Interviews

So things seem to be picking up on the job search. I had an interview on Monday at the only other TV station in town that I haven't worked at. It wasn't exactly for a graphics position though. There was some room for doing graphics and perhaps incorporating some of my skills into the position. So that was good. I think the interview went well. (It probably helped that I knew the guy and had worked with him at Ch. 5.) I was put in the "good" pile and will go back for interview #2 when the GM returns from vacation.

But then on Friday of last week, my friend Rebecca (a former co-worker from Ch. 9) sent me a position opening at her company. I love her company. I have loved her company since she started working there years ago. I have wanted to work there and even said to my Unemployment Rep that this company was on my radar. And there it was. An opening. "Graphics Coordinator".I'm not sure if the job posting even left their internal bulletin board. I haven't seen it anywhere. Today, I got a request for an interview, only 3 days after applying. I am beyond excited! Maybe the stars are aligning. It would be lovely and wonderful and perfect. I will be bouncing off the walls until then. (It's not until Monday the 8th, since I'm out of town next week.) So I have plenty of time to prepare. Rebecca said she will help in anyway she can, with questions, research, bios, etc. I feel so fortunate that we met and became friends. They say that networking is the way to go. I'm beginning to really think that's the truth. So never burn a bridge. You never know when you'll need to cross it again!

Meanwhile, I will go to Cape Cod on Saturday and have a wonderful, relaxing week. And maybe come back to a new start.

Woof

I was commissioned to do a cake. It's not my best work, but it was certainly a learning experience. If I had to do one again like this, I'd use butter cream frosting. It spreads easier. The cake kept falling apart and became very crumbly, even frozen.

But I did it. I hope the recipient likes it!

NYS Fair

It's that time of year! The Great New York State Fair.

So Eric and I went to the Fair today. The gates open at 8am, the vendors, buildings, etc. open at 10am. We got there around 8:30. It was lovely. We got to walk around, it was still clean and cool, the bathrooms didn't smell. And there were a few places open to eat breakfast. So that's what we did.

Then when things finally opened, we ate some more. Fried Dough Nuggets were a must.

Then Wine Slushies before Noon.

We had to check out the Butter Sculpture.

Then we ate some ice cream. 

Well, it was tiny, so it was ok.

We played some games. I won Jenny a small Rasta Banana to go with the one we won her last year.

And we visited with the animals. We saw pigs, goats, sheep, llamas, chickens, bunnies and some others. 

We ate more food, walked around some more.
It got crowded and hot. And then we went home.

Job interview tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Interview

Well, the interview at the photography company was interesting. The position is for an "Image Processor". The company does roughly 75,000 school/sport photos from September to December. And they need people to 'touch them up'. It's a seasonal position to start, that could lead to a permanent job. They also have a design department in house and do other printing as well. It sounds like I could be hired full time after a couple of months of 'initiation' as the guy called it. So, if I could survive the busy fall season, I could be hired full time. They put me on the spot and tested me on a computer. I had to remove teenaged face blemishes from one photo. Had to remove an entire head from a group photo and put a different head on. Then I had to remove a background. I think I passed all the tests, they were pretty simple, nothing I hadn't done before! But it was a little nerve-wracking sitting down at a strange computer that you're not used to, with people watching over you while you work. But I did it. I impressed them with my ability to use a 'stylus'. I guess that's not a common skill for many. Thankfully I've been using one for 20-ish years, on and off. give or take. They are looking for someone with good hand-eye coordination with a lot of speed. I've got all that. So we'll see. They said they were going to bring a few people in again next week for more 'tests'. We'll see if I made the cut.

In the meantime, we're gearing up for an empty nest. Novak leaves for Australia on Monday, I'm taking Alex to Albany on Thursday and then we're taking our own relaxing vacation. Two weeks from right this minute, we'll just be arriving at the Cape. Eric and his HS buddies have been plotting to meet, a couple of them will be staying with us for a few days. It'll be a big reunion for them. The wives? Well, we'll be on the deck drinking wine.

This will be our home while we're on the Cape. It sleeps 8. We'll be pushing that limit a few nights! There are 3 decks on the other side of the house, overlooking the ocean. We'll be utilizing that view quite a bit! 

Oh and I almost forgot. I made this cute giraffe cake this week for Novak's birthday. I was happy with how it turned out. If all else fails, I might just go into cake decorating at Wegmans for a new career!

A whole lot of nothing.

Aside from a couple of rejection emails, the job search went stale. So I re-worked/re-designed my resume and cover letters. Hoping to generate some more activity with that. I got a call today from a local photography/printing place. I have an interview on Friday. Which is good timing, because yesterday I took an "Interview Workshop". I'm hoping the things I learned will help with my next interview. I found out that only 5% of new jobs are obtained via the internet. 85% are obtained through networking. Eek. That's scary, but tends to make sense. Most of my past jobs I got because I knew people. I'm upping my presence on LinkedIn and finding out if I have connections at any of the places I'm applying. The more people you know, the better off you are. Even if it's a shot in the dark, a personal reference is not a bad thing.

So this happened today. It made my week. I got a twitter response from my favorite author! I was SO excited. I read her new book today. In one sitting. Now I wait for the next installment. 

Oh and Happy Birthday Mom! I know you're in another country at the moment, but you might stop by to read the blog at some point. Hope you're having a great trip!

Blogging

With all this free time on my hands, I decided to get back into my Aldi blog. For a couple of reasons. One because I wanted to. I still love Aldi and still shop there religiously. Another was to get more web experience using WordPress. I am in the process of moving the Aldi blog over to WordPress. The old "blogspot" blog is still there, lonely and neglected. But the new, improved and gorgeous WordPress Aldi blog is up and running. And in the 24 hours since I started this new project, I already have 5 followers! I'm pretty excited about that!

The new blog has a real name too. It's shopaldi.com That's it. Easy to remember, easy to find. So stop by and visit and start following the new blog!