Checking In

A catch-all, catch-up post

There are 1,132 posts filed in Checking In (this is page 62 of 114).

It’s not you, it’s me

I’ve gotten a few responses in response to positions for which I’ve applied. Here’s one from the other day:

Hello Mark,

Thanks for contacting us, I apologize, but like so many companies in
the current environment we’ve had to put our hiring plans on hold
temporarily. I’m hoping we can open things up again in Feb or Mar. If
you’re still looking at that point it would be great to talk.

And this one came in today from a large software company in Cary:

Dear J Mark. Turner:

Thank you for your interest in employment at $LARGE_SOFTWARE_COMPANY. We appreciate your application for $POSITION. Because our business needs have changed, we are no longer recruiting for this position, and the opening has been cancelled.

These are phantom jobs. Job seekers get their hopes up but the job evaporates between the time its budgeted and the time its advertised. These phantom jobs are good for one thing, though: meeting the two-applications-a-week unemployment benefit requirements.

One less vacant house

Friday evening I drove by the house behind ours, one that’s been vacant as long as we’ve lived here. It was being remodeled when we moved in, turning it from a crummy 1500sf house to a fancy-if-not-spectacular 1500sf house. That its price doubled during its month-and-a-half transformation didn’t help things.

Anyway, I saw a man in a shirt and tie on the front porch with a couple next to him. It looked like a real estate transaction had taken place. Sure enough, yesterday morning I heard the house’s heat pump running for the first time ever. I saw a man inside the house while I was out walking Rocket. I think we may have new neighbors.

I also think that its very encouraging that a house like that is no longer vacant. Though I don’t know if the new residents are renters or owners, its nice to be adding to the neighborhood. Especially during these tough economic times.

Weekend? What weekend?

Every day is a weekend day when you’re between jobs.

Woke up delightfully late after a good night’s sleep. After breakfast I took Rocket out for a run. With no bicycle, I might add. It was a shock to me as I haven’t been running for years, but it did feel good. When I stopped. Rocket was a hard-charger for the first half of the run but opted to slow to my pace after a while.

I got back from the run in time to shower before heading out to a birthday party for my friend Matt Pressley’s son, Conner. I enjoyed catching up with Matt and talking more to the parents’ of the kids there. In fact, some interesting things could come from this talk. So that was good.
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Jailbreak

Tuesday afternoon Travis had gone outside to sweep the driveway, with me about a minute behind him. The dog had been with me, and as I rounded the kitchen corner I saw the outside door had been left wide open. Rocket was galloping gleefully down the street.

After calling him a few times with no effect at all, Travis and I hopped into the car and followed him. I parked Travis and ran through neighbors’ backyards while our grinning dog happily raced ahead. Very Bad Words were forming in my head as I stormed back to the car. If he wound up at the troubled apartment complex a few blocks away I would have to abandon the search.
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Dinner party weekend

It has been a good weekend: full of social stuff!

Friday evening the whole family went to the Padgett’s annual holiday party. It was our first one and boy, was I surprised at the multitude of people at that party. It was wall-to-wall friends. I didn’t get to meet nearly everyone I wanted to meet but I had some good conversations with people I already knew.

Saturday’s dinner party was at my friend Scott’s place, where we had pizza and a good time. We finished the evening at the Peace Street Starbucks for some coffee and talk. And tonight we hosted some friends from the neighborhood for a dinner party. Its a lot of work to host a dinner but its always fun.

Got in some good exercise with Rocket in the back yard both days, too, and yesterday I cleared the back yard of leaves and pine straw with the leaf blower.

There’s a few more interesting jobs for which I want to apply. I’ll put in for those this week and wait for the phone to ring. And even though I’m between jobs now I have a few lunch meetings this week with friends and fellow volunteers, as well as meetings and holiday parties for the boards that I’m on. I may be jobless now but I’m sure not bored!

Some good job leads

I’ve got a resume in with a well-known virtualization software company and know someone there who works in a similar role. It would be doing what I did for Zenoss: implementing the virtualization software at the customer site.

Hopefully I’ll get an interview out of it.

Wall Street Journal interview

I just got interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about my recent layoff. The story seems to be focused on how the newly jobless are dealing with the upcoming holidays.

I don’t know if or when the story will run, but the reporter was interested in speaking to others who were laid-off. If you fit the bill, drop me an email and I’ll put you in touch with the reporter.

Move? For a job? Are you kidding?

Ran into a friend last night who was aware of my job search. She asked me “what it would take” to make me move away from Raleigh.

I laughed after quickly realizing she wasn’t trying to kick me out of town.

“Oh, I’m not going anywhere,” I said, reassuring her that there was plenty of work here for a multipurpose geek like me.

It would take a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get me to move. Unless I get a phone call starting with “please hold for the President-elect” I’m staying right here.