Rolling Water

I got my final Omniture certification test results back yesterday. I am not one of the anomalies. I passed, and can now put Omniture Certified Professional:Implementation on my biz cards and in my email sig.

The news gave my confidence a huge boost. And I needed that–I’m giving my first presentation today.

Yeah. For those who have seen the blog previous to today, you may be wondering at the change. For those visiting the blog for the first time today and afterwards, the name has changed from Rushing Waters to Rolling Waters. See this post for more details.

So, why the change? Well, a few reasons. I have not really been satisfied with the idea conveyed with the word “rushing.” It felt too…rushed, too forceful, and a little bit dangerous. That isn’t what I wanted to convey about myself.

I wanted something more poetic and natural sounding. I ran across exactly what I was looking for in the D&C, section 121 verse 33. The phrase comes from a question posed, “How long can rolling waters remain impure?” which has profound and personal meaning for me.

“Rolling Waters” is much more poetic, much more natural and softer sounding, feels less dangerous and more like the image in the blog header. I would much rather be connected with thoughts of life-giving, nourishing streams than with potentially destructive floods.

Well, I got an 80% score on the second half of the Omniture Implementation Test, which means I passed. I will know how I did on the first half in a couple of weeks. According to Omniture, only two people have passed the second half, but failed the first half. I hope I’m not the third.

A passing grade on both halves means I would be certified. A failing score mean I would have to take the test over again at some point if I wanted the certification.

This week I am in “Omniture University,” which is another name for SiteCatalyst User Training. More of review than actual new knowledge, but still informative and good to fill in the gaps caused by my undirected self-study.

Whether or not I stay at Omniture for a long time, and there’s no reason not to, I will have some very marketable skills to take with me.

Today is the big Omniture Implementation Test. I’ve had the SiteCatalyst code crammed into my head over the last three days, and now it’s time to see if I remember any of it.

It has been nice to get the missing pieces filled in, to finally understand how SiteCatalyst works. Now, if only I can put it all together and make it work. I have to pass by at least 80% to be certified. That would be a nice addition to my resume: Certified Omniture Implementation Consultant.

Wish me luck.

Hey, everything’s cool. My concerns were unfounded. I have long held fears of working for a large corporation, due to the political atmosphere that usually evolves inside large companies.

While Omniture is large and has it’s rules, it doesn’t feel like a big company.

I may stay for a long time.

This is my last entry as an entirely free man. Tomorrow will find me chained to an office desk for an undetermined duration of time, a fate I have freely chosen.

But I do it for the good of those around me for whom I care most. My family finally deserves the good things of life–things my previous choices have denied them. My will is bent toward their happiness and security.

Oh, and by the way, I just finished “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” I loved it. I’ll have to write about it some day.

Hey, my friend in the State Department* had a link to this video on his site.

It took me a minute to figure out what the premise was. I thought, “Ah, another French guy with a lisp” (those of you who have watched Jacques Pepin’s cooking show on PBS know what I mean). It’s really very clever.

*Doesn’t that make me sound important?

I have accepted the position at Omniture. Actually, I was a little surprised at how quickly they moved on this. I start Monday (yes, the 6th).

So I immediately went out shopping for a new truck. I got my bank to pre-approve a purchase for me, so I would have the benefit of having cash available when I go to see the dealer. I can shave a goodly amount off the sticker price that way.

Well, this morning I’m not driving a new Tundra, like I’d hoped. My wife, much as I love her, is probably the more practical of the two of us. And, much as I dislike it, I have to listen when she feels uncomfortable about something. She usually ends up being correct. She did, after all, pick out the house we’re in.

That was over seven years ago. For five of those years we had no equity in the house at all and at one point were actually upside-down. I wondered for a long time if moving in here wasn’t a mistake. When housing values rose sharply in Utah two years ago, we hoped to finally see some kind of moderate increase in the value of our home. We were not disappointed. In fact, we were pretty happy with it. Then they went up again this year. If the county’s estimate is low, as my friends in real-estate tell me, we could be looking at a 75% increase in the selling price of our home in the last two years. If the trend continues next year, the selling price could double what we paid for it.

But I still don’t have my truck. I managed to find a 2001 Tundra for $12,500 that’s in excellent condition, but Lecil thinks we should wait until we have a more solid foundation under us.

And she’s right. So now my question is how much will it cost to get my old Camry working again–the one that caught fire sitting in the driveway?

Well, I have a decision to make. I was just offered a position on Omniture’s implementation team. It’s a job I am familiar with, having done essentially the same thing for another company called 10x Marketing.

10x was purchased by a larger company called Innuity, which ended up laying off the local employees and moving operations to Redmond, Washington. Since then, I have been doing contract PHP/MySQL development for Develligent.

The decision I have now is whether to focus on PHP development in earnest, or to make it a secondary pursuit. My schooling is also a factor. I will need to let them know tomorrow.

It’s cloudy today. It’s been trying to rain for a few days, but so far it’s only sprinkled. We need some rain badly. Everything has been so dry here this summer.

July is now officially the hottest ever recorded in Salt Lake City. What that means is that the daily average temperature is higher than ever before. Is that proof of Global Warming? No. The Deseret News did a study last year that indicated the Utah’s average yearly temperatures were actually declining. You can’t use the temperature of one month as proof of an overarching trend.

Anyways, it’s nice to have some cooler temps today. Hopefully we’ll see some rain as well. A nice thunderstorm would be welcome, too. I miss the big thunderstorms we used to have here when I was a kid.