The Flux Capacitor

Split Personality.

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 02:45:00 +0000

So I have become a victim of identity theft. Really. At first I thought it was a Halloween trick or something, but no, it was real.

The timeline goes something like this:

Was at work, and made a quick drive at noon to pick some appetizers for our Halloween potluck lunch. I paid with my debit card, no problem.

Spent the rest of the day at work, as usual, and then headed out around 5. I made a pitstop to buy Olivia some undershirts, tried paying with my debit card, and it was rejected. I didn't think a lot of it, maybe it was just their machine, so I paid in cash.

Went to my bank. Just ran in to pick up some checking registers. But at the ATM, it would not let me take out any money, and it showed that I had a crazy negative balance (over -$800,000). I ran right back inside the branch (they closed at 6 and it was 5:50). They said that my account was put on hold for some suspicious activity. Apparently, there were 4 teller credit deposits done in Providence, RI, at different branches, starting at around 2 PM this day (they tried for a 5th, but they wouldn't let him do it). What happened was that this idiot deposited these checks, but took some cash out from those checks. So if these checks bounce (which they probably will), I would get screwed with whatever fees they would issue, and he would make off with the cash. Wow.

I got home, and i did have a message from the bank telling me to call them about this. I called back, and they recommended i go in the next day to close my accounts and open new ones. And the accounts remained blocked.

The next morning, I went online to my account, and copies of the actual deposit slips were there, and I saw that someone wrote down my name, address and signed my name (they even signed my name the wrong way, but that is obvious since it was not me!) I went to the bank, and took care of the opening/closing stuff. And today I had to update all of my online accounts.

And this is far from over. I have to call back on Monday to continue this investigation. This person also has a fake drivers license with my name and license number on it (which is how he ended up getting ahold of my account). So now I will probably have to waste more time and get a new one. And then I will have to file a report with the police.

I have no idea how somebody could have gotten my info, but they get these things in so many different ways. I just hope that he tries this again using my old account, and they catch the son of a bitch.

Three week update...

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:04:00 +0000

I've survived three weeks of the new job so far, and it is starting to get busy.

This is definitely a new experience for me - I have always been around the bottom of my department, but now not only is that not the case, but I am supervising 14 people. And it is going well. I am already showing that I am a friendly, laid-back boss, but asking for updates when needed and signing off on stuff in a timely manner. I am grateful that I am finally given the opportunity... and my boss seems to think I am doing fine so far. I even got a compliment from the CFO today for something I took care of for him!

So far, these are the things I like about this job:

- No one worries when I get into work or when I leave, just as long as the work is done.
- I've been leaving before 5 most days. Most people in my department are out of there at around 4 every day.
- My commute - it used to take over an hour door to door, now it takes 20-25 minutes. And barely any traffic!
- I even get to make a difference - I approve financial waivers for patients that cannot afford their treatments.

Now I can officially thank my last job for laying me off. It only took a month to find this job, and it was worth the wait.

Last Hurrah In Boston

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:58:00 +0000

Today I went into Boston for the last time in awhile - to do some shopping and to meet up with my recruiter for lunch. While I was out, I wrote bits and pieces of a blog entry, and here it is...

- Took my old commute, commuter rail to North Station (I left early so that I could get a parking space by the train). I don't have a train pass anymore, so I had to buy a round trip ticket for the commuter rail, and ended up walking around instead of taking the subway. I found a Bruegger's Bagels (they have a yummy rosemary & olive oil bagel).

- Walked to Downtown Crossing. Was going to buy some new clothes for work, but nothing was open yet - Macy's opens at 10, and it was 9. So I kept walking, mostly to get lost and find my way back.

- Almost ended up at South Station, but turned down some random blocks. Ended up at the aquarium, walked into the park by the waterfront, and sat on a bench right by the water, looking out at all of the boats. It was a perfect day to be sitting out there - sunny, slight breeze. Blasting the new Metallica & Anberlin albums on my iPod (neither have been released yet). The new Metallica sounds really good. Better than St. Anger, and better than Load and Re-load, closer to Justice sounding. Long songs, good solos, songs flow pretty well, even the complex ones.

- Just thought of people working right at this moment (9:55 AM). I feel bad for Melissa, but at my old jobs... haha. :) But next week I will be working. Oh, and I took my drug test yesterday, and the company will do the background check today.

- Ended up walking back to Macy's - got two pairs of pants and a weekend polo shirt. Walked back to Quincy Market, walked around, and waited for noon - meeting with Jill the recruiter for lunch at Houston's.

- Lunch went well. Jill got the salmon, I got a Thai steak and noodle salad. I told her the whole story about what happened at my previous six year job and what I heard about what is going on there now (it's still funny to think of how that is going!)

- After lunch, went to the Gp and got two dress shirts and a belt. Very exciting.

- Walked back to North Station, via Haymarket.

- Waiting for the 2:20 Reading train.

- On the train. Bye bye Boston, for now. I will be back, eventually - my friend got tickets to see Metallica at the Garden in January. Awesome, and again, I do really like the new album.

That wasn't so bad...

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:11:00 +0000

So yeah, I got a job!

Of the two second interviews I went on, one of them came in with an offer, and I start next Monday. A great position - senior accountant/financial analyst with some people to supervise. It will finally put me back on a normal career path, and get me into a (hopefully) good company with a good culture (unlike my last two companies).

Now I can enjoy my last week away from work with Olivia (and get a mandatory drug test for work). I know I will look back at this time and think, wow it only took me a month to find a job, just in time for my severance to end, and I will miss the extra time I had with Olivia. But I at least got a great month with her, with all her new words and her curiosity. She rules. :)

Suits & Second Interviews

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:25:00 +0000

Ok, I am done wearing suits. The next time I wear one, it better be at a friend's wedding.

So now I play the waiting game. I did my job - I interviewed for two positions, got called back for two second interviews, and made as good of an impression as I could. Both jobs have their pros and cons, but both would be an improvement over what I had. I hope that will here back tomorrow from both of them with good news, and then I can have an awesome problem - trying to pick one job over the other.

If one of these work out, it will really put my life back on track. I know I will look back at this time and think, that wasn't so bad. And I got to spend lots of quality time with Olivia, especially at a time in her life where she is doing and saying so much.

But again, about the suits - I had to put one on four times in the past seven days, and I am done. Why couldn't I make just as good of an impression in a t-shirt and shorts (ok, a polo or button down and khakis)?

Recruiters

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:00:00 +0000

Last week I met up with eight recruiters. Include the one I met up with a few months ago, and two others also working for me (one I met a few years ago), that brings the total numbers of recruiters to 11.

You would think that with this many, I could get an interview already??

I remember how it works. Last time I was looking for a job, I met up with a bunch. Most of them I never heard from again. The others would give me a few updates, but nothing that was even close to what I was looking for. The one that actually found my job, I never heard of them before and they had a job ready when they called me.

I keep getting worried that this will happen again - I met up with three of them on Tuesday, and heard back from one the next day, but only to tell me that they were sending my resume to some places. Haven't heard anything since.

Last time I got my job, it took me about four months. Can I wait that long again? I'm not sure. I love spending all of this time with Olivia, and she is getting so attached to me. But I need to start working again. You know?

Eliminated.

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:43:00 +0000

So yeah, I got laid off.

And it happened so fast. I knew that the company was not hitting their numbers for a couple of months, and they already started with a couple of layoffs, and I even knew that it could happen to me. Just not as fast as it did. It was not based on performance, but since they have a small finance/admin department, and I was not billable, I was an obvious choice. Four others were let go the same day as me, to go with the two they let go in the previous three weeks. Oh I'm sorry, the real explanation was that my position was "eliminated" and that they are doing some "restructuring." What ever helps you sleep at night.

Also the way they did it... I know this is how companies do this, but it still feels so dirty. I was called into my boss' office with the head of HR there, and they told me. They wanted me to just leave right then and there (it was 4:30 PM). They shut my computer off while I was talking to them (quickly deactivating my email and work account). They didn't even want me to grab any of my personal belongings (I did manage to grab a few things). And they kept staring at me until I left. I felt like some sort of a criminal. I was not surprised, but it still hit me hard.

This all happened right before vacation (worse - they laid off this other guy while he was on his honeymoon!) It didn't ruin the trip at all - we went to Seattle (with day trips to Portland via Aberdeen, and to Vancouver). The trip was amazing. Melissa and I took our own little grunge tour - saw Kurt's house in Seattle and where he grew up in Aberdeen, the apartment complex from the movie Singles, and West Seattle, where Eddie Vedder lives and where Easy Street Records is (Newbury Comics for the west coast). We saw fish being thrown at Pike Place, went up the Space Needle, nearly teared up in the Experience Music Project when we walked through the Pacific Northwest wing with all of the early 90's memorabilia (including hand-written lyrics from Kurt Cobain and Chris Cornell). We even went to Cannon Beach in Oregon, which is the beach in the Goonies. We fell in love with Seattle very easily.

But now we are back, and I have spent all week submitting my resume everywhere. I have gotten calls from tons of recruiters, and i have agreed to meet with all of them, hoping that someone will have something. No matter what they promise, I know what to expect from them - lots of talk, not much else after that, except maybe an interview or two. I can see ten recruiters, and may not get anything at all from eight of them. But all it takes is one.

This is all new to me. I have always done well at my job, and even at my previous job, I knew I was awesome, I just wanted a chance to move up, which they did not want to do. So now I am home with Olivia, feeling like a single dad during the day with Melissa at work. I drop her off at the in-laws when I need to meet with recruiters (which I have been doing all week). I feel bad when I am online or on the phone with recruiters and not giving Olivia all of my attention, but I have to do what I have to do. Right now, she just had her lunch and is napping on the couch, looking adorable.

So I guess I will do what I need to - if nothing comes up right away, I need to try and enjoy this extra time I have with Olivia, because when I do get a new job, I will miss this. I am getting a severance, so at least I will still be getting some money for awhile. And after that, along with unemployment, Melissa can support my jobless buttocks. I would do it for her (wait, I already did!)

Oh yeah, and Melissa's situation - when she got laid off, she didn't find a job for months, then found a crappy job, but left that one quickly and found her current job right after, and she loves it. So there is hope for me! :)

Olivia turns 2!

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:46:00 +0000

Today is Olivia's second birthday! On Saturday we had her party, and she had a blast. She got to play in her kiddie pool, with her sand and water table, on the slide, around the yard, and ate some cake. She even played a little wiffleball.

Olivia update...

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:31:00 +0000

The girl is growing up so fast. She is saying a ton of words now, communicating better, loves her TV programs, loves going on the swings, loves dressing up (like in the last pictures below). She's been more picky with food and throws tiny tantrums, but hey, she's gonna be two soon and that is what two year olds do!

Recent Olivia pics...

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:41:00 +0000

It's good!

Ready to play the cymbals for the UNH band.

What can I get'cha? Twisty cone?

Future BMX star.

Mmmm, on my way to get a cookie!

Where is everyone? I guess I get the sand all to myself!

Silly Olivia...

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:45:00 +0000

OMG, cheese pizza only $9.99!!!

Bath time is fun! Um, is that a spider up there?

Yup, you caught me.

Gorgeous.

My sunglasses rule!

What, what do you want?? Time is money, you know.

Update...

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:50:00 +0000

Ok, so I am long overdue for a normal post. I haven't really posted anything all year, so here is an update as to what has been going on:

- I ended 2007 just getting over my throbbing tooth pain. It was a cracked tooth, and even though the first opinion I got was to pull the tooth, my dentist thought otherwise, and I had a regular root canal that did the trick. I am finally getting my permanent crown put on this week.

- Somehow, I got the gout. I have no idea how, except I can blame my dad because he three bouts with gout, and it can be passed down. It happened right before the Super Bowl (end of January), I was limping for a couple of weeks before a doctor could see me, and once on medication, it got better. And actually, the day I went in for my root canal, I had to limp in. Tooth problems and foot problems - let me tell you, it was very attractive. Especially after I got a cold/cough right when the foot was getting better.

- Work has been annoying lately. I won't get into it, but I am doing a lot of tasks that I shouldn't be, and that I don't really want to be doing.

Enough whining...

- Olivia is amazing. She is beautiful, totally cute, and a silly and smart 21 month old. The girl can say letters and numbers, sometimes just on her own, in order. She can say "thank you" at the appropriate time. And today she was actually able to catch a bouncy ball, putting her arms out and grabbing the ball... and you can tell she was very excited! She loves being outside, and will throw a little tantrum if you want to take her back inside. (she is almost 2, after all!)

- Got tickets to see Pearl Jam twice at the end of June. I am rarely disappointed seeing them in concert. Melissa and I even discussed taking a trip to Seattle if they ever announce their west coast tour. That would be so awesome to see them play there - and also take drives to Portland and Vancouver.

- Going away for a week in June to Maine - should be fun.

- Got last minute tickets to the Red Sox game on Patriots Day on eBay - great seats too, not too expensive.

Things always look up when spring is here and the weather is getting nicer. I am looking forward to stretching my hour lunch breaks to the max by taking walks and blasting some good music on my iPod. Good times.

My little rockstar.

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:58:00 +0000

I need to post something new about everything that has been going on, but in the meantime, check out Olivia - she is growing up so fast and doing new things every day... she is awesome.

Music blog

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:39:00 +0000

I am possibly to keep up with a music blog, talking about bands I like and newer bands I am getting into:

http://whygohome.wordpress.com

I love talking about music and bands, so why not have a forum to do so? :)

Recent Olivia pictures...

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 20:50:00 +0000

Top 25 albums of 2007.

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 03:15:00 +0000

1. Against Me! – New Wave
2. Bad Religion – New Maps of Hell
3. Eddie Vedder – Into The Wild
4. Anberlin – Cities
5. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – The Meanest of Times
6. Bayside – The Walking Wounded
7. Maroon 5 – It Won’t Be Soon Before Long
8. Fountains of Wayne – Traffic and Weather
9. Rilo Kiley – Under The Blacklight
10. The Donnas – Bitchin'
11. Smashing Pumpkins – Zeitgeist
12. The Bravery – The Sun and The Moon
13. Idlewild – Make Another World
14. Bruce Springsteen - Magic
15. Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare
16. The Shins – Wincing the Night Away
17. Kaiser Chiefs – Yours Truly, Angry Mob
18. The Killers – Sawdust
19. Alkaline Trio - Remains
20. The White Stripes – Icky Thump
21. Jimmy Eat World – Chase This Light
22. Interpol – Our Love To Admire
23. Buffalo Tom – Three Easy Pieces
24. Velvet Revolver – Libertad
25. Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace

Things to be happy about around the holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 05:41:00 +0000

- Melissa and Olivia. And Olivia is learning and doing new things every day, it is amazing.

- Being off from work until 2008.

- The fact that my cracked tooth is not throbbing in pain, pounding in my brain, like it was a couple of weeks ago.

- That the Spears clan continues to entertain me, with the news of Jamie Lynn pregnant at 16.

- That even though I am long overdue for a haircut, my hair looks cool sticking up after lying on the couch for hours.

- Olivia again. She is totally daddy's little girl...

Who would want to wake up to this?

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:25:00 +0000

This is so nasty that I had to post it.

Overdue Halloween pics.

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:46:00 +0000

The many (adorable) faces of Olivia.

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:49:00 +0000

She needs to lay off the bottle a little bit, don't you think?

Waiting for the bus.

Getting a little bit more comfortable...

How did I end up in this basket?

Ahh, this is better.

A week off with the Livvies.

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:51:00 +0000

Ok, no talking about the Yanks. No talking about Joe Torre's future, Mariano Rivera or A-Rod's futures. Ok?

I have been home all week, just Olivia and me. She has been great - a little crazy at times, pulling out the carbon monoxide detector from the outlet every so often, pointing for her binky all the time (right now it is hiding in my pocket, so she has no idea). But she has been extremely cute - she picks up her monkey when I call for it, and gives it a big hug. She picks up a book and brings it over to me, and I read to her. And then she has these hour long naps laying on me, curled up. I've taken her out of the house for a little bit every day - to the grocery store, to Melissa's parents for a bit while I went to the doc for some blood work, and brought her to work yesterday where everyone got to see in person how cute she really is. Today we'll go to the mall, and tomorrow to Melissa's work. Good times. Better than being at work, that's for sure!

And as usual, here are some recent pics - from the weekend and from this week so far...

Anniversary fun - escaping trains, battling bugs and hating baseball.

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 02:04:00 +0000

Happy 5th anniversary to Melissa and me. How happy was my day today? Let's see...

When ordering my lunch today, I asked for extra dressing for my salad. Of course, I then proceeded to drop the dressing container, spilling it all over the floor. It then took me about two hours to finish that salad, because work was so busy and I tried to finish as much as I can before taking the week off next week.

But here's the real fun story of the day...

I got all of my work done, and I was able to escape at about 4:45. Being the good husband that I am, I took a walk to Kendall Square to the flower shop to buy Melissa some anniversary roses. I then headed down to take the Red Line to the Green, to the commuter rail. When I went down to catch the train, one was pulling in, so I thought, awesome, I can catch the 5:30, which is one train earlier than the one I usually take. But soon after the train pulled out of the station, we were stopped for about ten minutes. I'm then thinking, damn, I'm gonna miss the 5:30 now, but it won't be so bad if I end up getting on my usual train at 5:52. I wanted to get home on time because I was also going to make a stop to buy some dinner at the Macaroni Grill. Finally, the train moves, but once it got out outside on the Longfellow Bridge, it stops again. This time, we are stuck for about 45 minutes. The train shuts off its power, and it feels like 100 degrees in the crowded train car. All we keep hearing are announcements from the conductor: "they are investigating a fire at Park Street, sorry for the delay." After about the fifth time this announcement came out, some people were yelling. One guy in particular yelled out, "It's hot, we're stuck in here, and we're the only train stuck between stations! I don't know about all of these other people in here, but I have somewhere to be! I have a life!" I thought, amen brother! They couldn't turn on the power or the a/c because whatever the emergency was, they had to shut off power throughout some of the tracks.

Finally (and thank god someone thought of this), some people in the car were able to pry open one of the doors, I saw people jumping out, and I thought, hell yes I am jumping out! When I got to the door, I didn't realize that the jump was kinda far! If you've ever been on the Longfellow, you'll notice a fence between the tracks and the road, and people were jumping over that fence. There were a couple of nice guys helping some people down, and one guy was nice enough to hold my flowers and bag and help me down. The funniest moment was when I noticed there were a bunch of touristy looking people on the walkway of the bridge taking pictures of people escaping the train! At that moment, I wished I had my camera too...

I then crossed over the road to the walkway (some random guy was holding up traffic to make sure people could cross over!) and passed the Charles/MGH station and walked all the way to Government Center. At this point it was already after 6, and even if I took the Green Line to the commuter rail, I would miss even the 6:15, which is the train after my normal one. And the next train after that doesn't depart until 7:10! I called Melissa, told her the situation, and went to Quincy Market and picked up some desserts to take home. I then thought about heading back to the Green Line, but with my luck today, I decided against it and walked to North Station. I got there with plenty of time before the train, so I finally got to sit and relax my aching feet.

I finally got on the commuter rail train and back to my car. I still ended up picking up dinner from Macaroni Grill, and of course, it seemed to take forever getting home after being stuck behind some of the slowest drivers. I walked in the door at home right around 8 PM.

Olivia was still up - Melissa told me that she put her to bed, but she cried after only a few minutes and took her back out. So at least after my sucky day I got to cuddle her to sleep and put her to bed. But then I walked the crappiest Yankee game ever - game two of the ALDS, Yanks were winning 1-0 in the 8th against the Indians after a strong performance by Andy Pettitte, and when rookie Joba Chaimberlain was in the game, swarms of gnats and bugs were all over the field and was obviously a huge distraction to all. Cleveland ended up scoring on a walk, a wild pitch, a sac bunt and another wild pitch - I only have the bugs to blame! The game went to 12 innings, with the Yanks losing on a bases loaded single with two outs. So here I am, tired and sore and frustrated, and now pissed off because this was a game they should have won and now thet are down 2-0 in a best-of-5 series.

At least I will be off from work next week. It'll be Olivia and me, and I can watch her being cute all of the time.

Recent pics...

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 02:25:00 +0000

It's been a long time since I wrote an entry, hasn't it? Well, things have been busy!

Here are the obligatory Olivia pictures from the past month:

Labor Day weekend.

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:43:00 +0000

These long weekends are never long enough. One minute you're leaving early on Friday, the next it's the night before you go back to work and you are hating it.

But it was a nice weekend - Olivia got to interact with other little kids. I still find it amazing that she is a real person in the world doing her thing. And she is great - yesterday was a milestone for her... it was the first day in her life that she did not have one bottle! She finally has warmed up to her sippy cup. This one has a straw, and she will just walk around with it and drink. She was even getting upset when I had to take it away from her to fill it up with more milk!

Here are some pics from the weekend - she had fun at her cousin's birthday party yesterday, swimming and playing.

Finally, drinking from something other than her bottle!

And of course, she looks adorable doing it.

A little trouble keeping that milk off of her face!

Drinking all of that milk is exhausting!

Bless you, my cousin Ben.

Who is ready to do a little work?

Hanging out in the pool with the boys.

Little Benny is silly.

I love milk!

Olivia in NH.

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:44:00 +0000

Olivia went on her second mini vacation last weekend, to Laconia, NH. She travels well!

AND we got to see "SUPERBAD" (not Olivia, but Melissa, her sister Lauren and me) which was super-AWESOME (I know, real original). I would totally see it again.

Here are some pics from the weekend - cute as always.