Taking Chance

Watched a movie I've been wanting to see for awhile last night:

Taking Chance is the remarkable true story of one soldier's death and a nation's reverence and gratitude towards its war dead. After hearing of the heroic death of a young marine in Iraq, veteran officer Lt. Colonel Michael Strobl (played by Kevin Bacon) volunteers to escort the remains of Lance Corporal Chance Phelps back to his hometown in Wyoming. Now, on a trip across America's heartland, Strobl will find himself on an unexpectedly emotional sojourn into the soul of a country mourning not only Phelps, but all of country's fallen heroes.

If you can, please rent it. You won't be sorry. A story, in my opinion, we all must hear and see.

Me and Phil's Shadow

I was thinking last night how anymore my days seem to be the same day over and over. I know we all have this, what with work and family responsibilities, but sometimes it's even more than a rut or routine. It's really like the movie with Bill Murray, "Groundhog Day".

Each day I get up and have some coffee and breakfast, then usually hit the job search online. I make any calls I need to make about jobs and usually am texting friends and my husband in between. Then I tackle any computer or household projects and get on the dreadmill at the last possible moment before my husband comes home from work. Then it's dinner, wash dishes and TV.

The most repeated part of my day of late has been the job search and the 0 leads. It's the same thing every day as I go through each website and it's very disheartening.

Then of course we've had the continuous loop of snowfall here in Pennsylvania. We're all familiar with the calendar date (I certainly wouldn't call it a holiday) of Groundhog Day where Punxsutawney Phil determines the fate of our weather as we move towards Spring. I find it no coincidence that Phil is a Pennsylvanian and am convinced his prediction speaks directly to us in the Keystone State. And as you may know, this year he saw his shadow meaning six more weeks of Hell, I mean winter, to endure. I pray this doesn't extend to my futile job search of late.

He's adorable but he's getting on my nerves.

Heavy Sigh

I was going to call this blog entry "Sigh" but I had to upgrade. For several reasons.

First of all, it's snowing again here. The forecast was originally 12"-18" but now it's been downgraded to 6"-10". In this case, I'm not sure that size even matters. It's snowing again, just as the snow had begun to melt from the blizzard a few weeks ago.

The second reason to sigh is the job search. Or lack thereof. There are still no job leads. I did my "long" search today and came up with nothing.

There have been some crazy twists of fate in my life and career that I really don't allow myself to think about because if I do, I'll go crazy. But I'm going to share them with you now.

I worked at a company for 12 years. I worked hard, got promoted throughout my tenure there and then I was put into a position I did not want or enjoy. I realized by doing Meeting & Event Planning at this company that this is what I wanted to do as my career. I can't tell you how great it is to finally know what you want to be when you grow up -- even if you're already grown up!

I knew I would have to leave this company after a dozen years to pursue Meeting & Event Planning. I was fortunate enough to land a job doing exactly what I wanted and so much more. I loved it! But 16 months after I started, the entire company was shut down. And you know the rest. I now spend my days searching and shoveling.

If only snowflakes were job leads . . .

You're Going To Hollywood!

I was watching American Idol last night and thinking about all the people who audition for the show each season. They say the number is somewhere around 100,000 each year, for one coveted spot, to be named this year's American Idol.

Wouldn't it be great if they could do job interviews like that? Employers say that they are completely inundated with resumes when they post a job due to the large number of people currently unemployed. Because of this, many resumes are never even seen just because there are so many coming in. I'm not saying a job opening would yield 100,000 applicants, but go with me here.

You know how on Idol in each city they hold tens of thousands of people in an arena or stadium until it's time for them to audition? Why can't employers do that?

Talent scouts and producers, in this case Human Resources Recruiters, would screen the big crowds in groups. Then the executive producers, in our example middle-management and associates, would audition a smaller group.

Next, a select group of 20 or so people would be judged by Simon, Kara, Randy and the guest judge. In this case the Hiring Manager and a Vice President or two. You would have a few minutes to tell them about yourself and to give them the 2-minute story of your professional experience. Maybe you have a portfolio to show them. Might I suggest a quick PowerPoint presentation?

They would then decide if you'd get a Golden Ticket. If awarded the yellow piece of paper, you would come back and America would vote for the right person for the job.

It's all about being given a chance.

To vote for me, call 1-800-Sis-Rain.

Limbo

As you may be aware, Winter weather has been harsh here and last night we had snow and ice once again. I don't pretend to be fooled by the calendar flipping to March next week; anything can happen in March in Pennsylvania and it usually does.

All of us in the area, understandably, are eagerly awaiting Spring and nice weather. We have all recovered from the holidays, for the most part, and are more than ready to let the door hit Winter on its way out. Many of my friends are booking their Spring and Summer vacations. My husband and I love to travel but due to my job situation, we have not been on a vacation since 2007. If I were working, we too would be making airline and hotel reservations about now.

I am super busy at home; still working on projects I would never get to if I were employed. And yet, the outside world seems to be moving on without me. I can plan for tomorrow but anything "out there", passed this week -- I just don't know. I can't plan on a Summer vacation, a 6-month-out doctor appointment, a color and cut at my hairdresser three months from now (that is if I had to color my hair to cover up, I don't know, maybe a sprinkle of grey?) until I know where I will be and what I will be doing by then.

I am, with much less grace than Gumby, in limbo.

My Weakness Is I Have No Weaknesses

If you've ever been on a job interview, you know they ask you what your strengths are which is usually a pretty easy question to answer. Of course, you need to focus on your professional strengths first and foremost but it's also good to throw in a few personal strengths since you, the person, will be doing the job.

Now the weaknesses question -- and yes, they usually make it plural -- that's a tough one. You certainly don't want to act like you are perfect and have none, and yet what weaknesses won't be twisted around to totally kick you out of the running? "My weakness is I have no weaknesses" is not gonna fly. Not that I know from experience . . .

One of my weaknesses is that I am loyal to a fault. If I have a manager whom I believe in and respect, I go to the ends of the earth for them, shy of illegal or immoral activity. I am the same way with my loved ones and the same way with music or Broadway shows that I like. It's not intentional but if someone or something floats my boat in a big way, I stick with them.

A few years ago, my husband and I went to a concert and the opening act was a singer-songwriter from the Philadelphia area. I really, really enjoyed this gentleman and continued to think about his music during the headliner's performance. When we came home, I purchased four of his songs from iTunes.

Since then, we've seen him many times in person and I now have all of his CDs. I workout using an iPod and even though I have over 1,000 songs on the iPod, I stray to this gentleman's music a good part of the time.

We saw him this weekend and I want to share him and his talents with you. His name is Dan May. I could go on and on about his voice, his lyrics and his music in general but I realize that music is a personal taste. So check him out at his myspace page; I've included the link below. You don't have to be a member of myspace to access Dan's page. Scroll down a bit and you can listen to some of his songs right from his myspace page.

http://www.myspace.com/DanMayCD

If I were Oprah Dan's music would be at the top of my Favorite Things. I would have my elves come down the aisles and give you his CDs. But alas, I am not Oprah. I am Sister Rain, so I invite you to check him out for free on his myspace page. Enjoy!

As for my other weaknesses, I am sure if you keep coming back to my blog they are sure to reveal themselves.

All two of them . . .

Blogkeeping

When I began this blog I used a basic template and swore to myself that I would keep things simple. This blog was an outlet for my feelings during this crazy job search and since I love to write, this was a perfect venue.

However, now that a month has gone by, my organizational itches need scratching and this weekend I made some minor additions to the blog to clean it up a bit and make it a little "purtier" and easier on my readers' eyes.

One problem with this plan. The changes I wanted to make required me to do HTML coding. Now I can run a spreadsheet like nobody's business, if I do say so myself, but HTML coding, not so much. But I kept at it and was able to make the following changes:

• Green lines between posts
• The sidebar items, "About Me" and "Archives" now are separated
• I've added my email address to "About Me"

None of these things are going to rock your world I am sorry to say, but I'm learning some new stuff that, dare I say, could even help me land a job.

But trust me, my "About Me" is NOT going to change from "Meeting & Event Planner" to "HTML Coder" any time soon. Or ever.