Yummy

Just finished eating pizza at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn. Dude. Sooooo good. The most important ingredient in a pizza is the sauce. And this had such a great sauce in its pie! Mmmmmm...

Family Fun

I had a really great time in Bremerton today. I always love visiting my mom at her place. But, even better, my brother had a chance to drop by for lunch. He brought along my 2-year old nephew Brandon, 4-year old niece Savannah, and 5-year old niece Sierra. I don't think I've seen these kids since Christmas. Tsk, tsk, tsk, Uncle Rodney. My sister also dropped by with her little five-month old chihuahua, Slushy.

The longer I don't see the kids, the more tighter the hugs and the more sloppier the kisses get. I couldn't help but just hug the heck out of all three of them. They're all so adorable. My little Sierra is such a little smart alec. Lucky, it never got to the point where I needed to discipline her. She stayed within the "get scolded" boundaries and remained cute within the couple hours I saw her.

Savannah is talking so much more than she ever has before. She's been the quiet but strong one out of the three kids. I can tell she'll be the protector for the kids.

Brandon's just fearless. No problems playing with Slushy... and, in fact, no problems playing with the neighbor's fenced in little yapping dog. Brandon just went to the barking dog, put his hand closed, and the dog stopped barking & was happy to get notice.

You know how people always categorize kids like, "Yeah, when he grows up he'll be..." this or "When she's in high school, she's gonna be..." that. When people talk like that, I'm always like, "How the heck do you come up with these predictions?" Well, now, I think I get it. There's just something you see in little kids that reminds you of the kids you grew up with.

And, on a random note, I hope I can positively influence these kids in the next few years to become something they can be proud of in the future. Yes. Random.

Ending > Start

My first week of unemployment ended better than it started. Those first two days of just lying around watching movies and TV and doing absolutely felt not-so-great. People have been telling me it's okay to be lazy for a bit. But, for some reason, I couldn't get beyond the thought that I need to be doing something.

The week has been full of some fun/rewarding activities:
--Watched the Mariners play (lose) on Tuesday night.
--Thoroughly cleaned the upstairs portion of the house on Wednesday.
--Made a delicious salmon dinner Wed night for M&E. I'm normally modest about my culinary skills but, damn, that meal was really delicious.
--Met up with an old coworker for lunch on Thurs then hung out with another ex-coworker for a couple of hours at Pike Place Market.
--Late Thursday night, met up with an old classmate for happy hour at the Taphouse.
--Had lunch with a close friend on Friday afternoon. Although he was still working, he spent two hours catching up.
--On Friday afternoon, went for a run/walk/a little more running/mostly walking at Greenlake. Signed up for the 5K Dawg Dash next month on October 18. Finally - motivation to run.

And, I spent a few hours here and there working on my resume. I'm off to a great start and hope to be finish with it by Monday morning. I'm applying for that Senior Accountant position at a cruise line company. If it pays well, I'll be more than happy to take a job there.

How have I felt this week? I'm aight. It's kinda lonely since I'm used to being around coworkers during the day. The days I've taken off in the past have either been for school, medical appts, sick days, or leisure days with G. It's been awhile since I've had this much alone time. The key will be for me to get out of the house. The thing I don't like about that is spending money to do things. Like eating out, going to coffee houses, gas money to travel, etc.

I gotta find out how other people (without kids) spend their times of unemployment. There's so much time to do things. How do you all spend your time? Actually, I don't think unemployed folks read this. So that's a rhetorical question.

Megan Foh-hoh-hoh-ox

Oh, not uh. No way. Dude.

I just googled the Internet to try to figure out who Jimmy Fallon will be having as guests next week. When I'm in New York. And attending his show. On September 24.

On Thursday, September 24, Megan Fox is scheduled to be Mr. Fallon's guest. Megan. Frickin. Fox.

Would my baby blue tux be a bit too much to wear? I'm thinking so. But still. I really hope she's really the guest that night. That would be so rad. Radical. Dude.

Damn you Google

Dangit. I googled my name on Google (uh, duh) and found a ton of my tweets up on the results. Dude. That sucks. Or IS gonna suck when I start applying to different places. I'm changing my Twitter settings to "PRIVATE" right now and then working on cleaning up those links such as:

@RealJessicaAlba Alright, Mizzz Alba. Enjoy Star Trek tonight and make sure you let all of Twitter know what you thought. Later!

Yes, future employer, I stalk fake celebrity accounts.

Gift of film

I just finished watching yet another movie. I know this might sound a little lame but I'm really finding inspiration in these films during my time of unemployment. There's so much to admire.

-A good story makes me dream of writing my own tale one day.
-A brilliant starring actor's performance reminds to utilize my own talents in my real life starring roles.
-A cinematic masterpiece of a director reminds me to see the beauty of the world around me.
-A supporting actor who's been in so many films shows me that I can make an impact in even the littlest of ways.
-A story of love reminds me of my own love story and how I never want the passion to end.
-A making-of-behind-the-scenes-bonus feature shows me how hard we really all have to work to produce our contributions to the world.
-A movie where I have to turn subtitles on reminds me that I'm more visual than auditory when it comes to understanding others.
-A hilarious comedy makes me laugh and happy and reminds me to enjoy life.
-An inspiring story moves me and reminds to find motivation in all that I do.

When I watch movies, I watch movies.

Resume Monday - A Bust

Today's goal of working on my resume is a bust thus far. Not to say that I won't get to it. But, for sure, things aren't going planned. Ended up watching "28 Days Later" and "28 Weeks Later". The two movies really surprised me. Why did I think they were going to be B type movies? Instead, it was cinematically beautiful. Both films were intense with great performances and good story. Who doesn't like a nice zombie-like tale?

I'll clean up for a little bit and then head out grocery shopping. And, I'll return all the movies I've borrowed from the library. In the last few weeks, I've watched:

Step Up 2 The Streets
Nick and Norah's Infinity Playlist
Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix
Into the Blue
Jumper
Step Brothers
The Ten
Mamma mia
Role Models
28 Days Later
28 Weeks Later
Get Smart
High School Musical 3

What's that? Oh, yes. I agree. This is a strange mix of movies. But all the worth the cost.

Free.

Unemployment

Whoah. How weird! I think my entire family is jobless. My mom doesn't work. My bro hasn't been working. My sister left her job in Vegas, is back in Washington, and is probably looking for a job now. And, then, there's me. What a sad bunch! Amuses me so.

Resume Day

Last Thursday, my old HR manager randomly pinged me in Yahoo Messenger. She was checking in with me to see how I was doing. I told her my last day was on Friday and explained my new plans for the future. A few months ago, I had told her I would take a few months off to study for the CPA exam. I updated her with my new plan to just look for a jobby job for now and worry about taking the test later. Upon hearing this, she was all over me about applying for one of two Senior Accountant positions at her work. She told me to send her my resume. I said, "Okay, but, let me warn you. It's not ready."

Upon receiving the resume via email, she opened it, briefly scanned it, and said, "Oh HELL no!" She told me not to send my resume to anyone. Ugh. I'm a man of little-to-no shame. So her brutal honesty was much appreciated. The advice she offered was similar to that of two other people I trust. My resume doesn't correctly represent the experience I have. My education info has some useless info I could cut out and the details of my work experience is lacking.

I'm so excited to spend tomorrow working on my resume. I have about five other really good resumes to use as examples now. AND, my boss gave me an electronic copy of my current job description. I'm so excited to incorporate all this information and send it to my "advisors" for feedback! Also, part of my severance package is receiving job placement services. This includes a professional review of my resume.

This is all really fun to me - trying to sell myself to potential employers. We'll see how optimistic I am a couple of months from now when I'm still looking for a job. For now, Monday will be Resume Day for me.

Two more days

It's 12:40am. Hours before the first of my final two days at Active Voice. Only 16 hours of work before unemployment.

It dawned on me today that I've been a part of several ownerships:
1. Active Voice Corporation (5 yrs)
2. Bought by Cisco Corporation, known as Active Voice, Inc. (1 yr)
3. Bought by NEC Unified, known as Active Voice, LLC. (7 yrs)
4. Bought be NEC Infrontia, known asa NEC Infrontia-Active Voice Division

That's almost 14 years working for the various Active Voice organizations. I began as a temp in November 1995. It's scary to think about how long ago that was:

1. A college student entering his sophomore year in 2009 would have been entering kindergarten when I started.


2. Bill Clinton was finishing his third year of his first term as president.


3. A company called Pixar released "Toy Story" as its first feature film.


4. Coolio's "Gangsta Paradise" entered the music charts


5. The Mariners had just completed their "Refuse to Lose" season, having made the playoffs for the first time.


6. The Supersonics lineup included Gary Patyon, Shawn Kemp, Hersey Hawkins, Detlef Schrempf, Sam Perkins, and Nate McMillan.

The person I was fourteen years ago was completely different. I was a college dropout with no direction. I was in a horrible relationship with someone who was controlling and emotionally & verbally abusive. I had no idea what the hell was going on with my life. I was very depressed but tried not to show anyone that side of me. Everyone saw me as happy-go-lucky Rodney. But, in the inside, I felt like my life was going nowhere.

Thankfully, life's journey took me to Active Voice. Lessons in life and love. That's what I'll always remember about this era.

Fantasy Football Fun

Last night, I sent an email to my Fantasy Football league announcing the name change. I know, I know... I'm a little vulgar. But I couldn't help but have fun with the fellas...

AVFFL Champs Under New Ownership
By Rodney Champaco

West Seattle, Wash. -- Last year's AVFFL champions, Kitty Hawkers, have been purchased by an anonymous group. The terms of the buyout keeps the identity of the new owner a secret. But good news for fans of the team. The team manager will continue to be [Lloyd]. The only noticeable change to the team will be the name. The champs will now be known as "Big Ol' TDs". As spokesman for the team, [Lloyd] released this statement:

We feel that the changes to the Kitty Hawkers winning franchise will be minimal. We acknowledge the fact that we may lose fans. But, ultimately, we feel that there is an entire fan base for Big Ol' TDs. Who doesn't like Big Ol' TDs? Personally, I'm sure everyone's gonna want to get a hold of these Big Ol' TDs.

How will the league handle Big Ol' TDs? We'll soon find out as the 2009 AVFFL begins in less than a week. The team has already announced Filipino sophomore sensation, Steve Slaton, as their first round keeper. If the team can pickup more solid players, the league will have to be cautious of a huge amount of Big Ol' TDs in their face.

Another Dream

This is now two nights in a row of interrupted sleep. I went to bed at about 12:30am, woke up at 5am, decided to put on "Role Models", then fell asleep about 1/2 hr into the movie.

Before waking up the first time 'round, I had a dream of me in a crazy threesome. Now, this was truly a dream because I'm not the type who could attract two at once. Actually, I'm not the type who could attract one at once. But, sadly, G wasn't one of them and the other two were women I didn't know. But they were Filipino. To which G commented, "Wow... you can't even have a Chamorro girl in your dreams?" Yes, I told her about the dream and, yes, she thinks my dream girl would be a fellow Chamorro. Well, G, wrong. Why do you think I'm with you?

Now, without getting into any detail and without sharing whether I enjoyed the dream or not [wink wink], I have to say that this dream is completely that. A dream. I cannot even imagine every cheating on G. Ever.

1. She's everything I've ever wanted in a partner.


2. I would never be able to handle the guilt of cheating on her.


3. I always believe that lies can never stay a secret.


4. I just wouldn't ever put myself in that scenario.


5. Other women wouldn't want to be put into that position with me.

And there ya have it. Another dream officially documented. Minus the details. Ohhh, those details [wink wink]. I think I need to find someone to analyze these dreams of mine.

Canks

Ugh. I'm in pain. Complete pain. On the tip of my tongue is a damn canker sore. When I talk, it sounds like I've got a lisp. Not sure why it's here. Honestly, I think it's a combination of things. I think I bit my tongue. Plus, I've had a lot of caffeine lately and tomato based products. Those two alone flame 'em up. What else? Stress. When I stress, they get worse. Heck, when I'm talking to someone who's stressing me out, they start becoming even more painful. It's a real odd thing that I'm not proud of but who cares? I put it out there. I have canker sores.

Note: Just got back from giving my mom a ride from the airport. Turns out she also gets them. Damn genetics. Grrrrr.