I've Got A Friend

My friend, Pat Mason, is always telling me that God works not only in mysterious ways, but in his own time and that we just have to wait for him to unveil the plan.  As I have said, waiting is not the best thing I do.  But, in this job economy, it's all I can do.

But, I think I am starting to agree with Pat.  I blogged earlier about speaking to a woman (Judy Budd) who is the Sales Manager for the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. Speaking to her was an accident.   I was actually trying to find an email address or phone number for the regular Wilmington paper and couldn't, so I resorted to the Yellow Pages.  The Regular Wilmington paper was not listed there either, but Judy's paper, the Greater Wilmington Business Journal was.  I called her to find out if her paper was hiring or had a sales Call Center. 

Judy asked for my resume and invited me to the Biz Tech networking event, which I attended early in February.  Yesterday, we met for coffee and spent the next hour and a half talking about people she was going to contact on my behalf for a job.  I couldn't believe that this busy woman would not only take an hour and a half out of her day, but take me on as a project as well.  After coming up with an entire page of contact people, she told me which companies were hiring and who was the best person to speak to at various companies.  We just clicked.  She said later in an email that she has never felt the connection we seemed to have with anyone else so quickly as she did with me.  Personally, I found her to be an older version of me.  She grew up in Parma,  we have the same hair color and style and were even wearing similar outfits.  But, aside from the "outside" things,  I too, felt an immediate friendship.

I sent her some flowers to say thanks after our meeting.   This morning, she called to say thanks and asked what Tony and I were doing this Saturday night.  She went on to invite us to go to the American Heart Association Ball at the Convention Center.  A black tie event (yep, Tony gets to wear his tux again!!) where some of the people she wants me to meet will be attending.   I was shocked and very excited. 

Sometimes in the working world you find people willing to go the extra mile to help others--sometimes you don't.  I have always believed that being successful in your job meant helping and mentoring others so that they get a shot at the success that  you have experienced.  Some people think that helping and mentoring others puts their own success at risk and that's just not true.

I may get a job as a result of the time and effort I put into contacting and building relationships with the people Judy knows--and I may not.   But if I do, I will spend whatever career I have left making her glad that she recommended me...and I will do the same for the next newcomer. 

In Judy, I have a mentor--someone familiar with Wilmington who can help me navigate the job waves in the city.  But in Judy, I've also got a friend. 

My Candles Are Flickering

I can't tell you how much I hate job hunting.  The endless hours on the computer, finding a good job, hearing from a recruiter, waiting for interviews, waiting for word on next steps, watching the candles flicker in the wind.

That's where I am right now.  JP Morgan Chase was told to put the Operations Manager position on hold until after 1st Quarter results....Assurant isn't sure I can make the hour long + travel time every day, so while I am a good candidate, they are not sure they want to go forward, but are thinking about it.   ARG!

As Tony can well attest....I hate waiting.  I'm impatient.  Now I'm impatient and frustrated.  Poor Tony, having to live with me in this condition! 

And so I wait.   I wait for more jobs to magically appear on the job boards.  I wait for the recruiters who have called for my salary requirements for jobs with nameless companies to call me back.  I wait for opportunities "that match my skillset."  

I hate waiting.

Consignment Shopping

In our efforts to "home up the house," Tony and I spent some time going through some consignment shops yesterday.  If you are not familiar with consignment shops, these are stores who sell things for other people.  The prices get lower the longer the item is there.  One of the ones we went to was called the Ivy Cottage and seemed to deal in estate sales.  The furniture was high end and in very good condition.  We bought a table for our entry way and then went back today to buy a rocking chair that I liked for my office.  My "grandchild rocking chair" that has rocked every grand-baby but Zach resides in our bedroom.  I'm hoping Jon and Jenna bring the kids down before Zach is too big to rock. 

We also hung a mirror in the entry way that we bought several months ago.  It looks so nice now.

The mirror is reflecting the wall, it's not really cut like it is showing.  It has etched glass all the way around it. 


I think we will go back again.  It was fun hunting through all of the stuff and having that musty antique smell in the air.  I'm going to steam the chair before I use it, but it fits in well with my office.  I have a ton of pictures in here and my books. 

I'm in here  a lot, hitting the job boards early in the morning.   I'm in wait mode now and I don't do that very well.   I'm waiting for second interviews to be set up, waiting for recruiters to get back to me, waiting on HR managers.  I've always been a terrible "waiter." 

I had some fun with Jenna today.   On her last blog, she said, "Go Giants."  Hmmmm....as I explained to her, anyone who has worked for a company based out of NY, DOES NOT root for any NY team, so I am saying, "Go Patriots!!!"  Besides, they have much nicer uniforms.   So, we shall see who wins the Super Bowl battle.  But, like Jenna, I will miss watching football. 

Why Parents Take A Lot of Pictures of Their Children

In the cookbook that Tony and I did for Christmas, 2004, my life lesson on page 37 says, "Parents take lot of pictures of their children so in a very small way, they never really leave home."

North Carolina is getting to be more like home!

Excuse the remotes being in the picture, I still haven't mastered content yet!

Homing up the House

Tony and I spent some time in the yard today putting up our wind chimes and my yard decorations.  It's starting to actually look like we live here.

While Tony was hanging one of the wind chimes, a tiny, little lizard came out of the sabel palm by our back patio.   I named him Larry--our first pet!

See how our backyard is shaping up!   Here's Larry sticking his head out from the palm tree, listening to the wind chimes.

This is our "grow old" rock talking about retiring

This is the tree in the back with another wind chime

Weather Out My Window

This is not bragging, this is disbelief....62 degrees on January 25th?  It was warm enough yesterday for Tony and I to get in some cornhole and I'm thinking I will let him beat me again today. 

I am feeling very positive today.  I'm going to the networking event tomorrow and JP Morgan Chase is in the process of scheduling me for an interview for an Operations Management position in South Carolina.  Today, I applied for a Call Center Manager's position, also in South Carolina, so I may have two candles in the wind very shortly. 

I miss Jenna, Jon and the kids.  Jon has taken care of a few things for us at the "old" house (still on the market, please bury stuff upside down in your backyard) and we really appreciate him doing that.  We missed Ellie walking but are enjoying the videos that Jenna has posted. 

Tony took my car in for a check up this morning so I've been in the house by myself.  It's odd to walk around and try to get to know a new house.  But, I am enjoying it.  I'm working in the office today and it's starting to look like a real office.  I've only unpacked 8 or 10 boxes so far, I don't know how Tony unpacked the whole house. 

I've heard from several people from New York Life.  I made so many good friends there, in Cleveland and in New York.  Tony and I will be going to Cleveland in April to get our taxes done and I'm hoping to drop in and see everyone there...not to mention hanging out with the grand-babies!!

Evening Out

Last night,  Tony and I went to a wine tasting at Charlie Macgrooder's with a bunch of people from Compass Pointe.  It was a lot of fun and we had some great food.   

We are meeting some very interesting people here.  Last night, we sat with a lady who used to live in the Washington, DC area.  She has travelled extensively, crewed on sailboats and is starting a job search--she's 71.  She doesn't need the money, she's just bored. 

Naturally, there was a lot of discussion about children and grandchildren.   I think I managed to convince everyone that Tony and I had the prettiest grandchildren!!

 Today I am going on that sales interview and after that we are going to play some corn hole.  The weather is beautiful.   I'm going to try to convince Tony to ride his bike.  I got him a bike for Christmas that he picked out yesterday.   It's black and orange...I couldn't talk him into a Spiderman helmet.  Look out streets of Compass Pointe, Tony will be speeding by any day now.