Interview Update - They scheduled me for an 8:30 am interview, with the pre-interview application documents, possibly 30-min with HR, and anywhere from 1.5-2.5 hours with the hiring manager. It took me over an hour to complete all the pre-interview application paperwork last night, those thorough "what was the address of your last three jobs? what was your salary? who was your supervisor and what was their title?" kind of questions. There was also a packet that goes with "before we apply for your security clearance, please sign off that you understand all these things...." But once those things were complete and submitted, I had all the copies and printouts packed into my leather "I'm going to a job interview" portfolio, and then I could head to fighter practice [more on that later].

So this morning I got up before 6 am, got my exercising and stretching (all that PT recovery stuff) done (more on this later, too), showered, dressed, and almost ready to go before 7. As I was packing my bags, I did one last check on my computer to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything. And boy, am I glad I logged on....

Quick Techie Aside - I cannot recommend highly enough this really cool site: http://todoist.com/ because it saved my behind this morning! I've integrated a little widget from Todist.com on to my iGoogle page. It works like this: (1) Have a Google account, and sign in. (2) Go to the Google home page, but use the iGoogle link instead of the Classic Home page. Use the Add Stuff link to put different gadgets on your page. You can click and drag and drop the gadgets in any configuration you want. [I use a clock, a weather page, a search field for dictionary.com, a preview for gmail, my Google Calendar, and the Todist controller.]

Separately from the iGoogle page, (3) you get a free account at http://todoist.com/. I've been using Todist.com to manage my To-Do Lists, and having them remotely available from any computer -- at work, at home, on my mobile phone browser. It's very easy for me to color-code, move things around, reassign the due date or time for the task, and just quickly mark something as complete. And having it on my iGoogle page means as I'm bouncing between my Google-email (gmail) and my Google Calendar, I can keep track of a million and one tasks and reminders in the same place.

Back to my morning - So I logged into my computer and found I'd left a reminder task for myself that I needed to leave the Scribes box out on my patio so that Scott could come pick it up after work tonight. I cannot believe I almost forgot, but thankfully I'd left myself an electronic reminder, and I logged in to check my reminders. Yippee! Scribes box organized, set out on the patio (behind a brick wall, but where he can reach it because he knows it's there), and I was ready to jet out again.

I left in enough time to fill the car with gas, get coffee and breakfast, fight Los Angeles morning traffic, and still find parking before I was due to get my visitor's security badge. Yeah, me! The HR visit took much less than the suggested 30 minutes (partly because I was completely prepared in advance). Then the interview with the hiring manager was less than an hour, because she hates to make people sit too long. It went very well, and she was very fun to chat with. She's hoping to move the hiring process along as quick as possible, because she has a very fast-paced schedule and really needs her replacement person right away.

At the same time, the HR gal looked up the salary range for this position, and it's a bit lower than what I'm making now and looking for next. However, the *other* position that my friend Mark found *is* in my range. So the HR gal looked into attaching my application and resume packet to the other requisition, and I was upfront with the hiring manager that the only issue might be compensation. Otherwise, the job sounded great (it's training development and project management for class offerings), and I could really enjoy the fast-paced work. She seemed to enjoy her time with me (and said as much), and I was out of there in less than 90 minutes total.

Down in the parking lot, I ran into the HR gal. And she had good news for me -- she'd already walked over to the other building, talked to the other hiring manager, and taken care of attaching my application to the other requisition. So I don't even have to do anything else to start the paperwork for the other job possibility. We'll see what happens!

I'm thrilled, and I got to work before 10:30 this morning.

And there were really yummy bagels here when I arrived. *grin* It's going to be a great day!

* * * * *
Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Fun interview people