I have great news.  I found a job.  After being home for two months, and searching for about two weeks, I was hired by one of the first places I applied to.  Thanks in part to a nice recommendation from my girlfriend, I will be starting as a Customer Service Representative for a Circle K that is very close to where I live.  This is a good thing, because having this job will afford me the ability to keep my truck, and to continue to work on finding a design job, building my portfolio and continuing my education in the design field.  I no longer have to worry about finding something, anything, just to put money in my pocket.  That is a huge relief.  

I know that many would see this as a crappy job, but convenience stores need cashiers.  My girlfriend likes what she does, even with the less than desirable schedule.  One side bonus of this situation is that I will be working with her, sharing the same shifts, and thus being able to see her a little more than I already do.  That is always a good thing.

Beyond the relief of now having a job, I have picked up work on The Speedzine once again.  At the moment, I am working on building content, and still trying to finalize the design.  I have a feeling that a final design will come along further down the road, but one thing concerning the design is set.  I will utilize the WordPress platform for this project.  It seems to be the most efficient way to do this at present time.  If I can update at least one thing a day on the site, I will be happy.

Speaking of updating, after only about a month or so under this design, I am already finding myself wishing I had stuck with WordPress for my main website.  I know that going that route will hinder potential employer’s view of me as a web designer, but I will be working on enough projects to fit that bill.  Additionally, I finally found a program that will help me desgin WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal templates on my own.  More about that in the future, but for now I will probably be switching back to a blog format for my main website.  

In another project that I am anticipate being fun, I hope to roll out with ChatrPad very soon.  I have truly dove into the details, but here is what I do know.  The name will be ChatrPad.  It will be my take on microblogging and my first official foray into social networking.  It will feature a frog as a mascot.  The point of the project will be to provide a more personal social experience where you can just chat.  Sure, you will be able to share videos, links, and the like, but that isn’t the point.  The point is to be able to tell the world that you just ate a sandwich, or that you really enjoyed watching retro cartoons from the 1980s.  I would love to develop a platform that takes the best attributes of Twitter, AIM, YouTube, and Myspace and meld them into one symbiotic service.  

Well that’s about it for me and what I am up to recently.  I really feel lucky to be where I am at right now.  Sure, I have problems, but who doesn’t.  The things I deal with in bad luck are more than made up for from having the opportunity to start over in life.  For better or worse I am pretty much the same person I have always been, now with a bit more experience.  I have been given a new start at life, and I intend on taking full advantage of the opportunity.  I have a great family, good friends, and the love of my life.  I am working on bettering myself and will try my very best to do it the right way this go around. Life IS good.