Life Update and Graduation Presents

Only a few days left until I get to actually go to work - I officially start Sept 15th. YEAH. However, I do have to say that I'm going to miss watching TV during the day and sleeping in. It will take some adjusting to waking up early and being somewhere on time each weekday. I think I can do it - especially to start seeing money come back into my pocket again. Yeah, that's worth it.

So, I continued to brew on my love/hate relationship with Nintendo and their retarded marketing ploys with the Wii. However, my desire to own one would not stop. I WANT I WANT I WANT. And now that I'm employed, I want a prize. :P So, on Saturday Julie was the angel she is and started calling electronics stores in Salt Lake Valley. After a few calls, we located one store that had Wii in stock - and it was only 4 miles away. So, we quickly drove over and bought a Wii console and the WiiFit program (Julie is anti-video games and consented to the Wii only because of the physical activity involved and WiiFit). I closed my eyes at checkout (so I wouldn't crap myself) and thougth happy thoughts of playing.

I am enjoying my new toy. WiiFit is better than I had imagined. You can actually get a fairly good workout on it. You'll never become a fitness model, but it's a fun, interactive way to get some daily physical activity. However, I need more games (my birthday is next month - wink, wink). I think my first game will be Guitar Hero (I would love Rock Band - but I'm not sure I can find a place to store all the components in our house).

Also, in the mood of graduation presents, I want to share what Julie, my parents, and in-laws have done for my present. We took my BYU and U of U diplomas and had them customed framed. Having never custom framed anything, it was a bit more expensive than I had hoped -- but they turned out AMAZING. We went with a black leather mat and gold fillet to bring them together. I am really impressed - my wife has good taste!!

Is it Weird I Know This Stuff?

So, today is the saga of the iPod. This saga goes back several years. Somewhere about 2004, I purchased a used iPod on eBay.
It was a 2nd Generation 20 GB model. The really old kind that is massive by today's standards and doesn't even connect via USB. I used it for a while until I kinda fried it. I thought that I would prefer to connect via USB than Firewire - so I bought a 'converter' to allow me to plug it into a USB. I did this . . . and the iPod never connected with an iPod again. I realize this was not my greatest moment - actually, once I did it I realized the stupidity of the move. The iPod continued to play music and work otherwise - but no more adding music. :(

I later bought a 4th Gen 20GB iPod from a friend of a friend. Happy day. For some crazy reason, though, I kept the old monster iPod. I guess it's part of my family genetics -- we have a hard time throwing stuff away. It came in handy this past week.

My brother-in-law's 4th Gen iPod gave the iPod sad face of death. He bought a new Nano, and handed off his dead iPod to me. I saw a challenge - and accepted. Enter amateur iPod surgery.

I opened up the old iPod and removed the harddrive.

I then took the iPod harddrive from ancient iPod and placed it into the newer, but sad iPod. However, the older harddrive was slightly larger than the new one, so I had to do some hardcore squeezing to fit it into the new case. In so doing, I broke one of the internal latches - so the new iPod is sporting a length of tape around the top of the case. However, I feel this is a small price to pay for a fully-functioning iPod.

All said and done, I took two non-working iPods and created one fully-functioning iPod. When it came to naming the iPod, I decided that "FrankenPod" would be fitting. :P

Julie made a comment recently that my computer knowledge is not normal - especially for a social worker. Would this go in that category as well??

Am I THAT Pathetic??

So, I've discovered a new blog that I find amusing (well, I read about it on KSL - but I will still take credit). The blog is created by a fictitious Utah County Mormon airhead - and reminds me entirely too much of the S'Fork and my days at BYU. Really, I think it's an accurate picture of life down there.

Well, I was reading some recent posts and came across this one . . . which includes a shout out to Social Work. OK - maybe not a shout out. More like a burn. So sad. Recently I have been bemoaning the lack of money in my profession, but I try to keep positive. Well, now I feel that the universe is speaking to me. Yup. I'm a putz. I'm doomed to a low middle-class lifestyle forever. Awesome. However, I do find it completely hilarious that of all majors to belittle - she chooses SOCIAL WORK. Come on . . . Music Theater was taken??

I guess I can live with myself and chosen occupation. After all, let's look at the people in society poised to make changes in individual lives. Teachers, for example. Is there any career that is more closely linked to the future and success? Probably not. Do they get paid appropriately? Nope. Would the high-paid businessmen, lawyers, and computer engineers be where they are without former teachers? Nope. Sad but true. Then take Social Workers. Essentially we're paid to try to convince people to not kill self or others. I think that's pretty important. But, no - if you have mad talents at throwing balls and running across fields, then society thinks you're financially viable. I sense inequality.

NEW JOB!!

Good news blog friends - I have been offered (and accepted) a new job. YEAH. And no, it is not with the Prison. While jumping through all hiring hoops for the prison I have been continuing to interview at other places. On Wed, I interviewed with Assessment and Referral Services. The interview went really well - and I actually recognized the interviewers from a presentation I attended at the 2006 Utah Fall Substance Abuse Conference. It's always positive when you go into an interview knowing about what the agency does, etc. Overall, it was one of the best interviews I've ever had. I left feeling quite confident and pleased. I called Julie when I got to my car - and within minutes I received a call and was offered the job (literally, probably no more than 10 min after I left the office). Apparently they really loved me - so that's a good start. Julie and I spoke about the offer over lunch, and we decided to accept. The pay is better than the prison and as a University of Utah employee, the benefits are amazing. I get like 21 vacation days per year. Crazy. As far as compensation goes, I can't ask for more.

The work, however, isn't my dream position. I don't do ongoing therapy - but rather just clinical assessments for substance abuse and DUI issues. The interviews are apparently 2 hrs long - and then the report is anywhere from 6-12 pages long!! That's a LOT of typing. Actually, it seems like I will spend over 1/2 of my time typing assessments. But, that has it's pros as well. The office is very flexible with scheduling - and I also have the option of writing from home some times too. So, I think that it will balance out well. Overall, I think I'll like it. I'm comfortable with substance abuse populations and feel confident in my skills in that area. Also, if I feel that I need to do some ongoing therapy, I'll find a PT job at LDS Family or somewhere that I can work just a few hours a week.

Best part - I don't have to do POST training. However, I was feeling excited to do the weapons training (odd, huh?). I was NOT excited to do the running 7 miles a day thing. So, I think I can live without playing with guns for a few weeks (Julie says that I can go to the shooting range if I want to). It's all good!!

So now I am waiting to hear what my start date will be. I hope they can start me next week. I really want to start doing something with my life and making money. YEAH. So very happy.

Julie has also promised me that once I found a job I could get a Nintendo Wii (the only game system she will have in our house cause it involves some movement and has the whole Wii Fit system). So - being all excited I had thought that yesterday I could go to Walmart or somewhere to buy a system. Too bad they are still sold out all over the place. I guess Nintendo will only ship a few units every few weeks - so they sell out within one day. BUMMER. I hate being let down. So, now I either have to start stalking electronic stores to find a Wii in stock - or order one online. OR I can protest Nintendo's stupid tactics and not buy their product cause I hate games. Seems silly that they don't send enough product. Ya know - if you have to make your customers stalk after you . . . not cool. We'll see how it goes down.

My Cat Vibrates

If you have met Gwen, you know she's odd. If you check out Julie's blog, you can see some of Gwen's oddness (such as sitting on objects). Yes, it is true. She feels some odd compulsion for sitting on randomness. Instead of just lying on the floor, she'll sit on paper bags, shoes, boxes, or anything that is on the floor (except, of coarse her pet bed - I guess that is too much like floor). She even got on the laptop once - but I luckily saw that one in action so she was only there for a sec before she got the boot. I don't understand it. Why would she want to sit on uncomfortable shoes or plastic bags rather than carpeting? Makes no sense to me.

Well, today Gwen upped the ante. See, my old favorite was Gwen sitting on a pizza box (and, no Julie and I are not that messy - we had just finished a 'pizza picnic' on the floor and the box was still there). Today Gwen took to sitting on top of my phone, sitting on top of a Xerox box. I was unaware of this until Julie sent me a text. I heard the vibrations - but saw no phone. Just a Gwen. So, I thought to myself - we have 3 possibilities. A) Gwen swallowed the CrackBerry. 2) Gwen has learned a new trick. ∑) Gwen is sitting on the CrackBerry. Whereas Gwen is too lazy to take the time to learn to swallow a complete cell phone or learn anything new -- the only real possibility was ∑- Gwen was sitting on the phone. Sure enough, I move the large bundle of fur, and there is my Blackberry.

So, one has to wonder, why Gwen must sit on these objects. It is that she prefers lumpy surfaces to soft ones? Perhaps she misses sitting in the weeds in Lake Shore. Or maybe she wants to simply sit on things of value, and is still trying to determine what feels expensive. Or perhaps she is just plain stupid and weird. I'm going with the latter, cause she is, after all, a cat.

UPDATE:
I found the picture of Gwen sitting on a pizza box. Do you think she is part of the "ingredients made fresh daily?"