Remember those 4 jobs I mentioned needing to apply for yesterday? Got a call about one of them this morning. The HR manager told me I had the perfect resume. The position was advertized as being permanent but is apparently tied to budget funding which made me nervous. The current budget for their program expires in May. About the time my existing position ends. I think I am justified in feeling a bit leery of possibly entering into a situation similar to the one I’m leaving.

The HR rep asked if I’d be willing to consider the position if their funding was obtained for the next few years. At that point she said she’d be able to guarantee the position would be permanent instead of a short 2 month contract. She said she’d know the status of the funding application by the end of the month and will be calling me at the end of March to arrange an interview if/when that occurs.

Then, a few hours later, I got a call that made me really excited and happy. It’s the call I’ve been waiting for all week. Don’t want to say any more until I’ve got the full details but things could really be looking up. I should know more sometime next week. Until then I’m knocking on every piece of wood I can find.

A bit of (negative) excitement on the family front this week. My sister ended up in hospital earlier this week with really high sugars and severe back pain. After some panic and many medical tests it’s turned out okay. The pain appears to be from a pulled muscle and will eventually heal. As for her sugars, she needs to take some responsibility for her own health in order to avoid a recurrance. She’s been diabetic for about 8 years now so you’d think she’d know better than to skip her meds an abandon her diet. Hopefully she’ll start taking things more seriously now since diabetes can have severe health consequences when let to spiral out of control.

I know. Not a very sympathetic attitude on my part. I’ll get around to changing my behaviour and attitudes surrounding this type of situation if/when she does.

Thank goodness for my best friend and her family. Leaving her when we moved to Edm was a huge loss for Drew and I. Over the years we’d become very close to her family. They’ve always been wonderful us and our family. My sister who remained in the city when we left has reaped the benefits of our friendship over the years. They managed everything while she was in hospital this week and took her in to their home for a few days when she was released. I hope she appreciates how wonderful they are and how lucky she is to know them. I know I do.

It’s been freezing cold here this week and I’m desperately awaiting the warmer weather local weatherman @joshclassen has been predicting. A -20C drop overnight to get us into this mess and a jump from -30C to -10C to +3C over a few days to pull us back out of our cold weather funk and back into the sunlight. I miss grass and leaves. I hope spring patio season arrives soon!

In non weather related news (is that even possible?), I received my formal end-contract notice today. My name was spelt wrong on the letter and it was dated two days ago. Despite being hand delivered to me today. I suppose I could complain but why bother? It won’t change anything. When I think about it I realize that I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s a fitting representation of my time here over the years.  I might even frame it.  Or at least post it on the fridge for a week or two after Drew comes home.

Still managing to get things done while we wind down work here. One more course finished and handed over. 40+ more to go. I don’t expect to have more than 10 finished (approximately 1 per week) before we leave so I do hope I’ll receive a priority listing for the courses soon. It would certainly help me determine which ones need to be worked on first!

Seems today is the day for jobs to post in my field. I’ve got leads on 4 new ones and will be applying to them as soon as I can tailor my cover letters and contact my references. Before the weekend certainly. This makes me feel a bit better about the probability of success in the on-going search for work. I just wish my field was a little less specialized and a bit quicker to hire. Lengthy posting and interview processes mixed with openings that are few and far between tend to make me nervous.

With so many of us vying for the same jobs it’s sometimes hard to remain upbeat and confident. After all, in positions where other co-workers and I are both applicants, I know exactly what my competition’s skill set and capabilities are. It’s not a case of hoping to get selected for an interview or an offer over random guy you’ve never seen before. It’s a case of hoping to find work knowing that the job you accept is one more that a former co-worker won’t have available to them. Then again they might not be feeling as guilty when it comes to their own job searches.

Whatever the end result may be I am grateful for their support during this process. If nothing else our cohesive group continues to share a very strong bond. Many of the new friendships I’ve made since beginning this project have made the price of playing in the big leagues well worth it in the end. Y’all know who you are.  Thank you.

Drew included a few shirts in the package he sent me. You might remember the story. Package is delivered. Inside is coated in sticky goop because he sent pop cans home in the box. Frozen, exploded pop = me doing laundry AGAIN and trying to save a soggy letter so I can read it.

I was a little confused at the time since both of the shirts were a size smaller than I wear. Nothing in the letter about the shirts NOT being for me so I figured Drew was just trying to encourage me to wear more form fitting clothing instead of my usual “tents”.

Apparently I was wrong.

When Drew called me last night he informed me that the shirts are intended for him. Not me.

Whaaaa!

I think I’m going to fill his next care package with things for me and make him hold onto them and bring them home to give back to me. Seems fitting under the circumstances.

Castle was a great pilot and I’m hooked. I’ve always enjoyed Nathan Fillion’s acting in well written (& comedic) roles. I’m more of an Alan Tudyk and Adam Baldwin fan when it comes right down to it but I’m looking forward to seeing where the show goes.

Now if only Dollhouse’s fabled 6th episode would hit the airwaves…

Apparently whichever domestic beastie possessed me this weekend is somewhat defective. I used the toaster oven to broil fish for dinner and forgot I had a small plastic bag on the top of it. Not surprisingly it melted to the top during the cooking process.

After much scraping I manged to get the melted plastic off of the metal casing. Unfortunately there’s now a little bit of blue dye (with the name of my soon to be former employer on it) on the top corner that I’ll need to try and wash off. Not sure if there’s enough elbow grease in the world to fix this.

So much for taking care of myself and cooking healthier meals. Perhaps I should just go back to soup and sandwiches. I can’t screw them up! Or, at minimum, I should consider digging through the cupboards to break out the crock pot. It may be a good idea to stick with simple strews and chilis until I beat the defective domestic beasties into submission.

Didn’t manage to get the dogs out to get their nails trimmed today. The store where we normally take the uppy puppehs isn’t open on Sundays. Yet another thing to add to my ‘to do’ list this week. Will go well with the papers due and trips to the library.