Keeping one from the other...

So, my job situation has become even stranger as of late. Now I understand what it's like trying to date 2 girls at the same time.

Last Monday, on the way out of my current job, I thought: "I wonder where __PR is at in their selection process?" So, I checked my voicemail. On it, there just so happened to be a message from __PR saying that they wanted to have me come in for an interview. I nearly crapped my pants. So, last Tuesday I asked for Friday (of the same week) off for "personal reasons."

On Friday the two of us (we thought it would be fun to make a date out of it) packed our bags and headed off for DC. *Side note,* one of the big factors in whether or not I take the "better" job (if I'm offered it), is how long/difficult the commute on the train is. As it turns out, it almost painless! It runs on time or ahead of schedule (I guess this is different if there's bad weather) and it's only a 15 minute walk to __PR's building.

First of all, DC is a lot nicer than Baltimore. Granted, there are some nasty parts of DC, and we did see the obligatory crazy homless man yelling his grievances to anyone who passed by, but Baltimore couldn't hold a candle to DC. For one thing, the buildings that line the streets (many of them are 100+ years old), are kept up. There are many new condos being built and, oh yeah, there's actually some culture (musuems, performing arts, concerts, etc)!

So, the interview. As it would turn out, it was dreary and raining the entire day. However the weather was no indication as to how my interview would go; I thought it went really well. I met with two men, both would presumably be my boss(es). We had dthe usual interview chit-chat: why should we hire you? What are you good at? Etc, etc...I told them, they told me. It all went really smoothly. (now watch, I'll say all of this and they'll send me a letter saying I sucked) The job would not be something that I would want to do for 30+ years, but I would have my foot in the door. I was told that, due to the nature of the organization, that it would be possible to "help out" other departments. IF I get hired, I would get exposure to many different, world-class operations.

When I was done chatting, I got a brief tour of the building-all but the cafe. The offices, unlike many offices I've been in, actually have color(s) other than beige. In fact, in some areas it was kind of a Spanish/Tuscan color pallette.

After my tour I bid my last ajudicator farewell and Kristin and I had lunch at a Chinese restaraunt (in China Town!). Afterwards, because of the rain, we decided to tour one of the Smithsonians (Natural History) instead of the Mall. If you haven't seen any of the Smithsonians, I would reccommend all of them. We then grabbed a pint of Smithwicks and nibbled on some curried ladened "chips" (fries) and chicken wings at a local Irish pub. It turned out to be a really fun day.

Now it's just the waiting...the game of keeping one girl from finding out about the other. Right now, I need to not let my current "girlfriend" find out about the "girlfriend" that has better looking...benefits...


N

The best dinner ever

Last week, amidst all of my running around for my new job, we were fortunate enough to attend a dinner and wine tasting event with my inlaws. I really think that this was the most fun I've ever had at a dinner before.
First of all, it was an absolutely beautiful evening; it was cool, sunny, no wind, no bugs. The leaves just started to change colors last week, so all of the trees are at their peak. The best thing about the dinner (other than the food and wine) was the early 20th century plantation that it was held at. I felt like we were at a place that was right out of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. The only thing that was weird was that 95% of the people there had gray hair. The most intersting looking person was an older woman, probably in her early 70s, who looked like an under-fed, dried apricot. Her alligator-like skin was a rust brown color (tanning bed) and she had bright white cirles around her eyes (I would assume from the sunglasses she would wear in the tanning booth).
The theme for the dinner was Sonoma vs. Napa.
Before dinner we had appetizers and 2 kinds of sparkling wine (one from Napa and one from Sonoma). This was fun because there were servers wandering around, each with a different type of before dinner snack.
Dinner was served in five different courses, each paired with two types of wine (again, one from Napa, one from Sonoma). Everything, from the scallop with vanilla truffle sauce to the gnocchi, was excellent. I lamented to Kristin about how I wish, even though I am a pretty decent cook, I could make dishes that were so superbly crafted.
Well, I am at work now, so I better go do something. Just thought I would make everyone hungry...

N

so much new stuff!

Alright, I actually need to make at least three more posts over the next few days, hoepfully I'll have the time.
I'll start with the best (and probably least interesting) news. I got a job! Here's where it gets interesting...
So, I applied for this job at the University on October 1st. After almost two weeks of not hearing, I decided to apply for a temp position. On the temp company's web page, I read a description for a job that sounded vary similar to the job at the University.
On Wednesday, the 11th, I get a call from the temp agency requesting that I come in for an interview. In talking to "Lisa," I determined that the job they were advertising was, indeed, the same job as the one at the University. Yup, same description, same requirements, no benefits and pay that is $2.00-$4.00/hr less than the University's ad.
Two days later, on Friday, I went in for an interview. Here it was clarified that the temp job was actually different (and far more "watered-down") than the full-time position. I was also informed by the person conducting the interview (now my boss), that she never saw my resume that was submitted to the school. That being said, the interview went really well.
ONE HOUR LATER, I was called by "Lisa" while I was riding the bus home. She said that if I wanted the job, they would cancel the rest of their interviews and hire me. I said yes, but It was too loud to hear anything on the bus, so we decided I would discuss more when I gto home. At home, as I was talking to "Lisa," my cellphone rang. It was the school. I checked the my messages only to find out the Human Resources wanted to schedule an interview with me that next week. Great. Now what?
After a few calls, it was decided that I could do my HR interview on Monday. That went really well, and it sounded like they were going to hire me for the fulltime position. Alas, they did not. After working Tuesday-Friday last week, my boss decided that she, in order to be fair, needed to interview me again. (fine with me, it's just a little weird...) The funny thing is that I've been instructed to "act like we haven't met before." Alright. Whatever you say. I'll wear a pink tutu as long as you give me the freak'n job! That interview (hopefully the last) is on Tuesday.
So, busy week last week. And this story isn't even the half of it. I have to write about the job I have (big brother is watching you), talk about the most amazing dinner we had last week and talk more about the social and economic desparities in this city! (Ok, maybe no one will be interested in that last one). More to come later...

N

Tiger Woods has nothing on me!

So, I'm pretty sure that everyone BUT me will find this extremely hillarious...
On Wednesday, I had "man-time" with Paul, a PhD student that Kristin and I have gotten to know. We both like to golf but don't have a ton of money so we decided to go to the driving range. This would be a good time to mention that I don't have my clubs out here either, so I had to trade-off with Paul.
On our way out I told him a story about how once I had watched another friend lob the head of his 4 iron about 100 yards while the ball only went 20. Mind you, I did not belabor the issue, nor did I belittle the friend whose club ment such an untimely and unfortunate demise, so this wasn't a karma thing. Little did I know....
Everything was going fine (I actually hit quite a few good shots!)-it was warm-ish, cloudy (but no rain), the deer were grazing about 325 yards out (knowing full well that very few shots, if any, would ever hurl their way)...I decided it was time to break out the big guns and start using his driver. Again, things were going well-some long shots, a lot of slices, a few that ricocheted off the awning directly above me. Then, it happened. I wound up, swung and, like always, looked up to see how far my ball went. I thought to myself: "Man, that felt really good." As I looked up, I thought: "My, that's an awfully strange looking pigeon." It all started to make sense. The club felt a little lighter than before...Pigeons weren't round. Or shiny. It dawned on me. Then, I exchange some words in French with myself (clearly, I've never done that before) and look over at Paul. He was laughing, although I'm not sure why. This was the worst moment of my life (well, it felt like it). I hardly know this guy and I've just broken his driver.
I am speechless. I don't recall ever breaking someone else's stuff. All of the color drains from my face and I just stand there, hoping to wake up from this bad dream. I don't.
My round was done. I went over to the old man working the counter, showed him my new graphite pointing stick and ask tell him the head is somewhere around the 100yd stake. He hopped in his armoured golf cart and retrieved my severed appendage.
Thankfully, nothing else went wrong. I later described this as the friend version of the worst date ever.

Lexington Market

We've been wanting to check out the Lexington Market now since I started hearing about it 5 weeks ago. So, last Sunday we took the light rail there to see what it was all about. Here's a picture of the outside. If you'll notice, this is a computer enhanced image. The major thing missing: homeless people.
The ride in on the light rail starts off being very beautiful and interesting; fun buildings, nice shops, etc. Then, as you travel down Howard St., the buildings (beautiful, historic, turn-of-the century type buildings) become abandoned, boarded up, and more crappy-looking. It's ashame because it could be such a beautiful area. Other than the market, the only prominent shop in the area is a huge liquor store...go figure.
There were two homeless men in front of us as we walked up to the market entrance; one smelled like old cabbage, the other a barn (not the good barn smell, either). I may be painting a somewhat negative image of the place and I'm not trying to-that's just the way it was. There were a lot of people around shouting-we couldn't figure out if they were nuts, in pain or trying to sell something.
Our initial reason for going to Lexington Market was to partake in the Chocolate Festival. As it turns out, the Festival was only a few small tables selling fudge, chocolate cake and some other goodies along with a really bad, really loud funk band.
The market has some really good looking food, and good prices. However, it seemed as if most of the other stuff were miscellaneous animal nasty-parts. Turkey necks. Yum! Pigs feet. I'll have three! I think they sold everything but the, well, you know.
So, Lexington Market: interesting, yes, but probably don't need to go back for awhile.

-N

My new profession

So, yesterday was a pretty cool day. After feeling really disillusioned about my current and future job prospects, I visited the Peabody to learn more about their MA in Audio Sciences. It seems like a really good prospect; small classes, lots of new technology, a constantly changing program and, most importantly, a solid integration of music into all of the techno babble. The only set back is $$...it would be very expensive for both of us to go to school at the same time. HOWEVER, there is actually a chance to get one of 2 assistantships (1 full, 1 half), which would be huge!
(or I could pursue the following)
Last night, we were watching TV and, after discussing my future career in audio design/recording, a tampon commercial came on (go figure). Kristin made a genius comment along the lines of: "Just think, someone is actually a tampon designer." Brilliant. After some more discussion, we decided that if my audio career doesn't work out, I can always fall-back on the seemingly lucrative career of feminine hygiene product design. I could really hold my head up high then!

-N

The special prize at the bottom of the box

I mean, bus...I just got back from Target (an unusually long bus trip today-about 2.5 hours to get there, shop and get back). I spent a ridiculous amount of time waiting for the stupid bus today however, I can't really complain...the weather is absolutely beautiful! It's right about 80, sunny and just a nice breeze. It's turned out to be one of surreal, not quite fall, not quite winter days. I say surreal because it's very dry and the chlorophyll is just draining out of the leaves, giving everything from the trees to the lawns a very slight jaundice appearance; it's very dream-like.

So, now that this is essientially MY blog (being that I'm not in school and/or working yet) and I have really nothing new to write about, I'll make some reccomendations for everyone:

If you like honey like we do, check out this site: Really Raw Honey
This stuff is amazing! We've been buying it for about a year and a half and never get tired of it-we even eat it by the spoonful! It's a little expensive, but they ship it for free. I'd suggest getting the 5lb tub.

Learn how to make your own bread. It's been saving us a lot of money, tastes better and makes the house smell ever-so good. If you have the book, :"The Joy of Cooking" (not the other "The Joy of..." book) check out the Italian Saltless Loaf (I think that's the name). We ate a ton of this in Italy and it is different than bread here (obviously, there's not salt). However, this makes it especially good to cook with: use it in soups like a Ribollita ( this is a good start) or make a sandwich out of it. The good thing about the bread is that, because it has no salt, it takes on the flavor of things you put on it better (at least I think it does). That last sentence was sweet...

What have I just written? Am I going to get a corporate sponsorship for this? I'm hungry now.

-N