Oh my, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?

It’s been 2 years, 9 months, and 19 days since I last posted something on my blog. I’ve spent the past few days painstakingly recovering the contents of my old self-hosted WordPress website, omegastormproductions.com, that closed its doors in 2011 and transferring the contents of my last wordpress.com blog over to here. Sure, transferring the contents of the wordpress.com blog was easy; just export, then import. The old self-hosted WordPress website; however, was a bit more involved, as I only had an old database backup courtesy of a backup plugin I used that emailed me a backup on a regular basis.

WordPress can import a variety of formats from various platforms, and uses a XML file for itself, but I had a SQL database, which would have been fine for setting up another self-hosted website and restoring the old database, except now that we’re on wordpress.com, that’s out the window. To put it basically, I recreated each and every post and page from scratch by going through the database tables and picking out the published posts (ignoring past revisions). Everything I needed was there: Title, Content, Post Date, etc. It was just time consuming.

Still Alive

It’s been quite a while since I last made a post on here and you’re probably been wondering if I’d fallen off the face of the planet or something. Have no fear for all is well.

I started my new job back in November and after having spent a month going through training, I went live just after Christmas. I then spent the next month doing my job in what you might call the “newbie area” where we had support to help us get started. Dell has a vested interest in making sure you succeed, that’s for sure. Well, I’ve been moved out of that area for just over a week now and I’m still going strong. I’m still part time as of yet, but I am doing my best to increase my chances of going full time.

For the better part of two months, I’ve had little to no internet access, which is one of the contributing factors to me not posting here, among other things such as “just having other things to do.” No worries though. I plan on getting back to posting here on a regular basis.

News Flash: Job Offer

Well, well, well… isn’t this good news? After almost 2 months of being unemployed, I have finally received a job offer from APEX with Dell. Granted, it’s only a part time position (with the possibility of going full time), but that’s still more than I’ve had for the past 2 months. I would be silly to not have accepted the offer. I expect you probably already know what the job entails: I’ll working in a call center as technical support for one of their clients.

This is wonderful news, all things considered. I wish it would of happened a bit faster than nearly 2 months, but that’s how the cookie crumbles. The next step is to prove how awesome I am and get hired on full time.

HTML/CSS Demo Added

A while back (while I was still employed by The Renaissance Center) I started to dip my hands into web development. I already had a basic understanding of HTML and CSS from years past, but had never really applied it to anything. Well, as a form of practice, I created a sample webpage for the Cybersphere, which you can view here. While it’s mostly a demonstration of my knowledge of HTML and CSS (however mediocre that may be), it does include a slight use of PHP (very slight).

I’ve actually been slacking the studying arena since I was laid off and that needs to change. It is the perfect time for me to be focusing on it after all. So it’s time to get back to it for me and to create a few more examples as practice (and for portfolio padding).

The Job Search Goes On…

So you’re probably wanting an update as to how my job search is fairing… well, I’m still unemployed if that sums it all up for you. For over the past month, I have applied to almost four dozen jobs posted across various job boards and either met or spoke with five different staffing agencies. Out of all the jobs to which I have applied, only a handful have bothered to even get back with me, even if it’s just to tell me I’m no longer being considered for the job.

So far, I’ve only gotten an interview for two jobs, one of which has already turned me away: Verizon. I guess I’m not good enough even to work in a call center according to them. Meh, oh well. I probably would have hated the job anyways, so it’s sort of a blessing in disguise. It was a customer retention position in one of their call centers, so I would have been taking calls from irate customers all day long and trying to keep them as customers. I guess I shouldn’t apply to jobs I may not like just because I need one right now.

As for the other one, I do not yet know whether or not I’ll get the position, so just keep your fingers crossed and I’ll let you know how it goes.

Better than I thought

So I’ve been fairly quick to classify myself as a beginner when it comes to web development, but it seems I know a little bit more than I give myself credit for knowing. After meeting with two recruiters with Robert Half Technology, they set me up to take two assessment tests (multiple choice) on HTML and Javascript.

Well, I only scored 80% (45 questions) on HTML, which is not as good as I thought I would do. I seem to have trouble remembering a few of the tags. On the other hand, I scored 75% (40 questions) on the Javascript test, which is better than I thought I’d do. I guess I really have learned a few things after completing the Javascript Fundamentals track on Codecademy.

I’m going to keep going through the exercises on Codecademy. Next up is mostly about HTML and CSS, but applies a little bit of Javascript to it. Codecademy has been extremely helpful so far, so I recommend it highly to anyone that is just starting out like me, even if you haven’t ever coded anything before, unlike me.

On the Hunt

I wanted to toss out a quickie update regarding my job search. I’ve applied for a few jobs so far and I’m going to be working with two different recruiting agencies to help extend my reach. One of them is Robert Half Technology and I have a meeting with them tomorrow to speak with them a bit more about what I’m looking for and how they can help me achieve it. The other is Dickson Resources and I spoke with them a bit on the phone yesterday. Keep your fingers crossed that I get something soon, even if it is temporary!

Codecademy

Trying to learn anything new can be a daunting task, especially when you don’t know where to start. Luckily, there’s quite a few ways (specifically, free) to learn out there. Google is your friend when trying to find these learning resources, but even if Google doesn’t directly lead you to something useful, you might find, for example, an article on a blog that points you in the right direction.

Talking specifically about me at this point; I am trying to get into web design / development. Having exhausted “funding” for schooling on a previous venture, I am looking for free ways to educate myself. To start, I already have some experience with HTML and CSS, so I just need to expand upon this by diving into Javascript and PHP or ASP (planning to focus on PHP). Coding is not a foreign concept to me as I already have a little experience with BASIC, C#, and Actionscript. So the syntax is not voodoo magic to me, since code syntax doesn’t change THAT much from one language to another. It’s more of a matter of learning the various built-in functions / methods of the languages and checking out libraries written in said language.

But for someone starting out, it can be tough. Sure, you could read tutorials like those at http://www.w3school.com to get started, but if you are a “hands on” learner like myself, you might find what the guys over at http://www.codecademy.com have put together much more helpful. At least, in regards to HTML, CSS, and Javascript. It looks like they are currently adding Python to the list. Codecademy’s exercises “walk you through” a particular subject; telling you how to go about doing something and then letting you type it out yourself before proceeding to the next exercise.

I’m actually going through the exercises on Codecademy right now to reinforce any previous knowledge of mine. I believe in having a firm foundation before building skywards, otherwise you might find yourself without a leg to stand on.

The Nutty Professor: A NEW Musical

This past week, I got some free tickets through work to go see The Nutty Professor Musical in the James K. Polk Theater at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC). I honestly didn’t know what to expect because I’ve never seen the original 1963 Nutty Professor directed and starring Jerry Lewis that the show is based on. I’ve only seen Eddie Murphy’s version of it.

The show was wonderful. Michael Andrew played the role of Julius Kelp / Buddy Love stupendously. He really did seem like two different personas with his changes in demeanor. From the way he walked to the way he talked, everything was different. Excellent acting to say the least. He also has a very good singing voice, but I suppose that is to be expected with it being a musical and all, especially with the leading role.

The role of Stella Purdy was played by the beautiful Marissa McGowan. She has an absolutely stunning singing voice to go along with her good looks. Her character was sort of that “girl next door” archetype, which I think she fit fairly well. Overall though, her performance was fairly unremarkable. Not bad; just not very memorable compared to the performances of some of the other actors.

Out of all the main supporting characters, my favorite was easily Miss Lemon played by Klea Blackhurst. She was one of the funniest characters in the show despite not being the star of the show, second only to Andrew himself. The sexual tension between her character and that of Doctor Warfield played by Mark Jacoby was the source of many jokes through the entire show.

Mark Jacoby actually played a few different characters throughout the show; four in fact: Dr. Warfield, Murray the Tailor, Muray the Trainer, and Mikey the Bartender. Dr. Warfield was, of course, his main role, but he excelled as each of the characters he played. He even proved to be a fairly good singer.

Overall, the songs throughout the show were excellently performed by all the cast and the music was absolutely wonderful. Props to the orchestra conducted by Stephen Kummer. The dance numbers involving all the show’s cast were also very well choreographed. The show is still playing until August 19th, so if you are looking for something to do, I recommend going to see it before it’s over.

Our “New to Us” Car

My wife and I both had older vehicles, so we decided that it was time to replace one of them. We wanted to save a little money by not buying new, so we decided to go down to the Carmax in Nashville and take a look around. We were concerned about price first and foremost, so we were looking for cars in the $12,000-14,000 range.

The first car we both liked was a 2009 Hyundai Accent, priced at $12,600. It was a barebones automatic car (no power windows or locks, etc) and we didn’t care about that stuff anyways, but we noticed that the backseat was quite small and since we were trying to get a car that was useful a few years into the future, we decided to keep looking.

After looking around a bit more, we saw it: a 2011 Nissan Versa that was a nice red color. Obviously, we wanted a car with relatively low mileage on it and this one only had 28,711 miles on it. It was priced at $13,600 and had a few bells and whistles: power windows and locks, cruise control, an alarm system, etc. It used to be a fleet vehicle, so it had a few touched up scratches on it, but was otherwise in great condition. We took it for a test drive and it handled very well. It took off, stopped, and turned well. I liked it and my wife liked it as well. Ultimately, we decide to get it.

Our salesman was (incoming shout-out) Jack Goodner. He is a very nice guy, wasn’t pushy, and was extremely helpful. He made the whole process of us buying our first “new” car together painless. If you happen to be in the market for a “new to you” car and decide to stop by Carmax, ask for Jack. I guarantee that you won’t regret it.

(Our car did have a rather deep ding on the roof, but Jack noticed it before we left with the vehicle, we set up an appointment, and they fixed it the following week for free.)

Overall, our experience with getting our first “new” car at Carmax was great.