On anticipation...

Two days of the week I drive myself into work, instead of riding a van.  The last few weeks it has been colder so I've walked through other buildings on the way to my office.   One of the buildings I can walk through has a Mesozoic Garden in it.  It is an amazing contrast.  Inside, it is warm, moist, and full of plant life.  Large ficus trees provide a shade canopy to computer kiosks.  Outside, it is cold and dry.  Most plants have died or gone dormant for winter.

I enjoy winter.  I don't enjoy the cold nor do I participate in any winter activities other than snow shoveling and occasional sledding excursion with my children.  I enjoy winter because after winter comes spring.  With spring comes rebirth.  The plants come out of dormancy and life returns to the world.

May we wait and watch for the Lord as we celebrate his coming into the world and bringing us to new life.

Death comes for us all.

Around a year ago, a friend and colleague lost his voice.  This loss was permanent.  Tumors were found on his vocal chords.  Radiation was used to shrink the tumors.  Surgery removed his larynx and the tumors.  He had some respite last summer, as he adapted to his new voice, a buzzer.  Late summer, the swelling and pain increased.  The cancer was growing actively.  He attempted chemotherapy, but it did not help.  He was going to retire from work on Dec 31, he moved the date to November 30.  Last Sunday evening, he was silenced in this life.

I pray the Father will lift him up beyond the pain and bring him into true life.

Job Search Amusement

During my most recent job crisis, I initially applied for 4 positions, with the idea that I'd try to stay at my current Institution of Higher Education. This was probably not the wisest course of action, but I received and accepted an offer from the last position I applied for, 2.5 months ago.

I finally received a rejection letter for the first position I applied for, 5 months after the fact. This world is a funny, funny place.

An interesting weekend...

Our church had it's annual fall festival this last weekend. It was a busy weekend. Jenny and I didn't help that much, but we each had a few things to do. I made 4 pies and Jenny made and decorated 4 cakes. One (cherry) of my pies stayed home, two (peach) were sold by the slice, with all proceeds going to our parish. The fourth was entered into the festival pie contest. Jenny's cakes were prizes for the cakewalk. Jenny's cakes were scratch-made, as were my pies. I also coordinated the Cub Scout Pack's participation in the Run/Walk. We directed traffic and participants at the various intersections. I also cooked for a little bit at a food stand. Jenny ran the cake walk for a time.

For me, the best part of the experience was the cooking aspects. I like to bake pies and I like to grill, so those were rewards in and of themselves.

To cap the weekend off, we won a festival raffle prize, and my pie won the pie contest and was auctioned for $35. Both of these were firsts for my family. I'm still jazzed about the pie. I hoped to win, but hadn't expected it, it was the first time I'd entered one of these contests. I knew the pie was good, it's older sibling was delicious. The cherries were amazingly flavorful, they came from a tree in my front yard.

Gainful employment == good

I've found a job.

In May, I was given a warning that bad things were possibly happening in the lab I am working in. In June, my lab director and my lab manager met with me and told me my position was going away and my last assignment of great import was to migrate the IT services I provided to the center that provided the IT support for another part of the lab.

This whole process made me feel pretty miserable. I was able to keep much of the miserable away by surrendering to the process. I applied for four positions on the Campus I worked at and got 2 interviews and was another position couldn't possibly pay me what I wanted. A little more than a week ago I received a verbal offer for the last of the four positions. I'm relieved and grateful. I wasn't necessarily worried about finding a job, but I wasn't thrilled with the prospect of moving.

I am humbled by the many people who came by to congratulate me and wish me well over the last couple of weeks. These are all people who found out about my job foray through a prayer chain.

Blessed be the Lord. I have a job.