Here we sit....

Well, yesterday I finally got the quarter round down around the floor in the kitchen and the molding around the tops of the cabinet (where they meet the ceiling). We keep trying to forget the one inch strip above the back splash below the new range hood that is one inch shorter than the old one. We gotta do something about that one of these days. Alice is talking about the curtains for in there (I am pretty sure she got the material today). Then we will be DONE with the kitchen. Much more work, and much more time than I ever would have guessed.

This afternoon we started packing books in our bedroom. I hope we can finish that tomorrow. Then we will have to rearrange the furniture. We presently have too many dressers but the new night stands should provide some "stash" space since they each have a drawer and a shelf with doors. And what won't fit gets packed. Simple really. NOT!!

The job hunt continues. Got an early tinkle of a lead today. More like a rumor really. I have applied to several companies and for a couple of the jobs I sound like a perfect fit (at least to me) and the companies haven't even acknowledged that I exist. I am now working harder on the few contacts that I have in companies there. We will see....

Meanwhile in better news. I have lost a few pounds. Stress is not exactly the recommended weight loss program but I am also trying to watch the portion sizes (yes, daughters I can hear you).

Busy, busy....

An emergency appendectomy is not what I was expecting last Wednesday. No, not for me but for Alice. Surprise! Luckily she listened to her body and we got to the hospital and she got it taken care of BEFORE it burst. Burst appendix is a MUCH bigger deal. Of course, nonburst appendix is still a deal. She is feeling better (I can tell just by looking) but she is still moving pretty slow. It will be another week or so before she is really back at it.

Well, my new resume is ready and I have started "officially" applying for new jobs. Seven applications since last Thursday. And those are just for the ones that have real job openings listed and there are probably another two or three that I will apply for in the next day or two. Then there are another 15 places or so where I will submit my resume even though they don't have an appropriate job listed but I know that they do the kind of work that I am looking for. Who knows maybe it will hit somebody's desk and I will get lucky. That is through the front door. Next I have to start working the connections. Contacting people that I have worked with over the years to see if I can get an intro to folks that are in the right place to hire me even if they don't have an opening. Maybe I my resume will spur them to open something up?? Who knows. And meanwhile I am starting to hear from headhunters. Maybe they will have something.

And, meanwhile, work continues on the house. The kitchen is coming together. Counter tops are done, floor is scheduled and cabinet doors and drawers have been primed (at least their fronts). Door painting will continue tomorrow. Hopefully, by the end of the week everything will be done in there and we can move everything out of the family room back into the kitchen where it belongs. Except there are going to be some leftovers. After we get done painting (doors and drawers) there will be more room in the garage. And the excess furniture and more boxes will probably go there for now. We really need to make a decision on the storage options. I will think about that tomorrow.

Another year has come and gone

Well, it is official. Another year. The Indiana State Fair Giant Balloon Race is behind us once again. And I tied for fifth!! Of course, it was a 24 way tie for fifth. Only four guys managed to get their baggies in the same field with the hare and none of them were actually close enough to score with a 200 foot tape measure. We are talking several hundred feet. But I had a good flight ably assisted by great crew and somebody else paid for the propane. And I actually managed to stumble across a really nice landing area where one of the other pilots let me use his tarp to keep the envelope dry.

Now it is back to painting. Blehhh!

Unemployment is a roller coaster...

Yesterday I got invited back over to Thomson (along with all of the other guys who got layed off plus about ten people that are still employed by Thomson) to hear a presentation from the manager of the group at ADI that would manage the ADI Indy design center if such a thing were to come into existence. Listening to him he is very convinced that such a design center will exist. Of course, there are MANY questions regarding how many people such a center will employ and WHEN those people will be employed and would I be one of them and so on....

Every week we hear that we will know more in a couple of days or next week. This has been dragging on. I have now given my resume to two different head hunters (guys paid by the companies to find specific job skills). I am thinking that it might be time to start talking to the paid (by me) head hunter that can start to get my resume out there. I am not sure that we can get our house ready to be on the market before Grandma has to go east and I am not sure that she can get it ready by herself if I have found a job in Timbuktu after she comes back. Ahhh something will work out. The mystery is to know what it will be....

Sometimes you get all dressed up...

and discover you have no where to go.

The "development" that I mentioned yesterday was that I was asked to go back to Thomson for an hour or so to to discuss my "skills" with two guys from Analog Devices (aka ADI). Their company has been considering purchasing remants of the old Thomson Silicon Components group for some time and this is another step in the process. All of us who were laid off last Friday got together last night for dinner to discuss the discussions and we were all confused by process. It seems that these guys that came in yesterday were plucked from their offices on Tuesday and told to go to Indy for these "skills discussions" yesterday. They had no clear information about the prospects of this deal going through and even less information about what shape it might take if it does go through. We have heard lots of rumors but I fear that most of them seem to be based upon wishful thinking.

Bottom line, one of these days this might turn into an opportunity. The big question is whether we can afford to wait long enough for it to do so????

Think good thoughts my way this afternoon please

More update later but there has been a "development".

Please think good thoughts my way this afternoon and I will post more this evening with details.

The end of an era....

I don't know how else to describe it but today was my last day at RCA/Thomson. I had an eerie thought the other day that about three years ago the managers in Indy all started spouting the same "we are not RCA any more, we are Thomson" speech. We had been Thomson since 1986. Since they all started doing it at about the same time this had to come down from on high (from France). What a coincidence that at about the same time is about the time that our division started spinning around the drain. Ah well, can't be bitter here.

We did get to live in France for two years (and play tourist like crazy). Growing up as a "hick" in Indiana I NEVER even imagined such a thing. And there were some great people to work with (and a few that were "challenging"). But overall it was a good bunch.

But it was/is still VERRRRYYYY bitter sweet to walk out the door for the LAST time.