After being unemployed for a year, the time was right to get a job again. I applied for a job as 1st line support engineer and was invited for an interview.
My preparation wasn't as good as it could have been, and in my opinion the interview wasn't the best and longest interview I've had. I was pretty sure that I would either get rejected, or would never hear from them again; as was the case with many other companies. I won't go into too much ranting or detail, but out of the 100 job applications that you send out, maybe 2 or 3 reply. Either my resume is complete shit and not even worth a rejection, or so many people replied to the add that they don't even bother to send rejection letters anymore; I don't know and quite frankly, stopped caring.
Anyway, it was not the case with this company. Even though I thought they would not call me back, they actually did and I was invited to a second interview! The Second Interview was quite short as well, but I went home with a big smile on my face; I had a new job
So today I started my new job at Netpoint, a small company in the city of Waalwijk, that is specialized in IT stuff for orthodontists. The company makes special software for orthodontists that covers the whole range of tasks, so that the orthodontist doesn't have to worry about computer stuff and can just worry about doing his/her own thing. For some of the customers the company also does remote desktop management, but that part is handled by 2nd line support.
My first impressions are quite good, so we'll see how it evolves. One thing I really, really like: the company pays for our lunch. One of the girls from the administration department does groceries for the company every morning before coming to work. She always brings fresh milk, bread and a large selection spreads (various meats, cheese, peanut butter, etc..) to put on the bread; and the boss pays for it. Now and then she also brings some candy for us.
Free food is always good
It's Monday morning 01:00 and my sleep is rudely interrupted by some shouting somewhere in the neighborhood. I stuck my head outside my bedroom window, but there was nothing to be seen or heard. Did I imagine it ? Was the shouting part of my dream, and it woke me up; thinking it was in real life ? I shrugged and returned to my bed.
A few minutes later, the shouting returned and became a bit more intense and fierce. It almost sounded like a pack of rabid baboons was invading the neighborhood which, later on turned out to be not that far off. The shouting continued, followed by some slamming on (or so I thought) some wooden gate. My first guess was that some neighbors were having a quarrel and were bonking on each other's gate. I decided to put on some panties and a t-shirt, grabbed my PD20 flashlight, and went outside to check out what the ruckus was all about.
When I arrived at the parking lot on the other side of the housing block, some of my neighbors were already there and were arguing with some youngsters that were quite noisy and appeared to be somewhat intoxicated. One of my neighbors told me that they had been jumping on the cars, and that was the slamming that I heard. I did a quick inspection of my car, and was relieved that it seemed to be unharmed. The arguing between my neighbors and one of the kids quickly evolved into some pushing, cursing and slapping; and finally someone called the police.
I was genuinely impressed! No less than 3 minutes later the police arrived and approached the group. Apparently the kid that was arguing with my neighbor made some bad remark at one of the police officers, because a minute later I saw him running inside with two police officers rushing after him. It didn't surprise me at all, because in the few minutes before the police arrived, the youngsters put up quite some language against my neighbors; though it was probably the alcohol that was doing all the talking... A few minutes after the first police car was on the scene, 3 more arrived.
A bit later, when half the neighborhood was standing on the parking lot in their Pajamas, the kid that was fighting was shoved into a police car handcuffed and taken away. I decided to move my car to another parking lot, in case the other youngsters decided to take revenge. When the other police officers walked back to their car, one of them said "Have a good night's rest", to which I replied "Can you guarantee that ?"; but the police officer did not bother to respond.
Ah well... I shrugged and returned to my bed. Damn kids and their alcohol...
7:42... what does it mean? Well if it's Luke 7:42 in the American bible, it would mean "When they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?". Well.. perhaps.. but that's not exactly the 7:42 I'm referring to here.
For some reason I keep waking up at exactly 7:42 for the last few weeks without any logical explanation. I've scrutinized my entire lair for old watches or old alarm clocks that might be set at 7:42, but I couldn't find any. Yet for some reason... every day I suddenly wake up, look to my left at my iPod touch and it says 7:42.
Weird...
It's widely known to the general public that I'm not a big fan of the United States of America. It's not the people I dislike; I know plenty of American people that are very cool. But the "system", the government... that I don't like. The whole "patriotism" is just a bunch of bullshit to me, and as John Dalberg-Acton wrote: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". The United States of America claims to be the most powerful nation on the planet; So you do the math.
However, I do love traditional American made products like Zippo lighters and Buck knives. As is widely known to the general population, America has this ridiculous justice system that allows you to sue someone for whatever reason you see fit. People sue McDonalds restaurants because the coffee is too hot and they burn their mouth, demanding millions of dollars in compensation; and more crazy stuff like that. This justice system, ridiculous as it may seem has some benefits though.
Companies that manufacture products in America will make sure that their products are safe and easy to use; after all, they don't want to get sued because some idiot couldn't figure out how the product works and got injured in the process. So you can be sure that any American made product that makes it to the shelves in the store will have passed a very stringent quality control check. A lot of the products are made "idiot proof", so they are usually fabricated using pretty solid and sturdy materials.
Another thing I like about American made products is that a lot of the manufacturers offer a life-time warranty (also known as "forever warranty"). Buck knives and Zippo lighters are a fine example of it. If they break down, you just send it to the factory and it will be fixed or replaced free of charge; no questions asked. ESEE Knives, formerly known as "RAT Cutlery", takes the life-time warranty to another level. As their waranty page states: " No Questions Asked Warranty. If you break it, we will replace it. Warranty is transferable. In other words, we warranty the knife no matter how many times it's been traded, sold or given away." See, now that is what I call good customer service!
Manufacturers that give their products life-time warranty have confidence in the quality of their products; which in turn gives me confidence that my money is spent well when I buy one. It also gives me confidence to actually use the product.
July 11th, you know what that means. Yep... it's my 32nd birthday (hurray! ), and boy do I feel like an old fart!
One of the things that happens when you have your birthday, is that you receive a truckload of emails from websites and forums where you registered at some point in time, that wish you a happy birthday. The funny part is that half of these websites I can't even remember signing up on, and the other half I haven't visited in 5 or 6 years. But I'm still honored that they still remember me. Thanks guys! Whom ever you might be...
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find a large rock to hide under from relatives and neighbors that want to come over and congratulate me and pretend to enjoy my company...
A few weeks ago I was driving home from groceries, when I passed by a house that was completely hidden by trees and foliage. Curious as I was, I decided to check it out.
As you can see on the photos below the door was covered in moss and the windows were so dirty on both the inside and the outside that it was almost impossible to see inside. The furniture was covered in spider webs and there was a crapload of newspapers and books scattered all over the place. It gave me the strong impression that it was abandoned, and still in pristine condition.
Today I was driving home from a seminar with my co-workers Thom and Reinout. I told them about the "abandoned" house and we decided to check it out. After we arrived and were on the doorstep, Reinout said "There's someone inside". At first I said "Nah that's just the hood of a lamp", but after inspection there was indeed someone inside. An elderly, bearded man was reading a newspaper in one of the spider-web covered chairs. That was quite bizarre. Apparently someone lives in that house
Sometimes you look out your (bathroom) window, and the sky just puts a smile on your face.
A common situation: a customer sends his laptop in for repair, the manufacturer claims that there's nothing wrong with it, and sends it back. The customer sends it back to us and claims that it's still not working as intended. Apparently it had problems with HD video, so that needed to be tested. (Un)fortunately, the only HD video that we had around was a porn movie, and I had to watch it closely to see if the movie would play smooth and without problems.
...Did I ever mention how much I love my job sometimes?
Turns out the whole issue with a 2nd company isn't as bad as I thought. Today I visited the other company where I'll be working 2 days per week. The company seems to be ok, and the work looks fun and interesting.
My initial reaction was pretty violent, I admit... but that's how I felt at the time. It felt bad, and I had to vent some dissatisfaction. The way it appears to me now, it's not so bad. The other company has a whole different structure, and has some very interesting challenges. From what I could tell from my short visit, most of the employee's are about my age, and are "dudes"; so I'm sure I'll fit right in.
I'll tell more about it once I start there (in other words, I need to check with the boss if he's ok with me blogging about my work :P).
A couple of days later... I'm still not too happy about having to go to another company for 2 days per week, but time will tell. Aside from the downsides, I'm starting to see some positive things too in the whole situation.
First of all, I'm glad that I'll still have a job. If you watch the news (yes, I watch the news) or read a newspaper (yes, I even read newspapers) you read a lot about company X having to fire hundreds of people to survive. The job market is horrible at the moment (lots of stiff competition), so if you can hold on to your job, it's best to do it.
Secondly, it will be a nice learning experience. The other company is a completely different environment than my current workplace, with new features and new unique challenges to tame. It will be good for my personal development.
So yea... of course it's a bit of a turn-off that my boss is decided to rent me out to another company, rather than look for other means to save money; but we'll see how it all evolves. Maybe I'll look differently at the situation after a few weeks. I just hope they're as open minded about my gender issues as my current employee is. :S