Good (and not good) News

Good News: I have a job next week.
Bad News: I was so excited about next week I didn't want to do anything last week.

Good News: The job comes with a significant pay increase.
Bad News: The job is 100% travel.

Good News: I knew I had a job before the school started inviting people in to extend job offers.

Bad News: Everyone else didn't know, so the fact that I didn't even get an invite had everyone looking at me funny.

Good News: The three people I was worried about the most in this transition got out clean; myself and my counterpart got jobs elsewhere, the CIO got a job offer at the school.
Other Good News: The school offered jobs to 7 additional employees.
Bad News: They canned L, C, D, and S. A. (sob). ***

New Job Excitement

I haz it.

The first indication that I had a new job arrived today. A 17" monitor to go with the laptop I have to pickup when I hit Manhattan.

I did mention that right?

My first 2 weeks on my new job will be in Manhattan. The Lincoln Center Area. Where my hotel room is 2 streets over from Central Park
I spent a truckload of money today.

That's definitely newsworthy because I'm definitely cheap.

God Don't Like UGLY

You better believe that. Wanna know why? Read on.

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Yesterday, right after I wrote the blog post below, I received a call from the manager of the division I applied to. It was actually a pretty good conversation and it made me realize that in the 20 months that I've been on this job, I've learned very little. Even though I was overworked, stressed, and gaining weight like a sinking ship gains water at my previous job, I was learning a lot. Nothing that I've done in my current job has in any way measured up to that.

It all came in handy during that one hour phone call. We went through my work experience and resume, situations I've had to handle, ones I haven't, and I know that the manager was trying to pick my resume apart. I can't blame her; she called me out of courtesy, she had a candidate in mind, and now here I come, barreling down the runway begging for a job.

The conversation lasted an hour before she decided to pull in another consultant, someone who would be my co-worker, for a quickfire challenge, "Name that Form".

I did well. I didn't knock it out of the park like I would have liked, but I proved I had a good background and knowledge of the product. More importantly, I think like a Functional user, which is extremely important. Besides, having forms and processes thrown at me for 25 minutes was disconcerting and confusing. Toward the end I would have hesitated if you had asked me my own name.

So, I hung up thinking, "Eh." I went to the Gym, allowed Suzanne to kick my behind for 30 minutes, then went home and soothed my soul with Pork Chops (I don't want to hear it).

I did the correct and proper and sent the manager a follow-up "Thank you for the opportunity" email and went to bed.

What did I get for all my trouble?

I have a second interview today.

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So why did I entitle this post "God Don't Like UGLY"?

Because the CIO pulled me into his office today to say that he was very concerned that I had not applied for my position here at the school and was wondering if everything was OK, or was I certain I was going to get the corporate job, or had I decided to simply not work once the contract was over?

Huh?

Apparently, someone in the schools' HR department told him I had not applied, so no one was making a job for me and that they might have been interested in retaining me except that I was making it very clear I had no desire to work for the school.

WHAT?

So CIO and I chatted, I assured him that I had applied for my own job, and had sent in all the requisite materials, and we discussed his job offer. Then I went back to my office, printed off a copy of my application, which showed the date I applied (Sept. 8, 2009 at 3:02 PM) and sat down. He can do with that what he will, but whoever lied will get it coming back to them.

I missed the second interview doing all that. Granted, I didn't know until I picked up my cell phone and realized I'd just missed the call. I called the number back immediately and, since I had not been informed that they were going to call right then, the manager was gracious enough to reschedule to 4:30 PM. So I'm walking out at 4:25 so I can stand in the sun, have an uninterrupted cellphone signal, and (hopefully) land this job.

There was a very boring call to corporate HR at 2 PM, then the quickest staff meeting on record. Sitting here, counting down time, I was surprised to see my cell phone ring with a familiar, but unknown number. It was corporate HR, calling me about another job that I had applied for. I applied for a sales position, selling enrollment software, and the manager over that division wanted to know if I had any recent experience presenting to large groups. Well, again, working here has stunted me, but I did have all that lovely previous school experience to fall back on and I have never been afraid of public speaking. I told her that. Apparently, that manager will be in Orlando at the beginning of October, so if I don't get one job, I might get a face-to-face interview for another.

God Don't Like UGLY. It's best to act with integrity in all the things that you must do. Either that or you better pray. Why?

In 48 hours I've gone from having no job prospects with my current company to having 2 job prospects. Lovely!

Lower the Boom

The Tuesday before I left for vacation, we had a meeting with the corporate office and with the school's HR department about our employment. The school and corporate had come to an understanding that services from corporate to the school would end effective September 30, 2009. Everyone currently in the office would have to apply for their jobs. I left the meeting with a sense of ...I don't know. I think I just didn't care; I wanted to get on the road to Georgia. I had applied for another job with corporate and was waiting to hear back about that, so I just had no feelings at all.

While in Georgia I received the letter I had been waiting on (and dreading) for months: The letter containing the information about my termination, effective September 30, and the details of the possible severance package. Of course, if I managed to find another job with corporate before September 30, then the letter was null and void, but I can't say I was surprised at all. If anything, I felt a great sense of relief steal over me. Finally! Now I know where I stand.

So here's to hoping that I get the job I applied for. It was the same as my current job, but with 75% travel. Perfect!!! So I hunkered down in Georgia to wait for a call. Well, they called, but they called my office at school, not my cell phone. So the entire time they were trying to reach me, I was completely oblivious. When I walked into the office on Monday and saw all the missed calls, I immediately sprang into action, but it was too late. Well, the HR recruiter is pretty sure it's too late, the manager of that department has pretty much set her mind to someone and I probably won't even get an interview.

DAMN!

So, here I am, looking at unemployment in 2 weeks, and oddly enough, I still don't feel anything.

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I finally finished Henry tonight.


The iCord bind-off makes it look professional and tailored. I had to pick up the cast on edge and apply iCord to it, but I'm pleased with the results. I think I'm going to plough through a couple of the books I got from LibraryThing before I start another knitting project, but I already know what it will be.

Vacation Knitting

I spent 30 minutes packing my knitting for my (oh so necessary) 10 day vacation. I packed the last 2 skeins of KnitPicks Palette yarn in Fog to finish Henry


and packed the 4 Skeins of KnitPicks Palette yarn in Lipstick to start another Henry.


My problem is, knowing I'm fast but not that fast, I still feel as if this isn't enough yarn.
I really feel as if I need to pack enough yarn (and needles) for one more project. Whatever the project, it needs to be a project I can handle with a size 3 needle, because I'm not packing more needles.

Right now, I'm stuck on what project and yarn to pack.

Do I attempt another Print O' the Wave Stole? Or maybe the Icarus Shawl? Do I take socks instead? I dunno.

I have some Lacey Lamb I can use for the Print O' the Wave Stole, but I don't know if I want to.




This is the problem with having one skein of really nice yarn. Eventually, you simply don't want to knit anything with it because you don't know if another, nicer, prettier pattern will come along and make you regret using that nice lambswool on something else.

I think I will go with the Print O' the Wave Stole. I need to pack the yarn and pattern before I change my mind.

Last night, I finished packing the knitting before I packed the clothes.

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I leave in 90 minutes. Once I leave the school I have to:

• Swing by Albertsons and pick up the seafood I asked them to bag. That includes 20 lbs. of Snow Crab (on special down here and $8.99/lb. at home) & 6 lobsters.
  
• Go home, pack car, hit the road to Tampa
• Once in Tampa, hit IKEA. Pick up one small pink chair and 4 packs of mirrors (I'm going to end the night transferring a lot of money from Mom's account into mine)
• Hit the road to Georgia. I should make it in around 1 AM.

I'm actually looking forward to this. For once, I have the trip planned out.

Now we are retreating

One of my biggest problems in life is an inability to make up my mind. I keep all options open far too long, just in case I need to make an about U-turn.

Why am I mentioning this?

I installed Ubuntu on my computer to use as a server.

At first, I was in love. It was simple, had a great interface, looked lovely. but as the weeks went on, I realized that

1. It was taking me forever to install Samba and set it up for windows networking.
2. I really wasn't keen on having to find alternatives to all my .aac, m4a, and mp3 files
3. I wanted a Server. Not a desktop with server qualities. I wanted a headless server.

So I got another product key from Microsoft on Sunday and reinstalled Windows Home Server. I now have the 120GB and 200GB drives installed and running, but the 500GB drive does not want to work. I am trying to copy everything off that drive onto the other drives, then wipe the 500GB drive clean (because when I add it to WHS, it will format the drive anyway, so I might as well get my stuff off first).

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Now that I no longer care about work, it's going much easier. Today I was praised for handling the client's issue quickly and without any drama.

Woo Hoo. That doesn't change the fact that I'm burnt out.

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Yesterday I received a book in the mail that I'm actually looking forward to reading

The World is Open, by Curtis Bonk. I received the book through LibraryThing and I'm taking it (and some other books I need to review to remain in good graces) home with me to Georgia. I am already excited about reviewing this book. Even the first sentence is revolutionary and exciting:

"Anyone can now learn anything from anyone at anytime"

Wow! Think about what an amazing (and true) concept that is. Instead of children/students being the recipients of knowledge for 8 hrs/day under a rigid structure, they have become the pursuers of knowledge, thanks to the Internet, blogs, Wikipedia, TV, etc. This is a true knowledge-based generation and America's concept of education will have to change in order to address this reality. Even more so, it will have to change to address the reality of the students who do not have access to this knowledge all the time.

To me, this is mind-blowing because what we are really looking at here is the reorganization of the entire educational framework and the re-evaluation of what it means to "receive an education" in this country. . .I'm really excited about this book.

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One the home front, I still need to mop my floors. They're a mess. My fridge is nearly empty...

and all my text messages have disappeared from my phone. WTF?