Here I am, Tuesday morning. I am tired, frustrated, and potentially hostile today. I checked my blood sugar and it is not a diabetic induced rage. (hah.) Turns out that I am just plain annoyed with the way things have gone over the last 12 months or so.

As far as my family is concerned, things are great. Trevor is growing up to be a fascinating and charming young man. Tara is flourishing in her job and is constantly surprising me with how beautiful she is inside and out, as well as constantly keeping me cracking up. There is never a day where I don't smile in her presence.

My frustrations are professional in nature. After a decent run of work over the last few years, I hit a roadblock as LearningBrands.com closed and sent us all home Nov 11th, 2000. I was able to get back on my feet relatively quickly by joining the team at CareScout in Wellesley, MA. While the pay was less than I would have liked and the atmosphere ultimately turned south, the people kept me going. There was a group of individuals whom I worked with there that kept things lively and interesting. Again, on November 11th 2001, I was notified that CareScout would be thinning it's ranks by 75%, and I was to leave at the end of that month.

During the months of December and January I was able to spend a large amount of time with Trevor as he and I stayed home, the unemployed and unschooled masses in the Liloia household. We enjoyed ourselves, but I found that the longer I was home, the more passionate I became to get out there fast and start using my noggin again. At the end of January, I connected with PerkinElmer's Customer Service group.

While I would like to think that based on the experience that I have collected over the last 5 years has moved me to a point past "Customer Service Rep", PerkinElmer was not offering any positions other than this to me. They did not have any openings in "Manager of Really Cool Projects that Let Dave be creative and inspired", which at the time was okay. I needed a job to make sure that food was purchased and bills paid, so I happily accepted the position that I currently hold.

Now I have been here almost six months and as expected, I am bored. I am not being challenged in what I do and I am finding myself to be more and more frustrated with the commonplace events in a corporate atmosphere. It can only be described as what I have dubbed, "cubicle mentality". This is the attitude that as long as something is not an individuals specific responsibility (i.e. - within the 3.5 walls of the cube around them), then they should make every effort not to just get it done, or do not assist in coming up with a creative (or standard) solution to the problem posed to them.

On top of this, I have taken on a part-time job to supplement my now reduced income at a bookstore at nights. While this job is interesting and offers some great benefits, it is begining to be a bit much. I don't intend to stop working there anytime soon, but the extra hours are starting to wear me out.

Ideally, what I need to do, is to find a position with a company that will see the creative value I can offer to them and will allow me to work on more involved projects. I am very interested in the customer interaction and how it can be streamlined/improved, six sigma, process flows, and quality control in non-manufacturing settings. The obvious step is to work with a company or consulting group that uses/implements Six Sigma or some other related process. Unfortunately, while I am passionate and excited, I do not have specific experience in these areas. Catch 22. Until I can find some outlet for this, I'll just keep plugging along.