In what seems to be a semi-regular occurance this month, I apologize again for the lack of updates recently. I'm still having a little bit of trouble adjusting to my new schedule, and with my move coming up this weekend, I'm probably not going to be online that much until next week.

As I said, I haven't been updating much lately, and that's a shame, because we're still getting a good number of hits, and our August numbers are up over our July numbers, despite the lack of updates. For those of you who are seeing us for the first time, I apologize for the lack of updates, and there will be some soon enough, because I do have a good amount to write about, including our second annual NFL preview, which I usually put off until the very last minute.

If there's anything positive that can be said for the lack of updates, it's that people who are looking for new content on the site and aren't finding it are going backwards and checking out the older content on the site. Granted, a decent amount of the older articles on the site may seem a bit dated, but I'm no less proud of them, and I'd hate to see some of the better articles I've written go to the wayside just because they weren't written recently.

So, for those of you who have recently stumbled upon the website for the first time, please check out the archives, and see what Buhner.com is about. For those of you who are regular readers, please be patient, as there are plenty of things in the works, including several reviews, the final part of the 10 Job Challenge, and a few more articles. Plus, Adam Griffin has promised me some content, so hopefully that will be here soon enough.

So, hold tight, and keep... um... Buhnering, I guess.

For any of you who might have been concerned about my job status and my mindframe after the last update, I thank you for your concern, but as of right now, it isn't necessary. When I took the job that I did, I still had a few loose ends that were left dangling, and although getting the job should have done it, I still needed a bit of closure. That added onto a little bit of stress about being in a new job was keeping me up at night, and writing the last update seriously got a lot of things off my chest, and made me feel a lot better. I went to bed right after that and the next day at work went a lot better, and I haven't felt like I've had a "bad" day since.

The updates have been few and far between recently because I'm adapting to a new schedule. Obviously, when I wasn't working, I could sit down in front of my computer and type away to my heart's content, writing articles or updates or whatever struck my fancy. Now, I've got a full time job (a nine-to-fiver) which takes that part of my day, I've recently been taking a CPR course which is three hours long two nights a week, and I've been doing a little side work besides that. Add onto that a blackout (which, although inconvient, was actually a lot of fun) and the recent release of Madden 2004 (which I'm disecting for a future review), and I really haven't spent much time in front of this terminal lately. So, this weekend, I promised myself I'd have something to update besides this, so Part 2 of the 10 Job Challenge is now up for your approval. It might not be as cool as the first one, but it continues to tell the story.

I'll leave things where they are now. If you want to get in contact with me, it's tom@buhner.com. Later.

As I write this, it's not actually Tuesday, but very early Wednesday morning, when I really should be asleep. Problem is that I can't sleep. I haven't been like this since I was in school.

Back when I was in school, my mind used to think over way to omany things at one time, so much so that I had to go to sleep with the television on just so my brain could stop calculating things and just focus on the mind-numbing television, and I'd doze off to sleep. It happened most at school because my head was thinking of relationship sand assignments, knowing that projects were due, deadlines were coming, and I was trying to figure out how I was going to do everything that I needed to do on time and still be able to find time for myself and pass everything, while still attemption to figure out what I was going to do after school. It was a bit stressful for me, but such is life in school.

Right now, it's a little different. I've spent a grand total of three days at my new job, and already my mind is racing, tryin gto figure out if I've made a mistake. It's not a mistake that I have a job. I wanted a job, and lord, I needed one. My question is whether I took the right one.

It seems selfish to start begging for jobs and suddenly get picky about which one I wanted, but I guess that's why it took me so long to get employed. In the past, I looked over jobs carefully, only applying to jobs where I felt I fit in and would be able to contribute immedately. When the 10 Job Challenge came along, that wasn't the case. It was the ten jobs that I felt that I could do. And, it was the ten best possibilities I had to get a paycheck every week. When one of those jobs actually asked me if I wanted to be employed by them, I jumped. A starving man doesn't examine the food he receives to see if it's something he prefers, he eats it and asks for more.

That's pretty much the situation I'm in now. I accepted a job that I wasn't too sure about when it was presented to me. It was in a field that I didn't have any knowledge of, although I would be working with a computer system and codes, something I'm pretty familiar with. However, when this job opportunity presented itself, another one was there too. This job was more along the lines of what I'd done in the past. I'd interviewed with them several times, and I felt that they really liked me for the position they were offering. But, then again, I've been in similar situations where I felt I'd mailed interviews just to receive a phone call telling me they'd gone in a different direction.

So I was faced with a decision the other day. The job, which honestly wasn't my first choice, simply because it was a less familiar and "comfortable" situation, was offered to me. The other job, which I was leaning more towards, I hadn't heard from yet. In an ideal situation, I would have had a week to think about things, hear from the other job, and make an educated decision about my future. But, in reality, I had no money in the bank, and was given 24 hours to make a decision between a guaranteed opportunity and a possibility. It wasn't fair, but life isn't fair, and I don't blame the company for making the 24 hour deadline. They are a business, and needed to fill the position, and quickly.

So, as it goes sometimes, I took the sure thing, hoping that I'd fit right in and be as comfortable in that position as I felt in the limited exposure I had to the other position. I contacted the other employer and stated my situation before I made the choice, though. I told them my situation, and asked if they could make a decision within that timeframe. They could not, and I told them that I would have to take the other job.

Should I have told them nothing? Should I have just played dumb and taken the guaranteed offer and seen if the other company offered me the job and jumped ship as soon as the other offer was made? Possibly, but I don't work that way. I didn't want to lie and say that I wanted one job then turn around and walk out the door when the first new opportunity rolled around. That's wrong.

But what now? Should I call up the other company tomorrow and see if the position has been filled yet? I may do that, not because I don't like the job I have now, but because I'm starting to think about three to six months down the line. If I don't feel comfortable with the job I have now, I may not feel comfortable with it six months later, and then I'd feel less guilt about leaving and taking a new position, making it in essence worse than if I left immedately to take a new job tomorrow. At least if I left tomorrow, there could still be time to find another person and train them hopefully as soon as possible.

It's not like the job is bad. If that had been the only job I had applied to, I wouldn't be having these thoughts, most likely. But it's eating away at me inside wondering about this other position and whether I really screwed up.

I'll continue to work as hard as I can with the job I currently have, because that's what I do. I don't believe in half-assing a job just because it's not your ideal. But if I don't find out about this other opportunity, I may be in for some more sleepless nights.

Sigh.

No, not the total webpage itself, but a few things are coming to a close. First off, the 10 Job Challenge is finished. What came out of it? Well, for starters, I am currently employed, THANK GOD. Finally, after way too long a period of time, I can consider myself gainfully employed again. But the question is, fair readers, by whom? Which of the 10 jobs chose to make me an offer? Was it more than one? Did a company outside of the 10 get involved? What happened? You'll know after I finish writing the rest of the articles up! I'm pretty sure that there will be a part two AND three, because I've got a decent amount of content for two parts. The two parts will come relatively quickly together, so look out for them.

Also coming to an end was the 2003 softball season. Without breaking a bone in my body, I managed to complete the season. Blood was spilled, muscles were pulled, and most importantly, I didn't strike out once. In a totally meaningless game record-wise, our team played the last place team in a game of pride. We played through a pretty steady rainfall, and it was an enjoyable game, even with the weather. It's been humid as hell here lately, and the rain was actually refreshing. Me? I hit like a madman, finishing a home run short of the cycle. I actually batted second in this game, and made it count. A single, two doubles, my only triple of the season, a stolen base, four runs scored, and three RBI. We actually won by the mercy rule for a change, which is the first time that's happened in our team's history.

So, the final statistics look like this. Personally, I'd sign me to a free agent contract this offseason:

  G   AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI  SB CS  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG
11   29   13   17    3  1   0   8    3  0   5   0 .586  .647  .759

Also, and I feel bad I didn't update this page sooner to point this out, but we have a new movie review up from Mark & Bridget Warren. Effectively stolen from Mark's website, he gave us permission to run it, and we're going to be stealing/using more of his reviews in the near future, or at least at whatever rate he puts them out. Check out their review of the recently released on DVD "The Rules Of Attraction".

That's it for now. Feel free to write me about the site.

You know, as I've been writing the 10 Job Challenge, it didn't occur to me that there was a possibility that potential employers might actually read the website and see that I was talking about them. I wanted to write the articles while they were still fresh, and knowing that it was going to be a lot of content, I knew that if I didn't write them in pieces as they progressed, the project might have gotten too huge for me to sit down and write all at once after the Challenge was complete.

Of course, you run into the possibility that someone who might considering hiring me would go to the website and see the Challenge, which could have an effect on the results. It's why I gave employers a week to get in contact with me for interviews before there was anything posted about the jobs in question. If I implied anything negative about the job, I would have been called for an interview or have had some interest shown in me before it would have been posted, and most likely would have held off on the posting until such interviews were completed. After I realized which companies had an actual interest in me and which ones didn't, I posted part 1.

So, for any companies that might be reading this (and I know at least one has)... hi. Feel free to check out the newest article posted to Buhner.com, something special from Scott Salley called Where Is Marge Schott When We Need Her? I'm pretty sure he's a Reds fan, and not necessarily looking for someone to help out the Israel/Palestine situation.

Something that Scott also brought to my attention was a recent story about a Minnesota Twins superintendent adjusting the ventilation system at the Twins' home stadium during the late innings of close games in an attempt to get balls hit by the Twins to carry farther. While it can be argued how much this really had an effect with the balls hit at the Metrodome, it brings to mind the Don Mattingly/Kirby Puckett comparison I pulled up in an earlier article. One of the few advantages that Puckett had going for him was his late inning heroics in World Series games, and several writers reference those plays (especially an 11th inning home run in the 6th game of the 1991 World Series against Atlanta) as being important moments that encouraged them to vote for Puckett in Hall Of Fame balloting, something Mattingly never had (having never reached a World Series). If the home runs were truly aided by artificial means, then what else does Kirby have going for him? Has anyone's career fallen apart so quickly after he retired as Kirby's has?

Part 1 of the 10 Job Challenge is up and available for your viewing pleasure. It's pretty long, but it's not that bad, and can probably be skimmed in certain areas. I know that's a horrible thing to say, especially about something I wrote, but the way the format is laid out, there's actually a little less content than there looks.

In addition, I finished up an article I've been working on all day today. It's a review of the MLB Trade Deadline, and what deals went down in the few days before Major League Baseball's July 31st non-waiver trading deadline. I'm proud of this one, and put a good amount of work into it, so I hope you enjoy it.

I'm off to bed. More "research" tomorrow.

The bandage is off now, and the decent size scab is forming, which is a good thing.

Inspiration is hitting again, which is a good thing, but unfortunately, with the size of the 10 Job Challenge, my future projects are on the back burner. I've got one article idea at least, along with two reviews. The 10 Job Challenge articles will be split up, with one introducing it and the other giving the results (such as interviews, etc). It might go to three parts, depending on the amount of content, but as I write the first part, I realize that's pretty massive in itself, so breaking it into three parts might be the best idea right now. It's just a matter of whether or not part #2 will have enough content to warrant it's own article.

By the way, Mark Warren's website is up and running again, after a hard drive crash wiped out everything. I've referenced it before, but it's www.the16thparallel.com for reference.