How'd I Get Here?

I was having some issues with my stomach a while back. See I have acid reflux and I take a wonderful proton pump inhibitor called Prilosec. I was doing fine until recently I had some really nasty pain coming from my abdomen. It was coming and going and would subside after I would eat and then come right back 2 hours later. So like a responsible adult I went to the doctor for a checkup, and then shortly after I ended up at the local gastroenterology office for a consult. The G.I. person said that I should get an endoscopy done to check if everything was OK.


So Sharkey and I took a day off of work and off to the local hospital we went for me to have this procedure done. So Sharkey was able to stay with me even after they wheeled me in the endoscopy lab. She was pretty funny. She played around with the Olympus endoscopy equipment and was commenting on how it is color and had a interesting lens, and was passing her hand in front of it seeing the image on the monitor screen and all I could think was "Holy cow, that thing's going to be in my body, give me the DRUGS NOW!!!!" So the GI Doctor came in and was ready to start so Sharkey gave me a kiss and I sucked it up and gave her my "no problem I'm brave" face. So the GI Doctor ordered the nurse to push 10-2 of something into my IV, and he asked me what I did, where I went to school, and what I studied. The last thing I remember was telling him I studied mathematics in college and I am currently doing IT now. So I have flashes of that day. Mostly I had questions. The next thing I remember was sitting in a chair after I "woke up" and saying to Sharkey, "How did I get here??" I really had no idea, because the last thing I remembered was laying on the operating bed. So I was amazed to be sitting in this chair and not lying down. The rest Sharkey sort of filled in for me. Evidently I asked "How did I get here??" about 5x. I also asked, "Did the doctor come in??" about 5x. The doctor did come in and told us everything was OK most importantly. Apparently I had some viral thing going on. So we got home and Sharkey put me to bed. Then about 2 hours later I was out of it again and said to her "How did I get here??" GOOD DRUGS!!!!! Like a loving wife, Sharkey just laughed at me and still thinks that day was pretty funny.

Faux-Hawk

OK, this is just a ridiculous post, but it cracked me up this morning so I figured, what the heck, why not... Anyway, I take showers at night. I'm probably in the minority of all Americans who bathe at night before they go to sleep. I've just always done it like that. When I went to college, I think there were only 2-3 of us on my dorm floor who took showers at night. The rest of America falls out of bed in the morning and jumps into the shower to wake themselves up. Well because I shower at night, I wake up in the morning with some of the most creative hair sculptures. This morning when I woke up I got out of bed and Sharkey looked at me and said, "Honey you have a faux-hawk!"

I give you the faux-hawk:

Random Things...

School Security....

I walked into Penn State last night and right at the door is a big security guard who looks me up and down very tentatively, I look him straight in the eye and say "Hi." Then in my mind I'm thinking, "Dude, I'm Japanese not S. Korean, chill out..." Granted, all us Asians all look a like, but I'm harmless.

The Quest For Pink

As you know Sharkey and I are planning a 5 Year Cancer Free parrrrtaaay for her!!! BBBBBBBBBUUUUU'YYYYAAAAAAHHHH!!! Anyway, part of the party planning is that everyone has to wear something pink or with pink. I've been having issues finding a pink shirt for this thing. Well, at least a pink shirt a metro sexual, Aveda soap using, product hair primping, guy like me would wear. The ones I have seen either make me think I should be in a Flock of Seagulls / Duran Duran video (totally just dated myself with that...)



or look so bright that I could direct traffic in the street, "Whoa, Martha, look at that pink guy there, I don't think I've seen a shirt quite that luminescent before...." So contrary to what my neighbors think, I honestly have not found that real men wear pink.

Lost / Heroes

I'm a junkie. I'm so totally into both of these shows. I'm still sad that they killed off Mr. Eko, I really liked him, but I'm fast becoming a Desmond fan. I still want to know what the heck that black cloud is that rips through the jungle and where the heck the Others went. And I still want to know what was up with that 4 toed statue.

Heroes is back next week. Ya Suzieq I know, right at this point you're staring off into space and all my words look like BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.....click next... But I really want to see if they kill off Peter. No way!!! I say!


Update: Project New Gig

Ongoing? YES

Ending Soon? PERHAPS

Inevitable? YES

Going to post about it soon? YES

My Audience

So today I went to the driving range to practice my craft for the upcoming golf season. Sharkey recently purchased an entertainment book from the nice woman who watches Maggie when we are out of town. In the entertainment book they have coupons for my driving range for buy one get one free on buckets of balls. So I'm in heaven. Its about 56 degrees out, I have the iPod playing "JP Smooth Tunes" while I hit. I was feeling and getting the groove on today and was hitting quite well.

Anyway, I switched clubs to my driver, which is fast becoming the favorite club in my bad. It's BADASS!!! It's like a sledgehammer, and makes this high pitched sound when it connects with the ball.



Well, I'm in zen mode and the swing is on automatic. Then I turn around and notice I have an audience. Standing there watching me are two kids, ages about 8-10 years old. Pretty cute. They were there watching the amazing ball whacky guy. So I decided to give them their money's worth. I put everything I had into the next couple, and since the swing was on auto today I could do that and still connect with the ball and do the photo perfect finish. So after a few "Wow!!!" and "Look at that!!" remarks they walked away. I finished up and got situated to walk back to my car.

So I am walking out and all of a sudden one of the kids runs up to me with a big smile on his face and said, "Really good work out there today!!!" That just made my day. I smiled at him and said, "Thanks!!"

A New Trick Learned!

So this weeked Maggie Malarkey had a breakthrough! She learned how to roll over. And you know what? I have a MacBook with an iSight camera, so I can share it with all of you great people. Enjoy!!!

Crashed Out

What's cute you ask? Well let me define cute for you. Cute is looking over at the couch and seeing your speckle nose dog with her head on your couch pillow totally crashed out...



This my friends is the epitome of CUTE!!! This is cute squared in fact or cute to the power of 2.

I still fail to understand why she's so tired and sleeps so much, she only does 4 things. ; )

Do you think dogs dream? I think they do? But what do they dream about? Chasing bunnies? Playing fetch? Unlimited biscuits and greenies? This may require further research.

Time For A Change

If you are a reader or stalker, you've seen me allude to some change coming for me and Sharkey. If you are family and live in the Midwest, heck I just discussed it with you this past weekend. Or if you read comments, you know I've already started the ball a rolling. So here's the scoop for the rest of you.

I have worked for the same IT company, which will go unnamed (don't want to get Dooced!), for 10 years. I started out doing technical support and climbed the ladder. I have always been a pretty good problem solver (the Applied Mathematics degree wasn't just all fluff ya know....hahaha). I became very proficient in solving issues, I was resourceful and found a way to do just about whatever I needed to do. See, if I am presented with a seemingly impossible problem, I can pretty much figure out a workable solution in my head. See you learn the rules to a point where you know them so well, you can break all of them. Also, since I did technical support for 4 years that gave me a lot of experience in dealing with people. Those two good skills led me to the next thing, critical accounts.

What's that you ask? Well, when things break down for clients, as things do, and when they get to the point where they have had all they can take and are ready to two step it out the door and take their business with them, someone has to swoop in and save the day. That person was me. It was high stress, but when you pull the first one out of the fire and get them to the point where the business is saved and the relationship is restored, there is no better feeling of accomplishment. You made a difference. You did the impossible and knocked it out of the ballpark. I pulled off some pretty cool things and learned a lot of skills doing that job and it gave me a decent reputation company wide. It put me on the map, because I never lost an account I was assigned. But like with all things, you find that the first 10 times you do that job of flying in and saving the day everything is great, but there's always another one lining up to take its place. It's really not easy to be Superman, just like the song by Maroon 5 says.

So 3 years ago I made a change. I went from doing a supporting role to an implementation type of role. Instead of dealing with clients on the problematic side, I got to have them when they were new. It was a sweet change too. Again, I learned a lot, and I was able to see the other side of the business. And I was able to do things no one ever did before. See the team I joined was a brand new team. There were no existing processes, no set precedents, no methods that were given to us. We came up with them all from scratch. I was able to be a founding member of that team and it was very cool. Again, the problem solving came in handy. I worked out 4 new processes to perform technical implementations which are still in use today. I had without a doubt the best manager I ever had and we became one of the best teams in the company. Great stuff right? Well, like all things change is inevitable.

My manager left a few months back. I had interviewed for the position and I'm about 99.9% sure it was mine, but I withdrew from the selection process, because of the fit and the lack of support given to the position. I do want to manage someday, but not under the the circumstances that existed. I was good with the decision I made. But I've gotten to the point where I'm bored day to day with what I do. STRIKE ONE.

Also, it's sad, but since the departure of "the best manager I ever had" my team is starting to succumb to mediocrity. I cannot stand that. I am about doing the right thing and being accountable. I do think that's unreasonable and I do not hold anyone to a standard I myself would not uphold. This slip makes my head explode. You do the job completely, do it right, and you do it consistently, every time. My father instilled this in me as well. Before he passed away, he told me "never settle for just doing something to just get it done, do it above and beyond; you do it better and cleaner and make a difference." That's stuck with me. STRIKE TWO.

I went to work today and had a review with my current manager. It seems that my company decided to eliminate a grade level, which happened to be the grade I was to be promoted into for 2007. So what exactly does that mean? Well, this year I was rated with the highest marks for my position, but I cannot advance because there's no place for me to advance to. STRIKE THREE.

So with the course of these events taking place I realized today I cannot sit idly by and wait for things to get better or more interesting. It's time for me to leave and go a different way. I'M OUT. Fortunately and quite recently, I have found there are a few good companies who seem to think my skills are of interest to them. So by next week, I am hoping to write you all a new post entitled: "JP's New Career." Keep your fingers crossed people. More to come on this folks....