Preemptive or Second Guessing?

I am assuming, at this point, that West has little or no interest in offering me a position, much less an interview, as an Account Rep. After calling the HR person in charge of the Dallas hire on three different days, I've decided they either a) are really not interested, b) have incompetent staff, or 3) need to work on their HR department of congruency since I assume the only reason they are NOT contacting me is b/c they did not get my stuff - since I am well suited for the position.

So now what. I am truly getting ot the point of thinking of going back to school. I am not really interested in doing anything that is out there in terms of jobs. It's like being a vegetarian, but you are stuck in public schools in the US. "Oh sure, we offer vegetarian lunch, it's all the veggie sides everyone else gets." Have you SEE the veggie sides at school lunches in the US? Yeah, I'm just about there. And at the end of my proverbial rope.


All the bitching you get for today :)

~B

who knew

single for over three years now ...

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to obedience and warmth. In love, you feel the most alive when things are straight-forward, and you're told that you're loved. You'd like to your lover to think you are stylish and alluring. You would be forced to break up with someone who was ruthless, cold-blooded, and sarcastic. Your ideal relationship is lasting. You want a relationship that looks to the future... one you can grow with. Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment. You think of marriage something you've always wanted... though you haven't really thought about it. In this moment, you think of love as something you can get or discard anytime. You're feeling self centered.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

Whatever?

You Are Somewhat Machiavellian

You're not going to mow over everyone to get ahead... But you're also powerful enough to make things happen for yourself. You understand how the world works, even when it's an ugly place. You just don't get ugly yourself - unless you have to!

How Machiavellian Are You?

More BAR Drama

As some of you may recall, I passed the Maryland Bar Exam, but I've yet to do my personal interview. I need to do the PI to get admitted. In order to start the PI process all your recommendations from past employers MUST be completed and sent in to the Bar Board of Examiners.

Surprisingly, or not, an ex from Baltimore (yes, some of you know who that is >:( ) did not turn it in until late this summer. My shock, though, over this whole process is the incompetence of a former employer who shall go nameless -- though I'm tempted to the core to post tell-tale attributes of said company out of spite. When I contacted this employer to see what the hold up was the nice HR lady said,"We don't do recommendations, but thank you for calling." *Click* I'm serious, she just hung up. I called back a day later and explained that without the recommendation I am ineligible for the Bar in Maryland. I got the same response. Outrageous. I finally got to someone who would listen to me long enough for me to READ them the form. It is, infact, not a recommendation, but a statement of employment, like I'd tried to explain. I emailed a copy to this lady. When she did not respond in three days I called back,"We don't do recommendations. However, you can get a statement of employment from Payroll. HEre is their fax number." MOTHER FATHER, SOMEONE JUST FILL OUT THE STUPID FREAKIN FORM!!!

I am tempted to go over to payroll in person, watch them fill it out, and get a copy of the send confirmation. Dude, so not cool. SOOO not cool. If I get admitted to MD I will be so much more marketable. I mean like 1100%.

Sorry, I've been real busy with my Dad being here and stuff I've had little personal time. Hopefully I'll post more though, I need a job, so I can pay off loans :( Either that or I need to get into a killer PhD/JSD program. Any thoughts? Connections?

~B san

What drink are YOU?

Thanks Jonah :)

I could have predicted this one.

You Are a Margarita

You aren't just the life of the party, you are the party! You mix a good drink, bust out some great music, and know how to get down.

What Mixed Drink Are You?

Getting up Early: A conundrum

The strange thing about planning to get up early, if it is not something you usually do, is that it may throw you off your schedule. Meaning, even if you are productive when you wake up, which is unlikely given that you normally DON't get up that early and are thus in a half-sleeping fog, you will probably need the sleep or rest at another point in the day. So, what EXACTLY are the options for getting this extra rest. It is a nap in the morning, afternoon? Will you go to bed early? There are consequences to each as outlined below.

The morning nap. Most people, when you get up in the morning, are attempting to be more productive in the morning. For some reason, the idea of a morning nap then counters the purposeful waking up early. Just putting it out there. Also, you are more likely to be tired for the rest of the day dropping your overall productivity. Morning naps, for me at least, tend to be longer unless I set an alarm. Then I'm just cranky all day, and who wants a cranky pants around? You other option is to nap in the afternoon.

The afternoon nap, aka siesta. This is probably the best of the solutions. Afternoon naps tend to be shorter, but are habit forming. We actually get less sleep than we should, according to the Art of Napping. "Professor William Anthony, author of The Art of Napping, suggests: "Our culture has developed on the mistaken belief that productivity and napping are two different extremes." In fact, sleep deprivation is as American as apple pie. According to the National Sleep Foundation's (NSF) 2000 Omnibus Sleep in America Poll, 67 percent of adults get fewer than the recommended eight hours of sleep each night. Says Darrel Drobnich, director of government affairs at NSF: "We get about 20 percent less sleep than our ancestors did 100 years ago. We just don't put a priority on sleep."" In a way, those who do not nap in the afternoon are missing out :) I, personally, like this option, but then again, I'm notorious for taking 1 - 2 hours afternoon naps. I don't think that's what Art of Napping had in mind. And let me tell you, 1 - 2 hours in the afternoon will EAT away a day.

Going to bed early. Hmm, for obvious reasons this is a poor choice for some people. If you are in a biorhythm that gets a second wind in the evening, which is very common, you are likely to miss your window of getting to bed early. Meaning, if you lay down for bed you will have trouble getting to sleep. I usually have to get back up and end up in bed at the normal time and feel like crap the next day. Oh well. Some people can do it though, just go to bed whenever. meh, the siesta's the best I think...

One advantage of getting up early is the opportunity to kick your metabolism. If you eat right when you get up it will scare your body into burning calories. It also allows you to break down your meals and eat several times during the day. This will reduce your overall caloric stores while burning more calories - i.e. you will lose weight.
okay, it's early, I'm ending this randomness.

~B

Veggie for 3 days ...

So I've not techincally gone veggie for three days, but Isabo and I decided that we should stick to non-meat products for dinner. Last night we had spicy, grilled jumbo shrimp and edamame. Superb. Tonight, we had tofu with broccoli, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and green onions. IT was okay. I'm slowly getting a handle on tofu, since soaking it in sesame oil with some water and soysauce. The tofu was good, the rest was kind, well, bleh.

In any event, we are trying this out for a few days to see if it is better than red meat all the time. The change, if nothing else, is great. Chicken and beef are nice, but boy do they get old if you eat them too much. Tomorrow night we are having crab and goatcheese stuffed mushrooms ... I'm definitely looking forward to that :)

Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks Anne and Hot Toddy for the tip to check craig's list, who woulda thought :)

~B

Shrimp and The Grill: An Incident

So, as you may all realize from reading this, if you still do, I am somewhat accomplished in the kitchen and on the grill. Though less known for my grilling talents, as my dad holds domain and we have to do some sparring to decide who gets to cook. Honestly, the cooking usually comes down to who has had what do drink, and how hard is this REALLY going to be, e.g. has B done this before.

I hold complete domain over fish, as I am the one who instigated the fish-cooking in my family when I moved to stockholm. Since then, I am trying to branch out, at least grill-side, and work on diversifying my background.

As you can see from yesterday, we had shrimp. I made a similar style shrimp tonight, except I let them soak for 6 hours in oil with seasoning. When I put the first three on the grill a flame about as thick as my arm rose, oh, I dunno, 4 feet in the air. No joke. SCARY flaming. I was terrified I'd lost the first three shrimps on this test run, covered them to smother some of the heat, and ran into the house laughing. I don't know why but it was one of the funniest things I'd done in a while. It was so novel I even made Isabo come out and see it for herself. She was not that impressed, though the display was fun :) Very hibatchiesque for a white boy on a grill if you ask me.

Hopefully I will take time and renew my blogging. AT least give you all some fodder and some giggles throughout the next month. I'm currently looking for work. If anyone knows how I can get a job blogging for a living I will love you forever ... seriously.

~B

Happy Birthday to .. me?

Buenos nachos everyone. It's been forever and a day since I posted. I don't know why, but blogging just does not seem to occur to me very often. It's unfortunate since I had such a tremendous dialogue with such a diverse group :( My apologies to you all, if you even still check this sporatically.

It's my birthday today. It was somewhat uneventful, but tremendously pleasant :) You know how sometimes doing nothing, can make all the difference? This was one of those days.

I made a cake for myself, with tremendous dual-colored chocolate frosting. Layer cakes apparently take more frosting than sheet cakes. Go figure. I got up and had a normal breakfast, planned out the day with my dad, then left for the gym. It's been a really long time since I've been out to eat, even a casual out to eat, so I dragged everyone to Chili's for lunch. MMMM, cajun chicken sandwich with extra onions and chipotle ranch sauce. I came home and laid in the pool for about 2 hours, before coming in and having cake. Good cake, but I'm not used to eating rich stuff now, so it kicked my ass. I got such a sugar rush I actually got the shakes and had to lay down for a nap lol.

Tonight for dinner we are having 2" thick ribeye's and fresh shrimp in butter and garlic. I give the cake a second go and see if I can handle it. In any event, we are heating the hottub which is sooo nice :) We've been playing around with it so that I can have it right when M comes to visit later in September.

That is it for now. I'm still job searching, and not finding anything. Hope all is well with my readers.

~B