Open Season for Jobs

So far I've recieved:

2 firm "no" responses (one of them was to try back in August...)
1 failed computer exam at Walmart (Walmart!? How did I fail this?)
3 (at least) applications/resumes that have gotten no response at all
10,000 more blank applications to fill in and turn back in
1 newspaper route

and

Nothing firm yet, but very positive feedback from a bank in Pullman. I am on the short list to becoming a "personal banker" at American West Bank. I saw the ad in the paper and went over to investigate. Turns out the manager there is an old boss of mine from freshman year. I had a part-time job taking phone surveys and Ryan was my boss then, and it looks like he may be my boss again. He remembered me and I think I was able to make a good impression in the interview. They (Ryan and an assistant, Janny) asked all sorts of normal questions, "what banking experience do you have?" and "how well do you work on a team?" "How good at sales are you?" and that sort of thing. Then Ryan leaned acros the table, handed me a flashlight and said "Take your time, but please sell this object to us."

Thank goodness for some of those Assembly speeches and Rhetoric class at NSA. I paniced for about 2 seconds, then pulled myself together and sold them the flashlight. I then recieved an email to take a personality test. The test was pretty retarded actually. Two copies of the same list of attributes, on one list I checked off what others think of me, on the second, I checked off what I think of myself. Strange.

I'm supposed to hear back this week if they think my flashlight-selling skills will be transferable to mortgage-selling skills. If not, I'm going back to re-take the test at WalMart (they pay pretty well for cashiering) and there are several other leads I have.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Those of you who have been astute observers of my profile will have noticed that my age changed recently. I had a birthday. This one was not a milestone -- none of those left (unless you count turning 35 and becoming elegible to run for president) until I can join AARP, I'm looking forward to that discount!

Anyhow, Rachel threw me a party and we had pizza and ice cream cake and paper blow-y things and presents. I got kicked out of the room while Rachel and the boys wrapped my presents but that worked out okay, I went to pick up the pizza. But I got back too soon and wasn't allowed in. I didn't mind.

Just yesterday the last of the presents came in the mail. We're not in the new apartment yet, but we've picked a lot of the things we want to decorate with. One of them is this art print of
Water Skiing In Florida. Neither one of us has ever skiied in Florida, but we like the picture at lot.

We Invited a Rabid Squirell

Or maybe it's Taylor and some frosting...

Thank You Mommy!

I opened the Narnia CD's and I was very happy. I've listened to several of them already. Well started them anyhow, it's 31 hours, it'd be strange if I had gotten through them all already. I'm sure we'll get very familiar with the stories while on the new paper route...

Check this out

One last picture. But we didn't take it.

Glacier Web Cam

yet more pictures...

I think we're a little click crazy. Rachel's camera battery died early in the trip.

Intrepid Moose and Squirrel

It's raining! Let's go camping!

Glacier Pics

I'm sure it's my fault. But I can't exactly figure out how to get pictures to load in the order I want them to. And I'm not sure how to connect the right picture to the right text. So here's a couple posts full of pictures. The pictures are either our campsite, Lake McDonald, Avalanche Lake, or the sunset before we got there (rainbow).

Entering Grizzly Country: Your Safety Cannot Be Guaranteed

Last weekend we camped at Glacier National Park. Friday afternoon it was raining so hard that our street was a river, so we decided not to bring our bikes, but we still left. The drive (six and a half hours, a little longer than we thought) and putting up with a little wet, was definately worth it!

Saturday turned out to be really nice out and we hiked back to Avalanche Lake. This was one of the only things available to us. Going-To-The-Sun Road, the only road through the middle of the Park was still not finished being cleared of 50 feet of winter snow. So only about 14 miles were open to the public and you could drive South and around for about 2 hours. We didn't have that much time. But Avalanche Lake was not a disappointment at all.

The hike was posted at 6 miles and lots and lots of kids, fat people, old people and flip-flop-wearing people were doing just fine. But, somehow, we were tired. Ok, I was tired. It felt like about 16 miles. The territory is interesting but bleak. Until you get to the lake -- that was neat. The far side of the lake is a sloping, curved cliff of snow capped mountains (the glacier part). As winter is over the snow melts, but not just trickles down. The snow was coming down in waterfalls. The lake was freezing and the path around it was flooded so we went down to the rocky beach and kept going that way. I ended up with two wet feet and one pair of wet jeans.

That night at the camp site, I learned that deer do not go away when you yell "GO!" at them and snap fingers. This may work with more domesticated animals, but the wild ones have to work harder to get human food and deer come right through campsites (even occupied ones). Every morning we would see tracks in our fire pit.

Sunday we got up to rain and decided not to rent the little motor boats we wanted to -- I guess we'll have to wait til the next visit. I got the year National Parks Pass so we're good wherever we want to go.

All over the park are signs posted about Grizzly bears and brown and black bears. There are signs about how to avoid them and what to do if you meet one. And also very prominent are the signs announcing the minimum $50 fee if you get caught leaving anything relating to food out at your campsite. Food, dishes, stoves, pots, boxes, garbage, anything. You are even advised to wash your hands and face so that you, the person, don't smell like food and become attractive to bears as they pass through. We saw about 50 million deer and they were neat. But we wanted to see a bear. So we got in the car and drove about 50 miles on the most rustic dirt road I've ever seen -- trees just barely moved to the side, pot holes the size of small countries, and at one place I drove through a river. The current was actually flowing across the road! But apparently the "wild" is not the place to see wildlife at Glacier. It took about 3 hours and that whole time we saw exactly one deer. As opposed to the dozens running around our campsite. And, to make matters worse, the very hike we were on the day before did have a bear. We overheard in the gift shop that a bear was seen walking along the hiking trail for quite a distance.

Oh well. We drove on and found some mountain goats. Almost as interesting. When the explorers first saw mountain goats, they didn't know what they were and one guess was a new kind of polar bear. It was pouring rain at that point, but it's not every day you get to go to a place called The Goat Lick.

On the way home the weather broke a little bit and I decided that if I am ever filthy rich and I want to buy a cabin on a lake in the mountains, I'm going to Flathead Lake. I drove Rachel crazy saying "this is so pretty" about every 45 seconds.

We got home very late. So late, in fact, that we didn't get up in time to run on Monday. So we ran today even though it's a scheduled rest day. Things were not looking so good for our marathon the last two weeks, but we have dug out the schedules, built iPod play lists and our resolve is strengthened.