Curse You Al Roker...!

Today was just tough all around and the fact that it rained all day just made it even crappier.

Woke up this morning not feeling great but I decided to go to church anyway. So I go in to take a quick shower and when I mean quick I mean quick in "there is something wrong with the water heater." Well this morning there was no water pressure (given there was little to begin with in the first place but I don't complain since my friend is letting me crash here until I move). So I do a quick sink bath and get dressed and head to church. When I get there I start feeling worse so I come home and rest and go to the 11 service samething happens so instead of coming back to the apt I go to Bob Evans with friends(a weekly thing after the early service).

After Bob Evans I was feeling a bit better so I drove up to Best Buy to use the gift certificate my friends got me for my birthday. I got the first season of Robot Chicken...Funny stuff if you haven't seen it before. So the plan was to come back home and then go rollerblading even though it was cloudy and looking like rain. As soon as I left Barnes and Noble after stopping at Best Buy it started to pour the rain down. So I came home and started reading Team of Rivals (the Emancipation Proclaimation has just been issued) I began to feel cooped up so I decided to go see Over the Hedge. It was a fun movie...predictable but fun on a rainy day.

After the movie it was still raining so I came back home and straightened up my stuff and watched some Robot Chicken and just spent the evening around here doing random things.

And I was so looking forward to going rollerblading this afternoon but I guess you make do. Usually I would just go rollerblading in the rain but not when it is pouring and there is lighting and thunder.

Hopefully will get to go tomorrow.

-c

It's My Birthday...B..b..b..Birthday!

Wahoo!
21 years old...again for the 8th time (I think..Math is Hard)

Official Start Date

So I called today and gave my official start date of July 19th.

This means I have about 1 month to find a place up there.

I am really excited but not looking forward to the whole moving part, luckily I don't think I have that much to move that big because I gave my bed, futon, chest of drawers, and dresser to my younger brother so that leaves only my Entertainment Center and desk that are the major huge things to move.

More reflections on moving and such later

-c

The Apocalypse is Nigh!!!

As you may have known I have been traveling and interviewing for the NY Public Management Institute. While I did not make the first round of selection they did have a second round of positions not offered the first time.

For this second round I had 2 interviews and today I was offered and accepted the position with the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.

My postion will be Senior Administrative Analyst where I will work for the Bureau of Cost and Revenue Development and working with ensuring appropriate Medicaid Reimbursement and also tracking the state operated expenditures to the program level. While also be responsible for various fiscal reviews/analyses, verification of capital/development expenditures, preparation of annual cost reports, monitoring of Federal Mandates, Internal control activities, trend factor calculation, and revenue initiatives.

This means that sometime later this summer I will be moving to Albany, NY.(WAHOO!!!!).

Thanks to all who continually prayed for me to get a job

Stay tuned to the blog for updates on the moving process

Numb

Things I never want said to me again:

"Something will come up soon..."
"It was not meant to be..."
"You' ll find something..."
"With your degrees you will find something..."

It's been a few days now and things are not any better. I am actually kind of avoiding people so I don't have to lie and say things are going ok. I can't even crack jokes anymore about being over educated and such. I can't even browse jobs without feeling like I want to just scream. And I know people are only trying to help by offering suggestions of places to apply but I have tried most of them with no luck.

I am really at a loss right now...

-c

Back to Square One

This week I have learned the following things:
1) I am a loser
2) I cannot compete for jobs
3) I am going to be stuck working some stupid do nothing job for the rest of my life

I got my response from NY this week and it was consistent with many of my past attempts at finding employment...a big old NEGATORY!!

As I look back over the past 6 years I have had some successes, but lately I have been repeatedly hitting the proverbial wall when it comes to moving forward in my life.

Graduating high school I was accepted at 4 colleges. I chose WVWC because of location and the fact that I was accepted into the Bonner Scholar program where I was one of 20 incoming freshmen chosen for the program. It was great to know that my accomplishments in high school set me apart from at least 200 other applicants. After finishing undergraduate I applied to a few schools to do graduate work. Here is where I think my luck started to turn south. I did not get in so I had to work a crappy sales job. I then reapplied and somehow got into the program at WVU. Well for the next three years things went alright (if there is ever really such a thing in my life). Things were looking up until 2004 when I was supposed to graduate with my second masters in the summer (if you want t know this story let me know). Anyway I ended up working another crappy job for a year till I decided to go back and finish my last semester. During this time I was finishing up I heard about the opportunity in NY and thought I would give it a try. Another long story short I thought that making it to the final interview round where they were taking 50 out of 75 people that my odds were really good given my education and work experience.

I was WRONG...Apparently 2 Masters, previous experience working in government and leadership positions don't amount to crap.

Now I have to try from scratch and find a job which worked so well the last time I tried.

I am almost 28 years old(I feel like I am 17), my friends are working or changing to a new job and I am here overeducated and unable to get a job. IT SUCKS...both my brothers have jobs and what not and able to provide for themselves and while I do have an income its not one where I can independently support myself and move on with my life, not stuck in this rut where no matter how hard I try to get out I can't.

-c

Crazy Ideas

I have some crazy ideas in my head right now...some good and some bad.

Been blogging for about 6 months now and only about half the stuff I wanted to write about has gotten done. The following list is just a few of the topics or rants that never or have yet to be posted:

"Bane of the Road"
-My observations of the many idiots on the roadways. This is mostly from spending alot of time on the road driving anywhere from Ohio to the Northeast part of the US. Basically 98% of the population...ok driving population...become totally brainless and an endangerment to those of us who know where the turn signal is located. This one is still being developed and thought out and might be up soon.

"Gradgimicated....again"
-Was going to write this one after I finished my MA of Public Administration and graduated for the third time (fourth including high school).

"My Car Experience"
-Basically chronicaling the month ordeal that I went through with my check engine light and the car dealership. Very frustrating and nerve racking.

"No Title Yet"
-Still working on this one but basically just observations and comparisons of my experiences substitute teaching K-12. This one might be good if I can get it out of my head.

The rest of my blogs I wanted to do just stuff I did but didn't have time or was to tired to do it and now it is way past the point or it was one of those "you had to be there" type things. Anyway who knows maybe I will get to the ones I have really given some thought too.

-c

The Waiting: Over Analyze This

So I am still trying to rank my preferences for the PMI program I interviewed for last week in Albany. I think this is because I am still going over (and over and over) the interviews I had and trying to figure out which one should be my top choice. I have pretty much decided the bottom two mostly based on the other positions interest me more.

Of the two of which will be my first and second choice I keep going back and forth on which one I have a better chance of getting vs. which one would I want the most.

Case in Point:
The agency I would really like to work for was the shortest interview I had. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing. First, I arrived about 10 minutes prior to the scheduled interview time and started early and finished about 20 mins. before the alloted time was completed. We had a good discussion and I hit the points I feel I needed to hit for the most part (see below) and even got some extra bits of information in the process. As I said I feel I got most of the important points in the interview but (and this is an example of my over analyzation) I was driving in the car and think about this particular interview and it hit me. The question that was asked was about if I felt comfortable getting up and given presentations and such to groups. I replied I had no problem with this since I had to do this with my fraternity involvement. It hit me that duh! I am a substitute teacher I get up in front of strangers everytime I work and have no problems. Now we did talk about my being a substitute and things I learned from doing that. I would hope that they would realize that along with talking about my responsibilites as a sub. teacher that this would be a part of it but it is just one little thing that keeps nagging me like a scratch that can't be reached.

OH well... I will probably rank them tomorrow and then continue to replay each interview looking for that one small sign that they were interested and gauge my chances for that position and if I ranked it correctly.

The Waiting (is the Hardest Part)

Yeah I used a Tom Petty lyric as a title...but it is the truth.

I am waiting to hear back from the NY Public Managemnt Institute on a Fellowship that I applied for back in October. This is the same fellowship that I had to go to Albany in Feb. and posted the infamous blog about my massive intake of caffiene and the lack of sleep that followed. I traveled to Albany on Tuesday which is an 8 hour trip from Morgantown. Wednesday I had two interviews with the Human Resources division of Civil Service and DMV. Then later that day I attended the reception and pressed the flesh with the people I interviewed that day and some of the other candidates. Thursday I had my last two interviews with the Civil Service Division of Planning and Development.

I think that they went well and its going to be hard ranking my preferences. I think they said that 77 people were interviewing for the 50 availible positions. I am still very nervous. I have been looking for a job for 2 years now and if I don't get a position I am going to be VERY upset. I liked Albany...sizewise it reminds me of Pittsburgh or Cleveland. I have to wait and will find out the first week of May which while not that far off it seems like forever.

I've Been Typecast

Since I was in high school (10 years ago) I have taken part in the Easter choir/drama presentation at church. The first year I was one of the disciples...and yes I was Judas. The next year I said that I did not want to be Judas so what do they make me? A Roman soldier, which I thought was cool because I don't have to kiss Jesus and the character doesn't kill himself.

So as I said I have been doing this for awhile now and every year I get to be a Roman soldier. Over hte years we have had 5 different people play the part of Jesus and I have got to beat and crucify them all. I would say its been fun but that sounds a bit sadistic. Some years the performance has been very elaborate (involving lifting the cross with Jesus on it) to the very basic (having a blackout and Jesus stepping onto the cross). Now the reason I think that I have been tapped into being a soldier is due to the fact that when Jesus comes off the cross they need someone to catch him (slumps onto my shoulder) and hold him till the other soldiers are in position to help lower him into the shroud to be carried to the tomb. I don't mind, but I'm not sure how the audience feels looking at my backside.

Doing the same part does have its advantages... for instance I don't have to show up for practice until a week or so before the performance. Also this year I was not happy with the cross, since it has been modified over the years to accomendate the different actors who played Jesus. So I suggested that they should get a new cross and instead of it being one piece of wood (which makes it akward not only to lift but also for the guy playing Jesus to bring on stage) I suggested that a new cross should be 2 parts the long part which would stand in the base and the second would be the short piece which could be more easily carried in and less bulky. Well, they made a new cross and used my idea...it totally rocked and was way better. I guess when you have years and years of experience people listen to you and defer any questions or problems to you about what would work best.

I don't mind being in the role every year I try to push for more creative control over the role which keeps it from getting boring. The best part of all is I don't have to dress up for Easter service and get to wear gym shorts and a t-shirt.

The following are actual things said to me this year:
"So Chad, you've been a solider since I can remember...does the role come with some type of retirement plan?'

"Chad, I don't think I could see you as any other role in the Easter production since you've been a soldier for so long."

"Chad, I think you have been typecast."