Summer's over
I am alive. Surprising as that may seem to everyone in LJ land. But then, I've never posted much anyway.
Unfortunately, I haven't written much in my personal journal. And despite the feelings of boredom and uselessness pervading much of the summer, it actually has been an eventful three months.
We had the luxury of not having to bolt town after graduation, so we used the extra two weeks on our lease to earn some start-up money working in our favorite campus office. Next stop Buffalo, where the plan was to spend a week before continuing to our ultimate destination, Portland (that's the one on the right coast, not her more populous namesake on the left coast). Ah, but the best-laid plans. Turns out Herr Volkswagon had more problems than just the absence of a muffler (which, of course, parted ways with the car around Cleveland). Among the problems was an emergency brake cable that was wearing itself away against a tire. For those of you keeping score at home, this is the same emergency brake cable that was repaired in Buffalo over spring break. This was not the first time these guys did a piss-poor job of repairing Herr Volkswagon. Car uncertainty kept us in the Queen City for an extra week, which while allowing for much unexpected time to play with my new toy--Track Sheer Havoc purchased and drilled at Jurek's pro shop in Williamsville--and to hang out with Andy, did not help with the growing anxiety of approaching Real Life. With Charles vetoing any notion of taking the Quantum to Maine, the question of transportation was a serious worry. I am ever so grateful that Charles let us "borrow" his Volvo, since the alternative was trying to work out the details of financing a car right then and there in Buffalo--something I was by no means prepared to do (either emotionally or financially). It turns out that the loan has become more of an extended test-drive as Charles said last week that he will sell it to us (and for a price that looks a lot more attractive than anything we'd get from a dealer).
We did of course make it to Portland, to Meghan's aunt and uncle's house where we have to this point been somewhere in between guests and tennants. It can be downright awkward at points. While I have certainly been very grateful for the free place to live (that is not my parents' house) while trying to get started, I will feel a little better when we start paying them some utilities and/or rent. I don't like to be seen as a freeloader and whether or not Beth and Phil view us that way, the fact that I often view myself that way isn't good.
Jobs hunting, for the record, is a bitch. I was this close to shelling out $170 to a headhunter for "guaranteed" job placement within the first two weeks of being here, but in retrospect I'm glad I decided to hold onto my cash. It certainly took awhile to find anything. Meghan and I both put our names in at one of the local temp agencies pretty early on, which panned out great for her, netting her a full-time long-term position at the BankNorth mailroom, but I haven't had quite so much luck with it. They got me a high-paying temp-job that lasted six days, but since then, not much. And I always miss their calls when they do have work for me.
What I did come up with from scanning the want ads, though, was an "job" as a scorekeeper for Baseball Info Solutions, an independent statistical organization. The ad was pretty sketchy, so I didn't know for sure what I was getting into, but it turns out they're legit. They track stats for a variety of clients, including several major league clubs (advance scouting, dontcha know) and were just getting into minor league stat-keeping this season. Twenty-five bucks a game (plus $5 for parking, which I learned to avoid paying for by finding the free spots) plus a free ticket to watch the Portland Sea Dogs and record every pitch. Of course, then you have to enter the stats into their software and send it to them, so the whole thing, even at $30, comes to an hourly wage of less than minimum, but hey--it's free baseball! And I gotta say, I love minor league baseball. Cheap tix, great seats, no egos. Of course, the level of play isn't as high as MLB, but it's a much better deal. Today was season's close for AA and my family came down from Whitefield to watch the game, which was a lot of fun. I've been able to see a lot more of my family now that we're back in New England. Megs and I have been going to up to visit about once a month, which is really nice. It's great to be a guest and not have to actually live there for any length of time. Even Christmas break this last year was a bit trying. We've been the beneficiaries of my mom's garden and also that of her friend Farmer David--fresh veggies and garlic, yum!
August was a much better month on the job search front. Within the span of about two weeks the jobs section ran ads for a Sports Information Assistant at the University of Southern Maine here in Portland, a Sports Copy Editor at the Portland Press Herald, and a Sports Clerk, also at the Press Herald. So I was churning out cover letters like a mofo. Naturally, since the Sports Clerk position was the one that sounded the least interesting and most entry-level of the three, it's the one I got called back for. But still, of 42 applicants I was one of three to get called for an interview, and despite feeling like I didn't have a terribly impressive interview, I got the job. Much to my amazement, Dan Dinsmore, sports editor, said that my background as sports ed for the Review was a big factor. Woo! All those sleepless nights were worth something in the real world. (I was very impressed to see that the Review did indeed get an issue out on Friday despite a short school week and the fact that as of Commencement there was no editor in chief. But then, despite Doug's doubts, I knew that he would never abandon the Review and that the paper'd be okay as long as he was there.) So I am now a sports clerk--three nights into it--taking results of high school and local college games and entering scores and three-sentence write-ups. No by-lines though, and right now it's looking like it'll only be about 20 hours a week, tops. At over $12 an hour, that's pretty good, but not enough. So now I'm left looking for some kind of part-time job. Which may end up being even more frustrating than when I was looking for full time work. We'll see...
Tomorrow and Wednesday are going to be true tests, though. Bonney finally came through with another temp job for me--two days at BankNorth in Falmouth on some Excel project--but I'm working for the paper both those nights, too. Translation: first two 12-hour days for Colin. How will I hold up? I really don't know.
There's plenty more to say about this summer that hopefully I'll get to later this week--at least for my own satisfaction, if not the "readership"--but with a long day ahead it's almost bed time, so I think that's enough for now.
Unfortunately, I haven't written much in my personal journal. And despite the feelings of boredom and uselessness pervading much of the summer, it actually has been an eventful three months.
We had the luxury of not having to bolt town after graduation, so we used the extra two weeks on our lease to earn some start-up money working in our favorite campus office. Next stop Buffalo, where the plan was to spend a week before continuing to our ultimate destination, Portland (that's the one on the right coast, not her more populous namesake on the left coast). Ah, but the best-laid plans. Turns out Herr Volkswagon had more problems than just the absence of a muffler (which, of course, parted ways with the car around Cleveland). Among the problems was an emergency brake cable that was wearing itself away against a tire. For those of you keeping score at home, this is the same emergency brake cable that was repaired in Buffalo over spring break. This was not the first time these guys did a piss-poor job of repairing Herr Volkswagon. Car uncertainty kept us in the Queen City for an extra week, which while allowing for much unexpected time to play with my new toy--Track Sheer Havoc purchased and drilled at Jurek's pro shop in Williamsville--and to hang out with Andy, did not help with the growing anxiety of approaching Real Life. With Charles vetoing any notion of taking the Quantum to Maine, the question of transportation was a serious worry. I am ever so grateful that Charles let us "borrow" his Volvo, since the alternative was trying to work out the details of financing a car right then and there in Buffalo--something I was by no means prepared to do (either emotionally or financially). It turns out that the loan has become more of an extended test-drive as Charles said last week that he will sell it to us (and for a price that looks a lot more attractive than anything we'd get from a dealer).
We did of course make it to Portland, to Meghan's aunt and uncle's house where we have to this point been somewhere in between guests and tennants. It can be downright awkward at points. While I have certainly been very grateful for the free place to live (that is not my parents' house) while trying to get started, I will feel a little better when we start paying them some utilities and/or rent. I don't like to be seen as a freeloader and whether or not Beth and Phil view us that way, the fact that I often view myself that way isn't good.
Jobs hunting, for the record, is a bitch. I was this close to shelling out $170 to a headhunter for "guaranteed" job placement within the first two weeks of being here, but in retrospect I'm glad I decided to hold onto my cash. It certainly took awhile to find anything. Meghan and I both put our names in at one of the local temp agencies pretty early on, which panned out great for her, netting her a full-time long-term position at the BankNorth mailroom, but I haven't had quite so much luck with it. They got me a high-paying temp-job that lasted six days, but since then, not much. And I always miss their calls when they do have work for me.
What I did come up with from scanning the want ads, though, was an "job" as a scorekeeper for Baseball Info Solutions, an independent statistical organization. The ad was pretty sketchy, so I didn't know for sure what I was getting into, but it turns out they're legit. They track stats for a variety of clients, including several major league clubs (advance scouting, dontcha know) and were just getting into minor league stat-keeping this season. Twenty-five bucks a game (plus $5 for parking, which I learned to avoid paying for by finding the free spots) plus a free ticket to watch the Portland Sea Dogs and record every pitch. Of course, then you have to enter the stats into their software and send it to them, so the whole thing, even at $30, comes to an hourly wage of less than minimum, but hey--it's free baseball! And I gotta say, I love minor league baseball. Cheap tix, great seats, no egos. Of course, the level of play isn't as high as MLB, but it's a much better deal. Today was season's close for AA and my family came down from Whitefield to watch the game, which was a lot of fun. I've been able to see a lot more of my family now that we're back in New England. Megs and I have been going to up to visit about once a month, which is really nice. It's great to be a guest and not have to actually live there for any length of time. Even Christmas break this last year was a bit trying. We've been the beneficiaries of my mom's garden and also that of her friend Farmer David--fresh veggies and garlic, yum!
August was a much better month on the job search front. Within the span of about two weeks the jobs section ran ads for a Sports Information Assistant at the University of Southern Maine here in Portland, a Sports Copy Editor at the Portland Press Herald, and a Sports Clerk, also at the Press Herald. So I was churning out cover letters like a mofo. Naturally, since the Sports Clerk position was the one that sounded the least interesting and most entry-level of the three, it's the one I got called back for. But still, of 42 applicants I was one of three to get called for an interview, and despite feeling like I didn't have a terribly impressive interview, I got the job. Much to my amazement, Dan Dinsmore, sports editor, said that my background as sports ed for the Review was a big factor. Woo! All those sleepless nights were worth something in the real world. (I was very impressed to see that the Review did indeed get an issue out on Friday despite a short school week and the fact that as of Commencement there was no editor in chief. But then, despite Doug's doubts, I knew that he would never abandon the Review and that the paper'd be okay as long as he was there.) So I am now a sports clerk--three nights into it--taking results of high school and local college games and entering scores and three-sentence write-ups. No by-lines though, and right now it's looking like it'll only be about 20 hours a week, tops. At over $12 an hour, that's pretty good, but not enough. So now I'm left looking for some kind of part-time job. Which may end up being even more frustrating than when I was looking for full time work. We'll see...
Tomorrow and Wednesday are going to be true tests, though. Bonney finally came through with another temp job for me--two days at BankNorth in Falmouth on some Excel project--but I'm working for the paper both those nights, too. Translation: first two 12-hour days for Colin. How will I hold up? I really don't know.
There's plenty more to say about this summer that hopefully I'll get to later this week--at least for my own satisfaction, if not the "readership"--but with a long day ahead it's almost bed time, so I think that's enough for now.