25 May 2020After posting my weekly blog post, I imported my journal entries onto my blog hub at alexnhicken.blogspot.com. I saw that I have almost 170,000 page views, thinking that it is cumulative of all my several blogs, but I am uncertain if all my blogging data was imported.
Yesterday Jessica and I visited Jasmine and Lucas for the first time in a few months. It was good to catch up. Benjamin (their child) was very chill. We just spoke, hanging out on their front lawn until we had nothing else to say. Lucas showed us his remote control car. Its torque is impressive. Lucas gave us a projector. We just need to buy a HDMI cord.
I called my parents in the evening, catching up on our weeks. Trevor followed up on a discussion in the call, posting on Twitter that the Overwatch eSports League concluded the season yesterday. He told me it was good; although, the shock did win again without Sinatraa. The thing that made the final good is that Mayhem gave a good fight; although, the team was established only last year. I thought that it was a hopeful end to the season because veterans are leaving the league for Valorant, but a young team made it to the finals.
I joined the open source decentralized Twitter called Mastodon yesterday. I joined a generic instance mainly because I liked the simple URL, which I found led to a local cohort of a bunch of random people. There are instances for all sorts of cultures, hobbies, and professions. I can still follow anyone on Mastodon, but my local instance feed could have matched my interests better. I like Mastodon because exposure is more natural. My posts are not filtered out of people’s feeds because I suck at marketing, but it contributes to the local instance feed no matter how many followers that I have. My post also contributes to a feed that everyone sees. It is all chronological order. There is no advertisements, and the filth is moderated better. I don't have friends there, but at least my contribution is not suppressed unlike on Twitter and Facebook. I followed some cool people and a couple projects. I discovered Krita, a good open source and free art program. I also followed write.as, a decentralized blogging platform. I want to get my blogs off Google's servers.
I am going to do my first CrossFit work out with Jessica today, including six sets of 24 squats, lunges, and push-ups; plus, a 400 meter jog between each set. I think that the push-ups are more realistic since there is so much rest between each set.
26 May 2020
We tried to hang out with Jasmine and Lucas, since it was Memorial Day, but it did not work out for an unknown reason. I caught up on dishes and laundry instead.
Trevor wanted to play Final Fantasy 14, but Jessica was working on the laptop. I am proud to say that Jessica completed her application to Portland State University.
Trevor requested to join a Mastodon instance. I am surprised that there is no gaming instance; although, there is a Pokemon Instance. There are many art focus instances, but I am not a practicing artist. Trevor settled on mastodon.technology. I did find a Final Fantasy XIV instance, but it is Japanese. I looked into the writing.exchange instance, but I am realizing that I am not a professional writer. A writing job opportunity had a test, and I scored below average surprisingly. The writing exchange is professional, but not thriving as much as the photog.social. I post pictures regularly, but I would not say that I am a photographer. My local instance feed has no obvious culture, but I am contributing to an instance. I still like my simple link of mas.to/@alexnhicken.
27 May 2020Yesterday was an exciting day somewhat. BHI, a construction contractor, wanted to talk to me. I believe that it is because the company has ties and a relationship with BYU-Idaho, having an office near Rexburg. They have a few interns currently from the school. The opportunity is a traveling onsite project engineer role, which I basically was with Columbia Stone Inc.
I am also excited for today's podcast because we are going to interview Nick Chao about his new song. I got to prepare for that.
A philosophy of mine is to be completely self-reliant. Thinking that I may have been too self-reliant, I tried to consult my old project manager of Columbia Stone via Linkedin message about an open position with the company that he is employed stationed about 150 miles away. I do not believe in seeking employment from family or friends because I would be depending on them for employment. I do not want my family or friends to be sharing their income or revenue to support my family. The growth of a prosperous business is hard enough. The pursuit of the revenue to support multiple families is another level of difficulty.
I did play Final Fantasy 14 with Trevor, who got a Mastodon account. It is @TrevorHicken@mastodon.technology. I did a simple quest; then, I upgraded my equipment, which I have not done in a long time. Most of my equipment is now made with goatskin, including an eye patch.
28 May 2020
Yesterday was a big day. The biggest thing is that Jessica was accepted to attend Portland State University. We are going to celebrate that today.
Another big thing that I have been looking forward to for months is interviewing Nick Chao about his music. You will have to listen to the interview to learn of the details.
I have been pondering job recruiting for businesses because I spoke with many yesterday. The situation is a little disappointing because most opportunities for employment online are an interface with a recruiter. It is a middle man that may be too optimistic for your case. I avoid the jobs posted by recruiters usually to cut the middle man; however, I wonder about their importance, when I am proposed to a business as a candidate for a position. It is most likely greater than a personal application. Businesses are not dumb depending on recruiters. They are making the ultimate decision, cutting the hype of recruiters. Companies know what is best for their projects.
29 May 2020As I realized that practicing Autodesk's Revit and AutoCAD with their free month trials are inconsequential, I began focusing more on applying for jobs, searching the following job posting websites: Craigslist, Monster, Indeed, LinkedIn, and ZipRecruiter. I believe that ZipRecruiter is the best, leading to my employment at Columbia Stone Inc. and BHI. I actually just got the hire form from the company through Indeed. I was still applying for jobs into the afternoon yesterday as Jessica arrived from work. Communing with her, I missed a call from Nate at BHI in Utah. We did a Google meet video call, and he offered me a job, saying that they have been heavily recruiting from BYU-Idaho ever since I graduated from the university. I asked him to introduce me to the company more, and he sent me a BYU-Idaho seminar video. I am happily accepting this opportunity to be working with a company with ties to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and my university. I wished of returning to the school as an alumni, but I never imagined being employed by a company with ties with the school. One may think that this thought is ridiculous, but I interviewed multiple times with most companies that recruited from the school, and none hired me. Why would one of them hire me when I am out in the professional world?
After the video chat, Jessica and I discussed the opportunity and how it matched our life; although, I will be travelling most of the time. Jessica said that she will miss me, shedding tears. Her expression of true friendship got me crying as well. We decided that the opportunities did match our life as guided and prophesied by our patriarchal blessings.
Since I will be traveling more, I decided to simplify my life, consecrating it to my family as first priority; then, my work. Since I got laid off in February, I learned that my ambitions are unrealistic, and God has prepared a life for me to prosper in. I look forward to learn leadership and skills that will define my life in the future.
Jessica and I celebrated this new chapter in our life by getting food from our favorite Thai restaurant. My journal is public, and people may be following my job search, sharing a selfie with Jessica at we are starting the new chapter. I explained my job search philosophy, relating it to a photon at light speed in the universe. I am the photon, looking at millions of other light photons. They are all opportunities most are unrealistic, but I apply to as many as I can that is close to my trajectory. When one aligns with my path, I feel that the particles attract to unite.
30 May 2020I had a goal to edit and compose my podcast, but the acceptance of my new job already gave me work to do. I was given a business email address too! I filled out a bunch of forms, going through orientation. I also did my DOT physical for driving company equipment. I was unable to work on my podcast or even go on a run.
I feel bad because I was also told to do a drug test, which was lost in the many instructions. I am not blaming them, but I need to be wiser. I waited in the bathroom, waiting for them to approve the quality of my drug test sample, but a urgent care staff knocked on the door, asking what I am doing as if we are not doing a drug test. I hope that I can convince them to do the drug test without much hassle today.
That was basically my day, but I told you that I was simplifying my life. I did this in a couple digital ways, deleting about five of my extra Twitter accounts. It may be too simple. I got a new email address at mail.com because people had difficulty recognizing the name Vivaldi. People would say Viva-L-D-I. I had an email address at vivaldi.net. People are probably going to ask me to clarify that it is not gmail. These digital manifestations of simplifying my life may not seem meaningful, but I already simplified my life physically. I actually just now deleted all my extra Twitter and Facebook pages.
31 May 2020
After publishing my podcast yesterday, we went to visit Jasmine and Lucas. When the conversation dried up, we watched the new Sonic the Hedgehog movie.
I am not too picky about the accuracy of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie to the video games. I don't care about how unrealistic some of the scenes are. I look more to character development, story, and humor. I think that the character development and story is great, but I think that the humor lacks. I gave it an eight at Jessica and Lucas gave it at a seven out of ten.
The transition to mail.com has not been too difficult. Vivaldi.net does not offer mail forwarding while gmail does, but mail.com does have a unique email collector feature, enabling me to still receive my Vivaldi email. I don't recommend mail.com because basic email features like using other email clients and email scheduling are not available; unless, one pays for the premium feature, which is not a persuasive opportunity. I am flexible, so I will continue to use it. I mainly wanted to uninstall my other email client.
After the movie, Lucas and I went to target to buy a new board game. We decided on Settlers of Catan. We did not get far, but Jessica and Lucas did obtain four points. We are going to try to finish it today.
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