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And so it begins...
Well, it's late but I went through all the trouble to set this up so I might as well get the first post up here. A friend got me started looking at this and I thought maybe this would get me started writing again, something I pretty much put on hold because of 'life' over 2 years ago and never picked back up again. Maybe now while I'm unemployed I'll have some time, although probably not much. I don't know how many people will look at this (Wildcard, I know you will;).) I guess it's like having a Genie topic like I used to want so badly in the good old days when I hung out in the SFRT there, but this is very public, and won't be the same. Eventually I'll get around to mentioning this on my web site, and then hopefully people will stop in to let me know they're here:).
Well, I've been unemployed from WeddingChannel.com for a week now, where I was a Senior HTML Programmer (I finally convinced them to officially acknowledge the Senior part near the end, but I'd earned it over a year ago). I know I shouldn't be so happy about being unemployed but despite there being a bunch of great people there, the company itself had changed so much I wasn't happy there, and despite the fact that the job market sucks right now I still think I'm better off. Besides, I'm really sick of HTML and want to be a full time programmer already, and by the time I changed my mind about moving back to L. A. they had hired a bunch of new Java Developers so they couldn't even offer me that.
I had transferred to the San Francisco office back in August JUST to learn ASP and move into Java faster, since down in the L. A. office there was a brick wall between HTML and Development. Well, 2 1/2 months later they announced that they were closing the SF office and moving everything down to L. A. At that point the CIO seemed to want to offer me excuses instead of a Java position so I planned on staying up here. But I had to stay until the end (April 30) because of the nice bonus we were offered for that, and after a good friend of mine moved down near San Diego I decided I was sick of the outrageous rent prices to live somewhere I barely knew anybody, especially when I felt more at home in L. A. then I ever could up here.
So right now I'm looking for another job down in Los Angeles. Yeah, moving's a pain, and I've done way too much of it lately, but you know what? This move is right. Ever since I decided to do it I've felt so much happier that I'm sure of that. L. A. is the one place that really feels like home now. NY was nice and familiar but I was sick of being miserable 6 months out of every year because of the weather. I never once felt homesick in L. A. The music industry's there (and great concerts!), lots of computer game companies (something I'd really like to get into, since it's the only really cool stuff being done on (or off) the web), and there's LASFS, the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, a club so much like the Science Fiction Forum I was a member of back in college that I really felt at home there.
So I might miss the science fiction conventions in the northeast, but I can always go back to visit. Besides, I realized that despite all my friends who I saw at conventions, the only one I ever actually really hung out with in person between cons stopped talking to me 2 years ago, which was one of the reasons I decided to move out here and start my life over. And I'm glad I did:). Now I have some good friends down in the Los Angeles area, people at LASFS I'll be able to hang out with, and people from WeddingChannel (past and present) that I still am in regular contact with. And I also have a cat:).
O.K. This has gone on longer than I thought so I'll cut this short.
BTW, I wanted a quick image and had this animated gif my ex-roommate sent me that I love, so I'm using that. Unfortunately I don't know the source and if anyone recognizes this I'd be happy to take it down or give you credit (and thanks for a gif that always makes me smile when I look at it:).).
Well, I've been unemployed from WeddingChannel.com for a week now, where I was a Senior HTML Programmer (I finally convinced them to officially acknowledge the Senior part near the end, but I'd earned it over a year ago). I know I shouldn't be so happy about being unemployed but despite there being a bunch of great people there, the company itself had changed so much I wasn't happy there, and despite the fact that the job market sucks right now I still think I'm better off. Besides, I'm really sick of HTML and want to be a full time programmer already, and by the time I changed my mind about moving back to L. A. they had hired a bunch of new Java Developers so they couldn't even offer me that.
I had transferred to the San Francisco office back in August JUST to learn ASP and move into Java faster, since down in the L. A. office there was a brick wall between HTML and Development. Well, 2 1/2 months later they announced that they were closing the SF office and moving everything down to L. A. At that point the CIO seemed to want to offer me excuses instead of a Java position so I planned on staying up here. But I had to stay until the end (April 30) because of the nice bonus we were offered for that, and after a good friend of mine moved down near San Diego I decided I was sick of the outrageous rent prices to live somewhere I barely knew anybody, especially when I felt more at home in L. A. then I ever could up here.
So right now I'm looking for another job down in Los Angeles. Yeah, moving's a pain, and I've done way too much of it lately, but you know what? This move is right. Ever since I decided to do it I've felt so much happier that I'm sure of that. L. A. is the one place that really feels like home now. NY was nice and familiar but I was sick of being miserable 6 months out of every year because of the weather. I never once felt homesick in L. A. The music industry's there (and great concerts!), lots of computer game companies (something I'd really like to get into, since it's the only really cool stuff being done on (or off) the web), and there's LASFS, the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, a club so much like the Science Fiction Forum I was a member of back in college that I really felt at home there.
So I might miss the science fiction conventions in the northeast, but I can always go back to visit. Besides, I realized that despite all my friends who I saw at conventions, the only one I ever actually really hung out with in person between cons stopped talking to me 2 years ago, which was one of the reasons I decided to move out here and start my life over. And I'm glad I did:). Now I have some good friends down in the Los Angeles area, people at LASFS I'll be able to hang out with, and people from WeddingChannel (past and present) that I still am in regular contact with. And I also have a cat:).
O.K. This has gone on longer than I thought so I'll cut this short.
BTW, I wanted a quick image and had this animated gif my ex-roommate sent me that I love, so I'm using that. Unfortunately I don't know the source and if anyone recognizes this I'd be happy to take it down or give you credit (and thanks for a gif that always makes me smile when I look at it:).).