Couple of things before getting into the homework, Magic and jobs.

So this weekend was the “big” local magic  tournament. I started out strong undefeated in the Swiss even though i had to fight the mirror (aka the same deck more or less) and 3 of my worse match ups (Mono red agro).  Took everyone down, if i had to go to the game in many of the matches. Cut to the top eight and got paired up to the person i beat in the first round. It is very hard to beat the same person a second time in the same tournament statistically anyway. Out of so many game each person should win so many games and if you won the first time around the odd shift back to the other person. But that is not how i lost. Once again i lost to the top of my deck game one (mull to 5 with 2 lands keep, drew a 3rd land on turn 9ish… ). Now game two we got to play magic, think i made the wrong call when i could make her discard and it bit me. I hear she, yeah i took off i was running on 1/2 a banana i ate 6 hours ago, lost in the finals to a counter spell. Bad beats all around.

As for the job. I was at my sister-in-law’s yesterday and we were all talking and she told me that the local post office was looking for help. The post office was on my on again off again list as a place i wanted to work. I remember back in grade school going on a field trip to the post office and really wanting to be a mail man. Somewhere along the lines i lost that. So i checked that out this morning and while the current posting it is not ideal job as it is a rural as needed posting but when i called this morning i was told that there was about to be an city delivery position opening up and that sounds amazing. Seeing about getting my foot in the door. And like my wife was saying i could do this as needed thing for awhile while i work on getting on at Turbine.

 

Okay time for homework.

6.1, Do i understand the areas of my competence?

Hmm, yeah? I am a good to fair programmer, i have seen great programmers and i am not in that league but i can follow and work with them. I am great at debugging and fixing things. I am creative, entertaining, clear headed and really great at planing out workflows and tweaking them to be more efficient.

6.2, Do i feel trapped b/c of current/past work experience?

I do feel a little trapped. I more or less took the first programming job out of school and it was great for a long time. But now i am a “php guy.” But a “legacy” php guy. I was the one that not only wrote the new stuff but had to keep all the old stuff working. Then somewhere in the last few years style of programming changed for the better but i had all this legacy code to keep up and major projects i was in the middle of when i looked up and everything was different. It was like i was being boiled alive and the water in the pot was slowly getting hotter so slowly for so long i feel cooked.

6.3, Do i realize how easily my skills/abilities might transfer?

To some degree sure. Once you understand the ideas behind programming; other languages are mostly syntax changes. Mostly…. Being able to work solo or in a team is easy to transfer and these rough learned skills like planing the LDAP structure and creating the interface tools are fairly easy to port.

My main issue is most of my work was done on a private/internal only server and only a small part of my programs are accessible via the public web and those are mostly behind private accounts as well. Being ambushed like i was caught me with my pants down and i have 0 of my code base at home. Most people want to see a portfolio…

6.4, Can i see value in thing i may have done as a volunteer though church or community?

Sure, my writings and castings have value. My ability to entertain is worth wild to the right people. Question is how do i cash in on that? Also my writing has to have improved, right?

6.5, Is there skills or training i NEED for the work i want to do?

Depends, lets say I get one of the Q/A jobs at Turbine, i need to get up to speed on C#, working on it btw Turbine guys… or it is on the list anyway.

If i am going to deliver mail, i just need to get into better shape, also working on it. Cleaning up some of the exercise equipment after lunch and i will be starting some kind of regiment.

6.6a, Has God giving me abilities that do not match my desires?

I am sure there are. I am fairly good at things. Not the best at everything but who is? And there are things i can do that i don’t enjoy there has to be… Just because i can’t think of anything right this moment….

6.6b, If so how can i reconcile those?

Well i need to identify them at first. Then start to evaluate them on a one by one basis, i mean how good at something am i that i don’t enjoy. Other then kids… I am scary good with kids, young ones until about 12 then they become monsters that i am only okay with…

 

Okay all need to go. I want to that everyone that left comments this last few weeks. They all helped. But now i need to clean some stuff, get a workout in and take a gov test i guess.

<3s