drum roll please... (okay, so it's not really that dramatic)

alright, so everyone has been curious about the phone call... sorry, i've been kinda busy at work the past couple of days and super tired when i would get home in the evenings... so, without further delay, i'll get to what you're interested in...

i talked to a recruiter from the company on monday evening... he seemed very laid back, and the phone conversation was pretty informal (which eased my nerves quite a bit)... the company is a Design/Build company... meaning instead of just reviewing the designs, they make them... and follow the design through completion (being built)... they do work for the government and private companies...

there are lots of this companies offices in the DC metro area... so he was unable to tell me which office the position is open in (because several of them want an EE)... there are also offices in Richmond, VA; Tampa, FL; Atlanta, GA; and Stutgart, Germany... and travel to Germany could be once a year for a month at a time (if i was open to travel)...

they were quite impressed with my goal to obtain my Lighting Consulting Certificate... and he said he would make it known that i'd like to continue along that line of work...

he said he would send my resume, and a transcript of our conversation, out to all the business units and see which of the offices want me... (he said they were like piranhas... and they'd all be fighting for fresh electrical engineering meat)... and that it would probably be a week or so before he called me back with the results...

well, i actually got a phone call from him last night... he said two of the supervisors within the company were very interested in talking to me... but one of them left to go out of town last night and won't be back for two weeks... so, he said he'd see if dude #1 wants to talk to me before dude #2 gets back... and he'd give me a call to let me know when each of the dudes wants to talk to me... he was like "yeah, they want to take you out to lunch, get to know you, see what you've learned since graduation... things like that..." so, it sounds like they're pretty interested... so, i'll just wait and see where this goes...

on a totally different subject, this sunday i'm volunteering to help out at the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Awareness... i'm waaaaay excited about it... my coworker (and friend), Autumn, and i were goign to actually participate in the walk... but you had to raise something like $2000 per person and we knew we wouldn't even come close... since neither of us has that kind of money to give away if we didn't raise it... and one lady in our office had already signed up to walk (so she had already collected from our coworkers)... so, autumn and i decided that giving our time was better than giving nothing... i'm working the merchandise booth, ya know, selling the pink ribbon stuff... it's gonna be lots of fun!!! so, if you're gonna be in the DC area this weekend, come out and cheer on all the walkers... they are amazing!

alrighty, i should probably get back to work... we have a company VP here today so we have to be on our best behavior (i said i'd try... lol)...

holy cow...

so, in my confusion over my raise (or lack thereof, as i say), i decided to check out other engineering possibilities in the DC area... and what do you know... within 15 minutes of submitting my resume to one company they had called me... i let them know that i wouldn't be able to speak with them before 4:30 Mon-Thurs or before 1:30 this Friday... well, the guy was like, "i can't wait till friday to speak with you, would it be okay for me to call back after 4:30 today?" so of course i said yes...

now i'm even more confused... with as frustrated as i am over my pay action, i'm not sure i really want to leave BAE... i mean, what type of reputation would that give me, to leave a company after just over a year??? and i really really like my job... i love what i do... i guess it doesn't hurt to see what's out there (that was my thinking in sending my resume in the first place)... but i expected it would take a few weeks to get through HR to someone who would really care... so, i figure i'll see what this company has to say/offer... and if it's more than BAE, well, i'll have a little chat with my supervisor to see how interested BAE is in keeping me... and if the other company isn't offering as much as BAE, well, no harm done, i'll just stick right where I am...

so, now i'm nervous about this afternoon... crap... what have i gotten myself into???

crap...

so... we got our salary actions at work today... and mine was crap... no kidding... barely above the legal min raise for cost of living increase that DC mandates... and by barely, i mean only .8% above the 2% that is required... that is crap... especially considering i had a near perfect review (even after word came down the chain that ppl weren't supposed to get above average reviews this year)... and even with the raise, i'm still not making as much as the average entry-level electrical engineer salary in the DC area... this is crap...

*sigh*

at least i'm not the only one who thinks it's crap... the whole office is acting pissed off now... even though we don't share the salary info with anyone, you can tell everyone was expecting more...

right now, i have this feeling of "my company sucks ass..."

i think i'm gonna to take a walk outside right now... maybe that will put me back in a better mood...

i'm getting married... to a gay man...

two weekends ago, james and i decided to try our luck at the psychic thing again... we wanted a second opinion... since i'm "cursed"... LOL... anyway, we went to this lady in georgetown... and she did a tarot card reading for each of us... a lot of the things she said were true, and the same as the crazy lady (who told me i was cursed)... and then it came to the part about marriage... LOL... i laugh just thinking about this... she said i was going to marry james... hehe... she was like "yous two will have long love" and motioned to both of us... "i see a ring for yous by the end of the year, and yous two will be married soon after"... LOL... and best yet... we're going to have kids!!! "yous two will have 3 children... twins and one other"... and then as we were leaving she was like "if you get married here in DC, yous two invite me, i will come, for real" so i replied with "i promise, if james and I get married in DC, we'll call you"... HA!

and now i'm back from seattle... and this time the trip/meetings and such wasn't too bad... the person who ran the meetings was well organized and kept things on topic... and the ppl attending were attentive and receptive to comments... yay good meetings!!!

the weather was kinda sucky... it would be really nice for 15 or 20 minutes... then it would rain for 5 or 10... and then get nice again... and it made it worse that we had a convertible for a rental car... just so we could say we put the top down, we pulled into the parking garage at the hotel...

i also found a beer i like... can you believe it??? i like beer... (at least one kind anyway)... Hefenweizen... pale, of course... mmmm...

and this weekend, i went to see christopher... it was nice being there, but the drive to get there was hell... just a word of advice... don't attempt to take a redeye cross country and then drive anywhere longer than an hour or so... i don't think it would have been so bad if i hadn't got caught up in the traffic from a wreck... or if the traffic had been further into my trip... but when you're 45 minutes from home, and you sit on the interstate for 2 hours, that makes for a not happy driver... i was a blubbering mess when i finally got to chris's... my mom felt sorry for him for having to deal with me in that state... but by the next day i was in good order, and we had a nice weekend... the weather was BEAUTIFUL!!! perfect for picnicing and bunny playing...

leaving was extra hard this time... the worst it's been in a long long time... i think it's because a short weekend just isn't enough of a visit... just when i'm getting used to having him around, one of use has to go again... and that's sucky... blah... but hopefully our next visit can be a little longer... yeah...

well, i think that's all for now... gotta get back to work...

...

so, i've been in my new place for 2 weeks now... and i like it... i've only had one complaint so far (it gets way cold down in my space... so a space heater seems to be the solution)... and the drive to and from work isn't much longer than what it was when i was in rockville...

this next week i'm going to seattle for work... it should be a good trip... and then next weekend i'm going to NC to visit chris... so lots of travel for me this week...

other than that, nothing has been going on here... so i'll let ya know if anything interesting happens during my week away...