James Sapara's Personal Blog » My Job

Lets Catch Up on Old News

admin — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 16:53:24 +0000

Right, much time has passed since my last post. Here’s a summery of the exciting stuff that’s happened since… well… since I can remember it.

I’m still working my job with Omnilogic Systems from Regina. Working with Ralph has thus far been good. I’m still just has bad as I used to be for talking way to much, but I’m making an effort to shut my mouth more. Work is steady with no end in sight for the next few months. We have lots of projects from clients and internally that need to be done. Makes the days and weeks move fast when it’s steady. Can’t say I mind that.

I turned 26 in December. Nothing incredibly exciting happened in relation to that event. I think I’m going deaf and blind thou. I guess getting older isn’t all that bad so far. I hear early 20’s girls dig older guys, so I figure my odd just keep getting better from here on.

I took a long Christmas vacation to relax and burn some of that vacation time I had from work. I was even moderately productive for the most part. I cleaned my room, organized my mass collection of pictures and music. Spent money on useless stuff online. Oh, and looked for a place to live.

Which brings me to the most recent and exciting business in my life. I’m currently looking to buy a house; but, it’s a crazy market in Saskatoon. Places are selling the same day they list. The ones that don’t sell that fast are usually like that with good reason. I do see some light at the end of the tunnel thou. I’ve recently been doing a lot of research and looking into a loft project downtown. It’s a year away from completion, but they have two show suites. I took a peek on Wednesday and I must say… it’s very tempting. It’s exactly the kind of modern/industrial living I’ve always dreamed of. The sales guy, Wayne, has been very helpful in answering my numerous questions. I’m expecting to be pre-approved on a mortgage on Monday. I’ll take another look on Tuesday, sort some more details out, and if my gut still tells me I’ll be happy… well gosh darn it I may just put the deposit down. Here’s their site, but it doesn’t have any real photo’s of their lofts. I intend to take some photo’s on Tuesday and I’ll post them on flicker. http://2ndavenuelofts.com/

Other small things that I’ve done of interest:

I bought a WRAP BOARD with wireless to do our internet routing at home. I’m very impressed with the pfSense software I’m using on it. I bought the board and the related parts from Xagyl. They’re based in Canada, so no customs and cheaper shipping.
I got a Nintendo Wii. Solo purpose is for playing with friends, so I have four Wiimotes and nunchuks. I bought Super Monkey Ball and Super Swing Golf for it. Also got Zelda because it’s apparently so good I’ll play it over and over again.
My MazdaSpeed 3 is running great. There was “Check Engine Light” for a cold weather problem with some sensor for the longest time. Fixed under warranty just before Christmas. Seems like Mazda doesn’t really test their cars for Canadian climate, but they’re really good about fixing cold weather problems as a result.
I’ve taken a sudden interest in battery technology again. I bought a fancy NiMH charger. Also some 2500mh and 2700mh AA batteries for my Camera Flash. Flash cycle time is amazingly fast now, not to mention I get way more flashes out of it. Also bought some Eneloop batteries for my Wiimotes.
I quit World Of Warcraft. Sold my account for a bunch of money.
Also sold my Nokia E61 and my k750i last month. Not so much money made there, but I should learn to not buy a phone when it first comes out…

Well that’s all I can think of for now. For those who care, I’m considering GM’ing for D&D again. I’m debating if I want to do a pure fantasy world; or, if I should make up some crazy world based lightly on real history and some books I’ve read in the last three years. I rather enjoy making that stuff up, but it consumes way too much of my free pondering time. Which reminds me, I may start writing a book again. This time I’ll freaking back it up everywhere and print drafts as I go along. Never again will I loose a novel worth of work…

First week or So

admin — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 18:22:58 +0000

So I’ve been in Regina about 12 days now. My living arrangements are working out good so far. I’ve been busy at work with a project migrating a mysql on linux to mssql on nt2000. I’m planning on doing some reno’s to my friends basement in the near future as well. Make it a little more habitable. Thats all for now.

When it rains it pours

admin — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 18:30:25 +0000

So after accepting this job in Regina on Monday I have since gotten FOUR job interview requests. Some of them are even at places I know I would want to work at. I also wouldn’t have to pack right now. Really, I don’t care about the moving that much. What I care about is working for a place that values me for what I’m worth. Someplace that going to pay me what I’m worth.

It’s unfortunate that I know most jobs in Saskatoon just don’t pay. It’s rather furstrating to know that just 250km south you can get jobs that pay 10k more a year for the same thing you do in Saskatoon. I got a good deal on living accomadations in Regina and I do have some friends there. So all in all I’m thinking this could work out. I also know that my friends in Saskatoon are a quick 2.5 hours away.

Employed, Again

admin — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 00:12:22 +0000

I am once again about to join the ranks of the employed. I’ve actually been in the process of getting employed with this specific company for a few weeks now, but I wanted to keep it on the down low. Last time I had a job interview people were asking all the time about it, not that I mind; but, it’s alot of effort to repeat the same story about the interview, the company, etc to everyone I know. This time I kinda just got the job then started talking about it. Seems to be working out good so far. On the downside, I have to move to Regina, which is 250km south east of Saskatoon.

I already found a place to live on Monday while I was in Regina sorting out the finial details. I’m going to live in the basement of a friends house. Right now it’s kinda scary, but we’re going to remodel it to be super fancy. At which point I’ll move out and buy a house and repeat the cycle. The scary part is how fast this is happening. I’m moving this week… on Friday. Thats 5 day after I accepted the job. It’s gonna be crazy packing and moving this week. I’m sure I’ll manage to get some fun in there as well.

Being a Pain Pays

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 18:22:58 +0000

Ever since I’ve gotten my new car I’ve been bitchy in matters relating to my car. It all started with the process of agreeing on an amount for the car. They were giving TV’s away for FREE with all car purchases. Simply amazing, but I didn’t really want a $200 TV… So I said, “Give me the value of the tv off the price. I don’t want it.” They whod and hawd about it and said they couldn’t. Again I said, “Look, I can drive to Alberta and buy this car for less or you can give me the value of TV off the price of this car.” Sales guy goes to the manager and comes back with great news… they took $250 off the price of the car. Yay!

Two weeks later I’m about frustrated with the winter performance of my tires. I call around and get quotes on exceptionally good winter tires. Everyone is just over $1000 for nearly the best tires they can get. I decide to check out the dealership price on such things, and generally comment on how I was told what good all-season tires the car came with. Turns out I’m not the only one who thinks the stock, high performance tires on the car suck for winter. I just arrived when a lady had swinged a sweet deal on some very top of the line winter tires for her new car. When I inquired about getting some tires at the service desk they seem momentarily confused. One guy told me that the tires on my car are great for winter driving and he has them on his car, blah blah blah. I just happened to be in for a few minor adjustments as well, so while waiting I wandered over to “parts” and asked the guy how much some winters tires and rims would cost me. Turns out they have a secret deal for new car buyers in winter to get goodyear ultra grip ice tires for just under $150 a tire. Not bad, considering the cheapest I could find those in town was around $200. Anyways, amazingly the dealership price was fairly comparable to everyone else (actually it was the cheapest). It caused a bit of a confusion when the service guy was informed I was getting winter tires, but hey… I got winter tires and they are defiantly much better than my stock all-seasons.

Before I even got my car I called the condo building about parking. There was a small waiting list of about 5 people that I got my name added too. I was told that parking spots don’t free up very often and that I’d probably end up waiting until summer before I got one. Parking on the street at our building is particularly bad in winter. They don’t clear the snow properly because it’s the inside edge of a curved roadway. I actually got stuck in the snow a few times, which is part of why I bought snow tires (the other being no traction to move forward on a slippery incline). Anyways, the general point is that it sucks to park there in many ways. Being winter it was easy to watch the reserved parking spots and see which were not being used. Turns out about 5 of them around my building had not been parked in since it snowed (early December). I call the condo managers and ask if the condo supports people hording spots. She said they didn’t and would look into it. Turns out, 3 of those spots were not even being paid for… they were free. Thats right… we have spots free and a waiting list for them. I guess the paper record system they use doesn’t work so great for keep track of things.

Moral of my stories, be a pain in the ass and you may get something done.

Amusing License Plate Story

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 07:15:31 +0000

So I decided to get a vanity plate for my car (I’m so VAIN!). My first choice was ICU 812, which was free according to the kind people at the registration office. So I filled out the form, paid the fee and sent it away. A week later I get a call from Barb. The plate I choose is part of the standard plate pool and cannot be assigned (free, but not available for me to just take ). So I tell her I’ll phone her back with some idea’s.

A few hours later I’ve researched the matter to a fair extent and decided on: “UID 0″ I won’t bother explaining that if you don’t already know what it is… it seemed like it would be an obscure geek/admin joke… Apparently I wasn’t the first. It was taken in Saskatchewan. So I blurt my next in line, “OMG WTF”. Which was surprisingly free. I asked her if she was serious it was free. She confirmed. I took it right away, before someone would shatter my dreams of a nearly offensive plate. On Friday I receive my letter confirming that my plate was sent off to the slave labor (aka, prison factory) for production. I can expect to have my vanity plate in 4 to 6 weeks… mmmm

Jobbed

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 05:54:03 +0000

I got word from TinyEye today that I have the job. I start in the first week of January. Ever since Monday I’ve literally been sick with anxiety. Feels great to have the wait over.

The End of the Post

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 01:05:07 +0000

So today I have confirmed what I suspected happened all along with my mail. I am partly to blame for not looking into it myself earlier, but it’s still a bit disturbing. Turns out Canada Post “transcribed” my forward address incorrectly at some point at the forwarding depot in Winnipeg. That means, they typed it into a computer correctly, printed it off and then typed it back in… but the second time around they typed it wrong. I had actually assumed my handwriting was to blame, but as the representative told me over the phone, the billing record reflects my correct address.

So, that mystery solved, I set out to contact this person in 424. First I tried the old fashion method of going over and knocking (actually buzzing in this case). No answer on that day after trying on three separate occasions. So I moved to plan be, put a letter addressed to that address on their door. Basically asking them to contact me if they had mail or had returned it to sender. No call after two days left me worried. Had this person recently died? Was the mail just building up inside that box just waiting for someone to liberate it? Before taking any drastic measures, I decided to try the old fashioned method one last time.

This time it paid off. After a brief and confusing “buzzer” conversation I’m let in and meet the receiver of my mail. After a brief clarification of why I’m there “again” she tells me she gets mail for 3 different people who don’t live there. She marks them all for return. So, she has gotten my mail, and she has returned it. I thank her for her time and the confusion and head home.

The real mystery to me now is this. Why hasn’t my previously employer received that mail. Maybe they have and they don’t know what to do. Maybe it hasn’t reached the right people yet. Who knows. I do know that so far they have been far from communicative as they once “claimed” to be. I sent them an email tonight explaining my discoveries and hopefully they will reply with some sort of message. Even a, “We don’t have it” would be helpful.

Job Interview

admin — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 03:34:50 +0000

So sometime last week I got an email for a job interview at TinyEYE. They’re a company located in the industrial part of Campus ( U of S ). The interview itself is on the 1st of December. I don’t know a whole lot about the company, other than they make software that connects Speech therapists to their clients online. Defiantly sounds cool, but so far it’s sketchy on details.

They have request some sample code and works for them to see at the interview. That’s always tough to do for someone who do contract work for companies ( who thus retain the right to the code ) and when I’ve worked jobs with NDA’s. Typically when I do projects on my own time, they’re related to improving something at work… so those also get snatched up by those places. Needless to say I’ve been working like crazy to get what I can to show them. I have a few light samples of code, but nothing to complex. I’ve started writing a relatively complex application that I will hopefully have mostly completed by then. At least they’ll be able to see some recent code and how I design stuff.

The Post is Broken

admin — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 23:51:31 +0000

I’ve kinda ranted about this to a few people, so I thought I’d blog it too! I’ll try to keep this as clear as possible. So it’s the week after I got laid off in Winnipeg. I’m packing like a mad man and getting everything arranged for the move. I email my boss my forwarding address in Saskatoon. I also get mail forwarding to Saskatoon from Canada Post. Oky, so then I move on like the 27th of October to Saskatoon. On the 1st or so my boss mails my last pay cheque and record of employment (RoE) to my Winnipeg address. Was a little concerning, but I figured mail forwarding would catch it anyways. I could handle a few days delay.

So it’s the 14th of November and I haven’t got any forwarded mail. Oky, so I’m little worried. Did my boss have the right Winnipeg address? Did I write fill out the form for Canada Post wrong? Quick answer is that everything was correct on both those ends. Canada Post assures me they will look in to it and call me the next day.

November 17th, still no call or mail. So I call Canada Post again. They have record of my previous call and notes on what to call me back about. They’re very sorry no one got back to me. 11 pieces of mail have been forwarded to my new address starting on the 1st of November. They ask if I’m sure I haven’t gotten any forwarded mail. We go over what it looks like ( yellow sticker is places on top of old address). Oky, so they once again tell me they will look into matters and get back to me that day or the next.

November 22nd, still no call or mail, again. I also happened to get a letter from HRSDC ( Unemployment people ) asking for my RoE or to provide proof of employment. Oky, so some problems with that. It’s a pain to prove employment with out a RoE. Initially it seemed it was kinda impossible, but after some internet research and a phone call I discover it can be done.

I call Canada Post again. Same as the November 17th phone call for the most part. Still no idea where my mail is. Confirm the addresses they have for forwarding AGAIN, just to make sure they have it correctly. Everything seems in order, except that I’m not getting any mail.

Which brings us to today. I have most of the form filled out. I’m gonna call HRSDC on Monday and ask if they’ll take a faxed copy of my RoE from my Employer. That would make everything a million times easier for me and them. I doubt they will so I’ll get my boss to send me some more paper work and send this HRSDC stuff next week I hope.