So I didn't do much in the way of blogging this past year and really that just means it was a good year.
Two major changes occurred that I suppose are safe to divulge at this point, and if you follow my tweets, you may already know that:
- After 4 very long years, I'm finally and officially employed.
- We got a cat.
Side note: I've grown to love twitter more than blogs...turns out I only really need 140 characters to say what I want to say and people only have that attention span anyway.
I've been working on and off for UCSD over the past 2 years as a temp who floats around different departments, and while I appreciated the work, let's just say that some days I was scolded for using different colors of paperclips. I wish I was kidding.
Just when I gave up on finding writing/editing jobs (i.e., what I went to school for), I got a call to temp as a senior editor. Long story short, after 5 months of temping, 4 months of interviews, somehow winning "Temp of the Month" (possibly the most hilarious award I've ever received), and narrowly missing the hiring freeze, I finally got the job in August. And I love it.
I've been reluctant to say anything because I'm in a probationary period until February, and while I'm not worried about my performance, like everyone else I've just kept an eye on this weird economic time we're in...last one in is the first one out kind of thing. Hopefully I'm not jinxing myself now, even. Anyway, I basically edit content for the university's Web site, which could also be the reason for the decline of the blog posts. I get plenty of HTML in my day and while the content I edit is rife with humor opportunities, I'd rather, again, keep my job. The best part is I work with some of the smartest, funniest people I've ever known. In other words, for having been painfully unemployed and downright lost for the past 4 years, I feel like my karma finally came back.
Another side note: I feel like everything I ever did on this blog or learned from creating this blog--be it html, photography, graphics, photoshop, Web research, etc.--directly fed into my ability to get this job. Who would have thought?
In other karma news, we got a cat. This is a huge deal and has been a long time coming. Long story short is that Ryan is allergic to cats, more than a year ago we started him on shots, as time went on we visited the humane society often to monitor his reaction in a room full of cats (he seemed good), and then when some lab cats became available at UCSD, to my surprise he suggested we take one home. We then let things settle in to see how his allergies were before we possibly had to give it back.
I think it's safe to say we're past that waiting period and that we're both in love with the furball of energy who's brought a lot of energy into our lives. As a courtesy to those who would rather not read about another woman going on about her cat, the little guy does have his own separate blog...which has, in its short life, become way more popular than this one.
When I haven't been here, I've been writing posts for Garrett Photography (where I intern). Anyway I wrote a post yesterday that felt a little more Kellinahandbasket but sweet-i-fied for a different crowd. It feels unfair not to link to it so here's the round-up of all the posts you've missed out on:
Sometimes people get excited and think that I took those pictures and I didn't. That's the handiwork of Garrett and Jason who are pretty freakin' talented. I rough edit their stuff (meaning I go through the thousands of pictures from the event and start deleting the obvious throw-aways, and it's a hard job because they take such great pictures. It also helps that seemingly the most flawless specimens of the human race flock to them. Anway. I'm going to point you to my other posts in a more timely manner. Or not. I'm not good at making promises.
I recently started a new temp job (on top of the photography internship) with a department I quite like. The most succinct description I can give of everyone in the place is smart, funny, open-minded, and drama-free. Sure beats that other department that had a sit-down talk with me because I was using different colored paper clips. Seriously, guys. Hire me already.
Anyhow, I work with the very funny Liz, and this interesting guy, Matt (I especially like his look at robots inside furry toys and his redesign of the States).
How lucky am I?
"You're going to have to re-do this pack of letters and make sure that all the paper clips are of uniform size."
"You're going to have to re-do this pack of letters and make sure that the post-it flags you've used are of uniform color."
Kell: "I think we need to sit down and compare notes because I'm being sent the same work I've already done."
Temp supervisor: "Is that a problem?"
Pardon the absence. I'm trying to figure out how to balance the employed life with the blog life. Enter: the liver. Somehow a temporary employment pool has led me to a liver transplant center in San Diego which has been fascinating and exhausting all at once. I like to term my temporary position there as Junior Nurse since I've been meeting patients at their appointments, attending pathology meetings, selection committee meetings (where they choose who does and doesn't get a new liver), filled out lab orders and refill requests, and monitored Creatinine levels. Seemingly everything but taking an organ out and putting a new one in. And all I said to the HR person was, sure, I have a personal interest in the medical field. I thought I'd be answering phones.
I'm hoping that my next assignment will be with the Scripps Oceanography Institute and that I'll, I don't know, have to put on a wet suit and take a helicopter out to a remote part of the ocean to collect some data on an experiment they have going on out there. Or that the student activities office will need me to call Radiohead up and schedule them for a date on campus, show them around San Diego, and expense a dinner with them.
Who knows? Maybe the temporary employment career is the way to go.
You gotta love the white uniform wearers. These are, perhaps, the people with the messiest jobs, yet still choose to don the color which will ultimately highlight the stains of their work, should they have "an accident." Painters...is the white uniform a measure for the customer to see how often you get the paint in the right spot (that big wall in front of you) or a neutral background to test your colors? Nurses...we all know that hospitals wish to convey the sanitary, the germ-free, and nothing reinforces those white, hospital walls like a white nurse's uniform. That is, with the exception of that urine stain from emptying the bed pan or that vomit chunk. This may be why we're starting to see more of those patterned uniforms. Chefs (cheves?)...you toiler of my dinner, you! I feel much better being able to see the hard work you put into my manicotti, not to mention the hand-shaped sauce smear across your belly, which reminds me you were just using your bare hands on my recently ingested food! And, of course the servers...you're in that same category of the chef...diligently following health code regulations by following the three second rule when a portion of my salad hits the ground and using the power of suggestion with your wine stains so that I might buy a bottle and you can eek a little extra tip out of me. Ah me! Who knows? You may simply be people who enjoy a good laundry challenge every now and then.
New interview technique or bad company? I give you three examples:
1. Last year I interviewed with a large company to edit their English pamphlets. They called me late, but the interview went well, I passed the test they gave me, they offered me the job, asked me if I wanted to be paid in dollars or euro and never contacted me again.
2. Person B submitted a resume to another very large company, was contacted to schedule an interview, and then the company never called. He contacted them and they rescheduled, calling over an hour late for the rescheduled time.
3. Person C was contacted by yet another very large company--they sought him out--to schedule an interview. Lo and behold this company didn't call until the interviewee sent an email an hour later saying, ??? After a half hour passed for the rescheduled interview, person C again sent an email saying ??? and was called.
So the question is, is this a new phone interview technique? Seems common enough. Seems like it could be a MTV boiling-point-esque tactic to see how the interviewee holds up under stress and angering situations. What up, companies?
Friends, I had a couple of discoveries yesterday that you might like to partake in as well:
Music:
"Nouvelle Vague" is a compilation of both songs from the early 80's and a variety of French chanteuses produced by Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux. Best described by their website,
Their idea was to forget the initial punk or new wave background of each song, keep simple fundamental chords, work with young singers who never heard the original versions, and make the quality of original songwriting happen in a completely different way (bossa nova, jazz style and sixties pop).
Hence the Nouvelle Vague or "new wave" entitlement or what the Portuguese call Bossa Nova. It's a good album in its entirety but I find myself mostly revisiting "Just Can't Get Enough," "Guns of Brixton," "Making Plans for Nigel," and "I Melt with You."
Tracklisting includes:
1. Love Will Tear Us Apart feat. Eloisa (Joy Division)
2. Just Can't Get Enough feat. Eloisa (Depeche Mode)
3. In a Manner of Speaking feat. Camille (Tuxedomoon)
4. Guns of Brixton feat. Camille (The Clash)
5. This is Not a Love Song feat. Melanie Pain (P.I.L)
6. Too Drunk to Fuck feat. Camille (Dead Kennedys)
7. Marian feat. Alex (Sisters of Mercy)
8. Making Plans for Nigel feat. Camille (XTC)
9. A Forest feat. Marina (The Cure)
10. I Melt with You feat. Silja (Modern English)
11. Teenage Kicks feat. Melanie Pain (The Understones)
12. Psyche feat. Sir Alice (Killing Joke)
13. Friday Night, Saturday Morning feat. Daniella D'Ambrosio (The Specials)
Thought
(After a lengthy amount of time with family) The only reason why teenagers are the way they are is because they live with their parents. Kids should move out at 13.
Job Search
If you're tired of Monster.com, try Simply Hired. It's a Job Search engine in the works that pulls listings from newspapers and other search engines as broad as Yahoo! HotJobs to the friendly Craigslist.org and as specific as MedJump.com. If nothing else it serves as a great directory and is simply simple. (So far I haven't seen Idealist.org on there, though). I'm trying to put together a folder of good job search sites so recommendations welcome.
Categories: Music, Links/Miscellaneous
