Interviews - yuck...

Dear Auntie Dolly...

So it's like spring down here, it's nice. Everyone keeps saying "just wait" but so far so good. I mean, it's like "what am I waiting for? 40 below zero?" One of the guys that we are staying with is from Indiana, and he said that the humidity will be something to cherish. I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic... hmmm...

We've been looking around for an apartment, but it's harder than Ithaca, if you can believe it. There's so many different neighborhoods, and we're trying to find something a little more central. But it's hard to know what's central until I have a job. Oh, well. I had an interview today, but I don't think it went well. It's weird, it's like dating - do they like you, what can you say to make them like you.... icky, I don't like it.

OK, here's the thing about the interview. I waited for two days for the lady to call me and set it up - like I hung out around the house waiting... waiting... waiting... And then she finally calls me on a Friday morning and sets it up for Monday morning. So all weekend, it's like I'm just waiting for Monday to happen. So I get up early on Monday, get all pretty and ready, I drive an hour into the heart of New Orleans, to someplace I hadn't been before, I get a little lost, I find the place, but I'm still a half hour early, so I walk around a little park. I waste some time, and finally go over there, I have to sign in with some gal at a counter before I find the receptionist, who calls the lady I have an interview with. She comes down like 5 minutes later, and takes me into this big impressive conference room, we sit down and she doesn't ask me any questions - she just tells me more about the job. Okay, I've already had two phone calls and an e-mail where she describes the job to me, but whatever, and I wait for her to ask me the interview questions, and she never really does.

SO I was done within 15 minutes. I paid for 4 hours of parking, so I walked around the area a bit, and then went to lunch at one of the nice little restaurants. I felt incredibly norsky. I didn't want to waste my parking time or something.

Okay, so I'm still not done with apartments: in Ithaca, you find a place, fill out an app and then start paying them money. In that duplex I lived in, they actually called my living references, my mom and the place I used to live. Which was weird. The lady interviewed my mom just like she was a landlord for me or something. Anyways, that's nothing compared to here - they have these "Service fees" for submitting an application that's supposed to cover the cost of them running a credit check and other stuff. So they can still turn you down, but keep your service fee.

Plus we've been cramped together in one bedroom in this gargantuan house. So now, everytime we go look at a place, matt says "You know, it looks a little sketchy." What he means is that compared to the Tudor Mansion that we've been living in, it looks not as big.

Anyways, let's see what else is new - uhhh, nothing I can think of. I've started to get a little restless, and a lot like a "Fer-in-ner" (hey - wasn't that a band?) Okay, injokes don't work well in e-mail. People talk different down here, and they sell homemade candy from their bikes in parking lots. They also tend to eat everything with seafood or onions on it. Weird. We found a thai place, and they had pineapple fried rice - but they made it with onions. I was like - what is this - no onions go into the pineapple fried rice that they made at the Taste of Thai in Ithaca?!

I think the thing I feel the weirdest about is not having a regular schedule. LIke before it was go to work, go home, talk to the folks, go to bed, get up go to work, etc. But now, it's just weird - I get up and go to sleep at different times, so that's probably what's throwing me off kilter mostly.

Anyways, I feel like this is a whiny entry, so feel free to ignore it. Most days I'm happy, today... today I just have to remind myself that there's a weird group of people out there who still like me for some reason. :>

Tuesday...

Dear Auntie Dolly...

Yup, it's Tuesday. What did I do today? Nearly nothing. I applied for a job at a hospital, it was an online app, and it took nearly forever.

It's weird, I always forget that applications seem to always want to know lots of information all in different formats and take awhile to fill out. I filled this one out, got to the button that said "Finish & Submit" and it gave me an error. This one was like 10 different pages of info and then it didn't submit. Sigh. So I called them and asked if they received it or if they could fix it, and the guy I talked to was all like, "Uhm, no." And then he went on to tell me that they were having problems with the server, so maybe I should call them to make sure the server was up before I filled it out again.

And I want to work there?

That was pretty much it for the day, I didn't do much else, which still feels pretty nice.

Anyways, I hope you're all doing well... Barb.

Looks like I made it...

Dear Auntie Dolly...

Well, I left the folks' on Wednesday - the day after a huge storm down south. Pennsylvania seemed to take forever to drive through, and then when it was about 8-ish and I was in Virginia, it started to get all windy and rainy, so I decided to stop for the night. But that meant that I had to drive 13 hours on Thursday to get to Matt's. So I got in a little late, but that was okay.

Today he has the day off, so we goofed off, and I recuperated, which was good. Also, I think it's pretty funny that the most important thing was to get the computer setup this morning. I'd start working on the laptop, which he's been using for work and stuff ever since he left, and he'd say, "oh, look at this..." get me distracted, and then sneak in while I was off doing that other thing. Silly tricks.

It was a fast trip, I listened to a couple of audio books and the states seemed to whiz by. I did see the world's only musical museum in a building the shape of a guitar. Pretty neat-o. Also I resisted the siren call of Dollywood, which I also drove by. Sometime I'll have to go, I think...

Anyways, I'm off job searching... Oh, the fun and excitement.

Last Day of work, first day of freedom?

Ooooh, Dear Aunt Dolly....

Last Wednesday was my last day at work - and it was a long day - I worked 14 hours, but walked out at 10 that night thinking that maybe stuff would be okay. Then I got up the next morning and made a graphic for them and sent it in to Allison. Then I was all good the next day.

It's weird trying to get used to not working - like I keep doing little things and obssessing about weird things. Like the music for my trip, I've spent several days trying to get the perfect mix. People were nice as I was leaving - they had cake and bagels and they wanted me to give a speech (I'm not great at that, oh, wait, I'm horrible at that).

But now it's over and I can look forward to the next part, right after I'm done being spoiled by my mom.

Yup, I was originally going to take off right away, but the first day I was exhausted, the next two days were ice storms, then it was the weekend (and who wants to go then?) then there was quilting. And today? I was supposed to get up early and go, but I was up last night until 3 talking to Joanna... okay and doing some stuff and stuff, so now I'm back to being exhausted. Plus it's super Tuesday and the polls don't open 'til noon. I might finish packing the car and take off early tomorrow, yeah, that sounds like a great plan....

I'll update you tomorrow. :>

Things to watch out for...

DAD...

So, I'm still at work, getting close to the end of the two weeks for the notice. Yesterday, they offered me more money to stay. That was nice, but I still say that if I was ever in it for the money, I would have been a plumber.

The other advice that everyone seems to offer is things to watch out for during the interview. Like, if they ask you four times "Are you sure you want to work here? Really. Honestly, are you sure?" Big red flag.

Someone else said to watch out for the decor of the place - if it looks like they haven't remodeled since Eisenhower, how likely are they to give you a raise?

Oooooh, and another one to watch out for - if they offer you a supervisory position, but then you ask how many people you'll be managing, and it turns out the only one you manage is you, watch out. That probably means you'll be doing the work and hours of four, but only getting only the one paycheck...

Hmmm, funny stuff...
Talk to you later,
Barb.
(PS: That's a funny photo of me from Christmas, Richard got me a T-shirt from "The Office" that was really funny. I love it...)

Dear Auntie Dolly (and others) ....

So, I put my two-week notice in at work. I'm going to be leaving and moving to New Orleans. It's pretty exciting, I'll join Matt, who is already down there. He's pretty stoked about it. It's an all new journey, and I've been delaying it a little - spending time at my folk's, and just hanging out with Richard and Joanna.

It seems like unless I'm in the vicinity, it gets hard to know the two of them, or even talk to them too much. Like, I feel like I know them better than ever before, but at the same time, I don't think I know them very well.

The other thing is the whole uncertainty of moving down there. I don't have a job just yet, so that's a little scary. One of the things that's totally weird about our world today is that it's so defined by what you do. One of the first things people ask you is "What do you do?"

Plus, after having worked at a newspaper, I'm not sure I want to do that anymore. It's honestly amazing how many people at work have said they wouldn't work at another paper. What's more than just a little disturbing is how many "exit strategies" people have.

Here's some quotes: "When I leave, I'm deleting this file right here, then they can't use my work for years after I leave."

"I'm going to destroy my computer's harddrive."

"I'm setting a fire and walking away..."

Like I said, scary. Here's another quote, "I don't have a choice, 'cuz I followed my husband here - I've got to stay working until he's out of school. But I'm never going to work for another paper again - you're too smart to do that..."

Anyways, just a weird time - maybe all people just hope for the day they can quit, and seeing someone else leave gives them that window into what could be...

Talk at you later,
Barb.