Long time no post

I'm still here. It's been a long month, but things are going well. Our kitchen remodeling project is nearing completion. It's very trying to have your house torn apart for 6 weeks while you work on something as important as a kitchen. You can't shut the door on in when you're not working, instead you have to live in it, step over boxes containing the contents of your cubbords and drawers, dig through them when you want a cup or a spoon, or decide to cook, and you have to use the half completed kitchen everyday to survive. In the end it will be worth it. Hopefully this this the last week of it. This weekend we just have some moulding to put up and some polishing to do! When the end is near, I'll post before and after pictures so you can see, you could also come to our christmas party and see for yourself. It already is looking amazing in it's almost completed state.

The job front is looking quite interesting indeed. In the re-organization they did, I was offered a job at the same level, same pay rate in the new organization as I already had which is good. From what I hear many people were very unhappy with the transition and some had very significant pay cuts. A pay cut could have been disasterous for us in the middle of a remodeling project and all. I accepted that offer and will start in the new org Nov 14. (same job, same coworkers, different management is all) Since Jeff moved out of the office, I sure hope that they decide to move someone else in there since the office is awfully lonely without a coworker to share it with.

In other job news, I applied for a few other positions in Information Security during the re-organization as I wanted backup in case something went wrong during that transition. For those that don't know I am currently working as a System Admin, but am working on a Masters in Information Security and want to head down that path career wise. I applied for a position I wasn't necessarily qualified for, but was one in the Information Security field where I was headed. The hiring manager called be back and said that since I am new to the field I would have a very hard time being successful in that particular position. However, he still wanted to get together with me to see if I might fit into some other opportunities in the InfoSec field. I met with him last thursday, and afterwards he passed my information and resume along with a recommendation to another manager who I am meeting with tomorrow. This is very exciting, and I would to get one of these jobs as a computer security or information assurance engineer. If nothing works out, I still enjoy my old job, but I have my hopes up for the future.

All -- make sure everyone gets out and votes tomorrow. This is one of the most important elections that we've had in California, and there are some extremely important ballot measures. Arnold promised he'd change California, and here is our chance to make that change. These will bring change for years to come.

Ben's Voter Guide:

Prop 73 - Yes - Require parental notification for abortions
Prop 74 - Yes - Extend Teacher Tenure to 5 years, and allow firing after 2 consecutive negative performance reviews
Prop 75 - Yes - Union Dues cannot be used for political purposes without prior authorization
Prop 76 - Yes - Slows down the rate at which the budget can increase each year. Governor has authority to strike spending from budget if there is an inbalace that the legislature can't resolve.
Prop 77 - Yes - Retired judges draw legislative districts instead of legislature. districts approved by voters
Prop 78 - No - Discount perscription drugs to low income families
Prop 79 - No - Discount perscription drugs to low income families
Prop 80 - No - Electricity regulation