Basketball

Game 3 of the Pistons-Lakers series is tonite, and you can bet that I'll be up late watching it!

Anyway, I like this article from AOL about why Detroit DESERVES to win!

Shouldn't Kobe be in jail or something anyway?? ;)

work? what's that

Monday, I received a call about that stewardship crew job. I was all set to say no... But instead of offering me full-time, they offered me two 10 hr days/wk (with occassional weekend and evening) for decent pay.

I had to think about that one. Having to drive an hour each way sucks, but I could cope only doing it twice a week. I was definitely going to turn down full time but this... I might be able to work with this...

She needed to know by that afternoon, and I decided I would tell her yes. An hour later, I get another phone call: an environmental consulting firm, regarding a full-time staff scientist position. Set up an interview for Tuesday.

Now I had a dilemma: Do I accept the part-time job with the risk that I would have to quit right away if I was offered the full time? Or do I say no to part time and hold out for this (or even some other) full time position? I hate quitting jobs, but "that's the way it goes" is what everyone advised me. So I accepted the part time.

Yesterday I went to the interview. I have the book "Job Interviews for Dummies" and did a speed-read to prepare. I am great at being personable, likeable, enthusiastic, and energetic (read: I fidget a lot but smile and giggle) but my skills end there. This book actually helped a lot!

Interview went well - I sold myself like a nickle whore! The book explains ways to show how your experience and skills will help the company out, and I even researched the company on the web and brought up what I found. I'll find out Friday if I get called back for a second interview with the president.

The job itself wasn't quite what I though. I want to do field work, but apparently they try to avoid women doing those jobs. "Not that we're sexist, it's just very hard physical labor and we don't want anyone to get hurt." It's statements like that that make me want to do labor to prove them wrong! (Yeah, I'm stubborn like that). I insisted that I get to do some of the fun stuff though and he said we might be able to "work something out". I hate phrases like that!

So I was wary that I would be mostly inside doing budget and project management and writing papers. But wait, isn't that what consultants do? Isn't that what you want to do Lisa - is be a scientific professional? We'll get back to that later.

(Phone rings... answer... just landed an interview as an environmental sanitarian with Livingston county! The fun never ends!)

Then we talk about hours and pay. Minimum 45 hrs per week to get everything done, but to do well it would probably be more like 50-60. Lots of overtime! Now I did work 50-55 hrs/wk often at the end of the summer at Rocky, so it's not that I'm totally lazy (ok, that's part of it...) I don't do overtime unless it's for something I am passionate about or at least enjoy. The pay is ok to start but the opportunity for advancement is huge if you put in the time and effort. Thing is, is that money doesn't mean much to me. It does, but happiness comes first. At this point, I realized that I could DO the job and probably do well if I tried hard, but it would be all work and no pleasure.

I realized that I don't want to be a professional. At all.

I went to college but I like to be simple. I am intelligent but don't want to use only my brain - I want to get dirty and use my hands and keep active. I've thought this is only a phase and I'd get over it and want to be a white-collar worker, but NO! I am convinced that some people are fundamentally designed for certain types of work - I am smart but not driven or ambitious enough to slave away at a desk job and manage people. I dont like people telling me what to do, but I don't want to supervise anyone except myself!

And this whole time I've applied for those kinds of jobs. Screw it. I don't care if I stay low in the food chain as a laborer - it's what I like to do. Like those seasonal National Park Service positions. I want to be seasonal forever! (Except they don't offer benefits, and that's annoying.)

So then I made the mistake of starting to read my latest book, Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. It's about how to be a long-term wanderer. Work a little, then hit the road. Or work on the road. Point is, is that whatever disease infected him is also in my blood, and this book is only encouraging me to adventure on. Get another seasonal fed job, move to Alaska, or even move somewhere forgein.

Some people dream of wealth and power, sports cars and huge houses. I dream of experience and adventure, jungles and mountains.

And now I go to my new job, so I can earn money for my next adventure. ;)

H2 Whoa!

I sat down at my laptop this morning while enjoying a big, cold glass of water when I got a call from Steve.

"Hey, could you bring me some bottled water to work? There's a boil water advisory for the city. But I don't think you're affected," he said.

So I looked it up and found this. And by the poor wording of the advisory, we weren't sure but decided I lived in the "safe" part of the city.

A water main broke yesterday. I had seen nearly every DPW and Water Dept employee hanging out - I'm friends with all of them, so I noticed - and it seemed like a situation of "How many city employees does it take to fix a water pipe?" There were so many people, including the upper level management, so I knew something was going on... but they were all just hanging out and not doing anything. I'm sure there was a reason but to see all of your friends wearing yellow vests and water gushing over the road, surrounded by flashing warning lights and barracades... and they are just hanging out and talking... Keep up the good work, boys!

That was late afternoon. Steve and I went to Royal Oak for the big 3: coffee, cigars, and conversation. When we came back hours later that night, there weren't as many people but there was still lots going on under those blaring spotlights.

I smiled. At this point, they were making double time to sit on the grass. I wanted to stay and watch them actually fix it - they have been trying to work around it all week, and I've only caught the after-effect: wet and muddy, grumpy men from head to toe. How hot is that? Ha ha!

I finished that quenching glass of water and was about to update this journal about my interview and the job I start today, when Steve calls back.

"Hey, don't drink the water. You need to boil also."

... Dammit.

Good old Probert, still as fiesty and mean as ever.
He's an infamous former Detroit Red Wings hockey player. Ever seen the hilarious movie "Slap Shot"? We'll just say Probert would probably fit in pretty well next to Tim McCracken and Olgilthorpe.
Even though I was a wee little girl when he played for Detroit, I still remember hearing about him. Well boys and girls, he's still alive and well... and getting his ass tasered by cops in Florida!
I think the Wings need to find another guy like that to join our team - we've got too many feeble old men and timid young boys - it's time we got some low down and dirty hockey thugs! I want skanky mullets and missing teeth! Face-off fights and leveling the goalie! All that good stuff!

Hey Calgary just scored in overtime. They deserve to win the Cup - they beat Detroit, so they've gotta be good, right?

I had an interview today for a seasonal position on a "stewardship crew" - essentially more exotic plant management and environmental restoration. Ends up it takes an hour to get there - yikes! But I figured if it was a good job, I could deal with it.

The entire parks and recreation department for this township consists of three people and their program is in its infancy. The funding to hire an entire "crew" fell through; consequently, they would only be hiring one, maybe two people. They wanted it to be full time but gave the disclaimer that they might run out of money and it would switch to part time in the middle of the summer. Also, lots of evening and weekend work.

The interview went quite well and I think I have a decent shot at the job - except for my concern regarding how many hours I would be working, and how much I would be paid. To drive an hour each way and only work 20 hrs per week seems excessive, especially if it doesn't pay well. For that reason, they may not choose me because the job and my needs don't seem to fit well. Even if I get offered it, I will probably turn it down. Ah well, they were great people with an excellent program and at least it was an interview!

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My older friends play on a beer-league softball team and I love cheering them on. They're actually really good, too! So yesterday I was all set to whoop and holler for my boys... and the game got rained out. What to do on a Wednesday evening??

Call Heather, of course. Us bad girls have to stick together, ya know?

I went to her friend's house - a guy I don't really know - and it was like a high school reunion! I usually avoid anything that has to do with high school or No-ville, but we put in Pirates of the Caribbean... Yeah, my friends have this thing for pirates. Arrrrrr matey! I just have a thing for Johnny Depp. I think it's the mascera. ;)

Pirates and booze go hand and hand, of course, so we passed around the Captain while the girls talked dirty to the larger-than-life Jack Sparrow cast upon the screen from a projector TV. Then we had to leave.

But I wasn't bored or tired! It's only 1 am on a Wednesday night - lets hit a bar!

Heather and I staked our claim at the Library Pub and watched obnoxious "how are they 21?!" type girls giggle and blush at muscle-bound meat heads; apparently we don't attract those types of boys. Thank goodness. We'd eat the poor things alive. Man eaters we be... Arrrrrr!

Yeah, we shut the Library down. Who am I supposed to do that with when/if she moves?! Heather, don't leave me!

So tomorrow, we will be sitting in our bikinis and cultivating some cancer cells near the pool, talking about men and jobs and being sarcastic and cynical.

Ok, this wasn't the most exciting journal entry for ya'll in cyberspace to read, but I was bored. ;) The photo was when Brian, Steve and I attempted to climb Mt. Adams in Washington, taken at sunrise.