Busted lip and other random stuff too big for twitter

A week ago, the LittleMan busted his lower lip. He was crawling on the kitchen tile in his fleece pajamas and did a face plant. You can see the damage in the photo above. He's all better now. He is almost ready to walk. I keep saying "any day now", of course, but he is getting more and more interested in it, but is still afraid to let go when he is cruising around the furniture.

The LittleMan is also starting to talk a little. He can say: mama, da'a (Dara, a.k.a Mama D), kee cah or cah (cat), gah-gah (cracker), mah (more). And it is amazing how many words he understands, too. We talk about body parts, clothes, food, the kitties as well as count and sing.

I'm still looking for a job. I've done some interviews, and have another one scheduled for tomorrow. I hope to have something by the end of the month, but one never knows in these situations, especially in today's economy. I've had a couple of job postings close on me. "We have decided not to fill the position," or "We lost our requisition, and can't hire anyone right now."

We had a great visit with grandma (D's mom) yesterday. I'm looking forward to my family visiting us later this week and next week. Since I'm not employed right now, this actually is great timing for me.

The home improvement project is going well also. The new siding is complete, just needs paint (to be done later with the new addition). We have a new roof now too, with a ridge vent. No more squeaky whirly-gig vents. The workshop is framed. And we have had some electrical work done as well. We got new light fixtures and fans for the bathrooms in the existing house, and lighting and wiring has begun in the new addition. Hopefully I can get a video up of some of the latest updates.

Today is a new day!

Yesterday, I was laid off from my job at Phurnace Software. It was a short but good run at that startup company. It was a bummer to be laid off for a second time in less than a year. I guess that is the economy these days.

But today, I have a renewed sense of hope that something good is on the horizon. I worked on my resume last night, and I'm ready to hit the pavement running. Thanks for the nice thoughts and wishes friends and family have already sent me via email, phone, and Facebook.

The job search is over

Today I accepted a position at Phurnace Software here in Austin. I'm excited to be starting there as a Senior QA Engineer in July. It was an interesting journey interviewing with various companies, but I'm grateful that the search has concluded. In the end, I had a tough choice to make between two companies, and that is not a bad dilemma to have.

Done with job interviewing for now

I just did my last interview before I go on vacation, and hopefully, it was the last interview before my next new job. Yay! It went well, and now I'm looking forward to follow-up phone calls and emails from everywhere I've interviewed the last two weeks.

5.958333333 years

That is how many years of service I have at Hewlett-Packard according to my severance letter I received a few days ago. For the most part, it was a good run. I learned a lot and have grown tremendously professionally. I cleaned out my cube last Friday, but it finally hit me last night. I think I had been so tired from job searching and interviewing, that I didn't feel it until later. A little bit of sadness. But I'm ready to move on, and am excited about taking a little vacation, and hopefully starting a new work adventure soon.

Job search continues

Now I'm mid-way through an exciting week of interviews with cool companies. I've done 2 out of 3 interviews, and have one more to go this afternoon. I think one of these three companies will be my next place of employment, I can just feel it.

The job search

The hunt for a new job is going well. I am getting better at doing phone screens and asking the right questions. And I think I am getting better at presenting and marketing myself as well. I've got a couple of leads that I'm really excited about, and am very hopeful about the prospects. So, getting laid off is not really that bad right now. There are jobs here in Austin, you just have to find the right match.

First post!

This is my first blog ever. I wanted to start a blog to post some random pictures and occasional random thoughts. Here we go...

So, what am I doing right now? I'm trying to stay cool from the Texas heat (it was 100 degrees yesterday) and relax a bit and enjoy the Memorial Day weekend with my son and family.

I'm currently looking for a job, but I'm taking a welcome holiday break from the networking and interviewing. I hope to have a job within the next month, so we'll see how it goes.

Now, in honor of the Texas heat, I am posting a photo of me from 20 November 2005 in Berlin, next to the ubiquitous Berlin bear. It was probably freezing that evening.