I'm Not Dead

I guess I should write something. It's been almost a month now. Then again, I've received very few comments or requests about my blog, so I guess no one's missing it that much. Not that I have much to say these days anyways. This will probably turn into one of those "keeping you up to speed posts." For no specific reason, I haven't been feeling very creative lately.

Job search is still fruitless. I finished as a runner up to yet another job. I think what sucks the most is the jobs I'm finishing runner up in are the ones I want the most. All the lesser jobs I apply for, the ones where I feel like I'm either overqualifed for or would be taking a step back in, I don't even hear from. Maybe they feel the same way. Anyways, I took it pretty well this time because I've been there and got the hint early on. Surprisingly, they followed up with me kinda late and even went as far as to do reference checks on me, yet I still didn't get hired. Thanks for the blue balls though, much appreciated.

I do have a second phone interview tomorrow with another company. It's a company I'd be excited to work for, and the job is nearly identical to the last one I had, which is good and bad. Good because I'm obviously qualified for it, but bad because it's not what I really want to do. Whatever. I've resigned to sucking it up many months ago and being satisfied with any job that keeps me in HR.

A couple people have asked or commented about taking any job at this point. As long as I'm collecting unemployment, I won't consider that an option. I did get some good news this week - my unemployment is now extended until the end of March, and maybe even longer. So until then, I'll only focus on HR jobs. It's what I want to do and it'll be my best chance at maximizing my salary. HR jobs are tough to find this time of year, not to mention during a recession like this, but they're still out there. If this job I'm interviewing for doesn't work out, I don't really expect to find many good opportunities until February at the earliest, as many companies will have their budgets forecasted and may start doing some more hiring again.

Thanksgiving was a week ago, let's talk about that. Wac and I went to a friend's house for turkey dinner and etc. We brought over a shit load of food. I made a couple dishes: some Gorgonzola mashed potatoes and some brown sugar glazed carrots. They were pretty easy. The mashed potatoes were just like regular ones except I added the cheese & some roasted garlic. The carrots were even easier; boil some carrots, melt some brown sugar into some butter, and then add some chopped bacon. Ridiculously good. Wac made some mashed sweet potatoes and a small batch of regular ones for our friend who doesn't like Gorgonzola cheese. Whatever, he's Canadian so he shouldn't even be celebrating. He did make some good stuffing though so he redeemed himself.

Speaking of gravy, the Canadian friend won a $100 bet from his equally drunken friend when he agreed to drink the whole pot of gravy. We didn't use much at dinner so it was pretty full. Silly Canucks.

Other things that have happened...Wac had a birthday, ran another half marathon. I've been doing some dog-sitting for the Canadian friend & his wife. I've been doing some running too, I'm gonna try to do a 5 mile run on Sunday. It's crazy to think that the half-marathon is little over a month away and I've yet to do more than 4 miles. I'm totally not prepared for this run but whatever, fuck it. I'll run\walk it if I have to, whatever it takes to cross that finish line.

For my AZ readers, I still don't yet know how long I'll be in AZ. For sure, I'll be flying in on Saturday the 17th, and most likely leaving Tuesday night. I'll know definitely before Christmas. I'll probably try to plan some kind of meetup on Sunday after the race for anyone interested. I'll send something soon.

Speaking of Christmas, I guess it's that time of year now. We put up our tree last night. It's not much and we won't be enjoying it for very long. Wac leaves next Sunday to go to California for two weeks while her sister has a baby. I was gonna stay in Seattle but her family forked up some money to fly me out there. Since I'm jobless, I leave in two weeks to hang out in CA for a while, with a pit stop in Burbank to see a friend I haven't seen in over two years. Obviously it's been a different kind of Christmas this year, considering everything that's happened, but I've managed to scrounge up some cash to at least get Wac a couple things. It's money that should be going towards a new radiator, but I have no idea when I'll have the rest for it, so I'm gonna try to make Christmas feel as close to normal for us as we can. After so much stress and uncertainty this year, I need at least that.

That's all I got for now. I'll try to pick up the creativity next time.