Category: Life

If I Could Only Breathe

Life has been somewhat crazy lately.¬† I have been searching for a job for a while now, and it’s gotten to the point where I’ve went back to Big Red Liquors, and have taken a call center job.¬† Big Red never treated me bad, and was always there for me.¬† I have to give them major props for how they treat their “good” employees.¬† If they only paid more.¬† I am worried about this call center job though.¬† I worked in telemarketing back when I was 18, and I hated every minute of it.¬† This is “supposedly” not telemarketing, but I will believe it when I see it.

I have been sending out resumes like it’s going out of style, but I’m not getting a bite.¬† I have only had 1 interview, which I thought went really well.¬† My stepmother worked for the company when I was younger, I thought I was in.¬† I guessed wrong.

I have been making some progress on my Video jobs though, I completed a slide slideshow (511 slides), an 8mm film transfer, and I’m currently working on transferring a show for a friend.¬† I am somewhat dissapointed in the results from the 8mm film transfer, and so is the customer.¬† My first un-satisfied customer.

That project had problems from the start.  I received a call from him on Christmas eve 2005!  He then transferred me some money through paypal.  Then 4 months later I received the film.  The box he sent it in smelled of vinegar (old film smells like that when it breaks down).  I spent countless hours working on the project before I purchased my home, but it was nothing I was happy with.  After I moved everything changed.  I had lots of work to do on the house, yet I was receiving emails from this guy wondering where his film was.  I had informed him that I had ceased all activities until things settled down with the house.

I recieved an email from him stating he was worried about this transfer and the amount of time it was taking to complete.¬† So on a day I had some time, I shot as much as I could.¬† I ruined 2 of my vintage projectors in the process, but that’s another story.

I received another email from him today stating he received the completed DVD from me.  He said he felt as if it was a slap in the face, and that I should have just refunded his money and sent his film back. 

Part of me feels bad for not giving him a good product.¬† But the other part of me feels he received what he paid for.¬† Many companies on the internet charge more than double what he paid me to do 1 reel!¬† I did 10 or so!¬† In the end, I shouldn’t have taken on the project.¬† I say farewell to film transfers for good!

I am also working on as much as I can for ROX.  I am still needing footage due to heat damaged episodes, but progress is coming.  I have finally squeezed 5 episodes onto 1 DVD!  I believe the quality is as good as it should be too.

Canned!

Today as I was starting my routine duties at work, the phone rang.¬† It was the director of my department requesting I meet the director of HR at his office in 20 minutes.¬† This has only happened 2 other times in my career at baxter.¬† One time I was suspended, the other time I was almost fired for having epilepsy.¬† That’s right, fired for having a disease/disability!

I didn’t get off that lucky this time.¬† My employment was terminated, and I’m still in shock.

My job required many times I not take a lunch, so I didn’t.¬† I would post this on my pay system (Kronos).¬† One day this week I got to take a lunch, so I strolled over to the cafeteria and ate as fast as I could, to get back to my duties.

I guess I mistakenly clicked the little button stating I should get paid for my lunch on that day, Oops!

The directors pulled a query of the last 3 months of my clock in/out times and showed them to me.  I was then asked if this was the only time I had done this.  I was a little scared, frightened is more like it.  I was unsure, but I know for a fact I did not get a lunch normally.  This is what I told them in my time of darkness.

I was then told by the director of HR that this offense was considered “falsifying company records,” he then went on to say it has happened a “few” times.¬† His next words are truly etched into my mind, “You will have to be terminated, I’m sorry.”

What???¬† I didn’t have a chance to give a rebuttal, or even a statement.¬† I was off the property (without my personal belongings) in less than 5 minutes.

So this might be the end to my career in the Drug Biz, Baxter has really become a company that doesn’t care about it’s employees.¬† I overheard yesterday that the turnover rate for employees is now at 28%.¬† Think about that.

So I don’t know where life is going to lead me now, I just hope I move in a good direction.¬† I now have much more on the line than just a few months ago.¬† I don’t want to lose my house, my truck, my wife, anything actually.¬†

A job has always been a hard thing for me to get, it took me 3 years to get this job!

I hope I get another one soonish, my business cannot sustain me alone.

An Ode to Taylor

It was seven years ago, that a wonderful person came into this world.  It was seven years ago that I became a father to a beautiful baby girl.

Just Born

Little by little, she has grown to become more than a child, but a friend.  Someone I rely on to lighten my day, and make me feel truly needed in this world.

Seven years can change a person; in seven years people change.  In seven years my daughter has become smart, funny and sometimes a bratty “big girl.”Her mother calls her Taylor Marie when she is mad, but her real name is Taylor Marie Nicole you see.

 

Being a young parent, things can be hard, but with some time and TLC those hard edges become smooth, soft and com-fy.This “Ode to Taylor,” as I like to call it, is merely about the spirit that calls on me about 2 times a month.  I am many things to this sweet blonde kiddie, but most important of all I am daddy.

She is “daddy’s little helper”, an asker of all things known to man.  She always keeps me guessing, always on my toes. 

Daddy will always love her.  I hope she will always love me.  Without her in my life, for I am not me.  I will always be around for her.  I just hope someday she becomes what she truly wants to be.   

 

What a Week!?!

I’ve been so busy, tired and just plain confused to even think about writing for a while.¬† I have “some” free time, so I thought I would vent.

I had a chance at really making my mom & pop operation a real business!¬† Indiana University requested I give them a bid for a HUGE DVD transfer job.¬† It was going to be 250 or 500 DVD’s.¬† Luckily I had some inside information because my wife works there.¬† I tried to undercut everyone, which I think I did.¬† But in the end, the company who produced the video to be transferred received the job.¬† Better luck next time I suppose.¬† It’s nice to be considered though.¬† If I could only get my foot in the door.

Business has taken another one of it’s on again cycles.¬† My first customer had me transfer 19 VHS tapes, another co-worker wanted a tape transferred onto 2 DVDs, one in NTSC (American TV standard) and the other in PAL (a different TV standard).¬† It was a very interesting job.¬† Now the person who sits directly across from me wants me to transfer 12 VHS-C tapes into 3 DVD’s.¬† Something is better than nothing, I just hate this feast or famine stuff.

Then I had a slight computer melting problem.¬† For some unknown reason, a power connector to my video card sparked, and melted the connector.¬† Luckily a local computer shop gave me a pigtail to replace the connector and I’m back in black.¬† With as much DVD transfer and ROX work I’ve been doing, I’m seriously pondering replacing my case and upgrading to a dual-core processor.¬† From what I’ve read and researched, it would be a seamless upgrade.¬† The benefits would highly outweigh the costs.¬† For example right now it takes 2+ hours to render a ROX episode.¬† I could cut that time down to a little bit more than an hour with a dual-core processor.¬† So we’ll see I guess.

I got some interesting news today.¬† “ROXFAN” sent me an email saying he had copies of episodes 8&9 of ROX.¬† He said they are in decent shape.¬† Hopefully I will be getting a copy soon.¬† Maybe season one will get done before Christmas?

Mish Mosh

I’ve been having some connectivity problems lately with my PC.¬† It was built for speed and doesn’t like this “win” modem that I installed merely as a backup to broadband.¬† So I am not online like I used to be.

I have been doing a lot of work on our house lately.¬† Today my father, wife and I trimmed trees and moved them into a pile.¬† This took a lot of time.¬† The former homeowner did not maintain things as he should of.¬† The feng shui of my yard is starting to really flow.¬† I am starting to feel a positive vibe about it.¬† The only major¬†”to-do’s”¬†left with the yard are the remains of the pool and the trench in our yard from connecting to the sewer system.¬† They should be corrected by next year.

I am working on a 8mm to DVD job as well and found a nice feature of the software I use.¬† I can actually flip, rotate and reverse video!¬† It seems like something so small, but it’s huge.¬† I had a reel of film that was upside down and backwards, so it made it easy to fix.

I have changed e-mail addresses as well, all of you who know me got the email.¬† I am tired of juno, they seem to of sold out to “United Online.”¬† What happened to the good old dayz?

I will get to meet all of my neighbors in Sunrise Estates tomorrow for a neighborhood meeting.  A trailer park next to us wants to expand, and we are all meeting to discuss and try to supress this from happening.  I think it would be okay if this were a decent trailer park, but these trailers are not kept up, and are quite old.  Neither is the area the trailers are in.  There is no order to how they are placed.  One here, one there sort of thing.  Hopefully we can argue a happy medium. 

Until next time…..

The Joys & Struggles of Home Ownership

In almost a month of being a homeowner, my wife and I have done the following.

Replaced:  Refridgerator, Range Hood, Garbage Disposal, 3 Light Fixtures and 3 Sink Traps.

I have had to repair many other things.  And while I actually enjoy doing these sorts of things, it has really cut into time allowed for my business, and my freedom it seems.

The sad part is that we haven’t even started on the things we really wanted to change yet.¬† Don’t get me wrong, the house is very livable.¬† It just doesn’t have the “look” we want yet.

For instance, this weekend, I wanted to demo our garage and put up new coverings for the ceiling and 1 wall.¬† Well I can’t because the utility room is a disaster area.¬† I spent all night last night repairing the toilet flange.¬† Now the valve running to the toilet is leaking.¬† So when I leave work guess what I’ll be doing?

I guess it’s a good thing that I have a background in home repair, right?¬† We could be blowing thousands of dollars by calling contractors out to do a lot of this stuff.

It seems so weird, but I almost feel as if I’m living ROX 91 & 92.¬† If I only used my camcorders to actually tape stuff.

I’ve made my spheil, so until next time.

Pool No More


Deck with Pool

Originally uploaded by LML Video Services.

After a lot of thought, we have decided to get rid of the pool, as you can see part of in this picture. We have so much to do in the house that we don’t want to worry about taking care of it as well. I placed an “absolutely free” ad in the HT yesterday, by 4pm we had at least 40 calls.

As I write this a nice family from a few miles away are removing the deck and will then remove the pool.

Big Business, For Me Anyway

I have let a few things pile up due to the move.¬† I have an order to convert 8mm and Super8 films to DVD (about 15 reels in all).¬† Plus as soon as I came into work this morning my “first” customer handed me a box full of tapes he wants converted (19 to be exact).¬† I think once this simmers down, I’ll have some free time for ROX.

I hope to start working on them tonight.

The house has given me much more space than I thought of, and hopefully I can start multitasking at some of these things to be more productive.

Until next time,  be good (eg) like me!

The Move is Complete, The Work Begins…

We have successfully moved into our first home!  We only had one fatality of the move, one of our dinette set chairs fell off of my truck and broke the seat top.  That is one of my many projects around the house. 

Moving was miserable!¬† It was a scorcher over the weekend, and the A/C in the house wasn’t working properly.¬† We have done what we could thus far.¬† TEVAC came by today and did some work on our systems, and it appears to be working properly now.¬† Hopefully that means we can get to business soon.¬† Cable is coming today, as well as the roofer, a guy recommended by family.

Going back to dial-up is okay for the moment, seeing how I have so much to do, but I can’t wait to hook up that DSL.

We are very close to the airport now, so close that the planes come over our house on their landing path.  I think that will soon become a hobby, photographing different airplanes.

Until next time, have fun everyone!

Packaging Tape

Packaging tape, packaging tape, I love packaging tape (a little tribute for those who know where that comes from).

Packing is almost complete, and we close on our first house tomorrow at 4pm.  How exciting!

We had our final walkthrough tonight and met the soon to be former owner, he seems like a nice guy.  They had almost everything out of the house, and man it really seems large now!

We will be moving all day Saturday, with the help of some friends and family.

A few things have really complicated this move though.  We are moving only 5 miles away and have to switch power, phone and ISP companies.  Therefore I will be offline so to speak for probably around a month or so.

I have much to do in our new house.  We have to remove wallpaper, paint, and do a few simple repairs.  The big one is the roof, it needs replaced, which is in the works.

Once I get some of this crazyness complete, I will be back at it, preserving this little experiment called ROX.¬† I will still check this blog while at work, but I won’t have time to post (probably).

Happy Independence Day Everyone!

In the meantime, I’ll be Hangin’ With Saget.