Dessert Relaxation

It's crazy how much life has changed. It used to be that these families would occasionally manage to sync up long enough to meet for a park day. Now, we're (mostly) grown up with more schedules to coordinate and we still somehow managed to sync up for a whole week! Mom's best friends, Velma and Cindy and their daughters, Mom, me and Laura all went to Indio, California - eight of us total.

Mom works for a timeshare company and got a killer deal, three bedroom suite in the dessert for a week. The resort was amazing, surrounded by lush green landscaping and then the craggly dessert mountains in the distance. The view from our balcony was perfect.

The theme of the trip, for me at least, was a balance between discover and relaxation. I spent a sufficient amount of time floating around the lazy river and lounging by the pool, read a book, listened to a book, read my Mental Floss. But I also went on a drive through the Mojave Dessert, hiked through an oasis, went to an art museum and explored San Diego.

See the Travel Blog for the full scoop and I'm working on getting all pics on Flickr.

Bozo's for Head Hunters

With the recession that's fallen upon our country there is an overwhelming number of qualified and often over qualified candidates lusting after each and every job opportunity. Due to this fact, there is an increase in the number of companies who opt to hire a staffing agency to locate the ideal candidate hence saving them the time and trouble. I say trouble because they will inevitably chose the over-qualified candidate since that highly skilled individual is backed into a corner financially and desperate for any work they can get, even if this means using all of their expensive skills while only getting paid half their worth. Then, when this over-qualified candidate finds a job that pays fairly for their skill set and leaves the company can count on the staffing agency to deal with all of the sticky details. Underpaid employees is a whole other post....but staffing agencies-GRR!

I understand why they're out there and why they're currently flourishing. I do. But I absolutely hate the fact that I have to put MY job search, MY future, my FAMILY'S financial stability in the hands of some shmucky sales person who couldn't care less about me but who's sole focus is filling the seat so they can get their commission.

I interview really well. Until this recession and my recent run of forced unemployment I had a 95% success rate of being offered a job after scoring an interview. But with these staffing agencies I can't even get that far.

You've been unemployed for over a year, why the sudden rage? You might ask. I've been working with a specific staffing company, we'll call them Wacko Inc and with a specific agent, we'll call him Bozo.

LAST July Bozo thought he might have something for me, wanted me to come in and meet him quickly before sending me to interview with the client. This is standard but I am sick - like sleeping 20 hours a day, look awful, sound awful sick. But, the next day I use all of my energy reserves and go in to meet him. He's 30 minutes late, spends 5 minutes with me, doesn't have my resume or even remember which job I'm interested in. I follow up with him a few times and finally find out that the client hired internally. Overall it sounded like he knew the whole time that it was a long shot but wanted to throw a candidate out there just in case - never mind if I'm sick. Since I was so thoroughly unimpressed I was prepared to cease communication but an old colleague happened to give me Bozo's specific name as a lead I should follow so I stayed in touch.

In April Bozo calls and tells me that he has an opening to fill that's a perfect fit, very excited. Next day I get a call from his assistant, annoyed because she can't modify my carefully designed resume to insert the Wacko Inc logo. She's insistent that I need to send her a text only copy of my resume ASAP. Mind you that my resume is the result of hours and hours of tweaking and perfecting. I tell her it will take me a couple of days and suggest she just tack a cover sheet on to it. An hour later I receive a voicemail from Bozo, Nevermind he says the job's been filled. How convenient....(smoke coming out o fears)...I'm done.

Last week Bozo emails me to tell me a Jr PM position is open. Do I have any programming experience an if so do I want to be submitted. I give him an overview of my experience (basically, copy and paste from my resume) and tell him yes, go ahead and submit. I haven't heard anything since.

So yesterday I stumbled upon a job board posting for a Jr PM, programming experience preferred posted by Wacko Inc.... I submit my resume for good measure. This morning I received a call from a new agent, we'll call him Joker, my resume was a good fit, could I send him my resume so he could submit. I did and I've already received a second email from him that he successfully submitted my resume (apparently his assistant knows how to do a cover sheet) and could I be available for a phone interview this Thursday. He'll call me tomorrow to prep me for the interview. Sweet!!! A tangible lead. I'll take it!

But this now has me thinking...why did the client like my resume better coming from Joker than from Bozo, unless...Bozo never actually submitted it. Which makes me wonder what exactly went on with all of the other submissions. While Bozo twiddles his thumbs and slacks off my bank account is dwindling and my career is slowing down more and more.

I hate staffing agencies!

Paris Passions

Well, we FINALLY made it to Paris. It was our fourth attempt but gosh was it worth it.

What's funny is that I had no expectations, in fact, if anything I didn't expect to like Paris. I'd heard all about how rude the French could be and how Parisians hate American's. I figured the Eiffel Tower would look just like the mini key chains you see and I've never had French cuisine that I enjoyed.

As usual, starting with low expectations sets you up to be impressed. I had plenty of chances to use the French that I'd practiced and most of the people were nice and helpful. Everything was bigger than I was prepared for. And I even found food that I actually enjoyed. True creme brulee is truly amazing.

We caught the very beginnings of Spring time in Paris. As we

wandered we saw bits of green buds on trees and occasional flowers. When we finally stopped at Notre Dame we got our first real dose of Spring in Paris. There were Cherry Blossoms in full bloom, I spent time watching French children playing in a sandbox under a canopy of blossoms, their cheeks a supernat

ural rosy pink.

The Eiffel Tower wasn't at all what I expected. The base was far larger and the tower much taller than I imagined. I also expected it to be black or green and was surprised to see rusty orange patches. We

approached the tower through the Parc du Champs de Mars and then walked South East, as we left we passed through some gardens that aren't on the map but

which were in bloom and beautiful.

We met our friends, Fabio and Adrian for this trip so I had to be considerate of the boy attention span when it came to our museum trips. My new sis-in-law made us this great little packet tour that

took us through the museum to the highlights and included reasons why the pieces are so critical. I could have spent hours in the Louvre, I mean, the building itself was amazing and it was just so freaky huge! I have to admit, I got goosebumps when we stumbled upon the glass pyramid. Pics of the art we saw together as well as some of my favorites are up on my Flickr here.

I'm such a sucker for a gorgeous cathedral, you'll have to go to our Travel Blog to read about my impressions of Notre Dame.

The Icelandic Volcano put a bit of a twist on our trip. We were supposed to take a cheap(ish) flight on RyanAir and go back to Rome with the boys for a few days, but with all flights grounded we had be flexible. The boys had to get back for a business deal so they were

a tad more stressed than we were. In the end Adrian's brother, Marcello, drove the 15 hours up from Rome to get us and then we all five piled into one car and went South, through the French Alps, stopped for dinner and then straight through Italy and "home" to Rome. The camera battery died before the road trip so there aren't a ton of pics; it was a fast drive but very cool. While it wasn't our preferred method of travel it was one of those memory making twists for sure.

Can I just say that I LOVE Rome. It just feels so...comfortable and

comforting to me. I'm sure it has to do with all of the great memories I have of the city but every time I go back it hits me again. I just really love the city. This visit was shorter than the last, but the least "tourist" by far. We basically hung out with the boys, went to the dealership with them, ran errands, went grocery shopping, ate Adrian's amazing cooking and just relaxed in their condo. Oh, and I finally got to see the Spanish Steps with the Spring Festival flowers out.

It was a great trip. I'm already itching to get back to Paris on my own, to have more of an opportunity to linger at certain spots and more freedom to focus on the people and culture. I think I'm also now interested in exploring other regions of France - and the wine! I know I only tapped into the tip of French wine.

As always, the whole scoop is on our Travel Blog and our pictures from the trip are up on Flickr.

Creepy Clouds

> Got up early to take Chris to the airport. Felt/heard what seemed
> like an earthquake. Weird.

Then saw thus really odd cloud formation on the drive in. The clouds
were whiter and brighter than the dawn sky with a glow. Notice the tail.

We were imaging alien take over or an early coming of 2012. Very
freaky and creepy.

>

History Repeats Itself

Lately I've become a bit infatuated with old movies and actors/actresses from the 40's-60's.

I've been reading the biography of Audrey Hepburn, next in line is a book about Doris Day and then Rock Hudson.

My Netflix queue has become top heavy with things like 'How to Marry a Millionaire', 'The Man Who Knew Too Much', 'The Nun's Story' and 'Easter Parade'. I am very much enjoying them, especially as I learn more about the actors, directors and events of the time. However I am quite disappointed as I find that many of the modern movies I like are actually a rather transparent remake of old lesser known movies.

For example 'Alex and Emma' is so similar to 'Paris When it Sizzles' that it's sad. And while 'Down with Love' was honest about it's tribute to Rock Hudson and Doris Day I was still surprised by all that it had in common with 'Pillow Talk'. Now both of these and most other examples I've found don't exactly try to hide the similarity they also don't give the old classics any credit either.

Not only do I now find myself searching for the classic behind the new release but I'm also increasingly frustrated with the lack of originality in Hollywood lately. It seems everything is a remake or the very poorly done, plot changed adaptation of a book, or a pre-quel or a sequel or based on a comic book and so on and so on.

I recently saw the movie Avatar in IMAX 3-D and I must say I was incredibly impressed. Not only does it do a scary good job of convincing your sight and mind that what you are seeing is real and not graphics, it also seems to be a wholly original idea which as I stated previously seems to be an endangered species on the big screen.

So, my point? Don't forget the old classics - they're the originals. And I wish there was more original good stuff in theaters today to admire, maybe then I wouldn't have a queue full of 50 year old movies. :)

Pilot Bachelor

One of my fellow Pilot Wives Club members, Nicole, put together a very well worded blog post regarding the new season of The Bachelor which features a pilot.

The pilot and the information provided online about him gives such a skewed and unrealisitic view of the industry and the lifestyle. I would get into it further but Nicole really summed it up so you should go read hers :).

Christmas Caroling

I know I haven't been posting much lately, there just hasn't been a whole lot of exciting things going on. Today however was awesome. For weeks I've been trying to get a group of people to go caroling with me. For my international friends this is an old Christmas tradition where a group of people will go door to door and sing holiday songs. As the years go by it is less and less common for people to do this. I myself have only gone once and it was more than a dozen years ago. So tonight was the night.

I was prepared with flashlights, coats, santa and elf hats, a CD to sing a long with and even print outs of the words to the songs on the CD.

We had a great turn out, we started off with 12 adults and one kid. Probably every third house the people came to the door and everyone was very receptive. Then, one guy heard us singing even though we were next door, he came out with his Santa hat on a joined us! Then, several houses later we hit the jackpot. The house was full of adults and kids who had planned on going caroling anyhow, so they joined us as well. They were great singers and we even stopped using the CD as a crutch. Some people even asked us for an encore!

At one point we had over 20 people! It was a great night. Thank you so much to everyone who joined in, you definitely made my Christmas ten times better and I know we brightened lots of peoples evenings.

Unemployment Blues

I've been a really good sport about the unemployment deal, I've tried to have a good attitude, I've applied to literally hundreds of jobs, but today I'm just fed up.

Here are some of the responses I've received after phone interviews where dates, hours and pay were discussed - the end result was "let's meet in person to finalize everything".

"I didn't mention you'd have to move to Madison Wisconsin until July 2010? Oops."

"You're a fanastic candidate and I'm sure you would have done wonders to improve my company, but my old asssitant was laid off Friday so she's coming back to work for me so I'll have to cancel our meeting for this morning, Monday at 11am."

"Our client decided they could staff the three positions internally. But you're a really well qualified candidate, I'll keep your resume on my desk, I'm sure something will come up before the end of September."

Those are bad enough, but check out the responses I've received after in-person interviews, after I dug out my suit, drove to their offices and smiled through the whole thing.

"Our staffing firm didn't technially have the contract and they decided at the last minute to go with another firm."

"We don't have an official start date for the project yet, but when we do you've got the job. We expect it to know by the end of July, scratch that, August, nope, September, nevermind, we'll call you when we know."

"You're well rounded, present well, interview well and would make an amazing addition to our team. As soon as wel get the budget approved for the position we're interviewing for, we'll call to see if you're still available. You're our number one pick."

Do you see why this might get a bit infuriating after nearly 6 months?

If you don't have the contract, or the budget, or the start date - WHY ARE YOU INTERVIEWING?

I'm going to keep telling myself the same thing, the media started the recession frenzy and they can end it. They keep talking about how things are improving so hopfully come January and the new budget year there will be more opportunties out there. That's what I tell myself.

Extreme Politics

I'm sick and tired of this bi-partisian crap. Our country has divided so ridiculously into these two extreme versions of itself. And the system is now set up to support this.


I'm not comfortable being a Republican or a Democrat but if I register as anything else it affects my involvement in certain elections. Alson, there were 2008 candidates from other parties but they weren't included in the debate process.

Everyone has such extreme ideas and wants to do extreme things. Where is the leader who can use common sense to find something closer to the middle that can work for our country? Where is the administration that can clearly explain policy to the public and include the good and bad?

If there is any sort of movement toward this effort? I'm not political enough to start one, but I am passionate enough to jump in. If you know of anything let me know!

Anti-American Fair

I'm not super political. By that I mean that while I do have an opinion I find politics overwhelming and the task of finding the truth daunting. So while there are a few issues I'm passionate enough to invest time in, for the most part I just sort of check out untile election time.

That said, my political stance aside...there are some things that are bugging me.

I realize that there are many americans who didn't vote for our President. That's a challenge with democracy, there will be a minority that will have to accept the majority's decision. Basically part of being an American is accepting the majority voted President and then respecting that person as our leader. Naturally you're entitled to disagree with that person's decisions or positions, but they still deserve repsect.

It hasn't even been a year and there seems to be an awful lot of stuff going around about Obama being anti-american but not a lot of facts, researched facts to back this up. For example, yesterday I saw the SUV below driving around town, the back window says Obama is a Liar! Also there is a YouTube video circulating where John Stossel calls Obama's health care plan anti-american.

Don't get me wrong, we have the amazing right to freedom of speech and opinion in this country. But anti-american? Driving around with accusations against our new president? Isn't all of that anti-american? I know I'm alone on this. I wasn't a George W. Bush fan, but I was one of the few who insisted that as president and leader of our country he deserved respect and I guess I'm just surprised that people are already Obama hating, especially this early on.

DMB @ The Gorge

A Song that Jane Likes.

Videos to follow tomorrow!

Berries & Sailing

Been having fun on Bainbridge. We made fresh berry cobler one night, so fresh in fact that we used local blueberries, raspberris that Mary picked last week and then for blackberries we actually went down the street and picked them ourselves. Yummy!

Then yesterday we went for a drive in my father-in-law's Porche (it's a black, 930 turbo, 1979 for those of you who care) and then met up with Chris's highschool buddy, Nolan, and went for a sail on Evening Star (a C&C 43 foot sail boat). It looked like it might be futile with so little wind, but as soon as we got out of Port Madison Harbor the wind picked up and they were able to get wind in both sails and we went almost to the shores of Seattle and then back again. During our trip we saw harbor seals and porpoises which is awesome since I ALWAYS miss the wildlife, I'm always down below. But this time I actually saw them!

It was a fantastic afternoon sail, I spent a lot of the time laying on the bow with my feet up and my book in hand. Very relaxing.

Then last night all sorts of people came over for a glass a wine including one of Chris's highschool friends that he hadn't seen in years and years. So that was nice too. We finished it off with some really really good thai food from Sawadty's. Today we bum and tomorrow we see DAVE MATTHEWS!!! :)

West Coast Beaches

Made it to Seattle, not like it was hard since I'd bought a real ticket. It was so nice to not worry about getting on for a change.

Chris was already in town so he and his sister, Jen, picked me up and we spent the day hanging out before heading to Bainbridge Island to stay with my in-laws.

We even made it to the beach, which was weird for me to be at a sandy beach since we were surrounded by mountains.

We have a few days to relax in the island and catch up with Chris's highschool buddies before heading east to the Gorge for the DMB concert on Friday.

It's the prettiest time of year here. It's sunny, in the 70s and of course everything is super green. So I'm hoping so get into town and maybe back into Seattle to take some pictures.

Brunch

I'm at Eddie's cousins for brunch when out walks his cousin with Cisco
the mcCall. He's very cool, he keeps saying the he loved me while
dancing. Very cool.

Indian Culinary Experience

One of Margaret's best friends is Indian and her mother offered to
cook dinner for us. So amazingly good!

The whole meal was vegetarian which made it easy. There was a potato
and chik'n stew, yellow lentils, baby eggplant in a spicy smooth tasty
mixture and then these homemade from scratch wheat tortilla type of
things. The tortillas were good on their own but then when you used
them to scoop up the food. .. I ate way to much. :) Then for dessert
she cut up this super sweet and juicy mango.

After dinner we talked and enjoyed conversation. It was a really nice
evening. A nice quiet end to a long and busy day.

Eddie's Reception - LA

I'm in LA, I arrived yesterday and spent the day catching up with
Eddie and his new bride Margaret. Today was their CA reception, they
got all dressed up and we ate and watched their wedding video. It was
nice. As you can see, they make a very handsome couple.

DMB at the Gorge

For Chris's birthday I scored two tickets to the Dave Matthew's Band concert at The Gorge which is a few hours drive East from Seattle. This venue is absolutely amazing and legendary.


The band has four concerts scheduled here over Labor Day weekend and we have tickets to the second night.

When I bought the tickets I purchased an insurance policy on them because I knew that there was a good chance we wouldn't be able to actually make it to the concert. But we just found out we've overcome the first hurtle - Chris actually got the time off to go. Well, actually, scheduling screwed him over yet again, but he went in to the Chief Pilot who was in a good mood and shifted things around for him. So he now has eight days off in row, right over the holiday weekend.

Now we just have to actually get on a flight out there. We haven't decided yet if we'll be finding a hotel or camping out. Either way I think it will be an amazing evening if we can make it out. Since he scored so much time off we might even be able to spend some time catching up with his family.

UPDATE - turns out that our trip to Seattle will coordinate perfectly with my good friend Eddie's wedding reception party in LA. I'll be flying out there next weekend to hang out with him and participate in the festivities. It's especially special since I had to skip the actual wedding in Maine when Chris couldn't get the time off. So yay for visiting Eddie AND DMB concerts!

Shared Art Day

Four years ago, just before moving North, I got together with three of my closest friends for a day of art in the park. We each had a canvas and we each painted about one quarter of our canvas before passing it to another who then painted one quarter and so on, until we each wound up with a canvas that was touched by all.

Last weekend, almost exactly four weeks after the first art day, we had another. One participant changed and the overall skill set of the group increased greatly but the agenda remained the same, and yet again the result was amazing. See?

This is mine from last year. I did the bit with the sun, Hannah did the glitter, Amy the street and Megan the stars.

And this is the new addition from this year. I'm the bottom right, Hannah is the flowers, Megan did the plane scene and the vine is from Laura.

It was a fun day.

Sick Time

Ususally I don't mind that Chris is gone a lot. There are definite benefits to being married with extreme independence. There are also major negatives to being alone so much. For example when you're sick and there's no one to play nurse. Thank god we live near family again, Mom promised to have Dad deliver an order of cough syrup and other necessities tomorrow. It still can't quite compare to having someone here to make noodle soup and honey tea.

The worst part is that even though I really wish he were here to take care of me, I'm actually grateful he's not home. It would suck for him to waste his precious few days off taking care of me or worse yet for him to catch whatever I have and have use his sick days on actually being sick - he needs those sick days to make commuting easier.

Rediscovering an old Friend

I stumpled accidentally on UCFTV the other night to find Ani DiFranco live on the artists den. It wasn't until then that I realized I miss Ani.

While I may have the inner strength and ability to express myself openly, I was not given the gift of articulation. It is aww inspiring to me when people are able to not only take their thoughts, passions, beleifs and feelings and put them into well thought out prose, but to then have the skill and talent to put that prose to music. Ani DiFranco in particular has a style and beat that really speaks to me...

32 Flavors
squint your eyes and look closer
i'm not between you and your ambition
i am a poster girl with no poster
i am thirty-two flavors and then some
and i'm beyond your peripheral vision
so you might want to turn your head
cause someday you're going to get hungry
and eat most of the words you just said
both my parents taught me about good will
and i have done well by their names
just the kindness i've lavished on strangers
is more than i can explain
still there's many who've turned out their porch lights
just so i would think they were not home
and hid in the dark of their windows
till i'd passed and left them alone
and god help you if you are an ugly girl
course too pretty is also your doom
cause everyone harbors a secret hatred
for the prettiest girl in the room
and god help you if you are a phoenix
and you dare to rise up from the ash
a thousand eyes will smolder with jealousy
while you are just flying past
i'm not trying to give my life meaning
by demeaning you
and i would like to state for the record
i did everything that i could do
i'm not saying that i'm a saint
i just don't want to live that way
no, i will never be a saint
but i will always say
squint your eyes and look closer
i'm not between you and your ambition
i am a poster girl with no poster
i am thirty-two flavors and then some
and i'm beyond your peripheral vision
so you might want to turn your head
cause someday you might find you're starving
and eating all of the words you said

the arrival's gate
gonna go out
to the arrivals gate at the airport
and sit there all day
watch people reuniting
public affection is so exciting
it even makes airports ok
watching children run
with their arms outstretched
just to throw those arms
around their grandpas' necks
watching lovers plant kisses
old men to their misses
at the arrivals gate
watching a mother
with a mother's smile
don't tell me to move
i just wanna sit here for a while
i have determined
it's a sure cure for cancer
watching excitment turn family
dogs into dancers
at the arrivals gate
i got me a white bread sandwich
with some shredded lettuce
and i got me a ringside view
for my quaint little fetish
i just wanna drain my little pink heart
of all its malice
and kick back for the afternoon
in this flourescent palace
everybody's in a hurry
here in
purgatory
except for me
i'm where i need to be
at the arrivals gate

I need more Ani in my life.