Michael R. Barrick's blog

When creating mummies the ancient Egyptians were careful to remove and preserve all the vital organs except one. They didn't bother to keep the brain since they believed it was an essentially useless organ responsible only for the production mucus. I'm wondering if the ancient Egyptians caught a lot of colds, because it certainly feels like my brain has become an essentially useless organ and I have no shortage of mucus.

So tomorrow morning is my interview with HSBC, so I went out and bought myself a new tie that isn't three years out of style and let out the pants in my "good" suit. Not that I needed to bother. Once I tried things on I decided that a.) my other suit looks better, and b.) I'm not even going to wear a suit. It looks best with one of my black shirts and the Mexx pants I bought with Heidi when I was closing the contract with BHT.

There's more I'd like to say about today but I am sick with a cold and have to get up at an hour I am entirely not used to for the interview.

This is the best laugh I have had in a long time. Opium found this. You've got to scroll down, it's the second to last picture on the page... Gateway is famous! Too bad he didn't use the picture of Louis... that would have been really funny.

Oringinal post: http://mbarrick.livejournal.com/5050.html

OK the pictures are up!

Oringinal post: http://mbarrick.livejournal.com/4679.html

Like that matters. But a nice little non-sequitur can be fun now and again. Not all the time of course, as some pseudo-intellectual types on the Van-Goth list seem to think. It gets so tiresome... another wave of new users, another wave of unedited one-line gibberish, tell people to read the FAQ and learn how to post, get a bunch of petulant "I should be allowed to do whatever I want [because I am so bloody clever]" whining, rinse, repeat. sigh

OK. The funeral home is out. My niggling suspicion that things were not as good as they presented them at the interview has basically been confirmed. The details are moot, the bottom line is there are major signs of flailing headless chicken syndrome... Good thing I have the wireless place to talk to this afternoon. To hell with the funding problem, if they last a year that will be enough to get me on my feet and back to consulting, if they last longer, well great. At this point I'm convinced the wireless place is a better opportunity.

...that I was born with a horseshoe up my ass. Not only did I peg the attire just right (I was dressed similarly, but slightly better than the people who interviewed me) but the interview(s) went swimmingly. Despite the fact that, at this stage in the game, one never gets the job off the first interview, I thought at several moments that I'd walk out with a concrete offer. Probably would have, too, if the guy who makes the final decision hadn't had a 1:30 meeting. So back I go tomorrow, 11am again, and I'm sure I'll walk out with an offer.

Let's hear it for employable skills! I've had two solid bites in my search for a "real" job today. The first came from Toronto - an absolutely perfect sounding job description and a decent wage. That got me excited. No Houston, staying in Canada and in a city where I know people. But then the ultimate kick ass call came in. It was from the head of Lotus Notes development at the Loewen Group. So what is so great about that you ask? Let me elucidate:

I am totally bagged. I stayed up waaaay to late on Sunday night redoing my résumé and other things, then going out to Gateway last night and driving Opium to her mom's in Ladner afterward meant I got to bed way late last night as well. I'm supposed to go to Labyrinth tonight to hang out with Evilyn and Lusus but I'm just too tired now.

I rejoined Corpgoth on Yahoogroups and posted a general question about the livability of Houston and got some immediate responses. It doesn't seem like such a bad place at all. The clubs are air conditioned and they have an underground tunnel system downtown so you can stay out of the heat. From the salary survey information I could find I am worth about $85 - $90K there. No state taxes, low income tax. At this point it is just a question of what kind of offer I will get. And of course I don't have the luxury of being quite as choosy now, thanks to the dot.bomb and the plummeting market.