Is this thing on?
Sorry I've been silent in the past couple of weeks. Recall that I made a post mentioning that LiveJournal was no longer emailing comments to me? In an attempt to fix this, I decided to change the address I associate with LiveJournal. Unfortunately, among the LJ emails that weren't getting to me was the validation email sent to my new address. After awhile, I could no longer post with my Semagic client! I never got around to try posting from the website itself. Comments started arriving in my email again, however, and I eventually got the new validation email after all. If you're reading this, it means the problem is now solved. Sorry for dropping off the face of the virtual earth, however.
News From the Job Front
Ian
I don't have a whole lot to report on Ian's job search. It took more than one week for the head hunters from gamerecruiter.com to get back to him; apparently Ian's rep was ill, and out for awhile. That is totally understandable, but the days of silence were a weird mystery while they lasted. Ian spoke with the recruiter yesterday afternoon, and he has some great leads for Ian with good companies on the east coast. One is a definite, "Yes, please!" and another is in a geographic location to which we hold some odd objections, so it wouldn't be ideal.
Ian's been doing some real soul searching since I last updated you in what he wants to do next. He's not fully committed to moving for a new game industry no matter what. Right now his feeling is that it's worth looking to see if there's anything really great out there, in short, "a job worth moving for." If there is, lovely! We move. Ian does not want to move for another mediocre job, however. He's got some specific criteria for what he's looking for, and he wants to be picky. If he doesn't get an offer that's really worth uprooting our family again, then he's willing to look outside of the games industry so we can stay in Colorado. He'll look for an IT job or something with the help of our friends and their connections.
Me
When I realized that a solid job offer for me would strongly influence what Ian decides for his part, I sat down for a Boss Talk. My boss tells me that the CEO just gave his verbal approval on a job for me. The requisition for my full-time job is in the works of red tape. We hope that a formal offer will come through for me within two weeks. Further, my boss spoke with the General Counsel about the idea of me working from our San Mateo, California office should Ian land a job in Silicon Valley. My boss is 95% certain we can make that work, and I could keep my current job if we moved out there. That gives Ian and me a little more wiggle room. There are plenty of game companies out there. If Ian got a job with one of them AND I could keep my totally awesome dream job which I have now and love? That'd be fantastic. Meanwhile, it's nice to know there is a job waiting for me here in Colorado. Of course I cannot accept until our personal situation is resolved, but it's nice to know that's finally on the way after seven months of temping here.
Elsewhere...
(But not St. Elsewhere since it had the single worst ending of any show in television history!)
Life continues apace, whatever that phrase actually means.
We're having a great time table-top gaming (Pathfinder) on Saturday nights with a group of local friends. I tore a page out of Christopher Moore's novels, and named and styled my barbarian after Kendra, Warrior Babe of the Outland. Ian and I are both having a great time with the gaming experience, and with new friends.
Speaking of novels, I just finished the annual reread of Pride and Prejudice along with Kristen Acevedo since she had never read it. We're going to start a P&P movie marathon soon to celebrate. ("Lost in Austen" will absolutely be included!) I just started reading Vanity Fair for the first time. I remain afraid that I may not like the novel for want of any actually likable characters. What I did not expect is Thackery's really casual writing style. He actually makes notes to his friends whom he thinks will be reading the book, like looking toward the camera and waving, "Hi, Mom!" His own disdain for the characters is so obvious that he bears a tone dripping with judgment, as if telling a story that is already repugnant to him. I'm only in the first few chapters, and I hope he settles down and backs off a bit. This novel is over 700 pages long, and it's either going to be a very long journey, or I assure you a very short one if Thackery keeps up as he has!
I'm knitting up a storm this year. I've really had such fun with the random opportunity of that "Pay It Forward" meme on Facebook about making handmade gifts. quaero_verum and urbanelegend should be receiving their gifts this week, and then photos will follow. I'm nearly finished with a cableknit hat with ZOMG THE MOST GORGEOUS YARN IN THE UNIVERSE for Letitia, Brian Puster's girlfriend. And while waiting for a second shipment of yarn to come in since I'm an idiot and didn't buy enough for that hat the first time, I started on a new project for Ms. artiphant. I'm having such fun! I'm really glad I challenged myself with learning a few new knitting techniques toward my New Year's Resolutions. It's been fun to break out of the same mold of pirate hat after pirate hat.
I may start to knit some cabled lap blankets for us sometime soon. It's a project I was saving for when we bought a house, and could paint its rooms, and select a more permanent decor for ourselves. The past few weeks have really had me doing a lot of thinking about living in the now. I really have no idea if we'll be buying a house this year and finally settling down, or getting back on board the pirate ship and moving on. I know I don't want to spend my whole life waiting. I want to have children. I want to have the feeling of home wherever we live. Why on earth am I waiting to buy a house before I knit some lap blankets for heaven's sake? Foolishness. (Now, delaying because I'm knitting something else, or simply too lazy to start a big project -- totally okay reasons! Just so we're clear on that.)
Trace
News From the Job Front
Ian
I don't have a whole lot to report on Ian's job search. It took more than one week for the head hunters from gamerecruiter.com to get back to him; apparently Ian's rep was ill, and out for awhile. That is totally understandable, but the days of silence were a weird mystery while they lasted. Ian spoke with the recruiter yesterday afternoon, and he has some great leads for Ian with good companies on the east coast. One is a definite, "Yes, please!" and another is in a geographic location to which we hold some odd objections, so it wouldn't be ideal.
Ian's been doing some real soul searching since I last updated you in what he wants to do next. He's not fully committed to moving for a new game industry no matter what. Right now his feeling is that it's worth looking to see if there's anything really great out there, in short, "a job worth moving for." If there is, lovely! We move. Ian does not want to move for another mediocre job, however. He's got some specific criteria for what he's looking for, and he wants to be picky. If he doesn't get an offer that's really worth uprooting our family again, then he's willing to look outside of the games industry so we can stay in Colorado. He'll look for an IT job or something with the help of our friends and their connections.
Me
When I realized that a solid job offer for me would strongly influence what Ian decides for his part, I sat down for a Boss Talk. My boss tells me that the CEO just gave his verbal approval on a job for me. The requisition for my full-time job is in the works of red tape. We hope that a formal offer will come through for me within two weeks. Further, my boss spoke with the General Counsel about the idea of me working from our San Mateo, California office should Ian land a job in Silicon Valley. My boss is 95% certain we can make that work, and I could keep my current job if we moved out there. That gives Ian and me a little more wiggle room. There are plenty of game companies out there. If Ian got a job with one of them AND I could keep my totally awesome dream job which I have now and love? That'd be fantastic. Meanwhile, it's nice to know there is a job waiting for me here in Colorado. Of course I cannot accept until our personal situation is resolved, but it's nice to know that's finally on the way after seven months of temping here.
Elsewhere...
(But not St. Elsewhere since it had the single worst ending of any show in television history!)
Life continues apace, whatever that phrase actually means.
We're having a great time table-top gaming (Pathfinder) on Saturday nights with a group of local friends. I tore a page out of Christopher Moore's novels, and named and styled my barbarian after Kendra, Warrior Babe of the Outland. Ian and I are both having a great time with the gaming experience, and with new friends.
Speaking of novels, I just finished the annual reread of Pride and Prejudice along with Kristen Acevedo since she had never read it. We're going to start a P&P movie marathon soon to celebrate. ("Lost in Austen" will absolutely be included!) I just started reading Vanity Fair for the first time. I remain afraid that I may not like the novel for want of any actually likable characters. What I did not expect is Thackery's really casual writing style. He actually makes notes to his friends whom he thinks will be reading the book, like looking toward the camera and waving, "Hi, Mom!" His own disdain for the characters is so obvious that he bears a tone dripping with judgment, as if telling a story that is already repugnant to him. I'm only in the first few chapters, and I hope he settles down and backs off a bit. This novel is over 700 pages long, and it's either going to be a very long journey, or I assure you a very short one if Thackery keeps up as he has!
I'm knitting up a storm this year. I've really had such fun with the random opportunity of that "Pay It Forward" meme on Facebook about making handmade gifts. quaero_verum and urbanelegend should be receiving their gifts this week, and then photos will follow. I'm nearly finished with a cableknit hat with ZOMG THE MOST GORGEOUS YARN IN THE UNIVERSE for Letitia, Brian Puster's girlfriend. And while waiting for a second shipment of yarn to come in since I'm an idiot and didn't buy enough for that hat the first time, I started on a new project for Ms. artiphant. I'm having such fun! I'm really glad I challenged myself with learning a few new knitting techniques toward my New Year's Resolutions. It's been fun to break out of the same mold of pirate hat after pirate hat.
I may start to knit some cabled lap blankets for us sometime soon. It's a project I was saving for when we bought a house, and could paint its rooms, and select a more permanent decor for ourselves. The past few weeks have really had me doing a lot of thinking about living in the now. I really have no idea if we'll be buying a house this year and finally settling down, or getting back on board the pirate ship and moving on. I know I don't want to spend my whole life waiting. I want to have children. I want to have the feeling of home wherever we live. Why on earth am I waiting to buy a house before I knit some lap blankets for heaven's sake? Foolishness. (Now, delaying because I'm knitting something else, or simply too lazy to start a big project -- totally okay reasons! Just so we're clear on that.)
Trace