Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Back in training

Over the last few months I've seen myself begin to revert back to the 2004 version of Dennis or fat Dennis. In order stop this I've decided to do another marathon. So this week I began my training for the 2008 Eugene Marathon on May 4th. This is going to be tough because I'm not in the great shape, the most I've ran in the past four months is six miles. So instead of jumping right into this, I'm easing my way into it. This won't be about getting that elusive Boston qualifying time this is about finishing. Did I forget to mention that I might run the Newport Marathon which on May 31st as well?

A new blog

My lovely wife Carrie has ented the wacky world of blogging. I'm not sure how often she'll blog but I definately urge you check out her blog at carriemcook.blogspot.com

I'm Back

I want to apologize for my lack of blogging lately. I've been taking in so much new information at work that by the time I get home at night my brain is on overload. Those who know me know that I am not a techie. I know how to turn a computer on and surf the internet and that's about it. A week and a half ago if you would have asked me what an Exchange server is I would have said "I have no clue". It's safe to say that I know a lot more now than I did a week and a half ago. I'm by no means an expert nor will ever be but I do know the basics of a network. Once my training is complete and brain isn't overloaded I will resume blogging more regularly.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

The Long and Winding Road

Eleven or so weeks ago I was called into my boss's office at work and was let go (I hate the term fired). As much as I would like to rip apart my former employer I won't but I do reccomend that if you have an account with them that you close it. That meeting started an eleven week trip down this long and winding road.

After the initial shock of being let go, I actually kind of enjoyed the time off work. Of course there were a few stressful weeks when my unemployment was initially denied, however after a successful apeall to the state I was granted the benefits. Many days were spent looking for work, applying for jobs left and right with no luck. I must of tweaked my resume about 27 times before I finally found a version I was happy with. My wife referred to me as her "house husband" as I attempted (not always successfully) to do household chores such as laundry, taking out the trash, doing the dishes and running errands such as grocery shopping and going to the dry cleaners. I saught out work with a temp agency in order to supplement my unemployment. They were supposed to find me jobs closely related to the skills that I have but they didn't. I spent one day in December at a factory that makes cereal and three days this week at the same place working graveyard. That was loads of fun spending eight hours a night pouring buckets of dried fruit and other products into big bins and stirring them. Through that I kept thinking to myself this is why I went college so I didn't have to do jobs like that. I was scheduled to work there all week however this morning while I was sleeping the temp agency called and said they didn't need me anymore this week and needless to say I am happy about that. Now I can just sit back and enjoy these final days of unemployment because earlier this week I recieved a job offer for a job that I believe will be much better than the one I lost eleven weeks ago. The best part I'll no longer be a bill collector!

At the end of this week it will be eleven and a half weeks that I was without a job. That was longest period time since I started working as a Junior in High School that I was without a job. While I enjoyed not working at times I hope to never be in that position again until I retire or win the win the lottery. It will be weird returning to the 9-5 world on Monday but I'm ready to do it and happy because I finally reached the end of this Long and Winding Road.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

dennisdailyrant.com National Championship Game

USC faced West Virginia in the third dennisdailyrant.com national championship game. Pat White and Steve Slaton were no match for the Trojan defense. On offense John David Booty had a career day, throwing for 412 yards an four tochdowns as the Trojans routed the Mountaineers 45 to 10. Cogratulations to the real champions of college football the USC Trojans.

Victory


It's not what I had envisioned less than two months ago when the Ducks were 8-1 and #2 in the nation but yesterday the Ducks won a bowl game for the first time since 2002 Fiesta Bowl. While the Sun Bowl is nothing special it's a win and I'll take it. The future is bright in Eugene and I honestly believe that sometime in my lifetime I'll see a Duck national championship in the greatest sport in existence, football (I'm talking about the American Variety so shut up Soccer fan!).