April, 2007

It won’t be long until the day that I start my new job as an I.T. Technician. I’m very excited about this new position and I’m very eager to get working. If it wasn’t for my two weeks notice to my present job, I would be starting at the beginning of next week. But due to some minor complications, I’ll be doing Tech Support for a bit longer.

It’s not really necessary to give a two weeks notice. There were a couple of previous employees who were let go a couple of months ago and they weren’t given any notice. One coworker called in to find out when he was working, only to be told by another coworker to call our manager. It wasn’t too bad for him since he already had another full time job lined up. So being let go from this job only made his decision to pursue the other job more.

But the second employee that was let go had no idea. He was advised to contact the manager as well but he wasn’t able to get a hold of him because the manager was out of the office. I wasn’t sure what was going on either since I’m only here during the night. I found it rather odd that my manager asked me to work a shift when the other employee was capable of working.

Two weeks later, the coworker called again, asking about his shift. By this time, I’d assumed that he was already informed of the situation but as it turned out, he was still unable to get a hold of my manager and I had to break the bad news to him.

It’s not my job to tell my coworker that they were let go. My manager should have taken the responsibility of doing so. For that reason, I didn’t want to give a two weeks notice and wanted to just leave but I don’t have it in me to do that. I understand that my ex-coworkers were not given any notice of termination so maybe I shouldn’t have given any notice. But by not given my two weeks notice, the rest of my coworkers in Tech Support would have had to work an extra shift or two. I didn’t want to have to do that to them and I didn’t want to leave on a bad note. It’s courteous that I offer a two weeks notice.

But with the way things are going, I don’t think I can offer two weeks. The new work place requested that I start Wednesday which means that I cannot work my night shift on Tuesday. Doing so will mean that I’m going to be very tired and my performance isn’t going to look too good. I want to do a good job since I’ve waited so long to get this job. I’ve been applying to there since May 2005. So it took about two years to get to where I am.

I called up my new manager to inquire about working hours and he gave me a lot more info than I requested. What he told me made me even more excited about working there. He had my first day planned out completely. As we were talking, he told me about some of the stuff that I’ll be getting as well. Most of these things were a bit unexpected.

First of all, I’ll be working under another coworker for a while until things settle down. At the time, this particular coworker was in process of preparing my laptop. My laptop! I couldn’t believe that I will be getting my own laptop. All of the places that I’ve worked with provided a desktop workstation. This place is giving me a laptop to use. How cool is that?

Second, I’ll be getting my own cell phone as well. I have a cell phone right now but it’s for personal use. I’m assuming that the cell phone that they’re providing is for work related issues only. I talked to my neighbours and they told me to discard my current cell phone. The only reason why I still have my current cell phone is because of my number. Also, I happen to like my Motorola V3 Razr.

Getting the new gadgets isn’t the only thing that made me excited. The job comes with some nice perks as well. They have a great retirement savings plan program and the benefits will come in handy as well. I’ll have lots of days off which includes a paid holiday. And best of all, I don’t have to worry about working any more night shifts. It’s going to be nice for a change to actually have the weekends off. I’m going to have so much time off that I won’t know what to do with them.

There comes a time when one has to move on to bigger and better things. The time for me to leave my present work and onto another job has come. My days at my present workplace are numbered. After two weeks, I will no longer have to worry about commuting to Mississauga. I won’t have to worry about trying to stay awake all night either.

Turning in a resignation letter isn’t always easy. I handed in quite a few resignations in my days. That’s the hard part about going from job to job. You don’t have to give your present employer a two weeks notice but it’s courteous to do so. It’s a little sad that you have to leave and might not see your coworkers again, especially if the workplace is in another town. I don’t hate my present job or anything but that’s all it is, a job. I have to start thinking about what I want to do for my career.

A job and a career isn’t exactly the same thing. Yes, the job that you’re performing might be a job that you’re doing for your career but there’s a difference. A job is something that you do that you have no interest in. You go to work every day just so you can make money and get by. A career is a lifelong thing that you do and you enjoy. You go to work every day to make money but to also gain valuable knowledge and experiences that will help you in the future. Working at Burger King is a job. Working as a developer for Google is a career.

My present employment is somewhat a job and a career. I don’t mind working there and it helps by giving me some knowledge that I can use for the future but my current position doesn’t allow me to work my way up the corporate ladder though. I’m in Tech Support and that’s it. And Tech Support doesn’t allow room for improvement. If I wanted to move up, I would have to apply for another position.

But for my new job, there’s lots of room for improvement. I’ll be working for Siemens Westinghouse Canada as a Junior I.T. Technician. I had an interview with the I.T. group last Friday. At first, I thought it was an interview with the I.T. Manager but when I arrived at the meeting room, I saw that there were five people sitting around the table. I started to get a little nervous because there were so many people interviewing me. That’s how I knew that the position that I was being interviewed for was a big one. Nonetheless, I went into the interview very confident and very enthusiastic.

I’d have to give credit to my girlfriend since she was the main source of my motivation. Normally, I’d go into an interview with a mediocre attitude. I would walk in, say what I had to say and leave. After the interview, I don’t expect to get the job or anything. If I get the job, I’m happy. If I don’t, it doesn’t bother me.

But this time around, I really wanted the job. The interviewers informed me that they will make their decision by Wednesday. If I didn’t hear from the by then, they instructed me to contact Human Resource and inquire if the position was filled or not.

When Wednesday arrived, I anxiously waited for a call. My cellphone rang around 3:00pm but it was a false alarm. It was my friend Carole calling me and asking if I wanted a Wii. I was excited about the Wii so I told her to grab me one right away. So now, I’m all hyped up because I just got a Wii and I still haven’t heard anything from Westinghouse.

About an hour later, I received a call from Human Resource inquiring about an email that he they sent out requesting references. I informed him that I faxed him a copy Monday night. I received a confirmation of receipt on Tuesday morning. I started to get a little worried because I wanted to be prompt in fulfilling their requests. But in the end, he told me that they are offering me the job and will have a package sent to me.

I wanted this job for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to start my career in the I.T. industry and I saw this as a good opportunity to get my foot in the door. It’s a junior position so it allowed me room for me to improve and work my way up. Secondly, the work hours are regular working hours. I don’t have to worry about any night shifts anymore. For that reason, it meant that I would have more time to spend with my girlfriend.

So now that I’ve been given a chance to work in a big company, I have to leave my present employer. I’m looking to hand in my resignation letter on Friday which means that my manager will not receive it until Monday. I could date the letter two weeks from Monday but that would mean that my last shift will be on a Monday. I’m sure that will screw up the payroll somehow so I’ll be dating it for the Friday that I’m handing it in. So here’s to a new beginning in a new company. I’ll be working hard to ensure that I stay with the company for a long time.

The world is a very big place but the internet has turned it into a small one. The internet is connecting people from all four corners of the globe but Facebook is connecting people that I didn’t even know, knew each other. It’s interesting to see how people are connected to each other and Facebook has done just that.

I first came across the term “six degrees of separation” when I saw a movie starring Will Smith. I don’t quite remember what the movie was about though. I remember that Smith’s character was living with a family who knew someone that he knew. Six degrees of separation is about the idea that everyone on Earth is somehow connected with another person. No matter how large the population of the Earth is, the connectedness between two people is far smaller.

At the moment, I have no way of figure out how far my social networking goes. I can only confirm a couple of degrees apart, thanks for Facebook. Nonetheless, a couple of degrees separating me and someone I know is still pretty interesting. With the visual links that Facebook provides, it’s hard to say that the connectedness is purely coincident. My girlfriend says there’s no such thing has coincidences and she’s probably right.

You can pick any two people on the face of the Earth and you can probably link them using no more than six other people. I could be connected to the Prime Minister through a series of people and not even know it. Actually, I don’t know it because I can’t link enough people to confirm that. But I’m probably connected to a friend who knows a friend who has a sister who’s dating a guy who has a mom who’s friend’s with a parliament member who knows the Prime Minister. It could be as easy as that.

When I worked at the library, I met a lot of different people. Every one of my coworker was from different part of the city. The library was my portal to a wide range of social network. For example, one day I was talking to my coworker, Diana on the second floor. We were talking away and she mentioned that she was sending to some event in St. Catherines. It was some piano recital that one of her students was performing at. Later that night, I was talking to Carole and I had asked her what she had planned for the weekend. She mentioned that she was attending some piano recital. Immediately, I remembered what Diana had told me so I asked Carole if the recital was in St. Catherines, which she confirmed that it was. As it turns out, Carole and Diana both teach piano for the Conservatory of Music.

Another example is a college friend of mine, Lan. She used to work at the library but I think she quit before going to college. Her sister, Linda was hired to take her place. The only way I could connected the two together was the fact that they had the same smile. One day, I was hanging out with some friends when a friend mentioned some times about his sisters. I thought nothing of it until he mentioned his sister’s name. His sisters were Lan and Linda. Lan and Linda are sisters of Tan. I’ve known him since high school but I had no idea that he had any sister. I particularly had no idea that they were girls that I knew of.

This is Stephanie Ly, a Chinese Canadian model from Calgary. Up until last year, I had no idea who she was because I haven’t seen her on any covers of Import Tuner or anything. Last year she was in Toronto for Importfest 2006. My friend from London, Lizzie is a model for Rockstar which is the same company that Stephanie modeled for and both of them were working the same booth. When I went to Importfest, I didn’t see Lizzie because she was on break. So, I didn’t pay too much attention to the Rockstar booth. I know Lizzie through Gus. Project One was supposed to collaborate with Lizzie to work on on a DJ’s website. So I’m connected to Stephanie because I know Lizzie. And I know Lizzie because I went to school with Gus.

I didn’t know it at first but the model in the background of one of my pictures was Stephanie. There were a lot of girls working the Rockstar booth but not too many of them had the same hair style. That night, Stephanie had the long hair with blond highlights, which is the girl in this picture. In the first picture, she probably seems like she’ pretty tall but in person she’s actually really short.

A while ago, the car of my dream was the BMW 645CI Coupe. But cars manufacturers are always coming out with newer and newer models. That car dream has now been upgraded to the 2008 BMW M3 Coupe. The price tag has also been upgrade to $150,000. I am drooling just looking at this car but not the price tag.

The ’08 M3 is the first ever V8 M3 that BMW has made. The new engine weighs about 33lbs, which is less than the previous six cylinder model. The eight cylinder power unit displaces 4.0L and produces 420hp per 295lb-ft at 3900rpm with a max rpm of 8400. It goes from zero to a hundred in 4.8 seconds and has a top speed of 248km/h. The average fuel consumption on this car is about 12.4L/100km. It comes in a six speed manual transmission with integrated, temperature-related oil cooling, mass inertia-optimized double-plated clutch. An all new aluminum suspension gives a highly dynamic driving experience. It has a reinforced carbon fiber roof which reduces the weight of the vehicle and gives it that racing look. Enhanced agility is achieved by lowering the car’s centre of gravity.

This model looks almost similar to the BMW 645CI Coupe except for some minor exterior details. The M3 has a little bump on the hood and a fin like object on the roof. The bump on the hood wasn’t really necessary and I think the designers added that in for looks. But then again, they could have added it in for air induction. If you look at the engine compartment picture, you’ll see an intake port by the engine. As for the fin, I’m not sure what that does but I have one on the Camry and that does nothing at all.

If I buy this car, the insurance company is probably going to milk me for all I have. At the moment, with a four door car, I’d be paying just over $300 so you can imagine how much I would be paying for a two door luxury car. I can probably afford the car but I don’t think I’ll be able to afford the insurance on it.

Does anyone have $150,000 that they’re willing to lend me so I can buy this car? I’ll pay you back, honest.

It’s been a while since I’ve actually worn my prescription eyeglasses. My previous pair of eyeglasses was made by Guess and I was hoping that it would last me for a while. It came with clip on sunglasses so I didn’t have to worry about get another pair of sunglasses. Unfortunately, I misplaced that pair somewhere and I haven’t seen it since late last summer.

My new eyeglasses arrived in the mail today. I purchased a pair off eBay from a seller who was located in Chicago, Illinois. The total came out to $90 and I had to pay for it using money order because the seller did not accept PayPal from international buyers. My address was verified and everything so I don’t know why he didn’t accept it. Using PayPal to pay for items is one of the quickest methods of payment available but for some reason he doesn’t want to deal with international buyers this way.

Since this seller refused to accept a PayPal payment from me, I had no choice but to send him a money order. Once the money has been mailed out, I have no control over the length of time it takes to arrive in his mailbox. I prefer making my payments with PayPal because the payment arrives in his account almost instantly. I don’t like to have to wait to pay for an item. The quicker I pay for it, the quicker it gets to my door step.

The eBay auction ended on March 9 but a week later, the seller filed a non-payment complaint against me. I told this guy that I wanted to use the quickest payment method available but he didn’t accept it and told me to send a money order. It’s not my fault that the mail system takes a long time. He could have waited at least ten business days before filing a complaint. On March 22, the seller removed the complaint because he received the payment. If he was patient enough from the beginning, there wouldn’t have been any need to file a complaint.

Maybe I should have filed a complaint for not receiving the item a week after he received the payment. It took ten business days for the item to arrive in my mailbox. That’s the standard length of time when you order things from the US. I was patient enough to wait at least ten business days before sending out an email. Luckily for him, as soon as I got home, I saw that I had received the eyeglasses.

I bought a pair of Giorgio Armani eyeglasses. The measurements are 49-19-145, which is the length of the eye pieces, the nose bridge and the handles. The frame is gunmetal in colour and is very light. When I put it on, I can barely feel them on my face. The eyeglasses came in a beige hard cover case with a soft cleaning cloth inside. Hopefully, I won’t lose these. The last pair I had was supposed to last me for quite a while but they went missing around a few months.

Right now, demo lenses in the frames. The brand name, “Giorgio Armani” is printed on the left lens. I’ll have to go to the optometrist and get my eye exam done again so I can get my prescription lenses in there. This time, I’m just going to get the basic stuff and nothing fancy. Anti-scratch is all that I need on my lenses. Last time, I opted for anti-glare but that really didn’t help much. It cost an extra $50 for that and I barely even notice it doing anything. If you ever get lenses for prescription glasses, I’d recommend getting just the scratch resistance coating and nothing else. The other options are just a waste of money.

Tax season is amongst us and people are rushing to file their returns so they can get their refunds. Those who has to pay taxes are waiting until the very last moment to file. Like the previous year, I’ve filed my income tax over the internet using Net File. I had to wait a while because that service was temporarily down last month. I didn’t get notification of when it was up until a week after they’ve fixed the problem. I was afraid that I might have to mail it in which would have meant that I would have to wait a lot longer before I get a cheque in the mail. I am expecting a large portion back and with it, I intend to spend it.

This tax season isn’t quite like previous tax seasons. This year, I had to include my business’ income with my return. Last year, Project One didn’t make any income because I was busy with school and work. But now that I only have work to worry about and not school, I took up a side project to work on. This is the second year that Project One is in business and everything that we make it pretty much profit. We don’t have to worry about office space and utility bills since my business partners and I work from home. And because we work from home, we can claim some of our bills and use it towards the business.

I can claim a portion of my room as office space but I don’t know the exact calculation for that so I didn’t claim it. I use my cellular phone as a business phone so I was able to claim a portion of that. Plus there were some business expenses like my camera. I needed to get the camera to take some pictures of the clothing inventory for one of my previous clients so I can claim that as a business expense. I could probably claim gas and some other expenses but I’m not too familiar about how to claim them. My business partner and I were going to wait and have our taxes done by an accountant but I couldn’t wait that long. I had the necessary numbers so I punched that into the computer and filed my taxes before him.

I am expecting an $800 tax refund this year but I haven’t decided on what I’ll be using that money for. A good thing to do is to put that money back into my RRSP so I can prepare for next year’s tax season but I don’t want to save my tax refund. I want to use that money to buy stuff. But since I’ve been helping people with their debts, it might be best to put that money towards the bills.

But then again, I do want to get a Wii. They’re still hard to find but there are a few places that receives weekly shipments. I heard that Walmart usually gets a shipment or one or two every Tuesdays so I could probably check them out. I’m not sure how much the retail price is here in Canada but I’m assuming it’s close to $300 which doesn’t sound too bad. It’s been a while since I’ve purchased a gaming console. If I do manage to get one, I don’t think I’ll get to play it much so the purchase is mainly for my little brother.

Since I filed my taxes over the internet, the processing time it takes for a refund is fairly fast. It’s usually two weeks before I get a return. If all goes well, I should be getting the amount that was calculated on my return. If there’s a mistake, I might get less or more depending on what kind of mistake it is. I prefer that I made a mistake and get back more.