365 #26 - the done list grows

Today I 'm thankful for family who chose to be my family.  The ones who didn't have a choice I take for granted - largely because they were granted to me and I to them.  The ones who chose me have a very special place in my heart.

Tasks worked on or completed today:
-bought pickets, hauled them back to the house
-finished the bottom rail for the longest section of fence
-cleaned up all the garbage along the side of the house
-chipped the entire pile of weed plum cutting that have been there for a year
-filled 1.5 dumpsters with garbage
-got rid of a shelf unit, slide, and garden bricks
-dug post holes for back short section of fence
-spent an hour with a realtor going over the house and what we need to do to make it awesome

And Katrina paid off most of our 2nd mortgage.  We'll pay off the rest of it today or tomorrow after rounding up some cash.

I had some very emotional moments today, but I want to save a whole post just to talk about it.  So nothing here today on that topic.

365 #25 - Disengagement

Sunday, January 29

The last 4 months of my life have been antiprototypical.  Atypical?  I am fundamentally an engager.  When I do something, I am all in.  I find it very hard to be on the fringe of things.  Since October 14, however, my entire professional self was engaged in disengagement.  I had to be very involved and conscious of not being involved; handing off responsibilities, data, contacts, and any knowledge I had to people who would need it in the future. Because I would not.

My transition away from Nikon entailed lots of meetings, lots of reading emails, and replying just to 1 person, informing them of how I recommended to deal with that issue.  Replying to distribution lists would have poisoned my efforts to disengage.  Thankfully, by December 15, my disengagement from that employer was complete.

Since we accepted the offer to move to NY, I have been working really hard to disengage from all of my other commitments and activities. I took leave of Cub Scouts (I've been a den leader for a couple years), from teaching music to the church kids, from teaching art literacy to our elementary school kids' classes, and last night, from my a capella quartet.  Cub Scouts was fun and interesting - but honestly not my favorite extracurricular.

The art and childrens choir were awesome.  But the hardest thing to leave is the quartet.  The group's roots are simple: I wanted to sing with a men's choir.  I did not want to drive anywhere or sing anything I didn't like.  So I invited all the men I knew at church who could sing.  And enough showed up that we had a viable group.  The membership has rotated a bit, but 3 of us have been the same. We have been through job hunting together, health problems, a baby birth, several performance opportunities, one member (and now 2) moving away.  But we have sung at my home almost every week since October 2008.  I love those guys.  I always will.  And from the mood at rehearsal last night, it looks like they're going to find a replacement for me and keep singing.  Life rolls on - we learn, we grow, we plant, and hopefully as we leave, the seeds we have planted have blessed someone else.

365 #24 - Saturday, January 28. Taking care of business.

Today, the whole world showed up at my house on short notice.

We got a ton of stuff done.  I spent the early morning in the garage and made some good progress.  My dad came over about 9 and started digging post holes with the auger.  I did a circuit of neighbors, and got permission from 2 of them.  Only 1 left.  Then it was off to Home Depot - 56 2x4x10s, 36 2x4x8s, 40 4x4x8s, and a huge bucket of screws.  Back home, unloaded the bishop's trailer, and it was lunch time.  And then Sean Hawkins came with his boys.  And then Leonard Downing came.  And then Blake Davis came.  By the end of the night:
dad's truck was full of firewood again
2 more sections of fence were down
one section of fence's posts were in
and most of the crossbeams were in
the play structure had a fresh coat of weatherproofing
the garage was in better shape
the walls we put up a few months ago were nearly ready to move out
the shed was gone
the trampoline was gone
front yard leaves raked
bricks from the studio moved
and the wood pile moved to the front.

Roughly 3 times what I had expected to accomplish.  That leaves me with some cleaning on Sunday, and Monday morning I'm going to buy the fence pickets.  Sean is coming back on Monday, and so is Blake.  My dad comes back on Tuesday.  He'll be shocked when he sees what has happened.

So thanks to everyone for everything so far.  Whew.

365 #23 - Friday, January 27

Thankful again today for my dad.  He's a great guy - he's kind, patient, and always willing to help.

This morning we pulled down the fence on one side of our property, measured the fence line and made a list of materials.  We met with the moving company.  It's not quite as awesome a package as we had hoped, and the tears came for the first time.  It's going to be a crazy, hard-working, stressful few months until we get settled.

It also is clear that, with the timelines for listing the house, selling the house, and the logistics for everything, that getting the family all moved by Spring Break is going to be very difficult.  It's likely instead that we'll spend several months apart; I'll get a room in NY to stay in for cheap.  When the house sells, the family will come.

It'll work out.  We did it in 2010, with a lot of uncertainty.  This time, we know what we're doing, we have some choices, and if it's too hard, the family can leave the house and come to NY on short notice.

365 #22 - Thursday, January 26

Thankful today for easy communications.  In a couple hours, I was able to temporally stop time temporarily stop our Time subscription, cancel the Oregonian, and take care of 6 other things on my list.  I went by the Nikon office to say goodbye to everyone, and got home to get busy on other things.  Like packing.

I effectively moved out of my bedroom today - my clothes are either in 3 stuffed suitcases, or in a couple moving boxes.  So Katrina has all the space she needs now, and my stuff is not a big deal.  I have a drawer with a couple changes of clothes, and that's all I need until I leave.

My list that remains is largely outdoor.  Replace the fence (275ft of it), finish the awesome shed's exterior, make the garage look awesome.  Along the way, we have a lot of decisions to make.  In the afternoon I got an email from the moving company, and she asked if we could meet on Friday.  So we set that up, and things are moving quickly now.

Also today, since Katrina and I had both told our parents over the phone, we went public on FB with the announcement.  There was a completely unexpected outpouring of love and support from our community.  What nice people we have for friends.

365 #21 - Wednesday, January 25

The Lord works in mysterious ways.  I'm no longer unemployed.  Not quite jumping up and down because we have a TON of work to do, but it's exciting nonetheless.

The company called me back today at 1.  They had a final offer.  It was most of what we asked for.  I told the woman from HR that I'd have to discuss it with my boss.  She asked what I expected to be able to answer.  I told her I expected to accept it.

We hung up the phone, Katrina and I discussed the new offer.  We looked at each other, the weight of the decision visible in our eyes.  "This is it, huh?  This is real."  "Yeah, it's real.  Are we going to do this?"  "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.  Wow.  I think so.  I think we do."  "I can call her back and tell her yes?"  "Yes.  Tell her yes."

I made the call.  15 minutes later, I had the revised offer letter in hard copy.  We had a million phone calls to make and emails to write.  I informed my counselor and recruiter that we were done, wrote an email to my brothers and sisters.  Katrina and I started making a list of things to do before we left.  It is not short.

So I fly to NY on Feb 5, start work on Feb 6.  Katrina and the kids follow around Spring Break.

365 #20 - Tuesday January 24

Today is not the first time I've been thankful for my career counselor.  As part of Nikon's separation package, I was provided with career counseling.  She sat beside me as I wrote my resume, answered my questions via email on the weekends, gave me hours of her time as I was navigating through 2 parallel sets of interviews.  And finally, this morning, we talked about a counter offer.

Once we were set on the approach for the counter offer, I was able to call the new company.  But I had to leave a voice mail.  A few hours later, HR called me back.  We discussed a counter offer.  She was not hopeful.  But I simply could not take their original offer.

I am less hopeful about this job tonight than I ever have been during this process.  The conversation was a bit of a downer.  I know I'm the right guy for the job, and they know I'm the right guy for the job.  It's just a matter of terms - can we agree on a set of terms that meets both of our needs?   We were only about 10% apart to start with.

I also talked with the recruiter I've been working with on the different, local job.  He read me an email from the manager, which read "he's a quality candidate, and we'd like to make him an offer, but it will take us a couple weeks to prepare an offer for him.  If the other position falls through, we'd be excited to bring him on."

So much for the competing offers.  That was not going to happen.  So, once again, our prayer is simply that if we are not supposed to move to NY, that the company won't come back with a good enough offer.  On the cusp.

365 #19 - Monday, January 23

Thankful today for awesome parents and kids.  They are all nice, good, friendly, helpful people.  While Katrina and I were gone to NY, my parents took care of our kids.  A week.  And on about 5 days' notice.

The day started for us at 6am EST in Queens NY, and by 7pm all of us were home.

Long day.  A good one.

365 #18 - Sunday, January 22

Today I am thankful for the awesomeness of strangers.

We went to church today in what would be our new ward, Poughkeepsie (poo-KI-psee) First.  We were waylaid by half a dozen people.  I spent half an hour with a member of the bishopric, we sat for half in hour in Primary, we both talked with the bishop's wife for 40 minutes after church.  Busy, friendly, awesomeness.  The Clarks even invited us over for dinner.

In the end, we felt we needed to meet up with Aki more, so we got lunch at the mall food court and meandered down to Queens.  Again, no traffic.  We got to her place without knowing her address.  We headed for the Astoria Ditmars subway station and found her house from there.  We were early, so we found a parking spot and napped for an hour we were both beat.

Yes - Katrina was with me the whole time.  But I couldn't say that until we were home.  Security measures, you understand.

We passed a lovely afternoon with Aki.  Tim came over about 6, we had a very nice dinner, Tim left about 10, and we chatted some more, got to bed around midnight.

365 #17 - Saturday, January 21

Today I'm thankful for some time to acclimate.

Woke up to 3 inches of snow on the ground, 18 degrees, and lots more falling.  Got up and out, caught the 8:40 train to Manhattan.  Met my brother at Grand Central station, and spent a couple hours in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  It's pretty amazing - maybe as good as the Smithsonian.  It's the only thing I can start to compare it to.    Then we had lunch at a deli.  Service was terrible, food was pretty good.

After lunch, we joined his wife for a student performance at Juilliard.  Good stuff, and nice to step in out of the cold.  There were kids sledding in Central Park, the sidewalks were white or light gray.  The streets were a gray, dry slush for the most part.  Slush in Oregon is half-melted snow.  Here, it was cold, so the snow hadn't really melted, and wasn't in a melting mood.  So it turned gray, stayed frozen, and gradually moved to the side of the streets.

After Juilliard, we went to Brooklyn where he lives, and had a nice dinner at his house.  Caught the 9:05 train home, and drove clear streets back to the hotel.  So today, I drove many miles of snowy roads, walked probably 2 miles (maybe 3) on snowy sidewalks, spent 3 hours outside at 20 degrees or so, defrosted, desnowed and de-iced my car twice, and used the Metro North rail system.  Acclimation?  Check.

Time for sleeping.  Church starts in 8 hours, and I really should sleep a little.

365 #16 - Friday, January 19

Today I am thankful for people who will help and trust you and treat you with respect with no reason to do so.

This morning I went out with a realtor to look at houses in the area.  While we're driving around, I mention that I'm unemployed.  To her credit, the agent does not dump me on the side of the road.  We keep looking at houses.  While in the next house or 2, I get a call from the company I interviewed with on Thursday.  It was HR, informing me that a formal offer will be out to me later that afternoon.

I found 3 houses out of the 6 or 7 we saw that I like really well.  So that was encouraging - all of them would be great for our family.  Later in the afternoon, I did get a formal offer.  It is the first formal offer for employment I have received since April 1999.  It's not one I can accept just yet.  The terms aren't quite what I was hoping for.  But we'll start negotiations on Tuesday, and hopefully we can wrap it up one way or the other within a few days.

I see 5 plausible ways this works out:
1) awesome company #1 is able to negotiate the offer and we move to midstate NY
2) awesome company #1 is not able to negotiate the offer for NY, but makes something for me in OR
3) awesome company #1 is not able to negotiate the offer for NY or OR
4) awesome company #2 puts together a credible offer for OR and we stay
5) awesome company #2 does not put together a credible offer

So NY is still very possible, OR is still very possible (since I think that company #1 may be able to use me in OR, and company #2's spots are both in OR, and if both fall through, I'll keep looking locally).

The question marks keep getting answered.  We're hoping for resolution in the next week or so.

365 #15 - Thursday, January 19

Today, once again, I am thankful for the last 20 years.  I won't repeat myself too much.

But today's interview was make-or-break as we discussed the opportunities I had, what I did with them, and how they shaped me.  Question after question was framed in a, "At this place, we have-and-such a situation.  Can you tell us about a similar situation you had at your last employer and how you dealt with it?"  In every case, I had done something relevant and could talk about it.

At the end, the guy who would be my co-manager walked me out the door, said some encouraging words, shook my hand, and we parted ways.  I learned a lot about the company.  The interview panel for 2 full hours was my co-manager, boss, her boss, and the sales guy.  The manager for Japanese tech support dropped in, the manager for the non-Japanese tech support dropped in, another manager dropped in.  They told me about their market position, corporate goals, recent strides, all sorts of things.

In the final tally, my recent study of their technology paid off.  I was asked about it, and was able to talk about it intelligently.  The Japanese stuff paid off when I spoke briefly with the Japanese manager.  Reading the company's annual report paid off.  Knowing their competitors paid off.  Every single thing I've worked on paid off.

I think.  They told me I was the final candidate, so the decision would be quick.  Here's to hoping for a call from HR tomorrow or Monday that brings good news.

365 #14 - Wednesday, January 18

I'm thankful for a great opportunity today.  The flight from PDX to Dulles was uneventful, the flight from there to LaGuardia likewise uneventful and very short.  It was easy to get from Dulles to the rental car place.  And the drive at 9pm out of the city was easy, too.  I got to the hotel in 90 minutes, just like Google told me I would.

So many things out of the way.  I have only a few more pages of study to do in the morning.  And then this entire opportunity rolls out - the interview, its aftermath.  Tomorrow is going to be one of the most fateful days of my family's life if it means we take a job out here.

As a kid, I never imagined these kinds of things happening - leaving a job, a company flying me somewhere to interview for a job.  Those kinds of things happened on TV - they were Huxtable or Seaver lifestyles, not mine.    And where am I?  Living the American dream.

It is a steady progression, which I find very intriguing.  The Bible talks about the sins of the parents being visited upon the heads of the children.  In this case, the goodness of the parents enriches the lives of their children.  My parents both attended college. Neither finished a 4 year degree.  Both had good, solid, respectable jobs.  Both worked hard.  My generation are all college grads - a BS, MBA, and PhD.  All of us have jobs and careers that our parents never really thought of.  Not as in, "I could do that, but it's out of reach."  More like, "I don't even know how a person would go about trying to get a job like that one.  I can't even consider it."  I feel very blessed, and thankful to parents who instilled this drive in all of us without our knowing it.  And then enabled us to take these paths to where we are.

Who your parents are, and how they are, can make or break your entire life.  As a parent, that means I have to take my responsibility extremely seriously.

365 #13 - Tuesday, January 17

I am thankful for my kids tonight.  They are truly awesome.  Aria had her 12th birthday party at Skateworld.  We had 10 tween girls between our 2 cars, and they were all awesome.  No negativity that I saw, just fun and silliness.  Aria has good friends, and the friends that all my kids bring into our lives have been a blessing to us.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning, packing, and studying for my interview coming up.  Then, as the weather forecast become more clear, it became very clear that I should not count on being able to drive to the airport in the morning.  So after Aria's party I headed off to the PDX Super 8 to stay the night.  Sleep hit me about midnight.

365 #12 - Monday, January 16

Thankful for cake today.  Jacob was unable to clean his room today.  It was not a big mess.  He just couldn't make himself do it.  Until dinner time.  Christian needed to make dessert for his family for a cub scout requirement, and chose chocolate cake.  Jake had to have his room clean to get cake, so after dinner he got it done.  Lovely boy.

The rest of today was cleaning (in preparation for Aria's party) and prep for my job interview.  Busy days.  Good days.

365 #11 - Sunday, January 15

Thank goodness for the times when you're supposed to prepare something, but don't really.  And someone else comes along, prepares for you, does the thing, and then apologizes afterward for messing up your plans.

This morning I slept in, and by the time church came around I had thought about primary, but had not gotten anything concrete yet.  We arrived at church, the first hour finished, and I had an idea.  I wanted to go over a couple songs just to keep them fresh, and then learn The First Article of Faith song.  A new pianist had been called, and she came in, ready to go.

As the kids were filing in, the presidency counselor running the show today came over and asked if it was ok if we mixed in some music with her lesson for the kids.  That's fine for me - I'm easy.  Once I saw the song list, I knew I would not have much time afterward for what I had thought about doing.  We finished up, and she came over and apologized.  "Did you have any big plans for today?"  I explained that I didn't, and it was no problem.

And I didn't have to worry about what to do, which was nice.

Choir was after church, and that was nice and quick.  Good medley of Called to Serve and Go Forth With Faith, arranged by our choir director.  In the evening, Aria had her first fireside.  She turns 12 this week, and the youth program has been inviting her to activities.  She's loving it.  From there, we came home and the guys came over.  Jim brought over an arrangement he had just done of an 80 year-old song.  It was gorgeous.  And then we sang out of the Yale Glee club book.  We're actually pretty close to having a couple of those songs down.  We worked most on Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho.  Love that stuff.

365 #10 - Saturday, January 14

I am thankful that I have the discipline to relax today.  The week was a roller coaster, very busy, and there were too many things going on in my head.

I relaxed for a few hours in the morning, did a few loads of laundry, organized our song folders for a gig in the evening.  And then, at 5, Katrina and I left.  We went to a church building (turns out it was the wrong one) for my quartet to sing at a church function.  We got to the right building late, but it was okay, and we sang for about 25 minutes while the audience was eating.  It worked out well - we weren't too loud, they weren't too loud.  And then we went to Dairy Queen, where I had dinner and Katrina had a dessert.

A nice day.  Relaxing.  A little overdue.

Both of us are very much looking forward to the interview, and excited that soon we'll have some clarity on where to focus.  Right now we have to be laser-focused on 3 different job things, as well as keep our home and kids in shape.  It's not working out so well, but it will soon pass and we'll be back to our normally-harried selves.  The frantic selves will be put away until the next Big Thing comes, usually every 2-3 years.

365 #9 - Friday, January 13

Today I am simply thankful the kids are all in school.

We woke up this morning, got the kids out the door, and I cleaned the garage while my dad textured the walls in our new hallway.  He left, I filled the garbage can, and I was tired.  So at 11am I took a nap.  The house was quiet, and no one told on anyone else.  And I woke up at 3.  I wrote a couple emails for the job hunt, and then made dinner - pancakes, sausage, and hashbrowns.

Nothing important for the evening, either.  Just a slow day.  Nice to have one of those for a change.

Book Review: The Dispossessed

Ursule K LeGuin is much more of a genius than I gave her credit for.  I have been a fan of Earthsea since I was a kid, and have read every book in the series: most of them twice, some 3 times.  I recently picked up a volume of Annals of the Western Shore from the discount bin.  Then I read the other books in that series.  And then I read about her in Wikipedia.  So I read a book that I had purchased as a 12 year-old but had never read.

The Dispossessed stars a physicist.  He lives on a habitable (but dry and inhospitable) moon that orbits an earthlike planet that is very rich.  The moon's population are the descendants of Odo, an anarchist rebel from the home world.  Eventually, the home world got so sick of the anarchists that the rebels were offered the moon.  So they left.  But how might an anarchist society fare after 200 years?  In LeGuin's hands the anarchy breaks down into bureaucracy.  Our hero is an anarchist among the bureaucrats that call themselves anarchists.

The story is both a personal journey for him and a societal journey for the propertarian (a word she uses with alacrity) and anarchist societies.

Like Orwell's 1984, the parallels between this future and our present are striking, disturbing, eye-opening, and refreshing at the same time.  I can understand Occupy Wall Street better now on a personal level.  The economics and politics made good sense to me before, but I understand it personally better then before.

It seems that LeGuin does nothing poorly.  The Dispossessed belongs on a Kindle, a shelf, or at the very least, in each of our brains.

Movie Review: Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Last night we saw a silly movie.  This one was sillier than most.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is a dumb movie.  Sheerly dumb.  Dumb enough that it distracts from the action sequences.  The viewer is left thinking, during the action scenes, "Where did that come from?  How come the professor is a martial expert on par with the much younger Ethan Hawke?  Why is it that chicks who fight in movies have huge boobs?  How can a random piece of electronics dropped in a ventilation shaft upload a general's security profile?  And why do they call it downloading when it's actually uploading?'

The premise was pretty good.  The beginning is intriguing.  About 1/3 of the way through, the script gets measurably worse.  And it maintains a steady, edge-of-your-seat worserness as the movie progress.  Impossibly worser.  And the further along the movie goes, the more broken the whole movie becomes.  By the end, it has become a montage of crazy action sequences that happen to add up to about 2 hours.  And that's it.

Too bad - I like PG-13 action flicks.  The recent James Bond, Batman, and Bourne movies have all been excellent.  We even enjoyed Sherlock Holmes.   But don't waste your time on MI: Ghost Protocol.  Let it rest in peace.

365 #8 - Thursday, January 12

Today I am thankful for divine providence.  I don't know what else to ascribe recent events to, other than that.

This morning, I filled out the final online application for the NY job.  They use this information to determine the offered salary.  At this point, I have a second interview to do, but they have everything they need.  It's entirely possible that they will have an offer printed and ready to give to me next Thursday.

And then it was time to clean.  I did some laundry, put away some things we weren't using, took out the garbage and recycling, the odds and ends of housekeeping.  At noon, we had another mover come to give us an estimate.  Then I got dressed for the interview, my dad came over, and I left to buy a tie.  Because I have terrible fashion sense and don't trust myself, I went to Macy's and asked for help.  I brought 2 ties home, which I hadn't intended.  I had intended to buy ties, put one on, and go chill in a parking lot close to the local company.  But I had forgotten printed copies of my resume, as well as to write and print out a sheet of references.  So I got that done, and headed back out.

The interview went much better than the earlier one had.  The job is essentially the same job I had at Nikon, but this company is growing much faster.  At the end of the interview, the interviewer told me he wanted to offer me the job.  He still had some discussion with other people at the company, but that was likely my final interview.  It would take some time to put an offer together.

This has been my first normal week of job hunting.  I have had 3 interviews with 2 very interested and solid companies with good opportunities.  In the next 2 weeks, the whole process could just be done.  I expect we'll have 2 offers, and to have made a decision by Feb 1.  Really unbelievable.  All I can do is be grateful that by sheer, dumb luck, I was asked to interview for an interpretation contract at Nikon in 1998.  Since then, I have been blessed beyond belief.  And all those things that have happened since have brought me here.

365 #7 - Wednesday, January 11

Today I am thankful for unwitting assistance.  My old employer does not match 401(k) contributions.  They give every employee 3% instead.  For the last 10 years, we have not put a penny away for retirement.  But our employer, just by sheer luck for us, has saved a significant amount for us.

This morning we went to a local investment office to discuss what to do with the old 401(k).  We ended up putting it all into a rollover IRA for now.  The adviser was very friendly and knowledgeable.  We like him.  Turns out there are a lot of LDS financial planners.

We came home, and I ran around the neighborhood doing errands: drop something off, go to Goodwill, this and that.  I got home, had lunch, and still felt very unsettled.  I needed to study the things my new equipment lines would be doing.  I needed a physics textbook.  So I went to Powell's.  The main store had some cheap Le Guin stuff I hadn't read.  I hadn't touched any of her stuff except for Earthsea and Annals of the Western Shore until last week, when I read The Dispossessed.  Which was phenomenal.  So I picked up 3 books for $11, and headed across the street to the technical bookstore.  I browsed through physics, had a book I thought might be useful and understandable, and had just about given up, but decided to ask before I left.  The clerk pointed me to a small section on semiconductors.  I read every spine, and after a few minutes I found Fundamentals of Microfabrication and Nanotechnology.  It was perfect.  It has 60 full pages, including useful diagrams, on the equipment the NY job uses.  And the copyright on the book is 2012.

In the evening, still a little freaked out by the upcoming interview and lack of preparation for the NY interview, I left the house around 5, and hung out at the church.  In the evening I met with the young men and talked about my time as a missionary in Japan.

Meanwhile, of course, Katrina found some more houses in NY, and we discussed things regarding the move.  Never ends.

365 #6 - Tuesday, January 10

Today I am thankful for common sense.  I can not imagine how hard life would be if I were bereft of common sense.  It helped me immensely in my job search today.

The NY company did not get back to me with travel arrangements yesterday, but I did have the HR person's name.  So I did a little research, found her email and telephone numbers, left her a VM and email, and got on my way.  I spent a few hours with my aunt on family history research, and we found some new things, and got some other things starting to roll.  Often family history consists of 2 hours of searching and finding clues, 30 minutes of requesting a document, and 2 weeks of waiting.

While I was there, the company called to set up travel.  I came home, sent my career counselor an update, booked a flight, and then got a call from the company's HR rep.  She switched from a travel-to-the-interview mode to interview-the-candidate mode.  We spent 20 minutes talking about pay and benefits.  All the advice on interviews told me to not talk about this stuff until later in the process, but the company brought it up.  So, with a dash of common sense, I engaged in the conversation and found out some things.  At the end of the call, she sent me the company's complete benefits package, like I'd see in an offer letter.

The evening was spent at Cub Scouts - we made mousetrap catapults and used a block and tackle.  Pretty cool stuff.

365 #5 - Monday, Jan 9

Today I am thankful for a million things that God has thrown at me in the last 20 years.  He sent me to Japan to serve a mission, which sharpened my work ethic, communication skills, and taught me Japanese.  He gave me the chance to be a full-time interpreter, which was my dream job when I was 15.  He sent me a wonderful lady to marry, and then gave me a dang good job.  He gave me health and energy and drive to succeed, and a boss who was willing to take risks with me and my independent streak.  I kept that boss for 11 years.  Frankly, he's one of the best things about my former company.  The company gave me challenging assignments, and I saw a career direction I might enjoy.  Then God gave me the chance to charge ahead with education.

And now, after all that, I am not really very qualified to go work on a golf course and mow greens.  I'm much more qualified to manage a team of engineers.  As a kid, I never dreamed of such a job.

Today, I interviewed for a couple of these jobs.  One is in upstate NY.  I talked with my new boss there for an hour on the phone, and at the end we agreed that I would head out there next week to interview with the full team.  I was excited for that result, and sat down to relax.  The phone rang.  It was a headhunter.  I had been trying to get in to interview for a few other local positions since November, but the managers had been too busy to see me.  They had time in 90 minutes.  So I got ready and headed out the door.  We (the headhunter and I) expected the conversation to last 10-20 minutes.  I talked with them for 90 minutes.  At the end of it, the manager asked to make sure to talk to them again before I accepted an offer in NY.  He's considering me for several positions - the issue there is that the team isn't sure where to put me, but there are several opportunities.

There are certainly pluses and minuses to both companies, locations, and management teams.  But there is opportunity out there for the right candidate.

365 #4 - Sun, Jan 8

Today I am thankful for being useful.  I was able to finish off something for Cub Scouts today that should have been done months ago.  And I was able to help someone else use it.  So that was cool.

We had a good time at church today.  I lead music for the younger kids.  Today, my accompanist walked in and asked me, "What do you want me to do today?"

My response: "I don't know yet."

"Okay, tell me when you know."

I gave the kids a few more minute to file in and find their seats, did some warmups, and pretty soon we were moving along.  We had a good time.  The theme this year for the kids is "choose the right".

Then the guys came over, and we sang through our set list for a gig at a church thing this coming weekend.  Thankfully, we'll have some new material to sing.  Should be fun.  I love music.

365 #3 - Sat Jan 7

I am thankful for the separation of the weekend today.  This week has been very job-focused and busy.  Saturday gave me a chance to put that aside a little and do some other things.

I took most of the day off from job hunting to focus on our remodel.  My parents came over and helped with organizing the girls' room and my dad textured their wall.  I was able to spend time in the garage cleaning, even got to sweep it.  I can probably get the garage finished after garbage day this week, and then I can refocus on other projects.

We did price a trip to our new place, and I read some of the company's annual report.  And in the evening I had a nice, longer-than-usual chat with my best friend from adolescence.

365 #2, Friday Jan 6

Yesterday brought more news on the job front.  I have an interview coming up soon.  The difference?  This time, I have a person's name, a time, and place for the interview.  This particular opportunity is hurtling toward us like a massive near-earth asteroid.  It is requiring all of our time and attention to prepare for it.  It's a great company, but we would have to move, which makes the decision much harder than if we stayed local.   Lots and lots to write about with this one, but I'll save it for later days as things clarify here.

It was a foggy morning here.  I left the house at 8:30, hoping to get in a couple hours of hard riding including some hills.  Because of visibility, I kept to bike paths along Evergreen until Glencoe Rd.  At times the fog lifted, and I was encouraged, so I headed into North Plains.   The fog kept falling down off the hills, West Union had poor visibility.  Thankfully, the sun was out, and there was no cloud cover, so it was not terrible, but I stayed away from the hills.  Once I crossed 26 Southbound on Helvetia, it was bike paths all the way home again.  A nice ride.  A cold ride.  A wet ride.

The rest of the day was focused on the new company and interview preparation.  It's really quite an adventure.

365 #1

Thanks to inspiration from Katrina and a kick in the butt from Erin, here's the start of my 365.

I'm in a job hunt these days.  I've been making contacts where I could.  Yesterday we informed a company that we're willing to relocate, which was a first for us.  I also found a few more positions in my industry that I'm well-qualified for that are local.  Today my task is to write cover letters and submit formal resumes for these positions.  I also swung by a local interpreting company to get a medical glossary from them.  I tested earlier this week, and failed simply for vocabulary.  The tester said that I was perfect when I knew the words, but there were too many I did not know.  So I have a bunch of things to study.

We did not make progress on the remodel yesterday - the girls' room remains 80% painted, needs the repair work to be sanded and textured.  We sold Christian's bed a few days ago.  Yesterday was just consumed with researching our possible new location.

Since I'm not at the office these days, I am cooking dinner every other week.  My goal is to use up all the frozen stuff so we can clean our freezers.  They're kinda gross.  So I went to Winco and picked up some resh fruit and a bottle of root beer.  Last night was cheeseburger casserole with homemade french fries.  Takes a while to cook french fries.  But they were the best fries I've ever made.  And with the root beer, our fast food dinner was complete.

Then it was evening.  I went to Art Literacy training and learned about Bev Doolittle, watercolor pencils, and camouflage painting.  The evening was intended to include some resume submissions.  I did not get that far - I found a book on the Kindle lending library and started reading.  It's rather silly, but worth the read to study the writing style.

How We Maximize Vacation Value

My wife and I vacation very differently.  For me, a vacation is a chance to get away from the quotidian and try something new.  For her, it’s a chance to go somewhere and do nothing.  Except when she wants to do something.  Then we all should want to go do what she wants to do.

This vacation has been blessedly different and better.  I, for one, am starting to learn to relax.  To really not do anything.  It’s not how I was raised.  Even now, she is watching Wife Swap downstairs with the kids while I write this entry.  She has started to allow the family to split.  The older kids and I did not want to see Santa and the Reindeer a few days ago.   So she took the younger kids and her parents to do it.  We (the older kids and me) went to the rec center and played air hockey and ping pong.  It was a perfect afternoon for all of us.

Today was even better.  We had one of her favorite breakfasts (biscuits and gravy), loaded up the car, and went to the mountain to sled.  There is hardly any snow this year.  It’s pretty depressing.  But we found a hill and spent 2 or 3 hours there.  The sun was out, it was 40 degrees, no wind, and there was plenty of snow for what we wanted.   It even was drifted 6ft deep in places.  We ate our lunch of water, PBJ, and Doritos, and came home.  She went upstairs to take a nap.  I hung out with the kids downstairs to chill for a few hours.  When she woke up, I took all the kids to the pool for 2 hours.  She was able to get 4 hours to herself, the kids got lots of fun, and I got a little time to relax as well.

So for us, I suppose we maximize vacation value by finding pleasure in the compromise, and doing so often.  Whenever we can make those compromises break in a way that helps the kids, everyone is a winner.  11 years after we started vacationing with our kids, it is finally starting to be fun.

I Let My Son Win Once

And I don’t feel bad about it.  My philosophy with kids has been that if they win, they have earned it.  So I don’t let them win at ping pong, tennis, uno, basketball, rock paper scissors, nothing. For nearly 12 years I have been relentlessly competitive.  All for the kids’ own good, of course.

Yesterday afternoon, that changed.  Christian is quite a good ping pong player; every time we play, he gets 2 points head and often keeps the lead for a while.  He has been unable so far to seal the deal.  So we played once.  I won.  I wanted a rematch. 

“No, dad.   You’re just going to win!”

“I’ll play left-handed.  And you’ll win, I promise.”

“No, you’ll win anyway.  You always win.”

“I’m right handed, buddy.  You’ll beat me.”  The look on his regretful face told me he was relenting.  “You wanna serve first?”

I tossed him the ball, and he took it.  With a hint of sarcasm in his voice, he took the ball.  “I don’t know why I’m doing this.”  And he served.

And he got ahead, and then I got ahead, and then he got ahead.  And then I realized that I could control the ball well enough to win.  It was 12-12.  And I decided to throw the game.  Even then, it took a while for him to build a 5 point lead.  And then I settled in for the loss.  And I won 2 points by accident.  And then he took the game, 21-17. 

He was happy – I was happy.  He beat me.  I was proud of myself.  For losing.  And being ok with it.   Now, posting this is self-congratulatory.  I get that.  And egotistical.  I get that.  But I still feel good about it.  And I won’t tell anybody, now that the whole world could find out if they cared.