Bullies get what they deserve, eventually.

A childhood friend, Brandon, moved away during junior high. He missed out on the reign of terror one particular bully enjoyed. This guy seemed to have been held back several years. He was a giant compared to the rest of us.

During dodge ball, it seemed like it was him versus the rest of the class. Not sure if anyone was spared from his harassment.

In time everyone else grew. By high school, Brandon moved back. Essentially being the new kid, he was looking to make friends. Well, he made friends with everyone.

Years later, Brandon related to me that this bully thanked him for being his only friend. I think Brandon meant it to be a sad story. I didn't hesitate to remind him how much this bully was hated and got what he deserved.

Web surfing for revelation

Several years ago my dad went to this priesthood leadership meeting. He came back with pages of notes. I don't recall if he had given me his notepad or I just grabbed it, but I looked through the scribbles.

He said it was one of the best meetings he had ever gone to. I asked him if there was one item that stood out among all the others. He said he really liked Elder Packer’s quote on revelation.

Scanning over his notes again, I didn't see the quote and asked him to expound on it. The quote was something “Revelation doesn't come from a mouse click.”

I thought about it for a brief moment.

“Of course, dad.” I said in a playful, mocking tone. “You need to type a query first.”

Curling up with a good book

My sister once told me that she knows when she is getting too involved with a book: when she catches herself praying for the characters.

Well, I have never done that. Not yet, I suppose.

A good book is hard to find. There are a ton of average books. A good series is even harder. Occasionally, I'm pleased with a random book I pick up at the library. Other times a good book is refereed to me.

I started listening to a few Oregon Files books I had listened to before. I like the style of Clive Cussler's books and the reader, Scott Brick, can make an innocuous sentence sound intriguing.

Anyway, I knew the scene was coming up where a crew member was going to die but it was still very sad. I felt like I'd been a part of all their adventures as if I was part of the crew.

I'm in about 6 chapters into another adventure of the crew of the Oregon. Honestly, only bits and pieces are recalled as I continue. It's like reading a new book. Sweet.

Long lives the Enterprise

I just learned the USS Enterprise (Enterprise class aircraft carrier) was decommissioned earlier this month. I also learned that a Ford class carrier will be called the Enterprise in 2025.

I did a post on which Enterprise came first. It was on my old blog so I can't link to it. Maybe on some way-back or archive of the Internet.

Anyway, there was an wooden ship in the royal Navy called the HMS Enterprise. I believe the US Navy had a couple ships over the years bearing the name Enterprise. There was even a space shuttle of the same name.

Of course in the the Star Trek world, the Federation's flagship is called the Enterprise.

Interesting Interviews

I have had some strange job interviews over the years. I’m not talking about silly phone screening with non technical people. I gave up trying to explain stuff like Word and Excel are part of Office. Or Visual C++ and Visual Basic are part of Visual Studio.

One of my first interviews was in high school. I recall getting a ride to the small business across town. I was not sure how I’d get there if I got the job.

I remember the guy doing the interview was not impressed. I assumed it was with my age. I wonder if he exhausted his knowledge of Office because I felt I started to convince him I could do the job. I was briefly shocked when he asked what I expected as compensation. It is a common question but I honestly did not think I'd get this far in the interview.

Soon I became somewhat embarrassed. He laughed when I told him a figure that was obviously a lot lower than the position was advertised for.

“In a negotiation, kid.” He stated. “You should always start high and work your way down.”

That was good advice for the next job.

There were a bunch of interviews where I felt they were uncomfortable about hiring me and they literally went line by line through my resume to find anything to disqualify me. It often came down to a question like “How many years of experience of X do you have?”

I would reply with 3 or 4 years or whatever the truth was and they would immediately respond with “We are looking for someone with 4 or 5.” That was it. The interview was over.

One time, when asked about the .Net Framework,  I told them I had the exact number of years it had been publicly available. I even mentioned that I was writing code when it was in Beta. Of course, they said they were looking for more experince.

Well, good luck. I thought. Unless you can get a Microsoft employee that designed the thing, you’ll never find what you are looking for.

The absolute worst interview went as follows. I did everything you are supposed to do. Be confident, be courteous...etc. The guy did not even rise to accept a firm handshake. After a while, I stopped speaking and we just stared at each other. Minutes passed and he finally said he had my resume on file.

I was polite and walked out. Looking back on it now and if I could go through that again, I’d be too tempted to make some rude jester and tell him to file that too.

Novel ideas

In high school I started working on a novel. It was calling Jupiter. It was a sci-fi/fantasy exploration story to the giant plant. It was possibly going to be the first book of three, but the back stories never really panned out.

Another trilogy I wanted to write was about the warrior prince who along with his evil step brother traveled through time and experienced different adventures along the way. At the end of each book, they would get back together only to be transported to a different time or place.

If I could, rather inexpensively, get someone to ghost write the novels for me, I would like to see my stories in print or ebook form. I'd be fine with credits such story by or produced by. I’m pretty sure I do not want to do it myself.

The warrior prince was called Zem. He was from Hatumero -- which happened to be my home town spelled backwards. I forget what his evil step-brother was called but it was something like Cortana. Not to be confused with Microsoft’s digital assistant.