accidental. - the livejournal.

6:24pm: Julie: I got the job!!
Anna: WOOOOHOOOO!!!
Anna: I knew you would.
Julie: So now I just have to figure out how to quit my other job.
Anna: you should try to incorporate your middle finger somehow

I am the newest graphic designer/production artist/"I will do whatever they tell me to do" for White Wave Foods. Woot!

4:42pm: When it rains, it pours
One interview tomorrow, my recruiter pitching me for another job next week, and freelance clients lining up...

The only question is - when do I quit my current life-sucking job?

4:43pm: 4:39 Julie: My co-worker and I are so disenchanted with our jobs that we're discussing running away together to Roswell (where we have a client) and getting abducted by aliens. And then expensing it, because the Prez of the company expenses *everything*. The company keeps his boat - docked in SEATTLE - filled with gas.
4:40 Malinda: Do you really want to expense an anal probe?
4:40 Julie: if I get anally probed, SOMEONE should pay.

9:30pm: And, that's a no. Oh well. It was between me and someone else, so this chick must have glowed in the dark or something. :)

Moving on to the next application...

10:31am: My references are reporting back to me that they've been called. The job posting was removed from the company's web site this morning. So... sometime soon, I suppose I'll know.

It's really hard to focus at the job I still have.

3:35pm: Update
The interview went well. The editing test was fairly simple - three pages of spelling and a one-page press release to proofread. Felt good about it.

When I got home from the interview (about an hour after it finished - I stopped to pick up some lunch) there was an e-mail waiting for me from the HR manager saying they would check my references. And today, my references have reported that they have indeed been contacted. I figure I'm a finalist for the position, if not the "winning" candidate; this company has been thorough about everything else, so I wouldn't be surprised if they checked references even if they planned to offer me the job.

Still trying not to get my hopes up too high; I'm in the running, at least, but there's a chance I might not get the job. And if that happens, I'll have to come back to my current job knowing I'll be here indefinitely instead of having a light at the end of the tunnel.

I'll know by Wednesday.

3:14pm: I have a job interview tomorrow. I even bought a new outfit for it. The earrings are dangly.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high. It's a great fit for me - every competency in the job description appears on my resumé - and it would be nice to work for a company that has their shit together. As opposed to, say, some bosses who had us develop this product and sell it to people and then decide it might be a good idea to write a business plan. I would go from having no benefits to having a maxed-out retirement account, 25 days of paid vacation a year plus holidays, actual potential for advancement, and a salary that would allow me to contribute to our household more actively instead of just taking care of my massive student loans and medical bills so Jason doesn't have to and then buying a throw pillow or a piece of artwork here or there. We're fine financially, but... it can always be a little *more* fine. :)

In any event, I have an editing test before my group interview (me with a group of interviewers, not a group of interviewees), so I've been brushing up on my proofreading marks and trying to nail down the who/whom rules in my head. I'll probably skim an old grammar textbook tonight; it feels like I have homework.

Jason and I also threw up a portfolio site last night - at a new domain, so my blog isn't *so* easy to track down - and I think it turned out pretty swell. I was prepared to go in with printed and bound copies, but the HR manager prefers online portfolios. Can't argue with that.

4:34pm: Episode 24,946 - Wherein Julie tries to sell herself
Today, I e-mailed a hiring manager at a very nice company a lovely cover letter with my stellar resume attached.

I'm keeping my hopes up.

7:15am: *happy freelance dance of extra income* It's great to get work by word of mouth without any effort at all.

Of course, now I'm spinning off into an alternate dimension where I'm swamped with work because I actually put in some effort, updated my portfolio, and advertised a little.

Yeah, I'm gettin' right on that.

2:48pm: Life has returned to normal. Jason is healthy and I'm not losing sleep staying up to make sure he's breathing. Our house is on schedule. Work is decent, if not exceptional. Tons of freelance.

Naturally, I'm waiting for something to go terribly wrong.

It feels good to have Jason at 100 percent. I didn't realize how much I missed our routine of Friday dates and weekends lounging around, watching football and running errands, until he was too sick and tired all the time to move off the couch or the bed. His struggles have made us more thankful for each other, if that's possible.

As far as work goes, this week could be aptly referred to as "Hell Week." Two freelance projects - a map card and a community school catalog - coupled with Big Suits in the office for three days and two nights taken up by my Photoshop class, and I was feeling at capacity. Luckily, the freelance projects went smoothly. The Big Suits took the application we were developing "back to formula," so I'm basically starting over with the UI. I have to have that done before we leave for the OC next Saturday. And my class moved at a much faster pace than the previous session (there were half as many students this time), so I had to scramble and add to the lesson plan. I was hesitant to do so, since we're adding the Intermediate class next semester and I wanted the students taking it to have a comparable skill set. But then I remembered that *anybody* can sign up for the class, so I'll have a variety of skill sets to deal with anyway. The students this time were all very attentive and excited to learn, with the exception of one - an older gentleman who does PC repairs for a living. He didn't care so much about retouching photos (which is what the bulk of people taking the class are going to use it for); he just wanted to design his own web site. So he kept me late after class talking about dithering and file compression and resolution, and try as I might I couldn't explain to him clearly enough what artifacts in a JPEG are. Oh well.

Through the grapevine I've gotten two more freelance gigs. If I can hammer out some of my personal projects, including the launch of Fluff Press, before New Year's, I'll be feeling pretty damn good about my prospects for the year.

2:15pm: Jason and I went to see "Team America: World Police" yesterday. I've now begun sticking a "Fuck yeah!" postscript on everything I say.

I don't think my new Mormon co-worker likes that very much.

7:46am: Fluff Press. Coming soon.

1:23pm: The Great White Hope
I've always been a sort of golden child, an anomaly in my family. My mom married a series of bad men (how she found my father attractive when he was unemployed and living in a motel I'll never know), my sister dropped out of high school, ran off to California and hooked up with some random guy, and came back home to live with my mom and I five years later with two kids and no money; she proceeded to take the money my mom gave her to pay bills and use it to buy drugs. My brother went to college, joined the army, married and divorced in about two years' time, and is now a single dad. He's done well for himself - he went back to school to start and finish a degree in engineering, he's owned his own home, etc. - but he made the mistake of hooking up with a girlfriend from high school who, since high school, slept her way through the rest of his friends. So he let her move in, with her bastard children, and she proceeded to suck him dry and then end up in jail on 20 cases of identity theft. At one point he had discovered she had installed spyware to read his e-mail and finally kicked her out; he spent a week at my sister's while she got her crap out, and he came home to find half his furniture in the garage after she had tried and failed to move it out before he came back. He's got a job in Idaho now and he's making a fresh start. My sister and mom, too, it seemed, were doing well. My mom moved in with my sister, and she's finally paying bills and such - things she never managed to do when I was a kid. After having four kids with three different fathers, my sister finally settled down and got married, and she and Tom have been together more than 10 years.

Well, my sister hasn't changed as much as we'd hoped. My mom came home Tuesday night, and my sister rushed down the stairs to tell her that their house was being foreclosed on. Apparently, my sister hasn't made a mortgage payment since the beginning of the year. She managed to hide the house being foreclosed AND going to auction AND being sold from my mom... and her husband. They've found a rental to move into, but they have to be out of their house by this weekend. The kids have to change schools. It's all a nightmare.

The worst part is, from the perspective of two people throwing together a mortgage agreement and downpayment, is that they had a ton of equity in the house. They sold one before this to help make the downpayment. And they'd been paying the mortgage for almost 10 years. Now, all that investment is gone. And my mom says they have a room for her on the first floor - she can't really climb stairs - but there's no closet and the bathroom doesn't have a shower.

My brother called me two hours after my mom checked in to break the news. His first words? "She's not moving in with me."

Ah, family.

12:23pm: We put a hold on the lot today, officially. There's nothing terribly binding about it - we gave them a check for $500 that they won't cash until we sign a contract, and we have 48 hours to sign a contract after our block is released for construction, but... it still feels like it's ours. Our house. Ours. Actually, our lot where our house that isn't built yet will be.

Wacky!

First thing Saturday morning, we're heading to the bank to hang out and talk mortgages. We're deciding whether we want to both be on the mortgage or whether to just put Jason on there. We're fairly certain we can qualify for enough of a loan based on only his income, so that would leave mine for emergencies and unexpected expenses. Also, since his credit score is about 100 points better than mine, he can get a better interest rate.

11:08am: So, I got a new job. Shhh... don't tell. It's as the web designer for a hosting company in Boulder. It pays slightly less than my current job, but not having to pay $3.50 a day in tolls makes up half the difference. And I'd be happier. :)

I'm giving my notice tomorrow.

10:42am: Screwed by The Man
An excerpt, if you will, from a letter I received yesterday:

"Great-West Healthcare

Service Description:
Avista Adventist Hospital - Semi-Private Room
Hospital Extras
Surgery In-Patient

Charges: $12,619.94
Covered expenses: $0.00
Total Benefit: $0.00

New England Financial PPO Plan
R01: Expenses for pre-existing conditions are not covered.
A copy of this notice has been sent to your provider."

6:57am: More photos!
Our professional proofs are in. There are about 700 total, so I just scanned a "few" favorites.

Enjoy!

10:00am: One of my co-workers quit; today is his last day. Another co-worker is taking Thursday off to interview for another job. Turns out I'm not the only one who is horribly dissatisfied.

Needless to say, I've started looking.

8:01pm: An assortment of wedding photos

I hope everyone had fun!

3:17pm: Leia sent me this link on AIM, and I couldn't help but post it. I mean, we *do* have a cat named Meatwad.

The Definitive Carl Soundboard

11:01am: If I had to pick the one thing I never ever wanted to do, it would be eating a live cockroach. Or any live bug. Or feces.

The second thing on the list would be coming to work. Ever again. My job is slowly descending into suck-dom. It's not because it's an awful job -- it's stable, with good people around me. But it is boring and monotonous and feels very similar to my foray into data entry almost 18 months ago.

I'm working on it, though. Self-sufficiency and creativity are my goals. I can rationalize staying in a dead-end, unhappy job for a while if it means actually making a go of my own ventures. I just wish Jason would speed up that whole "independently wealthy" thing he's been working on.

8:24pm: The Long Version
I downloaded a little program called vJournal for my PowerBook, and since it lets me blog to both LiveJournal and Blogger, it seemed handy. And it will be - until I finally upgrade to Movable Type on my site. At the rate I'm going, that will be in 2034.

We've been married three weeks, and back home for almost two. And, honestly, I remember very little of the wedding itself. Things are starting to come back, but I need to see our professional photos. Ashley said we could expect our proofs in about a month, which means a week or two from now, if you're following along. I do remember some things, though.

( The long recap... )

8:17am: *does the happy PowerBook dance*

Mmm, mmm, mmm... 15 inches of beauty, it is.

10:01pm: For the curious
( I suppose it had to be done... )

6:53am: Mustering all the courage I had, I went to my supervisor and asked to at least be paid what the temp agency was paying me. And the supervisor consulted with Human Resources and agreed to those terms. My benefits will also start right away -- they're waiving the 90-day waiting period -- and my doctor is "in network", so my health care coverage is free. Which is nice. So, I'm officially employed permanently, as of yesterday. I even discovered one of those fancy faux wood name plates on my desk as I plowed through all the work that had collected in my absence. They sure know how to make a girl feel welcome.

Also, Alex got a PowerBook, and that really pisses me off.