The past two days have been pretty wild. Monday morning I got up resolved to get my Programing lab done so I wouldn't be behind in that class - by Noon I'd exchanged several calls with one of the recruiters and had a job interview set up for Tuesday at 9 am. It is on Swan Island. (OK, where is Swan Island!) Whip out a map and find it's, an area not really an island, in north Portland.

I packed up my car with my books for school and went off to check out the location of the job interview. It took about 40 minutes to get there in moderate traffic so I decided I'd leave in the morning by 7:45 am to assure I'd be there on time. At class I got my grades and found that I've got an "A"! That makes me a straight A student at this point!!! I guess I'm not as dumb as I've been feeling.

Home by 10:30 Pm I get my clothes ready for the morning and go to bed to get a good night's sleep. This is a good job opportunity and I'm doing everything I can to be prepared. Organized, prepared, and collected, right?

So here is how today went.

6:15 am Alarm goes off - shower - dress - eat yogurt and have cup of coffee (so the stomach won't grumble!)
7:45 am Get in the car (which I gassed up and ran through a car wash last night) and head down the route I'd scouted the day before. Traffic is light. Skies grey but no rain. I get to Swan Island at 8:15 am.
8:20 am I decide to go into the Deli in the industrial park about two blocks from the business I have the interview with to have a cup of coffee and kill 30 minutes reading a library book I'd brought with me.
8:45 am I dash out to my car because it has started to rain and fumble the keys when I go to unlock my door and they drop into the storm drain below my car door.
8:46 am I dash back into the Deli and explain what has happened. They are Japanese and don't understand I'm not asking them for my keys I'm explaining I dropped my keys in the storm drain and am asking them not to have my car towed away while I am in my interview. A young man came from the back that understood - finally and I ran out the door to get to the interview.
8:55 am In the few minutes it took to run the two blocks (in heels) I am more than DAMP. Standing in their pre-foyer I worked on swiping the water off my suit jacket and shake it out of my hair while I wait for the Recruiting agent to get there and walk in with me.
9:00 am We walk into the Reception area and Geof introduces us and asks for the hiring person. I am being as calm as possible and tell Geof what just occurred while we wait for Keith. He was pretty amazed that I wasn't more upset. First things first. Do the interview and then figure out the rest, I tell him.
9:00 to 11:00 am The interview went well I think. I explained briefly why I was wet and turns out another employee had that happen about a week ago and the city came out and pulled his keys out with a big magnet. He called the person to see who I should call for that service. That guy went out to the drain while I was interviewing and tried to fish it out with a wire but couldn't see the keys for the water, leaves, and muck. Reported back two pieces of bad news, he couldn't get the keys and the property is private not City or State so they won't be available. On with the interview... I would like this job. I liked everything about the place, what they do, and the people I met. The situation is simular to CSO network wise when I started there so I feel confident I could do them a good job. They will be filling the job within a week so I'll know soon.
11:00 am It's not raining so I walk back to the Deli. Again the language barrier - they didn't have a phone book according to them so I called my State Farm Agent - in Roseburg. They didn't have a Portland phone book or list of locksmiths that bill State Farm directly. They suggest calling information. I do - they connect me to the nearest locksmith. They say the soonest they can be there is Wednesday and I should call someone else (ya think?)

I try to call Caleb...just in case he is home for the day for some reason...no answer, I try Joey - my roommate - no answer. Finally I call Kelly at work. I know she is sick and barely has a voice but I was hoping she could look in a yellow pages book and give me some numbers to call. Kelly was wonderful! She knew where they had a spare key for the car! And she went home to get it and bring it to me! What a relief that was! So now I settle in with a second cup of coffee to read my book until Kelly arrived.

11:45 am Looking up from my book I was surprized to see Kerry and Janet from Northwest Rafters Association in the Deli! I wasn't sure at first but then saw their dogs outside and knew it was them! So I went over and said "Hi". It was a nice to connect and we exchanged phone numbers. Kerry works next door to the Deli and he knew where who the property owners are and that they were right there in the industrial park.

12:20 pm I got to introduce Kelly to Kerry when she got there . When I opened the car I gave Kerry a copy of my resume which he had offered to hand off to the people who do their network!

12:30 pm I walk in to the business that Kerry had directed me to and they sent one of their guys over to the Deli to get my keys. I guess this happens relatively often - they had a nifty magnet thing and I was on my way to the Job Fair in Canby buy 12:50!

I'm feeling good about the interview, happy to have connected with some fellow rafters, grateful for the help from unexpected places and glance into the rear view mirror to check my makeup.... YIKES!

I'm looking like a MIME! And probibly have since my mad dash in the rain! Keith had taken me around the business... I'd been to two other businesses since then!

The job fair was a bust like the other one I was required to attend but it was uneventful and I was just glad to do the walk through and head home.

Good day? Bad day? Lots of good things happened in between the difficult things! If I get that job it will be amazing... I sure didn't have that organized, professional "thing going on"! :-)

I'm happy to be home and am going to bed!