Posted by Robyn on Apr 21, 2010 in
General So we have these two bags of buffalo chicken wings from Costco in the freezer. Justin likes the drumstick-shaped pieces better, where I prefer the flat ones. So, I figure why not take a clean garbage bag, spread it out on the kitchen table, empty the contents of both bags, and sort by personal preference.
We can discuss my OCD later, but my reason for posting this journal is that in both bags, there were twice as many of the drumstick ones as the flat ones. I got totally cheated! But how does this even make sense? What kind of mutant birds did they make these wings out of anyway?
Posted by Robyn on Apr 8, 2010 in
General This morning, I signed my official offer letter with KCDL. Assuming they don’t find any gremlins in my background check, I start on Monday! 
Posted by Robyn on Apr 6, 2010 in
General Well, the panel interview today went extremely well. I spoke with two distinct groups of people. The first was the learning technology group, where I’d be spending the majority of my time. I was peppered with a lot of technical questions about learning management systems, which I was (thankfully) able to answer without making a complete fool of myself. The second part of the interview was meeting individually with two managers in the academics group. That part also went well, and they seemed overjoyed that I had as much teaching and training background as I do.
Then, I met with Paul again, who pretty much offered me the job on the spot! He had talked to the other team members after each panel, and he said they had nothing but green lights all across the board, so I’m in! He still has to go through the requisition process with HR, but he said I should have a formal offer letter tomorrow morning. If all goes well, I start on Monday!
Hooray for jobzorzz! 
Posted by Robyn on Apr 5, 2010 in
General Posting this from a brand new iPad! Sadly, it’s not mine, but the device is pretty darned cool. I’m holding out for the 3G A1337 model, though.
Posted by Robyn on Apr 2, 2010 in
General Today’s interview went amazingly well! The job really is a perfect fit with my background. The IT manager I spoke with kept smiling every time I answered a question of his, and he said point-blank I was the best candidate they’d interviewed so far. They’ve already scheduled a panel interview with the rest of the team for Tuesday morning. I think that’s a good sign!
Thanks for all the best wishes, and keep those fingers crossed!
Posted by Robyn on Mar 30, 2010 in
General So, I got a call from a recruiter yesterday who saw my resume on Dice. They called me back for a phone screening this morning, and I had an interview with the recruiter this afternoon. Everything went well, so they submitted my resume to the client, and got an immediate call back! I have a second interview lined up for Friday, this time with the hiring manager for the company I’d be working for.
The position is full-time permanent with a fantastic salary and benefits package. I’d be doing Learning Management System (LMS) Administration, essentially acting as a liaison between the IT department and the teaching faculty for an online school. In other words: they want a teacher who speaks geek.
Now, does that remind you of anyone you know?
Posted by Robyn on Mar 28, 2010 in
General … is evasive tonight. As exhausted as I am, I can’t seem to close my eyes for long enough to escape from reality for even a few precious hours.
I’ve been spending a lot of time worrying lately. Mostly about jobs and money. Justin and I have both applied for dozens of jobs already, and we do have some decent prospects. It’s only a matter of time until we find something, but sadly, that’s time we don’t have.
It’s amazing how quickly bills can pile up when you go from two incomes to almost zero in one day. Especially after Justin was unemployed for all of last year, and I was part-time for most of it. We’d just barely gotten back on our feet, with no time to build up any reserve for this.
Come on, economy. Recover already.
Posted by Robyn on Mar 18, 2010 in
General When it rains, it pours. Justin lost his job today, and my hours were cut back at work. I know the economy sucks, but it’s amazing that two people with four master’s degrees between us can’t find full time work! I need to go cry now. =(
Posted by Robyn on Feb 28, 2010 in
General 12:00 AM – Finish teaching an Office 2007 New Features class to a group of police. (Taught several of these late-night classes this week)
12:30 AM – Arrive home, do some more last-minute packing.
2:30 AM – Finally go to sleep.
6:30 AM – Wake up, resume packing mode.
7:00 AM – Husband brings coffee home from Starbucks run. Thank goodness.
8:30 AM – Packing finished in time for breakfast cooked by hubby.
9:30 AM – Everything is ready for the movers to arrive, but they don’t show…
9:45 AM – Call movers, leave voicemail.
10:00 AM – Still no word from movers. Leave another voicemail.
10:30 AM – No movers. No calls. No nothing. Call another moving company, line up for 3:00 PM.
10:45 AM – Run a few errands, and prepare to start taking a few loads over to the new apartment in our cars.
11:15 AM – Secure more coffee.
11:30 AM – Original movers finally call, say they will arrive within the hour. Cancel plans to start carrying loads over to new place. Sit and wait.
12:30 PM – Still no movers. Surprise, surprise.
1:00 PM – Angry call to movers, who promise to arrive within 30 minutes.
1:30 PM – They don’t.
1:45 PM – Justin makes a quick run for more boxes while we’re waiting. Car breaks down. Awesome.
2:15 PM – Arrangements made for tow truck to pick up our broken car and tow it to Beaverton Hyundai.
2:45 PM – Movers finally show up. Backup movers call to confirm, and I cancel with them. Tow truck arrives. Chaos ensues briefly.
3:00 PM – Car is safely en route to Hyundai, and moving is underway. Finally!
4:00 PM – Find out that car made it safely to service center, and repair is under warranty. Whew!
5:00 PM – Movers taking forever. They do not have the promised equipment, and they brought a truck half the size of the one we reserved. Awesome!
5:30 PM – Finally on our way to the new place.
5:45 PM – Movers take half an hour trying to figure out how to friggin’ park.
6:15 PM – Movers finally carrying stuff in.
7:00 PM – We figure out that half our furniture doesn’t fit up the narrow staircase.
7:45 PM – We’re out of time on the five hours we booked, so the movers stack the rest of our stuff in the garage.
7:55 PM – We are given a hand-written “receipt” and informed that they can only accept cash.
8:00 PM – Justin rushes to ATM to pull out cash for payment, while the movers take a smoke break. On the clock. Heaven forbid they MOVE MORE STUFF while we’re still paying them.
8:15 PM – Movers are paid, and on the way to drop off some of the non-fitting-up-the-stairs furniture at my parents’ house. (Agreed upon as compensation for arriving so late.)
8:30 PM – Famished, we head over to Five Guys for some dinner.
9:30 PM – Arrive back home, unpack a few essentials.
10:00 PM – Finish wiring data cabinet, and attempt to get the internet working.
11:00 PM – Mission accomplished.
11:30 PM – Find shower curtain, so terrible day can be washed off.
So… how was your day?
Posted by Robyn on Jan 18, 2010 in
General *Sigh*
I was highly involved in music and theater in both high school and college. Heck, I even got a Master’s Degree in playwriting. But through all of that, I never once lost sight of reality and expected to make my living doing that stuff. It was fun, and I’m glad I did it. But I also grew up.
Through the invention of Facebook, I have been catching up with a lot of people from my high school and college days. I’m shocked at how many of them never let those dreams go. Some are actually getting work as actors or musicians, and I’m happy for them. But some are waiting tables or working crappy retail jobs and still waiting for that “big break” that never comes. This makes me sad, but I also kind of wonder what went wrong.
I think our education system sometimes encourages this kind of thing. The activities kids do in high school like sports, music, speech, drama, and so forth are all great. But kids form their identities at that age, and there are very few people who actually have careers in sports and entertainment.
So reach for your dreams, kids. But don’t lose sight of the ground, or you’ll fall on your ass. And also, never make a Facebook page and ask all your friends to become your “fans”. Wait until you have actual fans, or people are just going to laugh at you.
Seriously.