everyone's Careers ?

Eddy · Post by **Eddy** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:40 pm

So what are everyone's careers and hobbies ?

I konw all u guys are working now, what do u guys do ?

are u parents already ?

Post by **Mikey_** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 8:09 pm

Nice topic! It's interesting to see an update from everyone again

- Career and hobbies

Career: IT instructor, IT consultant - currently unemployed (but am working on helping my friend set up www.neliance.com)

Hobbies: Movies, Music, Games, Snowboard, Skiing, Tennis, Traveling (time and cost permitting), going to the beach (it's relaxing), Eating, Computers/ IT, ... EDIT: And photography (Thanks, Eddy, for reminding me)

- Parent: No

Not yet married.

How about you?

mb_rockstar · Post by **mb_rockstar** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 11:35 pm

[EDIT: 10.03.04]
Career: Counter Manager/Beauty Advisor
- Benefit Cosmetics in Lakewood Macy's

Hobbies: music (anything i can dance or sing to), playing on my guitar, kareoke, clubbing (shark club), movies (watching japanimation - naruto), pc games (dungeon seige), ice skating(paramount), shopping (at cerritos or south coast...when i have money), working out at 24hr fitness(on my days off), chatting with close friends online (practically everyday), photography and sleeping...alot.

Parent: not married.

Eddy · Post by **Eddy** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:34 am

Career: well my family's in the restaurant business so therefore i have gotten into the restaurant business as well, i enjoy the whole restaurant ordeal. And i'm still in school, have one more year to go, i took a semster off to work, and i've came to the conclusion that i do not want school to end anytime soon.

Hobbies: I love photography (my favorite camera is canon rebel digital), Sports junkie (basketball, badminton, baseball, ping pong, fishing, bowling, racketball, tennis etc..) i'm not particularly good are any of them except bowling, but i love playing sports. Video Game (Warcarft 3, NBA LIVE 97-03)

I don't plan on skiing and snowboarding anytime soon

cuz i get injure playing regular sports already.

I don't think i have any kids..thank god...

mb_rockstar · Post by **mb_rockstar** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:58 pm

ooh i love photography too!

i have a minolta dimage 7 and WAR CRAFT 3!! haha...sigh* i use to play that for hours when i had time.

yea i'm afraid of getting seriously injured, so i'm sticking to ice skating now.

Eddy wrote:Career: well my family's in the restaurant business so therefore i have gotten into the restaurant business as well, i enjoy the whole restaurant ordeal. And i'm still in school, have one more year to go, i took a semster off to work, and i've came to the conclusion that i do not want school to end anytime soon.

Hobbies: I love photography (my favorite camera is canon rebel digital), Sports junkie (basketball, badminton, baseball, ping pong, fishing, bowling, racketball, tennis etc..) i'm not particularly good are any of them except bowling, but i love playing sports. Video Game (Warcarft 3, NBA LIVE 97-03)

I don't plan on skiing and snowboarding anytime soon cuz i get injure playing regular sports already.

I don't think i have any kids..thank god...

Post by **Mikey_** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 2:36 am

mb_rockstar wrote:music (anything i can dance or sing to)

I wanna see you dance to Hard Metal

That'd be a funny sight

My favorite games: Warcraft series (1, 2, 3), the original Command and Conquer, Need for Speed series, NBA Live/ FIFA series, Far Cry, America's Army, Worms series, Puzzle Fighters (ah, memories...), King's Quest series (does that make me gay?), Rainbow Six/ Ghost Recon series, Quake 2, The Sims, Rollercoaster Tycoon, SimCity, SimAnt (yeah, weird), Stunts, 4D Boxing, hm... don't remember anything else. Generally, I like First-person shooters, real-time strategy games, sports/ racing games, and in the past: Adventure games.

Come to think of it, there haven't been any good arcade-style fighting games available on the PC...

Michael

Eddy · Post by **Eddy** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 11:13 pm

when was teh last time they had a good style arcade game for PC?

I'm a huge street fighter series fan, i'm not into the 3D fighting games such as tekken/soul calibur etc....

LOVE NBA LIVE SERIES and NEED FOR SPEED SERIES (my two all time favorites)

I just started playing this boxing game, i think it's only fun if ur playing with friends tho.

i am currently hooked up warcraft 3

Post by **Mikey_** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 6:20 am

> when was teh last time they had a good style arcade game for PC?

Hmm... Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series?

> I just started playing this boxing game, i think it's only fun if ur playing with friends tho.

Is there a boxing game available for the PC? The last one I played was 4D Boxing from EA back in hm... 1992?

> i am currently hooked up warcraft 3

Still finishing up Far Cry. Tempted to try out Rise of Nations.... tempted to buy Battlefield Vietnam to play online. Resisting temptation... to focus on improving my IT skills so that I can get a good job soon.

mb_rockstar · Post by **mb_rockstar** » Sun Jun 20, 2004 6:57 pm

my favorite games: dungeon seige, the sims, age of mythology, age of empires, war craft, star craft, never winter nights, the matrix, alice in wonderland...

far cry looks really really nice!! i can't play it though. i get motion sick pretty fast, hahaha...

[EDIT: splinter cell is cool too!!]

Mikey_ wrote:
mb_rockstar wrote:music (anything i can dance or sing to)
I wanna see you dance to Hard Metal That'd be a funny sight

My favorite games: Warcraft series (1, 2, 3), the original Command and Conquer, Need for Speed series, NBA Live/ FIFA series, Far Cry, America's Army, Worms series, Puzzle Fighters (ah, memories...), King's Quest series (does that make me gay?), Rainbow Six/ Ghost Recon series, Quake 2, The Sims, Rollercoaster Tycoon, SimCity, SimAnt (yeah, weird), Stunts, 4D Boxing, hm... don't remember anything else. Generally, I like First-person shooters, real-time strategy games, sports/ racing games, and in the past: Adventure games.

Come to think of it, there haven't been any good arcade-style fighting games available on the PC...

Michael

Mavis · Post by **Mavis** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:41 am

This is where I work...http://www.hksfc.org.hk

Hobbies? Selling and buying on Ebay (sports cards mostly).
Wanna buy something from me??

Post by **Mikey_** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 2:22 pm

Mavis wrote:Wanna buy something from me??

Hehe... SURE, but... "This seller is not currently offering any items for sale."

Eddy · Post by **Eddy** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 7:13 pm

Mavis wrote:This is where I work...http://www.hksfc.org.hk

Hobbies? Selling and buying on Ebay (sports cards mostly).
Wanna buy something from me??

Wow , i didn't konw you can sell cards online, I collection basketball cards as a hobby also.

So marvis, do you do alot of research in your field?

Mavis · Post by **Mavis** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 6:11 am

Eddy, yup.....but research is not my main job there. I don't do much basketball cards. It's too expensive and it's not really "collectible", if I wanted certain rookie cards I'll just wait till next season to pick them up, since the price drops once the new rookie class takes over.

Only basketball cards I bought this year is SP Signature, got 2 crappy autos: Paul Pierce, Drew Gooden.

Lexi · Post by **Lexi** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 9:11 am

Hi Eddy:

I work for the government and I am in graduate school.

I love my job. My boss is a real sweetheart even if I don't think he is too bright. He's the best boss in the world and gives me a great deal of latitude on designing and implementing creative business projects. He's a really talented manager. I think my boss is an excellent manager who really knows how to motivate his staff. I don't plan on staying here forever but this job will do until I finish my schooling.

I have a lot on my plate right now at work. I am in charge of writing the Annual Action Plan for the entire department. An Annual Action Plan is essentially a business plan. My division, the Finance and Public Policy division generates a 5 year blue print for the direction the County will take for the next five years in all fiscal matters. We publish this puppy and circulate it to all county department heads. It's pretty fun but can be a little stressful at times. It's only stressfull because my boss is not very bright and sometimes he leaves decisions to me that I don't feel ready to make. More importantly he sometimes leaves decisons to me that I feel that I am not knowledgable or even qualified to make. It's kind of a trial by fire introduction to county public policy for me because I don't recieve a great deal of direction from the big cheese. Like I said, he's a great guy. Excellent manager but not a great deal of skill in the guy.

I suppose I should not complain if nothing else he is providing me with a great deal of learning skills that I can take with me to my next job.

I'm in the middle of writing the Annual Action Plan this weekend. My boss is so flippin disorganized. He makes me mad sometimes. We were supposed to have a completed draft ready on Friday for the CEO and County Counsel to review. It didn't happen. So he extended the deadline and basically told me to have a draft ready for him to review by Tuesday.

How did I get stuck writing this thing? Your guess is as good as mine. I have barely had two days to start working on the Annual Action Plan that normally takes staff 3 months to prepare and he wants it by Tuesday. Not to mention the fact that I have NEVER written such a document before in my entire life. But I am leaving on the 15th and I won't be back for about a week so... good luck to him!

I have a skeletan draft that I will finish revising today and I will send it to him. He can do whatever he wants with it.

I'm also working on a school project right now; a country report. I'm taking a Decision Models for Economics class at CSUF right now. It's a pretty cool class. My country report is on Argentina. Do you know anything about Argentina's economy? Post it here if you do.

It's been a fun class so far. I'm enjoying researching my country report. It's Due on the 19th. It has to be 8-10 pages. Whoo hoo! double spaced!! So I am actually not writing that much on this project. My paper basically neds to address four categories: 1) Key Regional and National Issues 2) Position in the Global Economy 3) Stratification System and 4) Environmental and Pupulatopn Health. I need to tie all of this together into some kind of an economic forceasts.

I sat here just squeezing my brain on both of these projects all morning yesterday. Then I decided to take a break. I got in my car, put on my new Killers album and drove to the beach to roller blade for a while.

Aggh! It was so great! I love the beach! I totally needed a research break. I bought myself a huge Lemon Lightning Freezee (these are so good!) and sat on the curb to eat it . I zipped around the beach for a few more minutes and than I came back to finish my work. I'm almost done with the Annual Action Plan. I want to have a complete draft ready for my boss to review Monday morning. I should be done with the country report tonight.

Cheers!

Lexi

Post by **Mikey_** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 9:46 am

It's actually a good benefit that you're being asked to make decisions. Think of it... you get to try out decisions without getting the full blame (since your boss still is ultimately responsible for you.) It definitely IS a good learning experience, including the report writing part. It teaches you how to conjure up things under extreme stress. Trust me, this definitely is a benefit -- I did it for 2 years for practically every day at ictp. You'll learn extremely quickly that way

Speaking of Brea... I applied to the IT Technician II position for the City of Brea yesterday. Sounds like something I could do and the pay is not too bad. Important thing is: it's a government job -- something I've always wanted to try

Economics of Argentina. Try these sites:
CIA -- The World Factbook: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/fa ... index.html
Infonation (by United Nations): http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/i ... nation.htm

Funny, I was on my way to the beach at 9pm last night but turned around when I got a call to join an acquaintance on a New Year's gambling night. I never gambled before and didn't want to go, but she sort of tugged at me until I agreed. It turned out that I was the luckiest guy in the house: 7 Black Jacks in 2 hours! The bets were $1 each round and if it weren't for the Bingo and "Sudden Death" drawings they held from time to time, I would have won $18! Went home with $7 instead. Happy about it though because almost everybody else LOST. One person lost as much as $30.

The entire house of about 20 people was full of Vietnamese and I couldn't understand a single thing except for the word, "Ang" (Eat), every time somebody won big. I have no idea what they said when they kept seeing me getting 20/21 (or Black Jack) so often, but thankfully they didn't think I was cheating as the acquaintance and a couple others just kept laughing with big eyes.

I did leave the house last when the aquaintance's mom asked me to sit down to have a little chat after I told her I didn't speak Vietnamese. Isn't it awkward when you have to do that? The conversation involved a bit of Cantonese, a few Mandarin sentences, and me counting up to 4 in Chiu Chau (don't ask me why...

)

I excused myself to go home around midnight and said in an attempted Vietnamese, Nam Moi Yiu Ye, Ko (or something like that) -- Happy New Year, auntie. I did alright

Hmm... career in gambling? hehehe... Nah. I still won't gamble.

Beach... Maybe I'll go later tonight after visiting Ikea & Sears for a few things.

Ciao, and good luck with the report!

Michael

Lexi · Post by **Lexi** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 11:16 pm

Hi Michael:

Thanks for the work pep talk. You are right, though. I am learning a great deal and ultimately, if I screw up, someone else will take the heat. Kind of sucks bit its true. It makes me feel better.

Hmm, speaking of Brea, I really hope that you get the job with the City of Brea. Than I can call you and harass you all the time for all kinds of stuff. My department works closely with the Economic Development Department for the City of Brea. I have had only a few brief contacts with the IT departments for several OC cities including the City of Brea IT staff. What type of position are you applying for? Programmer? Tech support? What is it that they are looking for?

I have to tell you, I think you are very talented. I know a few government IT staff from various OC cities. From the looks of your website, your knowledge surpasses entry level IT positions. You might get bored working for the government. You seem so creative and you seem to know quite a bit about web design. Not to be mean or criticize anybody but you are going to find that there are a great deal of uneducated people working for the government. There are many people in city and county governments that have advanced to managerial positions simply because they have paid their dues and worked as public servants for eons. I have encountered several management type people in my work circles that only held high school diplomas and a little bit of junior college.

That is not to put anyone down. I am well aware of the fact that college is not for everyone. The majority of really financially successful people in America don’t even hold degrees. Not only is college not for everyone but it certainly should not be a measure of a persons worth.
I don’t know if it is like this in the private industry but I have found that many people in city and county offices do not have degrees. Many people in government advance to management positions due to program knowledge and years vested with the company. There is nothing wrong with this at all in my book. I feel that knowledge and experience should be rewarded. But you understand that someone like me, fresh out of college, might confront certain situations a little differently than the way someone who did not study and learn business and economic theories might? I have had supervisors in the past that had no degrees to their name feel threatened by someone like me who did have a degree. It was kind of weird because I am so not into lame power trips. I just want to go, do my job, and leave it all behind when I am off. Like you, I am very ambitious, but I don’t want work to be the center of my world. That spot will be reserved for a future husband and my children.

From what little I have seen from the City of Brea’s IT department, I think you will shine brightly if you get hired. Like I mentioned, it’s not that I think everyone is stupid and or uneducated in government jobs, it’s just that the pool of college educated people working in many government jobs is actually very small. The City of Brea IT is a pretty small department. I really hope that you get the job. It would be so cool if you were on my same work schedule. I get every other Friday off. Most city and county government workers are on what we call a “flex” schedule. This just means that we alternate Friday’s off. Twice a month we get to enjoy a 3 day weekend. It’s the best! I am actually working on convincing my boss to start letting me have every Friday off. I love only working four days a week. I don’t think that I will be able to pull this one off but I am still going to try. We also receive all kinds of holidays off. I love working for the government. I get to feel as if I am helping people who are in need and I get all sorts of little perks like great health benefits, retirement, unionization, etc.

The only thing that kind of stinks is the pay.

I earn in the mid 40K a year. After taxes, I feel like a total pauper. Some of my friends who went to work in the private industry are already earning like 50K or 60K a year and I am stuck making 40 something a year. My particular position has a salary max of 52K a year. I’m almost at my max and I just started in this position. Once I reach my max, no amount of hard work will ever get me a raise. So I need to apply for a higher position. Those don’t come around very often. So I will have to wait and see. I am happy where I am at for now. I have a great boss and I am just starting my MBA. I have a feeling that having an MBA will increase my chances for promotion. It’s all good.

Besides, I want a family soon. I want to meet someone, get married and start raising a family within the next couple of years. I’m working long hours right now because it’s a new position and I am learning the ropes. These long hours are definitely not the norm. I normally work 40 hours a week and no more. Once the learning curve has kind of settled, I will be getting off of work by around 4:00 P.M. or so the way I used to. Virtually no one in the county or the city works beyond 40 hours a week. They are usually really strict about this. I’m kind of glad because I tend to be a work-a-holic and this kind of puts a brake on me trying to work overtime.

Anyway, enough talk about work. Suffice it to say that I think you are very talented and I know that you will blow them away. Best of luck to you!!

Thank you sooOOOooo much for the great tips on information for my Argentina report. You are so sweet! Now would write it for me, too? Just kidding! I’m just not into finishing my paper tonight. It’s a beautiful night out tonight and my jaunt to the beach has me dreaming about more beach time. Can’t concentrate on my paper with the smell of the sea air still on my mind. I’d give anything to just go splash around in the water right this minute. Oh well! On Friday night I will be near a lake and I suppose that will have to do. But again, THANK YOU so much for your help. I found the first website to be very useful.

So, you went out for some fun and gambled your heart away until midnight?

Too funny! I could just see you totally excited at your good fortune. I have a very good male friend who loves to gamble. He’s retired and he spends his days going from casino to casino just having a good time. I have to admit I have not the foggiest idea on what exactly a black jack is. I take it that it is a good thing. The only time I gamble is in Las Vegas and I stick to the easy stuff: slot machines. Gambling is fun though. It is so addictive! I love it!

I might go to Vegas again after my classes are over. I could use a weekend of fun.

Ha! Your conversation with your friend’s mom must have been a hoot!

Yes, I do believe that I would have felt a tinge of awkwardness, too. So? Are you dating this girl? Is she a potential new love interest? Tell me everything! If so, let me tell you, you definitely scored points with the family by attempting to speak their language. Michael, that was awesome! Pretty smooth, my friend… I’m kidding! I know that you are not like that. I’m just happy that you had a good time. “Michael and Vietnamese girl sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Sorry! I couldn’t resist teasing you.

I’ll be quiet now.

I have a friend who is Vietnamese. I don’t speak a word of Vietnamese. I speak a little bit of Tagalog. I actually have several Vietnamese friends. My friend is named Thuy (pronounced Twee). I have friends of many different nationalities. I don’t discriminate. If I like someone and have something in common with them, I will hang out. My circle of friends looks like a meeting of the UN; blacks, whites, Middle Eastern, Asian, Latin, and European. One of my most trusted confidantes is a woman from Europe, Sweden to be exact. She is a very kind woman and I really love her. She listens to all my nonsensical ramblings and I owe her a lot. She makes me laugh. She is in her 40’s and has two daughters. She is divorced and is working on her master’s in Northern California. She called me the other day to tell me that she is in love with one of her professors.

What is about teachers that drives woman mad? I know that I have had my fair share of crushes on teachers but those were a zillion years ago. I was a teenager and prone to fall in love with anyone and everyone. My European friend told me that she sent her professor an anonymous Valentine bear with a sappy love poem attached. I started cracking up when she told me this. I couldn’t help it. It just seemed so melodramatic and kind of cute to me. Anyway, I encouraged her to wait until after the semester before she pounced on him. She sent me a picture of this guy and I can see why she is smitten. He’s not incredibly handsome. He looks to be in his 50’s but he has a gentleness about him that seemed very attractive. I hope that her feelings are returned by him. She lives six hours away from me and so I won’t even be able to comfort her with a hug if this thing doesn’t pan out.

O.K., enough stalling on my part. I really have to get back to my paper. Aren’t you happy to have a friend who is so good at wasting time when there is work to be done?

Seriously, though Mike. Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. I’m not sure what the day will be like for you but I do hope that you can make it through the day with some semblance of happiness. Valentine’s Day will be a blast for you again someday. Thanks again for all of your help. Enjoy your day tomorrow!!!

Cheers!

Lexi

Post by **Mikey_** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 2:38 pm

My day at the Brea Mall (Sears, Nordstrom, Macy's, Robinson's) and Wal-Mart and Linen 'N' Things proved to be somewhat exhausting. Finally found something I liked at Wal-Mart for 1/4 of the cost of what the stores at the Mall offered. Haven't gone to Ikea yet after I looked through the catalog and didn't find anything that I liked.

Harass me at work? Puhleeeease... happens all the time. The position for which I applied for deals more with networking than the software/programming side. I suppose it's Help Desk-type, and the pay ranges from 50-64K. Not bad for a government position. You're giving me more credit than I should deserve, but I am a bit concerned that my very broad, detailed knowledge may actually make me look like a threat for the existing IT team. I'm a somewhat competitive person -- but I usually encourage competition in a friendly way to make the day go by faster. And yes, my teaching nature doesn't allow me to be arrogant (good!) So, we'll see how it goes. A 3-step interview process... yuck.

One actually doesn't need a degree to be successful in IT. I know quite a few people who never finished high school who're now making $65K. It's mostly about experience and expertise, followed by certifications, and then a degree. A degree usually only becomes helpful once you get into managerial positions.

I don't think a degree is needed to become successful. What's more important is the right vision, know-how, communication skills, sound judgement, and experience. See Bill Gates for example. Doesn't hurt to have a degree though if you don't have all those visions, etc.

Oooh, I wouldn't mind working 4 days a week. Give me four 10-hour days anytime over five 8-hour days! Unfortunately, IT usually doesn't work that way especially if you are responsible for the more mission-critical systems of the organization. I only know ONE person who works in IT and works only 4 days a week.

Yup, the government salary ceiling is what I fret over too. Government jobs are well known for job stability, but if you want to strike it rich, the private sector is the only way to go. Still, $64,000 is not too bad although once my skills have further improved, I will probably leave for the private sector and take aim at a higher-salaried position. Most of my highly-specialized friends earn at least $65,000 -- and those are non-management positions.

Why would I leave for the private sector? Well, like I said before, money isn't really of much concern to me, but these are the factors that would push me away from the government job:

- Pace of work environment. Government jobs are known to be very slow. I don't want to be at a place where the technology remains stagnant
- Politics. For some reason I feel that gov't jobs have a higher level of politics
- Salary cap
- Family: if my future family requires that I make more than $64K... (and no, I don't believe in spoiling my kids. Spoiling the wife is another story though hehehe... but I'll ONLY do that once I have fully confirmed that she doesn't love me for the money.)

I didn't really have that much fun gambling. Like I said, I'm not much of a gambler and I just smiled the night away as they all were talking in Vietnamese. I felt left out although I was the luckiest person on the floor. That's what kind of sucks about some of my friends too: most of them are Vietnamese and when they all get together, that's the language they speak in despite my repeated requests that they speak in English. They apparently don't care because minutes later they speak in Vietnamese again. It gets frustrating at times and over time I'd no longer be in a mood to attempt to join in any more.

Whenever I hang out with people, including strangers, if I see someone left out, I make an attempt to speak to that person. That one night I went to eat Thai food, I noticed one not-so-pretty female feeling left out of the conversations. So, I talked with her diagonally across the table while the others continued talking amongst themselves.

A Black Jack is when you get 21 with just 2 cards. It's an absolute winner and nothing can touch you. It's a rarity.

No, I'm not dating her. Far from it! I'm keeping my distance, remember?

What makes teachers drive women mad? I think students fall for instructors because they perceive in them:
- Confidence
- Knowledge
- Uniform
- Fantasy/Fetish

Valentine's Day today? It feels the same to me as every recent day. Somewhat happy, somewhat lonely, somewhat hurt, somewhat sad.

I'll probably go return some stuff to the mall later today and then go work out.

Ooooh, Joey Yung's My Pride is on... love that song. Kind of childish, peaceful, and ambitious.

Michael

nganh · Post by **nganh** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:16 pm

Sorry guys i didn't read all what you wrote?, it looks like 'long distance relationship' with its long essay, h?he.

Career : i've been working for a telecom company for 5 years www.colt.net

Hobbies : sleeping, reading manga, watching japanese animes, cinema, video games (but not that much now) and BABYSITTING. I have 1 niece (4 years old) and 2 nephews (2,5 yaers old and 9 months) from my older sisters. Chatting with my firends is also one of my most important hobby

Oh i've almost forgotten shopping !!!!

Post by **Mikey_** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 8:31 pm

Can't forget shopping, oh no... Shopping is VERY important for a woman's sanity

nganh · Post by **nganh** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 5:03 am

Would you accept to go to 'india' to train people for 3 months with only 10? bonus per working day ? All travel and living fees there are paid by the company of course. No return to your home contry during these 3 months...