sleeves. For some people who have that tempermant or genetic predisposition it is actually OK and easy to do. But for others, like myself, who was a sensitive child, a need is there to get things out but the frontal lobe prevents that. It is probably due to some level of insecurity.

So what am I getting at? Nothing really. I have just stumbled across a key to life being active communication and am now going to figure out how to put that in practice.

For instance, the other day my boss said "stop me if I am wrong, but we haven't done much since we started." I of course said nothing but should have said something because he was wrong. I make things look easy, but I know that we'd be delayed if we had someone who was a regular developer on the project. For some reason I could not correct a superior who was wrong, who even asked me to stop him. Many people have no problem with that. I of course do and am doing to soul searching to see what the problem is. Definitely, the problem is insecurity. I think ego can coincide with insecurity.

So the first step in active communication is to be secure. To be secure in a relationship the question becomes "Am I loved?" To be secure on the job a main question has to be answered "Am I wanted?" Aha, I just figured it out. I was not secure at work because in the back of my mind I am not sure if I am wanted. Logically I am wanted because they hired me, but emotionally I have gotten no response to feed my ego, which in turn feeds my security.

So the very first step in active communication is to be secure. The second one has to be the active part, speaking. This is hard for passive people because we can't even get past the insecure step to get to the point of speaking. So let's say that a passive person can be secure. Speaking does come easy to those who have security, but speaking in a tone that is correcting of someone is harder to do. I have done that but only to developers because they needed to fix things, never to a superior.

Fear is an obstacle right after insecurity. Fear is wrong to have in an active conversation. Being active means that it is not just one person telling the other something, it is an active dialogue between two parties with responses that need to be dealt with. It's like it may be hard to jump off the high dive, but you still have to swim when you hit the water. Passive people prefer to get out of the pool area and not even get to the high dive.

In conclusion to this long diatribe, active communication can help you become a bigger participant in all areas of your life. Do not be afraid to speak because you are wanted, you are secure because you were hired, you are secure because you are loved. Lose your fear and you will gain a good conversation. I was telling Holly the other day that this blog is maybe 25% of my thoughts and feelings. It is a shame if my future kids ever see this how they will think something entirely different then if they knew me back when. So from now on I will be more open in this journal. Many thanks to people who actually read my longest post ever! WooHoo! I am a writer!

Well, it's that time of year again. Time for the coworkers to put out the candy corn. Time for the Boy Scouts to have a cake drive, but with laps around the building(which I did not partake in). They had a hamburger buffet at lunch to celebrate the opening of the new lounge. I had 2 of em, my bad. This afternoon they are having some kind of Marketplace. I think for employees who do extra-curricular activities.

You can't fault me for going to a table and plopping down some cards and fliers. Maybe someone will take one, or maybe I will get in trouble. Ever since the IRS I have this insecure paranoid feeling, like everyone is watching me and judging me. It feels kind of weird. I was a leader of 15-20 people there. Here I am a regular tech consultant who has yet to prove himself.

Anyways, the diets are now going to be under heavy fire from society. I've got events every night this weekend. Places to go where food will be a fun thing. The Wii Fit said I lost 2 pounds in 2 weeks so that is encouragement. This whole conquering lunch thing seems to be working, except for today when lunch conquered me. But I will prevail, oh yes, I will prevail.

So I have not done anything with RideSearch since I started back to work. I guess I kind of got burned out on it, working for 2 months straight on tasks that are forgettable. The funny thing is a couple of days before I went back to work I finally got the vision of how I can make RideSearch extremely profitable. So yesterday in talking with my CFO half brother he said that he has a connection that may be able to get me some working capital, as long as I give up my CEO role. This is a good thing and it inspires me.

See, I know that my vision of the future is not accomplishable by myself. I need other people to help. There is no way I can maintain a national company that could bring in a hundred thousand a month. And I definitely don't have the CEO experience and connections that can garner investors. However I make a good CIO or CTO. We shall see what happens. All I know is, it is time to get back on the RideSearch wagon. I made a deal with myself that I need 10,000 members by the end of the year. I've got more than 8000 members, and membership rates are declining because of gas prices and my not pouring in ad money like before. So its time to spread the word. Save money, carpool!

I was thinking about Star Wars and wonder, do the kids of today like the current trilogy better than the one that came out when I was a kid? I can see how they could, because of better graphics and more kid centric plots. Anyways, when I was a kid I saw Return of the Jedi in theaters. That was right when we were moving from Alaska to Texas. I thought it was the best movie ever. That was when I got some Star Wars toys for Christmas, so I proceeded to play with them all the time. Only now do I see I was a pawn of George Lucas. I was the market demographic, the little target for corporate greed, but I digress and have to say "so what."

Being a target is kind of fun because of all the attention you get. You know, getting email in your inbox from amazon with suggestions based on your demographic and buying history is much better than vialis ads. Today's music is targeted towards teenagers who don't recognize the stolen rhythms and think it is all new. The carpool demographic is 20-30 somethings who work regular schedules who live in major metro areas, with a preference towards women, liberals, and environmentalists. My demographic - 30 somethings who are married is still Star Wars, Indiana Jones, easy video games, beer and anything related to young kids. About half of the people in my married class have young kids. Funny thing is, they are more than likely in their 20s. I guess Holly and I got married later than the norm. Anyways, the point of today's post is that being a target for advertisers is not necessarily bad. Then again it is not necessarily good either. Move along, you can go about your business.

So this weekend was busy. On Friday we went out with Holly's college friends to the Blue Goose - a Mexican food restaurant. They were all roommates at Texas Tech. So I heard a lot of girl stories and watched her ole friends get sloshed and try to get me and Holly to drink. My opinion.. Why should I? Anyways, it was interesting. Then on Saturday Holly had to go to teacher training from 8 - 4, so it was like a work day for her. I watched the Tech game and watched us win. I think if we beat all our opponents we will be number 1 in the nation. Then we went out to Obzeet to eat. They are a weird kitche restaurant that has cover bands play. We sat outside and watched the band take their sweet time getting on stage. So we left and went bowling. We went to the 300 bowling alley in Addison. That's the place where you get led to your alley and they give you socks if you need them. Very north Dallas like.

On Sunday we went to church and Sunday school. Then instead of watching the game Holly had to go on a field trip for her geology class, so we drove 1 hour to Waxahachie to meet her professor. He had a friend whose backyard was a limestone quarry. So we went in his car to this giant gravel pit and looked at fossils of prehistoric clams all over the place(Texas used to be covered by an ocean).

This one black dog followed us the whole way there. Anyways, when we finished hiking and I got some rocks with fossils in it we went back and talked with the owner of the house. She was leaving to go to her yoga class. Her other dog, a golden retriever, was there too. She drove out and left her gate open. The black dog started attacking and biting the ear of the golden retriever named Sierra. I could sense some kind of rivalry between the two.

So we go to the next location. We get in the car and drive out the gate. Right outside of the gate is this curved road above a lake. He showed us a very old inactive fault. He had us dig around and look for shark teeth and other rocks. While we are doing this I hear screech, boom, howl, whimper. I look up and see this mini-car swerving. Holly is closest and runs out and sees the golden retriever trying to get off the road but her back legs are paralyzed. She runs over to it and helps it get off the road. Meanwhile, the lady who was driving gets out of her car and is sobbing. She slowly starts walking over while Holly is telling her to get over here. Holly is someone who can take any adversity and be quick to respond.

So the lady is sobbing while her husband stands by. Her husband calls the police who calls animal control. In the meantime the professor does not have a way to get in contact with the owner of the dog. I am doing nothing cause there is nothing to do. Eventually the police and animal control arrive. The dog is breathing heavy and I am calling around to find an animal hospital. The closest one open on a Sunday is in Arlington. So the professor says he will take the dog. So we get a muzzle around the dog and it gets lifted into the back seat with Holly sitting back there comforting the dog.

The professor drops us off at his house and his wife gets in his car and we part ways. We do not know what happened to the dog. It was just a weird freaky accident. I deduced some things while I was there. The professor mentioned how the owner had a dog stolen. I noticed spiderwebs on the gate. My presumption - the other dog was not stolen, the lady always leaves the gate open and the other dog was probably hit as well.

So since we are near Red Oak, we call Holly's mom and go to dinner at the Olive Garden and calm our nerves by eating. We drive home and have to stop at walmart for the weeks groceries. I get in at 8 and then proceed to watch Dallas win in an alternative reality because I finally realized, I am in the twilight zone. How was your weekend?

This last year I have made the internet part of my career. As a result I have learned the ins and outs of internet popularity and how to drive traffic to a web site. During this process I have found some really good sites to go to. The number one rule of websites is content. If you have it you will go far. That is why I want all my friends to post things on RideSearch, it will get indexed in Google and will bring the popularity up. There are some bloggers out there that actually make a living at blogging. They are rare though. So here is a list of my current top 10 list on how to find good sites.

1. Blogads.com - if you want to see what the most popular blogs are go here and click order al la carte. They show how much money popular blogs are and give the urls of those blogs. Considering I spend 20Gs on these ads back in February I better put them first. Although my ad in perezhilton.com got over 1 million views, it didn't get many clicks.

2. alexa.com - Go to the Alexa top 100. This shows you the top 100 sites in the nation. My site has been dropping like a rock, probably because gas is going lower. $4.00 a gallon is the magic number. People who want to invest in gas should invest in RideSearch.

3. stumbleupon.com - a good site for finding random sites to go to in your interest

4. digg.com - a good agregator site that has news stories to look at

5. fark.com - another good agregator site that has funny headlines for news stories

6. slashdot.org - a good tech site for tech news

7. treehugger.com - the top environmental blog. I can advertise, but they have never ran a story about me

8. prweb.com - if you ever want to be up to date with the news right before the press gets a hold of it go here.

9. rtironline.com - want to see the latest round of talk show guests, or even contact them? Some interesting books and stories can be found here. I got 20 radio show interviews when I advertised in them.

10. Social Networks - facebook, myspace, mychurch, blackplanet, toolbox.com and there are many growing every day.

11. twitter.com - send messages to the world

12. widgetbox.com - a place to find interesting miniprograms

13. bebo.com - a social media network for sharing videos and stuff

14. flickr.com - a pciture sharing site, also try picasa.google.com

So people are wondering.. Did Holly make the cut? Does she still have a job. The answer is Yes! I knew she didn't have much to worry about. She has 6 years of teaching experience under her belt and is head of the science department at her school. The paper said math, science, and bilingual teachers are too valuable to be cut. Really all teachers are too valuable. Her school was apparently saved from all cuts. Probably because it is one of the most impoverished schools there. The problem goes all the way back to the weirdness that is DISD. It is a marriage of the government and private sectors and it ends up making everything bad although DISD salaries are one of the highest in the state. It is interesting how everyone knows about this and is concerned. Like when I got furloughed off of Lockheed Martin no one called or anything, people just don't know. But this DISD fiasco, everyone knows, and luckily everyone prays - thanks!

I've been here 2 weeks and I am releasing what I have done so far. I
may have to work OT so no guys night tonight.

So Mr.T brought up an article on being married vs. being single and how the older you get the more being single looks kind of creepy. I am not sure of that. I know I was without official girlfriend for an awfully long time, I mean from 1998 - 2005. And yes I did get the pressure from family and friends that most single guys get. The truth to the matter is, being married is not better or worse than being single, it is just different. There are good and bad things to both of them. I am very fortunate in that my wife and I are perfectly compatible. But single people who rush into marriage just because everyone else is tend to have bad marriages. You just need to trust that God has it all planned for you. I think if I would have gotten married in my 20s I would have had to go through some hard lessons. Once you hit your thirties you can see that all of your prior experiences were there so you could learn from them and have a better relationship. Now I do remember one of Mr.T's friends saying "I am too selfish to get married" and it may be an interesting point. One thing relationships and marriage require is sacrifice, including sacrificing high expectations. If you cannot give up things and put her first then it is a no go. It's all good lessons. I am only over a year into this thing called marriage, who knows what I'll learn next. But to my single friend, enjoy life and don't worry about Mrs.Right, she may end up not liking Star Trek.

This weekend was good, although I was a little bad on Friday night. I
took Holly to dinner and a movie. We went to Rafain's for dinner - we
had a coupon and Holly doesn't eat the meat, so we can get out of
there for $60 instead of the usual $100. I am getting paid at the end
of the month. The movie we saw was called fireproof and starred Kirk
Camaron of Growing Pains. It was a very emotional drama kind of movie
with an extremely good message for married couples. There were some
sniffs in the theater. I'd give it a 4 out of 5 stars. The one star
missing is because of forced dialog, a la George Lucas. At least these
actors were volunteer actors and didn't get paid. The message about
marriage was very deep and very Christian, it taught me a few things.
Holly and I are willing to babysit to let our friends see it. Anyways,
Saturday we saw the Tech game and are glad we won. In one coaches poll
we are 5th in the nation. Saturday night we went dancing at the
outdoor mall at Legacy. This is where rich people go as we saw a
couple of Ferrari's out front. Single friends should go to the
margarita bar as there are 4 girls to 1 guy. Guys just don't like
dancing. Sunday the Cowboys offensive line decided not to play and
Tony Romo tried to turn the ball over. Maybe he will learn... How was
your weekend?

Well, I am finishing up on my first week of working for the boy scouts. It is actually a pretty good job. It will take me a while to form relationships but over time that is bound to happen. Now that I have my own cube I can enjoy the space. Also, I can't believe it, I can access my gmail at work. Since I am the social networking guy I have a lot of freedom on the net. It is almost as if I am a pioneer in this new position. I think I may even change up the template around here. It is kind of stale. Maybe I will turn this site into a community server setup as well, add a forum and profiles for my friends and family. Would ya'll use it?

On the marriage side of things we are happy and have been happy since we married. Everyone was telling me "the thirteenth month is the worst" and nothing happened. We don't argue or anything. I guess we are still on Honeymoon mode ;-) Holly finds out next week if she loses her job. The School district here has an 83 million dollar shortfall so they are cutting 700 teachers. She has a 50/50 percent chance. She does have the experience and is getting her masters degree. However her kids tests scores are bad because they barely speak English. It will all depend if they use a formula for firing or input from the principal. We shall see. At any rate I am glad I have a job in these times. I still get about 2 recruiter calls a day. At least the tech sector hasn't dried up. Have a good weekend and don't let your spoon get too cold.

So last night we did guys night and they noticed how I have this back brace. One of the things I accomplished during my 2 month hiatus was that I was able to fix a back problem by going to a chiroquacter. I know, some people are like is it a voodoo thing or something. But after talking to my sister she said chiropractors are good for back problems only. I believe that. I have a slouching problem and had a pain in my lower back. Well, so far he has fixed the slouching and I do feel more flexible. He gave me a back brace to wear around the house and a pillow. I think he loved my insurance because I only paid $75 for 18 sessions and a back brace and pillow. Really, after the back cracking is done they give me a massage and have me lie down on these back massage machines. The doc said I had a slipped disc. I still have some lower back pain though. It has gotten a little worse, but after each adjustment feels good until the next one and by then it is burning a little. Maybe it is a racket. It is hard to say. I can be thankful that I didn't have to wear a back brace like my dad did when he was in school. That would've sucked.

I can't believe I am sitting in my own cube. It is a miracle. For 5 years I have been sitting side by side 20 people. When I was at Nokia I was sitting beside 5 people. I have learned to handle the annoying coworker and at times I know I have been the annoying coworker. It is just hard to get things done with everyone watching you. I am now free! Sniff. I watched the debates last night. It was pretty boring. McCain walked around too much. Obama sounded aloof. The only thing I agreed with were the reasons to not vote for the other candidate. I am now telling people I will vote for Jesus Christ. It's a good vote.

So things are going well. I did not turn on my computer last night
either. I think I have taken a break from my second job before I start
in on everything again. Last night Holly drug me to the gym and I did
the elliptcal for 25 minutes and hot tub/ sauna for 35 minutes. I'd
have to say that it had been a month since the last time I did any
exercise. I could actually hear my heartbeat. Glad to know I am alive.
My weight had become an issue and now I am back on track. I really was
considering LAP band because I do qualify and my insurance would pay
for it, but as someone with emetophobia it is probably a bad idea.
Instead I have decided to conquer lunch. I conquered breakfast months
ago and now am working solely on lunch. Right now I am having
lunchables - only 390 calories and a diet coke. If I can keep this up
I will lose weight. Anyways, I tend to go on and on about things no
one really cares about. For now I have lapped my band. BTW I have
recorded clone wars but have yet to watch it. Maybe on guy's night.

This weekend was another football weekend with both my teams winning
again. Holly and I went to Wichita to visit mom. She is doing fine.
The doctor removed her carcinoma and it wasn't the kind that spreads.
Her next door neighbor helps out by cooking her food for her. We went
IHop as it us mom's favorite place. She will always tell the story of
when I poured coffee on my pancakes because I thought it was syrup and
how it made the waitress laugh. Anyways, work is going well. Time is
flying because I have alot to do. That is much different from the IRS.
People around here seem to be more friendlier as well. This weekend I
didn't turn my laptop on as well. That has to be a record for me.
Although my web traffic is now decreasing to the main site. So
everyone should visit RideSearch and post anything they want. How was
your weekend?

So last night I went to Denton to see my old high school Rider High
play football. We won the game and it brought back memories. Some
good, some bad. I remember playing in the band. Even back then I
didn't know what I was getting myself into, all just to get out PE. In
the summer we had to march. And the games, having to wear those goofy
uniforms. What was I thinking? High school was fun but I wouldn't do
it again. In other news I watched the debate replay last night and
have to say I am now swinging Obama's way. The reason, health care. If
it was completely private and optional no company would give me
insurance because of preexisting conditions or they would but it would
cost $1300 a month, well above the $5,000 a year McCain would give me.
That is a big point against them. Plus I think Obama would do more for
the environment. But, I am still undecided, because from history no
health care reform is ever passed, they all make promises they never
keep. Plus does anyone else think Palin sounds like the mom from
Bobby's World? Doncha know...

So here I am, working. This job will be a good learning experience. It
is an interesting culture. Apparently only the IT staff is business
casual. Everyone else wears ties or a scouting shirt. There was
probably an IT revolt in the late 90s. I am trying to analyze and
understand this organization. I was a cub scout when I was little and
living in Alaska. I started off as a tiger cub. I remember it well
because it was the one thing my dad was involved with me. As I grew up
I went to scout camp and honestly I do not remember seeing a single
adult the entire week. I was a wild child there in the mountains of
Alaska. Mom likes to tell the story about how when I returned I was
covered from head to toe in dirt and wasn't wearing any underwear.
That was also when I picked up a moose turd in the forest and kept it
to play with my legos. All in all the cub scouts was a fine
institution. They practice good morals and values. But for the life of
me I can't shake this feeling I am working for a cult. Like somehow
children are being brainwashed. Eh, probably not. More tests... I
never did the boy scouts because I had a problem with merit being
decided by badges and I had a problem with authority. I suppose that
carried over into adulthood. I should get a badge for working here ;-)

Let's see. I was awoken at 6:50AM by my wife. She is the best alarm
clock. By 7:50 I was out the door an had pretty smooth sailing down to
the Nokia Buildings where I used to work before. The boy scout
headquarters is right across the street. Once there I got a visitor's
badge and got escorted inside by my project manager. He introduced me
to my one other coworker, Habib. He will be my cohort for this
journey. Then I got familiar with what I will be doing. Also I should
get a computer and an actual cube to get started working by tomorrow.
I think the work will be good. Here is my scores of the first
impressions:
1. Building - B- it has a cafeteria
2. Cubes - A - the cubes have walls and are around 8ftx8ft
3. Actual Work -A- from appearances I think it will be fun, but I will
be doing most of it alone.
4. Coworkers - C - nothing interesting, very small team
5. Environment - B business casual

This job will be a mixture between Nokia and EFG Companies. Definitey
workable and better than LM. I will be able to find or make happiness
working here.