I wanna talk about me

I wanna talk about me

Wanna talk about I

Wanna talk about number one

Oh my me my

What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see

I like talking about you you you you, usually, but occasionally

I wanna talk about me (me, me, me,-background singers)

I wanna talk about me (me, me, me,-background singers)

No!  I don’t!  Not anymore, really.

My consulting contract is coming to an end so I am hot and heavy looking for my next “opportunity.”  The resume has been updated, uploaded and activated on the appropriate job boards. 

The e-mails have been flooding in, even for positions I’m not remotely qualified or are much too far away to even consider.  Come on, people, look at a map!  Just because the job is in the same state doesn’t mean I would want to do drive 120 or 200 miles every day, one way.  And, no, I don’t want to relocate for a job that will only last 18 months.

Then there are the phone calls.  Are you looking for a new job?  No, I just put my resume online because I’m lonely and want to talk to someone.  Tell me about yourself?  I was born a poor black boy in Appalachia and through the wonders of modern medicine. . . . What is your current position?  Umm?  Sitting.  Oh, you mean job!  Didn’t you read the resume you said you found online?

Once we’ve gotten past all those preliminary questions we move on to the interview.  I’m finding there to be a broad range of interviewing styles and manners.  One place made a decision based on a 15 minute phone conversation.  And, on the opposite extreme, I spent a glorious four hours (yep, your read that right - four HOURS) talking about yours truly earlier this week.  The most fun, though, was the Skype interview last night where my video went out so they could see me but I couldn’t see them.  That was a little disconcerting!

With any luck this will be over soon.  Or maybe I’ll go buy a lottery ticket.

AMDG

For you we have prayed

Thank you for all your prayers!  I am most certain they were heard and they helped.

I would like to introduce you to my niece & God-daughter, Sara Roisin.

AMDG

Prayers for the next 72 hours please!

If you would indulge me and keep my sister and brother-in-law in your prayers I would be so grateful.  If all goes as planned, Friday I can tell you more.

AMDG

It is finished

It took exactly two months, which was about 6 weeks too long, but it is done.  Finished.  Gone.  At least for this year.  Six yards of double shredded hardwood mulch dominated my driveway and my time.

And there was much rejoicing!

AMDG

Something old is new

It’s no secret that I love to read.  I always have.  When I was little I used to sneak my Winnie the Pooh or Nancy Drew or Trixie Beldon books into bed with me and read under the covers with a flashlight.  We were frequent visitors to the library and I would often save my birthday and babysitting money to buy the latest edition from the Scholastic catalog at school.

Recently I have been reading some oldies but goodies and found a great source for these for free.  Project Gutenberg offers over 40,000 ebooks, which are free in the United States because their copyright has expired.  They have a number of formats including HTML, EPUB, Kindle and text.  You can search by author, title, keywords or just peruse categories or lists. 

Here’s a collection of old books, by some of the world’s greatest authors, that can be accessed by today’s latest technology.  How cool is that?

So far I have read The Velveteen Rabbit, Chesterton’s Manalive, and Belloc’s Bad Child's Book of Beastsand I started Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver's Travels.  

From Hilaire Belloc’s Bad Child's Book of Beasts The Lion The Lion, the Lion, he dwells in the waste, He has a big head and a very small waist; But his shoulders are stark, and his jaws they are grim, And a good little child will not play with him.

When looking through the cooking category I found this book.  I can’t wait to read more of it!  (italic emphasis mine)

TWENTY-FIVE CENT DINNERSFORFAMILIES OF SIX. BYJULIET CORSON (1878) PREFACE. TO ECONOMICAL HOUSEWIVES: The wide publicity which the press in different sections of the country has given to my offer to show working people earning a dollar and a half, or less, per day, how to get a good dinner for fifteen cents, has brought me a great many letters from those who earn more, and can consequently afford a more extended diet. In response to their requirements I have written this book, which I hope will be found servicable in that middle department of cookery it is designed to occupy, where we begin to look for more than the absolute necessaries of life; it is a practical guide to the economical, healthful, and palatable preparation of food, and will serve to show that it is possible to live well upon a very moderate income.

When I checked yesterday’s top downloads, I found an interesting and eclectic collection:

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle(audio book)

The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana – not what you would think

How to Analyze People on SightThrough the Science of Human Analysis: The Five Human Types

by Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine Benedict

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

Happy Reading!

AMDG

Funny Foto - #4

I saw this sign near a couple of our community's schools.  Really?  A whole center just to remove lice?

Independence Day

Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty

O God our Creator,
from your provident hand we have received
our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
You have called us as your people and given us
the right and the duty to worship you, the only true God,
and your Son, Jesus Christ.
Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit,
you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world,
bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel
to every corner of society.

We ask you to bless us
in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.
Give us the strength of mind and heart
to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened;
give us courage in making our voices heard
on behalf of the rights of your Church
and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.

Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father,
a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters
gathered in your Church
in this decisive hour in the history of our nation,
so that, with every trial withstood
and every danger overcome—
for the sake of our children, our grandchildren,
and all who come after us—
this great land will always be "one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

June blooms

AMDG

Here’s your sign

Do you have something that you take as a sign from God or the angels or the saints?  Some people, after praying to St. Therese or to the Virgin Mary, look for a rose that their prayer has been answered, or at least heard.  For whatever reason, for me, it has always been a deer.

This morning when I walked Jack I wasn’t exactly praying.  More like grumbling my way through our walk.  The hairy beast woke me up at 6am and then again at 6:30 wanting his morning stroll.  So, when we finally made it out at about seven, I was feeling very put upon. 

Lately it seems everyone and everything wants a part of me, and wants or needs more than I sometimes have to give.  The gardens need tending, the curtains need sewing, bread needs to be baked, groceries need to be bought.  My current work contract is soon ending so I am on the job hunt once again.  That means many phone calls and interviews, even at times I find mighty inconvenient (like this evening??).  Jack wants what he wants when he wants it, not later, but now.  Even if it is 6am and I’m still trying to sleep.

All that, and more, was going through my head as we walked our neighborhood.  Instead of enjoying the sunshine and relatively cool temperatures, I was a bitchin’ and a moanin’, even if it was just to myself. 

As we headed toward home we came around a curve in the road and saw the most beautiful doe wandering in the shadows of the neighbor’s front yard.  We stopped and watched her and she looked at us curiously then wandered off.  It was beautiful and peaceful.

Here’s your sign!

AMDG