Today I accepted a job as Web Content Programmer at the Wichita Eagle. I get to make Kansas.com totally rock, starting in a couple weeks.
So to my Wichita homies: email me your complaints, ideas, suggestions and comments about Kansas.com. I’m compiling a big wishlist.
So one job offer is 100% official now (and they’re pushing me to commit) and the other is, uh, well, they’re stringing me along, honestly.
Doesn’t make it hard to choose, does it?
I’m a firm believer in trusting your instinct, and I’ve been disappointed to find that my instinct hasn’t given me a clear reading on this issue. So I bought some more beer. YAY BEER.
Thinking about it now, I can remember examples of times that I acted contrary to my instinct (most of these examples involve boys). It always ended badly.
And the times that I had no instinct to follow? I had to act rationally, and it always turned out better than I could have expected.
So between the beer and the rationalism, I’ve changed my mind again. I have realized which job is pie and which is cake. Pie is good on the inside. Cake is pretty on the outside. I’ve always been a pie person.
I’m waiting until Friday morning, in case instinct intervenes, but then I’m making a commitment.
I can tell you exactly why I’ve posted so little this semester. All I’ve been thinking about is my post-school career, and the details of that career haven’t been very certain.
First of all, I turned down an amazing job in Spokane. The job itself was perfect. The people there were awesome and seemed to like me, my responsibilities were fun and dynamic, my boss was cool. But Spokane itself? Is far away. Has snow on the ground all winter (I hate snow). Doesn’t necessarily have a lot to offer someone my age, and the only people I know there would have been coworkers. And moving that far is out of the question for Quinton. He needs to finish school.
So I turned down the job a couple months ago. I still feel bad for leading them on, but I’d never really considered that if they were so eager to hire me, other newspapers closer to home might want me too. Maybe my resume isn’t completely unimpressive.
So two or three months passed and no one seemed particularly interested in hiring me. That’s fine, I’ve still got plenty of work on campus to keep me busy. Until the rapidly-approaching day when I no longer qualify for my student position.
Then I got an email from one paper — one I actually want to work at. And I interviewed there a few days ago. Everyone was incredibly nice, and the higher-ups are smart. And I know that it’s very lucky to be able to work for people who get it. I’d be their only developer, and I don’t know that I’m really ready for that kind of pressure, and it’s almost scandalous that they’re considering someone straight out of college for this, but I came home from that interview feeling really, really good.
And I came home to an email from another paper. It said “Don’t take that job. Let’s talk.”
I pretty much crapped my pants when I read that.
How they knew about the first job was a mystery, and when I’d spoken with them a couple months back, I’d gotten the impression that they liked me but that I was maybe a little green for their operation. My experience in web development isn’t extensive, and the kind of work they’re doing is nothing like what I do on campus. Which is not to say I don’t want to work there. I do. Very much. But I’d be a small fish on a big team, whereas with the first job, I’d be the only fish — which comes with lots of perks and respect.
So I’m not in a “lesser of two evils” situation. I’m in a “pie or cake?” situation. I love pie. Passionately. But cake is also delicious and there is frosting on cake. Mmm, frosting. I have not decided which job is the pie and which is the cake, but I’m fairly certain that this is an appropriate metaphor.
I’m still waiting to hear back from both papers about all the details of salary and starting dates. I know which job I’ve favoring at the moment, but I’ve changed my mind more than once already, so who knows?
Whichever way I go, I’ll probably have committed to my first grown-up job by next weekend. So this weekend, I’m living up the college lifestyle. I had three beers yesterday. THREE. BEER! It took until my last semester before I even found a beer I liked. Tonight I’m going to a party. My first potluck! Tomorrow I get to introduce my sister to Lawrence and the college experience.
And Monday, I’m supposed to hear from both papers. I’m still a little scared.
So I got bored and downloaded Microsoft’s beta of Windows Vista. Lifehacker tempted me into it.
I installed it on Quinton’s old laptop this afternoon.
Thoughts so far:
Of course, I’m not a big fan of Windows anyway. But I really don’t see any improvement over XP SP2 (except that Windows Defender is pre-installed?), and I do see a lot of tacky bloat. This isn’t progress, Microsoft.
When I was little, I had a security blanket. It was the standard crochet blue-pink-white blankie that old ladies like to make for the babies in their families.
It went everywhere with me. Grandma says I started crying LOUDLY when they took me to church and didn’t have my blankie. It took until the middle of the sermon for me to realize we’d left it behind, but there was no way I was going to spend another 20 minutes without it. (Don’t grandparents know that little kids won’t sit through church anyway?)
Eventually I decided it was time to leave it tucked under my pillow during the day. And then it found its way under my bed for many years. It’s somewhere in my parents’ basement now, I think.
I’d like to say that I’ve grown up and don’t need my blankie anymore. But the truth is that I’ve got an awesome fleece blanket that’s bigger, more durable and softer than the baby blanket. And as Quinton can testify, I spend most of my time with it wrapped around me. At night, it sits on top of my head to block the light from the bedroom window. And on the weekends when I’m either too lazy to get dressed or I need to do laundry, it becomes a completely-not-flattering wrap dress!
Anyway. Cuddly blankets make my life complete.
And that’s about as coherent as my thoughts get lately. More sleep is needed.
I’ve been thinking that
it would be way awesome if
Al Gore was my dad
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