The Gergorian Rant

Most people reading this know that back in August of this year I made the decision to move my boys and myself from California to Arizona. We relocated to a beautiful town in the mountains called Prescott Valley. That move obviously required that I leave my employer for the last 15 years and strike off on my own, an endeavor I’ve always dreamed of undertaking and finally took a chance with. So off we went to Arizona, me technically jobless, and started a new chapter of our lives. As with any new business start-up getting through the first few months is always tough, and I am encountering that first-hand. As my finances rapidly depleted I began to wonder as to the sanity of my decision and whether I had finally made a decision in my life that I was going to regret.

That brings us to the Christmas season, my older two boys knew of our financial situation, and that it was going to be a VERY simple holiday season (though I am not completely sure they understood just HOW simple). As Christmas day rapidly approached I began to feel that I had finally failed them despite knowing they still fully supported the move out here. While I still struggle to find the amount of work needed to sustain our household, I had obligations to meet such as getting my middle son to see his mother for the holidays. Luckily my friends that I had been working with (and them doing so patiently most months) to purchase a car, asked if I would like to return the car to them so their son could use it. I took the opportunity to drive the car back to them, drop my son off with his mother, then fly back home (courtesy of my father since I couldn’t afford the plane ticket).

That brings us to the Tuesday night before Christmas. I flew home in the evening, took the boys to get some dinner, then returned home to take care of some work I had for my old employer. The mounting bills, and lack of income has put quite a damper on my sleeping habits, so I found myself awake quite late that evening and trying to keep myself occupied and take thoughts off everything just for a bit. As I hopped around on Facebook I noticed one of my friends (whom I had returned the car to) posted a picture of a freeway at night with the caption “road trip!”. I didn’t recall him mentioning he had to go anywhere and contemplated texting him to see if everything was all right, but figured he was occupied with whatever might be happening to require a late night drive and would contact me if I could help. A few hours later I noticed another friend post about the thought of living on Happy Valley Road, which is a road just outside of Phoenix not far from where I live. Again, I wrote it off, not putting much thought into it and figuring there are more places with that same name in other towns. Finally about 3am I headed off to sleep.

Just after 4am, I was awakened to a knocking at my door. When you are first awakened you tend to lie there for a moment trying to figure out if it was your dream or not, so as I lay there contemplating it and attempting to recall if/what I was dreaming I heard it again. Yep, someone was at my door. Dreading it might be the landlord demanding some money or that we relocated, I stole a peek outside my bedroom window. Yep, there was a car in my driveway, and I couldn’t quite place it. As my sleepiness began receding more and more rapidly, the knocking became incessant and not something one could ignore. Finally reaching the front door, I swung it open to find my two friends from California standing on my front porch. Between the sleepiness, and being dumbfounded by those particular two people standing in my doorway, I stood there speechless. They stepped inside and told me they had something to show me and that I needed to come outside to see it.

Putting on a bit more (it was snowing outside after all) I followed them outside. One my front steps my friend slipped on the slick ice on the steps and fell rather hard. I am still worried about what damage that may have done, but it didn’t stop her face from glowing from the wonderful thing she had helped put together. It seems that all my friends from the bowling league I was a part of for somewhere around 17 years had all pitched in to “help out a family in need”. I had seen comments on Facebook about them doing that, but never in a million years had imagined that MY family was the one they were banding together to help. After all, there are so many other families out there that are so much worse off than mine was. But it wasn’t about that (though it took me a few days to wrap my head around just that simple fact). Rather it was about friends helping out one of their own.

The car was packed as full as could be, with the only room left open where both of them had sat for the 6+ hour drive to my house in the middle of the night. There was food to fill my pantry, jackets to keep the boys warm (we had California desert clothes after all, nothing designed for being in snow as often as we are finding ourselves now), and presents to place under the tree for Christmas morning. We unloaded the car, and just like that they were off. They both had to work the next day and had given up their precious sleep, and spending time with their own families, to bring the most wonderful of gifts to mine. I am still awestruck and get teary eyed even as I write this over a week later.

I don’t know how to say thank you enough to everyone that contributed, and I know they didn’t do it for the thanks, but rather because that’s just who they are. I can be proud that if nothing else, I have surrounded myself with the types of friends that will go above and beyond as my friends to ease my worry a bit and make my kids realize there are some truly wonderful people in the world. I decided the best way to say thanks would be to “pay it forward” and was given such an opportunity just a few days later, as we arrived at my sister’s house on Christmas Day and she mentioned that her and my niece would be getting up the next morning to go feed the homeless. I decided it was a sign, and joined them in that adventure (which I’ll write about in detail in a future blog post). It was a wonderful experience and one that I plan to repeat many more times.

Thank you to everyone who took part and made Christmas for me and my boys so much more memorable. It wasn’t about the fact of what they got in a possession sense, but rather that they got to witness, firsthand, the wonder of friends and what being someone’s friend truly means. There isn’t anything I could do that I feel would be repayment enough for the kindness and love shown to us, so I’ll just keep doing whatever presents itself (and some things I’ll search out on my own) to keep paying it forward and spread that love to more people.

I love every one of you, friends, family, acquaintances, and hope that I never do anything that would make you feel disappointment in me. As we bring 2009 to a close, I know that 2010 will be one of the best years ever as I am now more aware than ever of the potential that awaits each of us. Be safe in the new year and continue being the awesome people you are!

Love,

Gerg, Amanda, Josh, Billy, and Brent

Well, seems I have had a little too much time on my hands lately and I’ve gotten caught up in one of the Facebook applications. Anyone who knows me is aware that I tend to avoid these little games on the social networking sites, but for whatever reason I started in on this one. I discovered I could level pretty easy without putting a ton of time into the game and then started thinking if I was going about it in the best manner.

Being a person that finds working with numbers enjoyable (you don’t have to tell me, I know I have issues) I decided to map out what I knew about the game and do some calculations. Now I’ve seen lots of “Café World Cheats” and other sites that claim to tell you how to excel at this game. I’m not going to make any of those claims, but rather just pass along the information I have figured out and let you decide for yourself how best to use it. I will pass along my thoughts on these results and how I am putting them to use, but feel free to do whatever you want with them.
So without further ado, here is what I was able to put together:

NOTE: These calculations include items I can cook based on where I am currently at in the game, which is Level 34. If you can pass me the info for the dishes that are served above this level I will add them into my charts and update this article.

There are two things you are trying to earn in this game, Café World Points and Café World Coins, depending on which you are focusing on could change your approach. If you want to put in lots of time and are able to be in the game constantly and keep setting up your stoves and serving food as it finishes cooking, then the item you want to cook for maximum points earned is the Bacon Cheeseburger (84 points and 444 coins every hour – per stove – assuming you serve the food and start cooking another batch as quickly as possible). If it’s coins you want to build up then the Chips and Guacamole are your best bet netting you 520 coins an hour, but the points drop to 80, and your active involvement increases significantly since the Chips cook in 3 minutes versus 5 minutes for the cheeseburger. Another option for maximum points would be the Chicken Gyro and Fries which matches the cheeseburger for points (84) with a cook time of 10 minutes, thus decreasing your active participation need, but coins are significantly lower (258 versus 444).

So, fastest leveling while minimizing your interaction would be the Chicken Gyro and Fries. Keep your stoves busy making those and you are earning 84 points every hour (per stove) while having to clean and reset your stoves 6 times an hour versus 12 times for the cheeseburger.

I’ll post the full charts below that I have constructed in a couple variations (sorted by points per hour and coins per hour). NOTE: Coins per hour factors in the cost of making the dish to begin with, so if you notice a discrepancy from the menu in the game itself that is why, the coins I have calculated would be your profit for that item. You have to take into account how long each dish cooks, and your ability to be sitting in front of your computer. I’ve also posted the list sorted by cook time so you can decide when you are going to be in front of your computer next, and choose the appropriate dish for either maximum points or coins depending on what your needs are at the time.

Thanks for reading this article, I may decide to get involved in some of the other games on Facebook and build up similar charts (or if people want to send me the info I can compile it into workable charts that actually mean somthing). I’ll see what kind of response this article gets, and then decide from there. Hope this helps at least a couple people out there figure out how to best move forward in Café World on Facebook, and maybe even gets someone interested in how to come up with these figures yourself. Feel free to ask any questions or critique this article. Any and all feedback is always welcomed for anything I may write. Cook times below are in minutes, divide the number by 60 to get the hours

OK, sorry for last nights debacle. Sometimes things just get to you, but then again I think sometimes that’s just what people need to help them push forward. Today was much more productive. After my post last night I was ready to head off to bed and just sleep it away and look at it with a clearer head today. Instead my mind started going, so I started doing some research. Not sure why it took me so long to think of it, but there are quite a few machine shops around here that do all kinds of work. My two past careers (machinist/moldmaker and network admin) have been intertwined while working at Ramko that I realized I have some pretty unique knowledge in my head that not many other computer people around here do. So I mapped out the companies (there are about six that I found worthy of further exploration) and started to put together a plan in my head. Basically it came down to this, they won’t know I’m here and have the ability to help their company unless I tell them

So this morning, I got Brent of to school, started my coffee brewing, and sat down to work. I rebuilt my resume, not for myself searching for a job, but as the owner of a company, with unique talents that could help other machine shops with the knowledge I have. Not many other computer people understand about shop work flow, or other aspects of machining for that matter. I focused on pointing out what makes me a unique “computer guy” for a machine shop, attached my business card, and set off to drive around town. Most places I was met with quite an open response. I got the feeling most of them never even thought of finding someone that could tie their network more into their shop floor. I’ll follow up maybe Monday or Tuesday with each company, just as a reminder. I figured just handing out a business card wouldn’t be enough, they would need more details to pick up on the capabilities I could bring their way.

I also called to find out what is going on with the assistance. Anyone who knows me realizes how tough it was for me to even go down there in the first place. I’ve always taken care of myself and mine and to have to ask for help at that level is quite humbling. I don’t intend on needing it long, I’ll keep pushing forward with new ideas to get my name out there. I just have to get through this tight time now (and the holidays) and I know we will all come out stronger and better off on the other side. Thanks for everyone’s support, I’ll keep you up to date as to how things are going. I just need to keep my focus, head down, feet pounding the pavement. No one is going to just step up and hand me the answer, it’s going to take hard work, perseverance, and becoming numb to people turning me down. It’s nothing personal, they just don’t need someone at this time to do that work for them. So I’ll just search out more, and at some point I’ll be on the other side, wishing it were like it is now because I am over my head with work.

But we’ll deal with that issue when necessary. (-;

Gerg