Too Little, Too Late

This will be my epitaph; it's typically how I operate.

A post for postings sake?

I haven't posted in a week or so, so I feel like I should include some type of update, but I just really don't feel much like posting.


I had a phone interview yesterday with a company in Burlington, VT. It went ok I guess. It's hard to say. If I make it to the next round, I'll hear from them by EOD Tuesday. Round two will be a face to face interview in VT. If I make it, I hope they're willing to pay for my flight and stay up there; otherwise I'll have to pass. I simply can't afford fly up there myself. I figure if they're not willing to spring for the cost, the chances of me getting the position are slim.


I got a call earlier in the week from another recruiting firm asking if I'd be interested in a position with the VA. I told them I was and now I'm just hoping to hear from them. Going to a job fair on Monday. Hope something comes out of that too. Also have to take the postal service test on monday as well. Carriers make pretty good money to start and the benefits are pretty good too. 


Did a little but of work on the bathroom today as well. I've been an absolute asshole about getting that done and I need to knock it out. Beth is off all weekend so, she'll be able to keep an eye on Jack and I can get some more done on it. I'd love to be able to complete this very soon and get that particular monkey off my back. Lord knows I've got enough other ones back there. It's my own doing, of course. Lack of confidence in my skills, laziness, what have you. In short, I suck. A lot. I'm trying to suck less, but since I suck, I'm doing a pretty shitty job of it. Just ask Beth. 


I don't know where I'm going with this. I'm probably just throwing myself a pity party, but it doesn't change how crappy I feel. Pretty much all the time. But on the upside, I'm dropping some pounds because I don't have much of an appetite anymore, so I got that going for me. 


Meh, enough self loathing for tonight. Sorry if this post bummed you out. The one person that's actually reading this, that is.

My Resume

What the hell, I might as well post my resume here too. I know there are at least a couple of people other than my wife reading this, so what could it hurt?

If you know of an IT/Tech Support position or you're hiring for one in the Tampa Bay area of FL, the Northeast, or Colorado, take a look at my resume and shoot me an email. We're definitely willing to relocate out of the Tampa Bay area.

OBJECTIVE

Dependable IT Technical Support Analyst seeking an opportunity to provide excellent end-user support and service, entry level systems administration or technical writing/documentation for a company that recognizes the value of teamwork and loyalty.

 

SUMMARY 

• Provide remote technical and functional application support to end users for a variety of applications, including Microsoft Office, versions 2003 and 2007 as well as Lotus Notes.
• Proficient in developing and validating knowledge base content and documentation.
• Possess a good grasp of PC networking; currently support broadband Internet connections as well as secure VPN and extranet connections.
• Well versed in providing technical support to users with limited PC knowledge or experience.
• Responsible for replicating and troubleshooting both hardware and software problems and determining proper solution or escalation.
• Recognized in performance evaluations for providing consistently high First Call Resolution.
• Provide backup assistance and problem resolution for four other support teams.
• Maintained a Top Secret/SCI security clearance.

OCCUPATIONAL EXPERIENCE

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tampa, FL. Call Support Specialist, May 2004 - Dec 2009. Primary duties included providing remote technical and functional support to internal staff for various, proprietary, financial applications, explaining time & expense as well as finance polices and processes to end users, SAP account administration and providing first-level support to external vendors and internal staff for accounts payable and accounts receivable inquiries. Additional duties included creating and updating content for an internal knowledge base available to support staff as well as end users and providing technical support to end users for Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007, Lotus Notes and network and VPN connectivity issues in back-up support to other teams when call volume warranted.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tampa, FL. Call Support Coordinator, Sep 2006 - Jun 2008. Primary duties included providing remote technical and functional support to internal staff for proprietary financial applications, explaining time & expense as well as finance polices and processes to end users and SAP account administration. Additional responsibilities included validating and publishing content for an internal knowledge base available to support staff as well as end users, discerning and reporting call trends to manager, running and compiling call driver reports, training new hires, cross-training support staff from other teams and developing training/study materials. Secondary duties included providing technical support to end users for Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007, Lotus Notes and network and VPN connectivity issues in back-up support to other teams when call volume warranted.

Computer Generated Solutions Inc., Tampa, FL. Senior Help Desk Technician, April 2000 – May 2004. Duties included providing remote technical support to end-users from a variety of accounts for account-specific software as well as Microsoft Windows 2000, the Microsoft Office suite, Virtual Private Network connections, laptops and printers. Additional responsibilities entailed troubleshooting and proper escalation of network and hardware failures, providing assistance to other technicians and acting as the subject matter expert for two accounts.

Computer Generated Solutions Inc., Tampa, FL. Supervisor, February 2001 – February 2002. Duties included monitoring department level service statistics, supervising and developing team staff, interviewing for open agent positions, preparing performance appraisals and handling disciplinary issues as needed. Also responsible for identifying problem areas and developing improvement plans to increase performance, reviewing individual team member quality monitoring scores and tracking performance trends, identifying low performers and determining the appropriate course of action for performance improvement. Developed criteria and rewards for and implemented "Representative of the Month" program.

Ground Control Professional Landscaping, Oldsmar, FL. Landscape Maintenance Foreman June 1996 – April 2000

United States Army, 505th Signal Company, 86th Signal Battalion, Fort Huachuca, AZ. Transportable Automated Switching System Operator/Maintainer, 1993 - 1995. Duties included installation and maintenance of central office switches, monitoring the switches and network for failures and outages, performing fault isolation and troubleshooting on hardware and software, providing technical support for technicians and end-users, maintenance of test equipment and vehicles, deployment of the above in numerous field training environments, and participation in real world missions, including "Operation Continue Hope" Mogadishu, Republic of Somalia. Oct 1993 - Feb 1994.

EDUCATION

In pursuit of AS degree in Network Services Technology, Hillsborough Community College, Tampa, FL (3.5 GPA)
Technical Trainer Certification Course - PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tampa, FL
New Equipment Training Course, AN/TTC-39D/PS - U.S. Army, Fort Huachuca, AZ
AN/TTC-39D Augmentation Course - U.S. Army, Fort Huachuca, AZ
Transportable Automated Switching System Operator/Maintainer Course - U.S. Army, Fort Gordon, GA


Awards

Army Achievement Medal with Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster – U.S. Army
United Nations Service Medal – U.S. Army
Representative of the Month, July 2002 – Computer Generated Solutions, Inc

Didn't get the job

Well, I didn't get the job for which I interviewed on Friday. Pretty disappointing, to say the least, but I'll just have to keep on plugging away. Something will turn up soon; it will have to, otherwise I'll be stocking shelves at Publix or out working on a landscaping crew again. I'll do just about anything as long as it's full time, pays better than unemployment and allows us to pay for day care for Jack after pre-k is done for the day.

When it rains, it pours.

During one of the Tampa Bay area's coldest cold snaps in many years, the heat portion of our central heat and air unit crapped out. Temps were predicted to fall to the high 20s last night, but only got to 34°. I was able to pick up a little room heater/fan at Target that seems to be helping a bit this morning. Luckily, it hasn't gotten too cold in the house; it's 62° currently. Warm slippers and sweatshirts are helping to stay comfortable. My cousin runs an AC repair company and is coming out to take a look at our unit. Rick's AWESOME! Hopefully it will be something simple and we'll have the normal heat tonight since it's supposed to be colder overnight tonight. Actually, we probably won't run it until the morning since we usually just pile on the blankets at night anyway. Depending how much the inside of the house cools off today, we may run it a bit this evening just to take the chill out and stay ahead of the cold.


Had a job interview yesterday in response to a resume I submitted earlier this week. It went ok, but it emphasized how much my actual technical skills have stagnated while I was supporting primarily in-house applications for the last 5 years. I acknowledged that with them and explained that with a little bit of refreshing, I should be back in the game. I have 7 more years' experience than they're looking for with some supervisory experience thrown in to boot. All in all, I think it went well and hope they're willing to overlook my rustiness.


I tracked down the email address of the guy in charge of the dept (and who led the interview) and sent him a follow up email on the way home thanking him for the interview. I also answered one of the questions that I couldn't in the interview. I told him that having half the answer in the interview was bugging me on the way home and I researched it to come up with not only that a fix was possible, but a couple of methods to do it. I mentioned in that scenario that while I may not always have every answer, my experience provides me the skills to track it down.

Keeping my fingers crossed. If I land the job, I may get less money than I'm seeking, but it will be better than unemployment and we can get medical insurance again.    

Interview Update

The interview went pretty much as I expected: "expand on your background, what types of jobs are you interested in, what's your salary range, what locations would be acceptable, etc..."


It went fairly well and the recruiter seemed optimistic; she doesn't expect to hear much the remainder of this week since most of her clients are just coming back from the holidays, but she believes she'll start seeing requests next week. She said that in the meantime, I can take advantage of a training site they have in order to familiarize myself with some IT apps/utilities/concepts I haven't worked with before and to refresh myself with some that I haven't worked with in a while. All-in-all, I'm encouraged.


Of course, it also helps that shortly after returning home from one interview, I got a call in response to a resume I submitted a few days ago and now have an interview scheduled for Friday morning at 9. With any luck, this type of response will keep up and lead to something pretty quickly.

I Have an Interview Tomorrow!

It's just an informational interview with a recruiting firm, but it's a start. The recruiter I spoke with on the phone today said that based on my resume, she couldn't see why clients wouldn't be interested. I'm really hoping this leads to something pretty quickly.

Happy New Year!

Good riddance to 2009 and hello 2010. Didn't get out for that ride and still haven't done much in the way of reflecting. Perhaps that's still to come; perhaps not. Right now, I'm just hoping that come Monday a whole slew of HR people are going to come off of vacation and pelt me with responses to my resume. 

Happy Birthday To Me!

Today, a totally self-serving post (as if the others aren't also). Today is my 38th birthday. I suppose this would be the time some would be reflective of their lives and whatnot, but I'm not normally an introspective kind of guy. I just haven't given it a lot of thought; what with the holidays approaching, the job hunt etc... maybe later today I'll do a bit of soul-searching or whatever and post about it. I had planned to go for a bike ride (one mile for each year), but Beth's working and Jack's not in pre-k right now so, perhaps I'll push that back to the weekend. Stay tuned. (the one or two of you that have been reading this, anyway)


For now, off to the store for Christmas cookie ingredients and some last-minute gifts.

Unemployment haiku

This seems to have taken on a bit of a theme lately, but since this is my outlet and my employment situation has such a major impact on my life, it's to be expected. Here's a haiku:


Without employment
Certainty is uncertain
Remaining hopeful 


Actually reading this? Unemployed? Leave your own; it's strangely therapeutic.

A Census Taker Came to Test Me Once....

"I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."

I hope that doesn't happen to me. Tuesday morning, I take the test and fill out application for a census job. They have IT positions in addition to the canvasser and supervisor positions. At this point, I'm willing to accept any of the above; an IT position would be best because obviously, it's within my field, but the others pay enough to give us some breathing room. A canvasser position would be at the very bottom of the pay scale that I could accept, but it would allow us to get by without too much struggle. Hopefully they have some openings and I can start right away. I'm not too concerned about passing the test; I just took a look at the practice test on their site and it looks like the same test I took back in the day when I tried to get hired at the post office. Really, REALLY basic test of clerical skills, reading, math, logic and organization. I get 30 minutes to complete it and I'm pretty sure I'll have no problems with it. I also get a veteran's preference on the test due to my military service. After I take that, I can apply to take the supervisor test as well. Keeping my fingers crossed. Hoping I can get in pretty quickly so that I can start collecting a paycheck before my severance pay officially runs out.

Ahh... the crapfest continues.

When I separated from the firm a couple of weeks ago, I was told by the HR person that my accumulated vacation (3 weeks' worth) would be paid out to me on 12/15. Imagine Beth's shock when she checked our account and there was  only a deposit for what amounted to 2 days' pay. She freaked; as did I, but I was able to keep it together enough to secure a loan from mom to cover us until the end of the month. (Mom ROCKS!) After I dropped Jack off at pre-k, I called the HR call center to figure out WTF happened. The HR manger was wrong is what happened. Vacation is not paid out until the end of the month. I explained the situation to the HR rep I had on the phone and she is working to get an emergency payout of my vacation that, if approved, I should have in my hands on Monday. A crappy way to start the day, but I seem to have salvaged something of it.


I stopped in to where Beth works to let her know that I'm not getting screwed out of that money and that everything was taken care of, thinking that would set her mind at ease (as much as possible in this crappy situation anyway) and I was met with an icy stare. Not the reaction I was expecting and not the support I was hoping for. I know this is a crappy situation we're in and it's scary as f#*%, but I had nothing to do with this SNAFU. And, I managed to get it taken care of. I wasn't expecting a ticker tape parade or a hero's welcome, but JFC, something other than a look to kill would've been nice. Of course, had I managed to stay employed, it never would have happened to begin with. 


Oh well, off to Monster.com, etc... in my quest to fix this shit.

Another wonderful day of unemployment

Once again, here I sit searching for a job. Actually, here I sit posting about looking for a job; I did my job hunting earlier. I find encouragement in the fact that there do seem to be a goodly number of job listings for the IT field out there. Monster.com seems to have quite a few, and they're even in places where we'd be willing to live; which is handy. I'm coming to the conclusion that employers are using their online application process as a tool to weed out job seekers who aren't serious about wanting a job. You have to go through PAGES inputting information that's already contained in your resume and then at the end, they instruct you to not only copy and paste your resume into their form, they want you to upload a copy of it as well. It took me over 30 minutes today to apply for one position. Hopefully, it's time well spent. 

Unemployment sucks

I got fired 2 weeks ago. I believe my manager had been working toward this for quite some time, but I'm not sure why. Over a year ago, I started receiving less than stellar periodic performance reviews. I didn't necessarily agree with the content of those reviews, but after discussing some of the points he brought up, it seemed he was not interested in changing his mind; to avoid seeming like a whiner, I thought it would be more professional to simply agree with him and attempt to "improve" my work. Nothing I did however, appeared to help. The only feedback I ever received from him was negative and if I did something well, it went unnoticed. He was required to review 2 of my calls per month and for a while, those always seemed to be negative as well. I noticed that he was playing 5-7 of my calls before settling on the ones to review. When I called him on this and noted that it appeared as if he were LOOKING for calls he could review negatively, that seemed to stop, but if he reviewed a call where I did everything correct, he either commented on how I could have done something better, or there were simply no comments at all. It took him over a year, but apparently, he finally collected enough reason to justify letting me go. Right before Christmas. Asshole.

I've learned some important lessons:

My son Jack will never know his grandfather

Because ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) took him from us 2 months before Jack was born.

Dad had always been vibrant and active, but really started slowing down about a year or so before he died. Being in his 70s, he just chalked it up to "old age and dry rot", but after a few months, it became obvious that something else was afoot. He had various doctor's appointments in an effort to diagnose what was wrong, but nothing really nailed it down; osteoporosis, compression fractures of the vertebrae due to the OP, urinary tract infection, etc... Each time, treatment was applied but no real improvement came out of them. Finally, his GP suggested visiting a neurologist. Mom and Dad, met with him in his office and described everything that had been ailing him the previous year or so, what the various other doctors had diagnosed, and the treatments he received. The whole time, he was observing Dad; asking specific questions when appropriate, cataloging the answers, but most of all: watching. When he was done with the interview, he told Dad he had already narrowed it down to one of two things: a brain tumor or ALS. Dad went for the tests and we all waited for the results. That Saturday, Dad went to sleep and never woke up. Mom got a call from the doctor's office later in the week and they confirmed the diagnosis of ALS.

Watching Dad go from being this guy in his early 70s who still mowed his own lawn, did most of his own home repairs and worked a part-time job at an assisted living facility where some of the tenants were younger than he was to being a stooped, shuffling old man who needed a walker to get from the living room to the kitchen was heartbreaking. I don't think anyone should have to go through that or watch a loved one go through it.

This is why on November 7, I will be participating in The ALS Association’s Tour de Vie. I am dedicated to raising funds to help the Association accelerate the discovery of a cure for this catastrophic disease, and to provide programs and services that are so desperately needed by ALS patients and their families.

To do this, I need your support. I am asking you to help by making a gift to The ALS Association. It is faster and easier than ever to support this great cause by making your tax-deductible donation online using the link below. Simply click on the link below to visit my personal fundraising page and donate directly online.

http://web.alsa.org/goto/John_Markowitz

You may also choose to send your contribution in the form of a check. Please make all checks payable to The ALS Association Florida Chapter and send them to The ALS Association at the following address:

The ALS Association Florida Chapter
ATTN: Tour de Vie
3242 Parkside Center Circle
Tampa, FL 33619

Thank you so much for reading this and for your support.

Job Corps update (and other stuff)

Hmmm... not sure why I didn't post this last week when we found out; Josh heard back from Job Corps and his reporting date is Feb 24th. He'll be attending the Gainesville center and the plan is for him to do the pre-law enforcement program. When he gets there, he'll have a meeting with a counselor and give them his top three vocation choices and they have him shadow someone in each of those programs for a short period of time to make sure that's what he really wants to do. Once that's done and the final decision is made, he gets started on his academic and vocational training. We're pretty excited for him and we're both going to drive him up to the center rather than putting him on the bus; we want to check out the campus and surrounding area where much of his time for the next few years will be spent.

Valentine's Day
Valentine's day just passed and I've got a wife with a sense of humor. I was on vacation all last week and my coworkers wanted to pull a prank on me, so one of them reached out to Beth for inspiration. She gave them all sorts of ideas and had them put up a big poster wishing me a happy valentine's day from her. She has pics and back-story on her blog. They will all eventually get their comeuppance. I just can't post any of that here until it's been executed because she's nosy.

Potty training Jack
Jack apparently had a poop in the potty today! Beth said that he was very proud of himself and of the sticker that she gave him. We also put a calendar in there where he'll get a sticker every time he uses the potty. Hopefully this means he'll be in big boy underpants soon and we can stop spending money on training pants.

Faith in humanity slowly being restored.

It's very refreshing to run into people who aren't oblivious, self-absorbed jerks or people who can recognize when they've acted in such a manner and apologize for it.

I had to stop at the grocery store on the way home from work the other day. As I was driving through the parking lot, I saw an open space and made my way to it. I say open in the sense that there was no car parked in that spot; there was however, a guy standing in it and talking on his cell. I pulled up and waited for him to move on through, my natural assumption being that he was on his way in or perhaps, out of the store and simply paused there. But, he wasn't moving. He just stood there yakking away. He turned in my direction, looked at my car then made eye contact with me. "Ahh... here we go, now he'll move," I thought. Not so much. He just turned away and continued his conversation. It was the end of the day, I just needed a couple of things for dinner and I just wanted to get home. Rather than raise the local level of douchebaggery any more by honking at him or giving him the finger, I just rolled my eyes, shook my head and drove on by to park in the next available spot. I walked past him on the way in to the store and he was still blathering away on the phone, in the same spot. By the time I entered the store and made my way over to the bakery (we were having spaghetti with a sauce made from butternut squash and I needed a loaf of crusty bread to go with it), I had all but forgotten about him. That's when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked around and there was Cell Phone Guy. He looked slightly embarrassed and said he wanted to apologize for being in my way; "I'm sorry, I was just spacing out there and didn't realize what I was doing. I'm really sorry." I accepted his apology, he wished me a good day and we went our separate ways.

Just like that, I was in a better mood. Not that him blocking my space made my mood any worse, but his recognition of his own disregard and simple act of contrition went quite a way to lightening it. It's cool that there are still people out there without that 'it's all about me!' attitude that seems so pervasive these days. I hope to see more of it.

Time for an update.

And this is definitely update-worthy. Josh had his Job Corps interview today and was accepted! He'll be going to the Gainesville center for their pre-law enforcement program and leaves in 30-60 days. Beth says that he's pretty excited about it and he did a great job on all his prep work for the interview. She saw (and helped him with) the essay he had to write for the application and said it was pretty good. She also said that he was one of only 2 who showed up in a shirt and tie, had his essay actually typed (and complete before he showed up for the interview) and also included a cover sheet on the essay.

I think it's the start of good things for him. I hope I'm right.

Went to the zoo this weekend...

We went on Saturday and we called it 'Jack's Super Fun Day'. He had a blast as usual and was wiped out by the time it was all over. Check out Beth's entry and pics over on her blog.

So, it's 2009

OK, it's 6 months or so and I think I'm in the right frame of mind to start this again. The whole situation affected me quite a bit and a little bit more than I'd care to admit, but I've decided to just let it go. I'm tired of being an asshole and I'm just going to do my best to get back to being me. The full me. Not just the halfway, but sullen me; the real, likeable me. If that translates into any type of rewards/recognition at work, great! If not, who gives a shit? If they don't appreciate me, they can go jump in a lake for all I care. I'm done being negative and I'm going to make an effort to be more positive. Our six month "lock" was up in December and we can start posting for other positions within the firm again. I've already jumped on that chance and posted my resume for a technical writer position. Fingers crossed and all that jazz.

We started Jack in pre-school back in August. He's doing great and he loves it; he's made all sorts of little friends. this is him on his first day.


We're attempting to get Josh into Job Corps. School just isn't going all that well and this looks like a great opportunity for him. In addition to the vocational training, they assist participants getting either a GED or a high school diploma so that will be a great help for him as well. He has an orientation on Wednesday, so we'll see how it goes.

The holidays were good; did Thanksgiving at Mom's and Christmas at our house. Jack had a good Christmas. He was still a bit leery about Santa up until Christmas morning, then suddenly, he wasn't such a bad guy after all. Now Jack's been asking to go see Santa every day since then. It's a toss up for most popular gift: either the new Thomas the Tank Engine blanket or the Imaginext Batcave. He drags the blanket all over the place right after he wakes up, but just about every other waking moment, he's playing with the Batcave.

That pretty much covers it for now. Once again, I'm going to try to update this more regularly.