Advice

Hi everyone,

I spent this weekend through Valentine's Day with Lauren in Maryville and really enjoyed myself ... I spent Monday checking into the local job situation and turning in applications for one or two jobs on campus. I also spent a bit of Tuesday doing housework ... dishes, raking the lawn, etc. And having a wonderful, romantic dinner Tuesday night after I surprised her at work earlier in the day to bring her lunch and a rose.

We're doing contingency planning right now, because of a recent development: on Monday, a placement agency called me and said that a local financial services company wanted to interview me for an opening.

I did the interview this afternoon, and they seemed impressed enough with me to bring me back in for a followup next week. It's a six-month contract to hire position, which means I could be moving six months from now if they don't take me on, or sooner (i.e., later in March, as we're now planning), if they don't hire me.

Being a Quaker, Lauren sometimes has cases where, in order to determine the right course of action, she submits a situation to a "clearness" committee, composed of fellow Quakers, who help determine what the best action (or no action) should be done. I envy her right now ... it seems all I've got right now are "possibilities", and none of them, unfortunately, seem to be collapsing from probability waves into useful options.

Getting better all the time

Well, the weekend with Richard went much better than I thought -- I needn't have worried:

1) He appeared to love my cats, who loved him THIIIISSS MUCH!
2) We think we can, with minor compromises, get his household and my household put together. But we're definitely going Winter palette in the living room to go with his Chinese wall hangings, while the bedroom is going to be home to the botanical prints and the Summer palette. (Time to find an appropriate wallpaper border for the living room)
3) He's really good at pitching in to organize and help clean -- we moved furniture, put some things (wine crates) in storage, and graphed the living room layout.
4) He prefers my mattresses to his (I know how to pick quality mattresses -- I AM a consumer economist after all) so the antique bed stays. (Yay! I dreaded putting that into storage!)
5) His allergies didn't act up.

Waiting for Gingercat

Today is the day Richard comes down to see where I live for the first time. Circumstances have dictated that I drive up there rather than vice versa -- I have the more flexible schedule, being an academic, and I have fewer evening and Sunday committments to work around. (I also think I like distance driving more than Richard does, but that's just a speculation). I have to admit that I am a little nervous because he's never met my cats nor seen my house.

We have somewhat differing styles of home decoration, which will have to be reconciled when we end up living in the same space. Luckily, I think there's enough overlap that we can reconcile these -- but he's going to be looking at a lot of rose-festooned wallpaper borders and cool pastels (summer palette) in the short run. My observation of his apartment: he favors a winter palette (bolder colors like black and red) and Chinese motifs. I think we're going to have to change the wallpaper border, at least in the living room.

The last male to comment on my house decor was someone I used to date (he doesn't really qualify as an ex-boyfriend, it was so casual) who said it "wasn't bad for having flowers all over the place." But his notion of style was Southwestern patterns and a preoccupation with bull terriers...

Introducing myself

I'm the Lauren, AKA Cheshirekitty, that Richard has been talking about ... If that doesn't answer enough questions, let me try for a few more answers:

1) I'm 42 years old, but I think I'm young for my age.
2) I am an associate professor at a small regional Midwestern college, but can be exceedingly silly at times.
3) I would have to live to be 224 to learn and experience all the things I want to in life.
4) I am owned by three cats: Opalina (the geriatric passive-aggressive tortie-tabby), Kitty Kitty Kitty-Kitty (the aggressively friendly odd-eyed white), and Stinkerbelle (the little monster).
5) I would like to have coffee and chocolate officially accepted by the American Dietetics Association as food groups.
6) My love of good food wars with my desire to be thinner than I am, so I struggle with maintaining my weight. I work on feeling beautiful no matter what my weight is, which sometimes is harder than other times.
7) My favorite relationship philosophy: "20 Dos and Don'ts of a Functional Relationship" by Eve Bernshaw: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/bernshaw4.html
Hi everyone!

Changes ...

Hi all ... with my impending nuptuals a year away, Lauren and I have decided to consolidate our blogs into one spot. The link to her LiveJournal blog will remain, but we'll post here moving forward.

How Windy Was It?

I know ... sounds like the set up for a Johnny Carson joke. How windy was it today? In some places, it got up to 60 MPH winds. Windy enough that a weather advisory was called. Windy enough that trash cans and branches were scattered. Windy enough that a revolving door I was going into broke when a strong gust pushed one of the panels (the one behind me), about four foot forward, briefly trapping me until the door guard at the drs. office got the panel in front of me pulled forward so I could get inside the building.

Now that's windy.

A Good Weekend

It's been a pretty good weekend. Lauren came down Friday afternoon and I took a couple of hours off work (having Lauren along helped when I asked the boss). Yeah, it cost me a couple hours of vacation, which will cost me a little bit of money in vacation cash-out. But right now, the time off and time spent with her is much more valuable.

Anyway, I'm hoping to spend next weekend down in Maryville, which, unless a job prospect pans out here, will turn out to be a scouting trip for how we're going to combine the contents of two households together. In my case, a lot of what I have is books and bookcases, and as for the rest ... we'll find a way to make it fit.

Remaining Hopeful

I was telling a former boss yesterday that the hardest part about being laid off was that I've generally been employable. This is the first time that I've been involuntarily unemployed, and I've only been voluntarily unemployed once (and that was for about a month and a half when I moved up to Des Moines and finished graduate school). I got a part-time job at a Waldenbooks, then got hired by my current company, and have been steadily employed ever since, so with one interruption, I've been employed since 1994 (12 years).

Is being laid off a shock to the psyche? Yes, it is, and there's small comfort in knowing that I'm not alone at my company.

So now the question is: where do I go from here? I've got skills, talent, and knowledge. I just have to find the right opportunity.

Honking Like a Lame Duck

One thing I've struggled with over the last couple of days is feeling like a lame duck. I think I need to simply get over it. I've got job applications out (8, up from 5), and perhaps it's time to look at this situation as the opportunity to find a new challenge.

And The Beat Goes On ...

Today came out a bit like yesterday. Found one more job prospect, applied for it, now I wait and cross my fingers. And pray I get a good result from it or any of the other five job apps I have out now.

I spent a chunk of this evening helping out one of the cubicle mates being let go, by helping her clean up her resume prior to an interview for an internal, customer service rep job which will let her stay with the company and keep her benefits if she gets it. It made me feel a little like being on a sinking ship and helping someone into a lifeboat, wondering "who the heck (besides my fiancee) is going to help me?"

Ah well ... at least if she gets the job, I'll get a free dinner out of it. And then I'll get her workload until it's my turn to bow out.

That Lame Duck Feeling ...

Today was the first day back at work following the layoff announcement. There were a few items to take care of, but the day seemed to go by rather quickly ... a blessing, in and of itself, I guess. I told my fiancee, who does a three-day breast cancer fundraiser walk in KC, that I feel a little like she must have felt when she finished the walk: "tired, exhausted, and wondering 'what next'?".

The insurance industry is a very tightly competitive market these days, and while my company has put up a good fight, it simply doesn't have what it takes in financial resources, nor is it taking in what it should in revenues, to compete with the larger companies. I suspect that it's only a matter of time before a major chunk of my soon to be former department coworkers are eventually let go when the systems they support are eventually outsourced ... you can see the signs already.

In retrospect, perhaps it's good that I'm being cut loose now. I suspect that the troubles for my soon to be former company are just beginning; despite the company's stock price being 20 points above where it was when I first started here, the belt tightening has continued for the last few years and will probably continue long after I'm gone in terms of consolidations and staff reductions. For me, I hope that I can simply find a job that I enjoy, where I can use my skills to their fullest, and where I don't have to take a cut in income.

And The Search Begins ...

I spent today home from work (the soon to be expired job), some of it on the phone with my family, some of it checking out job listings from friends, some of it finishing the draft of a curriculum vitae (or CV), i.e., an academic version of a resume, and drafting cover letters. Lauren's been very supportive through all of this (thank God for that; I don't know if I could have faced this alone); she came up this past weekend and stayed through this afternoon. We went for some long walks ... her parents came down from Illinois and took us to dinner Friday night to celebrate.

Today we set a date for our wedding.

Tomorrow, I do more polishing on my work portfolio, put out a few more resumes. Offer up some prayers. Hope that out of all of this, the fear, uncertainty, and doubt subsides, and that something good turns up.

Pictures From Christmas ...

And here's some pictures from Christmas in Illinois with Lauren and me opening gifts ... more pics coming on CD, to be posted later.

It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times ...

Hi everyone,

This was one of those weeks where it once again proved how quickly life can change on you. In the really good, life-altering/changing news, I'm now officially engaged. I've only told a few friends and family, and we haven't set a date yet.

In the not so good news, Friday (the 13th no less), myself and two coworkers in my workgroup were called into a meeting at HR and told that, due to a business decision (i.e., a need for more project managers, and no other money available to hire them), that the three of us were being terminated as of March 10th. It wasn't a case of work performance, but a case where they needed the warm bodies, and we got sacrificed as a result. Reactions ranged from shock to "nice while it lasted", and I immediately started shipping my resume out online, and checked off with my internal and external contacts to see what jobs were out there. I'd kinda been expecting this since October.

They're giving us decent severence packages, and at least giving us a few months to prepare, rather than giving us the boot immediately. I'll likely survive, and it may open up new options for Lauren and myself in terms of living together, but now I'm worried about the two coworkers, who weren't prepared for the situation, are now scrambling, and who both have (or will have, after this year), have kids in college.

I hope we all find good places to land.

Where I've Been ...

Hi everyone,

Quite a few of my friends have asked me why I haven't updated my blog in the last few months (since mid-September), and a lot of it has been due to changes in my life ... some positive, some needing a bit of my time and effort to address ....

On the "needing a bit of my time and effort to address" side, let's just say that there was some unpleasantness at my current job, which put me in an uncomfortable position and forced me to look at my career options. That's as far as I want to go with that description, given that other people read this, some of whom may be coworkers, and I want to stay on good terms with them, regardless of what happens.

For the positive changes ... let's just say that since the holidays, I've been seriously involved in a long-distance relationship with a wonderful woman named Lauren (see the pic) ; we've hit it off very well, and I've already met her parents over Christmas in Illinois (and they and the rest of her family likes me ... yay!). We're looking at our long-term options for now. I'd say more, but as she hasn't met my side of the family yet, there's something I have to hold off on saying until then. Suffice it to say that it is serious between us, and I love her. We even have pet names for each other: I'm her Gingercat (because of my playful nature) and she's my Cheshirekitty (because of her smile) ... (yeah, I know, it's hokey ... so there). I've included a link to her blog at the side (she hasn't updated hers either, but that's because we've been spending a lot of weekends together as of late, as well as the holidays).

So that's what's new with me ... it's been an eventful couple of months. I'll write more as I know (or can reveal) more ....

Finally ...

After getting nothing but voicemail for two days, I finally got word that everyone in the family made it out of Houston and is safe. Mom is in Waco, while the rest of the family is in Dallas. I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Oh Boy ...

And it gets better. Rita is now a Cat. 2 hurricane and may become a Cat. 4 by the time it reaches landfall. Ahead of that, mandatory evacuations have been ordered, so my family in Houston will have to evacuate ... Mom will go to San Antonio or Waco, while the rest of the family is heading to Dallas after boarding up the home.

Sigh ... Not Again ;-(

As some of you know (or may not), part of my family (sister, brother in law, and niece) lives south of Houston, TX, between Houston and Galveston. According to my sister, Tropical Storm Rita is predicted to strengthen to a hurricane (possibly a Category 3) and the current storm track (if it turns into a hurricane and stays one through the weekend), indicates that it may hit landfall at Galveston and continue northward right through the area that my family lives.

If they're fortunate, it veers east and hits elsewhere, and they're looking at bad weather: heavy storms and maybe some tornadoes. If they aren't, then it would mean evacuation farther north before the hurricane hits.

Unfortunately, there are some complications: Mom has some acute-care issues that need monitoring and meds, so she would be moved with her nursing home's residents to a sister facility in San Antonio. Adding to that, sis is also expecting later this weekend and they will have their hands full with that; they would likely evacuate to my other sister's place south of Fort Worth.

This has been one of these years ....

Carrying Your Candle (aka, Going to Light Your World)

A day or so ago in the local newspaper, one of the editorial columnists wrote a thought-provoking piece to compare the circumstances in New Orleans to what would have happened here, if we had had a hurricane-like disaster. FYI, Des Moines actually came quite close (anyone remember the Midwest floods back in 1993?) But in the space of a few paragraphs, he painted a grim picture. And to be honest, a disaster may be something we'll experience here in the Midwest 50 years' hence; not everyone realizes it, but the central Midwest may (at least, according to the prognosticators), be the site of a major earthquake, due to the New Madrid faultline.

This has been one of those weeks where it's been hard to look for the positives. Between watching the toll from Hurricane Katrina on the news and hearing of friends' personal losses (from Katrina and otherwise), it's been hard not to encounter someone who has lost someone or something dear to them, or who has lost everything. And this Sunday marks the 4 year anniversary of 9/11. I don't think any of us can truly say we understand what the survivors have been through, unless we have experienced it ourselves.

Looking for the bright spots, this Wednesday, I was practicing a piece I'll be singing in church Sunday. Called "Go Light Your World", it has this lyric: "There is a candle ... in every soul. Some brightly burning. And some dark and cold. And there is a spirit. That brings a fire. Ignites a candle. And makes us whole." For all the horror that we've seen on the media, for all of the political bungling, we've also seen giving on a scale not seen since 9/11. It's not a red state/blue state issue. It's not a Bush-hater issue. It's a human issue. In the years since 9/11, I have seen our country fragmented by soulless politics, by religous fundamentalism, by narrow- mindedness bordering on economic and racial prejudice, and by a dwindling share of compassion for others. It is my prayer and hope that for once, we see less politicizing, less divisiveness, and more compassion, and that our compassion for those in need, our candles that in recent years seem to have almost been snuffed out, are reignited and remain brightly lit.

Labor Day Weekend

Hi all, just taking the time out from the weekend to post. Weekend's been great so far; mini golf with a friend on Sunday, followed by a local blues festival downtown. This afternoon, I'm going casual at the grill. I did have a line on a new-agey gathering, but that didn't pan out.