Resume Resume-ing

Ah, fun with words. The perfect way to ruin a post before it's started! Let's just say it seems like a fitting opener to the first thing I've written for... awhile. But I haven't messed with my resume in some time, either, so why not do both at once!

Anyone who has had the joy of searching for a job, applying for lots of them, and interviewing for a few knows it's not too much fun. You can only guess how literally to take posted requirements; do they really mean "3 years experience," or would 1.5 years plus a great memory fit the bill? You never know how to answer their questions; if they have a 200 word limit, should I write 197 words or will 20 do? Not to mention the places who spring an entire panel of interviewers on you - surprise, we'll be attacking you from all sides today!

I'll not provide the impression that I hate my current job, because that's not the case. I like my coworkers and I enjoy some of the work. I can't even say I expect the grass to be greener on whatever other side I find myself occupying, but I'm thinking I could do similar work for a lot more money. As nice as it is to be occasionally appreciated and know that two or three people will miss me when they realize I've left, I don't feel like that makes up for a salary some 30% below the average for government work in my field.

Unmotivated as I am, how much does this really matter? Probably not a whole bunch. I remembered that there were a couple of interesting postings with the State closing today... or at least there would have been if it were still Friday when I noticed. Oops!

Phew(?)

Come January, Steny Hoyer will be 2nd-in-command in the U.S. House of Representatives. This is an indication that the Democrats are planning to be at least marginally reasonable about the War on Terror. Right? Maybe not, if Hoyer's own press release is any indication...

Among other things, we intend to raise the minimum wage, implement all of the bipartisan 9-11 commission recommendations, cut college costs, make prescription drugs more affordable, and urge President Bush to change course in Iraq.

Or in other words: screw the economy, screw the economy, screw the economy, abandon Iraq. The economic monkeying is standard Democrat fare so far as I can tell, but why has it become so vital we "change course" in Iraq? Because having a volunteer military that fights to defend America's interests is unacceptable?

In the case of Iraq, I am pro-war. Certainly not for war's sake. Not for oil. But because I'd much rather terrorists rush headlong into martyrdom by U.S.M.C. gunfire than at the controls of a 747 or by self-detonation in downtown Washington. By and large, isn't that what's happening in Iraq?

See Mark Steyn's America Alone and check littlegreenfootballs.com every once in awhile. The world is not a happy place, and our allies don't seem to mind so long as the United States is the Great[est] Satan atop your average terrorist's list. If we're too busy protecting the world from America's horrible influence, who will protect America from the world's?

Revenge of Stuff

Should've known better than to write such an unrelentingly materialistic post and expect to get away with it. Let's see... Friday I broke my couch. This was after I somehow ruined a brand new memory card for my camera, but before the driver's side window in my car came off its track. The window incident preceded my discovery of the above completely un-frozen freezer, which was followed by my bedroom air conditioner making a sound as if a squirrel was mysteriously jammed inside.

In the couch's defense, I did sit on it. Silly me; one must never, ever attempt to sit on a couch, especially a couch weakened by an overwhelming 6 months of age. In the freezer's defense, well, it was only doing what I apparently told it to do when I chickened the dial from "Medium" to "Minimum." Stupid chicken. The freezer takes at least some of the blame for being so small that I had to prop the pizza on something at an angle and them shove the chicken in on top of that.

What I should (and may or may not) remember next time I try to pull something out of my freezer - it's basically one icy mass of melted boxes at this point - is Matthew 6:19-20:

⁽¹⁹⁾ Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ⁽²⁰) But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven...

Maybe I'll remember, too, when I'm shelling out who-knows-how-much to have my car door pulled apart and the window fixed. Or when I'm wondering how a chipmunk with a tiny jackhammer got into my air conditioner. Now that I've got actual income, I'm finding it harder to focus on real treasures. Talk about your all time backfires!

Definitions

One of the most important things about setting up a website - probably number two, behind knowing why you're making one - is thinking of a good name.

Well I usually don't think of good ones, so "Overgrad" is what you get. I wanted something that described being finished with college and nothing I could think of was catchier or more succinct. This little site, then, will be dedicated to the sort of phase-limbo of being done with school but not particularly different for it. You get your degree, you find a job, and then what?

What, indeed.

Benefits of Bachelorhood, Exhibits A - C

If I say the above picture was taken on a new 6 megapixel Canon with an LCD display the size of your head, would that make this post self-explanatory?

I feel compelled to note, also, that my first impression of Onkyo is spectacular. Granted, I was just testing the speakers before putting all but 3 away until I have "places" to "put them" when I've moved in August. But this system set me back under $250 and the subwoofer alone could knock over a water buffalo (either by physical impact or with its acoustic powers).

Oh, and each speaker wrapper is sealed with color coded tape that matches the speaker connections, the wires, and the receiver outputs. That is just extremely impressive for some reason.