Oracle is not an old blind lady.

Let’s just say that life is good.  My wife is healthy, with two big healthy babies getting ready to come out in just a few more weeks.  I got a new job in accounting, the field I’ve been studying for for the last four years.  And next week I will be back in school working on my Master’s and down to weekends at my other job– meaning more family time because school means less time away from home than work.

I’ve got health insurance for my family.  No small feat getting that as a server; it generally means when paychecks come out I have to ante up out of pocket to cover the premiums.  But that will be easier now that I have a new job, and in a couple of months I should be getting health insurance through the new employer.

My wife, as I mentioned, is healthy.  She’s also beautiful and strong.  We have a baby room with a changing table and a play pen and some baby clothes.  My wife painted it and decorated it and it’s so cute.  She is my hero.

My new job is with an IT Services firm, basic staff accountant position.  I will hold off naming names for the time being.  It is incredible for me because I have just achieved more success than anyone else in my family ever has.  And I am the youngest.  It is incredibly encouraging because I now feel some confidence that I will always be able to provide for my family because I have a marketable skill and proof enough of that to get hired for it.

If college truly does afford me that, how much more will a Master’s in Accountancy?  And a CPA certificate?  I don’t plan to be ridiculously wealthy, I just want to be able to buy security for my family, unlike anyone has done in my family for generations.

Anyway, my new job uses Oracle for their accounting system.  Actually, they are in the process of converting from some proprietary systems to Oracle, which I get to be a part of.  That’s a fairly big name in accounting systems, so I am excited that I get this experience in learning how to use it, not to mention test and break it.

Finally, the feeling is indescribable of knowing that I will be able to pay all my bills by the end of the week– and possibly never be behind again.  I highly recommend working to improve your life’s conditions to all who have the opportunity.  Which, in the US is a lot more of you than do.

Welcome to the jungle.

Thursday night, I was putting up laundry and my wife was laying in bed, when all of a sudden we heard a gunshot. Followed by six or seven more gunshots. I was like, really? I haven’t heard gunshots in a long while. They’re not nearly as common here as they were in Oregon. Later when the cops came out, we found out there were bullet holes in a car parked on the street. The cop took pictures and picked up the shells, and left. No one was hurt, as far as I can tell. They towed the car the next day. I don’t know whose it was anyway. But after the cops left, I found another shell in my driveway. Whoever was shooting was directly in front of my house.  Scary.

I’ve updated my resume and have been posting it on job sites and sending it to potential employers.  Working at a restaurant just isn’t going to cut it much longer, what with twins on the way and everything.  I haven’t heard back from any employers, but a few recruiters have contacted me.  I’ve heard through events at school and whatnot that recruiters are really the way to get the good jobs in my field these days.  So, I’m glad they saw my resume and said “here’s someone I want in my portfolio to offer to my clients.” With any luck this will lead to gainful employment some time in July, or August at the latest.  Crossing my fingers!

I added a page on here for my resume, if you want to see it.  I wasn’t at all happy with Word’s html rendering of it, so I had to pretty much rewrite all of the html by hand.

Life begins at thirty.

Twenty nine. Whoever said that life begins at thirty was absolutely right. I remember when I was about twelve, I was afraid of getting older because I knew that it meant more responsibility. When I was sixteen, I wanted to leave my parents’ house, but I knew that I wasn’t ready. By the time I was twenty, I was making money and saving money and making plans, but also starting to fishtail in life as people in their twenties do. I needed to make a change, a start, to grab hold of the reigns of responsibility for my own life. I finally did that when I was twenty three, I picked up and moved to Texas to prove that I could make it on my own. That worked out wonderfully. I love Texas.

I decided to start going to college, but ultimately decided to wait a year to qualify for in-state tuition rates. After a semester in a community college in Abilene, I transferred to the University of Texas in Arlington and moved to Dallas where a girl I had met lived. By then I was twenty five. I have maintained full-time hours at UTA and since married that girl who lived in Dallas. Now we both live in Irving with her daughter and twins on the way, and I am in a five-year program at UTA that will simultaneously earn me a BS in Accounting and an MS in Accounting. I will be finished with that program in one year.

I have been working full time while going to college as well. So I’ve been busy. But next year, when I’m done with school and get a real job, I can quit the dead end job. So when I turn thirty, I’ll have one job with fairly regular hours, two babies, a lovely wife, and a twelve year old step daughter who hopefully isn’t worrying about responsibility yet.