This is the complete curriculum vitae of Edward Rourke O’Donnell, not the kind you hand out looking for work, but the CV that includes all the wonderful and not so wonderful jobs I’ve had along the way to where I am now.

1. Envelope stuffer – AMC – Valley Forge PA – Summers of 1973/1974.

My first paying job, or as I like to call it, my introduction to death. This job prepared me for the boring jobs to come. Each day filled with the same monotonous boredom that would have inspired Camus. I could have been in a Bukowski novel at the time. I mean, this was sooooooo boring, taking 3 stacks of papers and putting them into envelopes. All day, about 8 hours each. I was paid the whopping salary of $10/day, which would be about $56 in 2014 dollars. The only saving grace from this seemingly endless miasma, was my dad took me out to a nice lunch every day. He would knock back a couple of 7&7s, and i would get a hot roast beef sandwich with gravy and fries, hmnnnn, delightful. After leaving the restaurant, I would hope and pray (even though i was already a budding atheist) that he would not return directly to the office. O how I would dread the feeling when I realized we were going back to the pit for more death.

2. Lifeguard – Bally PA public pool – Summer of 1977.

This was one of the high points of my career, and since it was only my 2nd job after the paper stuffing death, it was not a good introduction to the employment to come. I worked with Bob Hillegas, Clint Musser, Hughie Seaman and Fran Raggazino. We had a great time and it was a shame it only lasted a summer. I made a whopping $2/hour or $8.81 in 2014 money, which actually sounds ok. I was only 15 and so I rode my bike to work every day. Mostly on route 100 which had lots of traffic and of course I didn’t own a bicycle helmet. I don’t think they were invented back then. I spent all day watching kids swim and twirling my whistle, which I developed into a high art. It’s amazing we were entrusted with taking care of all those kids. Luckily I never had to save anyone, in fact, in my 4 year stint as a lifeguard, I never had to save anyone. Just yell at kids to stop running or some other nonsense. The sense of power was palpable. I am godlike! I am lifeguard!

3. Dishwasher – Cutillos Restaurant – Fall and Winter 1977, 1978.

An Italian restaurant in Pottstown PA. O lovely Pottstown, how I do yearn for your post-industrial embrace. And this restaurant is still there. That’s a long time for a restaurant. After working here, I had lots of respect for anyone working in the restaurant business as it is very hard work. My buddies, Vince Arcari and Al Harrington were also lackey dishwashers. Our other pal: Jeff Stahr was a cook so we had a bit of envy and awe for him. And we were all on the soccer team which made it more fun. Jeff would always cook me plenty of food when we weren’t busy, and we got busy. As I’ve said, its hard work. They even threw a great Christmas party for the employees where I got completely wrecked for the very first time. I didn’t know what to drink as I was only 16 at the time but they had an open bar and they served us whatever we wanted. I mimicked my father and got a 7&7, which was awful, but I of course drank it. Hell, it was free and I was sixteen, say no more. I got completely wrecked, Yeh, I know I said that but I was completely wrecked. The next days I had to go into school and I reeked of whiskey. Fran Raggazino was impressed with how foul my breath stank. But there was more stench in the air approaching. I thought the job was going all fine and well, me eating steaks and spaghetti every shift and the head cook offering us beer. Hell, we were sixteen, I bet they don’t do that anymore. But then they up and suddenly fired me. My first sacking as it were, but certainly not the last. I would hear the famous “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out” speech several times in the years to come. It still amazes me when people tell me they have never been fired from a job. How did they do it? Or did they just not have that many lousy jobs? I think the later.

4. Lifeguard – Boyertown PA Community Pool – Summers 1978 and 1979

As good as it was working at the Bally pool, Boyertown was better. Dave Slider was the manager and he asked me if I wanted to work there when I was sitting in the high school library. “O yeh baby” I said when he asked. Ok, I didn’t say that, I probably said, “sure”. My older brother worked there and since I was on the swim team, it seemed like a logical progression. I continued to work on my whistle twirling skills throughout the summer and I learned the joy of drinking and getting drunk with Tom Hiriark. Tom was a year or two younger than me, and I was only 16 so I’m not sure where the hell we got the booze, but back then it was everywhere. We would sneak beer into our soda cups and sit up there and lifeguard the little brats. And as I write this, I’m wondering If I should be writing this stuff. They say this whole world wide web, is indeed a worldwide thing. Who cares, I think I mentioned I was 16. That has to save you right? Well, luckily I never had to save anyone. But we only got drunk a couple times. I guess lifeguards don’t do that anymore. Well Dave never said anything, or at least the end of the season when I got my evaluation in the mail. Or I should say my mother got my evaluation in the mail and read it. Well, it turns out I wasn’t very mature. (I think I mentioned I was 16/17). Yeh Dave was right, it was incredibly irresponsible of Tom and I getting drunk while we guarded the lives of the wee young kiddies. But then Dave was the guy who was always teasing me for having an erection while Erica Simpson was flashing those lovely little glances at me. So excuse me Dave, you’re a great guy, but I didn’t give a lot of credence to the evaluation.

5. Cafeteria worker – Bloomsburg State College – 1978 -1980

I had lots of money at this point in my life. Too much as it were. All from the very very nasty student loans. I was seventeen years old when I signed for those loans. Doesn’t even seem legal does it? So they gave me boatloads of cash which I of course squandered away. But I still got a job on campus, which worked out real well. I usually served deserts in the cafeteria queue, then cleaned up at the end of the night. Quite easy. I also washed dishes in an assembly line fashion with 2 other people. The first would grab the dirty dishes off the conveyor belt and dump the refuse in a bin, then put the dishes in a tray. I forget what the second person did. The third person got whatever was left. Kind of like a triage system for the leftover food. This job worked out so well, friends followed me and also got jobs there. One time an upper classman brought in a bottle of rum and the 3 of us on the line drank it all. We got wrecked. Unlike the lifeguard job, no lives were in jeopardy.

6. Pool Manager – Hereford PA – Summer 1980

This was well before Trailer Park Boys became popular. Hell, they could have filmed that show there in lovely Hereford. White trash at its finest. The money was just too good to pass up. I was making far more than Dave Slider, my manager from the previous summer. A fact I enjoyed telling him whenever I got the chance. But the money was good because I was expected to be there all the time. Seven days a week all summer, from noon till closing. Closing time was meant to be 8pm, but was more like whenever I could unload the little brats. One stroke of luck was the pool was often filthy and the state inspector would close it down for the day. Wahoo!! The deepest end was only six feet but you usually couldn’t see the bottom. In retrospect, I think something was wrong with the filters. I would try all sorts of things to get the water clear, honest, I really wanted the pool to stay open. One time I connected the pump intake from the baby pool to take in water from the large pool. I strung up a lengthy bit of hose that just reached. I had to tie a weight onto the end at the large pool just to make sure it stayed submerged. With all the problems facing that little dump of a pool, I was shocked when the park manager called me the next year and asked if I wanted the job back. I declined and gave it to my friend Steve. I moved up in the world to Green Acres a few miles away. If you drive by the place today, it was filled in with dirt and covered up long ago. Good riddance, or sigh, another part of me reverts to dust. Flip a coin.

7. McDonalds – Gilbertsville PA – one week in 1980

Of all the jobs on this list, I would dare say this one was the worst. And I only worked a couple shifts which were only a few hours long. There was some initial training but after they let me in front of the fryer with the timers going off and people yelling at me, I started reflecting on your basic existential quandary: “What in the wide world of sports am I doing here?” I quit after the week. Sound decision.

8. Ski Lift Operator – Doe Mountain, Macungie PA – Winters 1980, 81, 82, 83, 84, and 87

I want to start this off by saying I was not fired from this job, never ever. Doe Mountain, now known as Bear Creek was a hill in very rural PA. It was meant to be a ski mountain, but we called it the downhill hockey rink as it was often very icey. Part of the day would be spent loading the ski bums onto the chair lift and the other part would be watching them get off the ski lift. Each had their good and bad points.

• The loading meant you actually might have to interact with the ski bums, which could suck.
• Loading meant you had to freeze your butt off outside if it was cold.
• Sitting at the top shack watching them get off was boring. I mean boring, I’m telling you it was boring.

That’s about all I can think of for good and bad things. But the place could be fun. I had loads of pals working there and it was easy and it fit in well with school. One time my dad gave me a trip to the Caribbean. Someone gave him the trip and he couldn’t go so he gave it to me. I told my boss I was going to the Caribbean and he asked when. I said in a couple hours. No problem. I was off. I even worked there for a month in between school breaks over Christmas while I was going to SDSU. They were very accommodating. Plus, they didn’t fire me. But the best part about Doe Mountain was the fact that my great friend Davey Merkey was the manager/caretaker there for the summer. He had full control over the entire place. We would go into the bar and drink whatever we wanted. I also somehow talked him into letting me drive the school bus when we were drunk. No accidents occurred as we were just driving around the mountain. Bet you didn’t know you could go off road with a school bus, yeh we did.

9. Lifeguard – George Washington Motor Lodge, Allentown PA –  Spring 1981

And yet another lifeguard job. This was an OK job as no one really bothered me and the manager just seemed to want a token person doing lifeguard duties just in case a state official asked. I got free food and it was easy. The only bad thing was it was rather far from anywhere. Right off a big highway near a cloverleaf. I had to quit. Please notice I was not fired. I forget if I actually ever told anyone I was quiting, I just stopped going and I doubt if anyone even noticed for a while.

10. Construction Worker lackey – Topton PA  – with Bill.

I had this job when I was living with the hippies. To this day I still can’t listen to the Grateful Dead without a strong case of nausea swelling up in my guts. All summer long, another Dead song, ugh. I don’t blame the band, its deadheads. Say no more. But it was the drunk Tom Davis (why do I still remember his name?). He was working with Bill and he knew I was broke so he asked Bill if I could work with him. Sure, why not. Bill was a great guy. I wish I could say the same about Tom. I saw him years later on the bus going from Philly to Quakertown. He was drunk and incoherent. Even though we were sitting near each other and we had shared a house for a summer, he never recognized me. He got off the bus stumbling like a drunk from a bad movie. See ya Tom! He might have fallen into a trench, who knows. Anyways, I did construction work. It was mostly awful. Very hard work. Quite glad I’m not involved in construction work. I always cringe when I see someone on a roof shoveling those tar shingles off. Yikes!

11. Lifeguard – Topton pool – Topton PA Summer 1981

This lasted all of a week. They hired me to teach a lifeguard/water safety course. I said “Of course, how much can I charge each student?” The boss’s jaw kinda dropped. I didn’t know I was supposed to teach it for the hourly rate they were going to pay me. Things are different in Topton. Obviously they didn’t have the mercenary capitalist zeal that we had back in Boyertown. Hell, In Boyertown they would have let me fleece the students for whatever I could get. O well. Yet another job I got fired from. How many does that make?

12. Lifeguard – Green Acres Trailer Park Breinigsville – PA Summer 1981

This was a great job. You might notice that being a pool lifeguard is a great job. Twirling the whistle, gawking at young girls in bathing suits, and you get paid. What more do you want? The key is to make sure that you wear appropriate shorts to hide your erection when you are gawking at these aforementioned girls. You might have to suddenly get out of your lifeguard chair and if you have a Speedo on, be prepared for the consequences. This job was also in a trailer park though that was not the reason I got the job. You usually don’t brag to people that ‘Yes, I do have experience with Trailer Parks’. They gave me the job and the summer turned out to be a good one. I never had to save anyone and the biggest concern was which bathing suit to wear. The last day of work, I brought in a bottle of vodka and the other lifeguard Ed and one of the cute girls, Lorie, and I drank it down. Three people can get a good buzz off of one bottle of vodka. Lorie and I ended up making out in the shower towards the end of the bottle. Bottles of vodka can have that effect. Luckily I was not wearing a Speedo that day. That was a good job.

13. Social Worker – Concern – Fleetwood PA 1983-84

This was definitely not one of those jobs where you fondly pine for days of yore. This was more like a taxi driver and I hate to drive. You would go out to foster kids homes so the foster parents could take a break (i.e. ditch the kids and get out of Dodge for the day). It usually involved you driving the kids someplace. Or on Sundays, I would do the graveyard shift and take care of the delinquents. Usually the boys were ok, but one night, I had five of them and they were hell. I’ve always thought of how bad teenage boys can be. I’m going to stop writing now as I don’t want to think about them.

14. Temp agency – London UK – 1984

O to sail to distant shores and feed upon the delights of exotica! For I have tasted honeydew and drunk the milk of paradise. No, wait, well, that was not it. I got a job in London with a temp agency with some vultures who sent me out to various jobs. Usually at some posh tower block as the front door porter in Kensington or Mayfair. One place had a tenant named ‘Lady Dashwood’. I’m not making that up. Yes, the UK still has their class system working fine and well. I really don’t think Coleridge was thinking about these travels.

15. Vinyl Windows Installer – Wilmington DE – Thermal Side Windows – Summer 1985

This was my dad’s umpteenth business. See this movie to get a good idea of what kind of business it was. My dad was a salesman and he could sell the vinyl and tin. I think he preferred the vinyl, not sure why. Maybe they could make another movie called ‘Vinyl Men’. But that sounds a bit sci-fi and my dad was not sci-fi. This was another construction job which again reinforced the idea that I did not want to work in the construction industry. It did allow me to save enough money to go to grad school in England. Which was a mistake.

16. Research assistant – SDSU Econ Dept – San Diego CA, 1986-87

I finally got enough sense and ditched England and went to San Diego. Why San Diego? Mostly because it was next to Mexico and I wanted to go to Mexico. And grad school, they had a grad school. This was a great job working for great people. Especially the administrators in the office. Never take the admin people for granted. They can make life at graduate school like hell (hello Temple U).

17. Cafeteria worker – West commons SDSU San Diego CA – 1986-87

I worked at this job the same time as I worked as the research assistant. I would very much recommend working at the cafeteria at any school. You get free food, its not hard, your co-workers are students so it’s a good place to meet friends, plus the chicks. (Sorry, I don’t usually use that word). I very much doubt I would have met any girls if it weren’t for the West Commons at SDSU. I mean, let’s face it, its slim pickings in the economics graduate department.

18. Sandwich maker – Sandwich Board – Allentown PA – Fall 1987

I had just recently received my Masters degree and so I thought I would try out for sandwich making. Yes, I was qualified. This was a little corner deli in lovely Allentown. I’m not much of a Billy Joel fan but he made a song about this place and its not terribly complimentary. Allentown is a bit of a dump, let’s face it. But I made great sandwiches for a couple months and this job allowed me to hang out with my buddies who also moved to Allentown. Why does someone move to Allentown?

19. Dun and Bradstreet – Mail room – Allentown PA – Fall 1987

Making my way up the rank of society from lowly sandwich dunce to mail room clerk. Why was I still in Allentown?

20. Dun and Bradstreet – Credit Clerk – Allentown PA

Was this a promotion from mail room clerk? I spent all day calling people on the phone. Talking on the phone is about as rewarding as, frick, I was going to say as defecating but I think defecating is more rewarding. And I’m still in Allentown.

21. Office clerk – Progress Light Philalephia PA –  Early 1988

Hey, I know, I’ll go from being an idiot clerk in Allentown to being one in Philadelphia. Didn’t Billy Joel have a song about Philadelphia also. I must admit Philly is a much nicer place now than it was in 1988, but back than, lets say, I didn’t have loads of good luck.

22. Temp Worker Careers USA, various offices around Philalephia PA –  1988 

I must have been sent to a dozen offices in downtown Philly around this time. They loved me. I showed up, did the work and accepted the crap wages. It was time to leave. I think I’ll go back to San Diego to the cafeteria. Why did I let my lifeguard certificate expire?

23. Temple University – Economics Instructor – Philalephia PA 1990

I finally was going to pursue my lifelong objective and get a PhD. Mostly so I could cruise along working 8 months a year. I got accepted at Temple and they gave me a teaching job which I loved. I even got good reviews from the students. A couple of the girls even invited me to a party which i graciously declined. But then, the department gave my teaching post to an incoming student. The administration at Temple was the antithesis of what it was at SDSU. Temple was useless. I can’t believe three of my nieces went there also.

24. Construction work – bob, my brother in law, Philly, 1990

More construction work. What is it about construction work? I guess there is always some around and anybody can jump in. We did eat well. And Bob always had plenty of beer on hand. Actually this was quite a bit of fun. I learned how to hold a ladder while coworker/buddy George was leaning very precariously to one side as he held his beer in one hand and a hammer in another. Amazingly enough, the ladder did not tip over.

25. Retail Clothing sales – I. Goldberg Philadelphia PA – 1990-91

The construction gig was drying up and my weekly calls to the econ department were being sent to /dev/null (programmer joke). Time for a change. I know, I’ll try the retail world. I Goldberg was a Army/Navy store that sold lots of weird stuff plus lots of normal clothes. I bought things there so thought it must be OK. This was another job where I met lots of great co-workers. Unfortunately, I never met any girls, or made any money, or learned anything. It was time to ditch Philly. I think I’ll go back to San Diego.

26. Statistics Instructor – SDSU – San Diego CA – 1992-93

Back at SDSU. My friend Mark called me the boomerang as I kept leaving and kept coming back to San Diego. I would boomerang out and back to San Diego often in the years to come. I was teaching small one credit classes of econometrics to students. This was another great job, 20 hours per week and enough pay to supply beer and pay the rent. Life was good.

27. Proofreader – Some Dentist scammer trying to sell a stupid ass book, Summer 1993

I was broke and needed some money. I scanned the bulletin boards at the computer lab for jobs in the hope something computer related would come my way. I found this guy who needed proofreading done in WordPerfect and I could work anywhere. Sounded perfect. I went to meet the guy and here it was a dentist writing a book on personality types. He was the typical over-achiever, friendly but with a sense of superiority about him. He paid me peanuts to clean up messed up electronic documents. His book, or his book to be, was complete crap. Basically type A, B whatever people. I did learn how to use a Mac with him, so that was good.

28. Scientist – NHRC US Navy – San Diego, Point Loma CA 1993-96

Finally, my first job, the real job, no more school stuff, research assistant, retail, construction crap. A real job. And a steady pay check. And my title was actually ‘Scientist’, I even had a business card with the the title ‘Scientist’ on it. How cool is that? I would sit in my own office with the best view in San Diego. The harbor was right out my window. Everything was so cool about this job. I would sit there and play on the computers, We had Macs, VAX/VMS system which I loved and I even got a 486 PC with windows 3.1, which I quickly installed Coherent. This was even before Linux came out. I rode my bike to work every morning, my co-worker Mike Odowick, and I had an unspoken contest to see who could dress the most slovenly. It was a close race. Everything was great so of course I quit. I met my brother in India and was having such a great time, I decided to quit while having a beer at a cafe by myself. It was just an epiphany. I decided then and there to send in a fax when I got to Bombay. It was as though the weight of the world was off my shoulders and I was free. Of course it completely screwed over my career for the next 5 years, but hey, you gotta pay the piper.

29. Bike Courier – Cyclone Messengers London UK, Spring 1996

I was on my way to India and so took a side trip to London visiting Will and Dave. Dave mentioned he could get me a job as a bike courier. I already had a return flight to San Diego and had a job already so gave his idea little thought. Five months later I was back in London delivering parcels around the center of the city. The radio dispatcher was Scottish and I had trouble understanding him when I was in front of him, let alone over the radio. Needless to say, this job didn’t last long. I would like to mention I quit (before I got sacked).

30. Temp Agency – Careers USA, Philadelphia PA again, ugh, Winter 1996

I was working with Lotus Notes for some company I have luckily forgotten about. Let’s leave it at that.

31. Proofreader – Taipei Taiwan, 1997

My first job in Asia. I was working for peanuts at a marketing firm in Taipei. Only lasted about a week but it was easy and they paid me in cash. Beers for the way home.

32. Kindergarten Teacher with Bob and Jennifer – Taipei Taiwan Lu Tzo 1997

This was probably one of the toughest places to teach English. Actually, I wasn’t teaching so much as entertaining a group of 30 kids. Nice school and Bob and Jennifer were cool. And now one of the Taiwanese teachers lives in San Diego. “It’s a small world after all”

33. ESL instructor – A bushiban owned by an insane Taiwanese woman that went to university in Ohio – Taipei Taiwan 1997

This lady had far too much energy. She was nuts. I could have taken a kilo of meth before class and I wouldn’t have had enough energy for her. She owned and ran a bushiban in Taipei and she basically wanted a white person that was as energetic as her. Well, I fit the white bit ok. This didn’t last long.

34. ESL Instructor – Jakarta Indonesia – bank in Gajah Madah

I taught 3 Indonesian bankers (of Chinese descent) English. They didn’t need much teaching as their English was fine. I think they just wanted to pay a white guy lots of money to show up and be, well, a white guy at the office. I was always happy when they cancelled class, and they cancelled a lot.

35. ESL Instructor EF Pluit, Jakarata Indonesia near the Mega Mall

The mega mall is, as the name suggests, huge, well, actually, its mega. And I taught at a small school next to it. High school kids (again, of chinese descent) who were actually very easy to get along with and quite bright. Not a bad gig, and not the last ‘English First’ school for me.

36. Kindergarten Teacher – North East Taipei

Back to Taipei. This was another good gig, and I think I lasted the whole term. I even taught the owner’s son on the side. This was a good family and they gave me lunch.

37. Web Programmer, WebIndonesia Jakarta Indonesia with the French Team

With Phillipe, the French guy. My first non-teaching job in SE Asia. Phillipe was scouring the streets of Jaksa, looking for a bule that knew computers. This was back in 1996 or 97, can’t really remember and the internet was still in its modem era. I knew quite a bit about internet programming already and so I got together with Phillipe. This would have worked out better, but it was till too early. We were trying to create a full on web site with basic html and no database backend. A great gig, worked when I wanted to, got paid OK, and the best part, I was an expat not teaching frickin ESL. If only this would have lasted longer. Sigh.

38. ESL Instructor – Pacific Tech Phonh Penh Cambodia

I landed in Cambodia with less than $100. I had a rather strong incentive to get a job right away. This was one of the better ESL schools in PP at the the time. It was staffed by some nice Khmer people and a group of misfit expats. English, Kiwi, Israeli, got a pulse and look white, you’re in.

39. ESL Instructor – Some nameless language school in Phonh Penh Cambodia

After pounding the pavements of Phonh Penh, I found this place. The owner had grand aspirations of running a huge school with some cheaply paid white people fronting the place. He had trouble getting kids into the school, even though he commissioned a professionally done TV commercial with yours truly teaching an packed class. I don’t know where he got all the people to fill the class but there I was, on national TV. People came up to me in the streets after it had played and asked for my autograph. OK, they didn’t ask for my autograph but they did recognize me. I was on national TV in SE Asia before my dear brother, ha, beat ya to it Jason!

40. More ESL in Taipei – West Taipei Taiwan

I had so many teaching jobs in Taipei that I’ve forgotten about this one. I mean, I must have taught at 20 different schools around Taipei. It got to the point where I would just show up and ad lib the entire lesson. OK, so it was just ESL to kids, but still. I had a pulse.

41. Junior High School Science Teacher – Ramkhamhaeng K-12 Bangkok Thailand

I was teaching science classes to junior high school kids. Biology to the 7th graders, chemistry to the 8th graders and physics to the 9th graders. I was almost tempted to prepare for these classes, but hell, I took all these classes in college, who needs to prepare. These kids were actually very nice. Well behaved, studious and mostly good kids. I compare this scenario to the kids my friends in lovely Reading PA teach and you may as well be talking about different planets. There was never ever any incidence with disrespect towards teachers in Thailand, let alone violence amongst the school. Compare that to Reading PA, (or any place in America). This was a good gig and I was even getting paid 40K Baht/month, which compared to what the teachers in Bangkok are making these days is still a good salary.

42. Programmer/Sys Admin/DBA – Promoventures – San Diego CA, 2002-05

This was my first job after living in Asia for over 5 years. I was very concerned anyone would look at my resume and say “What is this Thailand/Taiwan stuff”. They didn’t at this place. I was given a written test to take. Very easy in hindsight and I was the only one to get all the answers right. Basic Perl and Mysql and Linux stuff. This job was cool as they let me work abroad a couple months out of the year. Another good thing was the office was located downtown, that is until they moved it to suburban hell near Mira Mesa Blvd. Unfortunately it didn’t last. They let me go (I was not fired!) but I still keep in contact with Tony.

43. Programmer – Mary.com – Online, A couple weeks in 2005

44. Programmer Digiteria San Diego CA, 3 weeks in 2006

I got fired again. No, I’m not just copying and pasting that sentence over and over again.

45. Database Analyst – Project Concern International San Diego CA, 2006-09

I was unemployed once again when I chanced upon an add for working with an NGO. Now I had seen people working for NGO’s when I lived in Cambodia and I wanted to be one of them. The NGO workers in Cambodia seemed to be doing much better than the English teachers. I interviewed and everything went well, I had dreams of living as an expat in some cheap exotic locale. The locale ending up being Murphy Canyon Road. Anytime you see the word ‘Canyon’ in the street name, you know it is in the burbs someplace. They did send me to Boliva and Botswana, two places I would never go on my own, so that was nice. But the database and programming aspect didn’t really pan out, it ended up being more of a helpdesk position, which was about as much fun as a …

46. Programmer – UCSD San Diego, 2009 -> Now.

I’m still at this job. Looking at the list above, you’ll notice they don’t last long. In fact, this is the only job that lasted more than 3 years. And that is not because I am older and wiser, but instead it is due to the fact that this is the best place in the world to work. Everyone here is the best, I mean it! They are the best (what is the HTML tag that means you’re being kinda sarcastic?). So nothing smart assed or nasty to say here. No siree, everything is hunky dory and we’ll leave it at that.