Jodi Speaks Her Mind

Updates 4/29/2003

Thank you to everyone who sent sympathies regarding Toby’s diagnosis (kidney disease/failure for those who are not aware). He has seemed to be feeling better the past couple of days, so maybe he’ll beat the odds and stick around for a long while yet.

On the job front, I applied for a job yesterday and already have an interview scheduled, so that is a positive development. It is for a position doing a lot of software training and documentation, both of which I enjoy and have a fair amount of experience with.

Steve’s parents arrive tomorrow for a 6-day visit that we are very much looking forward to. The weather has been gorgeous out here, so hopefully it will be memorable for all the right reasons.

Concerned for my kitty… 4/23/2003

Toby is our orange tabby and quite a personality! I have been concerned about him since he has been gradually losing weight over the past year or so. We brought up the issue last fall when we took him in for his shots and a checkup. At the time he weighed 9 lbs 11 oz, which was down from his previous weights of 11.4 lbs and 10.8 lbs.

Well, as we suspected, today he weighed in at only 8lbs 7 oz! He looks like skin and bones. The vet couldn’t find anything obvious wrong with him so he ordered a whole slew of tests (price: one arm and one leg) so he can hopefully diagnose what caused him to lose over a quarter of his body weight in just 2 yrs time and more than a pound of that in just 5 months!

Thank you for any positive thoughts towards Toby. If nothing else, just think “get fat” vibes for him. I’ll see if I can find a picture to include so you can see how cute he is!

As I suspected…

I didn’t get the job. I’m not at all surprised since they had taken so long to get back to me. I spoke to the HR person and she was super nice and said she was really impressed with me and that I shouldn’t be discouraged by this. I kind of got the impression that she was surprised the hiring team didn’t select me, as I had done the preliminary interview with her and she seemed to think I was a shoe-in. It is my belief that they didn’t select me because there are younger, fresher, just-out-of-school candidates that don’t already have their own ideas (regardless of how good they may be) about how things can be done, and the supervisor types were only in their mid-twenties. I have no way of knowing for sure why I wasn’t selected, but that is what I suspect. In any case, I’m still available for work, and will continue looking, but in the meantime we have family coming for a week, so that gives me something to look forward to. Our ship will come in eventually, I just hope it is sooner rather than later.

This could be a big step 4/21/2003

Our church has been meeting for several years in a local discount cinema for services and using small suites for offices, sunday school, etc. It has worked fairly well, but we’ve pretty much outgrown it and of course it lacks flexibility (no evening meetings or “whenever we want them” meetings and so on).

It looks like we may now have an opportunity to move into a larger space, and it’s pretty exciting! Kind of good timing, too, since Steve just did a complete redesign and restructuring of the church’s website and even better timing since his Dad is coming out in a couple of weeks and is an architect. It just so happens our church may be in need of an architect just about now. God’s perfect timing is at work once again. (Steve designed his dad’s site, too.)

Finally going to the dentist

I finally made appointments for both me and Steve to see a dentist for cleanings and checkups and such. It’s always a bit scary when it’s been awhile since your last cleaning. My whole life no matter how thoroughly I cleaned and flossed, I almost always had a cavity or two when I went in for my checkups. Hopefully that won’t be the case this time around.

Tick tock tick tock

Still haven’t heard about the job. Honestly, though, I’ve not been too anxious. God is in control and worrying will accomplish nothing. Easier said than done but in this case it hasn’t been too difficult. I hope to hear something by tomorrow or I’m going to start inquiring.

When dear friends divorce… 4/16/2003

A few years ago we watched some very dear friends of ours go through a divorce. I had actually lived with them when they were married and I was single, and Steve had been best buds with the husband for years (they were in the boy scouts together). It is hard to explain the pain and the disconnect that takes place in your heart as you watch two lives that were so intertwined become unlinked (or try to at any rate).

I had hoped to not have to watch that up close again. Sadly, it is happening here to some dear friends and this time there are children involved. I want so much to be able to reach out and yet it is so difficult to know what to say without passing judgements or taking sides. sigh

Divorce sucks.

Need technical help: excel crashes when trying to save

I am hoping someone can help me with this problem. I just upgraded to OS 10.2.5 and now whenever I try to save any changes in excel the program crashes (i.e. unexpectedly quits). Actually, the first time it crashed in the middle of data entry. I use excel frequently and really need to remedy this problem. Can anybody point me to a fix? Thanks!

Interview update

Well, I went to the interview on monday and it didn’t accomplish much except to confirm for me how much I would love to work for this company. I won’t hear anything on it until next week sometime. {Insert several days worth of jeopardy-style waiting music here}

Oh, the irony… 4/13/2003

Just a week ago I wrote the following in another post:

“Well, I haven’t been threatened with the loss of my job yet, so I guess that’s a good thing.”

And a week earlier than that I had written this from a post titled Can I please quit my day job?:

“I sent a resume to a company I interviewed with last November. This time it is for a different position that I am really hoping they haven’t already filled (job was posted over two weeks ago).”

So, Friday morning I’m out for a run and upon returning Steve informs me that I got a phone call regarding that job. Thrilled, I came in and called the lady back. We had a 15-20 minute phone interview in which she just made sure I had the necessary qualifications. She then said that they would be interested in having me come in for an interview with the hiring team. We discussed the need to work the interview around my current working schedule as I was up front about my current position. She said that’s not a problem and she’d get back to me regarding the details. I was almost late for work as a result of the phone interview and wondered if God was going to once again tell me I am supposed to stay with Debt-Free. I have wanted so many times to quit, but felt He wanted me there for some reason. Well, around 1:30, I was ushered into a meeting with about 20 others and we were all promptly laid off and sent home. Some were in tears, but let me tell you, I had a big ol’ smile on my face. I am finally FREE of that company and the horrible environment and in the same day have an opportunity for something far better!

So I came home and called the lady back and I now have an interview for 1 pm tomorrow. And it gets better because they actually have three different openings. I know there is no guarantee that I’ll get hired, but at least I am free of my last job and know that it was God who removed me from it and not me myself. Oh, and if the new job doesn’t work out at least I’m eligible to collect unemployment benefits.

I’ll update as soon as I know anything so those of you (all two or three of you) who follow my escapades will get the next installment.