There is life after Lamb Tripe after all!!

In books you sometimes have Prologues and Epilogues, since this is a Blog I guess they must be Problog and Epiblog ? I forgot to do a Problog about the whole France thing, so I'll do an Epiblog.

So I came home late in June having already prepared my resume and fired up my Job Search Email Agents and actually even applied for one or two from Paris.

I think I felt so good because my confidence was high and my job search techniques fresh from the recent search. Whatever the reason, I got home and the phone started ringing before I even got my laundry done. Within two days I was actually on-site interviewing, which is a miracle in this age of endless phone screens.

The first interview was with a Korean/Brazilian/American and boy did we hit it off! The job is a contract at Cisco working on Emerging Markets, but in the end he could not offer it to me in time because of some budget confusion.

The second interview was kinda nerdy and anyway I was way overqualified and couldn't pull it off. One guy had already decided against me before he opened his mouth - I could tell by the way he started and the dumb questions he asked.

Actually, that reminds me of a hilarious story. This is one for the ages. Last time around I interviewed with Verisign and others. I talked to Verisign HR on the phone, then the boss a couple of times, then she called me in to meet the gang. I loved her instantly - she is really a cool person. Anyway, I met four more people, one of whom was an absolute cow. As soon as she walked into the room I could tell. Typical kinda middle-aged frustrated type, and she took it out on me. The highlight was the 20 minutes we spent going over every detail of what I did at DEC in Geneva over TWENTY years ago!! Have you ever heard of such lunacy? I had not. She drilled away and I hung in there more or less. I mean I really don't remember whether it took us 8 months to get invoicing into Italy or was it really 10?

Finally I said time is really short and we only have a few minutes left, could we please talk about my qualifications for the job? She said yes but she wasn't too happy about it. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Went home and got a see-ya-later from the boss the next day. I wrote her back about the story with the cow and you'll never guess what she did - she invited me back for MORE INTERVIEWS. HAHAHA. Then she offered me the job!! Even funnier! Then I turned it down for Vancouver and, wait, it gets even funnier: I felt so bad for the nice lady boss that I hooked her up with a good buddy Mr. Brad Burgon and SHE HIRED HIM. HAHA.

Sorry for digressing, just couldn't help it given that Cow story. Things went quiet around the 4th of July and then KABLAM I got a really hot hit. You can tell when they are all hot, they keep phoning and phoning and writing. I went in and met 3 Directors for like 15 mins each and they called me back the next day and hired me. It's only a contract, but that's really what I want. All I really want to do is work to finance my travels and save a bit, getting into a big career is not where I'm at these days.

The assignment is a mess. I know because they told me so and admitted they were in a really big pickle. The man who is now my boss said it looked like I had a history of fixing stuff like this and I said, well, er, yep.

So, I'm in, we'll see if it lasts this time around.

I called back the agency re the Korean/Brazilian/American and we talked the next day. He really wants to hire me if he can get his budget together and I really want to work for him so we'll see how it all shakes out.

With any luck, I'll be a very busy boy for the next few months, if not more.

Time to seize the opportunity and see family and friends!! I have no money, but that is a minor detail that must be overlooked.