Ken and Lauren's Blog

Life is about to get interesting, still no job, but still interesting:

Here is my itinerary for the next two weeks:

Wednesday: Last day of work - Play soccer at night
Thursday: Leave for Cleveland (remember to call Joe and Suzanne)
Friday: Leave for Buffalo - Check out a buddies last night before marriage
Saturday: Leave for Boston
Sunday: Go to one of my old friend's weddings, see a whole bunch of great friends from college
Monday: Leave for Jersey - Drop Lauren off at the airport
Monday night: Dinner with the parents
Tuesday: Head to Philly - Show Kevin and Heather the town before they move there.
Tuesday night: Fly back to Cincinnati
Wednesday: Pack up the apartment, and clean the place - Play soccer at night
Thursday: Pick up the Uhaul, watch movers load it, head to Jersey
Friday: Watch movers load the Uhaul at Lauren's grandparent's and mother's.
Friday night: Hopefully hit the boardwalk with some friends
Saturday: Driver to D.C. - Watch movers unload the truck into our new apartment
Saturday night: Return the uhaul, and set up the apartment
Sunday: Drop Lauren off at the airport, she will not be moving for another 10 days
Monday: Keep looking for a job!

I Hate Job Hunting

Just thought I would share. Hopkins Human Resources have recommended that they interview a 3rd candidate for the process. Totally understandable except for the fact the head of the search committee leaves town until the 12th of July and would have to conduct the interview after that.

Not really in the mood to wait that long, but don't believe I have a choice either.

But it looks like I will be making the move to DC around the 12th of July, give myself a weekend of fun in Cincinnati. It will actually be hard to leave this place, I like my home and all. Job ends next Wednesday though, and I plan on being on the road for a while after that, just for a fun road trip which I have not had in a while.

But I will see some of you in Agawam on the 4th!

Living, Jobs, and Robberies

So what a whirlwind couple of days.

Got to DC on Monday morning on 2 hours of sleep, spent the day apartment and house hunting. Almost put a bid in on a house, but decided against it (you know it would be nice to have a job before buying a house) Too many appliances and windows and such would have to be replaced soon after moving to get rid of all of our funds in the closing process. Did get a great apartment community though. Rockville Pike, north of Bethesda, block from a metro stop.

During the day, Towson called saying they couldn't organize the people for an interview (it was a last minute process when they knew I was coming into town) but that they will call me on Wednesday. I have my doubts, they have been very disorganized, but here is hoping.

Finally got to be my hotel at 10:30 at night ready to pass out. So of course I stayed up for a few more hours.

The Applicant

Next morning, got up went to get breakfast and a shoeshine sponge (shines shoes up to 100 times) Made it to my interview, checked out Levering Union. Damn that place has changed. There is a coffee stand when you first walk in, union desk is to the right of the main entrance, ELevel (soon to be called Levering Lounge or L Squared) has couches, the game room is now offices.

The interviews all day were actually fun for me. Saw a number of familiar faces who kept walking in and saying "Oh, I know you" Apparently they didn't recognize the name from 7 years ago, but they do the face. Not sure exactly what that is saying. But I prepared well enough, and actually reread my student development theories and got to use them in one of the interviews.

I am really excited by that interview though. I think they will be payin in the right range, commute will be a little annoying, but not too bad, and worth living in a cool place. I think I would be able to do it in an hour each way based on traffic from the past few days.

Break-ins

Got home last night and Lauren called me. Our neighbors were out of town, and apparently someone through a brick through their window and broke in. Our pet nanny (yes we have a pet nanny, but dammit my dog needs walks. Are you going to do it?), who is also their dog walker, found the place. So Lauren was there with the police officer so that the open house was not left alone. I got home and sent her home to be with the two dogs (their dog was at our place) and I spent the evening their til they got home at midnight. Cleaned up most of the place for them. It would suck, not only are you robbed, but you then have to clean the entire place up. But it is important for everyone to note, when you throw a brick through a glass, it spreads out extremely wide and far. There is probably some physics principle that I don't remember, but there you have it. Other important note for any future burglars, glass leaves finger prints.

But the person got in the house, and to our knowledge, saw the dog, got scared and left.

The only thing they took? The DVDs. At least the person had taste.

I leave for Baltimore/ DC in 3 and a half hours. Why the hell am I still up? This mild insomnia thing sucks.

Theoretically I have two interviews down there. I say theoretically because Towson called me and asked to speak with me, was cool enough to tell me that they do have a frontrunner for the position with 5 years more work experience then me, but it is not a lock, but have not called to tell me a time.

Hopkins is all set for Tuesday and that is really exciting.

Lauren and her Mom looked at a townhouse for us to buy today. I will look at it with my Dad tomorrow night. Even once we finally rent/buy a place, I don't know if we will have our final decision, the way we go back and forth on these things. But I would love to buy.

And I had another call Friday afternoon to talk with an organization, Jewish Youth Philanthropy Institute They are checking on my references now, and then we will talk about real interviews. So life is picking up.

Go Towne Properties

Our apartment community is writing us a check for $300. For the past 3 months, I have been complaining because the end of my balcony looks like it is about to fall off. They have kept putting me off (for normal logistical reasons, but as the property manager stated, that is not my concern). The last time I talked to them, we talked about a temporary fix, and compensation.

So I am now going to get a check from them. Of course little do they know that at the end of the month, I am going to put in our month's notice to leave, so glad we got this out of the way now.

But it is a lesson. Complaining works (at least when you are justified). I am well past the point of not getting service, if I pay for something, I want what I order. Much like being at a bar recently, when I ordered a hamburger with mushrooms, and they brought me out a cheeseburger because that is what comes with mushrooms. To the nasty look of the waitress, I sent it back asking for my hamburger with mushrooms.

Didn't get anything off of that bill though. And the sad thing is, I hate being a pain in the ass (no comments) but it does work.

A question for all of you Hopkins people (or anyone else if you would like to answer about your own student union)

So as I have written, I am interviewing for the Assistant Director of Campus Activities at Hopkins, basically in charge of Levering Union and the programming there.

So my question for you is, what could have made Levering cooler for you? What would make people actually want to hang out there in the evenings?

And when you answer, please realize that they closed down E-Level and probably will not let me serve alcohol there again except on special occassions.

But is there any activity or object that would have been cool? A starbucks or something (remember that Xando just opened up next to campus as well)

Any input or ideas would be useful before next week.

Some things I have been thinking about (not sure about their feasability yet):

Iron Chef Nights - Different members of student groups compete against each other, almost like an intramural

Quizzo or game show type nights

Television watching parties (American Idol, etc)

Hopkins Idol, or other such parody of reality television

Comedy nights

Pool tournaments

Any other thoughts? Are these ideas that you think Hopkins kids who you can't get out of their rooms would even go for?

Thanks for your help.

Heading to Baltimore next week for an interview at Hopkins. Still working on the details with some other places, it is very frustrating when jobs do not have their acts together. But it is also a learning experience, for when I run job searches to always be in communication with people as well.

Waiting is the hardest part, but we are in the home stretch.

Apartments, houses, weddings, old friends, and cicadas...

Drove to DC on Thursday. Looked at apartments in Columbia, Silver Springs, and DC. One thing about living in Cincinnati, it is hard to move back to the pricing on the east coast. We want a house, but timing wise can't get it done (not without me having a job yet, Towson will hopefully be calling today) But we might have found the next best thing... a house to rent.

It is in Silver Spring, about a 15 minute walk to the downtown area. 3 stories, big yards, nice fire place, basement. It is great. Now if only I knew where I was going to work, but I think I will just suck up the commute, even if it is an hour drive to Towson. The house is too nice. And besides, I want to be able to take my grill with me, where I go. Priorities here people.

As for buying a condo in DC, damn, 2 bedrooms in Rockville go for 350,000. That is a condo where you have to pay association fees. What are people thinking? This housing market is way too inflated right now.

Got to go to a wedding this weekend, which was really nice. It was very nice, but I have come out of it with a realization.

The hora needs a time limit. Now for anyone that doesn't know, the hora is a traditional Jewish dance, and it is simple to do. At every Jewish wedding, there is a point where they band plays this klezmer type music (just think Jewish here), everyone joins hand and circles around the bride and groom. Now what usually happens is at some point, people pick up the bride and groom in chairs (anyone ever a part of this process on the sidelines, if you see a very small person holding a chair, Jewish or not, it is ok to step in and help hold up the chair. Just a note for you). While it starts off with everyone circling, it usually stops very shortly depending on the lack of room on the dance floor and evolves into everyone clapping. This gets old fast, not only for the bride and groom who are getting very dizzy, but for the people standing there clapping. Thus the time limit. This dance has a tendency to go on for ever. I say 5 - 7 minutes is an appropriate time period. Just my suggestion.

On the drive from D.C. to New Jersey and then on the very long drive back from New Jersey to Cincinnati, Lauren and I got to stop by and visit different friends. As much as I love my new friends, there is something to be said for people that you have known and loved for close to 10 years. Even though I don't see or talk to some of them very often, there is a sense of peace, coming together, like no time has really past. You don't find those connections regularly, and they take time to grow, so just a thought to treasure some of your friends.

Cicadas are back. Well more to the point, we are back. You heard them in DC and Maryland, but they didn't come out too much. The car rides they ran into us. Did you know cicadas are blind? This is by the expert testimony of one of the apartment showing ladies (I think that is a technical term). They were nonexistant in Jersey. But now they are all over again. They form a carpet all over the ground. Lauren and I have dubbed them DABs. Dumb-ass bugs. And thus they shall forever be called, to go along with the BABs (Big-ass bees) outside my apartment.