Reminder Note

Hey, Mumsy — today's my birthday. Don't forget to call and wish me a happy day!

For everyone else — yes, it really is. Isn't that WONDERFUL?!

Violin

Many months ago PuppyDogAndBows condescendingly announced that she used to play the violin. That's great! Why doesn't she have it out here? It'd be neat to hear her play. I encouraged her to bring her violin back to Utah with her when she went home for Christmas, and (much to my surprise) she did!

She is taking violin lessons, which I think is quite wonderful. Interestingly, she never practices when anyone else is home.

Tonight, however, she decided to practice. We had some interesting conversations that lead me to believe that she hasn't played as much as she wanted me to believe. So, as she was setting up I asked her how long she had played.

"Four months when I was in 4th grade, and then off and on in junior and high school for about two years." Was her reply.

"And, you have your own violin?" I asked, kind of surprised.

"Yeah, my mom bought it for me when I first started taking violin."

"Wow! That's great!"

Then, she pulled it out — it's interesting how a 18 months can change one's perspective. Frankly, her violin isn't exactly a high quality instrument. In fact, I'm amazed she can even play it. It was clearly a rather inexpensive investment. The great news is: at least she's back learning again. I just think it's kind of funny how condescending she was about the whole thing.

Lies?

On Tuesday when my boss asked me to stay at ConsultingShop rather than go to InternetCompany he mentioned that our client was allotting a bigger budget towards our project. He used that sort of as a carrot — insinuating that they would pay me more, naturally.

Friday my coworker who also worked with me at BigNameCompany got called into the bosses office and "let go". He has two more weeks there. The reason? Our client cut the budget they were putting towards our project. Which is true? I'm not really sure.

My friend at work (who happens to be the team coordinator) and I were talking. Our boss had pulled him into the office right after he "let" the other guy "go". Apparently, he was told that the budget was cut, as well; and ConsultingShop could now afford only 2 and a half people rather than 4 and a half (yes, seems one of our guys counts as a "half". Sucks to be him.).

Which brings me to the point: had I stayed at ConsultingShop I would have asked for a greater salary (one of the many appeals of InternetCompany), and then when one or more of the guys were "let go" I would have felt solely responsible. Thank goodness I didn't stay! I don't think I could handle that on my head.

Also, my friend told me that our boss had talked to him about me before he asked me to stay. My friend told our boss that (in his opinion) I am the most valuable tester on the team (hence the request to stay). That's a fair statement. I am the best one on the team. I hate my job, but I do it well. When I'm not playing minesweeper.

Relocation Consultant

When I talked to the recruiter at InternetCompany last Wednesday he indicated that I would be hearing from a "Relocation Consultant" by Friday. When I got my paperwork on Friday it said two days from when the offer was accepted. So, I waited. Last night I had yet to hear anything, so I sent an email to the HR dude and expressed my concern in a very professional manner: Uh, I need to plan, and haven't heard from anyone yet, should I be worried?

Two minutes later (seriously) I had a reply from him. He forwarded my email to the relocation consultant and asked him if he had contacted me. Five minutes after that my phone rang. We got almost everything hammered out, then he asked me if I had any questions about my flight stuff. Yes, just one. "So, I have a cello..." (this on the heels of 'So, I have an organ' and 'So, I have artist paints and art work and a couple of sculptures...' I'm sure he was completely confused at this point). I continued on, "and, I'm not sending it with the movers. Which means, I'm taking it on the flight with me. Is it going to be possible to get a plane ticket for it? If not, I totally understand."

Clearly, this was the first time this question had ever been asked, "Um, I'm going to have to refer you back to HR for that one. Let me ask him and I'll get back to you tomorrow."

"Ok. And, like I said, I understand if it's not, I just need to know so I can buy it a ticket. You know?"

Oddest question he had all day, I'm sure.

This afternoon I get a phone call, it's my Relocation Consultant. "So, Granola, I wanted to let you know that I spoke with HR and the cello is covered."

Yup. You read that correctly, they're going to buy it a plane ticket! Hello! I love the red carpet being rolled out for me. Yeah, I could work there.

So, the way things work out is like this: The movers are coming on the 9th. The van movers are coming on the 10th, and I'm flying out sometime on the 10th as well. Holy rusted metal, Batman! Two weeks! Two weeks! What am I going to do?!?!

To Go, or Not To Go

A long one tonight. I thought about breaking it up, but changed my mind. Enjoy. This has been one helluva week for me.

Monday I told my boss that I had been offered and accepted a position with InternetCompany in Seattle. He was a little surprised — understandable, since I kept a tight lid on it — and said what he could: "Well, I'm sorry to see you go." We discussed when my last day would be and some other things.

At lunch I was talking to my friend and told him what had taken place. His response, "Well, I'm sorry to see you go, too, but you need to do what's best for you."

Tuesday came and my boss was out in the lab chatting with us. After a bit he said, "Hey, Granola, I've got some tools I'd like to talk to you about." His body language indicated that I should follow him. We headed to his office, and when we got there he held the door for me and said, "After you." This means only one thing: the door is getting closed behind him.

I walked in and took a seat. Sure enough, he closed the door before heading around his desk to take a seat. He sat down, shifted to get comfortable, and as he was doing so I laughed and said, "Oh no! I'm getting fired!"

"Quite the opposite." He said, crossing one leg over the other, "What can I do to convince you to stay?"

I laughed, a bit nervously, and said, "It's a lot of money!"

"Yeah, but it's not all the money."

"No, no it's not."

"So, what would it take to get you to stay? What would make this job better?"

I explained that I am a coder — that's what I like, and certainly what I'm not doing.

He nodded, this was not a new complaint from me, then went on to out line his business plan and some funding/contract information that he requested that I "please, don't pass on." In the end, he said, "And, perhaps putting myself in a bad position as far as negotiating goes, you're the only person here who has the skills to lead this team where I want to take it."



I looked at him in shock as all of this took place. Finally, I mustered up the strength and will power to say, "Uh. In all honesty, this is not an eventuality that I had planned for. It's taken me by surprise, frankly."

"I hope so! I hope this came as a surprise to you, just as your announcement came as a surprise to me. If you couldn't tell, you did such a good job keeping the fact that you were even interviewing other places under wraps that when I asked on Monday why you missed Friday I was digging for more information."

"Yeah, I know."

"If I had known you were looking I would have been more actively engaged in keeping you around."

I smiled. That's life, isn't it. I've always considered it poor form to flaunt the fact that you're looking else where in the face of your employer, but it sounds like he would have preferred it. "Well," I said, "I really don't know what to say. Can I think about it for a few days?"

"Absolutely! To be honest, I'm glad you said that. I mean, it's better than '*pffftt* Hell no! I'm out of here!' and I would have been worried had you said, 'Oh yeah! I loooove you guys!!!!' So, no pressure. Take your time."

"Well," I replied with a smile, "there is a certain amount of pressure. I mean, if I've got to decide with InternetCompany pretty soon here. You know?"

"Yeah. Let me know what I can do."

We wrapped up the conversation, and as I was leaving his office he called after me, "I'll buy you a pony!" Uh, I think I've failed to mention: early on in my employment there was a joke about buying me a pony, so for Christmas he bought me a My Little Pony. Hilarious, actually.

"You already did!" I called back with a laugh. So much to think about.

At lunch I was talking to my friend about it. He laughed at the offer. Oh yeah, like I want to stay!

I expressed to him that in all honesty, I don't really feel like I've been a huge contribution to the team. I mean, there are so many days when I feel like a monkey at a keyboard, and any other monkey could do my job.

Then, he told me something that I think people don't hear enough, "I think you're a huge part of the team! You're responsible for all of our big-ticket defects! With out you we wouldn't have found them. No, you're not just a monkey at a keyboard. I'm sorry to see you go, too. But, I don't blame you."

In thinking about it, I know he's right. I am the best tester on the team. And, I've used this job to beef up on some of my skills. With that said, it's time I moved on.

However, I promised, so I did what any good little Mormon girl does, I prayed. I told the Lord that I had already decided on InternetCompany, and then this happened, and what should I do? I've done a lot of praying these past few weeks. In the end, I decided that this was too good of a career move to pass up. So, I resolved, I would tell him today.

Near the end of the day my boss came over and sat down next to me, "Isn't this tool you're using a hoot?"

"No." I said with a smile.

"So, are you going to stick around to help us out with this?"

I was hoping to do this in the privacy of his office, but he beat me to it. "No." I said softly. "I'm sorry. I've done a lot of thinking about it, and in the end, I think that this is a better career move for me. But, I want you to know, I really did think about it."

He nodded as if to tell me that he 'believed' me. So, I looked him right in the eyes and said, "Really. I promised you I would think about it, and I've done a lot of thinking over the past few days. I really am sorry."

"Well," he said, "I understand. I'm disappointed, but I understand."

Honestly, I'm sorry I disappointed him, but what I do is a job what I'm going to be doing is a career. And that, kids, is the way it is.

There are a few things that really stick out to me:
a) I know that I'm the best tester on the team, it's good to see that my boss sees it, too;
b) I've made the company look really good a number of times;
c) Clearly my boss knows what a valuable resource I am, otherwise he'd let me go much more readily than he is; and
d) With all of the above in mind, I'm really glad I pushed them to pay me more than they wanted to. I mean, the woman I talked to in HR actually told me that I was getting paid really well at BigNameCompany and she was surprised. In her opinion, actually (and she really told me this), I was over-paid. The down-side of that, she explained, is that it creates a sense of value that may not be accurate, and if I really felt that I am worth that amount then that's great, but there is no way they could pay me that. Well, sweetheart, InternetCompany and BigNameCompany both obviously feel that I am worth that kind of cash, otherwise I wouldn't be able to get it. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

In the end, I feel really comfortable with this move, and I think it's what I need to be doing and where I need to be going.

Fight!

Last night a good friend of mine did something that meant a lot to him. He had signed up for Ultimate Combat up at Sandy Station. He was really excited, so I decided to go up and support him. As it turns out Sandy Station is a "Private Club for Members" which is Utah for "Bar". Good thing I took my license, eh?

The fight went really well. In the end, it went to the judges, he lost by 2-3-2. So, not bad at all. I'm sure he'll do better as he continues to train.

I have so many mixed feelings about this.
On the negative side:

• I'm a big huge pacifist, so, straight out of the gate I'm not too fond of this kind of entertainment on principle.


• Watching your friends get injured really sucks.


• Hanging out in a bar all night makes my head hurt.

On the positive side:

• He's been slipping back into partaking of substances he should be avoiding — as a fighter he understands the need to be "clean," so he's been avoiding that stuff.


• He's good at it, and he enjoys it. I fully think people should do things they're good at, and enjoy (so long as said activities are not immoral or illegal).

In the end, I just hope he doesn't get too messed up, and knows that I love and support him, even in stupid things.

After we got back down from Sandy I couldn't wait to shower, change, and wash my clothes. I smelled so bad! I hope my roommates smelled me. They certainly didn't ask too many questions. I love it when they think they have figured out some horrible thing that I did, that is totally not the case. It always makes for a good story.

Indecision

I've decided to go. I've practically started packing my bags. Yet, there is a part of me that really doesn't want to leave. I'm struggling with the trepidation of starting a whole new life in a whole new place, and the excitement of the same. I can't wait to leave, yet I don't want to. There are so many things which I feel I have missed experiencing, and fear that I never will. There are things which I don't want to experience, yet fear I won't be able to avoid. I'm sure this emotion is not unique to me, but it feels very much that way right now. I'm ready for a change, and scared out of my wits because of it. A huge part of me wants to just go there and announce: "Hello Seattle! I'm here! You don't know me, but you will love me!" And, yet, a huge part of me wants to call every single person I know and beg them for any connections at all that they might have in Seattle. Which will win? I think a much less dramatic, and pathetic, combination of the two.

The one thing I do know for sure: It's going to be a little while before I have roommates again. A long little while.

Dream Follow-up

You might remember these dreams I had the other night. The latter one of the two has really left me worried. I really wanted to call my friend up, by decorum dictated otherwise. So, Tuesday when he im'ed me I was thrilled to have the opportunity to ask how he has been doing. I asked, he said he was fine. I re-asked and explained that I've had a worry about him for a few days. He probed as to why, and I tried really hard not to say, "I had a dream about you...". In the end, I had to say just that. However, I cut it way down. Basically, I left out everything but him calling me, us talking, and him crying. I did tell him that when I woke up I was worried about him, and it was kind of a persistent worry since then. He laughed at me, then reassured me that he's just fine. He did, however, thank me for my concern (and not in the false thanks-for-your-concern sort of way, but more in the I-can't-believe-you-got-worried-over-a-dream- but-thanks-for-caring-for-me-enough-to-do-so, -and-also-to-ask-me sort of way.

In the end we cleared up that though I am weird it's weird-strange not weird-creepy. Thank goodness!

Deposits

I told my roommates tonight that I took the job and am leaving. When she asked why I ended up deciding to take the job I didn't tell PuppyDogAndBows that part of the reason was to get away from her. Certainly in the end if the move were the wrong one I wouldn't do it, but her neurosis played a roll in helping me decide more quickly.

While we were talking I exclaimed that there is so much for me to do in the next three weeks, including transferring the utilities into someone else's name. I mentioned that there would be a deposit required for that. She got really upset. She said, "It's not fair that our other roommate and I are expected to come up with that kind of money in the middle of the semester just because you're leaving!"

"Well," I replied, "it wasn't fair that I had to come up with that money when we first moved in. That's not an expense that either of you ever saw."

"Well, Granola, you had the money. It wasn't really an issue for you. You made like <many> thousand dollars at BigNameCompany!"

(I didn't have the heart to tell her that her number was about 40% too low. She really has a skewed perception on money. I did, however, get annoyed.) "You can't expect me to just forfeit that money! It was an out-of-pocket expense that I had to pay."

"I'm not expecting you to forfeit it, I'm just complaining." She replied with a catch in her throat.

Frankly, I'm sorry that you're broke, honey, maybe you should practice a little thing I like to call Money Management. Oh, and Daddy will pay your deposit for you, so get over it. Lastly, the most important thing that I didn't tell her was: since I've had accounts with the utility companies for the past 5+ years (and have stellar credit), I actually didn't have to pay a deposit on the accounts at all. However, since she has terrible credit she is going to have to. There is no way on this green earth that I'm going to just leave the utilities in my name so they can save 100 bucks. Frankly, I'm not convinced that the bills would get paid.

80% Sure

As of Friday afternoon I was 80% sure I was going to get a job offer from InternetCompany. Yes, the interviews went that well. (I'm going to get around to blogging all about it, I promise!)

On Monday I received a phone call from a recruiter there asking me for three references, whom I have known for at least 1 year. Well, I really wanted to use MyFormerBoss (he offered, after all...), so I asked — mentioning that I haven't known him for a full year, but he was my most recent boss. The recruiter said sure. So, that was great news! I sent him three references and sat back to wait. 95% sure I was going to get on offer on Wednesday (yes, today). Why Wednesday? On Friday they told me that I would hear back by today.

At 4 I still hadn't heard anything. I was beginning to wonder if Monday's phone call was the call in question.

Finally, 4:00 my phone rang. They were more than happy to offer me the position! YES!!! I've got everything banged out — my first day will be the 13th of February. Hot dog! Oh, and the compensation is 20%-ish more than what I was making at BigNameCompany.

When I asked about relocation assistance he told me that there is a moving company that will call me to set everything up as far as moving goes, InternetCompany will pay for storage of my stuff for 30 days, as well as put me up in temporary housing for 30 days. He asked about my current living situation, do I rent or own. I explained that I actually have a lease. He asked how long I have left on my lease and when I told him 7 months I think he was a little pained. He explained to me that most places you can just tell your landlord that you are leaving and pay a fee to break the lease, and then it's over. Sure, I said, but around here, and I know this from being a landlord for many years, one is held to the lease unless you can find someone to sub-let it from you. He asked what the remaining amount on my lease is, and was relieved to find out that it wasn't nearly what he was imagining. His solution? He's just going to allowance that amount to me, and if I am able to find someone to sub-lease my place I get to keep it. Nice!

I'm so excited!

I called up the whole family tonight and let them know — everyone is pretty much super excited for me.

Dreams

I had two interesting and moderately disturbing dreams in the past three days.

Dream #1: (Thursday night before my interview — there was a bit of anxiety going on, I assure you.)

PuppyDogsAndBows and I were out shopping, we returned to our hotel which was pretty posh. There was an entry way and off of that a bedroom. A hallway led off of the entry way from the bedroom up some (about 4 or 5) stairs to the washroom. We arrived later than I would have liked, which sent me into stress over getting ready for my interview in time. The interview was at 3:45, and it was already 3. I ran upstairs to the washroom and showered. It took me longer than I thought, because when I got out it was 3:45. I ran down to the bedroom and grabbed some clothes off of the bed and then back up to the washroom to change. I made this trip a number of times. I was so rushed and stressed, and I couldn't get ready in time. It was 4pm and I was so worried about being late, but I just couldn't get out in time.

The odd thing is, PuppyDogsAndBows had a guy there (I think he was her boyfriend) and they both just kind of watched/ignored me as I ran around. ARGH! Frustrating!!

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Dream #2: (Friday night, I think)

A good (male, married) friend of mine calls me up. He's super stressed and worried about something. So we meet up to talk about it. I don't know what was going on, but he sat in the car crying as I tried to console him. I wanted to give him a hug, but I knew that would be a really bad option (considering the married bit). At some point I decided that I needed to get ready for bed, so while he sat in the car crying to me through the open window I was outside changing into my night clothes.

-----

So, dear friends and gentle readers, what do you make of those? I really want to call /text/im/email the friend from Dream #2, but I worry about how proper that would be. Or, rather, I worry about how improper it would be. My concern that he needs someone to talk to almost out weighs my concern for propriety, almost. Maybe I'll call him after I hear back from InternetCompany to let him know how it went either way. That seems like an ok time to contact him, I suppose.

Dream or Rather: Manipulation Technique

PuppyDogsAndBows announced Saturday that she had a dream about me. It went like this:

"So, I had a dream that you went out and bought a TV and a VCR and a DVD player and we had cable and I came home and you were watching it and I was so happy! But, I know it was just a dream, so, whatever."

"That's funny," I reply. "I had a dream and you were in it, too." Where by 'dream' I really mean 'nightmare'! I went on to tell her about my dream.

She really wasn't listening, which was evidenced when she asked, "So, will you buy us a TV?"

"No."

What the? I don't think so. What a nice fabrication to attempt to guilt me into buy all that crap for her. Yeah, freaking, right! Sometimes she makes me more mad than usual.

Shaver

This morning I got up and headed into the shower. At one point I grabbed my shaver and discovered hair in the blades. Now, it sure wasn't my hair. Sick. Sick. Sick. Sick! Understandably, I threw the blade away and replaced it. When I asked my roommate about it tonight she said, no, she had her own razor. Well, I thought we all had our own, but clearly someone had used mine. She asked if I was certain. Yeah. I'm positive. So, now I get to confront PuppyDogAndBows about it. That'll be pleasant.

Book

Tuesday I decided that I needed a book for work, so I announced that I was going to go buy one. The CTO told me to be sure to submit an expense report on it. Sweet.

So, I drove up to the book store and searched for the book I needed. It wasn't there, but I found a security book that looked really interesting. So, naturally, I bought it. As I was standing at the check out the clerk read the title which contained the word "hacker" asked me, "So, is this for you? Do you do a little <mimics typing with his hands> you know?"

"Maybe." I answered non-committally.

"Maybe..." he said with a sick smile. Clearly excited about the prospect of me being some sort of ne'er-do-well. Now, it could be totally hot to be picked up in a book store, but when a guy gets turned on by the fact that you might be doing things that seem a bit questionable — sure doesn't work for this geek.

Lunch

I work in this huge depressing warehouse sort of environment. It is kind of divided into two sections, the front half is well lighted, the back half, on the other hand, isn't. Now, it's not for lack of available light, it is that way because there is one guy who doesn't like it bright. So, every morning when I get to work at 8am I turn on the light and an hour later when he finally gets to work he comes in and turns off the light. It is really annoying, but I've learned to deal with it. Basically, I don't exactly have any other option. Our boss bought us desk lamps, but they really suck, so there we are.

Today things progressed as normal. I came in and turned on the lights, 9:30 rolled around and he came in and turned them off. The guy who sits next to the window then opened the blinds and then our friend came and closed them. Perfect. Now we were sitting in darkness. Then something unusual happened, he came over and talked to my friend and I (we were in the middle of discussing nothing in particular) and informed us that he was tired of this "little game" that was being played. He has, he informed us, been working at ConsultingShop for a year and a half, and he's seen a lot of people come and go, and no one has complained, until us. He doesn't see what our issue is, see, we have desk lamps (he then proceeded to turn one of them on to make his point), if we turn them on: light!

"See," he said condescendingly, "it's not that much darker in here anyway."

"It is a bit darker," I told him.

"Yes, just a bit."

"No, darker than I'd like."

"Well, it's lighter than I'd like, so we both have to adjust."

Frankly, he's doing no adjusting. Basically, he expects me to want to sit in the dark and cater to his desires. How insulting.

Later in the afternoon my friend and I decided to go out to lunch together. Simply to get away from the monotony that is our work environment. We went to this really great place I know and just sat for an hour or so talking and, well, not being at the office. One of the things I brought up was how annoying this guy was, and possible solutions. Neither of us have any great ideas. However, I fully intend to not be sitting in the dark for the first hour of my work day.

My friend pointed out that perhaps this guy didn't want to be in the position of being the "bad guy" and thus expects us to make his life easier. I asked him what he thought I should do in the morning. His suggestion is the path I think I'm going to take — turn the light on and when grumpy comes in and starts barking at me for turning on the light I'll just tell him that he's welcome to turn it off, but I'm not going to sit in the dark for the first hour of my day waiting for him to show up, whenever he gets around to it. Yeah, that'll do.

Interviews

I had a job interview today, as you well know, at ScrapbookingCompany. The nice thing about this job is that it's for a development position. Being a (relatively) small IT department — all internal — I figured that I had a really good chance for the position. I'm not sure that it is a position that I would love, but it would get me a bit closer to a place I want to be, namely: development. There are lots of reasons I want to be in development, not the least impressive of which is the money.

ScrapbookingCompany is roughly an hour away from my office, allowing time for traffic and changing into my suit in the washroom of some gas station. However, I missed my exit and had to back track about 5-10 miles. Which doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're pushing time, that adds between 10 and 20 minutes. In the end I had to change in a church parking lot. Thank goodness the van has dark tinted windows!

The interview itself was going well until the man I was talking with asked me how I would feel about being pigeon-holed into doing reports. My job before BigNameCompany was doing reports. Lots and lots and lots of reports. I told him, honestly, that I had done it for 3 years, I am really skilled at it, but it is not something that I want to do long-term again. I think that cost me the interview, which is perfectly fine. Actually, as the words were coming out of my mouth my brain was saying: "This is a good thing. It's actually best to be perfectly honest, even if it means throwing away the interview. You want to be happy with where ever you end up working, and 'fudging' your way through the interview to get a job offer isn't going to make you any more happy with the job." I'm glad I listened to my brain. The interviewer said that I should hear back from someone probably by next Monday if all goes well, for the next step in the interview process. Honestly, I don't see why they need the steps they have in place. I had one interview with BigNameCompany and with ConsultingShop and we know where those got me.

It turns out that their process is this: one-on-one screening (what I did today), a technical interview (3-4 developers sit around and ask questions), and then a panel of about 7-10 people. Why on earth does an internal IT department need that kind of screening? It's not like they're a front for the FBI or something! Sheesh!

Before I left for that meeting, however, I told my boss that I was not going to be in on Friday. His response? "Congratulations." I chose to not respond to that, instead I looked at him quizzically and said, "I'll be back in on Monday." He asked me to email him a reminder, so I did just that. Later, when he had made it back to his office, he sent me a reply to that email. The final line was "Good luck with your interview. ;)" What the heck!? Well, he knows, and there is no way around it, so I'm not going to lie. I'm also not going to flaunt it. I mean, if I were in his position and were suspecting something like that may be taking place I'd probably do the same thing to flush out the information I wanted to know. I'm sure that's exactly what he's doing here. So, mum's the word.

All Good Things Must End

I picked PuppyDogsAndBows up from the airport today. Thus, once again, effectively showing that all good things must pass. I suppose I'll get over it.

On the ride home we were talking about crime shows. I mentioned Monk as an example of one I just can't get into. She laughed, she doesn't like it either. "I've tried watching it a few times," she said, "because he has OCD, and supposedly I do too." I had to exert some serious effort to not blurt out, "Supposedly? Sister, you're the poster child for the need to medicate that disorder!" I maintained my composure. Thankfully, it was dark out so she couldn't see my expression.

The Cat's Out of the Bag, As It Were

As it turns out, ConsultingShop's fiscal year just ended, so they were madly spending money purchasing office supplies and new computers/servers, etc. Let's ignore the fact that this is why benefits were invented, and skip straight to the part where we received three or four Fed Ex and UPS shipments yesterday. At one point the one guy that I've become friends with (our work stations — yes, that still bugs me — are right next to each other) were helping the Fed Ex guy unload his truck.

"Is there anything in there from InternetCompany?" He asked the guy. My head snapped around to face him, jaw dropping as I asked him, "What??"

"Well," he causally explained, "I always thought that if I were a delivery person the packages from InternetCompany would probably have the most interesting things in them, since they're such a huge e-commerce site. You know? Why, what's up?"

When I finally stopped laughing in relief we went a little ways off from our co-workers and I told him, "Remember how I'm taking off next Friday? Yeah, I'm interviewing with them. I was afraid that I had let that slip with out thinking about it."

"Seriously? That's cool. Good luck! Oh, and no, you didn't let it slip."

Later in the day I got a call on my cell phone. It was a scrapbooking company who was contacting me via Monster.com. They wanted to interview me. At this point, I have officially lost all self-respect. I'm interviewing with them Monday afternoon. I asked my friend how far away the city I'll be interviewing in is from Provo. Well, if it's anywhere near the company I interviewed with a few weeks ago it will take you a little under an hour to get there from here. And, if it's the kind of appointment where if you're not 5 minutes early you're late, then you really want to plan an hour." Ahh... yes, yes it is. He wished me luck. I haven't managed to humble myself enough to tell him who it is, exactly, that I'll be interviewing with.

The nice thing is, we both know that we hate our jobs and that we're looking. It's kind of nice to have someone who is not only a compatriot in misery, but also in getting the heck out! Now, if only I could find that dream job.

I'm Not Superstitious, I'm Not. I'm NOT!

I just got my travel arrangements for my interview with InternetCompany. I'll be flying out on Thursday evening and returning Friday evening. That really bites, but whatever. Any way, the only problem I see at this point is: my interview is Friday the 13th. Ick.

New Years

Well, it's official. Today is the first day of the New Year. I should be much more excited than I am; that is, if you ask the media. Honestly, I know that many people look at the new year as a good opportunity to start over, but that just isn't it for me. I think if we plan on doing something as soon as ... whatever happens, we'll never really change.

How often do we hear, "I'm starting a new diet — Monday." or "I'll start saving — as soon as I get a raise." or the like. Even worse, how often have we said it?

So, with the onset of a new year, I once again resolve to make those changes I see necessary within myself, as soon as I determine that they need to be made, rather than "on Monday" or "when the new semester starts" or "when I get a new job." Changes need to be made when we first recognize them, rather than when it is convenient.