hmmmm

Not much exciting going on. More anxious than ever. We just got back from visiting my Grandma, and dinner at the in-laws over the weekend. We had a good time at Grandma's; we got lots of pictures and stuff for our new house! (we don't have a house yet, but we want one, and are planning for it; more details will be available later). I learned something new this weekend: the new DVD/VCR combo units DO NOT have a TV tuner built in. That means you cannot record TV from them. You must connect it with composite. I suppose this is not a problem for Digital TV and DirectTV subscribers, however people like me and my Grandma who get our TV from the black coax line have issues. Luckily, my aunt's old VCR still has a good tuner, so I showed her how to pass the signal to her new VCR/DVD combo to record TV. I never thought that they would stop putting normal/analog TV tuners in VCRs. At this point, I'm really starting to think it is a conspiracy between the TV manufacturers, supported by the government to bolster the economy, to get people to buy more TVs. First (6 years ago) they have these crappy flat TVs, and only now are they starting to make good quality flat TVs with HD capabilities... But, they still have you by not making all the TVs 1080 lines... they sell 'em with less lines to confuse people and make them upgrade at a later time. Already the flat technology inherently will NEVER outpace the old CRT tubes in terms of viewing life, but they are still trying to slowly upgrade tvs with features just to keep people buying. It is like cell phones. And then there is February 2009.... the day analog TV will be executed (stop broadcasting). I still have hope that there may be a last hour reprive, and the switchover will be delayed; but analog tv will eventually go away. I still haven't seen these wonderful HDTV reception boxes for analog tvs...They'll probably want to sell them for more money than they should.

More about Digital TV Transition
http://www.dtv.gov/

Waiting...

Another post, and still no job *official* offer from Albuquerque. I got another offer, it is for OKC!! And I cancelled an interview for Greenville, that I would've had this morning...

I'm getting anxious about moving. I'd like to set my living plans into motion.

My wife's birthday is coming up. This year, I'm better prepared than usual; I already got her some presents, but I don't know what to add to it. Maybe I'll get her a kitchen table, she wants one of those.

I think this picture says it all

It is posted all over engineering south.

Back to School

It's has been nearly a week since I last posted... We just got back from Albuquerque, and we both LOVED it! We started looking for a house, too. We think we found a great one, but I don't officially have an offer letter, yet. I hope to soon.

I've realized that there are a lot of things to do to get a house. The property tax, insurance, closing costs, escrow, etc.... There is like a billion things to do. All this excitement makes it really hard for me to work on my homework. I'm still nervous about having to do more work for my thesis, too. And then I'll have to defend it. So far, I've been trusting my advisor to help me do what I need to, to graduate! And, I'm pretty sure I'll get and offer, but does that mean that I should stop trying to get other jobs? And what do I say to potential employers who do call? Thanks for your interest, but I'm interested in something else, unless it falls through, then I'll be interested in you again? Today, I basically told this guy, that. It is so hard for me to pretend to be interested in any other job, when I really just want this other one. It is very exciting.... somehow I'll have to keep myself together for two more weeks....

Interviews.... (Warning: EXTREMELY long and NO pictures)

On-campus interviews can be silly. There is not really a particular job you are applying for, in most cases. They supposedly are on campus to look for people they like, and then match them up with jobs at some later time. This 'later time' is a month before graduation, which leaves less than month between offer and graduation..... Not much time to find a place to live, (or is it?)

I had an interview today. They asked three questions, and they were all dumb.

1. Describe a situation where you were asked to do another task while you were still in the middle of completing another task.
2. Describe a situation where you went beyond your responsibilities (or expertise).
3. Do you prefer working in academia to industry, or vice versa?

I think number 1 is bogus because it all depends on the project your working on and the project that comes up. My answer could be totally lame if I said I was doing homework and then asked to TA a class in 2 hours; no big deal, blow off homework. But that happens to me, and it does answer the question. If you are designing a future system and the factory needs to fix a problem to continue production; guess which project takes priority. HOWEVER, what if the future system design is going to be field-tested the next day? The hiring of a plane, pilots, support staff, equipment moving, and travel can be very expensive to waste!

Is number 2 asking me if I ever stole someone else's responsibilities? I guess they mean I a situation where I did something I wasn't supposed to do? In hindsight, I think they probably meant the wanted to know about a situation where I went above and beyond the call of duty.... Why didn't they say that?

I'm sure NOW, that I totally blew number 3. He asked me this after noticing that I have done a lot of work as a research assistant. I said that I liked the freedom and flexibility of academia, and at my last job I felt restricted on what I could work on, then as I was explaining how great it is I can move about projects at will in academia, I sensed him stop listening....

I'm not sure what all these questions have to do with my willingness to work at this place. Oh well, in like a week or so they will let me know if I'll be attending their special 'EXPO' (seriously, they used that word) and 'speed interview' like 5 different bosses. ('speed interview' is my special term for when you talk to a hiring manager for one job, then go see another hiring manager for another job, etc. all in one day or morning; I see it as much more confusing and annoying than interviewing with several people for a single position).

I got another interview tomorrow morning. I like the morning interviews... I get it over with!! This will my 4th time to interview with this company, so I know the drill. Luckily, they have been normal interviews with those familiar 'tell me about yourself' type questions. A recruiter form this company sent me an email telling me to apply to get an interview. I felt that there was someone interested in talking to me about a specific job or group; after the info session I'm sure that was bone-head idea.

I feel it is too late to try to make any more applications; by the time they back to me I'll have graduated. But on the other hand, if wait longer to apply, I'll have to wait longer for a response. I really would like Albuquerque to come through and save me this stress. I have been stressing about it; I would like to know if I got it or not, for sure.

Back to Albuquerque

This weekend me and the wife are going to Albuquerque. I got a really good vibe from the interview, and we would like to make sure that we can see ourselves living there. Also, to make the trip more productive we're going to start looking for places to live, too. If anyone knows of some MUST DO things, please let me know by Friday afternoon. That includes mexican restaurants! Or, if anyone knows the best place to live in Albuquerque, I'd like to hear about that, too.

(http://library.corporate-ir.net/library/19/194/194171/mediaitems/1548/GW_ExpressJet_inagural%20232.jpg)

AL-BU-QUER-QUE

(http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/flags/nm_flag.htm)

Yes, I have finally learned how to spell Albuquerque!! I'm back from my Albuquerque interview, and it was AWESOME!! They treated me really good. Everyone said that they get bored working on the same thing and liked to work on different projects; I feel the same way. Also, there seems to be no limits on the work I would be able do there; all within the same company I can work on a huge variety of projects utilizing various specializations within my discipline. I hope this week they send me a job offer! I feel pretty good about getting an offer, so I've already booked another trip back out there to explore the city some more and show the wife around.

Also, I've managed to get two more on-campus interviews this week. They'll go very strange if I get my offer before then; Otherwise, I need to keep going with all my prospects until I get an offer. My Olathe company that extended me an offer has gotten cranky that I wanted to extend the deadline. It is not that I don't want to go Olathe, I could do that job, but I am really excited about Albuquerque.