Got the fever for the flavor

Long time, no update. Been trying to keep my job and family all intact and happy. Working two jobs is rough, not just on the person working them, but on all those around the person, and even on all those at the two jobs.

I've been feeling exhausted lately. Not tired, like I need to take a nap, but utterly and completely drained. I've been tired before. With our first kid, I'd sometimes stay up all night trying to soothe her to sleep... But this is exhaustion. I maybe get five hours of sleep per night, and that's IF the neighbors aren't playing who can scream loudest at three in the morning.

I realized yesterday that I'm actually an old person now. It snuck up so quickly. One day I'm talking about how three years ago I was waiting on being able to drink in a bar, and BAM, now I'm talking about retirement and investing in 401K and all that crap. I'm finding out more and more that I'm getting aches and pains in spots that usually don't hurt, I'm getting hair all over (nose and ears, mostly), and I've got a typically grumpy attitude in general.

Yeah, I'm getting old.

And I'm looking for a new job. My current one is basically dead end. They won't promote me or give me a raise unless I get a degree. I can't get a degree unless they give me a raise. Sucks.

So I'm looking. And looking is hard, especially in my neck of the woods. Technology seems to have passed Cincinnati by. Not just regarding high level jobs, but in all respects. Compare the results you get on any of the job-sites in Cincinnati with any other semi-major city in the US, and you'll find that we come up short. Really short. And for someone looking for an experienced position, one that needs 5 or so years experience in just about every facet of IT work, it's difficult to warrant staying here.

That's another thing. Since my current job is so cheap, they didn't want any of us to specialize. We all had to know everything. That hurts my current search, since most employers out in the real world want people to know a specific thing, and know it very very well. Unfortunately, I don't have time to specialize on one thing, I only have enough time to set it up, make sure it works, then move on. And if it breaks, I only have time to fix it then move on.

Enough to drive me crazy.