Urgent Care visit

Well this last Thursday I had a scare. Lately I have been having a lot of back problems, and I arrived to work at 6am like normal. Within fifteen minutes my back was locked up. What really worried me was another 15 minutes and I couldn't breath (it felt like an elephant was sitting on me) and then I became nauseous.

Now, it might not sound like much but those are all classic signs of a heart attack. I was fairly sure it wasn't one, but after an hour of it getting worse I decided the last thing I wanted to happen was to be found dead at work. I then ambled into the urgent care that is only a mile or two away.

They immediately seized me, called a triage nurse and rolled me in. They were absolutely the nicest nurses I had ever met. They did the normal EKG/X-ray and discovered to my joy that my heart is absolutely fine (and actually 15 years or more younger then they would expect with my age in condition).

However, they reassured me it was good that I came in. The symptoms were presenting very much like a heart attack. What they did fine was I have some thoracic muscle spasms and possible some nerve damage/issues with the nerves that run around the front of my chest. The doctor was also worried I might have a collapsed vertebrae. However none of this will kill me. They gave me some muscle relaxers and let me go. They made sure to say even with the back problem to come back in if I had the same symptoms.

So I will leave you with a picture of my room.

A Pet Peeve

Earlier today I posted a shortened version of this pet peeve in my Facebook/G+. The husband unit and I have both talked about this before, but I thought I would share it all with you.

Lately I have been reading the Anita Blake series. Yes it is typical urban fantasy, much like Dresden Files. It does tend to have more and more sex in it (which I have no problem with at all), along with a Mary Sue character. My complaints have nothing to do with any of this. I like romance-esque type novels and it fits well for my style.

However, I firmly believe that eight books into a series, I would hope the character is older, that their life changes like a real person and that the story writing shows the advancement in age. When you have had eight major threats to your life, impressed powerful adversaries and made powerful friends, it isn't going to happen over a few months or even a little over a year. This happens in all mediums (tv, comics, etc) and it bothers me each time.

I am sure part of my issue is that all books are about teens/twentysomethings (and I have a rant later about that), but even barring that I feel like a whole HUGE section of the story isn't being told. I like the idea of the story also including the journey of the person through their life, not just episodes that seem to happen one after another.

If I ever did start writing, I would generally age the character(s) AT A MINIMUM the amount of real time that has passed. If they started out age 25 when the first book was written, then four books over four years pass they would be 29 (and by the 20th book they would be AT LEAST 45, assuming you right one book a year). I do this in my roleplaying games that I run. The minimum time between adventures is the time in real life since the last session (unless of course we stopped halfway through last game, but that is the exception, not the rule). I love watching characters progress, and I think the eventual aging only adds to the story.

I really don't have an answer, and I will still read the books. Maybe I will actually start writing again and see if I can bypass this instinct that writers seem to have to not progress time. I just wanted to share a pet peeve I have with you, so there you go!

365 Project - November 2013

Roomies!

My favorite roommates ever… Theocraticjello and Marmalade.

365 Project October 2013

October  2013 365 Project.

365 Project September 2013

365 Project - September 2013

Sorry, I got behind on putting these out :)

Possible New Job

I am pretty excited, the Department of Defense wants to interview me for a Defense Contractor Auditor position. Meaning I get to audit defense contractors for the DoD. I have a coworker/friend whom I worked with at the State Auditor's Office and she really wants me to work with her here. She feels the auditors have more teeth and do more help for DoD then they do for SAO. Evidently if an auditor finds the contractor did wrong, the contractor often times has to repay large sums of money, instead of ignoring the auditor and continuing what they do.

If the interview doesn't work out on Monday though, I won't be too sad. My current job is pretty cool if albeit a bit lower on the income spectrum. Either way though I am still stuck at getting up at 4:15am so I can commute almost an hour (the DoD is slightly further). However, hubbie will graduate in June then we can move a lot closer. So six months of commuting hell (either way) then to a normal life.

Just a quick work update :)

Work Update

I figured it has been a month that I have been at my new job (plus I have some new news) so I wanted to give an update.

My current job is actually going pretty well. I am gnashing at my bit waiting to actually go audit. I am ready to go out, especially as an investigative auditor for unregistered businesses (basically I am looking for and going after businesses that don't pay unemployment insurance if they are supposed to). Like I said earlier, the quota seems a little scary but honestly I think it will be fine.

I have already found a couple of dozen places, and if I put my mind to it I bet I can triple that. Don't get me wrong, I don't want small businesses to be overtaxed, but if you have an employee, they have the right to receive unemployment if they are laid off, and that is the responsibility of the employer to pay it. I find most of the people I am looking at aren't unaware of the requirements. They are savvy enough to know they need it and try and get around it by claiming their workers are 1099 independent contractors (and about 95% of the time they are wrong, they should hope the IRS doesn't catch them, they are much harsher then we are).

Now, on another front I just got word from the Department of Defense for auditing defense contractors. My application is on the fast track and they wanted to confirm I was still interested and if I am hired I will start either January 27 or February 24th. They need to check my references and verify information though before the interview.

They asked about the County and I was completely honest about what happened. Instead of ignoring the question "have you been released from a job in the last five years, or quit to avoid being released please describe the situation". I figure the last thing I want to do is have them find out later I hadn't mentioned the County situation, after all the big thing about auditing is having ethics and being upfront. If an auditor lies about his work history, it just shows an ethics problem in the future.

Now, it is possible that the situation with the County (even though I don't believe I did anything wrong, I just refused to lie for them) will knock me out of the running. Its a shame since I would start with the DoD making slightly more than now, and top out in three years with a 50% raise (which is more than I have ever made). However, if this does happen, my current job will support us until Jello gets out of school. Also the other positive about my current job, if I am still at it I will try and start my MBA next fall while working there. There are lots of bonuses to my current job (eventual telecommute, easy going group) but the pay and uncertainty of the department are the weak points.

Well, before I ramble too much more I will wrap it up :)