Bobby Earl {Blog}

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I am a professional

Work’s going great. I just got back from Artesia, NM where I installed software at the US Border Patrol Academy. I have some pictures from the trip. The folks at work made a special picture using my nickname at work – Bearl. I also posted a few pictures from the Charleston Beer Festival which includes a random photo of me and Stephen Cooley.

I’ll be moving again soon. Hopefully closer to the beach. I’m looking forward to it because of the obvious reason of being so close to the beach, but also having roomates again. Some people are glad when they finally get rid of their roomates but I’ve found that I enjoy the company.

Chip and I have mimmicked the 5 D’s of Dodgeball – Dodge, Dip, Duck, Dive, and … Dodge – with our own 5 B’s. Bitches, Beaches, Beer, Bocci, and … Bitches. Other than work and goofing off there’s not much more I can say.

I Missed the Taco Truck

Finally, I write. I wanted to before but everytime I’d start I quit. A lot has changed in my life since I wrote last. I took at job at VarnerMiller in Mount Pleasant, SC. It’s right outside of Charleston, SC. I like the job. I’m a systems engineer but my duties range from network administrator to programmer. I am “the” it guy. It’s a much different role than the one I had at Winthrop. This week I worked on fixing some neglected network issues as well as acquanting myself with Flash and it’s ability to communicate with a database.

That crap probably doesn’t excite you like it does me. And not in that sexual excitement way. Well, wait. :-) Anyway, my bosses were amazing enough to offer me a place to stay. I’m living in the townhouse they own which is near they’re house. I lived with Chip and Ben in West Ashley for a week. I had more fun there just because I was around people but living on the couch wasn’t too exciting for 3 or 4 months. The drive is 1.1 miles less now but I think it takes about the same amount of time simply because of all the friggin’ people. I used to think there were a lot of people in York County. It’s just car after car out here.

I’m thinking it’s gonna be hard in a few months when I move in with Chip and Griffin. The place I’m in is nice. I mean nicer than anything I’ve ever lived in before. It’s hard right now living by myself. I’ve had a roomate for lived with the parents for twenty-two years and how I’m all alone.

About the title: there’s a lot of construction going on around here. I believe a majority of the construction workers are Mexican. Because of that there’s a taco truck that comes around. It looks and sounds just like an ice cream truck – including the kid music playing. I built up the courage to go over for lunch today and get a taco or something but the damn thing drove off before I could get there. I need to be quicker I guess.

Step away from the computer before I shoot!

I know I know I know – it’s been over two months since I’ve written anything. I really have no reason. I just didn’t feel like it. I can try my best to give a quick recap. For Thanksgiving Ashley and I went to the Ramsey’s in good ole Hickory Grove. I think she went home after that but I can’t remember. I graduated from Winthrop. Christmas came and went. I bought a truck. I accepted a job at Winthrop as an Information Resource Consultant. That’s pretty much it.

I like my job at Winthrop. I like the people, the school, the environment, the work. There’s really nothing bad about it. I am, however, still looking at some other jobs. Tomorrow I have a job interview with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department for a webmaster position. I had an interview in Charleston as well so there’s still some other possibilities out there. The biggest thing is I just wanna get out of York County for a while. That’s pretty much all that’s happened.

I did add some random snapshots of the past couple of months.

Losing Is For Losers

For those that don’t know I applied for a job in Charleston as a software engineer. Well I found out that they have decided to move further in the application process with other applicants. There are several things which make this really suck. I’m not that hurt that I didn’t get that job. I was actually honored to have been there. Half of the applicants had masters degrees. There were really four schools represented: Clemson, UGA, Georgia Tech, and Winthrop. Winthrop isn’t exactly known for their computer science department so it really speaks that I was invited down there. I did get a free night in a fancy hotel as well as a laptop bag.

What’s made this rejection hard is a couple of things. First being I’ve manifested this job into “what I need.” Everything about it seemed to be what I need right now. The facilities were amazing. The pay was great, and most importantly it wasn’t in York County. It seemed like my ticket out. Not that I am 100% set on leaving this county I just got excited about being in a new area with new things to do.

The second reason it’s exceptionally hard for me is that I haven’t lost in a while. I know that sounds conceited and I’m not trying to be. I just mean that in some time the things I apply for or decide to go after, I’ve been fortunate enough to get. I look back at all the jobs and positions I’ve applied for such as: my current job, the Carowinds job, being orientation staff coordinator, being an orientation assistant, working for residence life, getting into Kappa Sigma, getting into Winthrop. All I can focus on right now. Getting turned down – having someone say that I’m not good enough has really knocked the wind out of me. I have been very wound up in anticipation for graduation and getting a real job but this has just knocked me down a peg or two.

Why I Will Never Be A Baby's Momma

You’re probably wondering about not being a baby’s momma, well maybe you’re not, but I’m gonna explain it anyway. I must warn that there are probably gonna be explicitives in this entry as I get pissed when I think about what happened. On Monday morning at approximately 2:00 AM I was abruptley awoken by a LOUD bang. I jumped up and found my roomate in the hallway very disturbed looking. Turns out, some jackass had been banging on our door. Geoff heard it but I slept through that part. Unsatisfied with no response he decides to literally kick down the door. Since Geoff was somewhat awake from the banging he hops up and opens his door only to find a guy starring back at him. The guy says, “wrong apartment” and takes off.

**Wrong Apartment?! WTF?!?! **You just kicked our friggin’ door down at 2 in the morning and you’re dumbass isn’t even sure it’s the right damn apartment? How friggin’ stupid can you be? Geoff said the guy looked as surpised to see him and he was as suprised to see the guy. The guy took off and we weren’t able to find him so we called the cops. Our first question, why in God’s name did you just kick our door down? Looking for crack money was my first guess.

Hotdog Down A Hallway

Man I am tired. Oh God, look at me now. I’ve started this blog by complaining. I can’t do that. I don’t want you to think I’ve have a bad summer. This past month has just flown by. Work has been quite the learning experience as far as becoming more familiar with a few programming languages and allowing me to tune my skills some. There were several times I started to write to tell you about all the good things that were happening and of course I can’t remember them now but I’m sure they were good.

A little pity now. I’m taking 18 hours (that’s six classes) this semester. That last 18 hours I’ll ever take unless I take graduate classes but I seriously doubt that will happen. They claim you should study/prepare 2 hours for every 1 hour you’re in class – so that’s 36 hours. Then there’s my 20+ hours for work. Top that off with my involvement in Kappa Sigma, Lacrosse and whatnot. That’s a mimimum of 74 hours a week I’m dedicated to something. I’m sure things will ease up a little as I get back into the swing of things but man these first few weeks are gonna be rough.

To end on a happy note Friday is my birthday. I will be 22. Whooptie-doo. I am going down to Charleston to relax and have a great time. I really need it seeing as how I didn’t even get a good vacation this summer. The virginia trip was fun but I needed more. Hopefully this stint will hold me off until spring break. Anyway, wish me luck.

Warm Fuzzies Inside

That’s the feeling I had yesterday. It started on Friday. I worked for a few hours in the morning then took off to sign my lease papers. Soon there after I started moving. I moved from 1 until about 8, that time doesn’t even including packing. I weighed myself that morning and then around 7 PM – six pounds difference. All sweat I know but just shows how hard I actually worked. I spent the remaining time on Friday just putting up all my stuff. I live further away from Winthrop now but much closer to the “nice” part of Rock Hill. It’s where the shops, mall, and a lot of eating places are. It was harder to move than I first thought, not physically. I’ve spent the past three years and three months at the same place with basically the same people so there’s a lot of comfort there with a lot of great memories. After getting setting my stuff settled into our new place I feel a lot better though. Being organized and having everything clean gives me those warm fuzzies inside.

On Saturday I unpacked and straightened up some more. I also worked in a little time at the pool. There’s not jacuzzi (which I’m obsessed with) but it was still nice to just relax by the water. Saturday night I just hung out with some friends at the place and realized just how much stuff we stil l need to get, like a deck of cards.

My original intentions for Sunday were to be lazy by the pool all day. Instead I ended up coming into work and helping move equipment in our server room. We recently got new racks and a battery backup system so we’re moving everything around. We worked for about four hours but got so much work done. Pretty much all the work we can do right now until we get some more equipment. It looks ten times more organized and cooler in the room now.

Would you be my advisEr?

I’ve chosen a profession. I am going to be an evil villan. I have decided that I do indeed have a nemisis. I’m sure my friends that know me are thinking, “don’t you already have about 40 of those?” Well indeed but this time it’s a professional rival, okay another professional rival because I know I already have one of those too. I don’t want you to think I have nothing but enemies, I just have a hard time with the “forgive and forget” slogan. More-so just the forget part.

I don’t want to get too specific about who this person is and why they’re my nemesis in an effort to not bore you. This person is the “master,” let’s say, of something that I am passionate for. I know I’m not the best at what I do and I doubt I’ll ever be. I do not, however, doubt that I am good at what I do. I am always learning yet I’ve learned so much already. It just amazes me when I see people in positions that my turds have more qualifications for. Especially when ultimately I as a student and taxpayer am paying for their job. This person’s roll has such a huge impact on the public’s perception of the overall institution. This person’s work is continually shitty. It’s ridiculous that I as a student have to come in and fix things which are supposed to fall under the realm of this employee which makes thousands of dollars. I just hope one day I will be able to find a job which matches the skills that I am so passionate about. I can promise that I will always do a better job than this person either.

Scott's on fire

Well, not Scott but Bobby. Scott might be on fire to but I don’t know Scott so I don’t want to speak for him. I’m amazed I can type this right now without my ginormous head falling over. I went and saw the Orientation skits last night. That was good. I almost backed out from going at the last minute. I knew that if I went I was going to miss it a little, lo and behold, I did. Luckily it turned into more of an ego booster for me than anything, which explains why my head was so big.

I was introduced to someone who’s response was, “the infamous Bobby Earl?” Talk about a rush. I also found out a freshman of mine was an OA which is cool. I then went on to converse with the assistant dean to some other folks. In normal my-mother fashion she was so boastful of me. I did not complain as you might imagine. I just soaked all the compliments in. It was awesome.

Work has been going great to. I do miss being in student affairs, a lot, but being able to complete some of these projects is so rewarding to me. I need to find a job where I can be around people and still have my fun computer time. That would be nice. I’m still trying to find somewhere to live. Geoff and I have both been pretty busy so it’s hard to find time to go and look for places. He did get a job at Fort Mill middle so we might be moving closer to Fort Mill than originally expected. I don’t mind… gets me a little further from Rock Hill.

I can only hope the rest of my summer will be as good as the past couple of days. If that be the case there’s no doubt it’ll be a great one. Only a few more goals I want to start working on for the summer. I ain’t no holla back girl. Search that google!

Why don't squirrels like me?

“Work Work Work Work, Hello Boys, miss me?” Five dollars to anyone who can name that movie. Anyway, I’ve devoted so much of my time to my work lately. It’s not bad because I thoroughly enjoy what I’m doing. I’m currently preparing a template for our new student email message server which will blend into the university’s overall theme for websites. I’m gaining even more valuable experience through it all. I have no question that my hard work will pay off.

It’s become my belief that college students end up doing one or a combination of three things during the summer.

  1. Take classes
  2. Be incredibly lazy
  3. Work insane amounts usually due to the fact that you’re the low man on the totem pole

As said I have been doing lots of work, the low man fortunately isn’t applicable to me. Sitting down writing this entry have I remembered all the work I’ve done so far. Started off by creating a website displaying time and date, current weather conditions based on an xml feed from weather.com, and a snapshot of a campus webcam. I then began tweaking our shared network drives to be accessible from off-campus. That one’s not quite finished. Turns out setting up new accounts wasn’t so much of a problem but changing our 8,000 some accounts is difficult. I created a few FireFox “Search Engines” to search the Winthrop web, faculty/staff, and students.