Word of the day: vorago

n : an engulfing chasm : abyss

My sentence using vorago: I don't know what happened to that job posting; it must have disappeared into a vorago.

The disappearing job ad...

I found this job last week at the University of Chicago that sounded really good and here I am ready to write my cover letter and apply for it and I can't find it anywhere. Nowhere. I have the job description, which I copy and paste into an email and then move into my "Job Opps" folder. However, there is no contact information provided and it says to go to the U of Chicago HR page to apply. Yet, on the HR page, there is no such job listed. I have the requisition number - and nothing comes up. I don't know. It's like it vanished into thin air. I suppose it's possible that I missed the deadline or something and the job has already been removed; however, it was only posted ten days ago and, according to the description, the position was supposed to stay posted until May 2007 (presumably for six months). So weird. And kind of a bummer.

Word of the day: trichotillomania

n : an abnormal desire to pull out one’s hair

My sentence using trichotillomania: As frustrated as I have become during this job searching process, I have not suffered from trichotillomania and have all of my hair still intact.

A new week, a new interview...

I had another interview today. Well, technically they called it a "phone screen" but it was about 40-45 minutes long and seemed a lot like an interview so I am going to use my terminology! Anyway, I think it went pretty well but of course one never knows. The job actually seems pretty exciting to me and kind of what I hoped to get when I started this whole library school thing so we'll see. I won't hold my breath. But, I will remain cautiously optimistic.

Oh, this one is in Boston! It's actually one of a few jobs I've seen recently that look good and are in the Boston area. A job that was posted yesterday was as a cataloger at the JFK Presidential Library. How cool would that be? I just have to write a cover letter...

eBay wrap-up

I sold ten of the eleven items I put up for sale last week. I'm pretty pleased with that. I'm also pretty pleased with my take. One of the movies sold for $28.00. Did I mention that it's on VHS? Apparently it was a hot item and I'm glad I could help someone get it... especially since it's been sitting in my parents' basement for about ten years!!

Now I'm trying to find other things to put up.

Discover your zodiac personality test...

I took a quiz to test my zodiac personality. One thing it doesn't ask is your birthdate. Yet, I scored 'Cancer' anyway. It's not that surprising to me.


Discover your Zodiac Personality @ Quiz Me

Ebay is excellent

I think I mentioned I put some items up on eBay the other day. I love it! I swear one of the quickest natural highs a person can experience is to check the 'My Ebay' page to see how one's auctions are coming along and to see the bidding going up each time you check. It's so fun! I put up some of my Dad's old video store movies, some old soap opera magazines, plus a bottle of perfume my mom never wore and a couple of items of expensive clothing that still had the tags on but were never worn and no longer returnable. Three items sold 'Buy it Now!' style within the first day and three more items have bids on them even though we are only halfway through the auctions. That's kind of good news because the truth is that the majority of bidders like to wait until the last minute. The perfume bids keep going up and up as does the bidding for one of the movies. I started bidding at $2 and it's now up to $11. Yay!

The only downside to eBay is the constant monitoring of the auctions. I TRY not to check every time I walk by a computer but I can't not do it. It's so addictive.

I'm debating about what else I might put up. Last Tuesday was a discounted day for sellers so I hurried to put some things up, but really, I have other stuff I wanted to put up and the regular insertion fees are not that high.

Thanksgiving weekend

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! Mine was fine. We went to my sister-in-law's parents' house and there were about ten of us there. The food was good, the alcohol was sufficient and the conversation was decent. Their house is very nice; I could totally see myself living there! I felt a little wistful, I guess you would call it, because they now live like a mile from where I used to live and I had some memory flashes.

The day after Thanksgiving was relatively quiet for me. My parents got up at 3am to start shopping but I decided there was nothing I needed (or could afford!) that required me getting up that early. I was tempted to go to CompUSA for an adapter thingy to make my computer wireless (the technical term, ha ha) but didn't even do that. When my parents got home at about noon I heard their crazy stories of long lines and people waiting to get into stores, etc... Seems to me like a lot more people are getting up to hit the stores early than ever used to. Maybe it's just because more stores are opening early. Heck, the one local outlet mall opened at midnight and stayed open through the night!!

I couldn't let Black Friday go by without purchasing anything so I did end up visiting Best Buy and Circuit City for a brief time and bought a couple of $6.99 Greatest Hits CDs. I swear, my entire 200+ CD collection is comprised of Greatest Hits CDs. Okay, I exaggerate, but I honestly think about 75% of it is greatest hits CDs. My parents got an awesome deal on a 42-inch plasma HDTV though and it should arrive in 10-14 days! You have NO idea how excited I am about that!! They really don't want me to leave, do they?!

So, today did not go as planned....

It was kind of a bummer of a day today. First, I woke up not feeling very well so I stayed in bed a little later than planned. Then, I checked my email and had gotten an email from a place I applied - Vanderbilt University - wanting to set up a phone interview today. Umm, that's a lot of notice! Not. So, I emailed them back and I had a couple hours to get ready for it. In the meantime, I called back the woman from the county library system where I had interviewed last week. And, let's all say it together, I got rejected. It sounds like I was the runner-up and they went with someone who already works in the county system at another branch so it was pretty much a no-shot-in-hell opportunity but I did think they really liked me and were considering me. Not. Then, the librarians at Vanderbilt called and I totally bombed the interview. I just did not do well and I know it. I'm not sure what, if anything, I can do to fix it but I do hope they take into consideration that I had such short notice, because I would really relish that opportunity. But, probably not. Finally, I checked my other email and had gotten a note from eBay announcing that there was a discount on insertion fees so I thought it would be a good day to put stuff up on eBay. Umm, a good idea, I suppose, but it took me like 6 hours to put up like 10 or 12 items just because of a slow Internet connection as well as gathering information and cropping pictures for the ads. Let's hope I make some money, though! But again, probably not!

The Wheaton College Community Covenant

I saw this job posting for a cataloging librarian at Wheaton College, which is outside Chicago. What caught my eye was that the job description mentions that "Wheaton College is an evangelical protestant Christian liberal arts college whose faculty members affirm a Statement of Faith and the moral and lifestyle expectations of our Community Covenant." Intruiged, I clicked on the link provided to read more about this "Community Covenant." Seems that all members of the college community (students, staff & faculty) have to agree to follow the expected lifestyle of a true Christian. In other words, no tobacco use, no alcohol, no dishonesty, no slander, no gossip, no vulgar or obscene language, no premarital sex, no behavior or entertainment that would be considered "immodest, sinfully erotic, or harmfully violent." That's just the highlights. Interesting, no doubt, but definitely not the right place for me.

"Your clothes are on, so I don't see the problem"

The headline caught my eye first, something about a school dance being cancelled for fear of 'grinding' and then 'upstate New York' caught my eye so I read the entire story. Turns out not only is it upstate New York, but it's the Fayetteville-Manlius High School, which is a suburb of Syracuse and a city I know quite well. After all, that's where a Target is! And I have a few friends who work (have worked) at the Fayetteville Free Library. It's the upscale suburb, I guess. While I'm not sure I agree with cancelling a dance because of potential dancing techniques - the kids in the article are kind of right - but I know if I was still in high school, I wouldn't be too devastated about the cancellation of a dance considering I rarely went to school dances and when I did, they were one of the worst, most miserable experiences of my life.

Family Guy episodes

You guys may remember that I found this Web site a few months ago that has links to all the episodes of South Park and I was pretty excited by that. Well, now I found a similar one with links to all the episodes of Family Guy!

I LOVE watching TV on the Web.

Word of the day: maffick

v : to celebrate with boisterous rejoicing and hilarious behavior

My sentence using maffick: Thanks to the awesome victory pulled out by the Buckeyes yesterday, there was much mafficking by fans!

Go Buckeyes!

It's a HUGE game today at 3:30. I'm psyched... and nervous. Go Ohio State!

Grey's Anatomy

I know I haven't posted much about television topics lately even though ironically the whole reason I started this blog was to supplement my InsidePulse TV column... Do not fret, I still watch too much TV!

I came across a couple of Grey's Anatomy-related tidbits today (via TV Tattle) that I found interesting. One: Next week's episode, airing on Thanksgiving Day, is going to run an extra ten minutes long. Luckily, I already checked my DVR and it's set to record until 10:10pm. Phew. Two: Rob Lowe turned down the role of Derek Shepherd, aka Dr. McDreamy! I just cannot imagine Rob Lowe in that role.

Feeling better about turning down the offer

Immediately after I turned down the job offer I got last week, I started to regret it and think that I had made a mistake. As was evidenced in this post from the other day... However, after talking to one of my friends yesterday and explaining to him why I didn't take it, I felt like my points were really valid and that maybe I did make the right decision after all. He seemed to agree with me despite the fact that both of us are desperately searching for jobs still and keep saying we'll take anything.

The other reason I'm starting to feel better about the whole thing is that they reposted the job opening on Craigslist and they really downgraded the expectations. It no longer says anything about even needing a Master's degree and they will in fact consider someone with only an Associate's degree! No longer does it say 'Librarian' but it merely says 'Library Assistant'. I'm sure they did this to potentially get more interested candidates, but also, if they are willing to downgrade the educational requirements so much, then clearly they realize that you do not need a Master's degree to do the job. That was one of my 'cons' on my list when debating what to do, too. I felt that I was smarter than the job.

Word of the day: sop

n : a conciliatory or propitiatory bribe, gift, or gesture

My sentence using sop: I think my interview at the public library went well and I did not even have to offer the branch manager a sop to get her to like me.

Post-interview report

Well, I think the interview at the public library branch went pretty well yesterday. Then again, I always seem to think that. Seriously, how do you know when an interview doesn't go well? They aren't going to ask you to leave before it's over or anything obvious like that.

One minor annoyance, if you can call it that, was that they seemed to be asking me the same questions over and over in different ways. "Tell me about a time when you overcame a difficult situation at work and what happened." "Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a challenging situation and how it was resolved." "Tell me about a time when you had trouble working in a group." "Tell me about a time when you faced some miscommunication with a co-worker and how you resolved it." "Tell me about a time when you corrected someone else's mistake and how you handled it." I don't know but aren't all those questions basically the same?
The one good thing is that as I was leaving I saw someone I used to work with and he apparently works there and has for two years. He really likes it there so that's somewhat encouraging. We talked a little bit about the things we both didn't like at our old job and how this one is different (quite different, it seems). On top of all that, maybe he'll actually put in a good word for me!

Choosing a book to read

A nifty Web site conveniently called Whichbook gives readers some choices on finding a book to read based on their desires. Different criteria are presented along a continuum. The reader chooses four criteria, places the indicator somewhere along the continuum (for instance, between happy and sad, funny and serious, long and short, expected and unpredictable) based on their feelings and a list of books appears. For instance, you might choose you want a book that is pretty happy but also very violent and unusual. Put in those indices and a list of books appear!

#1 Ranking

I have an interview tomorrow at one of the branches in the county library system here. Although this would hardly be my dream job either, the thought of working there gave me a little more excitement today as I realized the system is ranked #1 in the country in the annual Hennen's American Public Library Ratings list, which ranks public libraries on fifteen factors, including reference service, circulation statistics, hours open and funding. See here. If I have to work for a public library, it would be nice to work for one of the best, right?

Huge mistake?

So, I turned down the job offer I had. I can't help but think it will turn out to be a huge mistake on my part but I was so torn and so confused and so unsure about the whole thing and I felt that if it were really the right move to make (taking it, that is), wouldn't it be an easy decision to make? I'm not sad that I turned it down but I will become sad if I don't get any other offers in the near future. I'm just sick of applying for jobs and sick of being in debt and sick of not working. I'm sick of waiting, too, because I've felt like I've been waiting for something for three years. First, I was waiting for grad school to start... then I was waiting for it to finish... and now I've been waiting to find the right job. But, anyway, just because I'm sick of all those things, does it mean I should just accept any old job that is offered to me, regardless of how awful and boring and monontonous it is? I say 'no', which is why I turned down the job.

Election day quiz: Who should you have voted for in 2004?

Should have? Or did?

You Should Have Voted For Kerry

Though You'd Rather Vote for Michael Moore

Who Should You Have Voted For in 2004?

Interview updates

I got an offer from the place I interviewed in D.C. on Friday. However, I do not yet know what the offer is as I haven't been able to connect with the woman. She simply mentioned in the email that she wanted to make me an offer.

In the mean time, I got a call for an interview at one of the local public library branches here in Cleveland. This was the one where I recently thought I had done pretty poorly on the test. I guess I was wrong about that, so that's pretty exciting! That interview is next Tuesday.

And, in related news, I am continuing to write cover letters for jobs that sound interesting. There is a job for an indexing/abstracting librarian at the National Security Archive that I have to say would be perfect for me. I hope I didn't just jinx it!

Election day

Currently reading

I added a new header to my sidebar labeled "Currently reading" in which I will put a link to the book I'm currently reading. Clever wording there, eh? I'm not sure why or if anyone cares what I'm currently reading and it is by no means an endorsement of that book (in fact, the book I'm reading now [Why Moms are Weird] is pretty annoying to me, yet I read on). It was added more because I feel all happy and proud with myself when I am able to make changes on this blog. Like last week, I was unhappy with the title area for each post and decided to put a box around them so they would stand out more. I'm about 10% technologically savvy, despite what my resume says. I'd like that to be a lot higher but slow and steady wins the race - or so I hear - so I'll just learn one small thing at a time for now.

I'm trying to think of other sidebar labels to add, like 'Currently watching' or something like that but it doesn't seem as appropriate, since what I watch changes daily while what I read usually changes weekly (or monthly). If anyone has any ideas, let me know...

Jaunt to D.C.

So I'm back after 48 hours in D.C. and I'm still jobless. I think the woman who would be my boss really liked me and, if it's up to her, would hire me. I dazzled her with my knowledge of medical databases and information retrieval issues. She showed me all around the office and where I would work and we even talked so much that the other two involved in the interview (from the companies who hold the government contract for the reference staff) left us there to continue while they went home for the weekend. The woman I met with first, from the company who would hire me, seemed to like me also although she wanted to make it clear that, from what she's heard, this job is not "challenging" or full of "variety" - two things I said I was looking for in a job. Of course, this woman knows nothing about librarianship and hires people for all kinds of jobs. In her own words, she hires people who seem to be good workers and good employees, regardless of what job they do. So I figured she didn't know. Talking to the woman who would be my boss made things much clearer, however, when she said that the contractors are compeletely blended, although they are not eligible for any of the on-site benefits like the gym or the child care facilities, and that the job is often described as monontonous. Hmm, how exciting that sounds! She said that many complain there is no variety and that they grow sick of answering the phones non-stop and providing stock answers to all of the email questions. Apparently they get a lot of the same questions over and over and over and over and over again. So you see, she did a fantastic job of trying to sell me on the job. To her credit, she said she wanted to be honest and upfront and give me an idea of what to expect but all I could think was, "I did not go to library school to come work for a call center" which is what I got the feeling that was. I may not know a lot of what I want out of job (and out of life) but I do know what I don't want and I don't want to sit around a cubicle all day waiting for a phone to ring. Especially not with a fairly low salary and she told me that the pay would be in the $30,000s but no higher. Therefore, even if they do call me with an offer and even though I'm sick to death of being unemployed and of sending out cover letters and resumes, I just do not see me accepting this.

Word of the day: nabob

n : a person of great wealth or prominence

My sentence using nabob: This job-searching stuff is getting tiresome; how I wish I could find a fantastic nabob to marry so I could settle for a part-time job and spend the rest of my time volunteering for a great charity or non-profit organization.

My name is not Cheryl

It occurred to me over the weekend, when I was driving home from DC perhaps, that no one - particularly potential employers - seems able to get my name right. In the last couple of months of job-searching, I have been called all kinds of names that are not Cheri. My name is not Cheryl or Chris or Cindy or Jerri or Cherree or Cherry. It's Cheri, pronounced the same as the more obvious Sherry or, for those who are not familiar with that name either, think of share - eee.

Now, I understand the pronunciation of Cherree or Cherry and those honestly do not bother me. Cheryl is understandable - kind of - since my middle name does start with an "L". Therefore, people see Cheri L. and I guess miss the space between the i and the L. However, when I write an email to someone and sign it with Cheri (of course), I find it irksome that they respond by calling me Cheryl. Cindy is just plain inexcusable, in my opinion. Chris is actually not something I have encountered recently but I used to get that a lot when I was younger. Now, Jerri is what I was called by the one woman who interviewed me on Friday and while I guess it's a simple mistake, I still think it's totally rude for a prospective employer to not bother to try to remember my name. If I as a prospective employee called someone by the wrong name, I'm pretty sure it would be remembered and held against me.

Thank you. Rant complete.

Off to the nation's capital

I have a job interview in Washington, DC, on Friday so I made my hotel reservation just a little bit ago. I'm very happy to be paying $75/night for the hotel, which looks to be pretty nice. I was expecting the cheapest hotel in DC to be at least $100/night. There were some that were a tad cheaper (like in the $60s) but they looked a little sketchy to me so I think the small bit more to pay will be well worth it. At the last minute I decided to stay for two nights. It's going to basically be an all-day thing on Friday, with me meeting someone at 12:30pm and then someone else at 2pm, so I worried about running into a lot of Friday night traffic if I left after the interview. This way I won't have to worry and can have a relaxing and enjoyable night in the hotel on Friday night with maybe a nice swim in the indoor pool or some room service. Okay, the pool part could happen but the room service thing is probably out of my budget. It will be more like stopping at the grocery store and heating up a frozen entree in the room's microwave!

This interview seems promising but I'm so doubtful about the whole job-finding thing now. This job is as a reference librarian at the National Library of Medicine - which sounds pretty cool, right? Right. But I wouldn't be a National Library of Medicine employee because the government contracts out those positions. I would technically be an employee of this other company then. So that could be a good thing - or a bad thing. I'm not sure. I guess I will see on Friday.

Daily Show clips online

Clips of The Daily Show's visit to Ohio this week (which I mentioned a couple of days ago) are available online for those without Comedy Central. The entire show is apparently available, although in parts, it looks like. The link is this, with the clips to be found along the right side.