A new job

Tomorrow I start a new job. After being fired by SMS on the 1st of April (no, not a joke) I've been looking for work in the IT industry, preferably something that I can use most of my skillset.

The job came from a very suprising place, one of the companies I serviced while working for Microarts.

Even better, my role and title is IT Manager. The pay is pretty damn good too!

The people who I will be working with are fantastic and the company culture is probably the best of any I have worked for.

Holiday: Day Eighteen

The day after the day that didn’t exist. I’m well rested and the arrival back into Australia was uneventful.

Silly Telstra didn’t get my message regarding the fact I’d be overseas during the time my bill was issued, due, overdue and so they put a bar on my phone so I couldn’t make calls or send SMSes.

Going through customs, this was the first time that I’d actually had to declare anything. Seeing as I bought a heap of clothes worth more than the $900 limit, I did the right thing and ticked the applicable box.

Despite this, I didn’t actually get asked to pay any duty and it highlighted something important. Do the right thing and you may not be worse off, do the wrong thing and you could be very much worse off.

After not finding a Starbucks in Terminal 2 at Sydney, I settled on a nice bar/café which were kind enough to let me use one of their power-points behind the bar to charge my laptop.

The final stretch to Adelaide went quickly. Mum was nice enough to pick me up from the airport and even bought me a Cibo Alto Latté.

This has been an incredible trip. I enjoyed it despite the issues that occurred from time to time.

Holiday: Day Seventeen

On the plane again for the return trip across the pacific ocean; and I got my window seat! Not only that, the seat next to me was empty allowing me to spread out.

Despite catching glimpses of it on most of my flights, I finally got to see Happy Feet right through. Very enjoyable and the animation was excellent.

I actually got 7 hours sleep on the flight and watched about 5 episodes of Smallville. It was a short day because really it didn’t exist due to the crossing of the international date line.

Overall, this was the best flight of my trip.

Holiday: Day Sixteen

My journey back begins here.

Had my final breakfast at the awesome buffet in the Dallas Fort Worth Marriott served by the wonderful Barbara again. Adam & Christie joined me and we all ended up carrying our stomach’s out from over-eating.

One of the funny things Adam and I came up with was that the lifts here go “bong” for each floor you pass. We both thought “The Hunt for Red October” and with my best Sean Connery voice.. “Give me a ping Vacsilly… one ping only please”. It had us in stitches.

Unlike my previous encounter with American Airlines, Linda at the DFW check-in counter redeemed the company. Despite nothing being mentioned on any other flight, my suitcase was too heavy at 70 lb and I would have to pay a USD$50 fee. She was very good and called me over to an unused counter and gave me a box and helped me extract 10lb from my case so it met the limit and put the rest as a second item.

Because security wasn’t as busy I took the time to chat to the TSA people as I went through and expressed thanks to them, which surprised them. I said “I’m grateful for what you guys do, I certainly prefer a slight inconvenience now than to have a very bad day later”. I think they cop a lot of flack and are despised by a lot of people, but just like most customer service people, they are only doing their job.

On the plane from Dallas to LA, I sat next to a guy by the name of Michael. It turns out he was retired cameraman specialising in steady-cam operation for movies and television and had worked on some really big films like most of the Rocky’s, Demolition Man and others for about 40 years. He certainly appreciated my taste in movies and actors. We also shared a love for the television program “Inside the Actors Studio”.

At LA, I had to go from Terminal 3 to Terminal 7, which was a good 15 minute walk. How I wish I had my walking shoes instead of my comfy puma’s. At least I my bags were checked through already.

Having a paper ticket meant I had to wait in the long line but no probs with that. I had plenty of time. Things are going smoothly finally. No issues with ticketing, security and I got my window seat. The only down-side is that the limited selection of food outlets in the terminal meant I ate McDonalds for dinner. Wow, I even found a place to wait which had a powerpoint for my laptop.

Then I get an SMS….

“I wish to advise that due to business pressures your position has been made redundant effective immediately.”

Wow that’s low. Being fired by SMS message… and no, it wasn’t an April fools joke… I wish it was!

I’m not overly concerned; they have to give me 8 weeks notice according to my contract so I’ve really got 2 and a bit months before things start to hurt. But by SMS message… that’s just not cool. They could have at least done it in person when I got back in a day and a half.