Updates: Knit and Job Search

Before I get to the knitting and job-searching updates, let me show you the one photo I took outside today. It's raining and not particularly picturesque, but when I saw this sign, I felt I needed to capture the moment.

It's hard to see, but the top portion says Bradlees. According to Wikipedia, Bradlees closed its last store eleven years ago, after declaring bankruptcy in 2000. I remember when there were Bradlees stores around Massachusetts, but I hadn't even heard of Fretter. Again according to Wikipedia, they closed their stores in 1996. The store currently in this plaza was a Target, but the sign is stuck way in the past. So I wondered, have they not updated the sign? Or has there been vandalism? Who would steal a Target sign? Unless the point is to reveal what's underneath. Thoughts?

Anyway, back to the updating. On Monday I interviewed at an agency in Boston, as I mentioned, so that's the less-scary type of interview. It went fine, and there's been no progress yet. Then yesterday, I heard back about the temp position I mentioned week before last. I had kind of given up expecting to, because the agency woman stressed that they were looking for someone right away*, and would I be able to schedule an interview with just a day's notice, and so on, making me think that when I didn't hear anything for over a week, they were passing me by. But no, apparently not, and we set an appointment time for an interview today.
*Not the only thing she had wrong, as it turns out.

Once that was scheduled, I e-mailed the HR woman at the company where I've had 2 phone interviews*, apologized for pushing, and asked if I was still under consideration because I have this other opportunity, etc. She replied right away that I was, and she would check with the director about their next steps.
*Or 2PIC, for short.

Today, I went trotting into Cambridge (thank you, GPS, for helping me after my wrong turns), and made my way to the appointment, which was near the Cambridgeside Galleria (so I parked there, is why I mention it). Since I don't love driving into the city, as I've mentioned recently, and since that part of Cambridge might as well be Boston for driving/commuting purposes, I was very pleased to hear that their office relocation, which the agency had told me would be in a few months, is actually happening sooner than that. The boxes all around the office were a big hint! And in fact, they're looking for someone (some two, actually) to start at the new location, which is appreciably closer to where I live, plus has free parking. Much better!

It is still a temp job, slated to go through September. The work itself sounds fine, proofreading, mostly for formatting, and they promised to keep me busy (to which I gave my standards reply, I'd rather be busy than bored). Being a temp job is a strike against it for me, and the pay isn't great (tho' better than unemployment). Of course, there's always the possibility of getting another position there once this contract is up (and they've had time to see how wonderful I am). The 2PIC job is "permanent" but as I have painful recent experience to illustrate, permanent doesn't mean what it used to. I e-mailed the woman there again, and haven't heard back. And there we stand.

So I'm knitting! The second sock is ready to start the heel flap, and I also started a shawl. Here's a better picture, or rather two, of where I am now with it:

I like the top picture for the color and texture, but the flash one shows the holes a bit better. Blocking this one could be very interesting, I think. The pattern is "Bigger on the inside" from Knitty, and it's a Doctor Who homage (in, of course, Tardis-blue yarn). I'm in the Time Vortex section, which you knit from end to end before picking up stitches and knitting the Tardis* part down. So cool! The yarn I'm using is the Blue Faced Leicester from Blue Moon Fiber Arts that I picked up at Webs in February. I was delighted when I realized that I had this on hand. Such a Tardis-y blue!
*Can you believe that Blogger's spell-check doesn't recognize "Tardis"? Of course, it doesn't recognize "blogger's" as a word, so I suppose I shouldn't expect much.

So far so good, and I will keep on keeping on. While trying not to think about job-search things that are all In Someone Else's Court, or about other life things that are too much to think about, or the weather, which continues cold and rainy even though I put in a specific and pointed request for warm and sunny. Who's in charge of that, anyway?