First Interview

After almost two weeks of calling and emailing engineering groups, Zach finally got to meet someone face-to-face with the prospect of a job. Virtually everyone here in town said, “Sorry, we aren’t hiring,” when Zach or I contacted them. The group that he met with today has let some people go, but it was mostly inexperienced people who were holding the company up. I have known the owners of this company for a long time—I worked with some of them when I first started following projects all the way through to completion, before they started this firm. I guess that is one of the advantages in a bad market of being in the same industry as your spouse—you both can network when one of you is looking for a job. I think that one of the reasons why they talked to Zach is because they know me. Anyway, it sounds like it went well—Zach was able to answer all of their questions, and he expressed his flexibility in salary and manner of work (permanent vs. contract work). Hopefully we’ll hear something soon. Unless we hear something in the next day or so, tomorrow is Isabelle’s last day of daycare. That is kind of bittersweet. I know that she’ll benefit from the direct attention with her daddy, but she has also grown so much, and I know that part of that is from interacting with other children in her class. I know Zach is a little overwhelmed from thinking about caring for her all day long, everyday. We’ll see how well that goes. In the meantime, I’ll just keep on trying to work hard and keep my job.

Bad Economic News

The last couple of days have been very difficult at work. I have been ay my company for 8 1/2 years, and I have never seen the economy quite like this. We went from being crazy busy just 4 months ago to not having much work at all, much less having work that pays. Yesterday was the worst day ever for layoffs. My company laid off seven people. I am blessed to still have a job, but it is pretty scary to think that at the beginning of October, we had 57 employees, and now we only have 42. I know that many firms have split or gone under in this economic climate, and I am praying that this will not happen. It is scary, especially when I consider that Zach and I are in the same industry, and both companies are struggling.

For my friends that were released yesterday, I am so sorry, and please know that you are in my prayers.

If you are an elected official, please use your authority to fix the economy. I am sorry if you are “inheriting” this mess, but we Americans are looking to you for help. Mr. Obama, this plea is directed to you especially. This is a plea from all of us little people.

Next Registration Exam is coming up!!

One of the reasons I have been severely lacking in my posts is that I have been preparing for my next registration exam to become a registered architect. Please pray for me as I study over the next few days and as I take my exam on Monday morning (Dec 8th)

Vote! Early & On-time

For those of you who may not know, North Carolina is now a battleground state for the elections. For as long as I have lived in North Carolina, the state has been pretty Republican for national positions (president and senate, at least). This election is different. There are many reasons why NC has become a battleground state, which you can google later. The result is that more people feel that their vote counts in our state, and there has been a huge amount of new voters. An even larger impact can be seen in the early voting statistics. Many people who voted early waited 3-4 hours. I know that I went to 2 early voting locations on Friday and the line was wrapping around the building—and decided that I just couldn’t do it then. Over 40% of registered voters in North Carolina voted early or by absentee ballot! That is a pretty tremendous number. Regardless of who “wins”, I am excited to think that this election will be a record turn out. Please, if you are debating on whether or not to stand in line today, remember that wherever you live, your vote counts. And if you live in North Carolina, please know that the lines for “On-time” voting are not as long as they were for early voting. I stood in line for an hour and fifteen minutes, and the line was much shorter when I left than when I started.

PLEASE VOTE!

And if you think that your person won’t win, and that your vote won’t count, remember that you really don’t have the right to complain if you didn’t do something about it…like vote!

And if you think that your person will win, and it doesn’t matter if you vote, just remember what has happened the last couple of presidential elections. I heard that the 2000 election was determined by 0.01% of the votes—you don’t know if your vote will be that percentage point!