Over the years the month of March has not been a good month for me.
Some of the more memorable and larger incidents are that I’ve broken my finger & ankle (1991, 5 days apart in two different incidents), ankle (1992), hit by a car on the side of the freeway (1993), numerous basketball related injuries, car wrecks, and this year I lost my job. It’s never really been a fun month for me.
So please join with me in bidding a fond farewell to the month of March.
In my recent job search, I’ve been contacted mostly by recruiters who want to talk to me so that they can help me find a job. I appreciate their help, but I also understand that it’s business for them. It’s how they get paid and how they ensure that they keep from being in the same position that they that I’m currently in.
There’s just something that I keep hearing from them that I’m just not sure if it’s really what’s going on or a ploy to get me to come in and speak with them. Usually the conversation whether via email or phone goes something like this:
Them: “I’ve got this position that I’d like to talk with you about. Can you come in?”
Me (with a glimmer of hope): “Sure”
Them: “Great, why don’t we meet on [they set a date and time]“.
Me: “Great, see you then”
I then show up to the appointment and before we event go through all of the typical interview type items they drop the bombshell.
Them: “Well, that position that I told you about previously is unfortunately [on hold/no longer available], but I’ve got several other positions that are coming up soon.”
And they will either list them out or not go into any detail and kind of drop it, then continue on with the standard interview items.
It’s happened a couple of different times which is kind of frustrating, so I’m trying to figure out if it’s just coincidence, or the economy is really causing that much change that quickly these days, or that’s just the way that business is done with recruiters (this is my first time working with them).
As a very young man (I’m talking like 2 years old and younger) I used to eat the TV Guide.
Ok, now that I have that off of my chest I feel much better.
Currently in a tent in the West Desert. The weather’s not bad. No wind, but pretty cold. Even though there’s been a bit of snow in the valley, the desert is pretty dry (aka, no mud).
Rather than bringing a pile of warm blankets and my air mattress, I decided to just bring my new bivy sack along with my new fleece sleeping bag and my old down sleeping bag. I put the fleece bag inside of the down bag and those inside of the bivy sack.
I didn’t dare sleep out in the elements quite yet, but here in the tent on my cot (on a thin sleeping pad) I’m quite warm. Now that I’ve finally learned to take the bag with me when I toss and turn instead of trying to move inside of the bag, in retrospect I think that I should have purchased the mummy bag instead of the rectangular bag. Oh well, I guess I can do that when I wear this bag out. At least with all of that extra material down at the bottom, my feet are warm.
Overall, it’s been a nice camp. Now if only I could actually sleep.