I just got off the phone with the woman I want as my next boss. Carrie -- you can stop worrying about when they are going to call me (grin!) She emailed me over the weekend -- asked when would be good to talk about the position she is hiring for. I emailed her back saying today would be the best day... between 10 and noon. At 10:04 the phone rings.
We just talked for 50 minutes... and I think I made a great impression on HER... she loved my resume, loved the fact I have experience with faculty, thinks that faculty don't listen well (cough, prof MF? hello?) and thinks that I'd be the perfect match because of experience and understanding of them on the whole.
She even remembers my husband from when he worked there, thinks he's a great guy.
The rest of the committee are faculty members with Ph.D.s and THEY are looking for... a Ph.D. to fill the position. She is trying to convince them otherwise. We talked quite extensively about how well I will do the job. The task now is to convince the CIO, the Provost, a Wellness (cough, gym!) teacher, a Biology Prof and an English Prof, all male, that I'll be able to do the job. They want a "peer" who has years of classroom teaching experience and has made the switch to using technology in the classroom. The kind of experience someone like Prof CM has. He is PERFECT for the job, but heck -- he's got tenure, he isn't leaving where he is!
Cross your fingers and let's hope she can tell them that their search for a Ph.D. who wants to leave teaching and teach other teachers to build websites and run blackboard classes is futile -- that I am the best candidate.
She wants screenshots of the stuff I've done, so I'm going to print out online right now an extensive history of MF's class, and the stuff I'm doing for CM, and my portfolio as a designer. I have all kinds of great screenshots from the old college, and I think I can convince them that from a pedogogical perspective I am perfect for the job, without the Ph.D.
This could SO be the job for me.
Another great thing she told me is that in January they are pulling their website 100% BACK in house. They hired a design firm to build, host and maintain the site, and there has been a huge problem with updates and making changes. No one there at the design firm knows the source of update requests -- is this an urgent request, is this a student pulling a prank... so they want it all pulled in house and want to hire someone to be "master of the domain" as it were.
That would also be me.
So we talked about that position -- she thinks I'd be perfect for it if the faculty I interview with cannot get past the non-degree status I currently hold. And there's a good chance I'd rather do that anyhow! So there! Hire me.
What a morning.
I totally forgot that today I was going to go to Salem to have lunch with my friend Rupa -- I'm picking up Geoff early today and have to run to do some errands. I know better than to schedule meetings/lunches on Mondays. I always screw things up and forget.
It isn't like the weekend was full of frivolity or drunkenness. It was incredibly mellow and fun. But it's just me and Mondays. We don't click well together. Not to make light of it, but I think I have Alzheimer every Monday -- I forget everything I'm supposed to do that day or the week upcoming and I need the time Monday to regroup, remember... and get back on track.
Here's Abby with the biggest balloon hat in history, by the way. She's a hot ticket, that one... We then took Ian geocaching with us! He has been wanting to do this since we saw them in July, so we made a point to offer. At first Gregg wanted to have him "visit with his Aunt, Uncle and Cousin," but after a while he figured it'd be good to have some Ian-free time. Ian has ADD, and is very very VERY excited. At one point in the car he gleefully informed me he was off his meds, as he is every Saturday and Sunday. They give him a break from them and by Saturday afternoon you can tell the difference. I could see it was wearing on Gregg. He's kind of like Squidward to Ian's Spongebob... if you know the show you get the reference.
Thing is with Ian, and with Geoffrey too, -- if you are doing something HE wants to do, attention is not an issue. There is no deficit. He was a pro geocacher. Doug was thrilled to take him. He wanted Jessica to have this kind of response to caching when we started, but she complains about the hiking part, and hates when there is crappy swag in the box. So he gets irritated with her and doesn't like to bother with her on a hike.
Here he is posing with his very first cache ever. This one is at Stage Fort Park, right on the ocean. There are huge rocks to climb all over, beautiful views of Gloucester harbor and Magnolia. We spent a good deal of time just climbing around on the rocks and having billy goat style fun.
The second cache was at Goose Cove, and if you are at all familiar with the drive up to Rockport, MA, it is on your right as you are going up the west side of Gloucester towards Annisquam and Lanesville. There is a little causway before Annisquam (I think it's before...) and the Essex County Greenbelt owns some 26 acres of the land which juts out into the cove, thus creating it.
Here are links to the two we did. Goose Cove and Ryan's Geocache. We were going to do a third but figured that it would be dark by the time we got through finding the cache and we still would have to get back to the car. Ian was crestfallen. But I'm sure we'll get up to do the other two caches on Cape Ann before it gets too cold to be out there on the ocean scouring rocks at Halibut Point or Dogtown... (by the way, this link is to a Harry Chapin song of the same name, one I've never ever even heard).
Dogtown (a more historical link, with a picture of where the cache is near) is one of the first areas of Gloucester that was settled, and later abandoned. It's an area we've never gone to even though we've lived here for a million years and everyone we know hikes there and knows the place like the back of their hand. I am looking forward to doing that cache -- it looks like it would be either as hard as you wanted to make it or as easy, depending on where you park.
Here are some more pictures from our visit to Gloucester and our Eagle Eye Ian Geocache Adventure:
My kids couldn't be cuter here... for a change. They aren't fighting, scratching, screaming or biting. What a beautiful picture. Sigh.
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| Jessie scaling the rocks at Stage Fort Park. | Jessie making a "Sailor's Valentine" at the Seafood Festival |
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| Ian returns the cache to it's location | Ian and Geoff tear into Goose Cove Cache. |
Sunset from Goose Cove -- being on the point and looking west was nice.
supercachers!
Jessie took this of me, it's a nice picture except for the fact I'm fat and wearing a spongebob squarepants Tshirt.
Sunday we went to Brian's for a BBQ and football game viewing. It was fun to hang with everyone. Even Honey came, and usually she doesn't. She's so pregnant and cute. Geoff got married again, to Brian's daughter Alyssa. A neighbor girl performed the ceremony in the playhouse part of the swingset. We watched from the windows and laughed at them -- they stood across from each other holding hands and gazing lovingly at each other while the other little girl pronounced them man and wife. I didn't see any kissing. Later, Alyssa told me they were playing Sleeping Beauty and Geoff was the prince who woke her from her death-sleep, so they had to get married.
Brian quipped to me that there was no dowry whatsoever. We noted that covering on the playhouse made a nice chuppa, or they could move over into the Sukkot sukkah, which was at the top of the driveway. We were going to run out there with a glass for them to stomp on but were too lazy.
Brian and his family are very seriously Jewish... (no kidding, right? I mean, how many people do you know who call themselves Jews who actually build a sukkah? Seriously. None. You don't. You are Jewish and you don't. I know. Really).
I doubt that they'd ever allow Alyssa to marry an evangelical goy like my son. But we had a good laugh at them, and they make a cute couple. Alyssa is small and slight with gorgeous huge black-brown eyes and curly brown hair, and she looks up at you through her eyebrows and has the sweetest little pout. Geoff is so Aryan, blonde, tall, strapping, strong, not an ounce of fat on him... They looked hysterical getting hitched in the yard. What a funny thing if something like that ever happened.
I bet Brian would let Geoff take her to a school dance or something. But he'd be up pacing the floor all night. As for Geoff already being married -- I anulled that one. When Victoria moved out of the house nextdoor, Victoria left Geoffrey. I'm the judge on the case, and I signed the paperwork.
Victoria thinks they're still married. Geoff has moved on. And I'm glad that he has found new love with a family I adore.
I just called Brian to tell him about my phone interview because he is the top of my reference list, and I asked him outright about Alyssa marrying a goy. He told me absolutely not. He and his wife haven't had this conversation, after all, the girl is 4 so it hasn't been a thought or concern, but he knows that her bashert would not be Geoff or any other non-Jewish kid. He also said he's going to give her a ration of Jewish Guilt in regards to marrying, dating or even fantasizing outside the faith. He's right as a man of his faith. And I have no problem with that. But I did joke that he needs to be cautious about his brainwashing against goy boys, that he could cause Alyssa to go all Hebrew Taliban on the world.
We're so open with our relationship as super jew and super (sorta) christian that I love these kinds of discussions with him. Wouldn't trade this friendship for anything.
Alright. I've been at this for an hour. With many interruptions. I've got to go to the market now, buy our supplies for the week, clean Geoff's room, pick him up, go to the bank, get his glasses... yadda yadda. I feel like I need a break already!
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