I Didn't Bomb...

I waited all day, just for the interview and I think it paid off to some degree.

It was sort of a long day as it was. I didn't really feel like getting up for the most part. The e-mails from the mates in England have slowed down a bit while they're at work, so I have been a little less eager to see what's been transpiring. Granted this morning, I didn't have my alarm set for 7am either. I do like to be sure that I am up at a decent hour. I can't take all this slacking off lying down, ya know!

My boredom for Blog site surfing came in spades this morning. My unemployment job felt a little tired today and didn't really excercise the mouse too much. I had quite a few open and probably surfed close to 50 sites on each Exchange, which is easy when they're all on the same sort of timer. So, I did get a few credits here and there, but that wasn't quite right.

I can't say I was overly excited about the interview. The anticipation wasn't really getting to me. I would have to say that the anticipation for showering and getting myself cleaned up and ready to go more exciting. What does that say?

Like I said yesterday, they were sure eager to call me and see me, so their desperation had kind of shown up in spades, so my confidence seemed to have this interview pinned, regardless at how bumbling I was on the phone the day before.

It was a pretty cloudy day in the Calgary area, almost ugly, if you will. It didn't rain all day where I was or was looking. The air was quite mild and the wind was down... so the mosquitoes ended up showing up in droves. I went out for the lap around Langdon for the shop and to pick up the mail. I thought I could get through the mosquitoes, but as soon as I walked past the local ball fields, the skeeters just got worse and I ran back to the house to put some DEET on and strapped on my rollerblades. The last thing I wanted to do in the interview would be to scratch myself all over. Hardly, appropriate.

Also during the day, the e-mail string with Kelly was quite interesting. You know, the usual sort of banter about girls and beer. Now, he's probably not the most socially exceptable amongst the general public... but he does seem to spill off some pearls of wisdom. This one was particularly interesting:

"a slight change in the amount of effort one puts into finishing their beer may result in the drinker becoming more drunk. then, he may be drunk enough to poke the bunny hole with his Baton Rouge and, in 55 years the offspring may become the president and outlaw beer due to the fact he's never seen his drunken pa."

Ah, the glory of illegitamite children. Only Kelly could come up with pearls like that. It's the chaos theory (also disputed today) at it's best.

Anyways, I was dressed and ready in great time and Mom showed up in great time for work as well. Perfect. This was goin' pretty well. I got in the truck and noticed that the fuel gauge was down around E. I wasn't terribly worried. Even on the stop to get gas we were making good time and we were already in the Calgary city limits, so I wasn't terribly worried. Although it seemed like it was a huge Taxi Cab Convention at the 52nd St. Petro Canada. It made me worry a little bit, but we ended up alright. Dad had called when we stopped and said he was sitting at Joey's already with his co-workers, which was great, 'cuz I thought he'd have to be there early to get a table.

The office was pretty much where I thought it would be after getting a vague idea from the net. I ended up being about 5 minutes early, which is a nice showing, I'm thinking that probably went over well.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention... I did have two Sleeman's Honey Browns before leaving. The edge was off. I didn't have much to lose, so a couple did the job.

The interview was pretty straight forward. I don't think that this company, Millennium Systems, had an actual HR person in the office, but they took a couple of their guys to ask all the questions. Justin, who acted as the HR guy, asking all the HR questions (although somewhat uncomfortably) and Chris (?) sat in and gave me the run through.

Generally, the interviews are supposed to be daunting on the interviewee, but I actually took some social skill and dominated a bit of the conversation a bit. I really kept them on their heels, in a good way of course. I was actually a lot more comfortable in there than I think they were asking me some of the questions. I think I was able to take the tone of the interview down a notch or two to make it seem a little less formal, but the two still interviewed me with their poker faces on, even though their phone calls and desire to see me already gave away their hand.

Since this is a proper sales job, which I don't have the greatest experience in, I didn't think this was the greatest opportunity for me, but I would have my hand at the business if they gave me the shot, so I played the interview as if I had nothing to lose. I was pretty open and honest with the answers to their questions. I didn't really see myself in 5 years with anything in particular and I did my best to sell my potential to the company. I don't have any real sales skill to sell, so potential will have to do.

I still have some faint hope that a couple of the companies that I sent resumes to for graphic design jobs pull through a bit. But if this Millennium Systems wants me right away, I will say "first come, first serve." I need work. I need to get out of Langdon. This job, that job... really, any job will do for me.

In the end, the interview did manage to take up almost an hour, which was about a half hour more than I thought it would. I'm thinking with the time they took and the last question, "would you be willing to volunteer an afternoon to sit with our technician to see what your computer skills are?" shows me I have a pretty good shot at that job. I have a feeling that Monday will provide a phone call. We'll see though. Can't really get my hopes up too high, I suppose.

Unfortunately, the fireworks really kicked off at Joey's where I met Mom & Dad for a drink or two there. Okay, well let's not forget the scenary. Dad did make particular mention of our server that we had on Tuesday, although we didn't have her tonight, as he called her the "love of my life." She is gorgeous... and I probably wouldn't say no... but that's putting the wagon before the horse, I'm thinking. Heh heh.

You know, I found it really hard to be rude to Mom by oggling intently, so I wasn't surveying the scene with as great as intent as she wasn't there. But from what I could survey, which I did try my best at, the team that night was quite good. The most surprising thing was that the place wasn't quite all that full. The big crowds must have gone to town for more of the Stampede festivities at all the downtown bars. Not that I blame them, but Dad and I thought that the crowds would significantly be larger. They weren't. The lounge wasn't even half full for a good portion of time that we were sitting there. Shocking.

Right, so the fireworks... Dad was remarking that with a couple hundred bucks that he made from working a Saturday at the office that he would pick up some new filters for the water system in the house. He didn't think that the water was all that clean coming through. Mom agreed that it wasn't clear, but said it was like that for ages. Well... a small domestic argument started. Although their voices were low, Mom was trying to make the point that she had to wash 3 layers of crap off the shower walls or something and Dad was trying to argue something close, but not the same... and this was at Joey's. It was only the three of us at the table, but a couple drinks in them and I wasn't sure how high the voices were going to go. Now, I wouldn't mind making the trek over to this establishment if this job comes through a few times a week and I didn't quite want a scene in a public place no less, so I did try and calm the situation by saying we were at Joey's for goodness sake. Unfortunately, I was sitting beside Dad at the time and I think Mom got the hump because it looked like Dad and I were ganging up on her in the argument. I didn't want the argument in the first place, but somehow I lost the situation. We were just finishing up anyways, so Mom pretty much left us two to follow her out.

Now, I look upon some disputes that I see in public and hope that I never get involved in any. Especially family ones. Geez, there are just some things that the public doesn't have to see. I won't say we're a tight-knit or even a close family, but we don't have to fly on the opposite side of the No-Fly Zone, because we're not close.

Resolution probably wasn't going to come tonight anyways. The effects of alcohol have probably made it a bad time to explode any suspicious bomb packages and I'll probably have to talk to Mom tomorrow. Dad and I had the car ride home together... we don't really talk about that sort of stuff. I get the feeling he knows what the situation is, but a chat with Mom will probably calm her down a bit. A simple explanation about stopping the argument will probably go a long ways.

Anyways, it was a quiet night in the house. A couple more beers in the fridge for me and then probably bed. There's a probably slow-pitch practice tomorrow for the neighbourhood team, a couple weeks before the local tournament. It'll be great to throw the ball! Break out the Mariners jersey and hat and have ourselves a ball. Try not to get burnt anymore as well!!