Mother's Day

I hope all the moms had a nice mother's day. Phil and I went over to my sister's house for a bbq. Since it's rainy again, we spent most of the afternoon indoors. The kids didn't seem to mind much. My nephew's girlfriend took a cute picture of the Great nieces and nephews. (Yes, I'm that old...sigh!!!)

In this pic: Angie's kids (Ruby, Holden & Charlotte) and Manda's son Cohen.

What am I Anyway?

It's almost that time. That's right, I got my little package in the mail a few days ago reminding me that it's almost time to vote once again. I decided to mail in my card and vote "absentee" this time around. I usually go to the polling place directly, but being that I have no idea right now where I'll be work-wise, I figure voting by mail is the easiest route.

I'm actually debating over whether or not to change political parties. I'm registered as a Democrat, but I have been seriously discusted with our government. To be completely honest, when I registered as a Democrat, I didn't really put much thought into it. I was 18 at the time, and I just registered with the same party as my parents. I didn't know a thing about politics, and frankly I didn't care. At 18 being able to vote was just the "cool" thing to do. Hey, I'm an "adult" now, I can vote. Whoopie!!

Just for the fun of it, I took a quiz to see what party I "should" support. The quiz labeled me as a Republican. I personally feel like I don't entirely relate to either the Democrats nor the Republicans. I sometimes feel like I'd best be called an anarchist. I don't really care for government control, though I do understand its need.

I sometimes think about what I would do if I was the president. What would I do differently? Obama's campaign focused on what he would "change". What I would focus on is how I could effectively listen. What do the people want? Isn't this country a democracy (by and for the people)? I wouldn't try to change anything unless the country wanted something changed. Why fix what isn't broken?

Everything's Coming Up Roses!

I thought I'd take a few more pictures of my roses before the summer heat comes along and they vanish. The rain we got this winter really helped out all the plants. Warmer weather is upon us now. It's been gorgeous lately, but I remember the last two years having 90-100* days in May. Summer officially isn't that far off either.

Learning to Lie

It is now May, and as disheartening as it is I am still out of work. I've been asked to really scrutenize my resume and ask what can be done to make it stand out more. I've been asked to ask myself what is it that makes others' resumes catch the attention of recruiters. I think I've found the answer.... I'm not a good liar.

Let's be honest for a moment (ha ha! See, here I go again with the honesty thing). 95% of what goes on a resume is pure bull in my opinion. Potential employees are expected to display what they've accomplished and how it can benefit the new company. Does anyone know an ordinary Joe who really "exceeded the company's expectations and helped bring in 100 new clients"? How about the person who "delivered extraordinary customer service by magically solving the problems of 50 irrate customers in one setting which resulted in an increase of customers the following year"? Yeah right! The highlight of most peoples' days are photocopying the weekly meeting notes and answering never-ending questions in emails. I hate when asked what I accomplished. An honest answer is that I was there on time regularly, rarely missing a day's work, I did my job, got along with my co-workers, didn't draw attention to myself or raise issues, and went home about my business. I never kissed butt to be something amazing. I'd like to be recognized for being hard-working and dependable, not being the suck-up.

Perhaps I was raised to be more modest than necessary. I really frown upon thinking so highly of oneself. In the corporate world, I suppose that's what is wanted though. It's such a fine line between confidence and conceit.