Job Hunting and Twins vs. O's

Ok, so I haven't written for awhile because I've essentially done the exact same thing every day. I wake up, trip over one of the cats on the way to the bathroom, eat breakfast (in the kitchen, not the bathroom) and begin my quest looking for jobs. MAN IS IT FRUSTRATING!!! Not only is it boring and time-consuming, but I feel like I'm chasing my tail most of the time! I've sent about a dozen or so resumes out and, so far, no dice. I had one lead, a very encouraging one, but it turned out to be a dud. After four weeks of waiting, and speaking with someone advertising the job at a job fair, I find out the next day (again, after having applied four weeks earlier), that HR at this unnamed place has their heads in their butts. No communication at all...the job was filled weeks before...sorry for the inconvenience Mr. Nick...ha ha, no food for you....

Sorry, I'm done. It feels good to get that off my chest. I am (THANKFULLY!) doing a little work for Westmark via the internet (mostly graphic design) and I hope that I can at least get an interview at NPR (I just sent a resume out today for a position that opened only about 3 days ago). We'll see.

Kristin is very, very busy. She's at school almost all day, and then studies most of the evening. She has midterms (already!) this week so she's been even busier than usual.

On the lighter side, I actually did something on Saturday night: I went to the Twins vs. Orioles game. You see, there is a St. Olaf Alum group here that encompasses the Baltimore/DC/Arlington/etc that was going. I went, and had a fun time talking to people...I even watched the game a little. The funny thing about the event was that there were about 30 Oles there, and right in front of us (we sat in front of the Jumbo-tron) there were a bunch of Carleton Alums!! To top it off, I saw a fellow classmate (here's a hint for anyone playing along at home: he's a tuba player who now heads up a boy-band) who was sitting a couple sections over! What a random night!


Here's a picture of what I usually do on Sundays:

Recipe for Success

Ok, so I've been meaning to write about this for almost a week now but I keep forgetting.
Last Friday, Kristin and I went to a party hosted by the School of Public Health. It was quite an interesting experience.
It was pouring rain (we got the very last bit of Ernesto last Friday and Saturday) when we left and it only managed to get worse as the night went on. The party was supposed to start at 530 and we, like any good midwesterners, thought it would be good to show up around 600 or 630 so we would not be the first ones there, standing arounding looking akwardly at anyone who came through the door (at this point I should also add that there was going to be free food). Well, we got there and it looked like the entire school of public health was already there and had devoured about 50 boxes of pizza--all that was left were a few cold, greasy, nasty chicken wings. This, of course, made me cranky because I was hungry and had been very much looking forward to pizza all day (luckily, more came later). First lesson: if there is a party and someone is offering free food to grad students, get there when the party starts because it will be gone in a matter of minutes.
What made this party different (other than the 2 man band playing a range of cover songs from Dave Matthews to Radio Head) was that the college provided beer and wine (WHAT!! Alcohol provided by a school!! We were shocked!) Of course, it wasn't like drinking a 1957 vintage Bordeaux and Sam Adams, but people will drink almost anything if they don't have to pay for it. I think that this was a good thing for the University to do; how else are you going to get a bunch of under-fed, under-paid, socially akward, nerdy graduate students to talk to each other? A little "liquid courage," of course. It was actually really funny. A couple of beers and some of them were dancing their butts off. That leads me to my second point: most grad students cannot dance; they are in public health, not the performing arts, for a reason...unless of course you consider being able to sway like a grove of cedars dancing....

Nick

A few pics of the place

Well, we got our USB camera cable back, so here's a few pics of our place!