My First Demo Experience

My friend, Jenny has discovered the coolest job. She works doing demos.
My first Demo experience was with LongBoard Ice Cream at the BYU football Game.

The whole time I was dying to try a mango ice cream stick--doesn't mango ice cream sound so good? The entire time I kept telling people that all of the ice cream was good, but that my favorite was the Mango. Matt was too big of a penny pincher to even offer me one.

Cuddles Was Not So Cuddly

After making several unsuccessful attempts at trimming Cuddles nails myself, I finally broke down and made an appointment with the vet. His assistants actually do it and it costs $13.

I have to admit I thought the vet would have some secret way of doing it and things would be easier. I mean they are professionals who deal with animals all day, right. Boy was I ever wrong.

Cuddles put up quite the fight. I heard noises out of her that I had never heard before (like the screaming cats make in a fight). Reinforcements were called in to hold Cuddles down. Cuddles did not appreciate this and she quickly scratched the girls hand. Bright crimson blood was dripping on the shiny metal table. I felt bad for the girl. Then Cuddles backed herself into a corner and wouldn't let anyone touch her. She would even swipe and hiss at me. Finally the girls said they didn't think it was a good idea to continue as they were obviously stressing Cuddles out. I think the real reason was more for their own safety than for Cuddles. I don't blame them.

I think part of the problem was that the girls were not expecting such a fight and so were not prepared for it. And I don't think the Vet's office does much nail trimming. Most people just get their cat declawed or have out door cats.

I am reserving the right in the future to declaw Cuddles, but I really want to do everything before considering it. When they declaw a cat they have to cut away bone as well. It is likened unto cutting off a humans finger at the first knuckle. Ouch, can you imagine. It does not seem very humane. I truly want declawing to be a last resort.

Hello Service Now

Farewell Omniture

Today, Wednesday, August 13, 08, is Jacob's last day at Omniture.


After 10 months of php / web programming at Omniture, I decided that it was time for me to move on. Here are some of the things that I really liked and disliked about my time there.
Likes:

• PHP programming. I love to do web programming and it was as if this job fit exactly what I loved to do.


• I learned new technologies. I was put on a project as the project lead over figuring out how we'd design a central authentication system for all of Omniture's products. Since I was familiar with Novell's eDirectory, I had an immediate advantage in my learning how to use it as our LDAP backend. This information and knowledge was critical for my being qualified to get my new job at Service-Now.


• I learned about single-sign-on, how it worked, different ways to do it, etc. This knowledge was also critical to my future success at Service-Now.


• I really liked my new manager, David Haws. I got along with him really well. I also really liked Kole Winters. He was the main person that I worked with on the authentication project.

Some things that I didn't like:

• Staying late for absolutely no reason. There were times when we'd stay until midnight even though we had nothing more to do that night. That was so that other departments would know that we were serious about getting our product released on time. That drove me nuts.


• Feeling like I was working with a bunch of 20-year-olds. I felt like I was back at Ricks College sometimes. I like more of a professional business atmosphere. When we'd stay late (which was quite often), they'd have a karaoke party, a xbox competition, potato shooting, or something else ridiculous. I just wanted to go home when it was 10pm, I didn't want to be gathered together for something stupid.


• The young employees all feel that Omniture really treats their employees well. I heard that almost everyday from different people. They touted the medical benefits, the company parties, Friday lunches that were brought in, etc. Also we were continually told by management that we were treated extremely well. Well, the medical benefits were actually pretty poor. It is possible, however, the Novell's benefits were simply excellent (which they are). However, Shantell's job offered better benefits for a better price, so we used her benefits instead. It just reminds me of the tricks that I felt that NuSkin played (where Jen and Joe worked). Instead of getting a real bonus --we didn't get any at Omniture-- we'd have some elaborate Christmas party and we'd all receive $20 gift cards for Target. The young employees all thought that was great and awesome. I would rather get a bonus for Christmas.


• I really hated the company culture (can you tell :) ? )

So, there were some things that I really loved and hated about Omniture. Regardless, it was a very important career move for me to go there and work in the development realm for awhile. The experience I gained there will make me more attractive to future prospective employers and will be knowledge that I can use in the future. I had learned pretty much all that I could learn at Novell and I needed the move to Omniture to help me learn even more. I could have continued to learn at Omniture for another year or so. However, the opportunity to work at Service-Now was too inviting to pass up.

So, farewell Omniture! I do wish you the best and I hope that you enjoy your lavish Halloween and Christmas parties!

Our Friendly Neighborhood Handyman

Dustin never turned up to court, so the judge awarded us the entire settlement of $5,400. Great!! Now we have to go through the lengthy and not very hopeful process of garnishing his wages/assets. Boo!!

Anyways, the city police cannot charge Dustin with a crime, but I was able to find a division of the govt. that can. It is the Division of Occupational Professional Licensing : DOPL. So now Investigator, Dan Rodriguez is working on the case. I was shocked to find out that he knows Dustin quite well. In fact, he has been on several cases working just one step behind him. He said Dustin was not new to this crime. He mentioned I could find plenty of mug shots of Dustin on the Utah County Jail website.

Investigator Dan came over to the house the other day and picked up all the information we had on Dustin. He was excited because he could now charge Dustin with a felony 2? This means a higher fine and more jail time.

OUR FRIENDLY HANDYMAN, THE ONE WE GAVE A KEY TO OUR HOUSE.

BAILEY, DUSTIN CRAIG		06/1980	SPANISH FORK, UT 84660	5/23/2001 9:17:47 AM	129148	O
BAILEY, DUSTIN CRAIG		06/1980	SPANISH FORK, UT 84660	3/21/2002 11:08:39 PM	138554	O
BAILEY, DUSTIN CRAIG		06/1980	SPANISH FORK, UT 84660	6/27/2002 12:33:07 AM	141749	O
BAILEY, DUSTIN CRAIG		06/1980	OREM, UT 84057	6/10/2006 10:29:51 PM	188727	O
BAILEY, DUSTIN CRAIG		06/1980	PROVO, UT 84604	2/18/2008 9:18:27 PM	210961	O
BAILEY, DUSTIN CRAIG		06/1980	SPANISH FORK, UT 84660	3/24/1999 10:16:00 AM	107232	O
BAILEY, DUSTIN CRAIG		06/1980	SPANISH FORK, UT 84660	12/9/1998 2:20:00 AM	104576	O
BAILEY, DUSTIN CRAIG		06/1980	SPANISH FORK, UT 84660	10/6/1998 12:17:00 AM	103014	O
BAILEY, DUSTIN CRAIG		06/1980	SPANISH FORK, UT 84660	3/19/2000 4:59:16 PM	116572	O
BAILEY, DUSTIN CRAIG		06/1980	SPANISH FORK, UT 84660	5/16/2000 4:15:14 PM	118080	O
BAILEY, DUSTIN CRAIG		06/1980	SPANISH FORK, UT 84660	12/19/2000 8:42:26 PM	124500	O

There are even more bookings of our dear friend, but I think we have all seen enough. We really know how to pick a winner, eh. One lesson I learned is if it sounds too good and is by far the cheapest bid, something fishy is probably going on. Another thing I learned is appearance should make a difference when selecting someone to be a long time "guest" in your home. You would think that would have tipped us off. We just wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, ya know.

Don't worry, we have since changed the lock to our house. And even though I like to gripe, we didn't actually lose that much money on the house because he charged so little. In fact, we don't think Dustin could have made that much money himself, even after he ripped us off.

Yard Sale 08

This year's yard sale was even better than last year. I made a sweet $400!! ($407 to be exact) Both Amanda Peeler (next door neighbor) and I had a lot of good stuff this year. I woke up at 4:35 am to start arranging things outside. At 6:00 am we posted signs. And around 6:45 am the first customers showed up. It was a really fun & LONG day. I didn't eat until 4:30, after the yard sale.

Why I love yard sales:

• I love making money by selling things I don't want anyway. Maybe this was ingrained in me when Tydon and I went around the neighborhood selling all of our toys when we were little.


• I also love dejunking my house. I go through every box, drawer, closet, shelf and cupboard eliminating things I don't want/need anymore. My house is always so much more organized and clean afterward.

Some of the things I sold:

• Magic Mill wheat grinder: Bought for $15, Sold for $100


• iPod Shuffle: Free gift from Novell, sold for $10


• Zen: Free gift from Novell, sold for $40


• Ping pong table: Free from free cycle, Sold for $25


• Pressure Cooker: Bought for $21, Sold for $10


• Jakes bow & arrow: Sold for $20


• King size feather duvet: Bought for $8, Sold for $20


• Jet stream oven I have had since high school ( 13 years, never used) (show choir fund raiser): Sold for $10


• Way cute white summer dress w/ fancy green bead work: bought this year at Lavender Days for $15, turned out to be too short to wear modestly, Sold for $15

Some interesting things people bought

• partially used Ponds Cold Cream for $1


• Queen size inflatable bed w/ small hole for $2


• Partially used air freshener spray


• Broken Mickey Mouse watch for $1. The band was broken off and even the glass was scratched. This pretty much depicts the saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

I am a Winnner!

I am a sucker for anything free. I went to the library adult summer reading end of year party, sure I would win something great. I didn't stay long enough to find out if I won anything. The room was over crowded and I could hardly hear the girl mumbling out the names of winners. So I left early and phoned Jake on my way home.

Jake felt bad for me because I had looked forward to the drawing. (Dumb, I know, but I really do get so excited to win free things)

When I walked into the house this was the first thing I saw.



Jake ran around the house collecting random things, while we were on the phone talking, and created my own prize trophy to brighten my day.

I have the sweetest husband ever! Who thinks of things like this?

Finished Basement