HOMELY PLANET

Last few weeks have been full of fun, laughs, bbqs, new friends, mixed drinks and lots of love and sweetness. I have a ton of pictures to post, Chris and I have been working on the downstairs floor of one of his houses and the before and after is astounding. I honestly cannot believe it's been a month since we met, we haven't spent a night apart since the our first day (except for when I went to my parents one weekend.)

18:10 chilly. time for a bath... jammies... dinner... maybe a movie. dnd, aaah. #

19:58 thinking about J on the plane to amsterdam. #

19:58 a little cheese/cracker and wine while sauteing tofu and steaming brussel sprouts for dinner. Hmm, what to watch ? #

20:33 mmm, brussel sprouts. ps= i am probably going to break twitter while J is gone and I have noone to talk to at home ! #

22:01 I really want to learn how to knit and watch movies at the same time. I do not know how people do it. #

23:08 watching 2 days in paris. not really loving it. #

00:28 bed's too big without you... #

12:08 I still find mother's day abnoxious. It's just constant reminders all day long that I don't have a mother anymore. #

12:19 since yesterday, my internet just refuses to load certain pages. super annoying. #

12:20 can someone do me a favor and look at theherbalist.com and tell me if it works for you and what their hours are on monday . thanks ! #

12:29 thanks all ! got the hours ! #

12:31 it's funny how technology breaks when the techonology specialist in the house leaves. #

12:35 i love how google has decided that mothers are geese. lovely. #

12:55 it would so suck to be Jenna Bush right now. #

13:10 my ipod seems to think it's a belle and sebastian kind of day. it's weird because b&S is very synonymous with my single cornish days and joe #

13:25 going to go to the chapel or st marks and light a candle for mom and for her mom i decided. #

13:36 aah windows sp3 , are you going to take up a bunch of space on my hard drive. but of course you are... forcing me to upgrade and buy more. #

14:39 well somehow, xp3 service pack is done and the internet is fixed. okaaaaaay. #

15:34 i am looking forward to the day the heaters won't be coming on anymore. #

16:55 Check this out: www.mixwit.com/widgets/12d9c7f717c453e8c562212c385f4fe6 #

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I hope you enjoy this mix !
I had a good time doing it and felt like it was a nice way to honor Mom. :)

I miss this man.
A lot.

Dear friends, Happy Mothers Day! and on this joyous occasion, especially since I know some of you just became mothers, allow me to introduce you to the bliss of having children:

From a recent conversation with my mother...
- Guess what I did last night!
- Stasya...
- Went diving naked! At night...
- What about the sharks?!
- They don't care if I have shorts on...
- I need you back home safe. In one piece! Arms, Legs, Head... Well I know you lost your head a long time ago....
- Thanks mom...
- Oh just stay safe...

Oh how I hope my children don't turn out to be like me...


I (left) and Geri - screwing around at 40 meters. Don't try this at home...

( More fun underwater... )

Hi everyone! I have a quick (and maybe stupid/obvious) question that I hope someone could help me with regarding passport stamps in Switzerland. If I'm coming from a Schengen country (in this case, Italy), will Switzerland stamp my passport upon entry? If not, can I request it without problems? I need a non-Schengen country stamp to "deactivate" my student visa so that I can travel beyond my student visa's expiration date without issues (at least, this is the conclusion my program director has come up with.) Has anyone with a Schengen visa remained in the zone beyond the expiration date without running into problems with authority, etc? I'd appreciate any advice on the matter!

Pierce Brosnan began show business as a teen runaway, working with the circus as a fire eater. He later gained more conventional acting experience working in London theatres. His theatrical breakthrough came when American playwright Tennessee Williams hand-picked Brosnan to play McCabe in the British premiere of Red Devil Battery Sign. He got another big break when he landed the TV series "Remington Steel" (1982-1987). After the cancelation of his TV show, Brosnan moved to movies and appeared in numerous films, including, of course, several James Bond flicks in which he plays the womanizing British spy 007.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C9bkuJliMY&e

Hillary Clinton vs Gas Station Coffee. hehe. ;)

(some have asked)
Short answer: found out Raytheon is the contractor for NSF, later found out that Nana Services is a sub contractor, submitted my resume and spent about 100 minutes interviewing for said position. the end.

Long answer:

About a year ago there was a story in my local paper (Newsday) that focused on people with.. unique jobs. One of the featured folks, a former resident of LI, was/is working at Antarctica. She explained what the job was like, how it felt to live down there and then finally how she went ahead and got the job. More importantly she mentioned the hiring company. I found this all very interesting and did a little research on the web but dismissed it with the notion of "ahh, but I could never do anything like that."

However the idea stuck with me, even if it was only prowling the back of my mind.

I don't recall exactly how I got interested in this again. I don't remember if I read something recently or if the idea simply made its way back to the front of my mind. About a month ago I started looking into it with a renewed sense of interest. I started tracking down all the blogs I could find on the web and reading about the writers experiences. I found the website for the company, Raytheon, that does the hiring and started browsing through all the job listings but I didn't see any of the entry level ones I was counting on. I assumed that they were all hired already and came close to giving up the search but then I came across someone on LJ who previously worked there and asked her about it. From her I learned that Raytheon had subcontracted the position I was interested in out to a company called Nana services. This is why I couldn't find the entry level jobs on the Raytheon site.

While this was useful information I was still far from actually getting a job. All the research I had did pretty much suggested that the only way to get hired was to attend the annual job fair in Denver. No hiring actually goes on at the fair but you are given a chance to speak to the hiring managers and sell yourself. The idea is that you will get a few names of people to keep in touch with and that your impression will make them look for your resume amongst all the others. There are usually hundreds of applications for the few jobs (about 1,100 people work at McMurdo during the "summer" season) so any edge that you can get is important. I had missed it by about a week but in truth I don't think I would have flown out there just for the job fair.

I was discouraged by all this and considered not bothering to apply as I figured it would be a waste of my time. I was also asking myself if I really wanted to do it, if it would be worth it if I ended up getting offered a job. I also asked myself if I would mentally be able to do the job. Finally, weighing all my other lucrative options, I said the hell with it and sent an email off to the HR department at Nana. I just wanted to know if they were still hiring. I was dipping my toe in.

I got a response within an hour saying that they were and the next day I finished up my resume and submitted it. Later that day I got an email from someone different asking me three qualifying questions. I answered quickly and then didn't hear anything. My head was filled with dejection and disappointment. I cursed myself for getting excited about something that was no guarantee. I felt a fool for doing all this research for nothing. But, then, a few days later I got a call from the guy who does the hiring for the janitors and we spoke for about 15 minutes. He was very upfront with me, told me the very low salary and mentioned some of the other downsides. He was trying to make sure that I wasn't going into this blinded by an ideal of adventure that wouldn't match the reality. Afterwards he started going over some of the benefits and I wanted to stop him and say "Dude, stop, you had me at Antarctica" but I didn't and at the end of the conversation he told me that he was going to have an application emailed to me which I would need to fill out and return.

I think I impressed him for a few reasons. I was really quick to respond to all of their questions and made it a point to have the application returned within 14 hrs. I found out about the job the hardway by my own research I had sought them out. They had posted it on hotjobs which I didn't realize until after the search. Once my application was submitted we scheduled an interview and at the end he asked for some references. After calling both of them he offered me a job. It was exactly 2 weeks after I had sent in my initial resume.

However, I am not actually done yet. The job offer I received is conditional. First I need to go and have my urine tested for drugs. Then I need to get myself physically qualified to go down on the ice. This involves a pretty in depth medical exam and some blood work. What sucks is that I just saw my doctor about a month ago for a physical and was reminded how much I hate dealing with his office. The good thing is that I shouldn't have any problems getting past this clearance, once I actually get the appointment. In addition to that I have to have a dental exam which is a cause of concern for me. While they will pay for the exam and the Xrays they won't pay for any work that needs to be done. Since I, foolishly, dropped my dental insurance after I left Borders this could get expensive. My last exam was September and I ended up having 3 cavities filled. Each one cost 190 (I love it. In Ecuador Y charges 20 for a filling). I can only hope that my teeth haven't deteriorated much since then. If I need something extensive I will have to reconsider.

Once that is all completed I will be able to breath a little easier as I would finally, officially, have a job. Then it is simply a matter of waiting for the end of August to arrive so I can being my 6 month job.

So that is how I got a job in Antarctica.

Links:
Raytheon Polar Services
Nana Services
US Antarctic Program

I thought I was going to a cast party, but I walked into a menagerie.  In fact, I had one of these creatures crawling on my head and sniffing my armpit.

Hello everyone :)

I lost the link before, but there is a service/company that assists US/British students that have just graduated with finding a job and housing overseas. they also have a resource center and emergency housing for their members. I'm not looking for one of those agencies offering college credit for interning - this one is for graduates looking to move and try work abroad.

do you know this agency? any help is greatly appreciated.
p.s. I am a us citizen graduating soon, currently studying in istanbul but interested in working in london.

thank you for your time.

(crossposted to future_expats)

22:49 I hope my IPod is not dying. Problems with I Tunes shutting down constantly. Grrr. #

10:54 just kissed my husband goodbye for 10 days. teary. but. listening to Zooey Deschanels and M. Ward new album = fantastic. #

11:00 thinking I am not going to the capitol hill scooter society rally at 12. mad at the weather. #

11:32 so happy to have a DND !!! #

13:41 about to make brunch just for me ! #

16:25 oye. eyes burning and headache from the pain/solvent/whatever they are doing in downstairs apartment. ouch. #

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This is one of those annoying to-do/accomplished lists that people post so I don't end up doing something I already did tomorrow.

Today:
Full laundry, vacuum, wash cat, rub cat down with anti-Allergen, spray anti-Allergen on everything, kill ants, put out more ant prevention, wash dishes, clean out fridge, take out recycling and garbage, mop kitchen floor, put away laundry and any clean clothes lingering on the floor.

Tonight:
Get wraincloud drunk.

Tomorrow:
More laundry (couch), kill more ants, put out more ant prevention, put Advantage anti-flea on cat, spray anti-Allergen on couch, vacuum wall hangings, wash bathtub, clean bathroom sink and counters, clean electric toothbrush sprays off mirror, clean fridge, mop bathroom floor, clean toilet, wipe down surfaces (dust).

Tomorrow Night:
Sleep for a hundred years. Hope my cat forgives me - I'm certainly getting the death glare now.

J. left this morning to go to Berlin for 10 days.
I was all teary. He is the bestest husband.

I know it's not fair to say this when some of you are in long distance relationships and it's only 10 days. But still...

 

Ukranian Kolach, inspired by Yulia Tymoshenko's hair

While the rest of the world fights over flour and rice, I decided to embark on a baking extravaganza thanks to an Ukrainian colleague who lent me her Ukrainian "bible" (cookbook) after discovering that I like breads. I was told that the Ukrainian kolach is an eggy bread very similar to the French brioche and eaten during Easter (isn't there a Easter bread called paska or something? same?). Since I had already baked my own brioche and challah, I was very curious to see what the Ukrainian version was like. Ukrainian collegue said that her family baked like 10 rounds of kolach for her wedding in Canada.


( The Ukrainian Carb Revolution )

I know it's a day early, but I'm not going to be around tomorrw until the evening, so I wanted to get it out there.

Happy Mothers day!!! To all the Moms, Grandma's, Aunties, God-Mothers, etc.



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Remember to give hugs and love to all those ladies in your life, tomorrow's their day! :)

Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.  ~Aristotle
That's awesome.
And unrelated.
http://glumbert.com/media/grandma

And an older sex therapist. Not work safe! She's giving blow job hints. And she kinda looks like my grandma. Creeeepy. lol

One of my favorite artists, M. Ward has teamed up with Ms Zooey Deschanels as the She & Him duet and made quite a fine little nostalgic album.
Been listening to it on repeat all morning. I am not minding that funny 60's style come back. I like it much better than the 80's come back because I never got to live in the 60's, so it's fun. Besides the clothes are fun, though I'll be *really* happy when the 50's come back because everything will fit me then !

Take a listen.

---

I know Zooey Deschanels annoys the hell out of some people, but I really like her ! She is like Miranda July cross Bjork.

Busan, South Korea - May 2008
streetlife - On May 3, tens of thousands of protesters gathered together at various demonstrations around South Korea to protest the suspension of a ban against US beef. The relaxing of the ban has been reported to be a direct result of pressures from the US government in order to gain settlement of the proposed Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, which is pending in the legislatures of both countries. The ban was put into place in December 2003 amid growing fears of the presence of mad cow disease in US beef.

 

Hi guys,

I know this is a kind of sudden. I am a Vietnamese student. I am doing a survey for my graduation paper from my university. The theme is to compare the compliment behavior between English speaking countries and Asian countries. I am desperated to look for as much as possible English speaking people (in Western countries better) to fill in my questionnaire. It is not too long, you can do it in around 4 minutes. But it means so much to me.

 

I send here the file (Word) of my questionnaire. I also post the questionnaire below, behind the LJ cut. If anyone from English speaking countries passing by and see it, pls help me.   I really appreciate it.

Thanks a lot and sorry if this is not allowed.

 

After that, pls send it back to me on my email : bewitchedman@gmail.com

Here the link:

 

http://www.mediafire.com/?3bvbjnomi2g

 

(link from sunflower1343 - who is so kind to help me post on her journal)

Questionnaire: