Happy Friday

Today was a good day. A lot of people got to finally get their hands on an iPhone (not me), and I had a great interview with AppleOne Staffing. I had filled out their lengthy, detailed application ahead of time online. When I got there today, I did a couple test things on a computer and then interviewed with a recruiter.

Overall...it was definitely a very positive experience. She seemed very impressed with my professionalism, varied skills and background, and liked how flexible and easy-to-work-with I am.

I might see something as early as next week. So here's hoping....

But not idle hoping: I also applied to about 8 other jobs this afternoon. I'm becoming something of a wifi junky. Since I can't get access in the apartment, I've been going either to Panera Bread or Einstein Bros. Bagels and spending about 1-2 hours each visit. Tomorrow I think I'm going to try out some of the other wifi spots so I can find the closest, most comfortable ones. (Right now, Einstein Bros. is closed, so I'm doing this update in my car parked in front....not too comfortable.)

Rumble, Rumble

The last couple days have offered some thunder/lightning in the late afternoon, early evening. As I sit in Panera Bread right now (yeah....free WiFi!), I'm chatting online with Wendy via Google and monitoring my email accounts, etc. Just a few minutes ago, a crash of thunder was really close and literally shook the building. Cool.

I had an appointment this afternoon with a temp agency. I went all right, nothing too exciting/unexpected. It's going to be pretty difficult to hit the target pay range I'm hoping for....but I've only been at this for about a week, there's still time.

After that appointment, I didn't want to go back to the apartment right away, so I decided to check out the menus of some chinese and mexican food places, as I figure those are two styles that will be hard to find quality stuff around here.

When I was looking at the menu in the window of a chinese food place, I noticed this litter critter trapped there in the window:



That must be an authentic "hole-in-the-wall" ethnic dining establishment, yes?

I also stopped by a Verizon Wireless store since my 2-year anniversary is next week, which means free upgrade.

More updates when there's something worth mentioning...

Flimsy Connection

Sorry for going so long without an update. I'm not able to get Steve's DSL line to work with my laptop, so I'm "borrowing" a wireless connection from a neighbor. My laptop says there's a connection available, and I hop onto the interent; but it doesn't work all the time.

Anyways....I've been able to talk to Wendy (and Connor & Cosette) every day on the phone, so at least they've been able to hear what's going on.

Wednesday-Friday I did a lot of passing-out-of-resumes and filling-out-of-applications, mostly in person, but some online too. It was a little tiring, but I feel like I've gotten to know the area pretty well too.

Saturday was a rest/recuperate day....except I spent a couple hours driving around the western end of Colorado Springs exploring the nice homes high up on the mountains and Garden of the Gods and Bear Creek park, etc. That's where I got the photos you can see in my "Scenery" collection: Colorado Springs Scenery



Sunday, Nikki had to work (her last day as a waitress) so Steve took me to his company's "picnic" day at Six Flags Elitch Gardens. The first thing we did was go on a ride called the Minderaser. It was one of the best roller-coasters I've been on....real fast, corkscrews, upside-downs, feet-dangling fantastic! After that we wanted to cool off, so we found a water ride that we were hoping would be the typical "log ride" we've experienced at Disneyland or Knott's Berry Farm. But it was real short (read: up-turn-down) and we got absolutely drenched.

And that was it. We checked out about 3-4 other rides, but they were all closed, so we bailed after being in the park for about 2 hours. At least it was free.

Today, I stayed home, looking online at jobs and apartments, and did get a couple phone calls....basically leads that are now officially dried up.

Good lightning/thunder/rain-storm tonight.

Catch-up

Sunday was great. Since Nikki was working (Server at Old Chicago restaurant), I decided to visit my home church from when I lived in Denver. I really, really liked this church for the 7-8 months I attended…..and I’m happy to say it’s still a great church and I felt very comfortable and it’s an even better church. Here’s their website: http://www.greenwoodcc.com



The first person I saw was Roger, a gentleman who recruited me to help start a college group because they didn’t have one back then. And though the main pastor wasn’t there, the man who spoke (Rich) was a guy who had taken me under his wing, so it was exciting to hear him.

After the service, I explored the renovated campus a bit, and enjoyed the view behind the church. Absolutely breath-taking. And not just the view, it was shockingly quiet and serene. I spent several minutes standing there just being; just soaking it in.




As for the job hunt, yesterday (Monday) I spent hours going over my job leads and decided that I wanted to go to each Christian ministry in Colorado Springs in person to deliver my resume and (hopefully) speak with someone in person. Here’s the challenge: there are close to 100 ministries here!! So I spent a lot of time researching them on the internet and called on a few to narrow down the search some. I narrowed it down to about 30, I’ve got a street address and phone number for each. Today, I planned out a route that would be efficient to hit all 30 in one (long) day-trip.

But then I realized the only cover letter I had done was targeted specifically at a company I had applied at, so I made a new cover letter…..and there was no printer paper. I went to the store and got some. I got back and realized I only had about 15 resumes….soooo off to Kinkos. I make sure I’ve got at least 30 copies of my resume and cover letter, then headed back home to sign and collate. Oh yeah and I had to eat, but I had to go to the store because I started making something I didn’t have all the ingredients for.

Ok, this is kind of rambling….the point is, I got sidetracked a lot and didn’t make it out on the road. That’s ok, I’m going to fill out some applications that were available online so I can turn them in as well, hopefully speeding up the process.

So it looks like Wednesday I will be able to be on the road finally. I’ve been emailing/applying about other jobs off and on the last couple days, so I’m still creating new job leads. I’m feeling pretty positive about tomorrow.

I’ll have another non-work-related post soon.
Sorry for the long post!

My first hours in the Springs

[Editor’s note: This post was written on the night of the 15th, but I wasn’t able to get on the internet at Steve & Nikki’s, so I’m posting it today.]

Well at the end of Day 1 in Colorado, I’ve got a lot to report. I’ve started taking pictures too, to help give you a visual.


I left the Budget Inn a little after 7:00 this morning, gassed up near Pueblo around 9:00, and arrived in Colorado Springs a little after 11:00. Unfortunately, being so far ahead of schedule (I told them I’d arrive Friday night) Steve & Nikki were at work. So I decided to make use of the time and did some exploring:


I ended up in the downtown/business area, and driving past the Palmer Center, I noticed some live musicians. It was about noon, I was hungry, and they had a bbq going, so I stopped for lunch and listened to the band. They were actually quite good. Here's a short clip I took of them:

(Caution: it may take a minute or so to load, it's a 20mb video file.)


I drove all around the neighborhood around where Stikki live (read: Stikki = Steve + Nikki) looking at apartments for rent. There are a lot! I called on about a dozen of them, saw one today and will see at least two more tomorrow. Around 3:00 Nikki came home and we had lunch before she had to go back to work. After a couple more hours of exploring and apartment-hunting, Steve came home and we watched a movie and ate dinner.

Viva Las Vegas

Ok.....so far the trip has gone smashingly!
Here's the timeline:
9:15 - left home
9:30 - left home again after returning for a bag I had left (grrr)
10:00 - left WCHS (dropping stuff off) and Carl's Jr. (breakfast)
(So I'm counting 10:00 as my official "hit the road" time.)
1:15 - gassed up in Needles, CA
4:30 - gassed up and had dinner in Flagstaff, AZ
8:45 - gassed up and considered motel in Albuquerque, NM
(didn't want to pony up the $60+ and felt ok to drive some more)
10:45 - Las Vegas, NM: ok, now I'm tired....I cave in and shell out $50 for the "Budget Inn"
(oh, yeah, I'm in mountain time now, so it's really a few minutes past midnight as I write this.)

So.....I guess I made pretty good time. There was almost zero traffic, and I was averaging 80-85 mph. There were at least 8-10 times today where the highway went down to one lane on each side because of construction.....so I would inevitably get stuck behind a semi for a mile or two.

Best part of this trip: "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
I've done many, many, many road trips. And the ones where I was driving by myself, or just a really long turn at the wheel, has always been a vagabond-spirit of adventure tainted by boredom and tediousness. But this time, I had an audiobook downloaded from iTunes. I like the movie "I, Robot" and had considered reading the book for over a decade. The audiobook form was one man speaking for 8.5 hours! It sounded daunting to me as well.....but time flew by and I really enjoyed it!

So, it's late and I'm going to try and get 6-7 hours of sleep before hitting the road again.
I should hopefully make it to the Springs in one 4-hour-ish drive tomorrow. Yay!

BTW, here's a map of New Mexico to give you an idea of where Las Vegas, NM is (it's a little NE of Albuquerque)....and thanks to the "Budget Inn" for the free wifi access!
http://www.smart-traveler.info/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/map_of_new_mexico.gif

Next Chapter

So, as I set out to discover what the next chapter for life holds, I've set up this blog as a way to allow friends & family to keep up with what's goin' on. Hopefully, I'll be able to update it semi-regularly and add pictures, etc.

To quote an obscure reference to the words of a song by an industrial-metal band from the 90's
called "Mortal":

"So it begins."