Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Weeks Four and Five - Update

Had my first interview yesterday afternoon. It went really well. The Director of Planning talked with me for three hours. I felt that was a good sign. I'm going back on Wednesday to talk with the Asst. Director. Hopefully I'll have something in the bag by Friday and I'd like to start October 6th.

I've been working on more projects around the house, including repairing and cleaning up my sailboat which has had some neglect the past couple of years. I've also repaired the kitchen faucet.

Things are going well. On to the end of the week and hopefully some good news.

BTW, today's my birthday. Yeah me.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Week Three - Wrap Up

I had a great conversation with a consultant friend of mine who was very encouraging and thought they'd might like me to move to perhaps move to Austin if I was interested. We're still holding out to finding a job without moving which would be the ideal candidate.

I went to my friend Greg's house on Tuesday and we had a terrific conversation about Doctor Who and kids and just hanging out with a buddy.

Wednesday was my self torture day in which I wen to the dentist at 7 am and had the most painful cleaning of my life. The most awful part of it was I get to do it again tomorrow as the hygienist only had enough time to get the lower half done. I'm on a more regular regimen of flossing and rinsing with a new hydrogen peroxide cleaner to keep my mouth healthier.

I volunteered at Alexander's school on Thursday.

Saturday evening I played outside with the guys (chase) as Meredith was baking oatmeal raisin cookies. After chase, the three of us laid down on the hammock watching the stars, Venus and the Moon come out. Ford was pointing very enthusiastically at the Moon. As we sat and the stars one by one starting blinking into view, Meredith came out with three warm cookies for us to eat. We had an enjoyable time and memory.

Monday saw us going to the zoo. Beforehand, I had to drop off some paperwork at the former employment and saw a couple of people there who were very encouraging. One kept telling me "good for you!" That helped reduce the stress of going there. I didn't make the effort to go into the department, it still is a little soon. The zoo wasn't crowded and was very pleasant to go to. Alexander and Meredith had a close encounter with a silverback gorilla making faces through the viewing glass. Ford has decided that he is an orangutan.

This week, I have the dentist again and will be trying to set up some get-togethers with some friends.

I've had more people tell me that I should be enjoying the time that I have here. I'm trying to achieve that goal.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Week Two - Wrap Up

I've gotten some more stuff done this week. The yard is looking much better. I've killed off numerous ant piles and have fully decimated the number of clover plants in the front yard. The boys have played extensively with the water slide this week. No less than three times have I drug out the thing, set it up, deflated it and laid it out to dry and rolled it back up.

I've made several phone calls to colleagues and have made several connections. Things are still a bit positive. I'm a little put out that the previous job put all of my last checks into one which bumped me into a higher tax bracket on withholding.

On Saturday, the boys went over to my parent's house and Meredith and I had a lovely dinner at Anamia's Restaurant in Southlake. We then went to Central Market and had some Italian Gelato. Meredith tried the Hatch Chili one...I went with mint. Luckily for us we ran into some old friends from my church in Bedford and we sat down with them and had lots of good laughs. It was an uplifting experience.

We had some of Alexander and Meredith's friends over this evening for Labor Day (getting out the water slide again). Meredith made white bean chili with Hatch roasted chilis and they brought ice cream.

Their son (who is only turned four this summer) is reading like a pro. I'm not sure how they've done it. It is really impressive. I wish I could get Alexander to pay attention enough to recognize the letters correctly. He'll get it. He has one of the best vocabularies of any child his age I've met. We read longer, more involved stories at night time. We've read to date:

The Wizard of Oz; The Adventures of Robin Hood; The Phantom Tollbooth; Alice in Wonderland; Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

This week Alexander and Ford go back to school. I'm going to volunteer in Alexander's class on Thursday. I'll hang out with my friend Greg, and hopefully get a call on one of my applications I've got sitting out there.

I'm learning about expectations and anticipations. I'm also attempting to do some professional reading as well. I need to brush up on some case law and fix my boat.

Things to do while you're still working at getting work.