2007.12.26
It never works out when I take time off from work. For the last two days I've had a fever, runny nose, sneezing thing. Bah humbug.
2007.12.21
So around Thanksgiving I had thought about putting some lights up for Christmas. Then the neighbor across the street started putting his up. I figured there was no point trying to compete. The little deer's heads even move. Reminds me of a movie that was out several years ago.
2007.12.19
All this getting ready for Christmas is hectic. For the first time in years we have a real Christmas tree. Presents underneath and the whole thing. And cold weather, I can't remember it being this cold at this time of the year since I was a kid. We will be having our first holidays in the new house. A few more years and it'll really feel like home.
2007.11.03
I've told most everyone at work if she wins I'll leave the country. I hope I don't have to make good on that statement!
On a lighter note. Since I've never lived in a regular neighborhood, I've never had trick or treaters. That's right, never. Last Wednesday night that all changed. They came in droves! Four big bags of candy and I barely had enough. It was so cool. We had a jack o lantern and all. I can't wait 'till next year.
2007.10.27
Work slowed down perceptibly last week. I was able to catch up all the submitted plans, almost a two week backlog. Next week promises to be a different story. The developer will attempt to commission a forty story building at our new urbanism enclave Town Center. The beach has never seen a building that tall and I like the fact I was a part of it. It's not quite finished but most buildings end up that way. I am concerned with only the life safety systems and they will be finished.
2007.10.20
The big exam was last Wednesday. I had never flunked an exam in my life until this one. The outfit's web site has sample questions that bear little resemblance to the questions on the exam. Many of the questions required multi step solutions. All in three minutes. It appears the exam questions were written by committee of folks who were expert in narrow areas of the code and their intent was to confuse. Bitter? Oh yea!
2007.10.13
Last week it became official, I'm the City's new Fire Protection Engineer. Monday it's off to Roanoke for training and Wednesday I'm scheduled to sit for a Fire Protection Plan Review exam. I'm more than a little rusty on test taking but we'll see how it goes!
Time Machine
So last Tuesday our City Council did it. Stepped back in history eighty years. Back then the enlightened robber barons provided company housing to their employees. Virginia Beach is calling it workforce housing. No matter what you call it it's socialism. You see, the city doesn't pay it's employees enough for them to be able to afford housing on the open market so they have cooked up a scheme with the local real estate and developer community so their employees can become customers of the real estate cartel here at the beach. At the same time, it will help bottom lines. Just last week the Council was saying how they couldn't afford the rising cost of health insurance for their employees and now they can afford to subsidize their housing. Next up, the company store.