Tuesday, May 31, 2005
How'd I Get Here
I guess I can finally tell the story of what has brought me to this page.
The Beginnings
This story begins in 2001, when I headed off from my home in Western PA to apparently seek my fortune in Harrisburg, PA. It looked as though I had basically a lifetime job as a Developer with the Commonwealth of PA.
But it wasn't to be, depending on who you ask there were either performance issues on my part or personality issues that led to feedback issues doomed me. In October 2001, I was fired.
Adrift and Alone
I was smart enough to see the bottom dropping out and battened the hatches. I set myself to finding a job and getting my skills back up to speed. I also applied for Unemployment.
The next nine months I was basically a hermit. I would leave my apartment only to shop, go to church, go to job interviews, and attend my martial arts class. There we cases where my car wouldn't move for a week at a time.
A Last Wish
In June of 2002, my Grandmother died at 91. As her health faded, I found myself dealing with the the stress of a job search that needed to accelerate as my Unemployment was running out and dealing with the fear of watching my Grandmother, who had always been a veritable dynamo, fade away. Her last wish for me was to find work.
When I returned from the funeral. There was a message on my machine from FedEx Ground. I had applied there a week or so before the funeral, and had forgotten about it in all the confusion. Soon a job with RGIS, a company that takes inventories of grocery and other stores.
Things looked better.
Life On The Edge
For the first few months, all seemed well. The two part-time jobs paid the bills and gave me some extra money. But in February of 2003, the bottom slowly fell out.
It started when my car died, I managed to get a loan through the Credit Union and a '99 Taurus. I thought I could make it, as the numbers seemed to work out.
But a slowdown at RGIS and falling into the "Credit Trap", led me into a plasma center. For about four months, I was basically living on the $45 a week I would get from donating my plasma. I looked like a skeleton. The money I earned from my jobs went to pay my bills and cover cash advances.
In May of 2003, I was ready to cash in my chips, pack up, and head back to Western PA.
An Angel In The Family
But help came from a likely but surprising source--my Aunt. She agreed to help me out a bit, but I had to help myself too. I had to submit a budget each month and make a few sacrifices. This lasted all of a month, as I soon got full-time work at FedEx Ground.
Learning From Mistakes
The last two years have not been perfect. I've had trouble with my taxes and needed to get another car, courtesy of a Neon. But I've managed to get through these little bumps. I guess being as close to the edge as I was gave me some knowledge and heart.
The World At My Command
In 2005, I came up with the idea of a "New Year's Revolution", basically a concerted effort to re-invent myself. Starting with a serious assault on getting my programming skills back up to par.
Earlier this month, I completed a simple JAVA applet to convert Farenheit to Celsius. Somehow, my mind convinced itself that maybe, just maybe, this could work. Like the title of this page, my mind did open up.
Now What?
I gotta keep the momentum going for one, and I believe I can. I've added some C++ work to my self-education, and see a world of possibility.
I don't know quite where all this will lead, but I know I need to follow it. I just know that. ¶ 8:28 AM
I guess I can finally tell the story of what has brought me to this page.
The Beginnings
This story begins in 2001, when I headed off from my home in Western PA to apparently seek my fortune in Harrisburg, PA. It looked as though I had basically a lifetime job as a Developer with the Commonwealth of PA.
But it wasn't to be, depending on who you ask there were either performance issues on my part or personality issues that led to feedback issues doomed me. In October 2001, I was fired.
Adrift and Alone
I was smart enough to see the bottom dropping out and battened the hatches. I set myself to finding a job and getting my skills back up to speed. I also applied for Unemployment.
The next nine months I was basically a hermit. I would leave my apartment only to shop, go to church, go to job interviews, and attend my martial arts class. There we cases where my car wouldn't move for a week at a time.
A Last Wish
In June of 2002, my Grandmother died at 91. As her health faded, I found myself dealing with the the stress of a job search that needed to accelerate as my Unemployment was running out and dealing with the fear of watching my Grandmother, who had always been a veritable dynamo, fade away. Her last wish for me was to find work.
When I returned from the funeral. There was a message on my machine from FedEx Ground. I had applied there a week or so before the funeral, and had forgotten about it in all the confusion. Soon a job with RGIS, a company that takes inventories of grocery and other stores.
Things looked better.
Life On The Edge
For the first few months, all seemed well. The two part-time jobs paid the bills and gave me some extra money. But in February of 2003, the bottom slowly fell out.
It started when my car died, I managed to get a loan through the Credit Union and a '99 Taurus. I thought I could make it, as the numbers seemed to work out.
But a slowdown at RGIS and falling into the "Credit Trap", led me into a plasma center. For about four months, I was basically living on the $45 a week I would get from donating my plasma. I looked like a skeleton. The money I earned from my jobs went to pay my bills and cover cash advances.
In May of 2003, I was ready to cash in my chips, pack up, and head back to Western PA.
An Angel In The Family
But help came from a likely but surprising source--my Aunt. She agreed to help me out a bit, but I had to help myself too. I had to submit a budget each month and make a few sacrifices. This lasted all of a month, as I soon got full-time work at FedEx Ground.
Learning From Mistakes
The last two years have not been perfect. I've had trouble with my taxes and needed to get another car, courtesy of a Neon. But I've managed to get through these little bumps. I guess being as close to the edge as I was gave me some knowledge and heart.
The World At My Command
In 2005, I came up with the idea of a "New Year's Revolution", basically a concerted effort to re-invent myself. Starting with a serious assault on getting my programming skills back up to par.
Earlier this month, I completed a simple JAVA applet to convert Farenheit to Celsius. Somehow, my mind convinced itself that maybe, just maybe, this could work. Like the title of this page, my mind did open up.
Now What?
I gotta keep the momentum going for one, and I believe I can. I've added some C++ work to my self-education, and see a world of possibility.
I don't know quite where all this will lead, but I know I need to follow it. I just know that. ¶ 8:28 AM
