It feels soooooo good to be working with php again. For the past year, (at the 2 contract jobs I had) I was working strictly with html and css, mainly html emails. While I don’t mind working with css, I enjoy working with php and sql so much more. And not only am I working with php again, I’m even learning a new framework, CodeIgniter. It’s what they use at work.

I had my first taste of it today when I started on a new project. I think I’ll pick it up pretty quickly. While I haven’t used a framework before, I have worked with a “layer” concept at a previous job. We had separate directories for database, presentation, and domain layers. CodeIgniter has model, view, and controller “layers”. What I really like about CodeIgniter is the fact that you can put together an array of data in the controller layer to send to the view layer, and in the view layer, you have variables that have the names of the keys from the array that was passed to it. Or at least as far as I can tell, that’s how it is.

I’ve even been in a good, upbeat mood the past couple days. I really noticed it today. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m out of my apartment or it’s because I’m back working (with something I really enjoy even) or it’s just things turning back around in my favor. I’m not going to analyze it, and I’m definitely not going to take it for granted (or at least I’m going to try my damnedest).

Hopefully this means I’ll have a good birthday this year (it’s next Saturday). Now I just need to figure out what I’m gonna do to celebrate it.

I’ve been a little nervous to start the position. I haven’t worked with php very much since I was laid off a year ago. I’ve done a little with it at home, but the 2 contract positions that I had were basically html/css positions. I actually got to start a little bit today. I didn’t get very far because the dev environment on my computer isn’t fully set up yet. It is so nice to get back to php development.

The company is small, but the people are really nice. I don’t feel like a complete misfit. LOL Hopefully everything will work out in the end. I’ve got a good feeling about things.

And a bonus … the office is right next to a mini-strip mall [I don't know if you can even call it that since it only has 3 businesses in it] that has a coffee shop at one end, a Subway at the other end, and a liquor store in the middle. So I can get a coffee before work, a sub for lunch, and some booze on my way home from work.

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Last year, Dale Jr had some problems in the practices. He also got in an accident during the race and finished 28th. Hopefully he’ll fair better this year (he needs it after how his season has gone).

It would be better if I was actually at the racetrack for race weekend, but it is cool that my name is on a racecar in the race. My Dad signed up too (copycat ). His name is on the truck deck lid. The race is Sunday afternoon. Hopefully at the end of the race Dale Jr will be in Victory Lane. Maybe Dad & I will be his good luck charms (along with the over 70,000 other people who have their names on the car).

To whom it may concern:

We need to talk about the quality of your coverage of the Nationwide series and Sprint Cup series race broadcasts. I can sum the broadcasts up in one word: POOR. You really need to improve the quality of the broadcasts. You are managing to piss off loyal NASCAR fans. They are turning the tv off and finding other means of following the races.

And believe me, there are numerous sources for race coverage out there on the internet: MRN/PRN coverage, Twitter, numerous racing blogs and message boards, just to name a few. I myself have not yet turned the tv off, but I have the volume so low that I barely pay attention. I listen to the MRN/PRN broadcast online as well as in-car audio. I also follow numerous NASCAR reporters on Twitter (who are actually tweeting from the race track) and visit The Dale Earnhardt Jr Pit Stop and The Daly Planet during the races. I receive more information from these sources than I do from the ESPN coverage.

I know that I am not the only person who feels this way about your coverage. I see numerous people on Twitter and the websites I mentioned above expressing their “displeasure” with the coverage race after race. There are numerous aspects of the coverage that people are discussing. I agree with the majority of them. There are way too many to discuss here, but I’ll give you a sampling of the most disturbing to me (in no particular order).

• Neglecting to reset the field after pit stops. You are consistently going to commercial after pit stops during a caution flag have been completed BEFORE resetting the field. The ticker doesn’t appear onscreen until the green flag drops. That is so completely unacceptable. I want to know who is running where BEFORE they go back to racing.
• Pit stops under green. For some reason, you insist on showing green flag pit stops full screen, focusing on a single driver. Do you not realize that there is still racing going on on the track? How hard is it to put 2 windows onscreen: one of the pit stop and the other focusing on the racing that is still going on?
• Pits stops under caution. There is rarely a pit stop cycle under caution where you don’t break away from the “triple pits” to show a single car’s stop as the cars are coming to the end of pit road. Stop doing that for crying out loud. The viewers lose all focus as to the cars coming out of the pits. The order out of the pits is an important thing you know. Jeez.
• Zooming in on a single car. There are so many times during a race that you are zoomed in so close on a single car that I can damn near see the driver inside the car. And numerous times, these zoomed in shots are of a car that is all alone on the track. Again, the viewers lose focus of the “big picture”. While you are zoomed in to the leader who has a 5 second lead, we’re missing passes for position elsewhere in the field. What gives?
• Spastic camera work. I’m talking about zooming in and out and switching between different camera angles in quick succession. You rarely stick with a wide shot of cars that are racing for position. There have been several times that you’ve had a wide shot of one driver setting up another for a pass, and then when the driver is beginning his pass, you switch to a zoomed in shot elsewhere in the field and we miss the pass altogether.
• Ignoring “Start & Park” cars. I do give Marty Reid props … he does call out the ’start & park’ drivers during the Nationwide races. But as for the Sprint Cup races, the ’start & park’ drivers are completely ignored.
• Ignoring racing for position deep in the field. You need to remember that there are 43 cars on the track during the races. I don’t care if they’re not passing for the lead, I still want to see the passes that are farther back in the field. Sometimes the best racing on the track is for 18th or 20th positions. Please show it to us.
• Forgetting about the rest of the field once the leader takes the checkered flag. I want to see ALL of the drivers cross the finish line at the end of the race. There are some good passes for position at the finish. So stop zooming in on the leader after he crosses the line.
• The pre-race show. I want to see more interviews with drivers during the pre-race show. Don’t show so many taped/pre-produced segments. The drivers and how they think their cars are going to handle for the race are more important to me that seeing some taped segment with Brad Daughtery that is basically a commercial for Bush’s beans.
• Showing anything at full screen during green flag racing. Nothing, I repeat NOTHING, should be shown at full screen during green flag racing expect for the racing itself. If you want to show a replay or a car going to the garage or a crew chief on the pit box or a “tech garage” segment, do it in a small secondary box on the screen with the green flag racing in a large box on the screen. Green flag racing is more important than anything else you think you need to show us.
• Too many in-car shots. As with the spastic camera work, showing too many in-car shots lead the viewers to lose focus of the “big picture”. You can show an in-car shot every now and again if it is important to the situation. Stop showing them just because you can.
• The ticker. The ticker should ALWAYS show the interval behind the leader. And the ticker should NEVER show the ‘points as of now’ during the race. For crying out loud, the race isn’t going to end now so that information is irrelevant.

I could continue, but you get the idea. All of these items are things that can easily be resolved. But you continue to do things the way that you want. I think you really need to start listening to the fans. If the fans quit watching, you’re going to lose money. Advertisers aren’t going to spend money with you because no one will see their ads. And no matter what you think, without the fans you are irrelevant. Without fans, there is no reason to even have a race. The fans are what bring the advertisers to you. Think about that for a while, why don’t you.

Think long and hard about things. Start giving a damn about what the fans think. Who knows, making changes that the fans suggest might even bring you more money. A race broadcast that the fans are actually excited about can bring more advertisers to the table because they know more people will see their ads. Hmmm … never thought about that, did you?

If things continue as they have been, pretty soon no one will even bother to watch the tv coverage. The MRN/PRN broadcasts have more energy and provide a more complete coverage of the action, and they have to rely on explaining things rather than showing the cars on the track. The radio broadcasts together with the numerous online sources have practically made YOUR coverage obsolete. [BTW ... the other networks don't seem to have the same issues that you do, so what's your excuse?]

I just thought I’d give you a chance to fix things before I wrote you off completely. But then again, who am I kidding. You don’t give a damn about the fans. You’re going to continue to show whatever the hell that you want. But in the end, that’s gonna bite you in the ass. I can’t wait for that day to come. I’ll be grinning ear to ear.

Sincerely,
A NASCAR fan who’s ready to give up on ESPN

I called Dell about 1pm to see if they would send out a tech. Luckily my warranty is still in effect. The phone tech said I need a new motherboard. That would be spendy without the warranty.

So … here I sit without a computer. All that I have to get online is my iPod Touch. The battery was almost dead, so I was freaking again. Then I decided to go buy a wall charger for the sucker. At least now I can check my gmail accounts and Twitter and Facebook. I can’t check my other emails tho since my passwords for those are on my laptop. They will be put in the iPod after my laptop is back up and running. But the job searching is on hold (links and passwords on laptop) as is freelance work.

I don’t think the Dell tech will be here ’til tomorrow. I was able to check the status of my service call, and Dell didn’t ship the parts ’til today (even tho I called yesterday). That tech had better come tomorrow. I’m not going without my laptop for the entire weekend.

On the plus side … I’ve gotten better at typing on this little on screen keyboard that the iPod Touch has.

I thought that the interview went well. It’s a small company, but I worked at a small company before. The work is exactly what I’m looking for. It’s a php/MySQL specialist type position. Obviously since it’s a small company, there would be work in other areas as well, but it would be focused in php and MySQL development. The person who conducted the interview said that he was impressed with my skills, especially since I never went to school for web development.

The only down side to the situation is that they’re not entirely certain yet that they are going to fill the position. He said that he needs to assess their workload to see if they can justify the position. He said that he should know by the middle of November (that would be a good birthday present ), and if they decided to fill the position, they would do so before the end of November.

So I guess that means that I’m still in a holding pattern. I’m still looking for opportunities in the area. But at least there’s a possibility out there … there’s still hope that I won’t have to leave the area.

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As long as this stuff doesn’t pile up (and it’s not supposed to), then fine. There had better not be any measurable snow until AFTER my birthday. Otherwise Mother Nature is in for some trouble.

Based on this choice, I went to UND and pursued a degree in meteorology. After graduating from UND I took a job at a company where I was a “meteorologist”. Why the quotes? The job was more of an office assistant than a meteorologist. I did put together reports from field projects, but I didn’t do anything weather related during my 4½ years there.

I was laid off from this company in December 2003 (they eliminated the position). This brought me to a point where I had to make another choice. At the time, I wasn’t really sure what to do. I had taken over the company’s website, so there was one option. Another option was an office/administrative assistant. I was actually one of the final two candidates for an administrative assistant position with Pepsi Co. in town. They ended up going with the other individual, but that was actually the best thing that could have happened to me. I decided to pursue the web development option, which landed me with a smaller local company. I worked at the company for about 3½ years until they closed their doors. At that time, I went to work directly for the final client that the company had. I was with that company until October of last year when I was laid off due to budget cuts (thanks to our lovely economy that still hasn’t recovered).

There was no need to make a choice at that point. I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to continue in the field of web development. I just needed to find another job. I managed to find two contract positions. The second of those was supposed to turn into a permanent position, but thanks to our lovely economy, my contract was ended (3 months) early (and 17 other people were laid off).

This brings us to the present and another choice that I must make. This choice has not been easy for me. It has nothing to do with my choice of careers. I am now, more than ever, confident that I want to continue working in the field of web development. The choice is “where am I going to work?”. I’ve been struggling with this for the past two months (or more actually). There really aren’t many positions around the region (ND/MN/SD) that aren’t .NET or Java or some other language/technology that I don’t have experience in. I’m looking for php/sql based positions since that’s where my experience/background is.

I know that I need to look outside of my “comfort zone”. I just really don’t know where or how to start. I have looked for opportunities in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, but haven’t really found any that excited me. I don’t want to take a job somewhere only to find out that I’m not happy wherever the job is. I did apply for a position in Edmond, OK, but I still haven’t heard anything back (and I was a little excited about the position and the location).

It has been almost two months since my contract was ended, and I’m basically still at square one. I know that there are people out there who have been out of work for much longer than that (in fact, I was unemployed for about 7 months when I switched from a career in a weather related field to a career in the web development field [that was almost 6 years ago]); however, my savings will only last so long, and I’m not collecting unemployment.

I have found one position that is in line with the type of work that I’m looking for. I don’t know the name of the company because the position is through a job agency (and they won’t tell me until an interview is scheduled), but that isn’t really that big of a deal at this point. The thing that has me delaying pursuing it is the salary. Their high end is lower than my low end. It would be a $6/hr pay cut from my last position and a $3/hr pay cut from the position before that. While I don’t expect to start at a new job at the same pay rate as the one my last contract was with, I still have my acceptable range. This one is below that. BUT … the position is a permanent position, not a contract one. AND … if they have decent benefits and are progressive about reviews and pay raises, then this could be a good opportunity. But I was told that they are looking for more of an entry level developer, and with my experience, I don’t consider myself entry level any more (at least not when it comes to php/sql development). I have not written this option off yet. The only down side that I really see (at this point) is the pay. But even if I do pursue it, there’s no guarantee that I would get it.

So that brings me back to my current choice. Do I pursue this position (so that I can stay here), or do I put on my “big girl pants” and seriously start looking for something out of state? I’m really struggling with this one. I need to do what’s best for me … but I have no idea what that is. I just wish I would have an epiphany or would see a sign and know which path to follow … which choice to go with. I’m tired of struggling with this choice. But … at least I know what I want to do. Now I just need to make a choice as to where.

The business cards that I got are Moo Cards. I’ve heard people talk about them on Twitter in the past. They look like really nice cards, and they’re not all that expensive. I got the sample pack because I want to make sure that I actually like the design I put together before I commit to a larger set. I don’t want to spend a lot of money on business cards that I decide I don’t like (especially now).

I thought I’d share what they ended up looking like. I tried to follow the same style that I use on my professional (i.e. resumé) website. I blurred out my phone number and email for my own sanity [don't need crazy people calling me at all hours of the day/nite ... not that crazy people read this blog ... or maybe they do ... LOL]. But otherwise, you get the picture of what they ended up looking like. If you have any suggestions as to how to improve them, let me know, but please be kind with your comments.

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According to the website, they won’t be shipped until Oct. 6, so it will be almost 2 weeks before I get them (I selected standard shipping, so it could take up to 5 days to get to me in the mail). Now I just need to try to be patient (and that’s not one of my strong suits. )