Wanting to change

Well there are so many things that I want right now. A Job that has decent pay would be nice. The ability to take a vacation and not feel guilty about leaving work for a week or two. (of course that would come after I get the job) I would also love to lose a little more weight. I seem to have gained back some of the stuff I lost recently.

But Of all these things the thing that I want to change the most is my attitude about my life. I have been letting myself get a little down. As you can see by my last post, I have been feeling a little unwanted for any type of work. I have to personally realize that this is only temporary. I have some great friends and family looking out for me. The give me work to do, they take me out to eat and they send ideas for work my way.

I need to get the motivation to get up every morning and do something besides turn on the TV. I am not normally a couch potato. But I have really picked it up over the past few months. I feel like I have nothing to do. when really I have plenty that I could be doing that would benefit me more than sitting in front of the TV watching some dumb mid morning show. I could be working out or I could be doing school work or I could be working on a hobby. There are so many other things I could do with my current situation.

So starting now I am going to limit my time on the Internet. I am going to post something on my Blog once a week just to keep my mind running if nothing else. I am going to get up early every morning and go work out. I am going to spend time drawing for at least a half hour every day on anything that comes to mind. I am going to do my schoolwork for that day before I turn on the TV. I am going to take the dog on a walk after I work out every morning and then take him on a walk before bed every night. I am going to make sure the pets are groomed every week. And I am going to make sure my wife helps me on everything because I know I will eventually fail if I do not have someone to support me.

These are my gaols. These are my way of saying to life you have not defeated me. This will be my way to take back what I have lost and what was taken from me. This is how I will prove to myself and others that I am willing and ready to work hard and smart. That I am a good person to have around. That I am trustworthy to myself and others and that I am the best person for any job that comes my way.

Lose one job quit another.

Well I have not posted in a while So I will try to give a quick rundown of the past 2 or 3 months. December was a difficult month. With Christmas keeping everyone busy along with everything else we do it was hard to keep up. But about4 days before Christmas day I got notice that I was being let go and to be out by noon. They had no more work for me. My supervisor and other boss called me in after I got the news and apologized for everything. Letting me know he had fought to keep me. I do not blame him for anything. But that took all the wind out of my sales just before Christmas. I was expecting if nothing else maybe a bonus check for all the hard work I had done from September to December. But instead I got a severance check.

So now it has been a little over 2 months since I was laid off. I have found that getting an unemployment check is very difficult to get from the state. First off they don't take into account what I was really earning. So I have took about a $1000 per month pay cut. Then I took a part time job and so they stopped payment on my unemployment right away. That job I was not earning anything and not enjoying it at all. I could not even justify the gas I was spending to get to work. So I quit that job so that I could look for something better. Of course if you quit a job they will put your unemployment back on hold until they decide if they are still going to pay you or not. Paperwork paperwork paperwork. Make our government run slow and yet they still make mistakes. So now I am working part time for my wifes parents helping will collections and some billing. Mostly the folding of paperwork on the billing. But I will say a much more satisfying job compared to the other one.

Now I am still looking for full time work. I am taking online courses to try and get a bachelors degree in art, something I have been thinking of doing for a long time. Sad that it took me loosing my job before I fully took advantage of it. Then I sit at home most of the day trying to save money and take advantage of everything I can. Hopefully sometime soon I will be doing allot of doggy sitting so that I can help pay the bills. I figure if I take a few part time jobs along with the doggy sitting I might be able to bring in a pretty decent salary.

So I guess that would be the basics for everything. I am sure not many people read this so any secrets that I may have divulged should be safe.

AWW. Friday. The day of days. The day of Bliss. The day I get off of work before noon. What else can you say. Friday is the start of the weekend and in my case almost gives me a 3 day weekend. How fridays just give me joy. How fridays give me time to catch up on all the other crap I should have done during the week. 

Working for a living.

    Well as I sit here with my two screens on earthday. (Yes I use them both. Right now I have autocad and Revit open. So not only am I using them I am sure I am stressing out the processor on my work computer. ) I was thinking about how my workout progress is going. 

    Today I did Kempo. This is one of the more entertaining workouts. Maybe it is just because I like to fake hit things. Or maybe it is because I have alot of agression twords the air which constantly gets in the way. But I get to punching and kicking and by the time I think to look at the clock. a half hour has easily passed away if not 40 min. I always want more.  This is a 1 hour workout. And the shirts I wear during these workouts can only be worn again after I wash them, as they are drentched on sweat which makes them really stinkey.

     Admittedly this morning I looked at the workout schedule and was dissapointed that it was not the X Stretch this morning. (that is tomorrow.) But after the initial warm up and stretches I was ready to go. I was punching smoother today than normal and felt myself moving more. which would make the punches hurt more if I actually hit you. I don't hit that hard anyway so don't worry. But I felt energetic this morning after my lathargic start. when we were set to do 30 punches or kicks I did 32. when we did our breakes I dade sure to keep my heart rate up and actually did extra jumping jacks. I figure 1 or 2 extra of those will not hurt me. I had a good workout this morning. I cannot complain. Yea. Maybe 4:30 was a little early for me to wake up this morning and my pillow was extra heavy but one I got up and shook off the sleeping fairy dust, I was good to go.

     So I am happy to say my progress is going well. I have hit my 3-1/2 week mark. I am feeling good. I am feeling strong. My kicks are not only higher but stronger and more cordinated.  My punches flow. My push ups have incresed. My pull ups have more than doubled. my weight has dropped, and my energy has gained. Big change from 4 weeks ago.

Sitting by the kitchen dreaming of food.

So I have been at my new office for a few weeks now. I have really been slacking on updating my blog and I am sorry to those 2 readers. So here is an update hopefully a very long and interesting one.

My new office is very nice I like all my bosses depending on the day and the job I can have up to 5 but usually it is just one or two. As you can see my desk is right by the break room. So I am getting up and drinking alot more water these days. A good thing but also the bathroom is a little further away and I am taking more of those breaks also. Ha it's funny how life evens out.
Also as you can see my life as a draftsman is full of clutter. paper paper everywhere comming at random times and coming in bulk. Maybe I have no choice but to be cluttered like this or maybe I just learned it from family. Either way I feel like a complete slob 5 days of the week.
But one of the best things of all is the fact that I am able to have money in the bank. I am not spending it on gas or snacks. or half as much soda "Water Breaks!!!" they are great.
I am still doing some projects in Revit. Possibly I will be taking some revit classes sometime soon and also I will be looking into taking some classes for a program called Microstation. I have not heard wonderful things about the program. But many govermenet entities require it. You know... To make things more difficult and less cost efficent. I love how my tax dollars are spent.
So then other news on the office front was the loss of the Junior Engineer at my office. I guess things were not working for either side and he was let go after around 2 months. So that added alot of pressure onto everyone in the company. Well atleast the draftsman that would be needing to pick up the slack and get to know his project that includes me. I think I am safe for atleast another two weeks. Actually out of what I heard I am safe for alot longer than that unless I really screw up. But you never know. I am hourly so that means first to be let go if things go badly.
On a good note. They have unofficially that this is the year that they take the entire company to Disneyland for a weekend. I don't have much more innfomation except for the fact that it will be sometime in early December. Also I am allowed and encouraged to bring one person along with me. As of two weeks ago I don't know who that is anymore. But that is another story I am still trying to cope with myself and would completly negate how I started this paragraph.
So I guess that just about covers it. I am doing well. I am making money and if I do well I will make more. and I have no other life to speak of still. Getting up and trying to get to work by 7am everyday is still a pain but I think I am getting better.

A new way and a new life

So I have already told most if not all of my family and most of my friends. But soon I will be drafting for a much bigger company a little more money and I will be alot closer to home. I could even take the option to go home for lunch. Something I cant justify now because driving home and back would take me an hour already.
I am excited that i will not be spending hours and hours on small house additions that should only take me a hour total on the job but then takes longer because of the 50,000 changes that come over the next few days and months. People, It's only a garage addition!!!!
I am excited because I will have the option to go to lunch with my dad more often since he will be working what will now seem like just around the corner. We will be by the food mecca of Draper. So variety will be nice.
I am excited because I will have to pay way less money on Gas to get to work on a daily basis. I spend currently $60 a week on gas if not more. Somthing that even 5 years ago I would have passed out and nearly died after seeing.
I am not excited because it means no more shorts to work and I might even have to wear a collared shirt. I think the Devil came up with the idea of a collared shirt so that we could waste material and have it rub the skin on our necks raw and possibly even give us horrible rashes. Or maybe it was the skin care people that got togeather with the clothing designers and they both decided it was a good way to make a buck. Eitherway I am going to have to find a way around wearing a collar without quitting or loseing my new job.
I am excited because my current boss will still be my boss. I won't have to total change in how I see redlines and how things are communicated to me right away.
I am excited because instead of half my medical being paid it will all be paid. So I can be a happy camper.
I am excited because I will have a way to move up in this company if I work hard. I will be able to earn more money and I will be able to pay off bills and life a better life.

Learning a new way. Revit.

Ok for most people that have been around me for the past month or 3 have possibly heard me talk about the new drafting program I am learning called Revit. This program has been out for about 3 or 4 years now. But Up untill now there has not been a big reason to buy it. Specifically for engineers. But now we are getting more and more requests for us to start working on it. So here I am. Lucky for me I know enough about drafting and 3D, that I am not completly lost.

But I now have got to a point where I actually need to read all the help files and tutorials so that I can make a cleaner better drawing. But I do love to do some projects on revit. Adding in floor and roof joists is just fast and clean. I just pick a room and it can figure out the walls and beams and depending what wall you are on it will decide what direction the beams will be going. Also making it easier for me I can quickly change beam sizes that will change most notes that I have linked to it like Beam Schedules.

All columns go up and threw and since this is a 3D drawing. It takes out all the cordination that is usually transfered inbetween drawings. So one a drawing has been set up, any changes are much easier and less time consuming.

But this is still lacking some things I would like. Details can be difficult. Unless you are both designing and drafting. That is not something I do on a normal basis. So I still do most details in Autocad and then import them into Revit. Its also difficult to place roof beams in specific places. since so many windows and door heights are diffrent. It would be nice to be able to place a beam over a doorway. Also some I have noticed that Revit Structure shows drawings like an architect would show them. My biggest issues so far is the views. I want to place a beam over a doorway. But so far I have found the best way to do that is go to the lower level and find the door ways and then place the beams and tell them they are in the next level up. But then there is another issue. Because the beams show up but the doorways and window openings do not, or iF I lower my view cuts it either cuts out some things that are higher that I do want to see or or cuts out beams that are higher. But these might all be things that I might learn how to adjust later.

But this is they way engineering and drafting is going. 3D is a better way to work with others. because you pdate anything and all other views like elevations and details are updated also along with corresponding floor plans. I am excited to learn all of this.

**UPDATE**

I think I have decided to post a new lessong or review on the diffrent tools of Revit as I learn them. I will start with what I know and when I get to it I will post what I learn. First will be grids. Look forward to it.

Printing Printing Printing.

For anyone that Does not know. I own a small Print Buisness on the side. I wish it was a little smaller though in the fact that I have a very large Large format printer. 54" to be exact. But For the Past two days I have come across a snag. I am able to print The color just fine and the rip send it to the printer in good time.

But for the Past two days I have been trying to print a double sided banner. I don't think that my printer likes the material or me right now it keeps bunching up and printing big black marks on the banner media. Why? because it does not like me and the banner media is too soft and is getting pushed in. Also there must be an issue with the banner media. it just wrinkles up even more in certin areas. some tape was in one area. and I am not sure of the others. But either way. I am not happy and I am done with printing it. I might just have to farm it out to someone else and take the hit because I am just burning money now.

I never want to print a double sided banner ever again. Of course I said that before and I should have ment it then.

Innovation

It has been a few days since I last posted anything not that I don't have alot of half finished thoughts. I have a few things for Reviews on The Current Next Gen Consoles, and I have some thoughts on Movies. Particuarally the ones in the 80's that I love. and I am thinking on doing some remanesing of some old 80's movies in later posts. But Today what has been on my mind is Innovation, Creation, and expansion for things to come.
I have always liked the idea of inventing things. But Not something tried and true and adding a thing-a-who onto it and calling it new. And I don't want to create the Next Google, Yahoo, Aol, MSN, ask.com, Search page. or Myspace, or Facebook Personale web page. I don't want to be the one to create the Next high def format on t.v.'s or something that is short term. Too many people just Regurgitate an idea and add new art to it and call it better lately. I do not agree that facebook is better or worse than myspace. it's just got a diffrent face with the same insides. It's all that internet rave that say's if you build it they will come. But I believe that it is a limited market if you create just another Myspace website. Also people will only use so many Search engins. Those markets are saturated and the big hitters have already come out swinging.
So what is one to do? We don't have to come up with something new. We just have to come up with something usefull. Myspace is usefull because it lets you express yourself and keep in contact with your friends. Google as a search engine is usefull because it let you find what you are looking for. Creating the newest T.V. would be fun but takes alot of time and money. and I don't want to be the one that just one up's the other. I want to change the Market. I want to make the world better. I don't want to create a product that makes us more lazy. Yes they might be fun but it is pointless to have a beer can thrown to you so you don't have to go to the fridge.
But I have also found you don't have to listen to the negativity of those around you. Examples of this are my dad and he is very similar to how the world reacts to these things. I had the idea almost 15 years ago to put a Hard Drive into a car and put MP3's on it. So you could take all your music with you on one disk and not carry and swap out 500 CD's. We see this hitting big time now. Hard drives are truly now in Cars and Everyone knows the Ipod craze that has hit the market. And what did my dad along with the world say to me 15 years ago? Thats a bad idea. it will never work. Get a real job where you can make money get married and make babies. I regret now that I did not go after that idea. Sure someone might have already patented the idea before that. But Who knows. I could have been the one that got in and changed the world. People might not ever remember my name but my legacy would have been started. I want to change the world. I don't care if every one knows my name and people flock to me just to catch a glimpse. I just to feel I have done something with my life. I want to know I have created something that people will use to make this world a better one.
I know I am able to do some great things. I have many talents and skills because of how I have lived my life. I am a Great Draftsman. I have come to that conlusion and I am worth what My boss pay's me and more. I am good at specking out computers. I have built computers that can still outrun computers much younger and run smoother and cleaner. I can learn about things around me faster than most. I know my learning style. I know my health and how to stay healthy. Although I know I can do better and I need to not listen to others about what I can and can't do. I just need to apply myself and come up with that Idea that I know is out there somewhere.
What I see comming in big time over the Next Few years are Touchscreens. Possibly to come take over for the Mouse someday. Also UPC or ultra portable computers and Tablet PC. This goes along with the touch screens Because most of them have a touch screen of some sort. They will replace the Laptop computer someday. Video on demand or dowloadable content. I don't know if it will ever replace full ownership. But I do think that the Rental community will be taken by storm once americans update to faster internet connections. I also think you will start to see high def. Television sales start to rapidly pick up over the next few years. You will also see alot of previously 2D programs turn into 3D, especially art Programs. There is so much that can and will happen over even the next year in technology. That if you think about it first but don't do anything about it someone else will take advantage of it.
So find what you love to do and make it even better.

Raise at work.

Ok A should have wrote about this yesterday. But I finally got that much needed raise at work. Although it is a good raise I was hopeing for a little bit more. I know I am worth it. But it will help me be able to start saving alot more or at all. and I have hopefully learned a valuable lesson. Ask for the raise or you will never get it. I kept hopeing that I would get the raise for months and months and I was confident to tell others what I thought about the situatioon but not my boss. I don't know why. He's not the type to rip your head off. So Now I have my raise and I will be talking to my boss again soon to get another one.