Spring is Near

The windows are open, and spring is in the air. It has been a long, hard winter. Between economic woes, uncertainty at work, and random other factors, I am more than happy to see the end of winter.

Spring is a time of rebirth, renewal, and growth. All of these things are a part of, or participate in change. I could really use some change for the better right now, even, perhaps, rebirth. My own personal growth has been rather stunted as of late. Several of my former co-workers started Grad school for MBA's. More and more I've been envying them. My previous position was very stable, to the point of stagnation. Rebirth, renewal, growth. Change.

I am filled with worry about the future, as to whether I can find a job soon, and continue to make my mortgage payment, but if I do find a new job soon, this could be one of the best things that's happened to me in a while. (My marriage being the other.)

Growth.

Change.

Spring is here, and it's about damn time.

Some Simple Updates

I appologize again, to the zero people reading this blog, that I haven't been updating. Really, there hasn't been all that much going on. That is not to say there have not been a few points of interest:

I've attended my first seminar/session/whatever at with Right Management, a transition service that my previous employer contracted to help those that were laid off. The first session was Career Assessment. Prior to attending the class, I had to take the Myers-Briggs, and do a value assessment exercise. The result were rather interesting. I have taken the Myers-Briggs before, and the results changed since the last time I took it. Previously, I came up as a classic Engineer. This time, I tested as a ISFJ, "The Protector", most apt to health care, and LEAST apt for Engineering and Computers. I think it is a reflection of the issues I had with my previous employment, and not an indication that I am not fit for my chosen career path.

Also interesting, is that my wife, who was four credits short of a Master's in Clinical Psychology, had never heard of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. There were other tests that she specialized in, which I understand. Certain schools will prefer different tests over others. What I find confusing is that she had never had the test discussed in class. Even if you didn't want your students to use a particular test, wouldn't you at least cover the test to discuss its weaknesses, and explain why you don't want them to use it? Odd.

I am finally playing along with the Game Club at Eat-Sleep-Game, previously 1UP FM's backlog. I've been meaning to play for some time, but this time I actually ran across a copy of the game for a bargain before they started discussing it. The game, which is Rockstar's Bully, is pretty much, from what I can tell, classic GTA formula in a different setting. I'm not big fan of GTA. I haven't played a GTA since the first one, where I had fun torching Hari Karishnas with a flame thrower, and watching my roommate going on a cop-killing spree till here were none left in the city. (Don't think I don't know how bad that sounds, but the first GTA was pretty abstract.) I've seen people play others, but they never really appealled to me.

Some thoughts on the game:
1) I'm not sure how I feel about the mission-based structure yet. I've not been a big fan of it in the past, with other games. Jak 2 was partly the reason for this. Jak and Daxter was a competent platformer, and 2 had such an artificial grafting of mission based structure and dark, angsty story that I stopped playing really early. We'll see what happens here.
2) Save Algie. Dear God, why an escort mission? I hated them in X-Wing, I hated them in Tie Fighter, and an escort mission was the OTHER reason I stopped playing Jak 2.
3) Why is every person in the school a psychopath? I'm walking along, minding my own bi'ness, and some jerk hits me from behind, out of the blue. What did I ever do to you? Why do people try to beat me up for no apearant reason, even in the middle of the school, with prefects standing right there?

More later, as the game progresses.

And Time Marches On

So, it has been two and a half weeks since the Great Job Massacre, and I haven't exactly been idle in that time. I've re-activated my Monster account, opened a Career Builder account, filed for unemployment, and registered with Michigan Works. I've applied for about eight jobs so far, and no calls. I suppose I'm being a bit impatient. It's silly to think that in this economy, in this area, another job is going to pop up immediately after what loosing the last one meant. Still, it's discouraging.

I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose. When I graduated from college in '99, it took me almost six months to find a job. At the time, I chalked it up to the time of year I graduated (December). I figured that everyone was looking for new hires around normal graduation time in May. Sure enough, I didn't land a job till May.

Now, as then, however, that little voice in the back of my head keeps saying, 'Maybe it's YOU. Maybe you're just a bad engineer!'

Regardless, I have to keep going, and tell that voice to go fark itself. Still, the doubts are there.