Hoping metamorphosed

Dragon Mood? -- excited, pleased, happy

What I've been hoping for has finally happened? Bush out of office? Nope, we've still got to endure another 11 months 24 days 1 hours 47 minutes 9 seconds of his leadership (see this site). Spartans clinching the Big Ten championship? Nope, but they're definitely on track to do so. My big news is that I got an o-fficial job offer from The Company I've been working for the past seven months -- a bonafide, slightly-more-money offer of direct employment! Whoo-hoo!!

Friday post

Halleleujah, it's Friday!   This has felt like a lo-o-oooong week and I'm ready for a three-day weekend.

I still have heard nothing from The Company's HR Department regarding being offered a direct position.   Everyone I have spoken to forewarned me to expect a long, unpredictable wait.  Looks like their predictions may be accurate.

S and I met with our builder on Tuesday night.  Other than a few odds and ends, he's pretty well wrapped up the remodeling of the front of our pied-a-terre.  It looks fabulous!  It really does ... better than I could have imagined or anticipated.  The building inspector came by yesterday (Thursday) and put his stamp of approval on it, as well.  We'll probably need to pay Paul his last draw here within the week.

Wednesday afternoon, Paul's best buddy, Tim, came by and picked up all the scrap metal left from the remodeling.  He was going to take it to a recycling place and hopefully get $100-200 for the lot of it.  Tim is unemployed, struggling to make ends meet and we appreciated all his help on the project.  I was happy he was willing to haul it all off and also happy to see our driveway, clear and open again.

I'm going to post this now and hopefully I can post again before the day is done!

Welcome email

Ireceived a welcome email the other day; it was entitled "Company Opportunity" and was an invitation to fill out an application for direct employment with The Company that I've been working with for the past seven months.

I went in to my boss's boss's office and thanked him for the opportunity to apply.  He encouraged me to fill it out that evening and get it turned in the next morning -- all of which I did.

This morning, I heard from an account executive for the contract house with whom I've been working.  He informed that The Company wanted to know what they (the contract house) were paying me.  Eek!

I'm feeling excited and yet scared that The Company may extend me an offer that will include a low-ball salary.  I'm not quite sure how to handle that.  My income has either declined or been flat (and flat with inflation, to my way of thinking, is equivalent to declining) for the past eight years.  Talk about the eroding middle-class income!  I could be the poster child for that!

I asked for an annual salary that is 20% above what I currently make ... and currently I'm paid strictly as an hourly worker. 

I need to talk to some people.  Some of my peeps, you know?  Get a feel as to what to expect.  What's reasonable.  What's not.  Stay tuned.

Hoping it's not too late to say ...

Dragon Mood? -- rusty and uncertain

Happy New Year to everyone! ....... I have been SO OUT OF IT with regard to blogging, I hardly know where to start. Curious, isn't it, how rusty and unfamiliar my blogging skills have become?

S and I returned from a brief vacation to Washington D.C. early New Year's Eve. We had time to order some Chinese take-out, pick up a couple of videos and settle in for a quiet celebration before 12 inches of snow began to fall. Whew, that was close! We both felt immensely grateful that we didn't have to drive the 570+ miles through snow and slippery roads to get home.

Other updates: I am currently in my seventh month of the new job, in which I am feeling much more confidence, as well as comfortableness with my coworkers. My boss wrote a letter of recommendation that I be hired direct about a month ago. The wheels of the Human Resources Department grind slowly so I've heard nothing yet, but I'm hopeful.

Update on our pied-a-terre: The remodeling that was supposed to take a couple of weeks is now approaching two months. Our builder, Paul, sadly had to layoff his crew for lack of work, so the work is being done by Paul and his friend, Tim. A crew of two builds more slowly than a crew of five or six. Also, Mother Nature has blessed us with several good snowstorms as well as some unusually frigid temperatures that would chase even the hardiest outdoors person inside to a warm room.

Here are a couple of pictures of the latest and greatest on the house:





Suffice to say that we're pleased with the results and dealing with the slowed pace of progress on the house. We're both looking forward to sitting on our new porch when spring arrives!

There's lots more to tell, but I'll call this good for now and hit the "Publish Post" button. It feels good to return to blogging.