Yeah, I'm still here...

It's been a while since I last posted. My apologies. Luis came home and now I have less free time. Lame excuse, but there it is.

I woke up in the middle of the night last night with a headache. I got up, swigged down a BC Powder (the best thing ever to happen to headaches) and went to sleep on the couch. Our mattress sucks, and Luis snores like a freight train, so I figured the relative privacy of a futon mattress might help scare off the pain in my head.

Two more BC Powders later and my head feels like it's stuffed with a wet rag. But it's not thumping in pain, so I consider that an improvement.

Today we are going to the house of one of my fellow Dragon Boat team members to look at his kitchen. He wants some drywall work done and when he met Luis at the races, they talked about Luis doing the work. So we'll go see what is what out in Tigard.

This evening we might head out to Banks, Oregon to see one of my co-worker's race his tiny car. He is obsessed with it, he talks about it all during the work week. But he is a funny guy, and if he had a good tan and a Mexican accent, he would essentially be Luis. So I figure they will hit it off well, and I might make a few new friends as well.

That's it for now.....

1 hour, 57 minutes

Luis arrives in two hours. I'm sitting at home, willing the clock to move faster so I can go to the airport. Then we're going to my pre-race Dragon Boat party. And tomorrow we have two races - one at 11.40, the other at 4.15pm. I'm pumped, pumped, pumped.

Now if only it was 7pm.....

FINALLY!!!!!!!!

I talked with Luis this morning. He is finally coming back to Portland. Says he is done with living in Mexico for now. So we booked him a flight on June 8th - the day before my Dragon Boat races! Yay!

Busta Rhymes, Cher and Me

May 20th. My birthday. And Cher's, Busta Rhymes, Jimmy Stewart, Joe Cocker and Suzie, my best friend in Portland. I'm in good company.

Happy Birthday to us.

San Diego

I've been here in San Diego for 5 days now. I can see some of the appeal - warm, sunny weather, the beach..... yeah, that's it. But I don't think I'd want to live here. Charlotte and I went to the grocery store last night. She had to run back to grab something she had forgotten. I was left alone with the cashier.

"Are you from the Northern?" she asked me.

A bit confused, I responded, "no, I'm from Portland, Oregon."

"Oh, I knew you were from somewhere north. It's that whole relaxed vibe you have."

"Ok." But I thought that was odd. Here I am in Southern California, the Mecca of laid-back-ness, to where all surfers and wanna-be surfers flock, where it is assumed that your life is soooo relaxed and worry free. Here I am, coming down from Portland, Oregon where it's overcast for 6 months of the year, where SAD (seasonal affective disorder) bitch slaps most inhabitants, and I'm being called laid back? Wow.

But it seems to be real. Charlotte talks about the fast-paced life here. Everyone is in a rush to go somewhere, be someone, do something. Nothing is relaxed here. It's very, very expensive here. In order to make a living you have to work hard, have roommates, live as inexpensively as possible. At a coffee house I am ignored as I stand at the counter. It seemed like actually making contact with me was awkward. (Whereas in Portland everyone talks to you.)

So maybe Southern Cali isn't the mecca it's reputation leads us all to believe.

When it rains...

Of all the companies I had applied with, the only one that I hadn't received some sort of reply from was The Joinery. They have a reputation for making really nice furniture, and for being a place where woodworkers want to work, so I was definately interested in talking to them. I had sent them a resume way back in March. But no reply, no "thanks but we're not currently hiring" email even.

I had applied with them when I first moved here back in 2002. They ended up calling me to interview after I had been working for a company for about two months. I was so excited. I didn't like the job I had (low pay, crazy owner, jerk of a manager), and I was seriously excited about the Joinery reputation. Would they really hire me?

I went in for an interview after a full day of work at my crappy job. I changed clothes in the bathroom of a coffeehouse. I was pumped. I went in, met the owners and started the interview. At some point in the middle of the chat, I realized my posture was horrible. I was slouching and my legs were splayed out like I was a trucker drinking a beer at a local watering hole. Now, I know this is a physical, blue-collar type job, but I realized I should at least be attempting to make a better impression. I straightened up, crossed my legs and continued to answer the questions they threw at me. Poorly. I remember saying exactly the wrong thing to one question. At that point I knew they wouldn't call me back, and they didn't.

Flash forward to this week. I've just accepted a job with Mike, my old boss. It's all good. That same afternoon I get a call from the Joinery. They are interested in interviewing me.

Talk about bad timing.....

What do I do? I'm really no good at lying. I wouldn't feel comfortable only saying that I have a job offer on the table (conveniently neglecting to say I've already accepted the offer), but I would also like to get my face out in front of them again, if only to correct the mistakes I made so many years ago. I called them back, ready to tell them "thanks but no thanks", but the guy I talked to still seemed interested in talking to me anyway. Hmmm. Ok, I told you I already have a job, you've told me you couldn't meet the pay rate (at least not right away), but you still wouldn't mind me coming in to talk? Great! Eleven-thirty tomorrow morning would be fine!

The interview went well enough. I was oddly nervous. In other interviews I've had recently I was never nervous. Was it the memory of my previous interview with them, or did I actually want to get a job with them?

I mentioned to Gary that I had interviewed with them years ago and that it had been a bad interview. He remembered me, but didn't remember the interview. So I didn't go into details. We talked about this and that, the whole process being a bit odd since we both knew that I was already employed. But he said enough and I thought about things enough to seriously consider whether I should reconsider working for Mike.

I went for a long walk by myself afterwards to think about it all. Basically I would be giving up a good job that pays more than the industry standard for the option to interview at the Joinery. Although I would like to learn more about furniture making, and think the Joinery is a great place to do so, I'm going to turn them down. They don't have a job offer, and even if they did the wage would be 3 or 4 dollars less.

I'll keep them on my list of places to contact when I'm ready to move on again. But it was nice being wanted by them.

Employed Again!

My old boss finally offered me a job. And a good deal on it too. He is bringing me in at the same pay rate he was paying me two years ago, and I think my insurance will start up faster than it would have if I were a new employee. The only catch is that the job doesn't start for another week.

Fine by me.

I have a freebie ticket on Southwest airlines, so I'm going to head south to San Diego and Los Angeles to see friends this week. Funny how I've been traveling so much while I'm unemployed. No better time to do it though.

Monday, April 30th. That's my first day back. In the meantime, I'm outta here!