Moved by Television

Generally, I'm not moved by TV. I rarely watch enough to follow storylines (especially sitcoms or dramas). We watched a bit of Mobbed tonight (which had Wifey in tears. I blame the pregnancy hormones), and during a commercial break, I was truly moved by television.

Wifey changed the channel to Grey's Anatomy, and after seeing about ten seconds of the show, I stood up to change the channel. I guess someone on the medical drama's writing team decided that they would try to gain from some of the success of Glee and had a bunch of their actors decide to sing for the show. I was waiting for that kid in the wheelchair to roll into the ER and start spinning in his wheelchair to "How to Save a Life."

Seriously? What makes the writers of Grey's Anatomy think that having their doctors sing every few minutes and turn the episode into a Broadway musical? I'm probably more for musicals than the average straight guy because of some of my musical tastes, but this struck me as utterly ridiculous. I know enough about Grey's Anatomy to know that they use a lot of popular music in their episodes. That is all fine and dandy. But it is quite the stretch for every ER doctor and their lover to have to sing songs while keeping the drama in the operating room. You can only have so much drama in an hour (which many shows like this already push the envelope), and adding a dramatic ballad doesn't help it out.

The little part I saw seemed so forced and awkward, misconstruing the meanings in the songs. But maybe I'm too ________ (fill in the blank here: old, young, conservative, uneducated, anal, etc.) to get it. Maybe my perceptions don't match everyone else's. Maybe I see the images in column B in this post while everyone else is seeing column A. Am I completely off my rocker here folks?

The Day Munchkin Will Always Remember

Munchkin was incredibly happy today. It helped that she slept 12 hours the previous night. She woke up super happy and that carried her through most of the day.

We first went to story time at the library. The Meridian Public Library has a great story time for toddlers that is more of an activity time than just reading time. They sing songs, they have stuffed animals for the kids to play with, and read stories as well. Libraries are great places, but that is besides the point. This is about Munchkin.

Today's experience at story time started off better than normal because we walked to the Library. We pulled out the stroller and she got to ride. Munchkin likes loves experiences Nirvana whenever she is outside. She doesn't want to go back in. Even though she loves story time, she put up a bit of a fuss that she had to go inside. She probably doesn't remember much about nice sunny weather in the low 60's from last year, but since she had it today she didn't want to go in. She wasn't even wearing a jacket. Less encumberment = better playtime for her.

She didn't get into story time as much today until near the end. I think it was the weather distracting her.  She did like it though.

We walked home and got ready to head over to the park. Since it was spring break, our friends invited us to the park to play with their little boy. We spent a couple of solid hours at the park running, sliding, playing outdoor instruments, and swinging (her favorite). After a picnic (where once again she was incredibly distracted) and some more playing, we parted ways and got Munchkin down for a nap.

She slept for about an hour and a half, and then she started "helping" me fold the laundry. She ate half a pint of green beans and half a strawberry Nutrigrain bar, followed by a tour of the outside world. This includes walking around the yard with yours truly looking at all the plants and flowers to make sure that everything looks healthy and happy. She runs from the hyacinths to the tulips to the raspberry plant to the bonsai trees to the daffodils pointing out all the plants. Sometimes we throw the lilac bushes in there too.

After this, she ran around outside while I grilled a chicken breast for our chicken ceasar wraps for dinner. She chased her ball around the yard and only injured one daffodil, which I consider quite a success. I think it will live, but it was bent over. I'm glad it is still young and supple, and I am hoping that it is still in the stage where it is more flexible than anything else. It leans now, but didn't appear to have any breaks in the stems. I guess I'll have to wait and see when we get back in town  how it fares.

Tonight we read some books and watched a bit of Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse (which we bought as an Easter present for her, but we forgot to hide it, so she gets to watch it). All in all, a good day for her.

I don't think that she'll actually remember today in the grand scheme of things. But it is the type of day that was ingrained into my memory as a child. Plenty of time outside, plenty of fun activities, and even a slight sunburn. I would make a great Jeff Foxworthy joke right now. Well, maybe not so great. Only half of my neck got burned, so I would only be half a redneck.

One to Go!

I guess my intellectual muscles still work because I just got a call inviting me to a second (and final) interview. WHOO HOO! And it won't even interfere with out weekend getaway to visit family in Utah.

My parents decided to take a weekend trip to go visit my brother. Knowing that we had nothing better to do, they invited us along. Knowing that we had nothing better to do, we accepted said invitation. With this said, I probably won't be blogging much until after we are back (sometime on Monday). You get what you get, so don't throw a fit.

We are pretty excited to go see them. Munchkin will be able to play with her cousins (one of which is only six months her elder), and I am pretty sure that she will have a ball. The only thing that would make it better for her was if there was a baby.

We spent some time with some friends last night who have a seven week old baby. As soon as she saw the baby, she walked over to him and started patting him. She just kept on saying, "Boy! Boy!" between and during the patting. Wifey introduced the baby as the little baby boy, so she parroted the last word of the phrase right back at her.

Even though there was another kid to play with, the baby had her attention for about the first half hour of the night. Then she got distracted by the hunger in her belly, but did her fair share of playing as well.

Since there is no baby at my brother's place, she'll just have to make do with the dolls. With two little girls, I am sure we can find an extra one lying around somewhere...

Two Down, (Hopefully) One to Go

This morning I got a written test from the company I interviewed with yesterday. I knew that the test was going to be timed, and I knew that it would be gauging my writing skills, so I thought it was going to be a breeze.

I was wrong.

The test ended up being a good challenge for me. I was given some rough notes from an SME and asked to convert them into a process document. I had one screen shot that showed the software, but beyond that, I was on my own for an hour and a half.

It took me quite a bit of time to wrap my head around what the software actually did. I was trying to figure out what task the person was trying to accomplish, and could nail that down pretty quickly. It was mainly the how that was an issue.

The person who created the test probably just took something that he had received from the programmer who made the changes. Since I had no idea what all the acronyms were (as well as having no idea how this fit into the larger picture), I did my best to try to get it all completed. There were breadcrumbs that described how to do something in the user interface (driven mainly by the function keys like F2 and F7), and then later in the document, you found out that the bread crumbs were not comprehensive.

My 90 minutes was almost up when I remembered that I also had to create a document to detail what I had updated. Needless to say, that got rushed a bit.

All in all, it is something that I would have sent over. I just wish I would have had about 10 extra minutes to look it over or have someone else take a quick peek before I sent it off to be final. After all, everybody needs an editor (even editors).

We'll see if this lands me another interview. I realized that I am a bit rusty on my authoring skills since my previous job was focused mainly on editing and information gathering. I guess this would be a good fit to stretch my core writing muscles once again and get working on things. It should keep me sharp.

Now, I'll just wait for that phone to ring and hope that it is a number that I don't recognize...

One Down, (Hopefully) One to Go

I was excited and nervous for my interview today. I know this because I had my alarm set, but woke up about an hour and a half early. It was almost like going to school again.

I got up and got ready to head out the door by 8:00, expecting traffic to be a bit of a bear. Surprisingly, it wasn't. I was able to make it in to Boise in about 20 minutes (which is generally a 15 minute commute), so I felt like I was doing pretty good.

I went and parked in the hospital parking lot. I found it kind of funny that the secretary had told me to park there or feed a meter (tell me which one you would have done) and then walk over to the building. Because I still had about 25 minutes to kill, I decided to do a bit of strolling through the city on this chilly spring morning.

I immediately started wishing I had a camera with me. There are some old buildings that have unique features in the heart of Boise—the type of stuff you don't see everyday in my neighborhood. I noticed that there was a building that must have been an old factory of sorts that had been renovated to be an office building. The smokestack was a dead giveaway.

I had a good opportunity to wrestle with myself. I want a stable job that is full time that will offer good benefits. This job does that. The only downside is the fact that the job doesn't pay as much as I would want it to. It was a tight squeeze for the person who is currently in the position, but it is stable. It is with the government, for goodness sake. How much more stable can you get?

As I meandered, I came to the same conclusions I always arrive at—don't count your chickens before they hatch. I need to have a job offer before I make the decision if this is the job for me.

I took a peek at my phone to see what time it was, and found that it was an acceptable time to head over to the building. I walked inside to find the security guard sitting at his desk. I was also pleased to see a copy of The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (which happens to be one of my favorite series of all times). I had the chance to chat with the guard for a bit which put us both at ease. I wasn't sure why the guard was nervous. It must be my 6'2" 140 pound frame that set his knees knocking. Needless to say, at this point, I was pretty sure that it was going to be a good interview.

I got my name tag and headed up the elevator into the lobby of the second floor. I was greeted by the admin assistant who was there and he phoned one of my interviewers to let them know I was there. And then I sat quietly and rifled through a magazine without feigning interest.

She came out to greet me and walked me back to her office where I found another one of my interviewers (who happened to invite us up to their family cabin not too long ago). The third interviewer (and my potential boss) was actually missing. I expected him to come in, but was informed that his wife was in the process of having a baby at the moment, so he wouldn't be joining us.

Excuses, excuses...

Needless to say, the interview went pretty well. I should be hearing back either way from them before too long. The only problem is I have to go back in for another interview. It isn't that I dread interviews, I just want to know the resolution. I've been jerked around a few times and hope that this isn't going to be one of those times. This group is a lot more professional, and I would be able to carve a niche out for myself there as the only tech writer in the group, but it still makes me wonder if this is going to come to pass. Until I know, I am just going to have to wait it out until I hopefully get another interview.

I Believe in Spring Because...

These plants are telling me that it is time for spring to come.

Our hyacinths

The biggest one

Our tulips

More tulips around the tree we planted last year

My bonsai collection. Please note that the one that has nothing in it are apple seeds I planted, not just a pot of dirt I'm watering.

Fresh buds that will hopefully turn into branches.

Our lilac bush start we stole from my parent's house last year.

Come on, Tuesday!

Tuesday morning I have an interview with the state for a tech writing position. I know that the position would probably be pretty good for me, as well as offering me something new and exciting to do. I have heard that the job doesn't pay as much money as my previous job, which puts a bit of a damper on things, but I'm willing to go to the interview to see what I can do.

I got a call from the other company that employs me, and they gave me some feedback on the work I did for them earlier this week. They told me that they liked it, and that they thought I would be a good fit for their company. The only thing is that they aren't sure that they could keep me occupied enough to feed our family. That made me feel good about the work that I had done. It also gave me hope.

You see, it would be ideal if I got this state job and was able to get my foot in the door there. Even though the pay isn't the greatest, I would hope to have smaller projects from this other company as a freelancer that would allow me to make some extra money on the side to make up for the lack of funds at the state job. With a baby coming, it would be great to switch over to the state benefits instead of the private insurance that is charging us an arm and a leg for poor coverage. Changing insurance alone will save us at least a couple hundred dollars a month, let alone any medical expenses we incur.

But, before I put the cart before the horse, I need to actually go ace the interview. The job uses skills that I knew in college, but I haven't used in a couple of years. I don't doubt that I can come back up to speed quickly, but I also know that technology changes. Different organizations like different writing skills and soft skills, so we'll see what ends up happening.

Please cross all appendages for me, including your appendix. It has to be an appendage, because it doesn't have any other function except to get infected.