Woot!

So Mr. Munchkin and I are now married. That was the most excellent day of my entire life. I can't wait to ge the pictures so I can post a few for everyone to see. We started the day out with rain... supposed to be good luck right? I think so, but it didn't stop at the rain. After the rain we proceeded to hail and snow, I consider this to be a sign of the best luck possible. I mean who else honestly gets every type of precipitation on their wedding day? Before the ceremony began we had an uninvited guest named Tom, Tom Turkey. Yes folks I had a Wild Turkey (not the alcohol) at my wedding. Tom feasted on my environmentally friendly alternative to rice, wild bird seed, with gusto after many bags of it were thrown at Mr. Munchkin and myself.

The day was spectacular. DoHP helped avert crisis, and the best man arrived in time for the wedding. It snowed during the ceremony, one of the many reasons I cannot wait to post some pics. After the ceremony I did my bridal photos outside and the flakes were bigger and even more beautiful. I am sure we have some spectacular images. Anyway, I must get back to watching movies and enjoying my honeymoon. Thank you too all who made that day possible!

~Munchkin

I'll see all y'all tonight!

I'm so excited! Except my laptop is borked. But I'm excited anyways! *dances*

Death, Shoes, and Pants

I found this interesting article on MSN.com.

20 things you didn't know about death

Funny--I was just looking for information on the agonal phase for a book last week.

Q finally talked me into a pair of Danskos recently, and they are enormously comfortable. My poor connective tissues are finally giving in my feet, so I needed better arch support and something nice enough to pass at Munchkin's wedding and a professional work environment; I really needed them, but I'm still kicking myself over the cost. They were three times what I typically spend on a pair of shoes. More than our typical food budget for any given month. More than the energy bill and water bill combined.

And now Q has me set on another trendy pair that are white with poetry written on them. Maybe in six months...

Another first: today I walked into a clothing store alone and attempted to find myself black pants for work. I found a pair, but now I need someone to confirm that they actually fit me. I had the realization that I'm almost 25 and I still can't dress myself. Anyone who would like to dress me, please have at it; anyone who calls What Not to Wear will be shot on sight. I got a new, "professional" purse too. Cost of purse and pants: 1/4 cost of shoes (and as Mr. Q pointed out recently, cost of new oven: 4 pairs of shoes).

Good Lord, you'd think they'd be encrusted with rubies and able to teleport me home with a click of the heels for that price.

Alula

Not in my America.

Hey guys, I know this is a hot topic lately. I'm not sending this to any of you because I think you promote this behavior. I just saw it and needed to vent my frustrations with current events.

This video is a social experiment about gangs targeting Latino immigrants; of the 99 people that walked past three thugs beating a Latino man on the street (as they are shouting, because he doesn't speak English) 67 did nothing. The experiment was based on actual events where Latinos have been targeted and beaten to death on the streets.

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7107987

Let's all not be the 67 people who think this okay enough to not do a damn thing. Words are powerful. Don't promote messages of hate. This type of thing starts being okay when people talk about how much they hate "illegal wetback immigrants." Even if I can't change any minds, I'm not going to sit by and let people say things like this around me anymore, and hopefully not around anyone ignorant enough to pick up a baseball bat and "do something about it." I'm not saying people can't voice their frustration with the problem we are currently facing with illegal immigration in this country; I'm saying we need to stop the racial slurs and believing it's okay for someone to get beaten to death in the streets of America for not being a rightful citizen. We go all over the world stopping human rights violations because we are the United States; let's stop these violations here, too.

It's not okay with me that this is happening today. Our country has enough experience battling hate crimes that we should know them when we see them and realize that they're wrong.

Alula

Anniversary!

Hey Ladies,
Mr. Q is home, and yesterday was our one year anniversary. Yeah!
We went to mass then out to lunch with my aunt and uncle. We were planning on staying at home for a little while then going out for a dinner and perhaps a movie. Unfortunately I flopped down on our spear bed around 6 pm because Mr. Q was playing on his computer in there. At some point he curled up next to me and we woke up this morning at 6 am, fully dressed, in a full size bed. Good Anniversary! Were gonna extend our plans into today. We can't be known as the people that slept for 14 hours on our anniversary.

Happy Dance!

This was me in my living room:


I have been recommended for hire, and once I get my formal offer in the mail, I start next month!

Whoot!
Alula

Baby, School, and Work

Well, Snow is doing a little better now; I watched my brother's kids Monday morning because he had something police officer-like that he had to do, and then we hung out for a while. He showed me all the new ultrasound videos they had and complained about how the hospital put the video to "elevator music" (dude, my kids can form to the tune of Blue October or Pink, not that I'm ever having any!). When I asked about May 1st, he said that because Snow's hypertension and blood pressure were doing better, the new plan was to wait and see and leave the kid in as long as they could. He's a proud daddy, showing me all the different angles in the ultrasound--"that's an arm," "that's her foot," "Oh look! She's smiling/yawning/sucking her thumb in that one!"

Then I dropped off my time off application to my Ling program; the department secretary was all shocked. Apparently she'd thought I'd changed my mind at some point and had false memories of me being in her office all the time that semester like usual. I told her that no, in fact I AM poor and I had to work. She said that was okay and she'd see me next semester.

And I spent the night at Q's on Monday; her guest bed is comfortable and I like the way the sun comes through the window in the morning. Incidentally, she tells me Munchkin is looking for a place to crash during Mr. Munchkin's Bachelor Party. My place is available--let me know if you need it.

The hiring process moves forward--my potential new boss has asked for references, which I have supplied. I am hoping so badly I get this job. It's weird because back in college my husband always wanted to work for this particular government agency, and now I find out at movie night last night that another one of my friend's wives wants to work there, too. And somehow I'm lucky enough to be the one being considered.

Today my plan is to nip up some school projects; I have a group paper to write before work(enough with the GD school projects, right?). I also have to do an online certification for doing research with human participants; having done the cert twice before for my other program, that's another 3 hours of my life I won't be getting back.

Alula

Travel Plans

Hey Ladies
Mr. Q is coming home on leave this week. Yeah! I'm so excited I could pee my pants, and that's a understatement.
Now if I could just get him home. Due to security reasons they will not give him a flight plan, but I am starting to think its because the army does not have them ether. Right now I have no idea where he is. I have not heard from him in 24 hours. I'm trying not to freak out but I am. Its hard not too. I keep telling myself that he is fine and he must be traveling or his cell is not working. I would be so much happier if I knew he was safe! I just have to keep myself busy! Good think the house is not clean yet!
Would it be a overreaction to go wait at the airport?

I can't believe it...

So I am getting married quite soon. And Mr. Munchkin doesn't have a "real" career at the moment. I told him I would like to quite from working in the Asian food restaurant because I want to hurt myself and my boss everyday I work there. I told him That I am quitting my job no matter what tomorrow and he is mad because I won't be making that money anymore. I feel this is an unfair thing for him to argue, because for the last 2 years he has not had a "real" job and his business is not doing to great either. He is doing very little to fix these situations so I feel that it is fair that I quit the job that is making me suicidal rather than suffer anymore while he stays at home.

Am I being unreasonable by doing this?

~Munchkin

Count not thy chickens

So let me recap my interview for everyone:

I had very little information on what the job was, aside from what this guy was looking for. I was presuming he was some college professor type with a bunch of grad students he wanted me to wrangle for some research project or other.

Well, first hint that I've made some bad assumptions: I arrive at the interview location (it has a generic state building name), and I have to give up my driver's license to the guard at the gated entrance to drive my car onto the property because I do not have sufficient government issue ID for the site.

Turns out this job is for a well-known (...and unmentioned in the job listing) department of the federal government; the guy who posted it is looking for a personal aid, essentially, to complete research and organizational tasks for himself and some other members of his team. It's a federal job, and operates on a flexible schedule, so I can pick my own hours. This includes the option to work full-time with benefits or part-time to accomodate a school schedule. The pay is more than I was expecting, and while it's not a whole lot, we'll just say that if Mr. B were to lose his job for some reason, it's enough that we wouldn't lose the house. It's more than I the resolution I had previously set for myself.

It's a 40 minute commute each way, but the guy tells me that after I get comfortable with the work load I will have the option of working remotely from home. He will provide me with a desktop at the office to start, and later a work laptop if needed (and then he tells me to just let him know if I need any additional software for the job and he'll get it--it's within their budget to do so). If hired, he would probably fly me out to a different state so I could meet the rest of his team at one of the other facilities. I'm being a little cryptic here because I don't want to go blabbing all the details on the internet where anyone can see them, but the work is really, really cool stuff too (it's not classified work, so don't think it's like government secret stuff or anything). I'll tell you guys at some point.

Then he starts showing me around the office and the building, the caffeteria and vending machines, and what would potentially be my office cubical, and the history of the site, and they have their own library on the grounds--in the profession, we would call it a "special library" because it contains materials very specific to the occupation it supports, i.e. specialized. It's been my long-term goal to eventually get involved in either special or academic libraries, and the guy is telling me that while this job doesn't offer much opportunity for growth (unless something changes over the next few years), it could be an excellent jumping off to get in with their library staff so I can move over there in a few years.

He likes my resume, we seem to have really hit it off, he says he's very pleased with the skill set and background I would be bringing to the job, and then he says he would like to offer me the job. He would like to, but he can't yet--he tells me I am the leading candidate for the position, but they still have one more woman to interview. He doesn't think she is going to be a better fit than I am, but he cannot officially offer the job to me until he has met with her and makes his final decision.

I will not count the chickens....I will not count the chickens...I will not count the chickens....

Hatch, damn you!

Alula

Praying Harder

Update~

Snow isn't doing well, according to the grapevine. She's doing so poorly, in fact, that the doctors are saying that if she makes it to May 1st, 30 weeks, they are going to induce because the baby needs to come out for both of their sakes.

So my new niece is coming about 2 months sooner than anticipated, and all the scary pictures on the internet say she's going to be super tiny.

Alula

Why is Billy Mays yelling at me?

Ladies,

In preparation for my interview on Wednesday, I needed to fix a hem on my brown slacks. As it turns out, this task was not so easy--an extremely thin thread was used so the hem was not visible from the outside of the pantleg. I couldn't find the right thread, and there was no way I was going to replicate that kind of hem by hand anyways.

Then I see this commercial where Billy Mays is screaming about some fantastic new product that fixes fabrics, holds up in the wash, can withstand hurricane force winds (...and you should see it walk on water! Okay not really). Yes, I do realize they have similar fabric glues for cheap at craft stores. But then I was wandering through a certain stores that is apparently found of the Mays line of advertised products, and there it was--Mighty MendIt. And I couldn't resist.

And guess what? The stuff works. I mean, it's obviously not as good as sewing (...probably), but the hem is fixed at the glue didn't bleed through the fabric. It looks good. I'll update after the wash and tell you how it fairs.

And if I get the job, Mr. Mays will get a personal thank you note.

Alula

Nibble on my resume!

WooooooHooooooo!

So I've been applying left and right to every place that's hiring (and even some that aren't) lately. I've expanded my search pool to include retail jobs that pay crap and yes, even the dreaded fast food service.

But two days ago an email arrived in my inbox, forwarded by someone in the program to my program advisor, who sent it on to the rest of us poor untrained schmucks. It's a trainee position assisting with general research needs, cataloging, organizing references, etc. It's 30-40 minutes from where I live (...though not through a major city this time, thank goodness) and it doesn't say what it pays, but it's listed using words like "part time employement with the possibility of full time over the summer". So I jump on it and bypass the contact person and send the top guy a resume, hoping I get to it before anyone else on our email list does.

Last night I get an email back and the guy says my resume is "very impressive" and he would like to meet with me for an informal interview this week. SCORE!

So I may not get the job, and even if I do I may be making peanuts, but this position is real work for a real, established research and learning institution. I'm just psyched someone is interested in even meeting me.

Wish me luck, Ladies!

Alula