So I ended up swinging the other way. I've gone with the hospital job. Now I am going to be a systems analyst, and I can't really think of anything else that should come up to make me reconsider. I really think the only thing that was causing me to hesitate about the hospital was the pager, which I developed an irrational fear of at Epic. I mean, you couldn't go to sleep without the knowledge hovering over you that it could beep at you at any time, and when it did, it would mean that there was some terrible problem of the sort that, if it happened during the day, you would have gone and found a bunch of more experienced people to help you, but now you had to fix it in the middle of the night all alone while half asleep. But I don't think this pager will be that bad. Hopefully, these pages will be more of the simple questions sort.

So now I really should have a few weeks of pure vacation. I've been taking the time to take walks and learn about the Bingbong region. From these walks, I have confirmed that I have in fact moved to a much older and colder community than I am accustomed to. Weird. I don't believe I've ever seen such nice houses with window unit air conditioners. Apparently, they just don't see a need for central air here. We do seem to have managed just fine with only a couple nights where it was too hot to sleep upstairs (the first night of course being the first night we were here). And then there are so many one car garages - I understand that in terms of the houses being older, but then they fill up the garage with junk and don't even use the space they do have for a car! In terms of the weather, I don't understand that. In Madison, where they also are known to have occasional winter weather, underground garages, sometimes even heated ones, were one of the big attractions of all their apartments. I suppose I'll learn, and, with my latest career decision, I shouldn't have too scary of a commute in the winter. But anyway, I really like our little home as it is now, sunny and low 70s in August.
- posted by Darcey @ 2:23 PM

 
Aaaah! My head is going to explode. Why does everyone want me all of a sudden? And how did everyone wanting me turn out to be such a bad thing? I thought I had my mind made up. I thought it was over and done with and all set up and I didn't have to worry about it anymore. I thought that just a few hours ago. Look down at the post below. See? I had it all worked out!

Now two more companies are interested in me! So these are my alternatives, in all the gory detail:

1. QA position in Elmira: this one seems to be out of the picture now. I liked the job, but not the pay or the benefits, and they were very, very far away. I have rejected them. They are gone.

2. Raymond: This is the position I have accepted, via voice mail. So at this point I don't even really know if I have a choice in the matter any more. I certainly wouldn't have a choice according to the good b-school standards instilled upon me in school. And I don't want to be mean or unethical. The pay is so-so and the benefits are a little unclear. They have nice things, like tuition reimbursement, but then they seem to have cruel things, like basically not giving you any vacation for a year. The job itself is also so-so in my head. I think I would like my daily responsibilities, but I don't know if I'm that interested in what the company as a whole does and I'm not sure how well I would fit into their (older) culture. The distance is also far, but not too far. Overall, this job seems to fall into the middle of everything.

3. Hospital: This one is the one I interviewed with this morning, with the stupid interview questions, that I just wasn't very impressed with. But just now, at about 5 pm, several hours after I accepted Raymond, and several weeks before they claimed they would be likely to do anything, they called me with an offer. They want to give me a good amount more money than anyone else, but they also want me to do all the same things that I didn't like about my last job, like customer support and a pager, except they seem to take the complete opposite approach as Epic toward convincing you to do such things, like give me time off and nice benefits and pay me extra for working more. Plus they are far closer than anyplace else.

Wildcard: Lockheed, where Joe works. All along, we had assumed that they were my easiest way of getting a job, because I had connections and multiple people referring me. They have exceptionally good benefits, and would probably pay well, and they would be nice and convenient since Joe and I could carpool and come and go and vacation and whatnot all at the same time. But they never responded me... until, of course, you guessed it, right after I accepted with Raymond. They called up Joe to talk about the options for finding me something. He told them I had accepted another offer. Given that I had accepted another offer and he told them as much, while their call seemed very ironic, I didn't think I could do anything about it. But now I'm thinking I may need to go back to Raymond to ask for more time to consider the hospital, and if I did that, then I may as well consider Lockheed too.

So now what??? Is it even acceptable to ask Raymond for more time? This part of the decision is made even more difficult to consider because the hospital of course had to call me up at 5 pm on a Friday when I won't be able to talk to anyone again for days. And if I do ask for more time, then there's still the bigger question. What do I do? Do I try something different, to see if I may like it, but get paid less for fewer benefits and drive further away? Or do I go with the option where I'm fairly sure I won't like at least parts of the job, but where I'm experienced and where it is closer and pays better? Or do I throw them all out and try for the wildcard? Aaaaah!
- posted by Darcey @ 4:33 PM

 
It is done. I am employed once more. I have accepted an offer from the Raymond Corporation (the forklift ones) in Greene, NY to become a Documentation Specialist. I have rejected an offer to be a QA Specialist in Elmira, NY (the far away ones). I also just went on a superfluous interview for another position at the local hospital. (Before receiving the Raymond offer, they had interviewed me and asked me to come back for two more rounds. They asked me the same questions in all 3 interviews!) I have another interview for next Thursday that I suppose I should cancel. Suddenly, after weeks of nothing, everyone loves me, and I feel just okay about all of them - none of them were perfect, but I had to pick one. I don't like decisions. Decisions are hard, especially when there is no really, really good choice. But I have made my choice, and now I must learn how to speak about mechanical things.

For now, it appears that I might not be starting for 2 weeks, and so I have 2 weeks of almost vacation-like time. I don't have to fill out anymore applications, or go make a fool out of myself trying to tell a perfect stranger why I love them and what my weaknesses are. Hooray for no more job searches and no more decisions.
- posted by Darcey @ 10:29 AM

 
1. I have a job offer! But the company is an hour away, and I have to be employed for the first few months through a staffing company, which causes complications and doesn't pay much. But I like the job - it is QA at a software company. I only applied a week ago, and they have already interviewed me twice and given me an offer, and they seem to want to hear back from me just as quick. But I have a problem: I also have a second round interview with the forklift company (see below) tomorrow. I think I like the forklift company better, and I got the impression that they might like me too, but I don't know if they'll be able to tell me if I have the job before I need to give an answer to the other company. I feel like one of those annoying sitcom teenagers with two dates to the prom, except a much dorkier version with job interviews instead of dates.

2. New York has too many stupid laws. But, in spite of their attempts to thwart me, I think I may have car insurance now. Geico does seem to be saving me 15% or more, but it took me more than 15 minutes. The hardest part was finding an "inspection location." Geico gives you several businesses to choose from, but then they throw in the tricky part: the businesses don't actually exist. But I showed them! After a failed phone call and drive to the closest of the list, I moved on to the next. They almost had me too - they tried to change their name (labeling the building with multiple names, none of which were the ones they gave me), they tried to disguise the used auto store as a building that had nothing to do with autos and might have something to do with real estate, and they wrote the address in tiny lettering that might have fooled some - but not me! And after turning around on the heavily-trafficked road and driving by the location as shown on google maps a mere five times, I found it! Ha!

3. One further lesson in garbage: Garbage breeds flies. Do not leave 3 weeks of garbage in your garage if you are not interested in breeding flies. And you should not be interested in breeding flies. Flies are annoying. (The fly-breeding process takes about two weeks, so you won't notice the problem while the garbage is there and your future self will be the one to pay for your previous garbage-failing self.)
- posted by Darcey @ 2:57 PM

 
Important Questions:

1. Why do so many cars honk (usually twice) as they are driving past our house? It doesn't seem to be in response to any sort of traffic problem. It seems to be some sort of widespread tradition. Even a dump truck did it yesterday. I have theorized that it has something to do with the house across the street. There be teenagers there. And lots of cars, always coming and going, kind of like when my brother is home. My other theory is that it has something to do with the schools. We live on the street in between the middle school and the high school. Other than that, I fail to see anything particularly honk-worthy on this street. It's really not a very interesting or confusing place.

2. When is my new bank going to give me my money back? They've sent me my card, my PIN, and my online password, but they are still holding on to my money. The old bank says it's gone, and it shows up under the new bank's "total balance" but my "available balance" remains 90 cents. I would like to have more than 90 cents. I haven't been unemployed that long. They say they don't release out-of-state checks for 7 days. Why? Couldn't tell you. But today is the seventh day, and I would really appreciate it if they stopped stealing it all now.
- posted by Darcey @ 11:00 AM

 
Non-housewife activities:
I have a job interview! Now I have to brush up on my vast forklift knowledge. Stop laughing. It's not like they want me to drive one. They want me to document about them.

Housewife activities:
I have sewn a button. Stop laughing again. I did. I have also retrieved seven boy socks from the living room floor. This is not as serious as it may sound - last I checked, the boy still had an even number of feet.

Housewife-neutral activities:
Spiediefest. To inform the uninitiated and the Blogger spell check, spiedies are a local delicacy. They are specially-marinated meat sandwiches. Bingbong has restaurants and special sauce companies devoted to this trademark dish. They also have Spiediefest. At Spiediefest, you can eat Spiedies. You can also watch big balloons be unfolded and inflated and sent into the air carrying people, but hopefully only the people in the basket and not the people holding the big ropes. You can also get free pink bunny ears, even if they never actually send the big pink bunny into the air. If you decide you want to leave Spiediefest after people stop flying into the air, you can also ride on a school bus back to the parking lot. You may remember the process of loading a school bus as taking a few minutes after school everyday, but you were small and foolish then - when professional grown up bus-loaders take charge, the process takes a more respectable 45 minutes or so (if you get a good spot in line).
- posted by Darcey @ 7:55 AM