Springtime In the Rockies

Oh boy- ever have one of those days? I seem to be having one of those months.

I have been fighting with a dinosaur of a computer that seems to also have a virus of some sort all week. I have been perusing job board after job board and seeing the same postings over and over... I have taken a week writing up what I thought to be a great blog posting about springtime to enter in dads house 's contest. Alas, with the computer issues, I didn't finish it in time to post for the contest. But that was OK, I liked it and was attempting to post it this morning.

I finally broke into my savings account and purchased a laptop computer that was on sale this week, it is stupendous! I am no longer tethered like the phones of my youth all day searching jobs, I can now freely move about the house while surfing.
So this morning, after spending an entire day yesterday hooking up the wireless router on the dinosaur, I got the chance to play with this new toy. I sat down with my cup of hot coffee, listening to the rain outside and prepared to post my springtime write-up.
The post itself was running a bit long and wordy so I was re-writing some parts. I was having a few formatting issues but really enjoying the way the words were coming together. The laptop keyboard takes some getting used to, it is smaller, and although I purchased a mouse, I have been navigating the finger pad with some ease so far.
I was typing in the last few sentences, still fighting the formatting, I copied it into a word processor to clean it up.
And with the flick of a keystroke, it was gone! Blogger has a save feature, and saves often while you are 'creating' but somehow, it had only managed to save one sentence. And so..... you get to read this rambling post instead.

But- regardless of all that has happened this week with me, I would say it cant compare with the pain my daughter is fighting this morning. It seems that her 'first love' is coming to an end. 'The boy' s family has already moved to the adjoining town in the past month and they will be moving out of the state soon.
As the mother of a sixteen year old, this comes as a bit of a relief to me. I would prefer that her high school years are spent with many friends of both genders and just enjoying life. I dated my ex husband (their father) most of my high school years and hind-sight wish we had not rushed into relationships and seriousness so soon, so young.
But- none of that helps her right now, she doesn't want to hear about how her mother wishes she herself would have done things differently. She doesn't want to hear that everything happens for a reason or that it will all be better tomorrow. She just needs a hug, and another, and a shoulder to cry on. That, is exactly what she got last night. Broke my heart to see hers breaking. It is hard on a mother to see her child sad. But as they say- everything happens for a reason and it will all be better tomorrow.

So- sorry about no springtime post, when the weather improves and the fever strikes again, I may attempt it again. But it seems when I lose the thought, (which happens way too often) I can never get it back quite the same again.
I think I will run to the store before my daughter gets home from school for a bag of cheer me up skittles or something.

Pulling out the power suit again

I one again have a job interview. They are fewer and further between than I thought they might be. The thing about interviews is:
They expect you to really sell yourself, tell them why they should love you, then with the flick of a wrist they can dismiss you like a begging dog...
This is a tough market these days. The state I live in has a low unemployment rate, sure. But the rates are so high in other states that willing workers are relocating and taking the opportunities that might be available here.
In less than an hour, I will be selling myself once again. I will do my best to keep my chin up, my outlook high and sell my wares so to speak.
The last interview I went on, I thought I had it in the bag... but heard nothing.
That is a crumby way for a company to be. No correspondence at all? seriously? The four people I interviewed with seemed to want me to be a-one hundred on everything... including how I answered every question, my body language, my knowledge, my punctuality. I expected all of that. However on the flip side, they seemed a bit bothered that they had to take time out of their day to meet with me, there were very few slots of time that they could all meet with me, they screwed up the scheduling so that even though I was in the lobby 15 minutes early, I still met with the first one nearly a half hour late.
I left a thank you card to each of them, thanking them for their time. I walked out of the company with my head high, I felt I had blown them away.
I did not expect a letter explaining why I was not a good fit for their company- although wouldn't that be awesome? But was it too much to ask them to send a letter or even an e-mail in this day and age... letting me know that they had filled the position but not with me? That would be the polite thing to do. When they asked so much of me. (Note to managers: Let people know where they stand: Whether they are a new employee just interviewing, or a long standing employee I cant tell you how much better an employee I am when I know where I stand.)

And now, I am preparing to do it all again. Pulling out my new power suit. I'll let you know how it turns out. Who knows, I may just come out of this one thinking I really blew it, which may just mean I am a shoe-in!