Schierer Space

Back in late June, when Chris and I began to discuss finding me a job, he sent home an email from his HR department. They were in critical need of Technical Writers, and no one had responded to the job postings they had made. HR wanted to know if the people in the company knew of anybody who might be interested in the 3-6 month position they had open. Well it sounded about perfect for me as I really didn’t want to go back to work permanently, and I did have some technical writing experience from my previous jobs. So I thru together a resume and sent it off to them. Chris got a call a few days later from one of the ladies in the department I had applied to, wanting to get some more info on me. He said they sounded real interested. Well somehow between late June and mid August, my info got lost in the shuffle, ’cause I never heard anything back. Chris asked the woman who’d requested the info, and she said she’d look into it ’cause she was desperate for help…still nothing. I called the HR guy several times (always getting his voice mail)…and still nothing. I was about to give up, but decided to give it one more try. So I email the woman Chris had been talking to, asking if they had hired someone yet becuase I hadn’t heard anything. About 3 hrs later I got a call for an interview. That was last friday, and they want me to come in tomorrow.

Now for the fun part. They would like me to bring in samples of my tech writing “especially if they demonstrate your attention to detail and formatting abilities with Word, Excel and Visio. Tables and figure placement are important.” I don’t have anything, since everything I had done in the past was for my previous company, and was proprietary material. So even if I had a copy of it, I couldn’t show it to them, but that’s moot, because I had to leave it all behind when I left the company. Now what I do I do? I have very little time, certainly not enough time to write and format a tech document on my own. Luckily I have a friend who teaches tech writing.

Jenn and I decided that I should take some one elses unformatted document and format it, so that they can see I know how to use Word. And that since I had written a couple of scrapbooking tutorials, I should take those with me, since they are considered tech writing. I finally I should put together a list of what types of tech documents I wrote at my last job to give them the idea of the type of work I’ve done in the past. Have I mentioned Jenn is my Hero?

So tomorrow morning I go in for my interview. We’ll see how it goes…

As I sit here and prepare to go grocery shopping, I am reminded that this is the best investment I think I’ve ever made. I really suck at menu planning and grocery shopping, but All about Saving Dinner has really changed all that. I no longer walk around the grocery store with a dazed look on my face because I don’t know what I need to buy. I now have all the food I need on hand when it’s time to make dinner, and there is far less food that rots in the refrigerator. We now eat healthy meals almost every day, and the food is always good! I highly recommend it!

We just got back from 4 days camping at Lake Eaton Campgoround in the Adirondacks. We left on Sunday morning, and took the round-about way to get there by mistake…we managed to miss the turn for Rt 28, and stayed on Rt 12 until we got to Watertown…Oops! It probably ended up being a good thing since it rained all day Sunday. This way we had three less hours to sit around in the rain!

Monday we woke up to bright sunshine and warm temperatures, which was a welcome change from teh day before. We decided to go hiking. we took a nice trip along the Castle Rock trail, and had a spectacular view of Blue Mountain Lake at the top. It was about a 4 mile hike round-trip. After the hike, we stopped at a park in Long Lake Villiage, and had lunch overlooking Long Lake. Late afternoon we headed back to the campground for some quiet relaxation. Chris went swimming in the lake, and I read on teh beach.

Tuesday we got up and went to the Adirondack Museum for the day. It’s quite the place, and we easily spent all day there. I think we both enjoyed the exibit on boating in the Adirondacks, as well as the pictures of all the large old “Cabins” in the mountains.

Wednesday we packed up camp, and headed back home. On the way we stopped in Inlet, NY and took a horseback ride thru the woods at Adirondack Saddle Tours. There was a large group of people with reservations at the same time as ours, but we lucked out and got a private tour. It was a little over an hour long, and a lot of fun. Passed several dear standing along side of the road, and they didn’t seem bothered at all by the horses.

Anyway, that was our vacation. Chris is already to go back and do it again next month!

I’m working on a scrapbook layout about myself based on a quiz in the Sept/Oct 2005 Simple Scrapbooks magazine. I thought I’d post the questions and answers here for others to see.

Kristin Schierer, 30
August 5, 2005

Inside I feel like I’m: somewhere between 20 and 25. This is a big change…until recently I’ve felt like I was still 17.
A goal I’m working on right now: is to have children. I’ve always wanted children of my own.
My most recent achievement: is having a scrapbook layout published in Becky Higgins More Creative Sketches for Scrapbookers. I’ve never thought of myself as very artistic, but maybe there is a small creative bone somewhere in my body.
The last gift I bought for someone: was a Thomas the Tank Engine play set for my nephew Matthew’s 4th birthday. The most recent gift I *gave* was to my second cousin, Jonathan for his High School graduation.
The last CD I bought: was The Beatles 1.
My current favorite song: is Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Greenday, but my current favorite guilty pleasure song is Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani. As you can tell, my music tastes vary widely. I’m currently listening to Paul Simon.
The last movie I saw in the theater: was Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. I saw it twice in the theater, which was short of my goal of 3 times. I am counting the days until November 1st, when it is released on DVD.
The last book I read: was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I am not quite as big a Harry Potter fan as I am a Star Wars fan, but all the books are on my list of favorite books.
The last new thing I learned: is that the Revenge of the Sith DVD will be released on November 1st. Yesterday I learned that they are already putting Halloween Candy out in the grocery store.
What I’m wearing right now: is my pajamas. It’s 10:00am, and I’m just starting to think about taking a shower and getting dressed.
The last person I talked to on the phone: was Chris when he called last night to tell me that he was on his way home from work.
What I ate for breakfast today: was a honey wheat bagel with cream cheese, and a cup of British Breakfast tea.
What I thought I’d be doing by this age: was raising a family of my own.
Something that I’m saving up for right now: is savings. We spent the majority of our savings on some unexpected house repairs earlier this summer.
Someone I think about a lot: is my husband, Chris
The last person I helped: was Chris, by looking up information about our lawn tractor so he could buy the right parts for it. The involved getting very dirty scraping built up grease and grime off of the engine so I could find the part number.
The last thing I apologized for: was not reminding Chris earlier in the day that his father’s birthday was on Tuesday.
Something I’m worried about: is that I may not ever have my own children.
What I wish for when I see a shooting star: I actually don’t wish upon a shooting star. Does that make me weird?
What my plans are for the rest of the day: A little bit of house cleaning and laundry to start. Then I need to do some photo editing and send the pics to my sister-in-law.

We always thought that our cats were poor hunters. They don’t know how to be stealthy at all. They run around the house and sound like a heard of elephants. They have been able to catch a couple of baby mice though. They’ve tried to chase birds in the yard, but they can’t get anywhere near them. That apparently all changed today.

Shadow brought me a Chickadee this afternoon. Left it on the floor outside the bathroom door while I was in using the facilities. She was sitting next to it, so proud of her catch. Luckily it was dead, becuase I don’t know what I would have done with a live injured bird in the house.

I guess now I’ll have to fix the screen door so the cats can’t go in and out freely, and check their mouths closely when I let them in. I miss the days when they were afraid to set foot in the grass…