More Updates on Life, The Universe, and Everything

Here's the scoop on the good, the bad, and the ugly. You can decide for yourself which is which.

My sister's condition has a name -- it's Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome, or PRES. Apparently the combination of a slightly premature birth, the not-quite-right epidural (resulting in spinal headache) and postpartum pre-eclampsia (that's high blood pressure to you and me) made her brain swell, giving her a monster headache. After googling PRES, I think she got off lucky -- no blurred vision, no seizures, and hopefully no permanent brain damage. Not that that will keep me from a little sisterly mocking from time to time, since I'm so glad to have her around.

She was discharged from the hospital today around noon, just in time for an appointment with a neurologist who is familiar with PRES. He told her that her headache likely has multiple causes, that they will monitor it over the next few weeks, and that she will recover. I cannot say what a relief all of that is. Plus, she gets to go home and settle in with her baby and husband and son, which is a huge relief to her too. Her mother-in-law has been an enormous help with David; they don't know what they would have done without "Meme." Three cheers for Meme!

~~~~~

I got a call back from HR Chick at Large Corporation today. She informed me that I'm not terrifically technical. You don't say! I'd love to know why employers keep telling me the first thing that I tell them -- or the first thing they should be able to read for themselves from my resume. Yes, I have an engineering degree, but I have done project management and data analysis for most of my career. Nowhere on my resume do I state that I have written code or anything similarly technical; I'll be the first to say that I'm a pseudo-geek, not the real deal. I thanked her for getting back to me quickly and reiterated that I'd be very interested in hearing about any project management or data analysis positions they have open.

And then I hung up the phone and I cried.

I know that it's business, not personal. I know that my identity doesn't come from a company; it comes from my Maker; He tells me who I am. I gotta tell you though, after a while, you just start to think that you're plain unlikeable. And that's the wall I hit today. Two weeks ago, I had interviews coming up with between two and four employers and had visions of multiple offers dancing in my head; today I'm still unemployed with no prospects in sight.

I'm reading another Donald Miller book, Blue Like Jazz. As I was getting ready to take Son the Younger to the doctor for a virus today, this passage leaped off the page at me and made me lose it again: "If we hear, in our inner ear, a voice saying we are failures, we are losers, we will never amount to anything, this is the voice of Satan trying to convince the bride that the groom does not love her. This is not the voice of God. God woos us with kindness, He changes our character with the passion of His love."

Coincidence? I don't believe in it.

Bloggy Giveaways #2

More jewelry fun! This necklace, like the one in #1, features a fun and funky lampworked bead, although this one was not made by me.

This is a fun little fish friend for you, featured on a 16.5" necklace; the fish is a 1" drop. Retail value on this necklace is $30.


And here's a closeup of the fish:



To enter, just leave a comment... no rules except that you must have a way for me to contact you. If you don't have a blog, please leave me your email. Oh, and only one comment per person, please.

I am open to shipping internationally, so anyone can enter. I will draw a winner via random number generator on Saturday around noonish.

Go see the rest of the fun stuff here!

As stated in my other post, you're welcome to take a gander at my other jewelry on my web site. You're also more than welcome to enter both my drawings if you like both pieces.

Thanks for looking!

Bloggy Giveaways #1

I love to bead, and I love to share! So I'll do two giveaways this time around. You are welcome to sign up for either or both. These are both a little unusual for me... you're welcome to see my usual style at my web site.

First up is a necklace for which I made the 6 largest beads on my torch. These are called lampworked beads. They have been kiln-annealed for strength, and the purple and green make for a fun and funky color combo to wear with an eclectic outfit. Retail value on this piece is $45.

The necklace is 18" long with a 2" extension, so it's great to wear over crew neck tops or with a v-neck.

To enter, just leave a comment... no rules except that you must have a way for me to contact you. If you don't have a blog, please leave me your email. Oh, and only one comment per person, please.

I am open to shipping internationally, so anyone can enter. I will draw a winner via random number generator on Saturday around noonish.

Go see the rest of the fun stuff here!

Updates on Life, the Universe and Everything

Since I've had so many questions from my RL friends about either my sister, my job interview, or both, I thought perhaps I should update here as well.

Sister is still in the hospital. Baby Katherine was discharged today. Her Mimi (Sister's M-I-L) is there to help take care of her and big brother David, which is great. Sister is still in a great deal of pain, although they're trying to wean her from the really heavy stuff in preparation for sending her home. They have to have her blood pressure stable for 24 hours before she can be discharged, so the hope is tomorrow, but we'll have to wait and see. When I talked to her this afternoon, her last reading had been "a little high," whatever that means. She did have Katherine, hubby and Mimi there, so hopefully that was helping. My small group and church are praying, which is appreciated.

My interview with Large went reasonably well today. I "flunked" the technical portion, or at least parts of it. I went in telling them that I hadn't done a lot of technical work, and I'm sure they were trying to find out where my limits were. It, um, didn't take them very long.

They ask me to do a theoretical plot (something I haven't seen or thought about in a good 10 years). Only two ways this plot could go. After an hour of technical questions, I'm too brain-dead to think, so I just guess... wrong. "Take us through your thought process," they say. "Why did you graph it that way?" At that point I know it's wrong; no one says that if it's right. I stare fixedly at the white board and pray for instant death. God elects not to grant my wish. Drat. I fix the graph. They ask me which area of the graph is "pass" and which is "fail." Again, without thinking, I just pick... wrong again. D'oh!

Worse yet, I came home and presented the same questions to Son the Older, who proceeded to... that's right, draw the graph right and guess correctly which area was pass. "Excuse me, Large Corporation? You'll be needing to hire my teenage son, not me..."

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyeah.

The non-technical portion was much more favorable (at least I think so). I just chatted with these nice men. They asked questions; I answered them. Talking I can do. Shocking, I know.

I would like to know why, when I knew I was going into this interview, I didn't prepare for some technical content, but siiiiiiiiiiiigh. Now they know they're talking to the least technical engineer ever. I can do that stuff; it would just take me longer to get up to speed.

Now I wait for them to tell me whether I'm suitable for one of their many openings. Whee!

Sister, My Sister

You'd think it would be enough that my niece is still in the NICU. But you'd be wrong.

My poor sister had a spinal headache from her epidural, which really didn't "take" all that well (and of course left her in a lot of pain during labor to boot). Her head was still hurting today, but they'd treated her twice and were pretty confident she should be over it. So she took her blood pressure, and lo and behold, it was sky-high. She called her doctor, who said, "Hie thee to the ER!" So she did.

And now she's in the ICU with postpartum pre-eclampsia. Poor sister.

They called her and said they could send baby Katherine home today. She replied that she was in the ER, and their answer was, "Oh. Um, Katherine is definitely not ready to go home tonight. Not at all. Maybe tomorrow morning."

Fortunately, Sister's condition is supposed to be resolved within 24 hours, and she and her beautiful baby girl can be at home enjoying each other by tomorrow. But today's been kinda rough. Mimi (Sister's fantastic mother-in-law) is changing her plans to come in early to help out. Three cheers for Mimi!

All the News That's Fit to, Er, Web

Hmmm, good news, good news, or bad news? So much has happened this week.

We'll start with the bestest news! I'm an aunt again. For the very first time, I have a baby niece! Katherine was born yesterday at 11:45am. At 35 weeks, she was still just under 7lb and 19" long -- a big girl for one so undercooked. We'll call her "medium rare."

I'll tell a little bit more about her, but first, here's a picture of Princess Katherine:

Isn't she bee-yoo-tee-full? She'll have to be in the NICU for a little bit while they make sure that everything's ok... or more correctly, until she can regulate her own temp and come out of the incubator, hopefully by Monday.

After a little coordination, it was decided that her Mimi (her dad's mom) will come to play with her this week, and I get to come play with her the week after. I can hardly wait to meet you, Miss Katherine! Get strong soon and go home with Mommy, Daddy, and David!

In other (job-related) news, I did not get the job with Small (everybody say "awww"). Mr. Boss decided that my background didn't match closely enough and I wouldn't come up to speed quickly enough -- and truthfully, I can't disagree with him. I could have made it work, but it wasn't a great fit. Small has another job opening that is a much better fit, but they won't be hiring for it for another month or two.

In the meantime, I have an interview with Large on Tuesday the 29th. I'm having trouble filling out their online application, but other than that, all is well there. I was supposed to have a phone interview with Medium this week (according to an email from their HR person on Monday), but I didn't hear anything else from them all week. Hmmm, was it something I said? I promise I showered this week...

In still other news, hair-related this time, I'll be getting re-redded tomorrow by Katina, my very own Hair Wizard. That wouldn't be newsworthy on its own (even considering the chunkier blond highlights I'll get this time around) except that Son the Younger will be accompanying me to get his own hair wizarded, which it definitely needs. I hope he doesn't develop a dependence on celebrity hairstyling, since it don't come cheap, but it will be fun this one time. Hmmmm, maybe I'll talk him into before and after shots...

When It Rains, It Pours

It actually is quite cold and rainy here today, although it's not pouring.

Not that the title was intended to refer to actual rain, you understand.

I'd love to know why it is that you loook for a job faithfully for three months, without a peep from anyone, and then one week, everything just clicks into place and everyone loves you. It's feast or famine in Job Search Land, my friends.

I just got home from an interview with a very small company. I'm awaiting a call from a large company to schedule an interview, and I got an email today to schedule a phone interview with a medium-sized company. Small is wonderfully located but would require a great deal of travel. Medium has a nightmare location, just south of downtown. Large is much farther south (even worse) but is just off of the new toll road, which runs right by my house, which would make the commute faster, although a great deal more expensive. Medium and Large would probably not require travel, or minimal travel.

And I never heard back about another job I applied for... but I pinged them today too.

So I guess now we wait.