Having a Job Is Time Consuming

The fact that having a job is time-consuming might be obvious to most people, but I forgot just exactly how little free time you have when working 40 hours a week, plus another 10 hours (30 min. each way, 5 days) commuting.

I'm still here, and I read everyone's posts when I get a chance, and have done zero commenting. I have so much to catch up on.

I think I wrote the last post about my job before I actually started. I was under the impression that I would be working at a help desk in a hospital. That's not exactly the case. I work for...well, I'd rather not have anyone search the name of the company and have my blog come up, but it's three words. First word is a major religion with the pope as its leader. Second word is the opposite of sickness, or a type of insurance we'd all like to have. Third word, initiatives. Well, I don't actually work for them yet, since it's a contract to hire position. I work for the contractor right now, but I really like the job and I think they like me pretty well, so I'm hoping that sooner rather than later, I will be hired on and then my family will have...you know, that type of insurance we'd all like to have.

So I work not in a hospital, but in a very, very nice office with a room full of (mostly) very cool people, and we support about 70 hospitals from that room. Calls range from nurses who lock themselves out of every medical computer application known to man (those are the easy ones), to help with an Excel spreadsheet, to "I can't find my personal files in Outlook", to "I need a shared drive mapped to my computer." There are also calls about phones and printers and scanners and such where we just send a ticket to their local IT people. Then there are the calls about which I am completely clueless, and have to ask for help. But that's ok, everyone in the room is always asking questions of co-workers. And I find that as time goes by, I'm having to ask fewer questions, which is good.

In a nutshell, I really like the job, like the office, like the people. Being away from the house 50 hours a week is the only hard part. I work from 11am to 7:30pm right now. The nice part is that I am able to get up with the kids in the morning and get them off to school, then still have a little time to get a few things done around the house. The bad part is not getting home until 8pm. Luckily, I have Shannon to watch Kylie, and she's doing a pretty good job.

Speaking of Shannon...

How is it that this little rugrat turned 16 this past week? My middle child is 16. Sad that she's growing up? Yes. But with the passing of time also comes the passing of the adolescent angst, thank God. She and her boyfriend Jacob just passed the 10 month mark, and they seem pretty happy. He's a nice kid, if not so much in the ambition department, and he's sweet to her, so it's all good at this point.

Speaking of kids, Danni is home! She leaves for basic training a month from today. It's so nice to have her back. Three months of living on her own has really changed her for the better, I think. The "I'm 18 and you can't tell me what to do" attitude is gone, and I feel like I have my daughter back. She is excited to start basic, because she wants to get her life going. She is going to be going in as an E3, and is on an RN track, with her army job title being Health Care Specialist. For now, she is enjoying sleeping in and spending time with her sisters.

I promise, very soon, to visit all of you and see what you are up to. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a very happy new year!

What? Me, Worry?

HAPPY DANCE!!!

So, remember about eight days ago when I was moaning about how I couldn't find a job?

Well, guess what?

Today, I GOT A JOB!!!!

It happened so fast, it was unbelievable.

Last Thursday, I sent my resume to a recruiter for a job that my husband found online. It was considered an IT job, so I never would have been looking for that. But it was for a help desk position, at a hospital. My previous job? Medical software support.

I emailed my resume, and the recruiter called me not 20 minutes later. She suggested a few minor changes to my resume to fit the position. I made the changes and emailed it back to her.

Friday, I heard nothing. Because nothing gets done on Fridays.

Monday, I called her. She hadn't heard anything from the client yet.

Wednesday, was poking around online, and found that the same job had been reposted. I panicked, and called the recruiter again. I asked if this means they don't want to interview me. She said it probably meant nothing, because it could be an auto-poster, and she still hadn't heard from them.

Thursday afternoon, she called and said that they loved my medical background, and that she had to forward me a few questions that they wanted me to answer. And oh by the way, they needed someone to start Monday.

I answered the techie-type questions as best I could and sent them back to the recruiter, thinking, "I am not qualified for this job at all." I told my husband, I probably was not going to get the job, because I didn't know half the stuff they asked. I Googled some of it, and made the rest of it up.

This morning, the recruiter calls me and says that they want me and are offering me the position! Yay! I accepted, then went down to the recruiter's office to fill out the crap ton of paperwork.

This is a contract-to-hire position, so I'll be an employee of the recruiter for 3-6 months, then after that, the hospital WILL (I'm so not saying if) hire me on. And let me just say, this is the highest-paying job I have ever had. I am so happy and grateful right now. I will never, ever again take having a job for granted. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of me.

Now we just need to find hubby a job, and we're good to go. :)

Beyond Frustrated

I can't find a job, people.

I've applied. Oh, I've applied.

I worked for a medical software company for five years, before they decided to close the office. I have extensive computer experience. I have excellent written and verbal communication skills. I have customer service experience. I have a bachelor's degree in psychology. I am one hell of an employee. I am smart, responsible, punctual, and work well with others.

What the hell, Internet?

I had one interview with an accounting firm who does city management for small cities that are too small to have their own city management. It was for a job in the utilities billing department.

I got an interview on that one. It went well. Then I got a second interview. I thought that also went well.

When the staffing agency that sent me on that interview informed me that I did not get the job, she said all the client would say is that, "It just wasn't the right fit." Not that I wasn't qualified, or they didn't think I could do that job, just 'it wasn't the right fit."

What the &*^% does that mean? I'm too fat? They didn't like the amount of gray in my hair? (Which honestly, isn't that much) Didn't like my shirt? ( I love my interview outfit shirt.) I was wearing black pants, black flats and a lovely red/silver/black top. What? What is it? Do these people know how much they'd love me if they'd give me a chance? I am amazing to work with. Former co-workers LOVE me.

I had another interview with the county administrator's office for an admin position. I was interviewed by a panel of three people. Then I was given computer testing. I thought the interview part went great. I did outstanding on the computer testing. The lady who gave me the computer testing (who was part of the panel of three) said she loved my personality and she hoped I got the job.

But I didn't.

My ego is bruised, Internet. This is the first time in my life I have ever had face-to-face interviews, and not gotten the job. Seriously, this has never happened to me before.

I need a job. My UI benefits aren't going to last forever. In fact, not a whole lot longer.

I've hit a wall. I want to go back to bed. I'm sick of this. Wait...maybe I won the Powerball last night...let me just check real quick....

Nope, didn't win. Neither did anyone else, but that doesn't really help me.

Seriously, it's getting hard to do anything. Like, doing a load of laundry is a monumental effort. Speaking of which... I need to go move clothes. Have I also mentioned I need a job?

Any advice, anyone? Anyone in the Denver area need a great employee? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Wordless Wednesday

Innocence

This is my baby. She is eight years old.




She doesn't look eight years old. She is not quite four feet tall, and still hasn't hit 40 lbs.

She can be a pill at times, but she is a snuggler, a kisser, and most of all, she still loves me. She tells me every day.

It kills me to think of what's going to happen in about four years.

Yesterday, her neighborhood buddy Zach (age 9) came over to see if she could play. He'd gotten a new Wii game that he wanted to show her, something about rabbits. I'm guessing now (after perusing Amazon) that it's probably "Rayman Raving Rabbids", or some such thing.

He said, "Kylie, guess what? My character is wearing a thong!"

Kylie looked at me and said, "What's a thong?"

At that moment, I just wanted to hold her and never let go. Because despite having two teenage sisters and going to public school and having two nine year-old boys as neighborhood friends, this child honestly had no idea what a thong was. I just told her it was a kind of underwear.

Can't I freeze her this way? Before she knows that the world is horrible and nasty and there is no Santa Claus?

Is letting go of the last one always this hard?

So Many Things

I felt like I should write an update, but I honestly have no idea where to start. Shannon had her wisdom teeth surgically removed, so that was a fun week. We found out from an xray that her wisdom teeth were actually sideways underneath the gums. All four of them. So she was going to have to have them out eventually, and since she hadn't yet grown much root to speak of, the oral surgeon said now rather than later would be better. It was still a rough week, but she is fully recovered now.

On Sept. 3rd, Kylie turned 8 years old. We had a party for her at Jumpstreet, where Danni happened to have a part-time job. Actually, it was the other way around...Danni had a part-time job there, so we got a really sweet deal on the party, as a family member of an employee.

In case you haven't heard of Jumpstreet (and no, not the Johnny Depp version), it's like an indoor trampoline park. Where I could never afford a party for the 18 kids or so we had, without the incredible family discount. So thank you Danni, and thank you Jumpstreet. The kids had a great time.

Shannon played softball for her high school again this fall. With her Canon Rebel, I got some pretty great pictures this year. This is Shannon in an actual game, sliding into home and being safe. You can see the ball under the catcher's arm over in the left of the picture.

I decided that school pictures are a rip-off, and that I can take my own pictures just as well. Plus, that way you can print only what you need, instead of having a huge envelope full of pictures you won't use. You know what I mean. You all have them. Besides, it's pretty easy to find a nice background in our neighborhood.



In other news, Danni has joined the Army. Her job will be 68W, Healthcare Specialist. She leaves for Fort Sill, OK for basic training on Feb. 15th. If you are a male, 68W is pretty much a combat medic. If you're female, non-combat. In a hospital on a safe base, hopefully. I do have to be honest with myself about the fact that she could be stationed in the Middle East.


I was having a hard time with this at first, because I still questioned her motives. I was still convinced that her boyfriend had talked her into it, and he was pulling her strings. Now I know that she wants to be a nurse, she can get her LPN in the service, and have money for college when she gets out. Or, she could decide to make it a career, get an RN and then she's an officer. I don't know anything for sure except this: She wanted to go back to AZ for a while. So she's gone again. She says she will be back for Christmas, then back to AZ for New Year's, and then back here in January until she leaves for Fort Sill on February 15th.


I am proud of her. I'm proud of her for wanting to be independent and not wanting to rely on us. It's hard though...but I'm getting used to the idea.




Before she left to go back to AZ, we wanted to take some pictures. She and Kylie have a special bond. Kylie was a little worried when she heard "army", but we told her that there are lots of different jobs in the army. Some people are fighters, then there are office workers and police and doctors and nurses and cooks, etc. Danni's going to learn to be a nurse. I think that made her feel better.

This one was my favorite. This print is now in a really nice "Sisters" frame in Kylie's room.

Why, hello there cutie. What are you doing today? These guys/girls are everywhere in our valley.

I let Shannon drive around some residential streets the other day so I could get pictures of the amazing fall foliage we have here. She's going to be getting her learner's permit this Saturday, so yes, I cheated a bit.

Last weekend, Kylie's friend Courtney had a birthday. What did Courtney want to do for her birthday? She wanted to go indoor skydiving. Because of the cost, her parents said only one friend could accompany her. Kylie was that lucky friend. I'm posting two videos of her skydiving experience. It was just the coolest thing ever to watch.

I did not know the instructor was going to take her up with him, so if I sound surprised during this video, that's why.

In case you, like we, were wondering why she plugged her nose there at the end, I asked her. She said it was only because "the air was going up my nose!"

So, that's the good stuff. The bad stuff is that Hubby and I are both still unemployed, and those UI benefits are dwindling. We're going to have to file bankruptcy, which I have been avoiding until we couldn't avoid it any more. And I'm scared. But things always work out, right? They have, so far, for us. So I'm keeping the faith. Trying to, anyway. But if you're prone to praying or sending good thoughts, or anything of that nature, it certainly couldn't hurt, and I'd appreciate it. We need some good job karma, or mojo, or something. :)

Autumn?

See that countdown ticker over there? ---------------> I put that up last year when it started to get warm. I hate warm. So I put up a countdown for how many days were left until it was fall again.

As you can see, my counter has hit zero. The problem? We're setting record highs here in Denver. No, it's not the 107 that Phoenix is expecting today (God, just kill me if I were still there), but we are 10 degrees above normal right now...expecting mid 80s all week instead of mid 70s, which would be the norm.

One of the main reasons I was looking forward to moving here was four seasons. I know we will get four seasons, but it's not happening fast enough. Last year, our first snow was on Oct. 10th. I remember it well, because I was watching it rain out my bedroom window, and then I started thinking, "Wow, that rain looks really...thick." Not like any rain I had ever seen before. Then all of a sudden, it was no longer rain, but little white flakes drifting down. I actually stood there and watched as rain turned to sleet, and then snow, and I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

Ok fall...I'm waiting!