The best square of the summer so far, and the most packed.
(e:yesthatcasey), (e:libertad), (e:heidi), (e:diann), (e:flacidness), Tanya, and later Big Steve met up with us and came over for pizza and bocce.

They also got a UFC grappling match between Casey and I. I want to practice more. I'd rather not get my face punched though.

I can't believe it's already halfway through July.

My first week contracting at Roswell has been amazing. I actually feel like my job is challenging and has a measurable impact rather then mindlessly copying and pasting between excel documents.

For a first project I've started working with the group on a appointment reminder system for the patient portal, so patients can get text, voice and email reminders when they have an upcoming appointment. I love that I get to program for a full workday now. After a week I feel that I can do well here.

One of the best parts is now I can eat lunch with (e:paul) and (e:terry). I feel bouge going out to lunch instead of bringing one, but I think it's also a good time to talk about work and figure out what I need to do.

This lunch was a a hummus wrap Washington Market. Paul's tea tasted like fish. I tweeted Honest Tea but no one ever answered me.

So as luck would have it, the day before I got laid off, (e:Paul)'s team at Roswell got to hire a programming contractor to help them with having too much work in too short of a time. It works out because I've been hearing about the patient portal project through him, and learned a lot of my programming workflow and practices from him. so I was unemployed for almost no time at all. Guess I landed on my feet.

I started this Monday. Already I committed code and it seems like there are always going to be interesting things to learn and do. Paul and his team seem awesome and to work really well together. My contract is only for four months but I can't wait to see what I can do.

The storm took out this light at Delaware and North. what are you supposed to do when they're all lit up?

So I didn't want to write about this until everything was sorted out but two Fridays ago I was laid off for no work. One Friday you come back after lunch and then blam! You're carrying your desk home in a garbage bag.

I can't say I was too torn up about it. I was only on one project, and after a year it didn't look like there was any room for growth or new opportunities. I got way more satisfaction coming home to program or to learn German than I had at any day at work. Now I will only ride 29 miles in a blizzard for fun.

Plus I got to spend a week as a house husband. I don't think I'll ever clean so much again. Then I took a weeks vacation from unemployment, so I am one of those lazy welfare queens.