Howdy All

Yes I have resurfaced to say 'HI'. I have recently gotten plugged into Facebook and noticed an uptick in my Blog Hits.

Well Hot Damn. (pardon me.. 'Hot DOG' I meant...)

Good to see ya. Hope you find some stuff from when I actually had a lot of time to devote to my blog.

I will try to find something cool to post this weekend..I probably won't be working then. Anyways - in the meantime check out the Blob. Casual Game awesomeness. Trust me you will love this little freebie gem of a game. My little ones love it and so do I.

P

De Blob

Unemployment blues....

Greetings, faithful Blog readers..

As of last Friday I officially became unemployed. Apparently my position with my employer was eliminated during the reorganization of their business. I joined about 1800 other employees there that fell to the slumping housing market. It was a great experience working there and I'm going to miss it. But life moves on.

Good news: I'm on vacation in Hilton Head South Carolina with my family and we're having a blast.

Bad News: I'm fully unemployed starting the middle of July.

Anyone looking for a mid-level GIS Analyst/Manager type?

I have my resume handy if you want a gander. Seriously - post below if you have any interest...I am looking for any and all opportunities.

I'll check in later when I'm back home from vacation - should have some pics and all to share.

P

Map on, Dude.

Found this Job posting on the GIS Jobs Clearinghouse.

http://www.gjc.org/gjc-cgi/showjob.pl?id=1179074547

Position Detail
Organization: Private Web Media CompanyTitle: Needed: ArcGIS Server 9.2 Freak

Location: USA (Chicago or Houston preferred)Application
Deadline: Posted: 2007-05-13
Position Description: Need a freelance freak
in ArcGIS Server 9.2 to join our team. We're building a sick web-based mapping
site for a new kind of social networking. Bonus if you've worked with Navteq or
Teleatlas databases before. Double bonus if you know something about mobile
phone networks. Send resume with links to stuff you've done so we can see if
you're the kind of freak we're looking for. Email to "rubygods@gmail.com". Map
on dude

Now THAT is the kind of company I'd like to be working for...hopefully this is a hint of what the future holds for us GIS professionals.

Oh and by the way, looks like I may be getting laid off tomorrow, so I'm in the middle of a job hunt. Anyone looking for a mid to senior level GIS Manager/Database Analyst type person? I can furnish my resume on request.. *big charming grin*

Nevermind, if I dont get the axe tomorrow, but I think odds are pretty high. I'll keep you up to date.

I'm BACK!

Howdy intrepid Blog readers!

I've been away for a while as lots of interesting things have happened in our lives over the past month. If you've kept up with War Eagle Girl's Blog, you'll know that we took a trip to Vegas and to Charlotte, so you know we've been busy. I have also been going through a job transition and am just starting to get settled at my new job. They keep me pretty busy around here, so I haven't had a heck of alot of time to post on my blog. This new job has been a big change for me, and I am finding that most changes (especially this one) are for the better. Some of the pros of my new job include:

1) They gave me a nice big office (my own!)
2) I have a big and fast PC to do my mapping and programming on
3) The morning commute is better
4) They pay me more
5) Better opportunity for promotion and career growth
6) I'm a regional employee now, so I work with a larger variety of people in different offices
7) Less stressful - not near as many hurried requests for projects due in an hour
8) (this is for Seannibal) The vending machine in the breakroom is free!

As great as this new job is, there are some drawbacks:

1) I no longer work with War Eagle Girl
2) the afternoon commute is worse than before
3) I miss talking with my BC friends. I'm located with the Regional VPs, and they travel alot so its usually pretty quiet around here.
4) I no longer have a supportive GIS community here to work with. I guess I will have to build my own.

Who am I working for, you might ask? Pulte Homes, America's largest home builder. I am still making maps, but in support of strategic planning for residential development. It's a different world over here, different from environmental consulting, that's for sure.

Just wanted to fill you all in, I'll try to keep up with my blog when I find amusing links and the like.

Have any questions for the new Southeast Area Senior GIS/Data Analyst? Ask away...

Hasta Luego, Amigos!

Howdy, Yall

Hey everyone, just checking in. I'm in the midst of a transition here at work since I've accepted a new job with another company and we are really excited about it. I'll get you some more details later on it, but I just couldn't ignore the fact that I've been neglecting my Blog for this long.

So here's a link to enjoy while I go back to work and finish up this stuff. Yuck.

Live Action D&D Nerds

If you've never heard of LARPing (you may have seen a bit in my last D&D related video post) people really DO this. in the woods. for like four days at a time. here in Georgia and in other places near you. go figure.

Happy New Year!

KabLOOEY!!!

Howdy all....

Just checking in after a busy busy busy holiday season. To Recap:

Shopping.
Shopping.
Dodge mall traffic.
Church on Xmas Eve.
Open presents with C family on Xmas Eve.
Xmas morning breakfast at our house with both families.
Xmas dinner at P family house.
work for a week (busy).
Watched Gamecocks lose bowl game.
Ate greasy onion rings and drank tasty beer.
Fretted.
New Years Party.
Saw Chronicles of Narnia on New Years Day.
Back to work. (booo!)

Stayed home for the holidays, and it was great, but man were we tired out from all the merrymaking. yeesh! Especially Babygirl. She was tired, but hung in there!

Anyways, hope y'all have a great year, and you find yourself further along the road to accomplishing your dreams, whatever they may be.

P.S. On the zymurgy front, I brewed an English Pale Ale, and it is now in secondary fermentation. The pale ale votes won in my little online 'poll'. Thanks for your support!

Is Fall finally here?

Must be because I had my annual version of Curley-Aerator SMACKDOWN WWE!

This past weekend was the first weekend that actually felt like fall. Low 70's and yesterday it was gray and drizzly all day with a high in the uper 60's. I almost could smell the fireplaces burning... Not only that, but I spent all day yesterday preparing the yard for aeration. My neighbor and I went to Lowe's at 8 AM to rent an aerator and they were all out. We didn't end up getting one until about 1:30 or so, and by that time I had just started scalping the lawn and raking up the thatch. Ouch. By the time it was my turn to aerate, the drizzle faucet was on full, I was wet, the lawn was soggy, and the behemoth of an aerator sunk down good and deep into the soil. If you have no idea what aerating is, its basically using an oversized lawnmower/tiller thingy with spikes under it to run over your lawn while the spikes pull up little 5 inch cores out of your lawn. This allows oxygen and other nutrients to get into your soil through these holes. Oh did I mention that in order to do this effectively, the aerator has to be HEAVY?? Cripes. Turning it is a feat in itself. I got maybe 30 yards of grass aerated before the behemoth just stopped moving - I looked down and saw the drive chain lying on the grass, snapped in half. Nice.

So I stood there in the drizzly rain all wet with a 200+ pound machine sinking into my lawn with no drive chain at 4:30 in the afternoon. I was a happy camper. Not. We took it back to the rental center and I'll be finishing the lawn tonight, if they have another aerator on hand when I get there, that is. Then I can happily apply the lime and grass seed, all so the lawn will be green next spring.

The things we do for a pretty lawn. *sigh*.

Well at least I got a chance to brew a stout on Saturday evening, oh and the Gamecocks won a game. So I guess it wasn't too bad of a weekend. :)

Back from vacation, Jury Duty Etc..

Check out APC's blog for more detailed info from our trip to HHI for the past weekend.

Things I learned on this trip:

1)Babygirl gets fussy past 8 PM
2)it is waaaaaaaay too hot in the end of August to sit by a pool in coastal South Carolina
3)Georgia's laws against happy hours STINK! half price appetizers and $2 beers at a 4 star resort on the beach in South Carolina? sweeeeet. (Cartman voice)
4)Wild Wing wings at Hilton Head are just as yummy as they are in Atlanta.
5)Hotwire rules. We stayed at a top notch resort with great facilities for a C-note a night.

After we returned I had to report for my civic duty at the Fulton County Courthouse Monday morning. Jury duty. Two words feared the country over, yet noone really knows why. Basically I learned why. You wait way too much, and then listen to lawyers speak, and you can't resume your normal schedule until they're done with you. BUT..this was a murder trial, and it was actually very very interesting. More on this later, but let's just say, I didn't make the jury after TWO DAYS of questions.

*sigh* Finally back at work.

Oh and dayammm....APC's Blog is dominating mine in hits - you go girl!

Thoughts on Mortality and Sickness

Ugh.

I came back from San Diego with a sunburn and a sore throat. The sore throat changed into a brief head cold that seemed to go away over the weekend. Then Wednesday afternoon my voice started getting hoarse and by the time I got home from work, I couldn't talk. I basically was making odd hoarse raspy noises that vaguely sounded like the English language, or a frog choking on a freshly caught fly (how's that for simile?), depends on your angle of hearing it I guess. Oh and my throat hurt. I had to call in sick on Thursday and half day Friday because of this 'thing' that invaded my body.

What's my point? I have a point, really I do. You just don't realize how important your voice is until you lose it. I could not do my work and I work with computers most of the day when I wouldn't think I would have to be able to speak. It threw me out of my normal 'comfort zone' and into a realm of the unknown where I had to communicate using hand signals mixed with whispers. Digital communication can only do so much, but face to face is still where we as a species make and break relationships. Now I have an idea of what it would be like to be mute, and it isn't fun. I have since recovered, but the experience will last with me for a while.

Hopefully I won't have spread it to my wife and baby girl. We might have to learn American Sign Language then. Or get a big whiteboard with some dry erase markers.

Don't think I'm getting waaaay too deep here, I mean it's almost football season and I'll have plenty to pontificate upon then that some may deem shallow.

San Diegoooooo....

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I realize that I may be losing many of my loyal fans by my lack of blogactivity (is that a word?). I have been at a conference all last week in San Diego, California.

Wow. What a great place and a great conference.

It was the big ESRI International GIS conference at the San Diego Convention Center. It was my first time going and I couldn't beleive that there were almost 15,000 GeoGeeks all in one place at once! It was incredible, There were hundreds of technical workshops on GIS software, thousands and thousands of map displays, hundreds of GIS demos, User papers, maps, aerial photos, and maps, oh my! It was definitely a great time to network and learn alot about my industry.

My thesis advisor in graduate school at USC, Dr. Cowen, got a lifetime GIS achievement award at the plenary session on Monday in front of thousands of other GIS colleagues. He was moved to tears. It was a great moment for a man I am a big fan of. Congratulations Dr. Cowen! and of course, as he was leaving the stage, after the thunderous applause, someone shouted 'Go Gamecocks!'. and the grand poobah of all things GIS, Jack Dangermond said from the podium 'umm, yes.'

*sniff* it was beautiful.

The keynote address was given by Jane Goodall of Chimpanzees in Africa fame. She gave a really good speech about the Earth and how were destroying it and all and how she got to come to know the chimps in Gombe. Then after her speech, she and Jack Dangermond were on the stage and started chatting about things. He asked her a couple questions and it got pretty liberal, pretty fast. I have alot of respect for Dr. Goodall and the things that she has done for environmentalism and science in general, but some of her views on the world are a bit extreme. But then I suppose if you devote your life to these views, then I guess that's what one should expect to hear. Dr. Goodall proceeded to tell us (I paraphrase a bit, but this is what I remember):

- we are destroying the Earth and we should return to the good old days of
subsistence hunting and gathering (yeah that'll fix it!)
- that many of us buy things we don't need and that is one of the problems with
Western Society (I don't need this house or motor car? Who'd a thunk it?)
- Things would be so much better if we just gave more food and money to the poor in the world (You mean we don't already give BILLIONS of American Taxpayer dollars in aid to the world already?)
- She pushed her 'Giant Peace Doves' as some sort of statement that everyone on Earth really wants peace. She hoped that someday 'a satellite will fly over the planet and see thousands of giant peace doves all over the planet'. As jaded as it sounds, I couldn't help but chuckle at her peace doves. It's just funny. Check out the link - its good fun. I just hope those things come equipped with explosives for the terrorists and murderers in the world.

San Diego is a great town. The weather was unbeleivable, I kept shaking my head thinking to myself 'it's almost August, Pat, almost August..really!' as I was strolling through the Gaslamp District in the middle of the day in sunny, 74 degree temperatures with NO humidity. Being from Atlanta, I KNOW humidity. They don't have it in San Diego, and that is why it is so expensive to live there. Not only is the weather great, but the downtown area is happening with tons of restaurants, bars, shops, etc. that people actually go to at night. Yes I am referring to my own hometown's lack of downtown life, and the reasons are many, but I won't get into them here. Let's just say that SD sure as hell puts on a good nightlife time - whether it be a fancy reataurant, Mexican cantina eating on the sidewalk, or Irish pubs...they got it. Plus beautiful bayside scenery and palm trees.

But I have to be honest with yall, as great as it was to be out there, by the time the third morning dawned, I was reallly missing my wife and daughter. It just isn't the same to travel without them.

awwwwww.

Post Fireworks blues..

Arggghhh...

After a nice long holiday weekend at the lakehouse in Tennessee, it's back to work for the MapGeek. Yuck.

Had a good 4th of July weekend, fishing and playing on the lake, ate lots of BBQ and determined that Apple Pie may be the quintessential American dessert, but in the South it's definitely peach pie.

Will have pics from the weekend up tomorrow.

Answers to last weeks geo-quiz (thanks for your participation, Seannibal - the rest of you - ptthhhhtttt):
1) Mt. Whitney, California (el. 14,491 ft above MSL)
2) Hibernia - Ireland
Dacia - Romania
Gallia - France
Hispania - Spain (and Portugal)

Oh and thanks for all the responses to my football query! /Sarcasm

May actually go to the Wild Wing for wings and trivia tomorrow - w00t!!