Huffy Flounce

Bananarama's Bouncy Bits wrote:Ever get a strange urge to jump?

I absolutely do. That's probably why my body goes weak the closer I get to the edge. It's trying to protect me.

"My Goiter senses are starting to tingle!"

They start at the throat, and they end at the throat.

This is why they lock the door to our office roof.

Bananarama's Bouncy Bits wrote:Ever get a strange urge to jump?

Nope, just me then.

All the time. One reason I want to cling to the inner wall.

I also get a strange urge to punch somebody in the face for no apparent reason. It usually happens immediately after reading one of Harry's reviews on AICN.

Here's an update to my previous posts.

The publishing company I applied to called me back about a week ago for an additional in-person interview. Thankfully, they offered to pay for my trip this time, so I didn't have to worry about that side of things this time around. After a three-hour session of marathon interviews with all kinds of people in the editorial department, they told me they'd contact me once they made a decision on their favorite candidate. On Wednesday, I received an e-mail from them asking my permission to check in with my references. I took this as a positive sign and as basically the last step they'll make before making me an offer, but I haven't heard anything from them since.

Here's the twist, though: While I was going to the interviews with this company, I was conducting phone interviews with another publisher who had contacted me in the meantime. These interviews were all conducted by phone, and even though it seemed at first like they would take forever, this second publisher actually managed to make me a concrete offer (just today!) before the first publisher did. If I didn't have any other coals in the fire, I'd accept their offer without hesitation, but since I have the feeling that the first publisher is still going to get back to me soon, I don't want to act too hastily.

So now I need some advice. Dalty, this is primarily a question for you, but anyone else who has some experience with this type of thing can chime in. Should I contact the first publisher and let them know that I have an offer in hand from a different company? Honestly, I think I'd prefer to sign on with the first publisher because the description of the responsibilities and tasks for the position appeals to me more. I just don't know what the etiquette is in these sorts of situations. It's not even my intention to negotiate the offer - I just want to tell the first publisher that they might want to speed up the process if they are indeed still interested in hiring me. Would that be considered inappropriate?

When was the last time you heard from the 1st publisher?

Dalty is probably a good person to ask, far better than me, but I think it's perfectly fine to let the 'first publisher' know that you have another job offer and need to know where you stand with them; they've certainly had time to consider everything. Just the fact that they haven't gotten back to you might mean you're a second option for them. The bigger problem seems to me to be how to handle the 'second publisher'. You'll want to get back to them pretty quickly, but I'm not sure what to say if you're not going to immediately accept the job. You don't want to sound like you don't want the job, and even just something like "I need a few days to think about it" might not be what they want to hear. Something more positive action sounding like, "I'll have an answer for you on Monday" might be a little better.

I'm not Dalty, but maybe the first thing you should do is ask the second publisher how long they're willing to give you to decide. This has its pros and cons, of course, but it might also help you gauge whether or not you want to try to put pressure on the first publisher to give you an offer.

If I were in the same position, on the other hand, I'd just take the first offer I got. I'm not picky, and it doesn't sound like either job is going to land you in the poorhouse for want of making rent.

The only person I have any real desire to work for is myself. I've dragged that baggage along with me to every job I've ever had. The only thing I really want to do is write stories. Every job that's not this job is a hassle. If I had a choice between a job that will require a lot of physical stress and one that will require little physical stress, I'd choose the one that required little physical stress. Not just because I'm a fat and lazy slob, mind you, though that's part of it. The bigger part is that my body's a piece of shit that is breaking down day by day, and I don't want to help it along any more than I have to.

Yup, been in this situation. It's not a bad thing. Nice to have choices!

Absolutely it's Ok to tell the first company that you have a firm offer from the 2nd company. You can also tell them that out of the two, if they were to offer, you would prefer them! It'll focus their mind and also hopefully mean they don't come out with a derisory offer.

Dunno how it works in the US, but in the UK they only pick up references if they are going to offer.

Thanks for the input, everyone. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I haven't had much time to write about it, but I did end up getting an offer from the job that I wanted and accepted it. I'm starting work on June 2. The reason I wasn't very active last week was that we were moving from St. Louis to Boston, so we drove about 1,500 miles in a Honda Accord packed to the roof.

So we're here now and are leasing two rooms in a six-bedroom house in a Boston suburb until August 31. Our plan is to find a more permanent residence in the meantime, so we've been viewing apartments this week. The frustrating part is that all of them are available right now and the owners don't want to wait until August or September to fill them. We want to secure a place now, though, because August and September are the peak months in which college students are looking for apartments, so we'll have much more competition if we wait until then.

I miss St. Louis already. An apartment of comparable size to the one we had would cost about twice as much. I hate the tiny streets in these tiny New England towns. I miss something like Forest Park Parkway, a major four-to-six-lane road that conveniently connects you to pretty much any place in the city you might want to go. Most of all, I miss warmth. Goiter would probably like it here, but it's goddamn cold for my taste. The temperature high today was 50°F - at the end of May - and it was drizzling on and off for the last two days. When they named this place New England, they sure got it right!

Now you're going to be surrounded by Massholes.

I knew it!

Keep firing, massholes!

Yeah.... but Boston! Freakin' cool man!! And as Commandant Lassard might say - Many, many fine congratulations!

I just had piri-piri chicken. I also put insanity hot sauce on it. It was the culinary equivalent of putting a shotgun in my mouth and pulling the trigger.

Still no teaching job. I am applying to all sorts of other jobs now, mostly communications (editorial) and web development sorts of things. I am very excited about one particular opportunity I'm applying to, which helps out people who can program but don't have the computer science degrees and massive internship experience/connections necessary to land programming jobs by apprenticing them to tech companies. I have two timed programming tests to do this weekend for that.

I just learned Python this week, and so I've added it to my list of languages. I also, in non-job-related news, bought myself a cheap, vintage knitting machine for my birthday, which arrived yesterday and is set up, working, and awesome. One of my first projects will be a Futurama Fry Not Sure if Sweater Sweater.

Did the programming test in Python. Interview tomorrow. Optimism initiated!

A scene from last night:

Someone stole my spot out from under me last night and then gave me this super smug look.



But he's cute so I couldn't decide if I was mad at him or not.

I am the proud owner of a Wonder Woman bikini.

I didn't realize I had "love handles" until I tried it on.

I should probably warn you that there is not a lot I won't do for a girl in a a Wonder Woman bikini!

Especially if there's a white sheet nearby.

Wonder Woman never made it to Hoth.