NicholasYax.com

So Nick left out some important information in his last post.  We we were in Novi and decided to head to the waterford hotel, it was quite an adventure.  It was only 12 miles, and it was a good deal on a really nice hotel with a jacuzzi suite, so we figure it was definitely worth the 12miles, however it was quite and adventurous trip.  It took 45 minutes to get there and was 5ish on a weekday in detroit.  We were frequently in stop and go traffic with crazy people passing on the shoulder.  There was also no straight route between the two areas so we were frequently turning and going around lakes.  But we made it alive and it was worth it, the room was really nice.  Also  for the last couple of years nick and I have really wanted to try good lobster, which we did at dinner.  It was good but not really worth the price, I would be just as happy with good jumbo shrimp.  ~Jenn

So, I called Bettis today and still no word.  She said the managers haven’t made a decision yet so there is at least still a chance.  I am starting to feel like if something good was going to come, it would have by now.  All I can do is wait and see.

I went to Ferris Monday to see Joe Wist.  He had a few job leads for me, so I put in about 10 applications.  Will see if they lead to anything.

This Saturday will be my bachelor party.  Hopefully I see a good turnout.  Would be nice to meet up with everyone.

Speaking of Bay City, Jenn and I were up there on Sept 5.  Jenn spent the day with her parents and I visited with my Mom and Dad.  Had fun, but just spent the day.

Following that was my Birthday.  Nothing special.  I did get Snow Leopard as a gift though, which was really cool.

I called Bettis on the 9th and they said “very soon”.  As I said above, I called again today as I still haven’t heard anything.  Would be nice to know by the wedding.

I made some hard cider, which came out fairly well.  It has a bit of a funny aftertaste though.  Hopefully the next batch comes out better.

And I guess that is it.  Will post about the party next week, along with any update I get about the job.

nick

I kind of put this off till the end of the week, hoping I might hear something, but no.  Yesterday was 3 weeks, of the “2-4″ that they claimed.  I kind of figured 2-4 weeks would mean 27 days, but hoped it would be earlier.  If I don’t hear by Thursday, unfortunately the weekend is Labor Day, so Friday and Monday are out, and Tuesday is my birthday so I am afraid to call and get bad news, so I am giving them until Wednesday the 9th.

On another topic, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was released today.  It’s only $29, but I don’t have it because a) I don’t have the money, b) All my back-ups are packed away anyway and c) From what I have read online, there are several apps that are not working right yet.  Truth though, is that it is all A, while B and C are just rationalizations.

Theory goes that I will be in Bay City possibly the weekend of the 12th.  My only question is that I would be coming again 2 weeks later for River of Time.  We will see as it approaches.

The cider is going well.  Has slowed down dramatically, which scares me a bit, but I think it’s fine.

That’s all for now.  Sorry, I have a boring life.

nick

So, I went to the interview in Pittsburgh.  Had a lot of flight issues and ended up spending about 6 hours at Detroit Metro.  I finally made it to Pittsburgh at about 11:30 and to the hotel at 12:30.  There was a message waiting for me that somebody would be there to pick me up at 6:55.  So, after about 4.5 hours of sleep I got up and dressed and went with the Bettis rep to Bob Evans for breakfast, then on to the lab.

At the security gate was a nice security officer with the Department of Energy holding an M16 (yes, really).  We then went on to the security office to check me in and have my bag searched, then to HR.  They got all my application info then I was office to another security office to be finger printed.

With all the security stuff done, they explained what they could of the position.  A big part of the position is classified, and requires Top Secret security clearance.  It will take 2-4 weeks to make a decision, then 2-6 months to get clearance (“We are they government, we go kind of slow”).  I was also told that they don’t actually do manufacturing on site, it’s contracted out, and the job would be largely engineering support to the contractor.

Through the day, I interviewed with 3 or 4 people, the final two taking me to lunch.  Hearing about all the advanced stuff they do and who they have (2000 engineers, several hundred Ph.D.s), I feel a little under-qualified, but know I could do it.  It sounds really exciting, and am crossing my fingers.  Should know in a couple weeks.

So, after all that, I got home about 9:30 Thursday night.  Friday afternoon, it was back on the road up to Alpena for Jenn’s shower.  We stopped in Atlanta to see the florist and go over a few things, then went out to eat with Jenn’s parents.  Saturday morning Jenn had a dress fitting and we went to the farmer’s market.  The shower was a couple hours later.  My Dad and Grandma made it up, so I went and drove around town with my Dad while the ladies did their thing. After a bit of driving, we went to Jenn’s parent’s house and my Dad met her Dad, then Jenn called and told us to come to the hall and eat the leftovers, so we all headed there.  After about another hour, they headed home and we packed up all the gifts.  We hung out at Jenn’s parents for a few hours, then went looking for a hotel near Lewiston.  Unfortunately, there was a wedding and a softball game in town, so all the rooms in town were booked and the nearest we could find was in Gaylord.  Sunday morning we went to mass and to meet with the priest who will perform our wedding ceremony.  He seems pretty fun, and an OK guy.  After that, we finally headed home.

Monday wasn’t much.  Tuesday we were offered to lease our apartment until Dec 31, which is longer that what we were hoping for, but better than May, so we signed.  I better have a job by then.  Hell, I think I have to at least have part time by my birthday if we want to stay afloat.

That about covers it all.  Will let you know if I hear anything.

nick

I want to start out by pointing out to the many of you that are reading this on Facebook that I don’t post these as Notes, but as blog posts at nicholasyax.com.  Thought you might want to check it out some time.

Second up, I have another interview, August 6th.  This job is in Pittsburgh as well, as is it with a nuclear power engineering company.  Hopefully it goes well.  I fly out on the 5th, stay the night in a hotel nearby, then interview most of Thursday, flying home in the evening.

My uncle and family are in Bay City visiting, so will be heading there this weekend, then packing the first couple days of the week, then the interview, then Jenn’s bridal shower next weekend, then more packing until Wednesday the 12th when we move.  Looking like a busy few weeks.

Where we are moving we still don’t know.  We just know our lease ends on the 15th, so we need to be out.  We are looking at some furnished cabins for a couple weeks, until I know how the interview went.  After that, either we are off to Pittsburgh or Jenn signs up for travel nursing and we go do that for a while.

Wedding invitation should be out soon.  We have them all printed and are in the process of assembling them.

That covers al that I wanted to say, I believe.  Will let everyone know how the interview went either the night of the 6th or on the 7th.

So, I finally got my first response to an application, that was the possible “good news”.  This was back on June 12 as we were on our way up to go camping.  It was a call from Westinghouse Nuclear about a new grad engineer position.  I missed the call, and tried for most of the day to return their call to no avail.  Finally, on Monday, I got through and was immediately put through an initial phone screening, and told that there would be at least one more before I made it to an interview, but they would let me know either way.  This, needless to say, got Jenn and I very excited as it was something, which is more than I had gotten so far.

Two weeks pass with no response, so I call back.  I am told that they haven’t made any decisions yet, and they were being bogged down due to people taking vacations and the upcoming July 4 holiday.  OK, understandable.

Another two weeks, still no response, so I call again.  ”Sorry, but we decided to go with a more experienced professional for this position.”  Damn.  I had to bite my lip, as I was extremely disappointed at the time and really wanted to go off on “what happened to we will let you know either way?”  But, they do have dozens of positions open, and are hiring hundreds of people per year as they are undergoing major expansion, and I am still in the running for several of those positions.

I would think, that making it to the first phone screening for the position I did would put me in the upper tier for the several similar positions I applied for, but who knows.  It was kind of implied no, so maybe I am just not meant to work for them.  I do have to wonder how a position posted as for new grads becomes a 10+ years required position though.

I also wonder how Magna Cum Laude, #1 in program can’t find a job.  What exactly are companies looking for if I am not good enough?  It’s not like I am applying for 5+ req. positions that I have no shot at.  I have applied for, honestly, hundreds of positions, all of which are listed as entry level, for new grads.  Of those, the only responses that weren’t “We’re sorry” form letters were Westinghouse and a position in Idaho that called because they upped the ante to requiring an MBA and wanting to check if I had one (if I did, wouldn’t it be on my resume?).

I would say f’ it all and go back for a masters degree, but I can’t afford to do that.  I could go try for a part time job to try and at least cover the bills, but there are two problems with that.  One, as soon as they see I have a BS in Engineering they will pass me over as “overqualified”, knowing I will split at the first sign of something better (which I would).  Two, it’s no good for my morale if I did get it.  I would hate and loathe the job, and feel more like a failure because all I can get with 8 years of college is 20 hours a week at a convenience store.

I started off college very unguided.  I figured put in a year of something, and GM will call, then I will be all set.  Sure, the Astrophysics thing was there, but not a real goal.  One year at delta became two, I got a transfer degree (AS Pre-Engineering) that is pretty much good for nothing, and started just taking classes that sounded fun.  My grades were not great, as I had no reason to keep them up, and I ended up just quitting after the third year.

Finally, I got a goal, realized I kind of liked it at GM, and decided to go for Manufacturing Engineering.  My grades soared, I boosted my GPA by over half a point, and transfered to Ferris. At Ferris, I pulled off a 3.75, several honors, and have been on the Dean’s list all four semesters at Ferris plus my last 5 at Delta.  I put in all that effort, pushing toward a goal, all to get a better job with better pay.  I graduate, and flop.

Now, I question what the work was for.  Sure, I will find something, but it wont be the awesome job I worked for.  It won’t be the job that only #1 in a program could be considered for, it will be a job that I take because it’s a job.  I will work it for a few years until something better comes along, and take that.  By that time, only my performance at work will matter, and the only thing anybody will care about my school career is that I graduated.

I know, nothing can be done about it.  We play the cards we are dealt and that’s that.  Still, I had an awesome hand going.  It’s a bit like being dealt a royal flush, then somebody saying “nah, lets play blackjack, somebody reshuffle”.

I have been stalling on posting because I hopefully have some big news.  I am being a little superstitious about it even though most people know about it by now.

Anyway, I did feel that some update should be made, before I let the entire month of June slip by with no post at all.

Our camping trip went well.  We went up to Garland for our tasting for the wedding, stayed in Alpena at a hotel, Jenn did the fitting for her wedding dress, then we went to Clear Lake State Park for 2 nights.

On the way up I first got word of my possible good news, and on the way home I had the first bit of confirmation.  Now just to wait for more confirmation.

Jon came in Saturday morning and we went tubing, had dinner at Schuberg’s, and went to the gate for a while.  He headed back home Sunday just before noon.  Todd is supposed to be coming in late next week for a short stay to go to the county fair and check out the demo derby and figure 8.

OK, hopefully more info soon.  Next post should be less vague and confusing.

Well, as you can obviously see (if you have ever been here before) the blog has a new theme. I have been looking for a month or so on and off, and I think this one will keep me happy for a year or so.

Some highlights…

• Links to my facebook, twitter, and youtube profiles at the top of the sidebar, more to come (Amazon wishlist, etc…).
• Links to random posts about halfway down the sidebar.
• Static page links (about, projects, etc…) have been reorganized and are now in a drop down at the top.
• Comment links are at the top of the post, rather than the bottom where they were.  If people complain, this might change, but it was the default in the theme and for now I am leaving it.
• Pretty little icons spread all over (comments, tags, author, etc…)
• Total visits and word written moved from the footer to sidebar.  Clicking on “visitors” will take you to the visitors page, where you can see yourself if you want.
• List of all pages at the bottom of each page.  Instead of just “Next” and “Previous”, actually specifies page 1 of 115, with links to page 2, 3, 4, beginning, and end.

That should be the gist of the new stuff.  There is plenty more new in this theme, some that I haven’t even found yet I’m sure.

Outside of the blog update, I have just been relaxing and looking for jobs.  With the rumor of GM announcing bankruptcy and closing 14 plants and 22,000 lay offs tomorrow, I think I am leaving Michigan.  With that many GM layoffs and closings, even spread nationwide, Michigan is going to be hit really hard.  Add in the effect on suppliers and them issuing layoffs and closings and you are left with a bleak outlook for job seekers, especially new grads without experience yet.

Alright, thats more than I have written in two months right there, so I will leave it at that.

nick

So, Today marks six years since I started the blog. The future, though, is a little uncertain. With Facebook and Picasa, low visitor count, and my complete loss of habit of posting here, I question the reasons for continuing the blog. I’m not saying I am quitting, just that it is in the back of my mind. At the minimum, there will be a rather major redesign. This would include more obvious links to other places you can get info, like my twitter feed, picasa updates, and facebook page.

Moving on, I still have no job.  Still looking, but really not even much to apply to.  Hopefully some company opens up a lot of jobs soon.

I’ve been reading some books on backpacking and it’s getting me excited.  I want to try it, perhaps this summer, but need money to be able to do it.

Thats all for now.  Will try and be a little more regular since I have nothing else to do until I am working.

nick

Just wanted to check in and say I am still alive. School projects are taking up a lot of my time my an update is coming along at some point.
Our SME Disc Golf Tournament went well, we raised $130 and profited $50.