Read the complete article by checking out the Cringely link under my "featured sites" column (all the way on the right hand side of the page).

My ear is hurting a little. Wonder what's wrong with it. Haven't gotten a doctor checkup in over a year. I should go, but it's so hard to get time off around here.

Just checked my phone stats... will have to update that section.

Got a great e-mail from Cris last night... she is from Peru and works at the Forbidden City (Chinese Restaurant) here in Clearwater. She is getting off work tonight at 10 pm, so hopefully we will be able to meet and go have some fun.

Got the MCSE book renewed. Will start on that project.

Man, did I sleep a lot yesterday or what? I got home at 5:30 and just collapsed on my bed and slept until 5 am this morning.

Anyway, got to run, but just wanted to let you guys know the AT&T thing is probably not happening. Job length is not solid, wage is not good enough and the job itself is too far from my apartment. We'll have to keep looking...

March 14, 2001 (WED) - update

AT&T Here I Come!

I have permission from my boss (for a "dentist's appointment")! (see below for explanation of AT&T opportunity.

Rhodes!

Brian just got a job with VIFI!!!! Super congratulations dude!

Tanner

Evan, did you ever get the Y-cable? Was it useful? Let me know!

Exciting times

THE SITUATION. I just got off the phone with Gabe Harling with Analysts International. He had great news... he was able to arrange a job interview for me with AT&T! It's going to be a $16/hr job supporting NetMail over the phone, which could eventually lead into a Cold Fusion/Dev or CCNA position ($22/hr or more).

THE PROBLEM. In order to get this job, I have to go to Tampa tomorrow at lunch time for an interview. I have to leave at 11:15 am and come back at 2 pm (three hours!?!?) How do I get the time off from my manager, Mike?

I am going to try sending him an e-mail, see what happens...

401(k) considerations

The other problem is that I just got a check for $2,500 out of my 401(k). If I leave Tech Data, Scudder may cash out the remaining amount in order to cancel out the debt. Then my $5,200 in my 401(k) will be hit with withdrawal fees, tax and penalties! Hmmm.

Third grade tactics

Okay. You know what? I've had enough of my company treating me like I was a goddamned 3rd grader... look at the e-mails we get ... "reminders" for lunch time events for example... make sure Jerome understands where he needs to be at 1 pm, so, why don't you use font size 28, and make the fonts blue and red!!!

Rejection! Ouch!

I am going to Busch 
Gardens with family 
on Saturday.  (lucinda 
etc)
Sunday, not sure what 
I am doing.  church in 
the morning.  Probably 
spending it with my mom, 
sunday is her only day 
off ....

This was from Carmen...

Pet peeves:

• People that push beer or carb-laden food on you when you are on a strict Adkins diet (TOM)
• People who make fun of you whether you come to work early or late (SCHEMEL)
• People who give you some trust and then turn on you and accuse of you of bullshit (LORI)

March 12, 2001 2nd edition

Just got the papers for the 401(k) loan and sent them to the HR Service Center. Hopefully it is approved and the check is mailed out Wednesday or so. I guess I would get the check sometime next week, and then it would be another week until it clears with Fifth Third bank.

Got a great e-mail from Tavarish! He again gave me an open invitation to escape the Great American NASDAQ Disaster and move to Valencia. I hope his wife realizes what a lucky girl she is. Muchos saludos desde Florida!!!

March 12, 2001 (MON) -

Talked to Jenny Prieto in the Miami office today. She sounds like a nice girl. I was trying to convince her that three hamburgers, a couple of eggs and bacon make a great Adkins breakfast, but she was skeptical.

Today is lunch from SanDisk(?)... Trish and Denise were here to announce it.

I have been reading up on the latest Linux vs. Windows thrashings. All of this will be forgotten in five years anyway, as the Home Base Computer is announced and little servlet/applet devices are introduced (or possibly something even completely different to that).

Spent all morning e-mailing back and forth with Junior Segovia! From ASA. He lives in Daytona Beach and might be going to Miami on the 24/25 of this month.

Babur borrowed $1 from me today for a snack. We are both so poor.

March 11, 2001 (SUN) -

First things first! I just found a gem of a link... it turns out that I was featured in Doc Searls 'blog (one of the authors of Cluetrain Manifesto). Dig it! Here it is...

Yesterday had a good time at John's Pass boardwalk. Met some new folks... Jill, Mark, Lisa and Laurie. Lisa was super interesting... she might be moving to Barcelona to work with Universal. She owns a boat. She is a beautiful womanly woman. She has beautiful eyes...

Last Friday I met a nice Peruvian girl... Keila. She is young (23?) and has recently moved to Tampa. She studies "Derecho" in Peru, but is waiting tables to make ends meet right now. A friend of hers that I met last month (Cristina) is moving back to Peru in a couple of weeks, to finish her "carrera".

I am on a "no-nonsense" track right now at Tech Data. I have been called out by the manager for making a 23 minute phone call to my insurance company, when I only have 15 minutes break time. So I have made a committment to be "ice cold"... no mistakes. Of course, there are a couple of detractors in the midst who would jeer at me, so to avoid their scorn, I must pay special attention to not fall short.

I am still wearing a tie every day.

By the way, count Adriana, Brenda, Carmen and Hong officially out of the running... for misbehaving. :)

Second wind Okay, I forgot to mention some stuff.

My back is completely burned from laying in the sun yesterday from about 11 am until about 1 pm (wrong time to go lay in the sun, right!?

I've been having fun downloading "pirate copies" of songs I like off the web now that I have broadband. Here are today's favorites:

• Living in a House Full of Love (Gary Allan)
• Love is on the Way (Saigon Kick)
• Brand New Day (Sting)
• Wrong Five O'Clock (Eric Heatherly)
• Hampton the Hampster
• Heart of Rock and Roll (Huey Lewis & ..)
• Top Gun (Kenny Loggins)
• Deeper Than the Holler (Randy Travis)
• Six Days on the Road (Sawyer Brown)

I'm in a bad mood today. I'll have to figure that one out.

I'll have to tell you guys about Adriana, Brenda, Carmen, Breeze, Jen, and Hong! Have I ever been accused of liking too many girls? Ha ha.

Jose Romero wants me to teach him Flash. He is thinking one can make $100/hr if you know Flash. Hm.

New weight loss count is at 25 lbs.

I have started the Creatine program last Friday, March 2, for the record.

March 3, 2001 (SAT) -

Just finished watching Cast Away again. Even better this time. Missed a couple of important details the first time.

Just got Roadrunner... so I am going to be updating this site every day now. Also, I hope to change the format. I will probably have a link to this site and just start from scratch.

I am debating whether to put unadulterated details in here, or keep it "clean" for the sake of not upsetting friends and family. Wonder if anyone really ever reads this page?

Also, I can put pictures on here easier now. I just develop them at the store and check "Photonet", and then I can download the ready-made .jpg and place it on the site directly.

Tonight I am waiting for the Miami sales team to call me after their day-long meeting. It's already 6:42 pm and no call. It is very possible that they will not call me. That's just how people are sometimes.

More soon!

January 12, 2000 (FRI) -

Still not on the lease at Foxbridge. Hopefully we will rectify that this weekend.

Have you guys seen PayPal? I like it so much I've put their clickable logo right up there on column 3... see it? Heh heh.

Well, love all you guys... I'm going to go see Miss Congeniality tonight at 5:10 pm.

December 29, 2000 (FRI) -

Just arrived in DC. Staying at my sister and mom's. They have some nice new furniture. They also got me a bunch of nice Christmas presents (along with Yuri, who is visiting from Paraguay).

I got a chocolate coconut Adkins chocolate bar... a couple of pounds of Adkins non-carb flour (wonder WHAT is in that thing), and the Windows 2000 Server EXAM CRAM!

I have a really bad cold.

I think I have lost 13 pounds since starting this low-carb diet on December 12. What a concept!

December 26, 2000 (TUE) -

Miami - Spent 4 days in Miami. Visited South Beach/Miami Beach area. Fascinating area. Went to sushi place, saw the VIP disco's, Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, etc.

Spent more time at Jorge Cardona's house. Saw Vince Fragano and Kica again, and Nicole.

Hugo - Stayed at Hugo Rodriguez Alcala's house. Wife Cecilia, and daughters Cecilita, Soledad, Victoria and son Mauricio dragged him to Disney for the weekend.

A+ - Got certified on the fifteenth (see entry below). Got congratulated by Jamie in IT. Yay!

MIR - Russians have lost contact with Mir. It will crash to earth soon.

December 15, 2000 (FRI) -

Apt - I have a cool new roommate from Germany. His name is Thomas Kramer. We call him Tom for short. Ha ha. Also I have a full-size bed now. Yay!

Certifications - Passed the first half of my A+ two weeks ago, taking the second half in a couple of hours. Also taking Active Directory (20-217) in two weeks. I will be Jerome Wiley, A+, MCP pretty soon!

Vacation - Going to visit Juanita and Mamita on December 29! Florida - I guess one of the few redeeming features of Florida is that despite all the humidity and the bizarre people, I can walk around in short sleeves in mid-December. Of course, we will all be mercilessly roasted from April - September.

Tech news - Seeing a lot of disturbing news regarding the economic slowdown; problems with the dotcom companies, massive correction of the new media bubble that had been skyrocketing upwards. Wonder what this will mean for hyper-efficient markets and the "IT workforce shortage".

Diet - Starting all-protein diet again. We'll see how this goes.

November 16, 2000 (THU) -

Hey everyone. Not much news. Sent a quick letter to the apartment complex in Indy. Got a great e-mail from the Sassy girl and a really nice letter from my officer friend at the Police Academy.

Paraguay won 5-1 against Peru last night. Babur is all excited about that. They also had the kitty sleep in the car the other night because it was meowing and meowing.

Work is increasingly *&^%*!&. I really can't believe some of the policies and modus operandi that is going on around here. It does makes sense in a way... since they are only making about 3% profit margin...

More later!

October 25, 2000 (WED) -

Yo, people!

GREAT NEWS My sister is getting a promotion! I just got an e-mail from her... she is going to be the Director of Proofreading and CD Development for the National Library of Medicine (which, as everyone knows, is part of the National Institutes of Health).

CORRECTION: Juanita got a promotion to Head Research Assistant at the Children's National Medical Center (Starting Early/Starting Smart study).

Sonny sent me a cute e-mail today...

Florida now.  I just
had to find out from 
your old company's 
phone person.  What 
the hell are you 
doing over there. 

Sonny 

I am going to be starting my new "day job" as Pre Sales Configuration Tech Support Latin America on Monday, October 30 at Tech Data. It is a $10,000 per year pay cut, but hey... beaches, no Delia/Orlando team to harass me, and the opportunity to continue to learn Cold Fusion/ASP/Flash and other networking/web technologies. My new salary is $30,120, I think.

Little scare earlier, I tried logging into this damned page to update it and kept getting "incorrect password." Hm?

Worked quite a bit on webtropix today.

Going to run out for a second for a quick "caminata" and then go buy some stuff at the Publix on 19 and Roosevelt later. Gloof!

October 24, 2000 (TUE) -

Hey everyone! I am back. Not sure how many people tune in to this show, but if you are reading this, please send me an e-mail to jeromewiley@hotmail.com.

Babur and I are on track to start building some web sites here in the Tampa area. Not sure what our "business name" will be yet... either A & W Root Beer (Asad and Wiley), or Webtropix.com.

Had a call from the wonderful Christy last night. She is a very super person that I care about very much. She is learning HTML and Javascript, so she is going to be a web genius pretty soon!

Still sleeping on a semi-deflated air mattress in Babur's ex-computer room. Because the "management" turns the A/C down to 68 degrees at night, I almost freeze every night. But such is life, no? :)

Missed the launch of the space shuttle last month, but I will make every effort to see this upcoming one. It just seems like it would be a super event to witness.

Have been watching quite a bit of Star Trek Voyager. It is starting to grow on me, although some of the plots are a bit thin. It also reminds me of the astrometrics department at Interactive Intelligence. It's kind of funny that the best Orlando and Delia could come up with was some sci-fi garbage to cover up their flim-flam management.

Anyway... what else... it's beastly hot down here. Babur fed me a bunch of lies about the weather!!! And this is late October... can't even imagine the roasting HEAT we will have during the summer. Urgh.

Start watching out for www.webtropix.com, www.albirroja.com, www.freefiction.com and www.paraguayglobal.com for upcoming changes! :)

October 1, 2000 (SUN) -

In-flight controls displaying measurements within range. The crew is a little restless in the few hours remaining before the frantic re-entry activity begins. I am talking about the next few days and what I will be feeling/experiencing/doing without a phone, job and/or friends until I arrive in Clearwater Florida.

Moving this site to a secure location to avoid undesired exposure.

September 19, 2000 (TUE) -

Man, this MCSE 2000 instructor is a trip. Joseph Tan Hao. He explained he is a Foquian Taiwanese, and is continually saying "very simple, very simple, right? Ok, let's boogey" -- this guy is just so hyper!

September 15, 2000 (FRI) -

Ghostrider one one seven, you are cleared for launch.

Roger Mustang.

A quick salute at ground deck flight control and then full throttle rev, brake release and catapult. Deafening roar.

The sleek metallic form powers its way across the waves on the starboard side of the carrier, doing once corkscrew, before rising up and through low cloud cover. Two moments later, and it punches out into the open again, afterburners on full glow.

Roger Mustang, confirm mission San Remo, bearing two seven zero. Yee-ha.

*grin*

September 12, 2000 (TUE) -

• Jet blast deflector in position. Engine checks aft. Comm systems are go.
• Go/No-go confirmed for mid morning, 9/15/2000.

• Beginning final preparations for project San Remo
• Aircraft has completed final checklist and has been rolled to position on flight deck. Alert 5 ready for action.
• Go/No-go has been set for September 15, at noon EST, 1 p.m. Clearwater local time.

• Met Steve Flatt today. He has some very interesting ideas about selling technology to book publishers that would allow them to distribute "buyable" trial-period e-books on CD's that accompany real books. Might ask him to get on the air with us on the radio show.
• Got an e-mail back from Cassandra and Dan!
• Going to hang out a little bit with Mauricio and "Mario"(?) later.
• Read the Cluetrain in hardback yesterday and today. Super interesting. Life changing. Really.
• Signed up on the Cluetrain website as a "signatory" for their manifesto. Got this e-mail back from David Weinberg himself!

From: "David Weinberger" 
To: 
CC: "doc searls" 
Subject: cluetrain matrix
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2000 07:59:49 -0400

Jerome,

You should check Doc Searl's 
weblog where he recently 
compared marketing to The 
Matrix! As for the Clue-Meter, 
we very much don't want to 
Cluetrain to become anything 
other than a conversation-
starter; if a clue-meter is a 
good idea, someone (you?) 
will start one.

Thanks for the sign-up.

• Job interview at Aspen yesterday. They are a small company putting together a large Federal call center. The management seems harried and under-staffed. The staff is completely clue-less and leadership challenged. I would not work there in a million years.
• I have a job interview at Conseco today. They are going to be wanting to know the extent of my expertise in Cold Fusion. I have only "practice" experience on it, but understand the underlying concepts thoroughly. Hopefully they will see that. If they offer me anything above $39,950 I will take it!
• Going to Heather's birthday party tomorrow. I am waiting to hear from Tara is she will go with me or not.
• BIG NEWS -- Babur's web site Albirroja.com was featured in one of the main daily papers in Asuncion, Paraguay. I love it! Babur, awesome work.
• Job possibility in Miami. There is a reseller of Interactive in Miami that is doing a lot of telephony, solutions and comm server sales and training. I would take a job from them in a heartbeat... I would like to see what living in Miami is all about. Not sure what type of pay they could offer me, or if they would feel that my skills would transfer well to the reseller level.
• Came in before 6 am for the third day in a row. Putting in 13 and 14 hour days here at Interactive.

• Spoke with Alex, from Spain! Him and wife Silvia just had a baby daughter, Maria! She was born October 21st... now I have to go and visit them!
• Alex mentioned that he is finishing one last class 'a la Jerome '96 for his law curriculum, at which time he will become an official abogado, and will be able to finally sign off on all the "important documents"!
• Silvia, whom we have not yet met, is an economist, currently carrying out Controller functions at a facility that processes some of the accounting for the local Ford plants, while Morenito continues to hone his skills in the Maritime Consulting arena.
• I am continuing with my 5 am - 7 pm work schedule. That is 14 hours of prime-time Super Jerome value, the company is getting such a great deal! "The company" in this case, is Interactive Intelligence, and my office is in Pyramid 1, Indianapolis. There is much room for improvement in our department, but as they used to say in that Kung Fu show... you must choose your fights wisely. Business-fu.
• Currently, no love interest. Summer is too bossy, Heather is seeing a guy called Joey from California, June is not interested, Susan and Jenn just broke up so they aren't ready for a new person, Tara lives too far away, Vicky is too bitter and elitist, Carmelina never replied to my e-mail, Shanice has left for 4 years of school and Christy is still seeing the dashing dance instructor...
• You'd think I was an outgoing guy seeing all those names there, like that.

• Writing this update from a dark, stuffy corner office at Webaxis. I left the Pyramids around 2 p.m. and have spent the entire afternoon racking my brain trying to figure out how to pass DATE arguments between Cold Fusion and Access for a Calendar that Jon is wanting to sell to a fraternity. Well, I'm going to run home and work out for a bit and then go out and get a bite. I'll have to get back on the clock tomorrow for this.
• Went to my first Java class today. The instructor seemed really knowledgeable and friendly (David Stern). There is a really nice woman that works at Ameritech that I sat next to in the class, Cyndie. I helped her through some of the examples, I guess Java came easier to me than her... although she did catch a couple of the compile errors I had (typos!)
• Doing ok on my new "diet." I guess I'm not really calling it a diet or thinking of it as a diet. I've been eating mostly canned tuna, hard boiled eggs, grilled skinless chicken, salads, Slim Fast and an occasional "treat" (cookie on Thursday, bagel/tomato sandwich Friday and so on).

• After work, drove down to Doc Christie's house... he was needing me to put a sound card in his e-machines computer. We saw the second Pacers-Lakers game, which ended with a second victory for the Lakers. The card in went in easily, and after a 20 minute long distance call to tech support (I was surprised that I was able to get through at 9 p.m. on a Friday night!) they helped me figure out how to disable the onboard sound and route the signal to the new Ensoniq card. The sound is now loud and clear! I felt good about being able to fix that for Doc, he's a really nice guy that reminds me of Dad a little bit. He had a picture of him in Indiana uniform with a basketball on his shelf, so I asked him... you'll never guess! He played for IU in the 50's!
• Talked to Josh. He is thinking maybe we can see the Titan movie that is coming up. I'd love to. I am getting behind on posting my reviews for Erin Brockovich and Romeo Must Die! Ha ha.
• Monica called. She's the girl from Miami that was up here for two weeks taking lessons. She didn't call me about work, she just missed me! I miss her. I am not sure about my feelings for her, but I certainly am impressed by her education, and work experience. She is also very attractive and respects me. I would definitely date her, but she lives so far away.
• Went in to work around 8 a.m., the second day in a row that I've put in over 12 hours. I am doing very well on my caseload (averaging 18 or so cases daily) and I update every single one of them each day. Not sure what the velocity on these is yet, I'll have to find out. I guess I'm about halfway through my first month of probation!

• Hooked up with Angel Weller, Gus Ruiz and Ivan Morales through ICQ. Funny how you can suddenly "find" all these people from another part of your life through a little utility like that.

• You're a trip.     JTF

• This week (post entry) I have struck up a new relationship. Her name is Silvia. She is a very sweet, pure thing that lives in Milwaukee. She's 26 and is a new branch manager for Bank One up there, the daughter of an ex-soccer player turned engineer from Colombia. She sent her picture (seems short, dark hair with a cute face and tanned skin), and has a voice to win over any guy.

• Cactive is an important, young, powerful company that is going to keep doing great things. Sometimes I can feel frustrated because of the apparent failures of sub-components, or breakdowns in the Sales/Support cycle, but it's upon each of us (employees) to work hard, learn as much as we can and keep pushing up.

• Spoke briefly to Susan S about going to work for Web-axis. After talking to Alan Fork, she was wondering if that didn't make it a different place. No. The influence Jon has on the business is felt anyway. Unfortunately, Jon has an adverse reaction from employees as evidenced in Jenn's boyfriend's experience here two years ago. I am not upset or alienated by Jon; simply turned off by his Gold Rush mentality.
• Spoke with Bob Sand (VP/Conseco) about my-clients.com. That is another project that is not going anywhere!
• Started an interesting e-mail thread with Tamara Long. Went on blind date with yer later (Friday: this is a "post entry"... is that allowed?) She showed up late and had been to McDonald's PRIOR TO THE DATE!?!?! She was quite large (she did warn me that she was "thick" in her e-mail) but the reason I wouldn't go out again with her was that she was not interested in me, either! :)
• Spoke briefly with Christy... she is ok with me stopping by Saturday (reconciliation?)