Free Nano Revisited

I finally got an email today telling me that my Free Nano from Key Bank will be shipped out in a couple of weeks.


Man I am excited to get this! It will come to great use on my trip over to Italy. There are so many cool things you can do with an Ipod that you can't "easily" do with another mp3 player. Here are some examples:

Maps Directions City Guides Museum Tours

I have never been an Apple fan, and never will be. But the Nano is just about perfect! It even has some cool games like solitaire, brick, parachute, and a music quiz. And a 24hour (claimed) battery life.

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Titleist Interview

My interview this morning with Titleist went really well! It was with the Director of Human Resources of Acushnet Golf, and it went how I think interviews should go. We just talked. We talked about my schooling (around 300 credits), my golf playing career, and what I plan to do with my life now that I have graduated.

It was refreshing to have an interview like this and not your typical, what I like to call, "HR Interview". With questions like: Name a point in time where you solved a problem; Name a point in time where you couldn't solve a problem and what did you do; Name a point in time were you slacked off at work :D . You get the point...

Well at the end of the interview, he said he would ship me the application and paper work. Then at the end of the week or the beginning of the next, he would get back in contact with me, to talk about the in-person interview. He said he liked what he heard and I would most likely move on to the in-person interview. So this would mean that they want to fly me down to San Diego...! Yay free trip!

I don't know how I really feel about this job. It is a big relocation, to a city that is expensive to live in... Just don't know...

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Rube Goldberg Machines

I Love Rube Goldberg Machines! When I was little I used to draw little stupid ones in class. But here are two awesome ones. The first I found today, and was built by some guys with office equipment. The second was done for a Honda commercial, so it's professionally done...





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Slick Nater Strikes Again

A couple weeks ago Office Depot posted a coupon in the paper.

As I was planning on going up to Heron Lakes to play a round of golf on Saturday, I planned a way there so that I go by 5 different stores. And 1 I would hit twice. The main reason is that they also had on sale a 50 pack of CD-Rs on sale for $4.99, and I needed CD-Rs, plus they would be free. So I went to each store and bought a pack of CD-Rs and maybe a pack of gum or something to get it over $5. It would then print out a coupon for $10 off of a $10 purchase. This led to me doing the same thing with this new coupon, but I couldn't buy any "technology" items with it. So here was my final haul:

Qty	Item	Retail	What I Paid
4	50 Pack CD-Rs	$39.96	$0.00
1	Compressed Air Can	$9.99	$0.00
1	Resume Paper	$9.39	$0.00
1	2 Pack Sharpies	$2.58	$0.00
2	6 Pack Bubble Mailer Envelopes	$10.78	$0.00
1	3M Masking Tape	$4.99	$0.00
1	Pen Ink Refill	$3.59	$0.00
1	3 Pack Legal NotePads	$2.99	$0.00
1	Ream of Paper	$3.49	$0.00
1	Mini Screwdriver Set	$4.99	$0.00
1	5 Pack Gel Pens	$3.49	$0.00
1	4 Pack Sponges	$1.89	$0.37
1	25 Pack 3M Photo Paper	$6.99	$0.24
1	Mini Hand Sanitizer	$0.99	$0.82
7	Candy	$3.40	$3.40
	Total Value of Items Bought =	$109.51
	Total That I Paid =	$4.83

I don't know how they expect to make any money.... :D

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Nater In Australia

I finally finished my Australia Journal website, after like 6 months, and 3 different site lay-outs... I recommend only viewing it if you have broadband, as there are quite a few links for Google Earth, and a few videos on the there.

Enjoy!

Nater

Well Looky Looky

If you don't remember, I was turned down for my dream job a month ago. It was a golf ball R&D engineer at Nike Golf. Well I just found a similar job at Titleist...

PERFORMANCE TESTING PROJECT TECHNICIAN

So naturally I applied for it. And hopefully I at least get a phone call. Not sure if I would want to move to Carlsbad, but maybe I could use a change of scenery. I know Karen would like the weather a lot more...

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Interviews

So I waited around and stressed out all day today waiting for a phone interview with Lattice Semiconductor, that eventually never came. So hooray, I can stress out tomorrow too!

My interview on Monday with Nike Golf went just fine. Nothing great, nothing shitty. I just hate typical interview questions... I mean I actually got asked this question, "What time management tool or skill have you used recently that has changed your productivity?" And the legendary, "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" I mean come on, how does this evaluate what kind of person I am...?

As I am sitting in this interview answering these questions off of their work sheet, I was thinking to myself. Does anyone really have good or interesting answers to typical HR Interview questions? Because if you had a good answer, the interviewer would have to think you were lying (sp?). But I can't really think of a better way to do an interview... So I guess we're stuck with the current process. Oh well.

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Job Update

Here is the scoop on the job front. I have a panel interview on Monday at Nike Golf for the Customer Service Represetative position. Which they would have to almost bend over backwards to get me. And I have a phone interview with Lattice Semiconductor on Tuesday (maybe Wednesday). Which would have to be a really good offer for me to pass up a job at Nike Golf...

I am planning on going to Italy for about 3 weeks, from mid-December til just after New Years. So both will have to work with that.

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Decisions... Decisions...

So here is my current dilemma. Currently I am an independent contractor for Nike Golf and do demo days. Ok great for the summer, but now that it is fall what happens. Well Brent has assured me that he could get me enough work to pay my bills, and then some. Not as good as summer time, but I will at least be in the black.

And now there are a few other choices... I was called today by a Lattice Semiconductor, guess I applied for a job a few weeks ago and they seem interested. And there is also a Nike Golf Customer Service Rep position that opened up, which I applied for and thanks to Keeley will have an interview for. Now this is where things get interesting... Once again I have heard through the grapevine that a position will be opening up in the Golf Ball R&D Department next spring.

Now by taking a position outside of Nike Golf (i.e. Lattice Semiconductor), I would not be as closely tied with Nike Golf. I would still be able to do demo days on the weekends though. This would be good since I would get paid like an Engineer, get experience as an Engineer, and still keep in some contact with Nike Golf. But if a position opens up in the spring, and I get it, would it be (what's the term I am looking for here... ethical??) to leave an Engineering position after like 6 months?

And if I take the Nike Golf CSR position, I will be closely knit with all the Nike Golf people. But I will get paid terribly, be working the phones, and doing something I most likely would not like. But I would like the work atmosphere, love the people I am working with (have known or met almost all of them), and be working close with the people I want to work with.

Or there is the last thing. Keep doing what I am doing and have tons of free time, make enough money to get by, play lots of golf, go snow skiing, go to Italy for like 3 to 4 weeks... Basically have a dream job, without the BIG bucks.

So since I still have interviews to go to next week. And I really shouldn't make decisions until I have to. I have created a poll. What would you recommend I do? Assume I have received offers for both the Lattice Engineering position and the Nike Golf CSR position.

POLL

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Another Weekend in Sunriver...

I had a great weekend! It started with me driving Friday afternoon to LaPine to do some flyfishing. I headed up to East Lake, and arrived around 5pm. I then spent the next 2 hours trying to catch a fish... I must really suck at this, because the fish were jumping and feeding all around me. I will eventually get this down, that is why its called fishing not fish catching. At least it was beautiful up there.

Saturday and Sunday I spent the whole day on the range working. I was crazy! The tournament had 350 people check in on Saturday, and 300 more on Sunday. And they were all at the range hitting balls. Good thing they had free Red Bulls, because I was there by myself and working my ass off.

On Sunday, I played in the Sponsor's Tournament at Crosswater. A few guys from Nike Golf came down and we all played together. And damn it, I almost kicked its ass! I was 3 under through 6 holes, 2 under through 16, and I end up shooting an even par 72... I didn't piss the round away really, I just made a few small mistakes. Oh well, I am happy with a 72, my lowest round there ever by 6.

Overall it was an awesome event. They put me up in the Sunriver Lodge, feed me some great food, and let me play some great golf. And we were lucky enough to get great weather. Not bad for my last trip to Bend for work... Here is a great shot from outside of Sisters on my way home.


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