I start my employment at CSC on September 5, 2006

God is amazing and the whole reason this is on my blog instead of the wedding(this sunday) is because God told me that my job hunt in my career is what will bring glory to His name.

August 7, 2006

The interview with CSC was a shocking success.  I interviewed with 7 different people for 3 different positions with CSC working on the Aegis System.  It has been 3 days since the interviews and while I had been told that there is a large amount of paper work associated with hiring, I still am beginning to worry and feel I should call them.  I had been told to anticipate an offer from all three departments and I could choose which I liked best.  This truely is a blessing from God.  Upon more thought, I have weighed out the departments and I have my preferences, but I know what God wants for me will be much better than I can think through now.  God will direct me to another department if it is His will.  I am uncertain what I can publish about this opportunity given the nature of the positions, but those that know me, know where I stand.

Upon talking to the CSC HR rep I will become more certain as to which area I can focus on.  In reading further into deuteronomy, I am learning that my primary focus through this is truely to love God with all my heart, soul, and strength.  I have struggled with my emotions, my thoughts and even my physical willingness to seek the Lord.  However, as I have been humbling myself, God has been merciful.  I just need to keep my focus on God.

August 7, 2006:  post call to CSC

I had just gotten off the phone with CSC and was told to expect an offer in the next day.  The associated electronic process will take some time, as well as the paper work and background check.  Also there is uncertainty as to which department I will be working for, but I know God will be guiding everything that is out of my hands.  This is a direct prayer answered clearly.

Also, an unexpected sign from God is the expected salary.  In the formal application, I had filled in that my desired salary, which seemed more like a pipedream salary, or an upper bound for negotiations.  It turns out that this amount I had written is the standard starting salary for entry level.  I am to work for CSC.  God is greater than anything we know.

This is the account of the starting of my career and how God has lead me.  I am recording this, that God may be glorified through my life.

During my later highschool years I had made the decision to follow Christ and sacrafice my self because Christ had done so for me.  Uncertain what God's plan was for me beyond highschool, I asked Him and began to feel lead to continue my education at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

Through my years at Stockton I continued towards my degree in computer science and developed a liking to software development.  I began to just go through the motions of obtaining a higher education and had forgotten to seek out what God had wanted for me in the ultimate goal.  Before my last semester God had put the desire for an internship on my heart.  However, I did not listen.  I was too concerned with my grades and stress levels that I had let whatever opportunities God had for me slip away.  I had graduated with a major in computer science, a minor in business studies, anexcellent gpa and no work experience.

I assumed that Stockton would have a better placement plan, but was sorely mistaken and while I had refused to go to an internship earlier because of fear.  Just like the Israelites had been lead in the desert for 40 years after refusing to go into Canaan because they feared the Canaanites, I wondered online for job postings in the region for the summer.  I did this because I was afraid to go when God had wanted me to.

Some interviews had come through on a monthly basis:  first Chatham Financial, which never hired entry level anyway, but is a stellar company, the kind of company I would go back to in 3-5 years.  Then Trend Integration, which was unsure as to what addition to the staff they needed in the first place, however a clear answer was never given, only 'no decisions yet, call back next week'.  Between all of these interviews were numerous hours spent daily on monster.com, dice.com, www.wnjpin.state.nj.us, aftercollege.com, etc.  To which after 3 months of submitting my resume 2-3 times a day, every day, one interview was scheduled in early August, less than 2 weeks before my wedding to Nikki.  The stress involved in these months will never be understood in print.

During this time, God had brought me to Deuteronomy for study and devotions.  It then became clear that God decided that now I may come out of this desert and that I must take the enemy that 'the LORD has delivered into my hand'.

The one interview after months on online resume submission was for Health Care Software(HCS), which seemed to be weak in starting a career, since they offered nothing for furthering education and the pay was not competitive.  My heart has been set on the Moorestown and Marlton area.  The day following the interview with HCS (tomorrow) an interview with Computer Sciences Corporation has been scheduled.  I am uncertain of what God truely wants for me, however my heart is set on this position and I pray that this is my promissed land and that God will deliver it to me.

alright car first:

i finally got that itr rear bar on and it feels wonderful.  the car is amazingly neutral and now goes wherever i point it.  it is most definitely taking some getting used to.   i cant wait to track it

the carbon fiber hood is long gone  and in its place is another red hood with crappy paint, however i did score a fresh d16z6 tranny and a nice clutch and flywheel through the deal, thank you kenan.  as soon as i get the brakes taken care of i can get an alignment and as soon as i get an alignment i can get fresh tires.... but all of this requires money, so.... baby steps.

now things with nikki:

she costs a lot of money too, more so than my car but she is a much higher priority so it is almost proportionate but the car is how i go to see her, thus justifying any imbalanced spending.  anyway things are going great  as we continue to plan for the wedding.  out of all the things in the world, i feel like my relationship with nikki is one of the facets of my life that is the most solid and firmly rooted.

i do worry about us sometimes just because of the way we fight.  i wont indulge details but we do fight.  but i think its healthy and its better we learn how to deal with disagreements now then later.  by a fight i mean that its a disagreement in which neither side decides to immediately submit.  we dont get 10 decibels over normal talking volume... anymore

either way i love her and i cant wait to see her on tuesday.  i also cant wait until i dont have to wait to see her....

alright  here we go, despite all the school work ive been able to set aside some time for the civic.

i purchased a driverside front lower control arm to correct the misaligned suspension that was previously bent in the integra that i took them from.  so a few days before the arm comes in, i go to the track and get in 6 hearty runs. i had fun.

unfortunately, as i am swapping control arms a few days later, i notice that from the horrible alignment from the bent suspension has cause my front tires that were already at the end of their life had worn prematurely through the radials and the steal belts inside the wheel had begun to fray.   this was begging for a blow out.  so now i have steelies in the rear with futura tires and the beautiful hx rims in the front with bridgestones.  looks dumb. but hey at least the suspension is fixed and im half prepped for winter.  most importantly i can finally appreciate the front swaybar with alignment that is close enough to oem spec.

i had decided to sell my camber kit since my car wasnt really lowered enough for it to make a profound difference.  Thank God, matt from northeast-hondas.com was in need of replacements from an accident he had gotten into not long ago.  i was able to sell the kit for what i had bought it for.  thank you matt.

header... yea its still sitting in the garage going nowhere and may go nowhere as i feel i cannot resist the power of the darkside. 

i did end up buying the intake manifold spacers.  i must admit, i am concerned with the fitment, as it would not perfectly align with the ports between the intake manifold and the head, but you can notice the temperature drop.   the car also feels peppier after coming off the parkway with a nice healthy midrange so it cant be that bad.

the integra type r rear sway bar install is the next object on my agenda, however i am worried about brake oversteer, or even worse, throttle lift oversteer in the rain or snow.  i dont know how much the balance of the car will be thrown with this beefy 22mm bar.  the front is 21 so i guess i shouldnt have that much to worry about.

the time is also coming to put on the oldschool swirlies with the bfg allseasons... i need to get the one rebalanced so im really not in a rush.   also  in my winter prep im thinking about selling my carbon fiber hood...i really dont want to, but if the price is right then i have no choice.

i guess the next thing after the swaybar install is the brakes.  i plan on swapping in the integra front brakes whenever i have the time.  which could be in march..... who knows.

yea i threw in my 21mm integra front sway bar which is so many times better than no front sway bar but now the car has gone back into snow plow mode so i need to pull the 14mm integra rear sway bar and reinforce the subframe for the 22mm integra type r rear sway bar i just got in the mail.  hopefully that will balance everything out.

ok so yea thats quite the project but its not that bad.  however, i recently noticed that one of the lower control arm that i had to swap from the integra  for the sway bar is bent.  specifically the drivers side.  now it is noticeable to the naked eye that the driverside wheel sits 1/2 too far towards the rear of the car in the wheel well and the car gentle veers left...... arg  i definitely need to replace that.  swinging the wrench doesnt bother me, trying to find one does.

so then on top of these immediate concerns, im still porting out that stupid cheap header that i will probably never finish.  i still have the omnipower front camber kit that would be great to fix my tire wear, but im waiting to do my brake upgrade first.  the problem with this upgrade is that i still need to cut out the crap bushing on the rear trailing arms, press the new ones in, then get the alignment done for the rear. so the front camber kit really should be done with the brakes since the front camber will be adjusted while the rear toe and camber are adjusted.

all this is going on and i still want to buy a front lip, a composite intake manifold gasket for heat soak, and winter tires for january and february.

maybe i should just worry about setting aside the time for working on the car instead of buying more stuff that will sit in the garage for too many months.

im in europe.
it is awesome.
im having fun.
the french keyboards:
yea they really suck.
take care everyone