Making the effort

So, today, for the first time in 7 years, I've taken the initiative and applied for my first position outside of arvato. I don't count the current pending (but likely DOA) potential positions at my best friend's company, because those sought me out, not the other way around. While being asked to apply to something is always an ego boost (almost as much as having your resume submitted without your permission, not merely as an application but to define the position), it's hardly any effort on a personal level.

(Random note: I beat Angry Birds Hallowe'en. I love this game.)

This is, obviously, different. This is a conscious, active effort. This is the difference between not helping the Defias to burn down Westfall and, instead, picking up a sword to go beat some rioting thieves into ploughshares. I've been scanning positions for a few weeks, but I found one today that is almost word-for-word my current position and it pays signicantly more and it's closer to where I actually want to live. It was too good an opportunity to pass up, so I didn't. We'll see what the result is, but the next few should come faster and faster; it's always the first hit that's the hardest.

There's also an opening at the RAND Corporation; I'll probably apply, but that's off in fantasy land. For those who don't know, getting a job at RAND would, for me, be the mental equivalent of a 13-year-old with NASA posters on the wall and plastic models of lunar landers hanging from the ceiling getting an internship at JPL. Sometimes, ideas are too amazing to be allowed to be thought, and must be relegated to the realm of dreams where they can't interfere with our mundane lives. To put it plainly: these people are paid to think, and little else.

Hallowe'en is done and over with; I think that's the best thing that can be said about it. Soon, the election will be done and over with - and that's certainly the best thing that can be said about it. Regardless of your political affiliation, the stagnation and rampant headbutting that is going to result from a split Congress is definitely a bad thing when the economy hangs by a thread. Whichever motion of direction you support, at least it's movement; even movement backwards at least injects something of principle into the process. What we're about to get is nothing, and while in normal circumstances that's the best outcome, in the current world it may well be the death knell. Only time will tell.

I won't say who or what I'm voting for, though most people can probably predict most of my decisions based on the fact that I tend to be socially liberal and fiscally moderate-to-conservative. I might write something up later in the week with my views on what actually happens, but since there's going to be plenty of pontification on political preferences (sorry, practicing my alliteration), I might just skip it unless something extraordinary happens.

On a separate note, I'm currently arguing with myself about posting a link to my blogs here on my facebook page. For a variety of reasons, this could be a bad idea. For example, I say things here about friends that, while I've said most of it to their faces, they probably don't want to be reminded. In a more practical example, I have coworkers (who are legitimate friends) on my facebook account, and any time you discuss alternate employment with current coworkers in the room it can get sticky: the line of "things that might be suspected generally but shouldn't be discussed in general company" should definitely not be crossed, but it gets blurry very easily. I might just wait until I'm out of here, or simply invite specific people across rather than everyone.

Oh, the joys of managing social intercourse in a digital world.