torand.org

Just got done with a IM session with a friend of mine

it’s like October 2007 all over again!
the rumors are really wild this time
everything from closing down MTC and DTC
to whacking all of SI and IPE’s

I was through that mess once.. I really feel for my friends back at AOL. The current management, Randy Falco and Ron Grant, have really screwed that company. And my friends will suffer for their stupidity.

The rumors also say that performance bonuses will be stopped and the layoffs will be smaller. Mainly because they got burned last year by the “widespread-edness of the october layoff”. That means they can have smaller “focused” layoff and offer smaller layoff packages.

Nice…

It has been a long time since I posted anything as one of my friends keeps telling me. Ok, so for him here it is… get off my back.

Well so many things have changed in the past few months, let me try to fill in the highlights.

• I left mail storage and moved over to portal services, the division that run most of the web services at AOL.
• I am now on my third new manager in less than six months.
• I was caught in the latest reorg at AOL, hence the third manager and I am getting all new projects at AOL.
• Bought a new Mac Book Pro laptop - I love it!!!!
• Erika graduated from Liberty in December, she will walk on May 10th.

Those are the highlights. Since the last reorg I am still waiting for my new projects. It looks like I will get AOL Latino, and AOL Games. I have not talked to the transition admins yet.

Other than that things are moving along. My parents wrecked their car last month, my dad at 88 decided to give up his driving license. Not a bad decision, when he drove it made mom crazy.

I will try to update a little more regularly, later.

Today was the beginning of a huge layoffs at AOL. It was a very sad day to be at work. I watched as my friends and coworkers packed up their cubes and left the building. Even my manager was among the approximatly 750 people that are laid off. Most of everyone I have talked to can’t understand the capriciousness of the lay offs. Some of the groups in the company were completely laid off. One of the Network Operation Centers (NOC) in Columbus Ohio was dismantled. A NOC that we relied on to monitor our systems.

There was little work done today at the Dulles campus. By mid afternoon most people had left for the day or were rambling around the campus still numb from the sheer number and severity of the layoffs.

It’s been a while since my last post, but I just wanted to share an exiting event that I went to on Sunday. I went to a Billy Ray Cyrus mini-concert. This is the first time that I have seen a real celebrity in person. Billy was there to promote Toys for Tots’ 60th Anniversary and Tonka. He only sang four songs, one of them was his most popular and my most favorite–Achy Breaky Heart. We had VIP seating so we sat four rows from center stage. It was well attended and to my surprise, many kids showed up to see Hannah Montana’s dad. I think they were hoping to see Hannah.

To some people the holidays are finally over. To others, it is just beginning. Today, January 6th, Puerto Rico celebrate the Holiday called Three Kings Day. This is in celebration of when the three magis brought gifts to baby Jesus. Puerto Ricans continue the holiday celebration throughout the month of January.

In the US, the holidays are finally over and it’s back to work. After a nice break, we have to resume our normal schedule. This was a busy week at work. After being gone for almost a week and half, the mail has piled up and the workload has been heavy.

It was a really busy week at work. We have been preparing for our Toys for Tots Kickoff Luncheon and now it’s finally here.

This week, we had a situation that happened where people in my office were misquoted. Those quotes were passed along to the press and, of course, the situation became very controversial.

I just wanted to say how disappointed I was with the so-called Christians (or at least those that claim they are Christians but are truly not) on how they handled this situation. They are the ones that give Christians a bad rep, and you know exactly the ones I’m talking about. My view of a true Christian is one who is soft-spoken, is not easy to anger, keeps their emotions in check, does not swear, is forgiving, and shows a Christ-like, loving attitude to those around them. What I found out this week is that there are a lot of fake Christians out there; at least the ones that called the office this week. I cannot tell you the anger, the swearing, and the unforgiveness attitude that came across over the phone and through emails.

The Bible teaches us the fruit of the spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It’s hard for someone to believe that you are a Christian when your attitude does not reflect it.  The world is out there watching to catch you in your weak moment. Are you going to be caught off-guard or are you going to allow the love of Christ to shine in you. It was truly embarrasing to be associated with those people who act out of control and, at the same time, claim to be Christians.

The Marine Toys for Tots is an organization worthy of your support. During this Christmas season, we need to think about those that for whatever reasons are not going to be able to celebrate Christmas. The Marine Toys for Tots has made Christmas possible for thousands of people, but they cannot do it alone. It is through your contributions that they make it possible. This Christmas, I urge you to think of someone else and do a kind thing for them–support the Marine Toys for Tots.

We celebrated the Marine Corp birthday at the office. This was a first for me. The General had a birthday cake. It is typical for marines to cut the cake with their sword. I also found out that if the marine is disliked, they place the sword back in its holder without cleaning it–a bad clean up mess. Also, after the cake is cut, the oldest and youngest marine get to sample the cake before distributing to all the guest. We saw a DVD of the Marine Corp history and a message from the Base Commandant.

The Marine Corp Museum also opened today. President Bush gave a grand opening speech. The amount of security on base and on the roads was unbelievable. They shut down the HOV lanes to allow buses to transport people. I guess everything went well. Can’t wait to go visit.

Happy Birthday Marine Corp!

I found a job that I absolutely love. After spending three months with the worst company I have ever worked at, I finally found the job that I know I’m going to absolutely love. I do want to add that it wasn’t the job that I disliked at my prior job, but the environment conditions. I am finishing my degree so that I can do what I love best. I found this job through an ad on the paper. I have been told that jobs listed in the newspapers are the worst jobs and jobs people don’t want to do. I posted my resume on so many places online–monsters.com, government agencies, ihire.com and many others–and had no response from any of them.

I am now working for a non-profit organization, doing what I love to do, and working for a group of people that I would have to say make the working conditions the best place to work at. My three boses, I would have to say are the best boses anyone could ever have. Needless to say, I’m hoping that this is the last job I’ll ever have.

This summer, after coming back from a funeral, I took a job with a construction company, whose name will remain anonymous, in Sterling. I was offered the job before we left for the funeral, but took some time to think about it. Initially, my plan was to reject the offer, and I should have listened to my instincts. I ended up accepting the offer and started immediately after I returned back from my trip. The first week of training went very well, I thought. By mid-week of the second week, I felt that I understood the process and began to work independent. When I got into the bookkeeping part of the job, I realized very quickly that this company was very much in financial trouble. The payables were so overdue. Vendors were calling on a daily basis and at times make threats because they wanted their payments. My boss was very short and rude at times and seemed to so willingly put the blame on me for things that happened before I began my employment with them. I know that I did my best for them and worked diligently, however, you can only take so much of it. After being with them for almost three months, I began to experience things that I didn’t make me feel comfortable. My last Friday on the job, was payday Friday. I was reconciling the bank account and the balance in the checkbook was very negative. I went to cash my check on Saturday, and the bank wouldn’t cash my check. They told me I had to wait until Monday. That weekend, my husband and I decided that it was time for me to give notice. Needless to say, my employment was terminated and things worked out to my favor. All I can say is that it was the worst job ever and I would never recommend anybody to them.

Today we ended our school year. We went to Redding Park for a picnic. We had one of our parents in charge of games and food, and they did such a wonderful job. It was the best picnic we could ever ask for. The weather was beautiful, the planning of the games, and the food all went smoothly. It seems like the year went by so fast. I know that I’ll miss our kids, but I also know that I’ll be able to stop by and see them next year and throughout the summer. It was sad because I know that I won’t be there next year, but it was certainly a memorable experience for me.

Just the other day, I heard the following story: A young guy is having his taxes prepared. While the tax professional was preparing his taxes and going through the forms, he notices a 1099INT from a bank. When he gets ready to report the interest, the gentlemen said that he needed to talk to the bank about the form because he never saw the money. Basically, the bank form was reporting the interest earned from a CD that had matured. The taxpayer renewed the CD with the interest. He thought that he didn’t have to pay taxes on it since he never touched the money. Wouldn’t that be nice!

While waiting at school for my daughter, I started talking with a parent. She was telling me that her daughter wanted to go to this cheerleading competition this weekend. I told her that my daughter wanted to go also. She asked me how old my daughter was and I told her. She was totally amazed and said to me that I didn’t look like I had a daughter that age. When I told her that I had one in college, she about flipped. She said that my husband and I look so young and that she thought we were newly weds. I guess I don’t look as old as feel.

I was on a conference call recently working through some of the problems in launching a new web product. We have been working on this project for some time. Prior to this call we had received the traffic estimates which we thought were extremely low. We got an email the morning of the call, going over some last minute items. One of the items in the email was a new traffic estimate that was 1000 times more than the original estimate.

Of course this grabbed our attention and we could not wait to get an answer to why this number was not revealed before. On the call we asked about the discrepancy between the old and new traffic estimate. We were astonished when we were told that the low number was a metaphorical concept.

As you know, tax time is here and I’m back to preparing taxes. It’s funny in a way how ignorant we can be. I wanted to share this story because it makes me wonder what we are teaching in school or better yet, what we are NOT teaching. A young girl (20 years old) wanted her taxes prepared. After finalizing her taxes, she had a refund of little over $100. After she saw the amount, she said that she could go online and get more money than what I told her. Her return was a simple return: One W2 and no other deductions. She said that she received more money last year and made less money. I tried to explain to her that the more money she makes, more taxes will be taken out. She then said to me “Well who keeps the rest of my money?” When I told her Uncle Sam, she said “No, that’s not right.” She will definately be shocked when she realizes that she cannot get more money online. The funny thing is that she thinks that the government takes out taxes all year long to give it back to us at the end of the year? Get real!!!