Sure, you could apply online, and hope someone calls you back, but the best way to get a job here is to show up and get valuable face time. Just ask Jae and Yin. I put both of their resumes in the pipeline, and bugged supervisors, but because I don't know everyone at the PTO, they didn't get jobs until they showed up and the interviewers here saw them in person. I do happen to know one of the hiring supervisors for my tech center, but that's just a small portion of the PTO. So, if any of my engineering buddies want a high-paying job, with tons of flexibility and benefits, which is located in DC (I LOVE it here), register for the fair, and be sure to give me a copy of your resume.
On a side note: GO GATORS!
]]>And yess, I'll still have a job.
]]>
Life has been mostly fantastic for the past xxx months/days/weeks/hours/seconds/units of time. I have just about the best friends in the world. And the best part is they're all from work and/or are friends of people from work, except for John and Anna, who are neighbors (who totally kick ass).
The house is getting in order. Our neighbors (John and Anna) are both architects, and John is converting the half bath in the basement to a full bath. I'm starting to get a handle on the yard. I'm thinking of opening up the kitchen wall and putting a bar counter there so there will be some place for us to eat/socialize, since Angelo and I took over the dining room to make it an office (the whole dining room area was just a bunch of unused space...). Home improvements are time-consuming, but generally rewarding.
I'm looking into buying an investment property soon. While the real estate market has obviously cooled, in the DC area especially, the value of homes will not be going down.
Sasha just turned a year old on July 3rd. She's a great dog... for the most part. She has a ton of energy, and as long as that energy gets released, she's good. The problem is exercising her enough... she is soooo frickin' fast. I have to ride my bike, pedalling my fastest, downhill in order to go fast enough that she can't keep up. She has some behavioral issues: specifically, she is afraid of people. Her breed is notoriously skittish, and she's skinny and white, so it's to be expected. But luckily she's still young and will most likely grow out of it, and the Dog Whisperer's techniques seem to be working well.
Work is good. I just became a permanent employee, and my job is getting easier. I've been here long enough that I have a pretty extensive docket of back cases (cases that I did good jobs on in the beginning) that are giving me easy counts, so I think I work less now than I did when less was required of me (don't tell the gov't, ok?). But my next 6-month promotion cycle starts this week, so I have to start producing more... blech. Oh well. More money come the new year will be fantastic!
I'm thinking of registering to take the LSAT in Sep. I'm not quite sure if I want to go to law school yet, but since it's an option and the gov't will pay for it, I might as well take the next step, regardless of what i decide to do. I have friends that are on the outsie of the patent system (lawyers, agents, etc.), and they work way more and are way stressed out. Of course, they make more money, but is money that important that you'd work 60+ hours/week, and work hard for all of those hours? Plus, I would have to go to school, while I work, which is crappy. I already have so little time.
Hmm, I have more to write, I think, but I need a break for now.
]]>Teh sweet.
Oh, and since it's a milestone of sorts, Patent Number 7,000,000. I guess if my patent were cool, it could have been selected for 7,000,000. Guess I'm not cool.
]]>The weather here is (apparently) screwed up. It was 65 yesterday. Flowers are blooming and trees are budding. I think God knew I wouldn't like the weather in DC too much, and decided He would change the weather for me.
I was reading someone's profile online, and saw this quote:
"A nation's success or failure in achieving democracy is judged in part by how well it responds to those at the bottom and the margins of the social order... The very problems that democratic change brings -- social tension, heightened expectations, political unrest -- are also strengths. Discord is a sign of progress afoot; unease is an indication that a society has let go of what it knows and is working out something better and new." - Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
Makes one less fearful of change, and more willing to accept it, doesn't it?
]]>1) Snow days instead of hurricane days.
2) instead of opening the door and letting the heat out before you get in, you don't want to let out what little heat there is in the
car.
3) I still yell "ouch" when I touch the stearing wheel. Just here, it's because it's FRICKIN' COLD.
4) In the summer here, I want to do things outside because 'the weather's perfect," while others say I'm a freakjob and will surely die. In the winter, I elect to stay inside because there is icky white stuff all over the ground and I fear losing my ears while others declare "the weather's perfect!" and "isn't the snow great?"
Oh, also, my hard drive died. Hopefully I haven't lost any pictures. I ordered an external exclosure (somethign I wanted anyway, this just gave me the excuse to get it) to hopefully transfer the files to another computer... I hope my pictures aren't gone... that would blow chunks.