Ha-ha! Just when you had discounted me for dead, I pop up again; this time in a most unlikely place: an office!!

Before I get into that (which I know you're just dying to hear about), I'd like to apologize for the lack of pictures on my website. There have actually been a goodly number of shots taken in the last while, but with increasing lack of using (or being able to use) my laptop, it has been fairly unpossible*. I have spent most of my job search time borrowing Timmy's computer. My computer has slumped anew, and is finally completely kaputt. It refuses even to boot into Windows - looks like the video card is pooched. That, combined with a number of dead keys on the keyboard, an inoperative CD/DVD ROM, and a dead battery (just off the top of my head), makes for a very unusable computer indeed. My next step is therefore to purchase a new one, but I can't really justify that until I get a job - at least a temporary one.

Now, this brings me to my current location: IVL Technologies. It seems these folks have need of a brilliant ASP.NET developer to work on a complex e-commerce project. And, apparently, that distinguished personage is, in fact, myself. While currently only on week-to-week contract while awaiting some executive decisions, I hope eventually to be contracted for 3+ months on this gig. Many, many, many thanks to Davin for passing along the seemingly innocuous posting to an email list to which he belongs.

I should perhaps mention that I did indeed turn down that other job. It was simply too little money and too much expected investment (time and lack of salary) with too little expectation for reward. The final straw for me was the lack of any business plans whatsoever. If you plan to take a company from scratch to making millions a month in revenue, then you really need a business plan! Like with any other financial investment, I felt myself reticent to make a large commitment to a company in which I did not have strong confidence. It was a tough decision, however, with it being the only solid offer in 2 months of searching, and the interesting work it could entail. Well, I made the decision, turned them down, and 2 business days later, I'm in a different office working for 50% more money. Of course, this one is only a contract, and I still don't know how long it will last, but I've made my decision, and I'm content with it.

So anyway, if things go well here, I should have a new (and very powerful) laptop as early as next week. The folks at IVL have given me an 800MHz desktop machine with 256MB, but I think a 3GHz with 512+MB might just do me a little better. It's important to have a good development machine with the amount of work I'll be throwing at it ... and who knows how much other contracting I may get. After obtaining a new machine, I'll be able to raid both my old hard drive and camera to post many new pics, and things will again be wonderful!

I am excited to have a good place and times to blog again. Sitting sideways and half-curled in Timmy's computer room to avoid a bed just recently evacuated by a sullen teen, awoken after a mere few hours sleep (at 0900), and prodding sadly at the few job listings was not really a conducive environment to creativity and interesting blog topics. Add to that the dismal lack of the photos I love so dearly, and you have what you got: an almost complete lack of blog. Well, hopefully that's over with for at least a little while.

I am excited today, for in the evening comes ... FIRE! (more info and maybe even pics at a later date)

* Note: "Me fail English? That's unpossible!" - Ralph Wiggum