It's Official

Well, it's official, I have accepted a new position and am moving!!! I am excited and nervous and just completely freaked out. Traffic on my house has picked up, but still no offers, so that is the last thing keeping me here. I am ready for the change in scenery. I think it's past time to move on.

Due to keeping my house in constant "show mode" I am now sick of my house and am quite over home ownership in general. I'm thinking of going back to renting. I have these fantasies about things breaking and not being responsible for fixing them. I may rent downtown...thinking of a nice high rise building with lots of amenities. We'll see.

My Mom is flying up tomorrow and then we are going to visit my new city together to check it out and look at potential places to live.

I can't believe I managed to get through these last 3 months without climbing into a bottle or spiraling into a deep depression. I did, of course, manage to gain some weight, but I'm a stress eater and it was either that or curl up in the fetal position and never get out of bed. Maybe the new city will inspire me to get in shape.

So wish me luck!

Side Swipe

I had a home showing this evening and instead of staking out my house as I've been doing the last few times I decided to run to Costco. I figured it wouldn't be crowded as who the hell would be there on a Friday night besides other losers avec moi? I pulled in and got decent parking, did my shopping, came out filled up my trunk only to find the drivers rear side of my car had these scraps on it. I was in the last space in the row, when I pulled in there was a white SUV next to me. I noticed there was some white along with the scrap that was down to the base metal!!! The sad thing is the jackass in the big ass SUV probably didn't even know he hit me. I hope someone siphons his gas!!

I haven't even had Martha for a full year and I've already been rear-ended and now I've been side-swiped. Just caps off my incredible experience over the last few months.

Duece!

After almost 3 months of being laid off, I now have TWO, count 'em TWO, job offers!!! I am still waiting on some details from one of the companies, but I can't believe I actually have a choice! This last year with the latest company has been a big blow to my ego. My self confidence has been at an all-time low. I feel like they broke me down and then laid me off with no regard whatsoever.


Now I am seriously freaked out about going back to work. I have spent every day for at least 6 hours a day looking for a job, parked on my sofa in front of the TV. Now I'm going to have to interact with people and execute. Scary.


I know writing this blog is risking a jinx, but I am so excited and happy. I was starting to allow myself to get into a funk and lay in bed all day and do nothing but obsess about money, mortgages, car payments and where I was going to go should it all fall apart. I realize there are worse things in life, but these last few months have been so difficult.


This was my third layoff in my life. I'm praying it's my last.

Chung Chung

As I am unemployed and spend my days parked on my sofa in front of the television with my laptop looking for a job, I watch a lot of programs. I've become addicted to programs that I would never have watched previously such as Homocide. Homocide was the gritty Baltimore cop drama that I feel was the precursor to Law & Order (L&O). These programs are pretty incestuous with the character Detective Munch on Homocide moving to L&O SVU. There are some other crossovers as well. Daily I see my various L&O gang on Homocide. I watch all the L&Os, but am over SVU. Although Christopher Meloni is some good eye candy, I really can't stomach hearing about sex crimes anymore. I've started to get into Criminal Intent because of Mr. Big's character Logan. He at least has a sense of humor. And it seems to focus more on the Order side of the L&O. I'm not as interested in the Law part - the court cases are only the last 20 minutes of the show and half the time the baddie gets away with it.

Last night I'm watching an old Criminal Intent with D'Onofrio and the story goes the wife tried to blow herself and her 4 kids in her car with a pipe bomb because the husband was abusive. Long story short, they determine they can't charge the husband with any wrong doing. I'm laying there going, nu uh. If they had paid attention to the original L&O, Sam Waterson would have charged the husband with Depraved Indifference as he knew his wife was diagnosed with postpartum depression and was suicidal therefore she might cause harm to their children and did nothing about it which could potentially get him 7 - 15 at Rikers. Needless to say, when I protested with my clear legal solution, the TV did not answer me back. But how pathetic is it that I think I know this stuff? Between all the L&Os, Homocide and CSIs I feel like I could solve any crime. I have even started watching Cold Case - but I hate that main girls hair - and Without A Trace.

I don't get Without A Trace because I am clearly now a law enforcement and legal expert, I know you normally cannot report a missing person for a minimum of 24 hours, yet according to Without A Trace there is an FBI department that gets involved from the get go? It doesn't make sense. I mainly watch it because my friend GJBs sister is in it.

Anyway, it is clear I need to get a life or I need to go back to school to get my JD and become a criminal attorney. I'm barely hanging in there on my MBA. So I think I will stick to being an armchair criminal expert. Chung Chung.

Tivo is NOT my friend!

Okay, I should clarify, I have a DVR, not a Tivo per se. I subscribe to a smaller cable company because I hate the big guy in town and the smaller company enabled me to bundle my service a lot earlier than Mr. Costly Big Guy. Therefore, I have Ghetto DVR. I don't have all the bells and whistles of other fake Tivo's like the people who have a dish or big guy cable. I only recently got the ability to record first run only's.

Tonight we had a huge storm. HUGE. I get it, the possibility of losing power is there. Why is it that I can DVR a program with the cable box off, yet if I'm watching it and lose power in the middle of watching said program, it doesn't continue to record?! I feel like I'm in that conversation with Billy Crystal and pal on that stupid New Yorkers go on a trail ride movie...what was it? Billy was trying to explain to his friend how it is possible to record a program on a VCR without the TV being on....anyway, so of course tonight is the season premiere of the show My Boys on TBS. I am ticked off that 1. it stopped recording the show in the middle and 2. it cut off at the end. Seriously!!! What is up?!! I thought DVR was supposed to be smarter than that. I am sick of DVR cutting off shows before they end.

THEN! I went to the My Boys website, thinking, I'll just watch the show online. HA! It's not up yet!!! I can only watch a so-called "sneak peek" which is moot as it premiered this evening!!! There is no sneak peeking as it's already peeked!

I get really freaked out in this weather because I think I'm the only person in the entire midwest that does not have a basement. I realize in hind sight this was not smart and is potentially the reason that my house isn't selling due to the worst tornado season in a decade, but wouldn't you think it would be a building requirement for all homes in this area to have a basement? It is not, therefore, I thought, no worries. I'll be fine. Yes, indeedy. Me and the cats sitting in the bathtub as the sirens go off only to find there is nothing, nothing coming at us for which I am eternally grateful.

I only had one non-negotiable when I was looking for a home previously, it was a garage. Now that I have my first home that list has gone up to a garage, a basement and a fireplace when I lose power/heat in the winter. I figure I'll just migrate from the top level to the basement depending upon the season.

Back to DVR/Tivo: why can you only record two programs at one time? It's really annoying.

No Cats Allowed?

After spending the last 3 months without a job, I'm not sure how I will do if I actually get a job. The blow to my self confidence has been considerable. All the jobs I'm interviewing for are out of the state I'm currently located in...what if it doesn't work out and I get laid off again? New city, no support system? It's worrying.

I interviewed yesterday for a role in the UK. It would be quite the change obviously. Then I started to freak out about bringing my cats over. Previously the UK had a 6 month quarantine period. I think things have changed with that, but the possibility of not being able to have my boys with me in a new location is distressing. They are my safety blankets. Not having children with this whole process of being laid off allows you to live life without schedules. You can flounder around. But with the boys I do have to stick to somewhat of a schedule and they are quite demanding about their care. There are so many days when all I want to do is crawl into bed and not come out. The boys come and "check on me" aka annoy me and make me get up. I'm not sure how I would do without them.

Bleat

In spite of my loving SILs suggestion that I stick an icepick in my eye to solve my headache issue, it has finally gone away only to be replaced by a serious stomach ache, which I recognize both are due to stress.

I just finished my marketing class and made an "A"!! Woot Woot! After all of this turmoil, school is still the constant pain in my ass and I am still carrying a 4.0!

The job hunt is going slowly and the house sale is not going at all. However, I was at the book store today hunting for a school book and found the most entertaining book I've read in a long while: Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann. Originally published in German, it has recently been translated into English and it is a quirky, hilairous delight to read.

Review from Amazon: "In this refreshingly original detective story from debut German author Swann, a flock of sheep investigates the murder of their beloved shepherd, George Glenn. Leading the effort is Miss Maple, considered the cleverest sheep in the Irish seaside village of Glennkill. She slyly "pretends" to graze while eavesdropping on suspects who come to search George's caravan for something he may have died for. When a long-lost ram recounts an incident that occurred upon his departure years earlier, Miss Maple uncovers the catalyst for George's death. The wooly troupe reveals the crime's solution in a near-Shakespearean mime at the annual "Smartest Sheep in Glennkill" contest. The author's sheep's-eye view and the animals' literal translation of the strange words and deeds of the human species not only create laugh-out-loud humor but also allow the animals occasional flashes of accidental brilliance".

If you can put away your sense of reality and go along for the ride, it's a fantastic read.

The Daily Grind

So I've been waiting and waiting to hear back from a company as to whether or not they wanted to make me an offer...it's been almost a month since I flew out there and today I found out in the most round-about ridiculous way. Completely unprofessional and frankly I'm really more pissed off than upset. Fine that they don't want me, but so not fine that no one has bothered to be in touch with me and then casually mentions after multiple emails oh...I think they offered that to another candidate. Gee...you think? Could someone have let me know?!!!!

I was supposed to hear from another company on Friday, they said Monday latest...this morning I receive an email saying I'm still in the running but no word as to when they will make a decision. ARGH! I hate waiting!!!

I had an interview with a very small local company this afternoon and I find it hilarious that I did a ton of research on what little I could find on a small privately held company and the guy that I spoke with at length on the phone thought my name was LeeAnn. I asked about the small team and he said, well, it's me and "another LeeAnn", pause for effect. He stares at me...I'm like, that's great, glad you have LeeAnn, but that's NOT my name!

I've had a headache since Friday. I can't seem to shake it. Any suggestions, other than the obvious?