Month: December 2004

Categories
House Photos Rants

The Pit and Despair

I have just completed the first phase of the X-10 light switch install. After two days I’ve swapped out 8 switches and now have all the stairway lights properly wired. It was pretty touch and go there for a while: when things don’t work and patience wears out you can do some pretty dumb things, a bad idea when playing with 110 volts.

In any case, even though it isn’t pretty, things are working. Now the huge task of mess cleanup comes next. I have boxes, wire cuttings, wall remains, and a whole lot of dust and muck to clean up after. I can’t ask myself if its worth it because I know it will be… it’s just the pile of crud that awaits removal that makes me think otherwise.

Categories
General

First 04/04 Season Ski Days

I just returned this evening from two mostly full days of skiing up in Lake Tahoe. There was no new snow this week, but the weather is cold enough to keep last week’s snow around, so it worked out OK. Additionally, the resorts had the snow makers turned on, so there was some “fresh stuff” to be skied.

I’m really tired but glad to have capped off two days of skiing already this year. It certainly helps take the sting out of the loss of a job when you are freezing on the lifts and hobling around in pain at the end of the day of hard skiing. 🙂

Categories
General Work

Stick a fork in me

… I’m done. After spending no more than an hour going through the various inner workings of HR, benefits, legal obligations, and the standard “why are you leaving” talk I am now officially no longer employed. It was an interesting road taken to get to this point, but that road is now complete.

My next task is to go do some serious skiing, work on the house, assemble a PC for someone’s birthday, fly an R/C plane or two and do a lot of Christmas shopping. Oh, and that whole looking for a new job thing, too. Is it always the case that “to-do’s” fill all freely available time or is it just poor time management?

Categories
Photos Review Technology

BenQ 951 LCD monitor

I am in the process of assembling a completely new PC for a friend of mine and I just received the best part: a new BenQ 951 19″ LCD monitor. At 1280×1024 resolution it has a 700:1 contrast ratio and appears brighter than my laptop display. Digital photos, text, and web pages look great on it. I haven’t tried yet, but I’ll bet image editing works well too.

The only thing I know it won’t do well is play games, thanks to a slow 20ms response time. However, if you don’t play games this could well be the best 19″ display on the market today. And at only $419.00 its a steal. Go out and get one today… I know I would if I needed one.

Categories
General Work

Job Search Speed Up

I am now in the mode of serious job searching. From a meeting yesterday I have a clear mandate to go off and find a new job as soon as possible and I need to make it my top priority. Right up there with buying Christmas gifts and paying mortgages, that is.

There are several ways at looking at this decision, but at the moment I find myself wondering how I can rationalize my need to be passionate and engaged in my next job while balancing my need for steady income. I see many opportunities before me if I’m willing to seek them out and wait, but the strong desire to keep a roof over my head tends to take precedence these days. I suppose I will see if principle or payment wins out in the end.