Oh joy. I am on vulture patrol.

Boy do I have alot to catch up on. It has been a crazy few days. I will try to go in topic order since chronological will be all messy.

I am still sorta not employed kinda sorta. I am still employed by my employer but I still have no project code to bill to. I am currently billing to overhead each day. The contract is still not signed. It is starting to get me a little concerned. Even more depressing is the work they have me doing while I wait for my contract to be renewed so I can access my job site again. I have the joy of cleaning up an office of my employer where everybody was laid off. I am going through and shutting down all of the equipment and packing it up for shipping back to our main worksite. So, you are thinking it can't get more depressing than that? Wrong. I do not have access to the building, so as a stop gap. They gave me the badge of one of the laid off people to use for access. It is just sad. I have to look at his mug every time I go to badge through a door. I do not know the guy at all, but, I sure feel bad for him. Nothing says vulturing an empty office like using the laid-off guys badge for access.

I did have a good time over the weekend; when I kept my mind off the job situation. The wife and I week ended in the city. We had a series of events evenly spaced out over Saturday and Sunday down in Northern Virginia, so we got a hotel room at the Courtyard. This became our base of operations for the weekend.

We went to an information session for GMU's MS in Technology Management on Saturday morning. It was a very good experience. We got to peek in on a couple classes in session and they introduced us to the two class co-leads of the junior class. One of the students had followed a very similar decision tree to the one I am dealing with and he ended up in the tech-man program. I think this is a good sign that it is the way I should go. I have a pro and con list in my Daytimer now and it is leaning heavily to the tech-man over the EMBA. I still plan to go sit in on a couple EMBA classes in two weeks, but, in the meantime I am going to keep myself busy by working on my application for the tech-man program.

We went to a fun party on Saturday night for my hockey wife. She turned 30, so she is not part of us old people. I had a chance to grab lunch with her today and it looks like she is fully recovered from the debauchery on Saturday night.

On Sunday we had a really nice lunch at Charcoal Kabob with good friends. Unfortunately, I found out that the husband got laid off at his job of 15 years last week. The good news is that he will get enough severance to make it through the end of the year. That should give him enough time to find a new job. He had a good idea it was going to happen, but, I am sure he is disappointed to see the good run come to an end. He is a smart guy with alot of experience, so he should do well out looking on the market.
Sunday ended on a bit of downer as we lost our hockey playoff game 8-3. I was thinking about not playing next season so I could concentrate on all of the other things I need to get done. But, I have decided that the hockey is very therapeutic and is a good break from the rigors of everything else. So, I am going to sign up for another season. I am even looking forward to it.

Well, I have rambled enough for tonight. I am going to go get crap done so I can get up late and wander into a job I really don't want to do. Have a good night and keep shorting that market!

Can haz job? Mebbe?

I am now sort of employed again. The contract still hasn't been signed, but, I do not have to burn vacation days. They are letting me charge to overhead while I wait for the new contract. I will be going into my company's main office on Monday so I have something to do. At least this ensures that I will still be getting paid through all of this.

Last night I attended an informational seminar on the different graduate programs for the George Mason School of Management. It was informative, but, I am still up in the air on what I want to do. Both their EMBA and MSTM programs are very interesting.

The EMBA is more expensive, takes longer and has a staggered schedule, but, it has some very interesting qualities. One of those is the fact that it has 3 residencies; one in Asia, one in London and one in New York City. I think all of those would be very educational and informative. The NYC residency would be fascinating in that you would get some exposure to the workings of the (still) financial capitol of the world.

The Masters in Technology Management would still give me exposure to economics, finance and accounting, while costing much less and taking less time to get. It also has the bonus of being only on Saturdays. So, it would work with about any job I would have in the future. Its drawbacks are that it would not get as deep into the business topics as an EMBA. It also has only one residency. Although this year it was in Dubai! That would make up for the lack of the other 2 residencies.

Tomorrow, I am attending an informational session specifically for the MSTM degree. It will be on campus at GMU and will have current students in attendance. So, this will be a good chance to drill down into that program deeper. I am also setting up a visit to the EMBA program. I am going to sit in on a class and then go out to lunch with the group at the end. Hopefully, these two events will help me push forward to making a decision.

One thing I think I have decided on is, unless I blew the cover off the GMAT (770+) I think I will be going to GMU. I would still love to go to Wharton, Kellogg or Booth, but, I am sure it would be a long shot to even imagine getting to go to one of those institutions. But, I can still dream... and besides, it gives me some motivation to study for the GMAT.

Oh, and on an unrealted note... I just have to say. Dropping down from 300 pounds to 230 pounds has made clothes shopping alot more enjoyable. Except when you just happen to walk into Brooks Brothers and try on a Sport Coat that makes even ME look good. Then it is just painful. $585 *sigh*

And the drama continues

I am (once again) in a pickle at work. My contract that I am currently working on ended yesterday. The contract is up for extension and just needs a couple signatures to be extended. But, it is the government, so it is taking forever to complete. This means that I have no project to charge my hours to, so I essentially have no job. I am still being paid by my contracting employer, but, I cannot go into work. It is like a mini-vacation without a clear prospect of whether I will have a job starting next week. This makes it a little harder to enjoy it as a mini-vacation.

My way of handling it right now is I am going to the joint graduate information reception for GMU at the Tower Club tonight in Tyson's Corner. I am also going to work on lining up some temporary work back in the oil industry in case I need something to keep me busy for a short term till I can go back to work. I also think I will go for a hike tomorrow to relax.

This also gives me a chance to take a little time to work on my investment positions. I got a nice bounce off the China news yesterday because I had increased my positions in the energy and materials trade the day before yesterday. It is nice to sometimes get it right occasionally.

Speaking of making money... I won my weight loss contest at work and I picked up $320 for the efforts. I think I will end up just putting the money in my savings account. But, it would be fun to spend it. I had aspirations to go to NYC over my spring break, but, the wife is showing resistance to the idea. So, I think it will just end up in the savings account. I guess it isn't the worst place for it to go.

Well, even though I am unemployed, I have a busy day ahead of me. I just have some extra time to get everything done today. :)

Bleh

I feel pretty blah today. I think it is a combo of eating stuff I shouldn't have yesterday, a market that won't stop going down (depressing even with SDS doing well), the continuing cold of winter and just general thinking about becoming 40 soon. It all combines to a good case of the blahs.

I think the main root of it has been me thinking too much about all of the cool things I have missed out on in life because I talk myself out of them. The main issue is my lack of desire to travel. (especially air travel) I don't understand it. I used to have no problem flying anywhere, then I couldn't do it at all for a while, then I got better and now I am back to just not wanting to do it again. I am really going to focus on taking one overseas trip in the next 6 months. If I am going to do 95% of the things I want to do I need to get this whole issue out of the way.

I think losing weight and getting my stomach in better shape would go a long way, so I am really focusing on that part now. I am down from ~300lbs to ~235lbs so I have to imagine that would help. I also am working with my doctor to get the stomach issues under control. I guess the next step is to pull the trigger and hop on a commercial flight to somewhere.

Ugh. It just sucks.