This morning was a day in which I was very thankful we had practiced our routine enough that it was a habit for each of us! In order to make it to my interview in time, I had to leave the house at 7am - the direction I was going would lead me directly into the teeth of the traffic in our area so I wanted to make little room for issues. Both girls cooperated fully and it was a very positive morning. I'm still considering the moving of the milk container and drinks down lower to be a success - I'm not worried about the milk being warmer on the door because I'm only pouring two or three cups at a time into the container for her and I can keep a good track on the freshness of that milk. Plus the little one really enjoys taking care of her own breakfast - this morning she had cereal and the mess was no larger than normal.
The oldest daughter did well also. I started the towels this morning a little earlier than normal and she was able to fold them before she left for school. Today she also made sure her little sister got on the bus - a good test for the future if needed.
The interview - ahh, nothing like a good face-to-face interview. The interview took place at their administrative offices which are on the port. The person I would potentially be working for flew up from Houston. She invited the local project manager and the local EHS representative. While the lady from Houston was very attentive, the two local guys were much more interested in their blackberries and answering text messages. Those of you that have worked with me know my feelings on electronics in meetings but I was able to overcome my internal desire to grab their blackberries and hold them until the end like some teacher gone mad over a kid chewing bubble gum or something! But as I learned more about the position, I came to the realization that the two people I would be in contact the most would be an issue and the job wasn't really as they had spoken it - I learned their definition of light travel was really travel of nearly 40% of each week - instead of a quarterly flight to Houston for a national meeting, the job was responsible for five terminals located up and down the east coast, from Newport News to Baltimore, Philly, Newark and one other port in Jersey.
I do have a question for all the people that ask questions in an interview - I understand the importance of have pre-written out questions approved by HR prior to an interview - but my question is if you were asked the same exact questions, would your answers be the same that you are looking for in the interview?? And if you're going to ask me a question like "if you had to mentor Mary, what steps would you take?" Ummm, maybe if Mary was important enough for me to mentor, wouldn't I have a little more information about her such as who, what, when, where, how and maybe why? Certainly don't give me a blank stare when I come right back to you and say "why do we want to mentor Mary?" and an unacceptable answer from you is "well, that is training's job" - if you don't want a canned, thin answer, don't ask a canned, thin question.
The presentation of lacing and tying shoes went well - I was able to locate blue and yellow laces so my demonstration looked exactly like the drawing. One guy was going to jump on my presentation that I didn't have permission to use the photos from the website - I think it angered him when I produced an e-mail from the website owner giving me one-time rights to use the photos (thanks Ian)!!
Needless to say, the cost of me taking that job went up significantly during the interview. I've worked with putz's before and I'm sure I'll work with them again - it's just going to cost your more for me to do so.
The worst part of the morning was I missed an opportunity to talk with my wife before she went to class. But the drive home was pleasant and I had plenty of time to think as I normally do after an interview - I felt I did well so no matter what comes from the interview, I'm good with it.
The afternoon was spent with the tax professional. The lady doing our taxes has 23 years in the business and we got along well. We did have a complicated tax return this year with part year earnings in Maryland, unemployment, purchasing of a house, interest, donations, 1099's for consulting and many other things. We killed a small tree with all the paper but in the end all turned out well. The federal government will not allow you to e-file the homeowners credit with your original return which is silly in my opinion so once we receive our original return payment from the government, we have to file an amended return to reflect the homeowners credit.
While I was sitting in the office with the tax person waiting for the forest to be felled so we could print the papers, I was thinking wouldn't it be better to just get rid of the tax system, have everyone pay 7.5% of their base income via employer deductions and then everything you purchase would be subject to a 2.5% federal tax - we get rid of all that government bureacracy, saving us how much in infrastructure and salaries, countless trees would be saved and if my memory of the Laffer Curve is correct, more people would actually pay their taxes increasing the money available for the federal government! The downside to that is all those folks in the IRS would lose their jobs and unemployment would temporarily rise but we could offset that by selling the IRS buildings and equipment across the country. Take all those IRS workers in DC and make them tour guides at the Smithsonians or walking guides for large groups through the national mall. So, we all know that isn't going to happen anytime soon but instead of expansion of our government, maybe we need to contract it.
Supper tonight was pretty good - we had chicken, fried potatoes, mac&cheese and corn. I'm not a mac&cheese fan but the girls are and they really wanted it last night - I've gotten into a personal mindset that mac&cheese works well with ham steaks but they didn't hit me with the idea until I had the chicken going. The girls were happy so that's all that matters.
The Wednesday night church service went well. Small group but we are continuing to work our way through the ABC's of Christian Growth. In all honesty, this is a really basic course for those new to faith but I am finding it to be very good and the church is building a very solid base using this course of study. Even better, everyone gets to participate by reading, answering questions and more importantly, asking questions!
Each of us had a chance to talk with my wife after church for a nice chat. She had been busy and had a rough day - said she was sore from carrying litter patients and doing training. But it was nice to talk with her about all that had happened the past couple of days.
My devotion for today was "The initiative for depression" and referenced 1 Kings 19:5. Chambers had battles with depression during his life and this is one of several times he writes about it. He did make one good point that I'll store away - as humans if we have the ability to exault something or reach the highest highs, we also have the ability to become depressed and reach the lowest of lows. I hadn't thought of it like that and his devotion today will help in the future. The girls devotion was titled "Family Photos" and referenced Psalm 51:5; 58:1-5. It talked about a little girl who thought her sin wasn't as bad as her friend's sin - we had a nice chat about it and looked at Romans 3:23.
Day seventeen is done and I think I'm ready for tomorrow - here's looking forward to Day Eighteen!
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