Title credit: Yogi Berra.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
When I left the interview on Friday I knew I messed up some things and didn’t pull off the interview of my life as I had hoped, but I thought all was going to be okay. A weekend spent with my thoughts has filled me with self-doubt and I now have no idea. This feels so familiar…
The ball is in their court. I have no definitive update so please don’t ask.
I will say that if I managed to screw this one up it will be a monumental blow to my already-fragile sense of confidence; I’m not sure what I will do if this is occurs.
Six Months Ago?
It had been nearly six months to the day since I last saw some of the people with whom I ate dinner and consumed alcoholic beverages on Friday night at Chuy’s Tex-Mex in Dunwoody which stands across the street from our former office space. Honestly, it was really great and felt like a family reunion to me. I was happy to hear how many folks have landed jobs, much like I hope to be able to say soon.
More Like “Soup” Vide
Yesterday afternoon I put a bag of spice-rubbed pork into a sous vide water bath and let it cook for nearly five hours. Upon pulling the bag out of the 150°F water I saw much more liquid in the bag than I could account for through fat rendering. DANGEN! All I could figure is that there must have been a pinhole in my bag and water seeped in? Not sure. Regardless the pork was cooked, a bit too much actually, and I ate this for dinner:
Obviously it is some sliced pork, with it I have some microwaved frozen vegetables, “rice and beans” (box of Rice-a-Roni and some Madras lentils added to it), and a dollop of Hoisin sauce (“Chinese BBQ sauce”).
A “Multiverse” Has More Verses Than Which I Care To Deal
Saturday afternoon didn’t go as planned either, so instead of pressuring myself to hang out with a bunch of strangers at Torched Hop Brewing, I stayed home; it’s probably for the best since I wouldn’t have had the courage to talk to anyone and probably didn’t need to drink much before going out to Horizon Theatre later in the evening.
My string of good luck with Horizon Theatre plays has seem to have run out. Back in December I saw the worst performance of “Santaland Diaries” thanks to the handcuffs place on the actors by the people who own the rights to the play.
On Saturday night saw “Constellations” which opened on Friday. Let me start off by saying that my dismay for this play has nothing to do with the two actors who performed for eighty minutes; they did the best with what they had. The premise behind “Constellations” is that it takes place in a multiverse, where all possible outcomes of life happening at the same time, so at numerous times in the play a noise would sound and the actors would replay a scene using different circumstances. For me it was essentially rehearsed improv. Perhaps I’m too much of a simpleton to appreciate the unique structure a play set in a multiverse provides; after all I’m no Stephen Hawking, I’m just some schmuck who is eating home alone while waiting with bated breath to see if he can work again.
Why yes, I am beating myself up about everything.
I Think I’ve Been Here Before
I did manage to keep my string of exercise days going, putting in eighty minutes of my own on the trainer on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. For these three rides I started watching The Amazing Race Season 9!
“Wait, didn’t you just finish Season 6?” you ask? How very astute of you! Yes, that’s correct.
I started Season 9 since I knew that I watched Season 7 when it first aired (this was the first season of TAR that I ever watched) in the spring of 2005 (!), and that Season 8 was “Family Edition” which put me off TAR. I thought that I had skipped Season 9, but their is a strange sense of familiarity with the teams who participated during this season — namely BJ & Tyler (the hippies from San Francisco), and Dan & Danielle (the twenty-two year olds in pink from Staten Island who hooked up with the two volleyball playing dudes from Florida whose names I cannot recall as I write this). I’ll keep watching. One of the greatest things about my inability to remember details about a lot of the things I’ve watched is that it allows me to re-watch them.
Look Who’s Joining Urban Explorers Of Atlanta
ME! (you probably figured that out)
Who says hanging out in bars doesn’t pay off? WHO?!?!?!
I’ve already proven that one can win a bit of pocket change by playing Bar Bingo. This week I also scored $60 off the cost of an annual membership to Urban Explorers Of Atlanta. How did I do this? By being the first to recognize that a photo they posted on their Twitter stream was taken inside the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club.
Hope your weekend was spectacular.
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Hindsight is 20-20. Stop beating yourself about the interview. Think positive thoughts- they are just as easy as negative ones.
Friday, Debbie’s brother Andy was placed in the hospital in Griffin with what appears to be heart issues. They are doing some sort of angioplasty/roto-rooter as I type this, so positive thoughts would be appreciated.
I played lumberjack all 3 days this weekend and made some good headway. Debbie had gone riding Saturday afternoon, however her horse returned without her. I knew there wasn’t a real issue, as he had a halter and lead rope instead of tack and saddle. When he met me at the gate, I decided to check my phone and about that time it rang with Debbie reporting a missing horse. Seems he didn’t want to stand around after the ride, so broke away from his tie-down and headed for home- fortunately no roads were involved, just 2 miles of trail!! We did get a report from a friend who lives through the woods that she spotted him and he was headed in the right direction!
Happy Monday!
-FP
hope Debbie’s brother gets it all figured out.
too funny about the horse coming home alone.
Our weekend went pretty well – went out on a nice hike at the Chattahoochee park barely ITP, called East Palisades. I’ve never seen so many cars in the very small parking lot, and we figured out why, there was a group of maybe 20 people hiking together – probably a meetup group? Our hike was maybe 5 miles, and it was a lovely day, and the Chatthoochee water actually looked blueish, instead of the usual brown.
Sunday we went mtn biking, I was glad we got out there by 11am, the weather turned colder & windy as the day went on. I’m almost remembering now to ride again, I’m still a little skiddish on sharp right turns, but I’ll get over it eventually. We stopped at Newk’s for lunch, just opened up in Kennesaw, way too crowded for 2pm on a Sunday, but a nice place. I wonder how long it will stay crazy busy, as it isn’t the cheapest place I’ve ever had lunch.
I have never gone to a Newk’s, though I have seen a few locations around town. What type of food do they serve?
Its a sandwich, salad & soup place, with small pizzas (& mac n cheese) on the menu. Very tasty food the couple times I’ve been.
We are semi-regulars. I haven’t had the pizza, but love the sandwiches and lobster bisque. The soups rotate, so it can be a problem if I don’t remember to check and see if they are serving that, as the others are just OK.
I love Newk’s. In fact, Steve ^^ and I have even dined at a Newk’s together! 🙂 My favorite is their black and bleu steak salad. They have a couple really great salads there (and in a grab-and-go case too).
Oh yeah – are we still thinking about having lunch tomorrow?
I am! Name a time and place and I will be there. I never thought I’d say this, but I am hoping to not have such a free lunchtime schedule soon. You might rightly guess that I just looked at my bank account. 😥
I’m available, but would be limited to Midtown. Did we actually have a discussion about this and I slept through it or did you just come up with the idea?
well – maybe I misunderstood. I thought last week you said you would be available on Tuesday – you had something to go later & it would work out great.
But – unless I go home sick (which I may), I can’t do midtown.
OMG – I just went back & looked, it was Stacy that said Tuesday – not Steve. So sorry Steve, I just saw the capital S & went from there.
Barb, I did the same thin last week until I reread Stacy’s comment.
I am too!
So- 1230 – you guys tell me what you are in the mood for.
And – the more I think about it – I’m seriously thinking about calling in sick tomorrow, or going home sick………
I an really tired of this place today.
You know what might sound good? Hankook Taqueria over on Collier?
1341 Collier Rd NW Atlanta 30318
it gets pretty busy at lunch time – maybe we should meet at 1245?
Or – whatever you guys want.
You were making me feel a little (more) senile than normal. Turned out it was YOU!! 🙂
Hankook at 12:45 sounds like a good plan to me. See you there!
are you in Stacy?
and yesa Steve – some days I am totally losing it over here with my reading comprehension.
I can do that! But if you’re calling in sick anyway Barb, do we want to do it somewhere where Steve can join us too?
but – does Steve REALLY want to join us??? LOL
I am trying, it it’s very difficult for me.
Good thoughts for Debbie’s brother. My immediate family history keeps me concerned about my heart. This is why I have started working out routinely again and desire to drop a good 25-30 pounds; this morning’s weigh-in read 220.
No landscaping was done to the ITP Estate this weekend. Another weekend perhaps…
Poop, I should have left this comment as a reply to Steve’s.
Off to my Man Cave to get exercise, to be followed by German homework and then some playing around with software development. All of these are familiar themes of this blog…
Check in again around lunchtime.
Spectacular weekend? It was…craptastic!
Listen, hang tough with your interview deal.
Giving the cards you’re holding, I doubt you could goof it too badly.
Probably. Hopefully.
If you don’t hear anything, including insights from your network (ping ’em…today), send up a flare like Wednesday-ish. Reiterate your interest, ask about next steps, etc.
To be honest (and hindsight is always 20/20) that’s precisely why you ask every interviewer, at every occasion, “What is it about my background and experience isn’t a good fit or what ABC is looking for in this position?” That’s really the only chance to get to 1) find out, 2) state your case.
FWIW, I still feel like you got this one.
JG/HamWithCam
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hamwithcam/