I used to love my job, and most days I still do.  So what’s the problem?  After thinking about it for a long time, I’ve figured it out.  I don’t love this job and I never have.  I love being a part of the nerd culture that IT jobs come with.  I love that most IT people will almost certainly have the same hobbies and interests as me.  I love the daily sci-fi references that are subtly snuck into conversation.  I love that people in IT understand and laugh at my D&D jokes, even if they don’t play D&D.  And most of all, I love the mystique that comes with being an IT guy.  The “IT aura”; a term only used by those outside of IT to explain why the problem never occurs when we’re standing there watching.  The powers of invisibility that allow me to walk into the middle of a confidential meeting to hook up a projector or fix a laptop, without even a pause in the conversation.  The look on the faces of those who aren’t technically inclined when they get a glimpse of the big, white room, always lit, always chilled to a cool 68 degrees, and filled with the green blinking lights and dull hum of a hundred servers that very few outside of IT understand.  These are the reasons why being in IT is a unique experience. 

It’s strange really.  I’m not especially skilled in my job.  I’m quite capable of getting my job done, but I couldn’t process a loan or run a marketing campaign any more than the people in lending or marketing could troubleshoot their own computer issues.  I’m rarely awe-struck by the work of other departments, yet somehow my entry-level desktop support job grants me a level of respect and admiration from all levels of the organization, from the interns to the executives.  It’s sad how a few simple mouse clicks that have become second-nature to me can garner comments like, “You guys in IT are so smart!” and, “I don’t know what we’d do without you!”

Sadly, these things no longer satisfy me.  I find myself three terms away from graduating with a degree in Management/Information Technology, with no clue what I want to do for a living.  Maybe I’m better suited for accounting, or marketing, or R&D, or journalism.  Who knows?  I’m fortunate that Shanan is completely supportive, but it still scares me.  I’m not afraid of changing careers really.  I’m afraid of the blank stares I’ll get the first time I make a D&D joke or Star Wars reference.  Even worse, I’m afraid of the condescending looks I’ll get from the IT guys who won’t know that I’m one of them…

On a different note, I just won an auction on eBay! It really is like they say in the commercials; it’s more fun when you win it. There’s something exciting about the thought that there could be others sitting and watching the exact same item I’m watching. This auction was fairly uneventful though. There was no bidding frenzy during the last few seconds and even if there had been, my first bid was the highest I (really Shanan) was willing to go.

So what did I win? The first seven seasons of Friends on DVD! In case you didn’t know, I’m a bit of a Friends fanatic. I never really watched it while it was on TV but after a few reruns I was hooked. Shanan and I watched every episode from start to finish back when we had a Blockbuster Online subscription. Now we’ll be able to do it again! Shanan is much less excited than I am.

“Why just the first seven seasons” you ask? Because it was more strategic. eBay has dozens of copies of all ten seasons up for auction at any given time. The problem is that these usually end in last-minute bidding frenzies that push the price up to $110 or more. This is quite a steal considering that a retail copy usually goes for around $200. Still, I didn’t have $110. That’s when I noticed that lots of six or seven seasons were going for $60-$70 with only one or two bids and I went for that option. I still got them for about $10 per season, but without the bidding war I totally beat the system! Kinda…

Oh, by the way, I placed my eBay bid using the iPhone eBay app. I love my iPhone! That is all.

I’ve changed the title of my blog from “The Wannabe Writer” to simply “The Wannabe.”  I figured it was time for a change.  As the tag-line says, I change my mind more often than I change Jaxon’s diapers, which is often.  I enjoy writing and I’m often told I do it well so I see no reason to say that I want to be a writer.  Besides, there are so many things I want for myself and my family that it’s difficult to say that writing is the focus of my life.  It most certainly is not at this time.  So I think the new title works well.  I want to be a chef, a writer, a stay-at-home dad (pathetically abbreviated to SAHD), a network administrator, a CEO, a good student, employee, father, and husband.  Yes, I think the shortened, non-specific title will do nicely. 

So what’s going on in the Woods house?  Plenty!  Jaxon is now seven months old and doing very well.  He was sick for about a week and exploding from both ends, but despite that he still managed to sleep through most of the night and be a fairly happy kid!  He was sent home from daycare a couple of times so Shanan and I had to work magic with our schedules.  All I have to say is that it’s a good thing we both have flexible work schedules and bosses who will work with us. 

Jaxon was also in a parade this morning!  It wasn’t so much a parade as it was a bunch of adults walking their children through the park, but it’s fun to think that he was in a parade.  Sadly, my tech skills failed me this morning.  Upon reviewing the footage I had captured with the video camera I quickly realized that I had recorded the ground for a solid fifteen minutes.  Turns out the video camera was paused when I meant to be recording and it was recording when I meant it to be paused.  Oh well, there will be other parades, right?  Fortunately, Shanan had no problems working the camera.

Fortunately, even with school, I still have time for a bit of fun.  I’m loving the new iPhone 2.0 firmware!  It’s just like getting a new phone!  Seriously, it’s the best phone I’ve ever owned and the ONLY phone I’ve ever owned that gets better with time.  I’m hoping the Wordpress iPhone app that’s supposed to be released soon will inspire me to blog more.  The Salem Art Fair is coming up this weekend and it’s arguably the most enjoyable event that takes place in Salem.  One of our friends has a booth there this year with her paintings!  She’s really good.  You should check out her stuff.  We’ve still got our Wednesday movie night and our relatively frequent movie marathon.  And speaking of movies, at work I just won a $25 gift card to Regal Cinemas which should come in handy for seeing The Dark Knight next week! 

• Black dress shoes
• Brown dress shoes (my wife forbids black shoes and brown clothing to be worn together)
• Casual, slip-on weekend shoes
• Junk/yard-work shoes
• Running shoes
• Sandals

A relatively short list covering all the basics, right?  Well I’ve got a confession.  Lately I’ve developed an OBSESSION with NikeID shoes.  Basically, they’re Nike shoes that can be customized with your choice of color.  You can even add your name onto the tongue or heel of most of them!  They’re moderately expensive and they take about a month to arrive, but then you have a pair of shoes that very few other people in the world have!  Incidently, my running shoes are NikeID shoes, and every time I wear them in public I get at least one comment to the effect of, “Wow, great shoes!” or, “Where can I get a pair?”  Here’s a picture, along with a collection of other shoes that I’ve built (click on the picture to see more angles).  Note that I don’t actually OWN any of these shoes, except for the first pair.

Anyway, the experience was good in the sense that it was a milestone for our son.  Personally?  I HATED it!  He was covered in nastyness!  Disgusting goo running down his face!  A full half of everything that went in his mouth came back out!  AHHHHHH!!!

Oh well, he seemed to enjoy himself…

So my new schedule will be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8:00am to 7:00pm.  That means Wednesdays off!  It’s a win-win situation.  I get two hours each day from 5:00-7:00 to do after-hours work and get things done without the phone ringing, and in case something goes down during that time, the department has someone to cover phones.  But I also get one whole day a week at home with Jaxon, PLUS, having Wednesdays off means I’ve got myself a perpetual two-day work week.  It’s brilliant and everyone benefits!  We’ll see how long it lasts.  I’m guessing a few months at least, but if all goes well I could have this schedule for a while.  Yay!

I believe myself to be quite lucky.  It seems a fairly common thing for mothers to take three months off work after the birth of their child.  The Oregon Family Leave Act even requires that employers allow employees a full twelve weeks of leave (although it doesn’t require them to pay the employee for the leave).  Fortunately, Shanan’s work allowed her to accumulate twelve weeks, and from December 18th to March 10th she was home with Jaxon.

But even more fortunate than that is that my work allowed me to accumulate eight weeks!  That means that I’ll be staying home to take care of Jaxon until May 5th!  I feel like a stay-at-home-dad and it’s awesome.  Jaxon and I have a lot of fun together and things are going very well so far.  Next week I hope to start getting out of the house with him and going on walks or to the park that’s only a few blocks from our house.

I’ll try to post more often in April and get some pictures of Jaxon up.

Yes, the Patriots lost, but I see no reason for them to be upset.  Here’s a team that won eighteen of their nineteen games and somehow that makes them losers?  How does this make any sense?  Personally, if I came in second place out of thirty-something teams, I’d be ecstatic!  Do you think the number two technology company in the world is pissed for not being number one? 

Of course, this seems to be a flaw in the NFL’s system.  Why would a team that won less games than another team be considered the number one team?  Think of it this way: the Patriots are the only team that didn’t lose a game (before the super bowl) right?  So that means that if the losing team of a football game was killed after the game, the Patriots would be the only team left alive right?  That’s what I thought…

Jaxon came to work with me a few nights ago.  He got to hear how soothing the soft hum of the servers is.