Helloooooo!

All right. I feel like a normal person again. I had my second interview yesterday and they were being all coy and like "Well, whatever happens in your career, we wish you the very best," and I was thinking "...bastards," and then I got home and they called and offered it to me.

Before you start feeling too good for me, I had to take a pay cut. Booo! Not too bad, though. And benefits are FULLY PAID, which is crazy good.

I don't have to start until Oct. 8, so I will concentrate until then on finding AB a job. The Ladies of Leisure was a (not) fun time, and it's time for us all to be bringin' the dollahs, if you know what I'm saying, and you should.

The first thing I suggest, AB, is that you lament a bit more loudly on An Bei about your unemployment. It worked for me. I have sent out an e-mail (again) to everyone I know in DFW. We will make it happen.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Answers

Al - what's the job?

Aren't benefits always fully paid? You mean there's no co-pay?

Did the MOC take you out for a big cheesy dinner?

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

The job is Marketing/ Communications Manager. It's, you know, corporate side collateral writing, web design/ writing, publications, public speaking, little of this, little of that.

Yes, the benefits are fully paid with no deductable and no co-pay. Also, the agency closes the week between Christmas and New Year's, so we have that week in ADDITION to other vacation.

The agency has a horrible web site - I think my first duty will be to re-do it, at www.globalhealthaction.org.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Oh, and the MOC and I went next door to the mexican place, drank margaritas and then staggered across the street to the coffee bar for dessert. It was excellent.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

That's awesome! So really, you get 3 weeks of vacay? Lucky lucky. I hate havign to use days for the end of December because no one is here anyway, and even if they are, there's nothing to do. Stupid.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

I'm back!

From yesterday:
I have no idea. I was shocked. They're also spending $60K for the wedding. Chris was pissed because he ended up spending around $220 total Saturday night - $120 for the strippers and his share of the limo that he didn't even ride in, and $100 for his dinner - Chop's ain't cheap. He and his friends were PISSED - they weren't even told what this thing would cost until Thursday, way after they had all RSVP'd, and they didn't find out about paying for dinner until dinner.

That's the sucky thing about them. I've been to a couple that wound up being about a zillion dollars more than anyone had planned on spending. Although usually that happens when you go to the strip clubs rather than havine them come to you.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

$200 doesn't seem that much for a bachelor party, really. Because the groom never pays for anything, right?

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

No, he doesn't. Still ... that's a lot of coin.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

$100 is a LOT for dinner, but $120 for four lesbian strippers? That's a bargain baby!

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Maybe, but it's a luxury I can't really afford for too many people.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

What are you fools doing?

I am about to go to the bank, or the "bizank" as some might call it.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Hey.

I got the job. I did! I did! It's not nine dollars an hour, either!

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Great! What's the job?!

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Yay!!! Everyone's employed!

AB - tell.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

I don't even know how it happened, y'all. I went to the interview at 9, and was employed by 10. The company is run by the same lady that owns NixHilton, but it's called Market Tricks (?) I don't know how it's spelled. Anyway, I'll be mostly doing administrative crap, for a while anyway, but I don't care. The benefits are paid (just like Al!), and it's in lovely downtown Ft. Worth. The office building is the coolest I've ever seen, with all exposed brick and beams, and I have a desk and a computer and internet access.

What more could a girl want? YAY!

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

HA HAAHAHAHAHAH!!!

I just talked to AB! Woohoo! This is a great day for MATH!

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

It's because MATH rules! We RULE!

Here's the place of employment...

And here is the building.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

AB, that just rocks all around. Seriously. Downtown FW is the shite.

Hey, check out the MOC in +1 busting out his spreadsheet skills. I love him.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Yeah, but WriterGirl's all over you.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

I was just trying to figure that math thing when the MOC busted out with the answer! He is a very smart cheese.

Y'all know the Sinclair Building is the cousin for me - it's got a place called Tobacco Lane in it!

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Yeah, but WG is all over me for no reason. She will pick a fight with anybody over anything lately.

And, regarding WG, how bad do y'all want to tell her to FORGET about the guy she's "dating" here and stay in NYC and London, for God's sake. I mean, she has a career-making job and gets to travel between two of the coolest cities on planet Earth, and she wants to come back to her hometown and be a stringer? WHY? She's like 23, right? It makes me mad!

Or is it just me? Maybe she loves the guy, but she's so young and so brilliant - why doesn't she just live a little before running back to The Smoker?

I guess I wouldn't want to live in New York right now either, maybe. I understand all that, but it seems so crazy to jeopardize that opportunity with whereversheworks.com.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Yeah, I was going to be all "A-Lo's a moderator and can post wherever she wants", but I really am going to try and post the God entry so I don't want to make this a "Let's Pick on WriterGirl" day.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

I need to read her God entry before you post yours so I can know what she said. I don't read her very often.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

I'm linking to it in the entry.

I don't know. I really hesitate to write on this, because most of the time someone I don't actually know writes about this, I sort of roll my eyes and skim it -- it's such a personal topic and since everyone feels differently, it's guaranteed to cause problems even though that's not my intent.

Oh, and it won't be dated today, since I'm planning on updating later with my Neil Diamond entry. Or so I hope. I have to cut out early for softball, so we'll see.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Although I am tempted to write "I'll take the MOC and give the points."

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

You'd be making a good bet, there. I mean, the man is a human spreadsheet. You can imagine how difficult it is for him to live with the likes of me.

What are those last two patterns? Math is hard!

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

I'll give y'all the answer if you want it. Then you can "solve" it on +1 and look all smart and stuff. Bwahahaah!

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Dude, WG is ON your back, Al! She needs to step off.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

The MOC is truly a genius.

What was up with the WG steppin'? Lord.

She works at the ECONOMIST people. She could live in London.

"The mind boggles." Hee.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Speaking of which, I like how Starlight has started to mix and match with her interjections:

Hee! Hehe! Heeeee! Haaha! Heehee! Heh!

Kill me now.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Hey, if I send y'all what I have so far on the religion thing, will you let me know if I sound like a loon?

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

I'd bet the MOC that you don't sound like a loon, but hit me with it anyway.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

You might lose the bet. But I'll send it in a sec.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Y'all, that 4th one is hard. Letters? Wha?

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Wait, is WG being sarcastic with the chopped liver comment? Like, because she got the 3rd one and you didn't call her Genius? What's wrong with her today. Sheesh.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Hallo? Where did y'all go?

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

I don't know. She's being a weirdo.

Where's T?

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Hey, I'm here. Updating the golf front.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

I don't know. Maybe traveling?

AB - when do you start?

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Bueller?

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

I'm here. Just updated.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Good LORD, people. I have been in conference call HELL for ther past three hours.

No more L of L!

Chris and I had our first meeting with the priest this morning.

Mike, I like the entry and I see no reason why you shouldn't post it in your journal. That sentence gives my reasons why I think that.

$120/person is an awful lot for strippers when there are 30 guys contributing and the strippers are, by all accounts, totally skanky. One even had a paunch.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Okay. No idea there were 30 guys. Good lord.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

AB - when do you start?

Apparently, one of the strippers was older and didn't totally undress. Chris thinks she was the madam.

About WG. I can completely see why her mother wants her to dump this guy in favor of spending her early 20s in New York and London. She has a kick ass job with a kick ass magazine, and I bet that if she plays her cards right, if the dot.com part folds, she can be a full- on writer with the magazine.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

By FAR the best story about the strippers is the one who needed to have her cig lit because she was naked and thus had no lighter.

God, humanity is sometimes so nasty.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

I know. And why demote yourself to stringer? Stupid. Why can't Frank move to New York? He has no family in ATL.

I think it's safe to assume that if there's going to be a MATHcon it'll be in Atlanta, yes?

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

I hope so. I know I'm Whiny McPartypooper, but seriously, I cannot do Vegas three times in one year.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

I have no idea why Frank won't move to New York - it's like it was never even an option. Very odd. And you'd think that he's wantt o support her, to say, "Hell no, don't demote yourself from your kick- ass job for my sake."

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Even if not, if she has regular bylines in the magazine, she should be in great shape. And if she's comfortable freelancing, she'll do fine if her dot-com folds if she then becomes a stringer for The Economist and takes on other projects.

But I would not be demoting myself to stringer status voluntaririly, because it's really a dumb thing to do.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

It really is, because if the magazine ever decides to cut costs, the stringers are likely the first to go.

The tricky part is that no one in the Economist gets a byline - all the stories go uncredited.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

That's true, but she could get a letter of reference attesting to her bylines, and that would probably be good enough.

Still, you don't go that route unless you have to.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Right. I don't understand why Frank moving was never even an option either. Especially since from all accounts he's miserable in his current job. I wonder why she never brings that up.

The only way I'll do a MATHcon is if it's in Atlanta. It just makes sense, after all two of y'all are there and Mike and I could both theoretically drive if need be. (How weird is it that I'm closer to ATL than DC. Doesn't seem right. Virginia is a big ass state.)

Besides, I want to see Chris A. and your house and Kim and all that.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Speaking of our house, I persuaded Chris to paint the dining room and the living room and the half-bath the way I want to paint them. I want long, narrow diamonds from the ceiling to the chair rail in the dining room, alternating between creamy white and creamy yellow. The color difference will be subtle. I saw it in Southern Living. It will kick ass. Then in the half-bath that's between the dining room and the living room, I'll paint the walls in the same alternating colors, but in stripes, rather than the diamonds. The living room will be a lovely shade of green.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

That sounds awesome, T! Very Southern Living.

I have been, once again, plant shopping. Y'all ought to see my kick-ass yard. I'm fixing the pond today, too. whee!

I start my job Thursday or Friday, depending on when I get Mad Mad set up for after-school things. Mike, the guy who interviewed me, just e-mailed me my offer letter. It's real, y'all! It's real!

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

What will you do on your last day as a lady of leisure?

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

Oh, you know, the usual. Get up, drink coffee, take Mad to school, check e-mail, check MATH, admire yard. Repeat. Repeat.

Hannah, O High Priestess of Justified Shopping, does this mean I get to go buy "work" clothes now?

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

AbsoLUTELY.

Al - you too!

I'm off to the gym little ones. Have good Tuesdays.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001

I'm going to interject and say that oh yes, you definitely need new work clothes.

I think I'm going to start looking at paint colors next weekend. I'm also trying to get my dad to come up to do all the handy things that Chris can't, like switch the light fixtures in the kitchen and the dining room. Al, you'll know what I'm talking about - the fixture in the dining room is MADE for our breakfast table, it's all twisty antiqued wrought iron, like our table, and the fixture that's currently in the breakfast room is shiny brass, much more appropriate for the dining room. Chris is afraid of electricity, and he won't let me try to switch the fixtures, but he'll let my dad do it. Also, my dad is the only person I trust to perfectly measure the diamonds for the dining room.

Marrying an attorney when you're used to having an mechanical engineer around the house is a big adjustment, seriously.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2001