Heya folks! I just wanted to let y'all know that I'm still alive, and doing good. The new job's great, although the learning curve is pretty steep! Additionally, I have some family in town this week, so the schedule's been doubly hectic. I'll post again soon (prolly this weekend) about various things, and look forward to catching up on each of your blogs, where relevent.
Toodles!
-Sailor Matt
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
My New Job
The job hunt for me has been a very painful process. I've been unemployed the last three months, and the strain on our finances has been stressful. When I got out of the Navy in November, I anticipated a little lag in the job market due to the upcoming holidays, but the economic crash reared its ugly head and dropped a wet blanket on my job-hunting party. Sure, I could have stayed in the Navy until things got better, but that would have required a minimum of a 1-year commitment, and along with that the fear of being sent to Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba, or elsewhere. Additionally, I had hit the 10 year mark, half way through a military career. It was time to either get out, or stay in and make it a career. Anything else would just be spinning wheels. In fact, my wife and I felt like we'd been spinning our wheels for the last two years, just working and waiting for the day I got out.
So, our lives are no longer on hold. It's time for us to make a fast and furious break into the civilian world! Getting a job wouldn't be difficult, I thought. I've got ten years experience in electronics maintenance, operations management, leadership, Lean Six Sigma (process improvement stuff), project management (almost have my PMP cert), quality assurance inspection and management, and an MBA/Technology Management degree. I've managed the 24-hour operations of a calibration lab at sea- 21 technicians across two shifts, 12 hours each, seven days a week. Finding a civilian job should be a piece of cake!
Wrong. Frightfully wrong. I've been on a handful of interviews, and was offered one job that paid 30% less than I was making in the Navy. I turned down that offer, but was fearful that maybe I'd just passed up the only opportunity I was going to find in this economy. It had been two months by then, and my reserve stash of cash was running low. Painfully low.
Then an opportunity opened up with a snack food manufacturing company. They needed a maintenance manager, and I needed a job, so it was a good fit. I breezed through the first interview, and was invited to a second interview at the plant. They gave me (and two other candidates) a tour of the plant, and we got to sample a variety of snack chips right off the line, still warm. Delicious! Then I sat through a series of 4 interview panels, each with two interviewers. I interviewed with 8 people within two hours, and was experiencing complete mental and emotional exhaustion by the end of the process.
A week later, I was offered the job. They offered great insurance benefits, full pension plan, 401k with matching contributions, 8% annual bonus and a salary 10% above what I was making in the Navy. Unbelievable. I nearly cried. So many people are out of work... I easily could have been one of thousands waiting in line at the unemployment office, desperately looking for something, anything, that would allow me to make my rent payment this month. I am so blessed, and yet I think of those two other candidates who still need to find work...
I start work this upcoming Monday, and I'm uber excited. The last three months I've been waking up at 6:00 AM every day eager to do something, anything. I've been itching to get back to work, to be productive. Finally my wife and I can move forward in our lives. Additionally, I get to cross something off this year's list.
This picture should clue you in on a few details I've omitted. For privacy reasons, I've left out any searchable words that could prove problematic. I doubt I've written anything in these blogs that would prove harmful to my character, but employers can be fickle fairies sometimes. Anyway, they sent me some pretty cool swag:
So, our lives are no longer on hold. It's time for us to make a fast and furious break into the civilian world! Getting a job wouldn't be difficult, I thought. I've got ten years experience in electronics maintenance, operations management, leadership, Lean Six Sigma (process improvement stuff), project management (almost have my PMP cert), quality assurance inspection and management, and an MBA/Technology Management degree. I've managed the 24-hour operations of a calibration lab at sea- 21 technicians across two shifts, 12 hours each, seven days a week. Finding a civilian job should be a piece of cake!
Wrong. Frightfully wrong. I've been on a handful of interviews, and was offered one job that paid 30% less than I was making in the Navy. I turned down that offer, but was fearful that maybe I'd just passed up the only opportunity I was going to find in this economy. It had been two months by then, and my reserve stash of cash was running low. Painfully low.
Then an opportunity opened up with a snack food manufacturing company. They needed a maintenance manager, and I needed a job, so it was a good fit. I breezed through the first interview, and was invited to a second interview at the plant. They gave me (and two other candidates) a tour of the plant, and we got to sample a variety of snack chips right off the line, still warm. Delicious! Then I sat through a series of 4 interview panels, each with two interviewers. I interviewed with 8 people within two hours, and was experiencing complete mental and emotional exhaustion by the end of the process.
A week later, I was offered the job. They offered great insurance benefits, full pension plan, 401k with matching contributions, 8% annual bonus and a salary 10% above what I was making in the Navy. Unbelievable. I nearly cried. So many people are out of work... I easily could have been one of thousands waiting in line at the unemployment office, desperately looking for something, anything, that would allow me to make my rent payment this month. I am so blessed, and yet I think of those two other candidates who still need to find work...
I start work this upcoming Monday, and I'm uber excited. The last three months I've been waking up at 6:00 AM every day eager to do something, anything. I've been itching to get back to work, to be productive. Finally my wife and I can move forward in our lives. Additionally, I get to cross something off this year's list.
This picture should clue you in on a few details I've omitted. For privacy reasons, I've left out any searchable words that could prove problematic. I doubt I've written anything in these blogs that would prove harmful to my character, but employers can be fickle fairies sometimes. Anyway, they sent me some pretty cool swag:
Best of luck to each of you on your own career journeys!
-Sailor Matt
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Look mom, I did my homework!
OK, the title to this post is a little silly. My mom has never in my life asked me if I'd finished my homework. But look! I have something to show you:
I start taking college classes toward my Electrical Engineering degree in August, and I want to be prepared (I plan to take Calculus I, Physics I and Spanish I). Why am I studying the stuff now when I could just wait to learn it all during class? Reason being, I will be working full time while taking three classes, and I don't know how well I'll be able to keep up. It's my first time sitting down in a college classroom (despite having two degrees), and I fear taking three classes at once while working 40 hours might be overly ambitious. Then why am I taking so many? Good question. Here's why:
It's math homework! Well, it's not really homework, because that implies that someone assigned it to me, but it IS a collection of completed problems from lesson 1.1 in the Calculus book I borrowed from the library. It was long and tedious, but I'm very proud of myself for having completed it.
My current routine when I wake up every morning is as follows: read two chapters from the Bible, study one Spanish lesson from my 30-day spanish book, read one chapter from my electronics book, and complete one lesson from my Calculus textbook.
At bedtime, I read another two chapters from the bible (they're short), and I read a bit from whatever fiction book I'm running through (currently, The Subtle Knife).
I start taking college classes toward my Electrical Engineering degree in August, and I want to be prepared (I plan to take Calculus I, Physics I and Spanish I). Why am I studying the stuff now when I could just wait to learn it all during class? Reason being, I will be working full time while taking three classes, and I don't know how well I'll be able to keep up. It's my first time sitting down in a college classroom (despite having two degrees), and I fear taking three classes at once while working 40 hours might be overly ambitious. Then why am I taking so many? Good question. Here's why: I have 24 months of college benefit (called the Montgomery GI Bill) remaining, part of my military benefit. With this benefit, I would receive a check in the mail every month while going to school. I would use that money to pay for tuition, and may still have a few hundred dollars left over each month. In August, however, this benefit changes significantly. Starting in August, the government will pay 100% of my tuition straight to the school, they will send me $1000 a year to pay for books, supplies, etc., and, if I'm going to school more than half-time, they will send me $2,000 A MONTH as a living expense stipend. That's incredible! To qualify, I have to take at least 9 credits, or three classes. How long is a semester? 4 months? That's $8,000 in my pocket... well, to put down on debt, anyway. SO... pre-learning Calculus and Spanish will help with the transition to a bricks 'n mortar college experience.
Wish me luck!
-Sailor Matt
Monday, February 9, 2009
No, I'm not homeless... but I sure look it, eh?
The reason I'm posting this picture isn't to show you how I look at 6:00 AM, after a shower, holding a strong desire to return to bed. I'm posting this picture to show you that, try as I might, I am physically incapable of growing a beard. This is a week's worth of growth on my smooth baby face. I shaved Sunday morning so I wouldn't look like a ragamuffin at Church, and while I did so I prayed silently that some day I'll be able to grow a real man's beard. Not that I want one, mind you. I just want to know that I could grow one if I wanted to. Thankfully I'm not a member of a Dwarven clan, or else I'd be dealing with a real social stigma.
Cheers.
-Sailor Matt
Monday, February 2, 2009
It's Not You, It's Me. Really.
Here's my dilemma: I fear that my harsh inner criticism has distorted the perspective of my previous post, and in doing so rendered it impossible for others to gain a clear picture of things. Part of the problem is that I left out a significant amount of information, so this is an attempt to fill in those gaps.
I loved to read when I was a child, and I especially enjoyed fantasy books. I read constantly, obsessively. I also enjoyed making up stories of my own, and excelled at writing assignments in school. When I was in 2nd grade, I wrote about two boys who buy the wrong fertilizer for their mother's garden, and spend the rest of their story battling mutant vegetables across town. My teacher was certain that I'd copied this story from somewhere, and she even called my parents in for a conference on the issue (the piece, of course, was my own original work). In fourth grade I wrote a story about a boy who could jump between worlds across time and space, and my mom sent it to a local university publisher to get his thoughts. I was told that the story was good, but it needed to be longer to be considered for a children's novel. He strongly urged that I should finish the story and come back to see him.
During this time I was also excelling at math and science, and I had dreams of becoming a scientist when I grew up. I was in special math classes by then, and in seventh grade I started attending a second school in the afternoon (Center for the Arts and Sciences- CAS) that specialized in math and science. I wanted to be a nuclear physicist. I was also very good at baseball and soccer, and had dreams of playing college sports. Additionally, I spent countless childhood hours drawing alien landscapes, castles and dragons. I loved art, and actually considered enrolling in the art program at CAS in seventh grade instead of the math & science program. I was also actively involved in music. I played the piano reasonably well and excelled on the trombone. I had dreams of being in a cool jazz band.
Somewhere down the line, each of these dreams fizzled out. Especially during my high school years, I stopped playing sports, stopped reading, stopped writing, abandoned the trombone, and barely graduated with my diploma. I was in no shape to go off to college, and began considering the military as an option.
The Navy was a life-changing experience for me. It didn't happen like the flip of a switch, but gradually I began to learn discipline and responsibility, just as the kids that were serving along side me. I worked hard, probably for the first time in my life, and began working from a new list of goals: get promotions, earn high evaluations, and get my degree. As I progressed in my career and my maturity, I added to the list: pursue my master's degree, complete the command mission with pride, guide my junior sailors to success. I even began to re-kindle my childhood love of the written word.
There were a great many things I could not do while I was in the military, and the list of things I wanted to pick up from my childhood is extensive. I've tried to indulge the inner bookworm between classes and duty assignments, and read some great books and series: Harry Potter, The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Gates of Fire, The Name of the Wind, Eragon, Neverwhere, The City of Ember, and others. I probably managed to get through 2-3 books a year, which totals roughly 20-30 books over my decade in the Navy. So, here's how I am a poser: I happy declare that I love fantasy and science fiction books, but my list of reads over the past 15 years is woefully diminutive.
Now that my education is complete and I am out of the Navy, I plan on indulging my inner sci-fi/fantasy fanhood. My minimum goals is a book a month, and my ultimate goal is a book a week. I'm so happy to be reading again! Additionally, a story I began many years ago slowly began to take solid form during my 2005-2006 deployment, and now rests at a nice 61,000 words. I just may complete that novel after all.
Thank you for bearing with me on this exhaustive post. It was very cathartic to voice the demons I carry from my long list of childhood disappointments. Although I can never go back and realize most of my dreams of youth, I can fulfill their spirit in new and exciting ways. I'll never play baseball for University of Michigan, but running a 5k race will fill the void in my soul for a sense of accomplishment in the arena of athleticism. Reading the Bible, learning Spanish, finishing my novel, reading all the books I own, learning computer programming, studying Calculus, and learning how to draw all have elements that trace back to my childhood, and accomplishments in these areas will fill large holes of disappointment in my heart.
If you have read this far, I thank you again for your patience and compassion. Have a blessed day.
-Sailor Matt
I loved to read when I was a child, and I especially enjoyed fantasy books. I read constantly, obsessively. I also enjoyed making up stories of my own, and excelled at writing assignments in school. When I was in 2nd grade, I wrote about two boys who buy the wrong fertilizer for their mother's garden, and spend the rest of their story battling mutant vegetables across town. My teacher was certain that I'd copied this story from somewhere, and she even called my parents in for a conference on the issue (the piece, of course, was my own original work). In fourth grade I wrote a story about a boy who could jump between worlds across time and space, and my mom sent it to a local university publisher to get his thoughts. I was told that the story was good, but it needed to be longer to be considered for a children's novel. He strongly urged that I should finish the story and come back to see him.
During this time I was also excelling at math and science, and I had dreams of becoming a scientist when I grew up. I was in special math classes by then, and in seventh grade I started attending a second school in the afternoon (Center for the Arts and Sciences- CAS) that specialized in math and science. I wanted to be a nuclear physicist. I was also very good at baseball and soccer, and had dreams of playing college sports. Additionally, I spent countless childhood hours drawing alien landscapes, castles and dragons. I loved art, and actually considered enrolling in the art program at CAS in seventh grade instead of the math & science program. I was also actively involved in music. I played the piano reasonably well and excelled on the trombone. I had dreams of being in a cool jazz band.
Somewhere down the line, each of these dreams fizzled out. Especially during my high school years, I stopped playing sports, stopped reading, stopped writing, abandoned the trombone, and barely graduated with my diploma. I was in no shape to go off to college, and began considering the military as an option.
The Navy was a life-changing experience for me. It didn't happen like the flip of a switch, but gradually I began to learn discipline and responsibility, just as the kids that were serving along side me. I worked hard, probably for the first time in my life, and began working from a new list of goals: get promotions, earn high evaluations, and get my degree. As I progressed in my career and my maturity, I added to the list: pursue my master's degree, complete the command mission with pride, guide my junior sailors to success. I even began to re-kindle my childhood love of the written word.
There were a great many things I could not do while I was in the military, and the list of things I wanted to pick up from my childhood is extensive. I've tried to indulge the inner bookworm between classes and duty assignments, and read some great books and series: Harry Potter, The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Gates of Fire, The Name of the Wind, Eragon, Neverwhere, The City of Ember, and others. I probably managed to get through 2-3 books a year, which totals roughly 20-30 books over my decade in the Navy. So, here's how I am a poser: I happy declare that I love fantasy and science fiction books, but my list of reads over the past 15 years is woefully diminutive.
Now that my education is complete and I am out of the Navy, I plan on indulging my inner sci-fi/fantasy fanhood. My minimum goals is a book a month, and my ultimate goal is a book a week. I'm so happy to be reading again! Additionally, a story I began many years ago slowly began to take solid form during my 2005-2006 deployment, and now rests at a nice 61,000 words. I just may complete that novel after all.
Thank you for bearing with me on this exhaustive post. It was very cathartic to voice the demons I carry from my long list of childhood disappointments. Although I can never go back and realize most of my dreams of youth, I can fulfill their spirit in new and exciting ways. I'll never play baseball for University of Michigan, but running a 5k race will fill the void in my soul for a sense of accomplishment in the arena of athleticism. Reading the Bible, learning Spanish, finishing my novel, reading all the books I own, learning computer programming, studying Calculus, and learning how to draw all have elements that trace back to my childhood, and accomplishments in these areas will fill large holes of disappointment in my heart.
If you have read this far, I thank you again for your patience and compassion. Have a blessed day.
-Sailor Matt
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