Oh well, whatever, nevermind

Oh dear.  It looks like I have been slacking in the blog department, and the sad thing is that I don't really have a legitimate excuse. 

Sunday would have been a perfect day to write; I was enclosed all day in a house with three dogs and no other obligations.  Honest truth?  I did not turn on the computer all day.  ALL DAY.  What did I do instead, you ask?  I did NOT do homework.  I did NOT read a book.  I did NOT call a friend. 

No.  In between feeding the dogs and myself, I watched a NCIS marathon.  We may have also had a dramatic reenactment of some scenes from said marathon.  If you're interested, Thor was McGee, Lena was Abby, Pippi was Ziva and I was Gibbs.  Yes, I realize there are some gender inconsistencies here, but there are only so many cool female roles in this show.

By the time my parents arrived home, they were all ready to go out for dinner, so of course I obliged.  This led to me staying the night on Sunday.  Which meant that I had to go to work from their house on Monday, resulting in a return voyage to the inner city to retrieve my dog Monday night.  Needless to say, we did not get back to the sticks until 9 p.m.  Way too late to write an update. 

So here we are, almost into the middle of the week. 

At the risk of revealing too much about myself, I will share that on Friday I had a bit of a breakdown.  My continuing job search has yet to materialize into any interest on the part of employers.  While I realize that this is also due to the state of the current job market and a saturation of qualified individuals, it still carries a whiff of failure.

The people who care about me have offered positive words and what they hope will be helpful advice.  My first order of business has been to reconsider the formatting of my resume.  To be honest, I have had doubts about my original resume based on the fact that the entirety of my job history to date has been with one company.  This may have positive meaning to some, but it is very hard to convey the amount of skills I have gained or accomplishments I have achieved when there is not much diversity in my work experience details.

Honestly, I do not have doubts about my ability to write effectively.  I know that I am using the right "action" words and that my grammar and spelling are correct.  My descriptions are honest, even when I am trying to make sure that I am listing the ones that are specifically pertinent to the job at hand.  Oh, did I not mention that I tweak my resume for each job application?  Yes.  It results in several saved versions of my resume in Word, but I feel the effort is worth it.  At least I would if I could even get an interview.

There is also the possibility that the hiring agents are getting high volumes of applicants and are doing some highly objective sorting methods.  If this is the case, I have no way of knowing what will ultimately work. 

The good news is that I still have a job.  I imagine that this process is at least 100 times more frustrating and gut-wrenching for someone who is unemployed. 

One thing that actually gets through my haze of frustration is the knowledge that in a few months, I will be able to update my education section to show that I have completed my MLIS degree.  While I have been careful to include the fact that it is in process and scheduled to be completed in December 2011, the edge will always be given to the person who is all done and finished.

Moving on from my job search woes, I had to go through my calendar yesterday and figure out potential time off for the next couple of months.  It was a bit surprising (and perhaps sad) to find that the majority of my vacation time is going towards the act of dog-sitting and not to actual vacation.  Said dog-sitting events are usually the result of my parents taking vacation. 

Don't get me wrong, my parents have definitely offered to include me on more than one of their outings, but with school and the dogs, it becomes difficult for the three of us to be away at the same time.  I keep saying that once school is done and my schedule is clear, I can plan a real vacation for myself. 

At this point, I am open to ideas.  Obviously, I would prefer to be economical about the costs.  No voyages around the world or stays at the Four Seasons Maui.  Unless you are willing to pay?  What say you??