This was the best episode ever!!! Keep up the good work writers….whenever you get your deal worked out.

Well, to be honest. All the posts that you have seen on here that ‘Mandy wrote’ I really wrote them. I know embarassing, Mandy is not into blogging as much as our list of friends there are on the side.
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So, managing 4 blogs is a little much, and since Mandy isn’t going to make any effort (cause she doesn’t care and isn’t into blogging), I’m going to shut down the site, the site will point to HeyZeus.org. This of course unless you the readers coax Mandy into writing a post or commenting on how much you enjoy the writing I do for both Mandy and I. So, if I see any comments wanting to keep the site around with things that are going on in our life, please voice your opinion. If I don’t see any comments within a month, it’s goodbye HZ & M.org…..

I’ll publish a partial post Mandy TRUELY started to write…you can see it below this post.

This was a great site for our wedding details and background information about Mandy and I. I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted….Best Wishes..

So Zeus has been on me to post to this site ever since we put it up. Typically I edit and point out spelling and grammar errors but never write myself so I decided (since I have some time at work and unmotivated and waiting for my boss to wrap up so we can go get drink) I’ll post.

So, yesterday did not go as well as I had hoped. (Perhaps it will be theraputic for me to even write about it). You probably don’t know but I’ve started particpating the APR (Accreditated in Public Relations) process. This is a really big deal in the PR industry and demonstrates your committment to the profession. Because it is such a rigorous process not to mention time committment, a majority of PR professionals choose not to obtain it. I decided to “go for it” for a variety of reasons… 1) I wanted to (and when I want to do something, I tend to just “go for it.” If I fail it’s ok, b/c there’s a lesson to be learned) … 2) more bargaining power at the job interview table… 3) I viewed it as my first step towards possibly returning to school to earn my Master’s. Why do this before my Master’s? Well, after the intense prepartaion process, there’s an even more intense test to study for and take. I looked at it as slowly working my way back into “study mode.”

Anyway, prior to taking the test, one must complete a written submission about one’s career path and experience (mine was 13 pages) and then prepare and present your portfolio of campaigns to the Readniess Review Panel (three PR professionals who have achieved their APR and are judging if you have the experience, knowledge, skills and abilities).

First off, one of my panelists, was 20 minutes late. I had been up since 4:30 am with anxiety over this presentation, and one of the panelists can’t even show me curtosey of showing up on time?

Last night I went with Sizzle, and his lovely girlfriend Ashley to Club Whispers (aka J.J. Whispers) the new Orlando Improv location on Tuesday nights.  The very funny comedian Tony Roberts (Tony Roberts MySpace Page / Wikipedia page) put on an amazing set!  He was recently on Def Comedy Jam on HBO, and is definitely an up and coming comedian.  Whispers is now acting as the location for the old Orlando Improv.  Acting as the new place in Orlando to hold live comedy, I appreciate the owner(s) for supporting live comedy!  I definetely recommend this place to anyone on a Tuesday night.  They have some really great acts (more big name acts coming) so you should definitely check it out!  Mike the host was hilarous, and a must see act. 

Since October 19, 2007 I had been unemployed (I was working for GD as a contractor, a risk Mandy and I were willing to take). Being unemployed is a very challenging experience, but one people should experience (that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger type thing). I hope if you do experience unemployment be it a good time in your life (ie. where you have a good emergency fund, and a time where employment is high). Mandy and I were fortunate to have a good emergency fund.  Also Mandy was still working and taking extra dance and writing gigs, along with being super supportive (she really is an amazing wife/person)!  And I believed I had enough experience to quickly get a job. Nonetheless, it took me much longer than I had imagined to find a satisfying job overall (considering experience and pay together). 3 months of applying to over 180 jobs using Emurse, Emurse Jobs, craigslist, a career fair, and other job boards, I was finally hired by……(you’ll find out below).

At first I was applying to jobs that I was most interested in, because I was over confident with my experience. After not reaching my goal of getting a job within a month, I turned my efforts up quite a bit (especially since Christmas was right around the corner). Total I had around 15-20 job interviews, between the Orlando and Jacksonville area. In addition, I had a number of recruiters at agencies and for specific companies interested in using my experience contact me, but none came through. Finally on November 2nd, I had my first interview with Lockheed Martin, I spoke to a manager who highly recommended me to one of his co-workers. A week later I was contacted by another manager who brought me in for a second interview. One week later they offered me a position as a Systems Engineer Sr. I started January 14th, and January the 19th would have been 3 months of being unemployed.

I really took my experience for granted.  Nothing came through as quickly as I had hoped.  Even using the suggestions of friends to contact companies I wanted to work for directly (even if they weren’t hiring, see What to do after leaving a job) and creating different resumes for different technology businesses.  It was a very challenging time in my our life. Definetely a good experience and life lesson. 

Our water heater is at least 17 years old, and it’s never been drained. I replaced both elements and thermostats and was not able to drain it, which lead to a draining via the element holes, not fun. I tried to suck out some of the sediment, but that was a bitch itself. I bet there’s about 4-5inches of sediment still in my water heater tank. I have so much sediment, you can open the drain valve and nothing comes out! Empty out your water heater tank at least once a year, it’s preventative maintenance!!
Update: Also, don’t turn on your water heater if it’s empty it’ll ruin the element and you’ll have to replace it again…I learned that the hard way!