I had to take a week off without pay and chose last week. I did absolutely nothing and enjoyed every minute of it.

Yes, yesterday was my birthday and that is why I did not post. I was being lazy.

An update, the company is going to decide on what to do with me, by next Monday. The reason you may ask, well I was not on the list of 27 people to transfer to Gulfstream, others were given a WARN notice but not me so I have no idea what is going to happen but I will post next Monday afternoon and let you know what the decision was.

The security I implemented last week seems to be working however, some websites do not like VPN. Netspend.com is one of them. I logged in one time and was sent code via text and then asked three security questions before I was logged in to work. I then created a ‘virtual card’ on the site and used that card to make an order and pay some bills before the new card came. I logged back in right after ordering with the virtual card and as soon as I tried to log in with VPN on again I was sent a new code via text and when I entered the number the website said my account was blocked and to call the number on the back of my card (good think I still had the old card). After a while on the phone with a few customer services people including an hour on hold I was told their website does not work when using VPN because they cannot verify your location. The solution would be to turn off the VPN and then log in which defeats the purpose of a VPN. I have been doing just that and then turning the VPN back on within a minute and hopefully nobody is trying to monitor my computer during those times.

Another issue is Outlook or more specifically Office 365 applications. When you log into your Microsoft Office 365 applications e.g. Outlook or OneDrive when Excel is accessing the cloud nothing happens. The solution again is to turn off the VPN let Outlook or Excel sign in and then turn the VPN on and you are in business.

Another application not working correctly with VPN is Unity3D. When you try and load a project the splash screen will freeze. Again, the solution is to turn off VPN and once the project loads turn VPN back on.

All these items having issues with NordVPN is a hassle, but the security is worth the hassle. Additionally, what makes this more frustrating is this is a known issue with ALL the sites and applications I have mentioned, and no effort has been made to rectify the situation.

All other financial sites I use seem to work with NordVPN simply fine if you enter the code you are sent.

My Boss’s last day is today. She sits up there as one of the better managers I have worked with. One of these days I’ll try and list them in order. Along with her, there are others whose last week was last week and some of those will also be missed.

Saturday evening, I was up much later than normal and noticed a message come across my phone indicating I had a text message from my bank. I did not think much of it because I have multiple accounts that pull money monthly. I then had another and looked to see if they were legit. I noticed the Lynda.com and knew that was ok but within 30 seconds another popped up and it was from addias.com and two more came in quick succession totaling more than $400.00! I quickly entered my bank account and shut down my debit card and then quickly reported it stolen locking down my account. I ordered a new card with expedite and shut down my computer, going to bed quite upset because I need to update my automatic payments again. I say again because this happened a few months ago but involved only about $5.00.

After sleeping all night and dreaming multiple dreams about this hacking situation I decided to lock down my internet surfing using a VPN. I have heard of NordVPN quite a few times from some people I trust and in my dreams this service was suggested multiple times. This will be the first time I have taken a dream, and did exactly what was suggested, it absolutely worked! I signed up for a three-year contract for a little over a hundred dollars. This service completely hides my computer, assigning a new IP each time with no information logging in their servers. The service will also block any internet activity when I have the service turned off. NordVPN also will cover 6 devices at the same time so I have two iPads, my computer and phone using the VPN currently. I may be able to get my router connected which will cover all the devices using the router and the VPN will count that as one device. I’ll investigate that. The only issue is every time I enter a secure site, credit cards etc., the site thinks you are there for the first time and does it’s two factor authentication which I will live with to prevent this from happening again.

Another thing I am going to do is get a different virtual card when I need to enter a debit card into a site I don’t necessarily trust. Doing this, after I enter the virtual card and the money has been transferred, I will disable that card and create a new one the next time I need it. I think the debit from now on will be used for ATM’s exclusively.

On to coding. I really need to concentrate on finishing the C#, react, Python and Django courses. Because I have Python and particularly C# showing in my LinkedIn profile, I have been getting offers for coding jobs. It will be an exceptionally long time before I will be comfortable accepting any offers for that type of work but now is the time to take the plunge and do it. I find the work fun and rewarding as well.

That was a long one, but a lot happened the last six days, see ya.

Last Friday I started getting emails from people stating that is was their last day and saying their goodbyes. Tom Lackey, Scott Gleason were some and then there were others like Dan Supernault, Hector Robles and Rick Fox who did not say anything but were friends non the less. Next week starts another round with Rhonda and Travis Knight as two of them. Walt Nubel and Clay Pearce left the first week of this month. In our group there are only three people left, Me, Bill Frieze and Mike Koloff with Mike Koloff gone next week, I think. Jasmine’s last day will be the 27th or, next Monday. That leaves Me and Bill Frieze as the last ones standing, Me with G650 and Bill with G280 and I think Bill will be gone by the first of August.

When I started there were 26 or more people on the G650 program, and I think the same on the G280 program or 50+ people in Manufacturing Engineering. Three is shocking.

Finally, I had a good weekend. Lately my weekends have gone too fast and I have not enjoyed them at all. With all the uncertainty at work the stress has really gotten to me. Add to that Angie continually asking for money it just multiplied by a factor of ten. This weekend I took it easy and enjoyed every minute. It helped a lot that the week went very well also.

Nerves, that is the topic. Not having any idea of where I am going to be working or if has me so wound up.

It is amazing how poorly this company treats its employees.

The program I have been working on for the last 11 years has been sold.

My Boss called me on Friday and told me I was laid off and later called back and let me know I would be getting the severance package.

The weekend was rough, not knowing what to do along with other issues I was sick to my stomach, throwing up every half hour or so.

Monday rolled around and after I finally got up about 8am my boss called and asked if I was going to be working? What the hell? I told her I thought I was laid off and she then said no, what are you talking about. I just shrugged my shoulders and said “I guess I miss understood” but I did not.

Still have a job. I did not post until now because I missed Monday and figured I’ll just miss the week and decided against it.

Job still here!!