J-O-B and Some Other Stuff

I have a phone interview tomorrow morning for a marketing strategist position at North Oaks Health System hospital in Hammond. I got a call from an HR rep last Friday who set it up. I am super excited as the job sounds great. The money, however, is not so great. It's the same I was making at TMA. I mean, two years of graduate school and I'm starting over making the same money I did before the MHA???!! That SUCKS! I'm trying to get past the negative thoughts though and put things into perspective. I am trying to remember the following:

1. I have been out of work for two years.
2. The economy is in the crapper and people are getting laid off everywhere and administrative people are usually the first ones to go in a hospital.
3. Because of #2 I can't afford to be picky. At least the job is in a hospital. Taking it would be taking a step in the right direction re: my career.
4. People in Louisiana make less than people in Texas. (I remember having this conversation with Sarah in 2005 right after we got new jobs and moved to Texas.)
5. In a hospital, there will be opportunities to move around/up. My MHA degree should facilitate that.
6. I will not be working for the biggest bitch in the whole wide world anymore.
7. This could all be a moot point if they don't offer me the job!

So I am excited about my interview. I would love to have a job lined up before we move. It would be one less thing to worry about!

I have been looking around my apartment and am DREADING the packing. How is it that we have accumulated this much shit? Neal's parents have been generous enough to fund our move and buy us some new furniture. We are definitely getting a new bed (king size, what what?!) and maybe/hopefully a new sofa. I went to see him yesterday at work so we went into Shreveport and looked around at furniture stores to get some ideas of what we want. There is something about walking around in a furniture store that makes me feel very grown-up.

He's super excited about getting a king size bed since we sleep in a double now. I don't know how much of a difference it will make though. No matter how big our bed is, I will most definitely still sleep right smack in the middle of it.

We grabbed dinner last night at a seafood joint in the Port. It was pretty good. I am hoping that the novelty of things like gumbo, crawfish pies, po-boys, fried alligator, vanilla velvet ice's from PJ's, etc etc etc wears off right after we move. It's okay to have that stuff once in a while, but if I eat like that all the time I'm going to swell up like that blue bitch from Willy Wonka. It won't be pretty.

This is sad but I'm going to say it anyway. I am looking forward to Tuesday b/c: 1. There is a new episode of 90210 and 2. Betthany and Kelly get into an argument on the Real Housewives of NYC and I can't wait to watch it. Betthany is hilarious and Kelly is ridiculous (her daughter is named 'Sea' for frick's sake) and it should make for wonderful cringe-worthy television.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

We Got the House in Covington!

Moving date is Thursday, April 30th. Our lease will be for one year. We will have an extra bedroom, so come visit!

Last Week's Trip

I had a pretty productive trip home last week. I went to NO on Tuesday and got to spend some time with my Mom and my sweet sister Olivia. I headed to Covington on Wednesday and met Neal at my Dad's house. That night we hung out at the house and had cocktails and dinner on the porch. Neal and I got up Thursday morning and went to look at a house to rent in Covington, which we loved. The house is minutes off of 190 (busy street that the Causeway Bridge turns into) on a private road. The people who own the house live on the property right behind it in an incredible home that backs up to the Abita river. He is a vet and she is a housewife/artist. They seemed pretty cool and they thought we were the cutest people ever (I mean, duh).

The house we hope to rent is about 100 years old. It is a "renovated cottage" and sits on a 1/2 acre of land. 2 bedrooms, 2 bath. It's already furnished with some not-so-cute furnishings, but they're going to clear out everything we don't want to use. In the past they have rented it out to people who use it has a weekend home, but they decided that they wanted to rent it out to someone who wanted to live in it full-time. That would be us.

Here are some pics...



Assuming we get the house, it will definitely be a change for me. I have never lived in a place this rural (and it's really not THAT rural). I just love the house so much that I am willing to try this out. During our first visit there, we saw a jack rabbit and a frog. It is only going to get worse as far as "critters" go. There will probably be a snake or something out there, and I am preparing myself to deal with that. My Dad will be less than 10 minutes away and he likes snakes, so when Neal is gone, I can just call him to rectify the situation. Also less than 10 minutes away is Neal's best friend. I am preparing myself to deal with that situation as well.

Thursday night we met Pruitt and Zellers at the Abita Brew Pub for drinks and dinner. I got to enjoy some Abita Strawberry and it was wonderful.

We also went to this hole-in-the-wall place for lunch called Bear's. I had an awesome roast beef po-boy and there were people all around us discussing LSU basketball. The next morning I went to PJ's to get coffee.....I was HOME! It was just such a good feeling to be back.

I've applied to jobs in Covington, Hammond, Slidell and New Orleans. Still haven't heard anything, but maybe once I have a local address to put on my resume, that will make a difference.

I'll let ya'll know when the details of our move are finalized. Hope everyone has a great week!

It's That Time of Year Again

That is all. Have a nice day.

Updates

Neal's rig is stacked right now (non-operable) and so are the other rigs his company owns. They're looking for more contracts, but thus far no one is hiring out rigs to drill for natural gas. The company has kept the toolpushers on as "rig watchers" and they've managed to do this by cutting salaries and having the guys work 14 and 7 (work for 14 days, home for 7 days). In other words, things are not looking good. He could get laid off at pretty much any time now....it's a little scary. I actually went and stayed with him out on location last weekend. We did still manage to go into Shreveport and have some fun!

School has been crazy crazy. I had three presentations to give in class last night. I was BEYOND nervous, as I hate public speaking. They went well though and I am so very glad that they are over! I have my statistics midterm today which I have done some serious cramming for. I mean, messy hair, I really need to shower, caffeine induced cramming. It felt like 3603 Ira Street study time (without Jeanne's cat, Olive, sitting on my textbook of course). I cannot wait for this test to be over with. I still have some assignments due this weekend, but compared to the stats test and 3 presentations, they should be easy peasy.

I spoke with one of my professors yesterday about job hunting in Louisiana. She gave me some contact names and ideas, and then looked at me and said "Honestly, it's going to be hard." Awesome. I've already applied to 8 or 9 jobs with the state, but I haven't heard back from anyone yet. I *think* we're going to come into town next weekend to apartment/rent house hunt on the Northshore. We decided to look for a place to rent for about 6 months. At that point, assuming that we are both employed (!), we will look for a place to buy. So please send some happy thoughts our way! We are very ready to move and settle down in South Louisana, but we both need jobs in order to do that, ya dig? I just hope everything works out.

Shhhh....Can't You See I'm Trying to Work?

I've had trouble concentrating at home, so I came to Starbucks today to work on a paper. I used to come to Starbucks a couple of times a week to do school work, but I stopped because the people that hang out here to talk or whatever are usually loud and completely ridiculous. For example, I'm 99.9% sure I'm sitting next to a middle-aged blind date (their names are Donna and Ron). They're discussing ex-spouses, kids, love, life, etc. Why can't they go to a bar after 5pm like normal people? And of course this bitch Donna is louder than loud. I think Burger King has wi-fi, maybe I can go there instead. Or not. I would go to the public library here, but I went in there once and got the feeling that there were perverts lurking all around. Think about it..if you're a perve, and you enjoy internet porn but don't have a computer, where do you go??? The public library of course! So, Starbucks it is. Oh...wait...Donna just left....okay back to my assignment. Wait....WTF??? Just got stared down by some creepy short man with a mustache in all black.....he's probably on his way to the library.

He Was Left Out!

I was watching the Grammy's tribute montage last night and kept waiting to see LeRoi Moore pop up on the screen, but no dice. LeRoi was the saxaphonist for the Dave Matthews Band and he passed away this past year from injuries received in an ATV accident. I googled this morning and found the below on a DMB fansite. The Grammy's can suck it.

From www.antsmarching.org:

LeRoi Moore forgotten by Grammys

Posted by Joe Maliszeski in Band Member News on Monday, Feb 9th, 2009

LeRoi Moore (1961-2008), 12 time nominated and 1 time Grammy winner, was shockingly forgotten by the Grammy’s. Lifetime musician, influential jazz saxophonist and one of the founding members of the Dave Matthews Band was left out of the Grammy’s annual Memorial Tribute. The Tribute is a video montage put together by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences honoring those in the music business that have passed in the last year. A number of known (and not-so-known) artists (and a photographer) were honored in the video but LeRoi was missed (or skipped, we aren’t sure.) While we are disappointed and saddened that the Grammys and CBS did not give LeRoi the tribute he deserves, they do not properly represent the music industry’s and the many billions of music lovers feelings. Although the so called National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences did not honor him, we at AntsMarching.org will continue to pay tribute to his contributions.