Tag: work

May 31 2016

on building new routines…

A lot has happened over the last week. We found a new housemate and got her approved with the landlord. That was the number one task on my to-do list and a big weight off my shoulders. I’m excited for her to move in, she manages a nearby wine shop, and seems like a lot of fun. I think we’re going to have a pretty good house between the three of us there.

Over the long weekend, I had a friend visit from the Seattle area. She’s someone I’ve known since high school and is going through period of change and discovery of her own. It was nice to have late night conversations talking about life, love, and finding direction. She might not know it…but our conversations definitely gave me stuff to think about as I contemplate the next steps in my life. For me, one of the best things about her visit was just having someone over to continue the process of making memories in the house that belong just to me.

I’ve explored places to build new routines over the past week or so as well. I’ve rediscovered a coffee shop that will be a great option for weekend morning coffee outings. It opens early and is close enough that I actually even want to bike there (there are actually a few places in that neighborhood that I hope to spend some time at this summer). I started meal planning again this week. While I’m already off schedule because of a great BBQ with some of my soccer family, I had actually planned for that as well by not specifically planning things later in the week. It’s still going to take some getting used to planning meals for one (and especially improving my veggie intake) but I’m starting to return to normal.

I did buy myself a present over the weekend:


My current housemate has a similar hammock, and it looked so comfortable I just couldn’t pass up the great deal on Amazon when I saw it on Saturday. It arrived on Monday (yes Amazon has the USPS delivering on holidays now too) and I spent a good few hours reading and napping in it Monday afternoon. Its going to be great having it this summer, both for back yard relaxing, and hiking/camping.

So what’s next? Now that finding a housemate is behind me, my next goal is working on improving my job/career/financial situation. My current position is through a temporary agency and I am definitely underemployed in it. The company my assignment is at is also still trying to figure out its structure after being acquired last year. While there is a lot of confidence that the jobs will stay here in Portland, they could just as easily be absorbed by another site elsewhere in the US. Like most everything else in my life, I’m looking for stability (at least as much as possible), and I just don’t feel comfortable yet at my current assignment. I also need to find a position where I can get decent health insurance in my own name (as my current health insurance will go away at an as of yet unknown date). Beyond that, I’m not entirely sure what I’m looking for. It’ll be something to concentrate on in counseling over the next few weeks.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2016/05/on-building-new-routines/

Mar 30 2013

so i’ve been back a year…

It has been exactly a year today since I moved back to Portland from Los Angeles.  Of course I’ve been bad about keeping in touch with people (and not posting much here).  So I figured it was time for a bit of a check in.

The biggest news of the past year is that I got engaged last August.  Alicia and I are getting married this August 31st in a wonderful park here in Portland.

In October, Alicia got a job at OHSU and moved up the middle of the month.  We found a nice apartment within a few blocks of the place I had initially moved into.  This apartment search was much more difficult (and cutthroat) then when I moved to Portland from Eugene back in 2004.  Granted, I didn’t have a friend say “we don’t like our roommate, we’ll kick him out and you can move in” this time.  An example of how cutthroat it was: We went to an open house and arrived 15-20 minutes early, and there were already three couples ahead of us in line.  When the people showing the house arrived, they said “We already have one completed application in process, but if you want to apply we’ll put you on the wait list.”  They also wanted a bunch of extra information above what is normally asked on a rental application.  For example, copies of three months of paystubs to even consider your application as completed.  Granted I’ve only got Portland and Los Angeles to go on, but I’d never had that level of detail initially requested.

Around the same time as Alicia’s move up here, I settled into a temp job at the Craft Brew Alliance (the parent company of Widmer/Redhook/Kona).  Sadly for me, the job market has been a little more difficult to break into in my most recent field up here.  A lot of the positions want people with industry experience and the industries are different than nutritional supplements.  But the temp job isn’t so bad and it covers the bills so I can’t complain too much.

The fun news I just found out a few weeks ago is that I had been accepted into the 2013 Master Food Preserver Program for Washington and Multnomah counties.  The program involves 8 weeks of classes (48 hours total), and then a test at the end.  If you pass the test then you are a Master Food Preserver (and you have to volunteer 48 hours in the next year).  I’m looking forward to the classes and continuing learning more about food preservation.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2013/03/so-ive-been-back-a-year/

Jan 15 2009

God’s Secretary

by R.S. Gwynn

Her e-mail inbox always overflows.
Her outbox doesn’t get much use at all.
She puts on hold the umpteen-billionth call
As music oozes forth to placate those
Who wait, then disconnect.  Outside, wind blows,
Scything pale leaves.  She sees a sparrow fall
Fluttering to a claw-catch on a wall.
Will He be in today?  God only knows.

She hasn’t seen His face–He’s so aloof.
She’s long resigned He’ll never know or love her
But still can wish there were some call, some proof
That He requires a greater service of her.
Fingers of rain now drum upon the roof,
Coming from somewhere, somewhere far above her.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2009/01/gods-secretary/

Dec 17 2008

Sketch 50

The year winds down, and so do the activities.  A couple of my friends left town for the holidays over the weekend.  So a few less partners in crime are around.  I’ve also been trying to be frugal in my spending to compensate for the unpaid week next week (gotta love temp work).

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about where I am in life.  How many of my friends, who are younger than me, seem to be much further along in life.  They’ve got good jobs that they love or graduate degrees.  They’ve got homes. Are married.  Heck, some are even divorced (not that it is a good thing).  But even then, they’ve experience marriage and the love that drove them to it in the first place.

It all seems so far away to me.

Its hard being 32 and not really having anything figured out.

I’m leaving for Oregon Friday, right after work.  It’ll be nice to be home for the week.  Catch up with some friends and family.  I’m taking two days to drive up, planning on stopping somewhere around Sacramento late Friday night and finishing up the drive on Saturday.  Saturday night is the annual Santa Pub Crawl in Eugene.  It’ll be a cold crawl this year as the temps are predicted to be below freezing, with possible snow showers.  No matter how cold it is, it’ll be a nice welcome home.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/12/sketch-50/

Dec 10 2008

Sketch 49

Not much going on the past week.  Because of the short work week at Thanksgiving, my paycheck was a little lighter last Friday.  So no new food adventures. (Though one food adventure was thwarted by being a day early before they were open to the general public).

I’ve got about half of my Xmas shopping done.  Just need to figure out something for a friend in Eugene, and the ‘rents.  Ok, maybe that is a little more than half done.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/12/sketch-49/

Oct 29 2008

The cost of driving…

  • rhino tweeted, “Diesel at the gas station next to work cost less than regular gas. Plus a fill-up was less than $50…first time since getting the car.”

Diesel was $2.89/gallon.
Regular Gas was $2.95/gallon.

I haven’t seen that in a long time.  Just a month ago I was paying more than Premium Gas for Diesel.  Yay for reduced gas costs right as my commute increased.  Plus I’m getting better mileage since most of the commute is “highway” driving.  Gotta love going in the opposite direction as most of the rush hour traffic.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/10/the-cost-of-driving/

Oct 22 2008

Sketch 42

It’s been a week of changes.  Last Wednesday about a half hour into work, I received a call from security/reception about the arrival of a new temp for the guy I was assisting.  I of course had no idea about the pending arrival, and he wasn’t in the office yet.  It turns out, I was being replaced.  The temp agency was supposed to have called me the night before, but for whatever reason had failed to do so.  But basically, during the course of the day, I found out that it would be my last day.  At least I had time to make sure I had all my personal belongings.  I had been a little worried after the other executive that I had been assisting left the company and finally those fears were realized.

The temp agency did get to work quickly on finding me a new position.  Its with the same company, but at a different location.  The position pays a little more, but the commute is much further.  I did however figure out that I can take one bus from my house to work…so that’s something I’ll keep in mind.  The new position is as a “Planner” in the Global Supply Chain department.  Basically, I’m pulling reports and moving inventory from the US to other countries and vice-versa.

Saturday, it was finally time for my install appointment with AT&T U-Verse.  U-Verse is AT&T’s version of FIOS (from Verizon).  It is a little different than FIOS in that it is only Fiber to the Node, which means it utilizes the standard copper wiring from the neighborhood node.  This cuts the deployment costs for AT&T, but also limits the bandwidth to the end-user.  (Verizon FIOS is fiber to home and as a result will have more available bandwidth to the end-user.)  So far I’m liking the service, the wireless router puts out enough signal that it reaches back to my room more reliably.  One interesting feature with the DVR for the TV, is that you can schedule shows online.  While I could do this on my old ReplayTV DVR back in the day, there was a 24 hr advance scheduling required.  With the U-Verse DVR, the scheduling was instantaneous (or at least quicker than it took me to walk from my room to the living room to check it).

I had lunch with a friend in Thai Town on Sunday, my first trip to Thai Town proper (I’d been to three of the Thai restaurants on Melrose or Little Thai Town).  The food was good, though they did keep the spiciness to “American” spicy levels.  Next time I’ll have to remember to ask for “Thai Spicy.”

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/10/sketch-42/

Sep 04 2008

Sketch 35

Ahh, Labor Day weekend.  Also, my birthday weekend.  Yes, I am now Double Sweet Sixteen.  My birthday was pretty low key.  I ended up just walking over to Miss T’s Barcade with a friend, playing some old school video games and having a couple beers.  Then we walked further down Western and got some Pho for dinner. 

Saturday, I went over to my friends place to watch the USC game (if you could call it a game).  I fell asleep before halftime and pretty much missed the second half of the game.  What I was looking forward to was the Oregon game later that night anyway.  For the fifth year in a row (a first for the series), Oregon beat Washington (the rival we dislike even more than Oregon St).  The defense looked really good and the offense looked good as well (especially for being so young).  Should be an interesting season.

Sunday after church, I met up with an old friend and his fiance, who recently moved down to Los Angeles from the Bay Area.  It was cool getting a chance to catch up on life and things.

It was kinda weird having Monday off for the holiday, I’m already used to being at work M-F now.  I went to a beach, and then just hung out with a friend later that night.

Work has been good this week.  My Asia boss has been in the office for a few days, so lots of work getting done while he’s in LA.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/09/sketch-35/

Aug 19 2008

Sketch 33

I received my first paycheck from the new job, which of course is pretty much already spent.  A large chunk of it went to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.  Yes, I finally officially own my car.  The fee was significantly more than what the DMV website said it would be.  It was the $165 usage tax that killed me.  Oh well, I get paid weekly for the time being, so its not like I have to wait long to get paid again.

On Saturday, I drove up to Santa Barbara for a friends birthday bbq.  It was nice to get out of LA, even just for the evening.  The bbq was pretty low key but still a great time.  One of the food highlights was my first experience with Ceviche.  This particular ceviche was made by one of my friends Peruvian friends, with halibut.  There were also homemade potato chips and exquisitely bbq’d tri-tip and chicken.  Oh, and maybe a beer or two.

Work so far has been good.  I’m still not completely sure about everything I’m supposed to be doing, but I’m learning more everyday.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/08/sketch-33/

Aug 12 2008

Sketch 32

Well its week 2 of the new job.  Things seem to be going well so far, though I’m still not sure exactly all I’ll be doing.  But that should get settled out over the next few weeks.

Other than working, not much else has gone on the past week.  It seems that most of my friends decided that last weekend was a good time to be out of town.  So the weekend was pretty low key.  I mainly just read and watched couple movies.

I think I’m going to Santa Barbara for a friends B-Day BBQ this weekend.  At least that’s the plan at the moment.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/08/sketch-32/