The color of infinity inside an empty glass

So Joe Paterno's dead. Various people on my Facebook list are mourning him, sharing picture of Joe in heaven.

Ha.

I don't "get" college sports. Never have. Truthfully, though, I don't get much in the way of "professional" sports either. Especially when the supermillionaire players and the supermillionaire owners start arguing again. Then I really don't get it.

But that's neither here nor there. I never followed the Nittany Lions and I never will.

But what I DID follow was last year's child abuse scandal in U Penn. And this is what I got... Joe Paterno stood back and let other parent's little boys get sexually harassed by a monster. And, in my eyes, that kind of makes him a bit of a monster too. To sit back and allow it and ignore it... perhaps he talked to the administration, but the child abuser stayed on and Joe Paterno stayed quiet.

I'm sorry if you're a U Penn fan. I'm sorry if you WANT to remember the best of this guy. He may have been a decent coach, but at the end, he didn't have the decency to protect little boys from a monster. And I just choose not to believe that there really isn't a place in heaven for those that can ignore that kind of violence.

So I LITERALLY just backposted an entry from a couple days ago about, among other things, a job interview with a company in NC. Since I think/hope this is important enough.

Just responding with more here...

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Well, I got a call back on the NC job. They want me for a second interview with even more higher-ups in RALEIGH. The interview is scheduled for Thursday at 2:00 PM. Which, yes, means Robert will be up again.

I think I'm half-expecting I'll be called to North Carolina for a REAL interview soon.

It's gratifying to be a serious candidate. It gives me hope. And while I have decidedly mixed feelings about leaving DC, I am absolutely bouncing in my seat at the prospect of no longer being unemployed.

I hopehopehope this pans out.

... if only I knew anyone in the Charlotte, NC area.

Interesting enough, when I lived in Buffalo, this WAS my district. NY-26 is a light red congressional district which includes some of the richer, northern suburbs of Buffalo (such as Amherst, where I'm from) as well as a large area mostly east of Buffalo where there's not much but Farmland and Batavia (aka Farmland).

So, I'll admit that NY-26 was of special interest to me, especially given the realization by the politicos that the race was quickly becoming a referendum on what Paul Ryan's plan MIGHT mean for things like Medicare, which has always been an issue Republicans were going to have to deal with.

By all accounts, Corwin was not a good candidate. She did not run a good campaign and did not, for example, even address the fears that the Ryan plan would end Medicare until it was far, far too late.

Democrats want you to believe that this is another Scott Brown moment, a sign of things to come. That any Republican who sides with the Ryan plan in a not deep-red congressional district COULD end out on their tush. And they may be right.

Republicans want you to think that the issue was not the Ryan plan, but that the Democrat turned Tea Party candidate, Jack Davis, split the vote. With a whole 9% vote.

They also want you to believe the 2012 election will be a referendum on Obama and Obama only, though I don't think they're right. Since by all accounts, all polls currently show that while the public may not love Obama, they care less for the Republicans in office. (Then again, Congress has had low poll numbers forever and a day. Not that they care.)

I think, however you want to spin it yourself, whether you're a democrat or republican or an independent, this election was important and a sign of some of the issues that candidates will need to contend with in 2012.

But then I also know that this seat has been held by a Republican since the 1960s and the fact that they lost it now.. is a bad, bad sign for them.

Been thinking alot about my frustration with Obama and my issues with the fact that I strongly suspect he'll be the lesser of two evils come 2012.

I keep thinking back to the 2008 election. I've been a registered democrat since 1993. I've voted for Clinton, though I never fell in love with him. Gore, despite the fact that I thought the guy had less personality than a phone book, and Kerry, despite the fact that it frustrated me to no end that Kerry wouldn't at least call out the people throwing mud in his face for the pure LIES.

Then came this guy who not only spoke well, but assured us all that he could find common ground with the other side and work together with them to better America. In short, a president who might do some GOOD for this nation and might right some of the grievous wrongs done by his predecessor. He'd close down Guantanamo bay, end the war on terror and at least be able to have a CONVERSATION with the republicans on how we can actually BETTER this country.

( Cut here before the post gets too long )

I won't claim to be an authority on fatherhood. Being a stay-at-home dad has certainly given me a certain set of experiences and a certain viewpoint. Or maybe it's just reinforced a certain viewpoint. But once in a while I have to sit there, smack my forehead and wonder what the hell these people were thinking.

So R and I are at the park today. It's gorgeous out and this particularly park is pretty busy. Lots of parents with their kids. Down in the ball field, a grandpa is playing tee ball with a 4 year old and a bunch of kids are running around having a fun time around the playgrounds. Except for R. He's playing in the dirt, ignoring the ball I brought for him, thinking he'd enjoy playing with it.

And as R is playing in the dirt, I hear a mom say, from the bench "Get off the Swing and Go Play!"

Huh?

What is wrong with playing on the swings?
I suspect I know. Mom was hoping kid would burn off some energy. Because as we all know, kids are a fount of energy. But that said.. why is the swing less acceptable than playing?

I suspect mom has a problem. It's a common parent disease called Mywayitis. It's a mental disease that makes otherwise good parents believe that there is only one GOOD way to do things.

Come to that.. it isn't just a parent problem.

There are certain actions that are negative, period. Hitting your peers will not help you make friends and driving on the wrong side of the road is a good way to get into an accident. For most activities, though, the boundaries of acceptable are decidedly murky. There's nothing inherently WRONG with reading the last page of the book before the first one if you don't care if the story is spoiled. And while it may not be the most efficient way there, if you want to drive to work without taking a single left turn, you can do so.

And yet the number of people who think there's only one correct or acceptable way to do a task is saddening. And when you broadcast that kind of attitude to a child, you're just teaching them to be judgmental and critical, not things I'd like to teach my son.

It's not that I can't understand the desire to have your kid burn off some energy, but the sentiment behind the statement.. and the criticism inherent in it.. that swinging is not acceptable really bothers me.

So dear mom on the bench, may I offer some humble advice?
Firstly, loosen up. A kid is gonna be a kid. You can't force a kid to do the things you want. You can entice, persuade, teach the value of, or just model the things you want, but let a kid be a kid. And that's it. At the end of the day, if the kid wants to be silly, wants to play in the dirt when you wanted him to play with the ball, paints the puppy purple instead of brown.. is that really so bad you need to criticize it?
Secondly, if you want the kid to do something, try another tact. Try redirecting him to that group playing around the playground or better yet, bring your own group so he can play with people he know. Or play with him yourself.
And finally, remember, always, that a child is always learning from you. Not just what you WANT him to learn, but other things such as how you treat your family, how you treat the world, how you act when you're in a group and when you're home alone. Wouldn't you rather most of what he learn be positive?

It's been nearly four months since I got let go and I honestly did not expect I'd still be out of work. I honestly thought I'd have had a job by now. If nothing else, I thought I'd be working for the PTO since my friend A was all but certain they desperately needed people like me to work for them. But that opportunity, like so many others I thought I at least had a chance with, have not come to pass.

Which is why it's all the tougher to watch my wife get call back after call back. Within the last week, everyone wants a piece of my wife. Two phone interviews and a couple of email chains and my wife's mind is spinning with confusion and giddiness.

And here I sit, feeling like a turd because I can't get a job.

I honestly don't know what I should be doing that I'm not, if anything. I know the job market is... to be nice, it's slow.. to be not nice, it's practically nonexistent for someone with my experiences. I have six years of hydraulic and hydrologic modeling experience. While I didn't expect them to be beating my door down the way they are K's, I expected that this experience would be USEFUL SOMEWHERE.

I've applied to companies that were in direct competition with my old company, FEMA contractors. I'm not sure I want to work FEMA for the rest of my life, but at least I have the experience and I THOUGHT that people would be interested in me, but.. not so much. Not a phone call back. From any of them.

I've looked for other environmental engineering jobs, but either I just don't have the experience they want or I'm applying for a graduate level job (which, I'm guessing I'm not getting calls back from cause.. I'm not a new graduate.)

My resume is (now) on LinkedIn, Dice, Monster and USAJOBS.gov. I have not one but two headhunters out there looking for me.

Is it me? Is there something more I can be doing, should be doing? Is it time to screw staying in the Northeast and start applying for all jobs anywhere, even halfway across the world? I know I look for jobs and there aren't alot in this area, especially with the government still so close to shut down and certainly not alot for people with my particular experience. Is it the economy?

I think what I need, right now, is a reality check. Am I not working hard enough or do I just need to wait out the economy slouch and near-government shutdown until such a time as there's interest for someone with my skillset?

I don't know anymore. I honestly don't.

Gah. What a day. What a two weeks, really.

So... I came in today, knowing full well it was my last day. As of yet, I had no news at all. Neither good nor bad, and I was cautiously optimistic because.. well, no news means the company isn't going out of their way to can me either.

12:00 nothing. ARGH!

2:00. Nothing. I catch my boss and ask him and he tells me there's no news. At all. So I ask him.. do I come in? What do I do? And he tells me he has no answer. And.. I'll admit it, I nearly lost it.

I mean.. for Pete's Sake. My contract ends today. They've already told me that my charge numbers aren't good past today. I'm as prepared as I can be for the worst, but I'm definitely feeling like I'm being dragged along by people too lazy to make a decision about my employment future.

Let me pause a moment to say.. I'm so glad that the nightmare with S is over. He was a jerk and I'm glad that he is no longer a pressing concern. And I feel sorry for the poor souls stuck with the MT-2s. They've been given an impossible situation.. too much work for not enough money and there's gonna be ALOT of stress and pressure on people to get cases closed.

But anyways.. as of the moment I left work, I still had nothing. Nothing to charge tomorrow, just direction to go ahead and come in tomorrow.

Well, I just checked my email before heading to bed and I've been given direction. Talk to A, head of our local GIS department. Assumedly, he has work for me. Yay, work! Yay, employment!

*hopehopehopes that he's right and we can go back to dealing with the stress of the move and a cranky 9 1/2 month old and etc.*

Pretty decent week, pretty decent weekend.

We went townhouse hunting on Saturday. Sadly, we have to leave in another 6 weeks, tops, so we need a place to go. We found a place about a mile from where we live now, which is good because that makes the whole daycare thing easier. Rent is reasonable and the house was nice, so.. we put in an application. Here's hoping.

The little boy is sitting up now. This puts him a step or two away from crawling *fear*. I hope he doesn't start crawling until after we've moved. Trying to babyproof the house while breaking it down would be.. not so much fun.

The new daycare seems to be working well. At the moment, it's just Robert and Cecilia's other kids, and Robert loves the attention and is thriving with it.

Due to a surprising gift from my inlaws (surprising in that I GOT a birthday gift at all), I went and preordered Civilization V this weekend. It comes out.. about the time we're moving, actually. We're both really excited about this game. K started playing Civ back when she worked the night shift in Rochester, and was excited to find out that I was interested in it too and we both have had fun screwing around with Civ IV, so... this should be good.
Games K and I can share are always somewhat better than games we can't. :)

And that's pretty much it, for now. Busy week ahead.. well, half-busy, half duller-than-Enya. Oh well.

I know I haven't been good about posting things. My bad...

Anyways, my annoyed face, let me show you it.

On Tuesday, I got word from Boy's daycare that the State had been through and they'd screwed some things up. And could we please get some paperwork resigned immediately, because the doctor signed her name in the "print name" part and also, make sure she fixes the how long he can take the drugs for part of the form, because it should only say up to six months after the form was signed, not "Until Further Notice" as the doctor wrote. Sure, we'll do our best, but both K and I work all day.

Please note.. we didn't actually get new forms to sign, just the old forms, with highlighter showing where the doctor had screwed up.

On Wednesday, we were asked if we could get the form signed by Friday. I said we'd do our best, but both K and I work all day and don't get home until long after the doctors close.

On Thursday, they threatened that if we didn't have the paperwork signed by today, they wouldn't give him his medicine Monday. THAT.. is a major problem. K calls the Daycare immediately to find out specifically what we need, since we were never given any clean forms to sign, only the last forms with marks about what was wrong, and they tell her that she a doctor's note, signed by the doctor, should do.

And Today, K drops the boy off and they say that if they don't have the form by.. I dunno what time, they're going to call us to pick him up. K pointed out we both work, they told us to send someone else. WHO? Our family is in Buffalo, you stupid bitch!

If I have to go and pick the boy up, he is never ever stepping another foot in that place. Truth be told, I think it's high time we reexamine our options, because while I don't want to go back to not being able to make ends meet, budgetwise.. they have not given Robert the quality of care we'd like, we've had to argue with them about his medicine and pointedly ask how come he's not getting Tummy Time anymore. And I can't say I feel happy about the way we've been treated either.

I half wonder if they're trying to shove Robert out the door, if they're trying to make us upset enough we'll pull him out. There was an incident while we were on vacation and there's been a shakeup and we haven't been very happy with the way Robert has been treated and have had to get.. picky.. with the staff (Hi, is Robert still getting Tummy Time? You guys haven't written anything down for a couple days.)
Either that, or the bitch in charge has absolutely no idea how to KEEP customers. I certainly as hell wouldn't recommend this place to anyone.