Next

Next could be Microsoft.  I have an interview this afternoon, and I am really looking forward to it for some reason.  I have read a lot about working at Microsoft, and some people are not so enamored with them, but I would be fine with the opportunity.

What it mostly means for me is a one-year contract, which means one year of steady paychecks plus the chance to get health insurance.  Also, a year of contracting at Microsoft should help establish additional credibility for me as a contractor.  I think the chances of getting something permanent there are low, but Microsoft likes contractors with previous Miscrosoft experience, so maybe I could work there again if I can get through one contract.

I am writing during lunch July 29, the day of the interview.  Now that I have written this much, I will stow this post away until after I hear the results from this afternoon.  If anybody can find my blog and associate it with me, Microsft can.  I don't have bad things to say about them, but still, better not to give them anything.

I google-imaged the word "Next," which mostly results in a bunch of signs that say "Next," very dull, but apparently the bridge in the picture was designed by NEXT Architects, so it was easily the best picture.  Cool bridge actually.

OK, interview did not go so well, may as well post.

Cyber Concerns

Jackie -- and some others, but especially Jackie -- has warned me about my blog.  Her concern is that potential employers will find it, and they may not like my politics, and they may really not like what I have to say about the real-life Dilbert scenarios I observe in working environments.  The truth is that I don't want to be silenced by fear, but what I usually say is that it would be hard to connect me to my blog, because I don't attach my full name to the blog or my posts.

Of course, it's wise to test that claim.  I Googled "[My Name]"* a few months back, and my blog was not on the first page, but it showed up a few pages into the search results.  The reason for that is that I posted my resume, back in April of last year, not long after I left my job at Farmers, and of course it has my name on it.  At the time, I just filed that information away.  No need to be too paranoid.

Yesterday I went into my blog and posted something for the first time in over a month.  I noticed that I still was getting a fair number of hits.  And the post with the most page views from the last week?  That post of my resume from April 2, 2012.

So who in hell is looking at my resume within my blog?  And why?  And how did they find it?  Was someone really curious enough about me to Google my name and click on my blog link?  11 times in the last month?

So this is a concern.  I kind of like that post because it's called "Contact" and has a nice picture of an array of dishes pointing to space, but I don't want it to be easy for employers to find this blog.  Maybe I can just change the name on the resume to "Mickey Mouse."  One way or another, I have to fix that.

*First pass, I actually wrote my name there.  That would have been kind of stupid.

Busy busy

I have not posted anything for about 40 days, and I'm going to say it's because I have been busy, even though you probably should not believe that.  At least I haven't been what most people would think of as particularly busy, but my standard of what seems like a lot to do is lower than most.  In truth, I have been about as busy as most people are, but I'm having to adjust to working full-time and commuting well over an hour each way.  Still, during those 40 days I watched eight episodes of Breaking Bad and a full season of The Newsroom plus the start of the second season, and I'm sure I did lots of other leisurely things.  Busy is a relative term.

One thing that has taken my time is getting Lucas through his Eagle Scout project.  Last weekend we worked on that almost the whole weekend.  Then we had a scout meeting Monday night, then completed the project Wednesday evening, hanging 21 bird houses on a wooded property in North Bend.  Now he has to do a project report, present it to a committee, finish his last merit badge, and get his Eagle Scout application in by August 4, so it isn't over.  The biggest part is over though.

A few other things have conspired against me:  I have wanted to do some political posts, but those take time, because I try to make my points well, so I take more time with the writing, and I usually do a little research, so sometimes I just don't get started.  Work is pretty mundane; it looks like they will not be able to afford me full time, so I just keep putting in my hours and collecting a paycheck.  Good, but the same.  My kinda-sorta best guess is that I will be there until we take a cruise to Alaska the last week of August.  I take a 30-minute lunch; if it were an hour, I would probably write some days, but I would rather go home sooner.  Also, Lucas has been using my computer a lot lately, because it's better than his and it's farther away from Jarrod, and most of the time I just let him stay on it rather than kick him off.

One good thing is that I will be getting up at 5:15 tomorrow (that's not the good part) to take the boys to North Bend, where they will take off to a week of Boy Scout camp in Idaho, so Jackie and I are looking forward to a bit of quiet.  Tomorrow might be a post about being one year older.  Then I'll think about those political posts.