My inspiration for this blog post is this Homer Simpson quote:
"I’ve had a lot of jobs in my life: boxer, mascot, astronaut, baby proofer, imitation Krusty, truck driver, hippie, plow driver, food critic, conceptual artist, grease salesman, carny, mayor, grifter, body guard for the mayor, country western manager, garbage commissioner, mountain climber, farmer, inventor, Smithers, Poochie, celebrity assistant, power plant worker, fortune cookie writer, beer baron, Kwik-E-Mart clerk, homophobe, and missionary, but protecting people, that gives me the best feeling of all."
My list is not quite as good, but here goes:
Berry picker, corn picker, berry salesman, corn salesman, corn business owner, poultry business owner, dairy farmer, general farm laborer, home mover, building construction laborer, road construction laborer, road construction gradesman, packer operator (steam roller), Ebay business owner (selling PDAs, GPS systems, video cards and various software), Computer salesman, computer repairman, CD/DVD duplication business owner, transcriber, computer/software contractor, website developer, software tester, and real estate investor.
I'd say that's not bad for 27 years old.
Sunday, 17 May 2009
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
The internet
The Internet is like a Cat D8 bulldozer.
Real life is like a hand shovel.
It's insane how powerful the Internet is and how slow real life is.
Not to say I love being in the cab of my bulldozer all day. More often than not, I want to get the hell out of my bulldozer and use my hand shovel. But my bulldozer is just so insanely powerful and I am a very skilled operator.
I can make money, meet friends, meet the opposite sex, work, play, research, etc. All of which I have done too.
Our eBay sales saw over $50,000 wired into our accounts. I met my wife there. I have made real friends there. I do most of my work there. Every computer program I have ever written for work or school has been influenced by the Internet.
The problem I have is that I spend all my time on this damn box. It's so powerful it sucks me in.
Sure there are lots of great ways to get off the Internet, but my life is just getting going and I need the power of a bulldozer right now.
Any thoughts?
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Ireland
Hey everyone,
I survived the second (bigger) round of job cuts at Microsoft. Again, my entire group was unaffected.
It's a very good thing I did, because from what I hear, there are just no jobs in Ireland. Unemployment is 11.4% (currently its 8% in Canada). There are stories of lawyers working in retail because they can't get a better job. Tens of thousands of people are leaving the country too. Housing prices are still painfully high but they have fallen over 10-20%.
Microsoft won't be giving raises next year and the tax man keeps asking for more.
However, there is a silver lining... we did manage to save on rent because of the recession. Prices are falling in electricity, groceries, cabs, electronics, etc.
Anyhow, besides the great depression, things are going well. Julie & I took a very nice trip to a fishing village outside of Dublin called "Howth". Howth is a very picturesque place. It would be a great place to retire, there were a few million dollar mansions up on the cliff tops. There are some seals that regularly visit the harbour looking for fishing scraps so we got to see them. Some people were throwing some fish for them to eat. Julie and I had a picnic of Indian food while we were there. The weather can change so fast in Ireland though, so you always have to be prepared for rain and sun. It rained just before out picnic, so we got a coffee for about 2o minutes, then had our picnic once the rain blew away. Here are a few pictures.
We might be coming back to Canada for a few weeks in mid to late June. I will keep you posted.
Cya
I survived the second (bigger) round of job cuts at Microsoft. Again, my entire group was unaffected.
It's a very good thing I did, because from what I hear, there are just no jobs in Ireland. Unemployment is 11.4% (currently its 8% in Canada). There are stories of lawyers working in retail because they can't get a better job. Tens of thousands of people are leaving the country too. Housing prices are still painfully high but they have fallen over 10-20%.
Microsoft won't be giving raises next year and the tax man keeps asking for more.
However, there is a silver lining... we did manage to save on rent because of the recession. Prices are falling in electricity, groceries, cabs, electronics, etc.
Anyhow, besides the great depression, things are going well. Julie & I took a very nice trip to a fishing village outside of Dublin called "Howth". Howth is a very picturesque place. It would be a great place to retire, there were a few million dollar mansions up on the cliff tops. There are some seals that regularly visit the harbour looking for fishing scraps so we got to see them. Some people were throwing some fish for them to eat. Julie and I had a picnic of Indian food while we were there. The weather can change so fast in Ireland though, so you always have to be prepared for rain and sun. It rained just before out picnic, so we got a coffee for about 2o minutes, then had our picnic once the rain blew away. Here are a few pictures.
We might be coming back to Canada for a few weeks in mid to late June. I will keep you posted.
Cya
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