Safe and sound in Philadelphia
My Trip To Philadelphia

4:35 a.m.: What a surprise – I’m awake before my alarm goes off! It’s a handy talent really – I should really take advantage of that by getting out of bed and getting an early start on getting out the door.
4:36: Screw that, I’m not moving.
4:38: This is gonna be a fun trip, I think. I’ve never ben to Philadelphia before, and this will be a good chance to do that before I head up to Reading for the interviews. And with the layover in Chicago, I can at least get some deep dish pizza while I’m there. I have a good feeling about this trip!
4:40: Was that lightning? Well, I’m told that almost never hits the airplane.
4:55: Drifting off to sleep now, I’ll just pick up a few extra winks before I have to get up.
5:00: Alarm goes off. My “handy skill” is starting to feel a lot like a curse.
5:08: I’ve already passed on the morning shower in exchange for more sleep. Now do I get the really warm, comfy shirt out of the dirty clothes pile, knowing I’ll be glad for it when I hit the winter weather? Or do I think of the passengers next to me and pick out something fresher.
5:09: I really say “screw that” too much. I need to work on that.
5:16: It occurs to me that normally I would be printing out my boarding passes in advance right about now, except I was genius enough to try and install a new hard drive on my desktop last night rather than waiting until I got back. So as predictable as the sunrise (is that gonna happen sometime soon?) My computer has crashed and I can’t get anything to work. And here I was congratulating myself yesterday on how I had managed a simple installation with no major glitches.
5:17: Everything done but checking on the dog. Just have to check the perimeter to make sure the newfound mud hasn’t given him any more digging opportunities for while I’m away.
5:18: Taz looks so pathetically sad when he’s wet. But he still has this excited hope that he will get to go inside and shake his wet fur out all over my floor. Sometimes I think that’s what gets him through life.
5:19: Wow, it’s really raining out here! Urge to kill rising…
5:21: The yard looks ok, but I can’t risk him tunneling out, going to the humane society and being euthanized when I don’t come to get him within 24 hours. (That’s really humane, btw.) I crush his hopes for the second time in three minutes by hooking him up to his tether. I am officially the world’s worst pet owner.
5:22: Last chance to put my foot down and insist that they let me do this by teleconference.
5:23: On the road. I’m approaching this job opportunity in a positive light – sure it looks like it may involve a lot of ground-up networking, and could start slowly, but I really think I could do it!
5:30: My mental inventory of all the things I needed to pack is now complete and it looks good. Usually if I haven’t had to turn around by this time to go back and get something, I’m in good shape.
6:03: Boarding pass check-in time. God bless the guy that invented those kiosks! Now you tell me how this makes sense – I’m in the A group for my flight to Houston, but the connecting flight I’m grabbing to Chicago later in the morning has me in the B group. Guess people in Houston are more consciencious about getting their passes printed out early. Well thank goodness – if I’m gonna get stuck in a middle seat, I’d rather it be on the longer flight, and fortunately I have a whole 30 minutes to get to that gate and get in the B line.
6:04: I’m really sarcastic this early in the morning. I need to work on that.
6:07: OK, it’s time to handle the metal detectors. I had this down to an art when I was traveling every week.
6:10: My stuff is finally all in trays and I’m headed through. By this time, I’d normally be standing in front of the lunch counter debating the merits of eating a hot dog for breakfast, but between the extra bag, a watch (no wonder I never wore a watch while I was traveling – one less thing to take off!) and actually having change in my pocket (that never happened while I was traveling either.)
6:10.30: I note that while not wearing a belt did give me additional speed through the detector, not PACKING a belt, probably wasn’t the best idea. I wonder what else I didn’t pack?
6:11: The guy in front of me sets off the detector, prompting me to check one last time. Sure enough, one penny left in the pocket! I am seriously off my game this morning. I blame the lack of sunlight.
6:13: As the guy in front of me prepares for a full body cavity search, I present my boarding pass again. It occurs to me that I should try and figure out where the opportunity was for me to become someone other than the person on my ID in the 30 yards or so of heavily observed, fully metal detected, stuck-in-a-line and can’t do much other than put my shoes back on terminal space.
6:14: I note that Love Field has nicely redecorated the walkway to the actual gate area. It looks lovely and serves a stark contrast to the automated walkway next to it, which as usual, is not working.
6:14.30: “I’m walkin’ on sunshiiiiiiine! WOAHOHHHHH!”
6:16: I’m rethinking my career options. Maybe I could have my own sitcom.
6:43: The announcement for the cattlecall that is Southwest Airlines comes over the loudspeaker, prompting about 10 people who have been sitting wayyy over there to walk up and form their own line next to the A group that actually got here and got in a line early. Fortunately, they don’t give me any dirty looks when I don’t let every one of them cut in front of me.
6:58: The good news is I have an empty seat in the middle between me and the other guy – who actually seems quite nice. The bad news, my mental inventory of things left now includes my iPod charger and the cord that hooks my digital camera up to my laptop. Nothing serious, so that’s not too bad.
6:59: My usual panic sets in as to whether I still have my car keys. They’re still there – I wonder what would I actually do if they weren’t? If I’m gonna freak out about that, seems like I’d do it BEFORE I got on the plane, but whatever.
7:21: I become hooked on this number logic game in the Southwest magazine. It’s a 9-by-9 grid divided into nine 3-by-3 squares, and the object is to arrange the numbers one through 9 so that there is only one of each number in every row, every column and every 3-by-3 box. They give you a few numbers to start out with, and all the stuff I brought to entertain me on the flight gets lost in the shuffle.
7:28: The first of MANY diet cokes.
7:42: I realize that because of the game, I’ve forgotten all the witty comments I had stored up to write down during the layover. I make a mental note to hire a secretary or something when I get back.
7:55: We’re in Houston. If I had more time, I’d explore the option of eating breakfast at the Mexican restaurant (Pappasito’s). I’ve never had enchiladas for breakfast, and it’s something I want to do one time before I die. Chances are those two events will probably be linked somehow.
8:03: I settle into the B line behind a small family wearing straw cowboy hats and carrying a small Texas state flag. I’m guessing they’re not actually from Texas.
8:28: Wow, B group and I still get a window seat – that almost never happens! God wants me to have a good trip, and I’m going to try to have a better attitude from here on out.
8:29: Is that ice on the wing?
8:34: The attendant reminds us that Chicago is also in the central time zone. In other words “Yes, the flight is exactly as long as it says on your ticket.”
8:35: I begin silently chanting to myself “I am not paying for this flight. I am not paying for this flight.”
11:20: Worst. Landing. Ever.
11:21: I realize how long this day’s going to be when I stand up and realize that I now have the strength of a 12-year-old. I’m just glad I didn’t drop my bag on anyone’s head. Who needs a repeat of that???
11:25: I spot the pizza place. OK, granted, a layover may not count as visiting Chicago, but at least I can say I had the pizza. Sort of. Well, it’s not Sbarro, at any rate, and they do have the prerequisite bottled peppers on the counter. So it looks kind of authentic.
11:28: I receive the smallest $1.89 drink ever. I pause at the counter to get my stuff together, and the lady asks me if I’m missing anything from my order. In my head, I snap off “You mean besides about 12 ounces of Diet Coke? Nahhhh!” But I say nothing. I don’t think I’d make it in a big city.
11:29: My sitcom could just be about me wandering around airports. I think this would sell!
11:33: OK, random thought. The unbelievably bad ratio of the number of women who wear low-cut jeans to the number of women who actually look good in them is just one reason I want this style to go away now.
11:36: It may be the exhaustion, but this pizza rocks! I can feel the coating of grease starting to congeal in my mouth even as I type!
11:44: They’re begging someone to get off the flight before me, and are now offering a night in Chicago plus dinner and a travel voucher. I wonder if they’d believe me if I tried to take them up on the offer.
1:11 p.m.: I’m on the plane and things are looking up! A row alllllll to myself. I decide it’s time for a long-awaited nap.
1:15: I start reading one of my books.
1:21: I start another numbers puzzle.
1:28: I start wondering if I have ADD.
1:29: I decide to take a side trip to Scranton while I’m in the area and see if Dunder-Mifflin is hiring.
3:48: Things are looking up! The landing is beautiful, we’re early, it’s nice weather outside. OK, now we’re talking!
3:51: Awww a text from Jennifer! That made my day! (Well, I was really tired, so it didn't so much make the day as provide me a huge pick-me-up. Thanks Jenn!)
4:03: We pull up to the terminal (yes, that time is correct.) Out attendant makes the joke that Southwest flies so cheaply because it flies you halfway there and then drives you the rest of the way. I’m too tired to laugh.
4:09: OK, if this were the city of brotherly love, they wouldn’t make us walk a quarter mile uphill (yes, it was uphill!) to get to baggage claim.
4:14: Pretty much can’t express my joy when we finally get to the moving sidewalk.

Anyway, that’s enough travel log. Let’s just say, I got the hotel, it’s incredible, the shower and bed are outstanding, and tonight I am going to see the sites of Philadelphia – at least the ones I can see from my window. I am beat! But the room service made up for staying in!

As you can tell, I’m too tired to be funny now – well, to attempt to be funny. I’ll keep you guys up to date on how the interview sessions go this week. For now, it’s time to relax!

Just when you think you know your dog...
OK, this was funny. To give you a little back story, my dog has always had this weird fascination with garages. Not just mine, my sister's too, when he stays with her. He just loves them. When he's in the house, sometimes he'll just trot back there and wait for me to let him in, just so he can poke around back there for a while. I started putting him to bed there when the weather got cold because he had a cushion in there and the cold hurt his hip, and a lot of times he'd just go back there on his own when he got bored or wanted to take a nap (because he had given up on trying to talk me into taking him for a walk or whatever). So if I left the door open, he'd usually just go back there on his own. In fact, he seemed to even prefer it to sleeping in the living room!

So our bedtime ritual is this: I put him outside for one last trip to the doggie restroom while I brush my teeth and get ready for bed or whatever. When he's ready to come back in, he starts his "woe is me I've been abandoned in the yard" bark. So I let him in before one of the neighbors decides to kill him, i tell him it's time for bed and we go to the garage where I shut him in for the night.

OK, so anyway, the dynamic has now shifted. Maybe he's just finally figured out that the living room cushion is just as comfortable or something, but he's sleeping more in here now while I'm up and around. But here's the weird part - the last couple of nights when I've gone to put him to bed, he's been kind of hesitant. So this is what's happened the last two nights: I put him outside as usual, he starts crying as usual, and I let him in. We go into the living room and I tell him it's time for bed, and he kind of pauses in the living room for a while and just looks at me. I ask him if he wants to go in the garage (he knows that word, btw) and he kinda tentatively coming to me, and we go out there. I open the door and he goes in but I can tell he's not really happy about it. Normally he just goes in and walks around or settles in, but this time he just stops in the doorway and gives me this pathetic look. And then he kinda skulks back past me into the house - that walk that says "OK, maybe if I'm pathetic-looking enough, he won't tell me to go back." And here's the funny part: he heads straight for the back door again which means he wants to be put back in the yard! Now bear in mind, it's pretty freaking cold out there right now, and he was begging to be let in NOT TWO MINUTES AGO!!!! So I put him out and I NEVER HEAR A PEEP OUT OF HIM THE REST OF THE NIGHT!!!! What's up with that????
I guess he's finally figured out the concept of bedtime and the idea that 1. he wants to sleep outside rather than be enclosed, and 2. once it's time for bed and he picks a spot, there's no point in complaining about it.
Anyway, this is probably only weird to me, but I just found it funny.

Are all contractors liars????
OK, so some of you may know that I'm trying to get bids on a foundation repair job on my house. I've compared the process to root canal for your home, btw, although the pain seems to be more financial.

Anyway, I've been agonizing on a choice between a more expensive method that's supposedly much better, and one that's less expensive. Lots of different factors, but anyway, long story short: The more expensive company told me that their system, while different from the one outlined in my engineer's report, has been accepted by my engineer. According to the guy that came to my house, they've worked with the engineer and he's been willing to sign off on their type of repair process.

Well I heard back from the engineer today, and it turns out he does know them, he is familiar with their type of pier, and he does NOT sign off on it, and never has. So it's good to know honesty and integrity are still alive and well in society!

Anyway, I may know something on one of my leads in a week or so. I'm not gonna say much about it now cause I don't want to jinx it. I do think it's promising though, so we'll see what happens. I'm optimistic, just a little impatient.

So hope everyone's doing well. Sorry this one wasn't more entertaining, but I may do one devoted to The Office here pretty soon, because that show cracks me up!!! There's a great quote I just heard by the office suck-up Dwight about downsizing, that seems appropriate:

"Downsizing? I have no problem with that. I have been recommending downsizing since I first got here. I even recommended it in my interview. I say, bring it on!"

OK, I know, not getting the year off to a good start
So I probably have a lot to update. I'm gonna do better about this year - I really am! Plus I heard about a study that said job-seekers who keep a journal are more likely to land a job. Don't know what that's about other than just having an outlet to spew all the bad vibes and such. Well, I'll just have to spew more!
Anyway, I had a good phone interview a couple days ago, but the downside is they're in a transition situation which, while it very likely could yield some opportunities, they're just not sure exactly when. I do think something will happen with them soon, but in the meantime, it's searching as usual. I have a couple of job fairs coming up, which frankly are usually good mainly for practice and for a chance to get info about other companies. Having said that, you never know, I guess.
BTW, HOW BOUT THOSE HORNS????? That was an amazing performance, and as much as I wish Vince was coming back for his senior year, I have to admit I'm a little intrigued about next year. I think it will be relatively low pressure, since everyone seems to think we only won because of Vince, and without him we're a mid-top 20 team. So it's an ideal chance to prove some people wrong. I figure if you're going to start a season with an inexperienced QB, you might as well do it in a year where you're loaded with experience everywhere else. So whichever kid comes in should have a lot of help. Anyway, I'm still basking in the glow!
I'll post a few more things as I go, and I'll try to make this a little more interesting this year. I need to do more with my website as well, but we'll see. ;)
Hope everybody's having a great 2006 so far, and Happy Friday the 13th! (Not that I'm suspicious or anything! ;) )

Happy New Year!
OK, so it's that fun period between Christmas and New Year's where no one is really expected to get anything done! I love that!! The job search continues unabated - and I may have a couple of leads that I hope will come up once the New Year rolls around. I've been focusing more on getting my house in order this week - I need to get it organized and cleaned up a little, plus I need to get my foundation repaired. I have to put 10-13 piers in! OUCH!!! I think that's kinda like giving your house a root canal, only it's painful to write the check!
So anyway, I've thrown out two or three garbage bags full of stuff and boxed up a couple more, and I've got work to go yet. I dropped a bag of clothes off at Goodwill, which is a cool place because I think they focus on job skills and employment for the underprivileged. To me that's something that's definitely worth supporting.
Anyway, I got the usual array of nice shirts and things for Christmas along with a great pannini sandwich maker (I've made like eight sandwiches since I got it - it's great if you like toasted sandwiches!) And I also got a very cool gift package including a DVD and some chocolate! So it's been a good holiday all the way around.
Hope everyone has a great New Year! I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing week of football, followed by (hopefully) a national championship win for Texas and then (even more importantly) to hit the job market running in '06. Lord willing something will present itself soon, but I'll see how things go.
Anyway, best wishes!

Another day, another pyramid scheme
Well, not one, but two such deals came down the pike this week. Ok the second one wasn't a pyramid scheme, but I'm pretty sure it involves door to door handing-out of fliers. You know, those annoying offers from people who go knocking doors around the neighborhood? Well, the girl who gave me information about the company and the interview mentioned that they had a parent company (red flag no. 1), and when i checked them out, i found out that they are the self-proclaimed "dominant force in referral marketing." Strike two for the use of "referral marketing". I don't know about the company I was going to interview with, but other ones under the same parent company basically get you in for a marketing job and you end up passing out fliers and selling stuff door to door. Hmmm... I'll pass, thanks!

Anyway, I got an e-mail from an automotive company wanting to know when I could set up a time to interview, but they never responded to my response, and it's been more than a week. So I don't know what's going on there. Basically, it has been one of those weeks where you find yourself getting your hopes up about a lot of opportunities only to be disappointed. So hopefully things will turn around.

Hey, the good news is it will only cost me $1600 to replace my fence! Woohoo! And the engineer will be here tomorrow to assess any possible foundation repair issues I may have with my house - woohoo again!!!

Oh well, life goes on. ;) Hopefully something else will present itself.

"My house is dirty, buy me a clean one!"
Don't they have self-cleaning houses? That seems like the kind of technology we need to be investigating. I mean, I just cleaned up last week! Ah well, I guess I'll have to work on that a little later.
Go see King Kong and/or Chronicles of Narnia, btw. I saw them both this week and they're both outstanding in their own way. Kong's definitely a little darker - there were some definite "squirming in your seats" kind of moments. I'll just say that if you don't like heights or giant slimy insects, you should probably be wary about going.

Narnia was just one of those movies that kinda gives you chills at points, especially knowing the allegorical message of the film. I've never been a big fan of substituting secular stories for Biblical accounts, but watching the scene of Aslan's sacrifice, it gives you an interesting perspective on the crucifixion. It's almost like the presence of all the gruesome monsters and creatures highlights the ugliness of the event. Anyway, I won't say more other than to say it was a visualy stunning movie.

As for the job search, it's slow, but I did get a notice from one company that's interested in talking to me. However, they haven't responded to my response, so I'm still waiting to hear. But I'm in the process of getting my house in order in case I need to put it on the market. I guess I'm gonna have to fix that huge crack in my roof after all!

OK, that's long enough, so I'll cut it off here. I'll definitely try to post more on here, and maybe even be entertaining from time to time. ;)

Remiss... continued!
OK, I really need to get back on the stick with this as well as the web site. I think I'm hitting that point in the job search where you start losing motivation and drive. You're at the point where you actually have to start making things happen, and you have so many things you need to do in that direction and you know that the vast majority of them are going to be dead ends. I honestly don't know how people find jobs when they don't have recruiters coming to get them! It doesn't help to hear that something like 80 percent of the jobs out there are in the hidden market and won't really be offered to the general public anyway. It's times like this I wish I actually knew a bunch of people.

Anyway, I'm in touch with a couple of search firms, but it's my impression that since most of them are placing for companies, they're going to fit you into an industry where you can be plugged right in. As a result, if you're in an industry, or from an industry, where there's not a lot of opportunity, it kind of sounds like you're out of luck. They're not recommended as vehicles for career change, just replacement. Well, I guess there's nothing to do but get to work and figure it out. I know God's providence is at work, I just wish He'd just have someone show up and pay me to do something.

I guess one way or another things will work out. I'm just grateful that I have family that's supportive and able to help. I don't know what I'd do if I were on my own right now - probably be delivering pizza again! Who knows, maybe I'll be doing that anyway. :P

If I went back to school and got a doctorate, what would I study? And how would I come up with something to write for a dissertation? And would I be able to grow a good beard and look good in tweed jackets. Do you have to smoke, or is that optional? These are things I just don't know, and I probably should find out if I were to go back to school.

Anyway, I hope those who are reading this (ok, those who aren't too) have a great Thanksgiving, and even though Canada had theirs a couple of weeks ago, that doesn't mean you can't have a good relaxing holiday-esque weekend!

See you all soon.

OK, I know, I've been remiss....
I haven't written anything in a while, and I know there's dozens... ok, I'm sure someone's noticed. For the one that did - what can I say, I was out of town for a while. I got down to Austin to see family and friends which was nice as always. I'm thinking more and more about moving down there, but we'll see how it goes.

OK, to sum up what's been going on:
- job fair = wasted time. The "sales and management" fair was actually pretty much all sales. The most attractive of the options to me involved selling home security systems, so that tells you something. I don't know I'm sure I'd do ok at it, but it's still sales, and I'm not sure I want to go back down that road. And since I haven't heard anything from any of the employers, I'm guessing they didn't want to go down that road either.

- search firms: I have an appointment tomorrow with a group in Dallas that saw my resume and wants to talk to me. So hopefully I'll get a few more leads through them, and likely through a couple more firms. The career center recommends 4-5 services or so, so I need to pick a few this week. I spent some time looking at my options and what I want to do, and had a good meeting with one of the councilors, and she gave me hope that some of the things I was interested in might really be options for me. We'll see. I still don't think anyone's gonna pay me to sit around and watch tv, but I guess it could happen.

- UT football: how great are we this year? 52-0 at halftime? That's just ridiculous against a Division I team. Well, now we have a couple of weeks before we play again, so I don't know what I'm gonna do with myself. Fortunately there's UT basketball (which I'm listening to right now.) Sounds like we're gonna be pretty good, so we'll see.

- Texas fall: did I miss the memo? I walked outside today and the wind's blowing 80 miles an hour and it feels like it's about 40 degrees out there.

- Raspberry pie: you really can't beat it, and I just say that because I saw some at the store today and had to pick it up. I highly recommend it.

OK, I'll try to get back on pace this week, so both of you that are reading this can feel confident in that! ;)

What is it with laptops?
OK, I knew things had been going way too smoothly for me in this department. I hadn't had a laptop issue in almost seven months or so, and I think that was a new record for me. So finally today something happened and it's down. It seems like once the laptop decides to go into sleep mode all kinds of weird stuff happens. As a result, any computer stuff for a while may have to take place in the warmest room in my house. Don't tell the Realtor this, but I suspect that the AC doesn't work in here.

Anyway, I guess I'm not supposed to be dropping it and tossing it onto the floor or something. Who knows? Aren't those things supposed to be shock resistant?

BTW, I called off the Ameriprise interview. I just didn't feel comfortable about the idea of a slow rampup on salary at this point, plus the uncertainty and the necessity of building a practice largely off friends, relatives and referrals. That just doesn't suit me, which is too bad because I liked the idea of doing financial planning. It'd be nice to find something that I could do that would be productive - that may be one reason I'm not fond of sales.

Having said that, I'm sure that's where I'll be again. My resume and experience just seems too weighted in that area. I knew I should have taken that job as assistant to the traveling secretary for the Yankees - I might have a shot at a sports related job then!

Hope everyone's having a great week!