Tag: santa monica

Dr. Laura and Politics!

I know I’ve talked about Dr. Laura here before. But lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Talk Radio . It seems like I’m always in the car when she’s on. I like some of her advice, but some of it is just OVER THE TOP.

For example, this guy called in today and was asking her which of two jobs to take. Job 1, he works late (9pm) 6 days a week. But he’s home every night, sees his kids every morning, etc. Job 2, pays more, but he travels 5 days a week. Thus he doesn’t see his kids at all for those 5 days, but it means he gets 2-3 days off in a row (depending how his travel schedule works out). First.. Dr Laura seems enraged that he would EVEN consider taking a job in which he’s not home for dinner! How DARE he want to provide for his family by taking a job that he needs! WAKE UP Dr Laura, not EVERYONE can get a cushy 9-5 job. Some people have to work odd or off hours to be able to provide for thier family. At least he’s WORKING and doing something… But honestly, someone who needs to call into a radio show to be told which job to take is just an idiot anyways.

Another example, this guy called in. His wife wants him to THROW away everything from his previous relationships. Including his pictures, keep sakes, etc. This is just stupid. if the woman isn’t comfortable letting him keep things from his past, then she clearly has trust issues and needs to get over those before they get married. If anyone EVER asked me to get rid of the stuff I have from Adam, Andrew or anyone else I would be PISSED. Ugh. It was just annoying.

Last example, I swear! 🙂 A woman called in. She’d been dating this guy for 1 and a half years. Been married for a year and a half. So 3 years together total. The guy cheated on her. Dr. Laura acted like it was HER FAULT that he cheated on her! HER FAULT. Excuse me? It’s the GUYS fault that he cheated!

I disapprove of most of her advise.

I’m also really annoyed that SOO much media time is being spend on this damn priest scandal. (They should call it priestgate! hahah) Who cares what he did. Just investigate and get over it. There’s a lot more interesting news going on that SHOULD be reported at this time with elections so damn close!

And lastly. Watched the Colbert Report, and he intervied this guy who is a republican running for senate in Beverly Hills.. (David Nelson Jones) when they first showed him, I could have SWORN it was that guy, the one we dislike, from Santa Monica.. You know his name! 🙂 Fuck he’s HOT though!

Job Opening…

I just got this E-mail from the CEO:

There is a job opening at PHS for a cli-ops engineer. The job description is attached. Please let me know if you know someone that would be interested in this position. The position would be out of Santa Monica, not in Irvine. Note there is a referral award if you’re able to help find someone for this job.

Here’s the job description:

Job Title: Client Operations Engineer

Job Description

This position primarily entails loading patient health information into our proprietary disease management applications and then generating a report summarizing the data changes and sending it to the appropriate stakeholders. The loading of the data can be a flat file feed or can be a set of business rules defined by the client and documented in a business specification, whereby PL/SQL must be written to modify existing client data in the database. These imports / data processes occur on an ad hoc and regularly scheduled basis.

We currently use Oracle external tables with custom written PL/SQL, with some use of ETL for data transformations and data reads. We are moving towards utilizing an industrial ETL tool in 2007 that will handle scheduling, transformations, notifications and will work with our custom PL/SQL business processes to handle the complicated business rules defined by our clients.

This position will require coordinating data transfers and imports to and from external vendors using various technologies including: SFTP, Linux / Unix shell commands / Terminal Services, PL/SQL and ETL. It will require the ability to communicate current issues and project statuses to stakeholders, other development staff and external vendors. It will also require the drafting of technical specifications, as necessary and clear communication around all processes and reports.

Technical Qualifications

BS Computer Science preferred or equivalent

5 – 10 years related experience

Proficient in PL/SQL

Proficient in Unix / Linux

Strong relational database background

Oracle experience preferred

Secure FTP / SSH

Experience in HIPAA compliance a plus

Knowledge in Java / Java beans a plus

Experience with Data warehouses a plus

Preferred Business Skills

Detail-oriented / Self-Starter / Self-sufficient

Adapts quickly to a fast-paced environment

Focuses on results as opposed to tasks

Ability to handle several concurrent projects

Ability to translate technical specifications into code

Ability to identify gaps in technical specifications to ensure stored procedures meet client’s speculated end-results

Takes ownership of and demonstrates accountability for individual projects

Offers development suggestions to better meet the client’s needs

Ability to create Technical specification documents

Coordinates with QA manager for proper testing

Documents technical solutions for future usability

Umm. I’m sorry. Did you FORGET what you moved me to Santa Monica for, and then cut my funding for? AND now you are hiring a NEW PERSON for it? WTF?!

HELLO. I have all these qualifications.

Since I just got the e-mailt his morning, that means it hasn’t been posted on Monster.com yet. You can be sure I’ll be watching that to see how much this person will be getting paid.

God I’m annoyed!

Time Warner Cable SUCKS!

So, I wrote about this a while ago. How Time Warner Cable bought out Adelphia and sent a letter, that contained NO INFORMATION. Well I was right, it was an indication of things to come. They’ve increased my bill by $20 a month and service has gotten worse!

I really don’t understand how this could possibly be. They’ve taken over in paper, so what have they changed already on the back end to cause this? I can’t sit down now and watch tv for more then 30 minutes without the picture or sound going out for anywhere between 5 seconds and whole minute! This is insane. The signal goes out nearly EVERYTIME I watch any TV!

The plans for Germany are coming along! I will post an preliminary Itinerary soon. But if you have any suggestions, post them below! We are staying in (formerly East) Berlin and taking a side trip to Potsdam! 🙂 We’ve been speaking with our hostel owner and he’s very friendly and has provided us with some nice information, so that’s good.

I spent my weekend being pretty pissed off and alone. Friday was a HORRIBLE day, I’m not really sure what it was. But I was just pissy! Perhaps it was the late night the day before. Anyways, I didn’t go to dinner with Robert like planned, and just came home and crashed. Saturday I got up at 7am, drove to Santa Monica for the 30 mile bike ride only to find out it was cancelled because of the 60% chance of rain! Bah, so this one other guy and I went off and did it anyways. Got home, called my dad and talked to him and then spent the day watching QaF.

Sunday I was going to go on another bike ride in Santa Monica, but it _looked_ rainy, so I didn’t go. But since I Was up anyways I went off to the gym. Worked out hard core and am VERY sore now! ::ouch:: I then baked a Pumpkin Pie and then did a short bike ride. I also watched more QaF. It got me excited for the cold, so that I can bundle up and be cute! 🙂

For the first time in my life I maxed out a credit card too. Opps. 🙂 Not that I can’t pay it off, but it’s 0% interest till June of ’07. So why not! 🙂 Once I pay down half of it though, I’m going to go out and buy some living room/bedroom furniture. I’m really sick of my bed being on the ground like I’m a poor college student. And my cats of been attacking the couch lately, so it’s getting torn up.

[private]I sent in my first invoice for the new contract job. I honestly feel bad charging him this much. I don’t think he’s expecting it! I talked to the guy who did the site originally and I’m charing him more for the first 2 weeks then he has the whole year he’s been doing it! But alas, I didn’t even charge him for ACTUAL hours, or as stricktly as most contractors would! I just hope that he doesn’t freak out and say he can’t afford it now! I’m kinda counting on having this income to pay off that maxed out credit card! I did however stay well under what we had agreed was the maximum number of chargable hours inside a billing period. So that’s good. [/private]

Ok, I’m out!

Sunken City, Germany & LifeCycle – UPDATED!

UPDATE: Photos are now online… AND Go check out my LifeCycle Page. And be sure to DONATE! 🙂

Well it’s official! I am going to GERMANY! I leave on Nov 17th and return Nov 23rd. Should be a GREAT trip! I can’t wait. Going to go hit up a book store this afternoon to buy a travel guide. I think that Jason is a bit pissed about it though. But he hasn’t been expressing any interest in it, has been completely uncooperative in my attempts to plan with him and just keeps putting things off, so I decided to just book with the person I knew could come and if he can fit it in then great! The more the marrier. But I wasn’t going to wait around while he ponders back and forth about it without giving any real answers.

I also had a meeting last night for LifeCycle and I am now officially signed up! The people there were VERY friendly and so nice, so yeah. Plus it was $20 off the registration. YAY! So be looking for me to hit you up for money SOON! I have to raise $2,500!!! 🙂

After that I had a meeting with this other guy about webstuff. It was a bit entertaining when he admitted he was gay as well. I kinda had a vibe, but wasn’t sure. And no, this was not one of the many dates, this guy has a bf and is older then I. It was strickly a business meeting. Ohhh, I had amazing Pumpkin pie while there! I highly suggest going to this place: Susina Bakery. 7122 Beverly Blvd (Cross Street: La Brea Avenue) Los Angeles, CA. Amazing food! And they had Coffee Marshmallows! It’s rated one of the top 10 bakeries in LA. If only I lived closer!

I didn’t get home till 10 and then worked till shortly after midnight. Got up this morning and am working till 7pm in NB. Gooood times y’all!

Check out Wikimapia.

Oh, Wed I went to this place called Sunken City in San Pedro with this guy Eric, he was cute and nice. I haven’t heard from him since or seen him online. I assume that’s a go no. lol. Pictures will be up on the photodump by the end of the night.

I’ve been pretty busy with other things this week, but I just can’t remember what. Sadly I’ve only made it to the gym and the bike trail once this week… Saturday I’m going on a 30-miler with this group from Santa Monica, so that should be good. I was thinking about doing one Sunday as well, but I’m not sure I want to get up at 7am both days of my weekend! Plus I have another business meeting on Sunday. Weeeee

Adios!

I hate being single!!

Ugh! I hate long weekends… I never have anything to do.

Friday was work, which was fine. After that I went over to Chapman and hung out with Andrew for a while. I fell asleep, left there at 6 and headed over to JP’s place for the comany thing. That was lots of fun. JP had this HUGE BBQ thing, and I love his house. It was a bit awk though cause I was the only single person there.. and nearly EVERYONE had children!

We made really pornographic desert things… It was SO FUNNY. I could not see JP making those on a BSA outing, all those teenage boys. OMG. In the end it was a lot of fun though. I left a bit after nine and came home and went to bed at like 2ish.

Saturday I got up kinda early and started work on cutting out the board for the cover to my clock… I had gone out and spent $60 on a damn router attachement for my Dremel.. The board I was cutting was only 3/16″, so I figured it could handle that.. Not at all. I called JP and asked him if I could just borrow his router, he said he had stuff to do as well and to just come down I could do it there.. Ended up spending anouther 4 hours at his house, left a bit after 9ish and was going to go out with this guy, but I was just SO TIRED.

Sunday I put the first coat of paint on the thing and then went out to lunch with Mike. We had a good time, I showed him around the area. Then we went and test drove an Acura TSX. OMG, I LOVE this car! Amazing… I couldn’t find a thing wrong with it.. AND EVERYTHING you could possibly want comes standard! Why have I not driven this car before.

Speaking of cars, the Check engine light came on in mine on Friday. Damn thing. 🙁

After that I drove up to Santa Monica and met up with this guy Dan.. He was really nice and very cute, but SOOOO Quiet, like I kept trying to find things to talk about and it was all just a dead end. Ugh. I dunno. Only spent an hour with him then came home and invited this guy Ryan over… He used to work at HMarys and Robert actually gave him his phone number once… lol. Funny times. Anyways, we watched Carrie and then The Cell. Ended up going to bed at like 4am.. He stayed and cuddled with me. It was nice. 🙂

We got up about 11ish Monday and he left. I made breakfast and then put the second coat of paint on the thing. I’ll probalby just spend the rest of the day sitting in my apartment. 🙁

I’m really sad about this weekend, although I was busy.. it just annoys me that no one ever invites me to go out with them… I always try and make plans with people and they always seem to fall through too. Just very annoying and makes me feel very lonely. Like I’ve been wanting to go out to WeHo for a while, but my “friends” around here never call me when they go. Just stuff like that. And then certian people who I would enjoy hanging out with more, apparently just want to hang out to fuck, and well since I won’t fuck them they won’t hang out…. Do you seriosuly have to put out to even have “friends” around here?

The electronics came on Friday for my clock.. they are not what I was hoping for.. So I’m gonna have to get an EE to help me. I put up a thing on Craigslist and got one reply so far. I’m calling her tomorrow.

Work at 3:30 am again tomorrow. Ugh!