And this is where 1/2 of the traveling twosome gets a little stir crazy

The weather is getting nicer. When it gets in the 70's, it's downright hot. I'd love to be out enjoying the town and the surrounding cities, now that the wind isn't making my bones ache from the cold. I have to make up excuses, though, to be able to get out of work on a weekend. Only the chosen ones get to have weekends off. I have yet to see anything outside of the local mall, the interstate, and my classroom in Syracuse.

So, this Sunday, I'm driving into Syracuse early so that I can at least see a little bit of that city. I've been here 3 months, it's about time I see what kind of place this is.

I got lost in it when I was taking classes there. I was on my lunch break and ended up taking a wrong turn. It was fun to drive alongside the river and just explore it. I ended up having to turn on my phone's navigator once I started nearing the end of my hour lunch break. It was cool, though, to have that short break and just drive for a while.

I thought I might be able to take a couple trips to TN. I have three free plane tickets. I'm using one of them for the Superman Celebration in June. The other two were going to be used for a trip in May and then for my family reunion in July. It's not looking like I'll be able to go on anything except for the June trip, though. I guess I'll just stick it out up here, bored out of my mind... Maybe I should learn to play Ivan's PS3, so that we can actually do something together.

It's hard not having any friends. I don't really want to get too close to the people I work with, because I'll be moving soon. I don't know, really, that they even want to be friends with me. Most of them seem so distant and aloof. It's not really what I'm used to. I'm used to having girls nights out with coworkers and potlucks and chips and salsa fights. It's just different here, and not really in a good way.

Most people say that I'm a really friendly person. I can hold a conversation with anyone about almost anything. I'm probably the most easy going person there. I come in, do my job without complaint, and keep a smile on my face. I suppose that's just not enough to get into their inner circle, whatever that circle may be.

Maybe I'll be able to make friends and actually have some sort of life when I get to NJ and start bartending. I'm sure drunk people are friendly, right? ;)

Marriott Marquis... here I come!

Dragon Con is coming up soon. It's down to about 4 months left. Now is when the heavy planning starts...

Changes to existing costumes
New costumes or upgrades
Intense workout sessions
Roommate planning
Photoshoot planning
Panel worksheet printing

And not to mention the last minute tanning/hair dying that will have to happen the week before. It's so much fun though. That week I get to spend in a completely different environment is worth all the trouble. It's a week like no other.

A couple people I work with up here have heard about D*C. I'm surprised, because I wasn't expecting to find geeks up here in the country. But, I guess they're everywhere. It's a nice surprise.

I'm jonesing for another trip to Nashville. I've got some plans in the works. I might just be making 2 trips back home before we have to start packing up again for the next move.

Temps in the 60's? Is this a cruel joke?

It's beginning to warm up around here, finally. I didn't think it would actually get above a Tennessee spring temperature up here in the tundra, but apparently it does. Forecast is for the high 60's this weekend. Up here, anything above 50 feels absolutely amazing when the sun is shining. I'm not sure why a low temperature feels warmer here, but it does.

My sister and her husband and children visited me a few weeks ago. We had a great time and went to Niagara Falls and into Canada for a few days. We spent a night in Toronto. It's a really neat city. I hope someday to go back there and also to visit Montreal. Even the road trip part wasn't too bad... except for the karaoke!

Niagara Falls was the only real vacation destination my mother ever went to as a child. It felt like she was there with me on this trip. I would have given anything to have been able to share this moment with her, but it still felt special knowing I was somewhere she had really loved being.

Is that melting snow I see?

It's finally starting to warm up just a little bit here. I don't think we'll have any more negative temperatures at least. The snow from early January is starting to melt, even though it's still snowing off and on... nothing more than a few inches at a time. That's certainly good news, because I don't like to be stranded at work and I really don't want to have to shell out $6 for a cab ride home.

I'm about to resume my diet/exercise routine. I got the all clear from my doctor in January that I was able to start working out again. I was just being lazy. Now my pants are starting to fit too tight, so I'm going to have to. I'm not about to go out and buy new jeans because I'm too lazy to lose 10lbs.

I got to go back home for almost a week last week. It was nice to see my friends again. I'm so lonely up here. We don't really know many people and there's not a lot of places to go to make friends except for the bars. Neither of us really want to pick up friends in bars. I'm hoping springtime comes soon, so that we can get out of this town and go explore the state.

There was an inventory at work today. It was sheer madness. The inventory team from HQ arrived and whirled through the store like a hurricane. They left product all mixed up and messy. It's going to take us days to make it normal looking again. We had to go behind them and recheck their counts. I'm so sick of counting. There is one more day of it tomorrow. I asked for a job to keep me busy and this one is definitely doing it. :)

Now, we are both members of the NY work force!

I finally found employement. I've accepted a part time position at Sears. I'm a floor merchandising person. Okay, I really don't know what my official title is. I do whatever the supervisor tells me to do. I clean out the mess people leave in the fitting rooms. I pick up the clothes that mysteriously fall off the hangers onto the floor, All By Themselves. I help customers do price checks or find what they're looking for in the store. And I stock shelves.

I haven't had a minimum wage job since the 90's. It's definitely different. I can see it from the perspective of not being one step below the owner. I don't mind. It's nice to not have to worry about dealing with employees for a change. All I have to do is show up to work, do my job, clock out out for lunch and remember to clock back in. And when I leave at the end of the day, I'm done. I don't have to even think about work until the beginning of my next shift. It's a nice change.

I'm flying back home to Nashville this coming up weekend. I have a doctor's followup appointment next Tuesday and I figured I'd just make a whole weekend of it. It'll be nice to see all my Clarksville bff's again.

Oh, and to totally raise an awareness, but not get into a political rant...I really don't know how a single person could survive on a minimum wage job. There's no way that amount of money could pay for rent, a car, utilities and food. I honestly just don't see how anyone could survive on $900 a month and not live in a ghetto. Especially if there were children also. I just don't see how it could be done. Until I realized just how little of a paycheck that would be, I never had to think about it. Well, now it's on my mind and it makes me sad for all the people who do have to survive that way.

Job Interview Hell

Before moving here, I had never actually filled out a job application. I've never even really been on a job interview, at least not in the sense that most people think of. Every place I've ever worked at before, I've simply dropped off a resume and got a call a couple days later asking if I was still interested. Or, in one instance, I was asked to go to dinner and presented with a job offer that I wasn't even looking for at the time.

I'm not writing that to brag, merely to point out my total ineptitude when it comes to selling my skills. I've never had to do that, so I don't really know the first thing about it.

I've also never realized the process took so long. I applied at a major hardware/lumber retailer for a part time cashier position. I have already been to three interviews in the past week for that position. I was told today that there is a final interview in about seven days and I might be called back for that one. That final fourth interview will determine who gets hired. It makes me wonder if the company is trying to weed out the ones not really interested by making them come back over and over during a stretched out time period.

I'm amazed that it takes four interviews to make a decision on a single candidate, especially one so innocuous as a minimum-wage part time cashier. Then again, I've learned over the years that there is no unimportant position in a business.

Maybe what I'm accustomed to in the veterinary field is completely different though and this really is how the real world hires people. Because I was in a manager position for so long, I've learned to be able to read people with just a glance. I pay attention to the way people talk, the way they smile, and the way they behave around other employees. As one of my bosses used to frequently say, "You can train an employee how to hold a syringe, but you can't train a person to smile." Anyone can write anything they want on a resume or answer a series of questions in whatever way they think an employer wants to hear.

But, a person can't fake confidence or a smile, or a genuine love for work. I suppose that I'm still in the mindset that the HR managers of the world will realize after the first interview that I am an inherently good employee with a genuine desire to be challenged with work and do the best job I'm capable of doing. I try not to get irritated when I see teenagers working cash registers or doing sales jobs on the floor. Being a former manager, I'm constantly aware of employees that aren't doing a good job. I have to bite my tongue in interviews so as not to "tattle tale" on the employees out on the floor, employees I know I could run circles around if given a chance.

After being told today about the 4th interview, I stopped in at two other places and submitted applications and sat in on interviews. Surely someone out there will realize they should be hiring me, right?

Things that irritate me about this location

My VZW navigator on my phone doesn't update quick enough and I get stuck in the town square going around and around the roundabout.

1 veterinary clinic in the whole city! Seriously!

The interstate system doesn't correlate the miles with the exit numbers. It could be 20 miles between exit 25 and exit 26. I'm used to the exit numbers matching the mile markers.

The library is closed on Sunday.

No Mexican Restaurants within a 60 mile radius.

No Bank of America branch location or ATM within the closest two counties.