I just got called for an interview tomorrow! The best part, aside from the fact that it is a job I’d be really good at? It’s 3 blocks from home. That’s right, 3 blocks away. Best. Commute. Ever.
It is a temporary assignment, but that’s ok. It’s temporary full time. I’ll take that. Fingers crossed that it all goes well tomorrow.
~Kelly
First of all, the fantastic folks at Gentle Giant put up a link on Facebook to our post from the other day and we got all kinds of traffic. Thanks, guys!
Yesterday Geoff and I went to the 2011 National Urban League Conference Job Fair. It was absolutely, hands down, the best job fair either of us has ever been to. The job fair was all of Hall A at the Boston Convention Center and was about half and half interesting vendors and people looking to hire. We had more interesting conversations with people from all over the country than I can remember having in a long, long time. Also, I got a pony.
I’m popping in from headache land to post some more Sox photos from the game on Sunday.
Paps makes his entrance from the bullpen. Gotta love the music.
I like Papelbon, can you tell? The two Sox shirts I have are Big Papi and Papelbon.
Ok, there’s work to be done. More later.
~Kelly
Geoff here – I actually had the chance to go to not one but two Red Sox games this weekend, thanks to the kindness of my cousin John and my Aunt Donna. Friday night I went to a game with John, his brother-in-law and his nephew. We had a pretty good time, despite the fact that we kept thinking it was going to rain on us. Thankfully it never did and the game was REALLY good. In case you hadn’t heard, the Sox stomped the Orioles and almost got into a hell of a brawl. Then Sunday afternoon Kelly and I got to go together with the tickets Aunt Donna had sent us as a gift. Kelly brought her camera and she took a lot of pictures.
We got more pictures than that, so I will see if I can find some more good ones to put up.
One of my funniest memories from back when I first went to Alabama and met Geoff was when we went to his regular Monday night group, lovingly called the “Terrorist Knitters”, and I met a bunch of his friends for the first time. One of them was Bruce. Bruce was Geoff’s mechanic and Bruce’s wife, Sarah, was an avid knitter and a member of the knitting group. Bruce and Sarah arrived a bit later in the evening and when Geoff introduced me to Bruce and told him that I was from Boston, Bruce’s face absolutely lit up and he exclaimed, “Boston! Say something!”
Bruce was under the impression that I was a native Bostonian and that I had a Boston accent. I had to apologize and explain to him that while I had lived in Boston for a long time I did not, and still do not, actually have an accent. He was very disappointed.
I was reminded of this memory this evening when I got home from a Red Sox game and happened upon this article on Boston.com. If there is one place that you’ll hear varieties on what we lovingly call “Masshole-ish” or “Masshole-ese” it’s Fenway. Geoff and I were theorizing on our way home that the yellow shirted vendors, who all speak with a Boston accent of one variety or another, are actually trained that way. We suspect that if you’re walking around Fenway selling “ice cold beer” you’ll sell far less than if you’re selling “ice cold beah.”
Anyway, pictures from Fenway will follow. Today was the end of a four game series against the Orioles and the Sox swept the series. Though today the score was 8-6 as opposed to the spankings administered earlier in the series. We were concerned that the Orioles might actually leave town with a little self esteem as a result. I think Papelbon took care of that when he closed out the 9th inning.
More later, with pictures.
~Kelly
Yesterday Geoff and I went up to visit his newly transplanted sister Liz, brother in law Dan, and their three kids Will, Ben, and Kate along with their dachshund Ralph. Liz was, up to that point, the only sibling of Geoff’s that I hadn’t met yet so I was very much looking forward to it. We made arrangements to take the kids out for the day so that Liz and Dan could have some time to actually get some stuff done around the house. (They just moved in and are still making the house livable.)
We took Thumbelina and Rerun with us and when we got to NH they met Ralph for the first time. The dogs got along pretty well and the kids liked the dogs. Kate was positively *taken* with having a female dog around. Thumbelina is generally not a fan of the younger set so it took a while for them to get used to each other but they did.
After a quick lunch we piled the dogs and the kids into the minivan and headed off to the Portsmouth Urban Forestry Center. It is quite an interesting place. 5 minutes from the center of Portsmouth and you can hike self guided trails, walk through meadow and forest, see salt marshes and ponds. It’s quite a nice place to go, and it is dog friendly. We packed up the kids, all 3 dogs, and we took along the Little Red Wagon of Brimfield fame and took off.
As you may imagine, an outing like this required hats, sunscreen, bugspray, and water. But, considering that Geoff is Mr. Prepared and I’m not far behind, we were set. We did manage to walk out of Liz and Dan’s house without the water bottles for the kids, which was a nice trick, but we had our own water already packed and we had a dog water bottle so everything was fine. Knowing the propensity of certain individual in the party to fall down, hurt themselves, end up in the ER, or otherwise cause calamities, we also brought along a fully stocked First Aid kit. Amazingly, nobody, human or canine, needed it.
Naturally, I had to take pictures. You can find them here. There were lovely flowers, the kids are ridiculously photogenic, and the dogs were having a great time. The forest was also naturally lovely, so there are all sorts of pictures there. Take a look, you won’t be disappointed.
Once we were done we headed into town and went to Canine Cupboard in downtown Portsmouth. It was 5 whole minutes away from the Forestry Center. It’s a gourmet dog treat store, toy shop, and all around fun place. We had called ahead to ask when they were closing and if they had any suggestions about places where we might be able to find outdoor dining that would seat us with the dogs. When we arrived the owner remembered my call and had an additional suggestion for outdoor, dog-friendly dining, the Portsmouth Gas Light Co. Also, he had the bumper sticker I have been looking for forever. The My Dachshund is Smarter Than Your Honor Student sticker. For $1.00. The one we got looks different than the one linked, but you get the idea. For $1.00 who were we to say no?
We thanked him and headed off for the Portsmouth Gas Light Co. We met up with Liz and Dan along the way and, after finding us a table to seat 7 humans and 3 dogs, we had a great meal. The folks at the restaurant were super and even brought us a bucket of water for the dogs.
All in all a great day. Uncle Geoff and Aunt Kelly are a bit tired today. We’re not used to having kids around and it’s been a while since I’ve had 3 dogs on a lead at the same time, but it was great fun. We’re already making plans for a trip back up north when we can take Aunt Donna with us. More photos will most certainly follow when we do.
~Kelly
Geoff here – I had the chance to go to Fort Warren for some history programs and to meet with some of the staff and talk about Civil War history and living history. It was just me this time, but I hope to bring Kelly with me sometime because I think she would love it.
Especially since this year is the 150th anniversary of the outbreak and the first year of the Civil War, I have been trying to get back into the world of Civil War history. The people I spoke with at Fort Warren were really great, and several of them were highly encouraging. They seemed to be interested in possibly having me come out there sometime to do some talks. How awesome would that be?
It was particularly meaningful for me to be at Fort Warren this month. It was on June 13, 1861 that the 11th Massachusetts Infantry, the “Boston Volunteers”, were sworn into the Federal service there at Fort Warren. For those Beaulieus that may be reading this, this was the unit that Moses Beaulieu joined. So it was somewhat personal for me. For those of you who have never seen it, here is their recruiting poster that I found.
I took a lot of pictures, but I don’t want to put too many here. If you would like to see the rest of my photos (and the Harbor Islands are really beautiful if you have never seen them) from my day trip we will be putting them up in an album on Shutterfly. Once I have the link I will post it here.
Some of you may have heard that today is my Birthday. I have received some nice phone calls and a couple of nice emails and ecards.
Leave it to my brother to send me this. My brother is the best.
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/7clWWHieJGp9P2Mv
Kinda makes me wonder what else the day will bring?
~Kelly
It looks like the job hunt is picking back up for me. I had an interview on May 27th that I thought went really well but I hadn’t heard back from them so I sort of assumed that nothing was to come of it. Then yesterday they called and asked to see me next Monday for an interview with the President of the company. That was cool. Sort of out of the blue, but cool.
This was very much on the heels of last week when I applied for a job with the Federal Government (!) and the day after I applied I got a call from the singularly nicest individual I have ever worked with in all of the job interviews I have ever had. Ever. She arranged a phone interview for me for today. I just finished with the phone interview/teleconference. They actually told me in the interview that I had all the qualifications that they were looking for. All of them. That’s never happened to me before.
And, this job sounds like fun. Well, fun in the sense that it would have me doing the analytical and people interactive stuff that I like to do. Most people would probably hate it, but I’m weird that way. Oh, and they told me in the interview that I’d hear by the end of the week about the next step. Very exciting, I love a hard and fast deadline.
I’m going to go ahead and apply to some other things this afternoon and tomorrow anyway. But I am hoping this one comes through. Being a Federal employee would NOT suck.
~Kelly
I have the odd fortune to have a huge number a friends who have birthdays in close proximity to mine. I swear, I grew up without knowing a single other Gemini (Ok, I knew one person who had the same birthday as me, but she and I didn’t hang out.) Now, as an adult, I have two friends who share my birthday and half a dozen friends who have birthdays within days of mine. This doesn’t even include my parents. My mother’s birthday is 7 days after mine and my father’s birthday is another 4 days after that.
So, for about, oh 8? 10? years now, my friends and I have been having a big joint birthday party. As times have changed the parties have gotten smaller and involved less alcohol and ended earlier. Now they involve offspring. Ah, how times have changed.
This year the kids were remarkably cute and SO energetic. For your enjoyment I have uploaded a video from the party of 7 1/2 month old Thomas and a bunch of photos from the party and also from a while back when we went out to cut down some trees felled by an ice storm (aah, life in the burbs) and one of the wee ones is wearing my hard hat.
Enjoy and if you’re the parent or Auntie of one of these kids, feel free to leave a comment if you want me to email you an original of one of the kidpics.
And here is the URL for the photos from the party. http://junebirthdays2011.shutterfly.com/
Enjoy!
~Kelly
The Books are Taking Over... 