I need a job....

This is what happens when programmers have too much time on their hands...

A whole new audience for my blog....

Thanks to Google Alerts, I found out that my previous post had been linked to by My Rap News - http://myrapnews.topmsrs.com. I'm sure its a site that automatically links to any blog post that mentions rap or specific group names. I guess this will bring a whole new audience to my blog though.....yo yo yo! Baby got backlink

Blogging and the job hunt
The whole blogging thing is sort of interesting. I had a job interview last Friday and the fellow that I was interviewing with mentioned that he had found and read some of my personal and technical blog. I had been somewhat uneasy about that as I look for gainful employment. How would a prospective employer view the fact that you blog. How would they feel about someone who expresses their spiritual views this way? So, I asked him. He said that he liked it. I don't know if others will, its an interesting thought though.

I had a hot date with a younger married woman
It used to take an act of Congress for Kathy and I to have a night out alone. Now, sometimes it just happens unexpectedly. Sarah was staying overnight with a friend. Chris wasn't feeling well, so Kathy and I went out to eat alone! It was interesting that several times during the evening Kathy would say "Don't blog about that"......."Not that either".....I did ask if I could blog about her telling me what not to blog about....she said I could ;-)

Dinner Conversation
Chris likes learning, he would never admit, but he does. Whenever he's interested in something, he'll ask us a question to see if we know what he knows. The question last night was 'Do you know how they know what the Carbon Dioxide levels were in 1960?' My first guess was tree rings...that wasn't right, my next guess was to take core samples of the polar ice cap. That one was correct. (Trust me, all of our dinner conversations aren't this cerebral) Anyway, that lead to a topic that I have some interest in....is our earth billions of years old? or is it thousands of years old? I know that evolutionists need the earth to be billions of years old to give evolution the time that it needs. However, there is evidence that our earth is very young. One evidence was a story that I told the family last night. Some warplanes from WWII are trapped in the polar ice in Greenland. The fascinating thing about it is that this gives us a very good time reference for the accumulating size of the polar ice caps which speaks directly to the issue of the age of the earth. There is a very good, though quite heady explanation here.

Ok, I'll stop whining....

After I wrote post this morning, I tried to catch up on some reading of the blogs that I subscribe to.

I read this Amy's blog
Then some how I wound up on this page
LeBlanc blogged about this case in Georgia
I read Tara's blog about Richard (a good friend, who saved my life) being sick and his sister Becky (who I mentioned in this morning's post) completing chemo treatments and 30+ radiation treatments.

As all of that rattled through my brain today. I realized that I was upset and whining about something that really wasn't that big of a deal. I realized.....how selfish I've been....how self-centered. Forgive me...

God is good....all the time....

My good friend Richard told me of his sister and her husband who are working in Brazil. He said that no matter what was going on, how dire the circumstances, they always said...

God is good....all the time

I've never forgotten that.

There was a time (not too long ago) that if something like this had happened, I would be in an absolute panic. I'm at a different place now. I wanted to be sure that the kids knew what was going on. I told Kathy 'hey, some day they may lose a job....they need to see how God works'.

As you can imagine, starting a job search the week of Thanksgiving is not an ideal situation. Folks are either out of the office for the week, or if they are in the office, they don't want to schedule interviews or anything like that.

After hearing the news officially, I went straight to one of my own clients. Unbeknownst to me, they had been making plans for a renovation of their site. They gave me a 4 week full-time commitment. That takes care of my family through the end of the year. New projects and new positions usually come available at that time.

Also, on yesterday, I had a previous client and one that I had never done work for call me about projects that they wanted to do. Since I knew them both personally I asked 'have you read my blog recently'? They both said no.

I joined facebook a few months ago, with a few minutes of signing up, I was contacted by David Hinson of Sumner Systems Management. I worked him with many moons ago (back when we both had hair and knew everything). David is one of those guys who is technically brilliant and business savvy. He has been a great advisor to me since we reconnected. He has introduced me to several contacts.

There is a story about dealing with change that I heard Jeff Walling tell on a video.

The story had to do with watching people swim in the ocean who are not accustomed to it. He said that they are three types of people:

• The first type is resistant to the waves. They are determined to stand still and overcome the power of the waves. Of course, they can't resist and are eventually overcome


• The second type are the submariners. When a wave approaches, they dive under the water. They are able to maintain, they avoid change, but they miss all the fun.


• The third type, learns to move with the waves. They first learn to rise and fall with the wave, they eventually learn that they can ride the wave to a new place

I thought that was a great analogy. Surf's definitely up, lets see where we go.

Yesterday, hits to this blog were 3 times their normal amount. Whether you know me personally or not, If you have introduced me to a friend, or done anything to help me and my family I want to thank you.

Is your hut burning?

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.

Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions.

But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me!" he cried.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

It is easy to get discouraged when things are going bad. But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering. Remember, next time your little hut is burning to the ground it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.

My hut burst into flames today. For the first time in 21 years of employment, I was laid off from a job. When the boss told me, I told him the above story.

Hey, anybody need a good .NET developer? Here's my resume

Catching up...

Well, as you can probably guess, its been a bit of a crazy week at the Hall home. Let me see if I can catch you up on what's going on.

Truck update well D&R automotive threw their collective hands in the air on my truck. They simply didn't have the equipment that they needed to diagnose the problem. They recommended that I take it to the dealer. There is another shop in town where the owner used to work at a dealership. He seemed to have the equipment that he needed and was even aware of a technical service bulletin that was related to the issue that I was having....here's hoping. To D&R's credit though, they looked at it 4 times and didn't charge me anything. I begged them to charge me and they wouldn't.

Job Update Wrapping up my part of the first big project at the new job. About to start the next project. It's challenging, hard work, but it is good to feel like I'm really part of a team rather than being the 'outsider'.

Kathy Update Kathy is really enjoying getting going on the real estate thing. She's going to do well, though, if you read the news, its not a good time to get into real estate.

Chris & Sarah I'm so proud of these two. We got their grades this week. They work hard at it, and have done very very well.

Football Update The 5th & 6th grade football season is over (Sarah is a cheerleader). That frees up one night per week. We are in the second half of the varsity football season. Chris doesn't play much during the varsity games but has done well at the JV games. FCS had their first district loss last night. It was a hard fought game.

Spiritual Update I think Donna wrote in her blog about worry being sin. I know that. I also know that instead of worrying you should pray. I remember to do that....sometimes. Sometimes I just worry. The Jews were always big on monuments and festivals. They were constantly surrounded by reminders of events where God had taken care of them. When pressures start getting to me, I try to think back about all the times where there is no possible explanation other than God reached down and took care of me. I think when I get into trouble is when I start thinking its up to me...