February Odds And Ends

- I am back in Old Home at The Ranch for my week.  Major plans including really making an effort on packing things up as given the current potential jobs will require a relocation with less ability to come here on a regular basis and replacing the facet stems on the kitchen faucet as both have started to leak (this seems like a task within my capability, after reviewing information on-line).  

- This is a fortunate outcome, as my sister let me know that my brother-in-law The Outdoorsman tested positive for The Plague after picking me up this weekend.  So staying in, at least part of the week, seems like a prudent idea since most of the folks I would see this week are all in the high risk category.

- I am patiently waiting for one last piece of documentation to arrive to complete our taxes - the information from our small investing account, which inevitably runs late.  It is a bit of a shame, as that money would be super useful at the moment. This is the last year it will be a problem; we liquidated the account in preparation for paying for the roof.  I continue to struggle with the fact that although almost everything is electronic now, companies still struggle to have such documentation complete within 30 days of the start of the year.  

- FOTB (Friend Of This Blog) Leigh from Five Acres and a Dream had made a note on my weekly job hunt update about perseverance and thick skin being required for a job hunt this days.

For reference, during the very first original Hammerfall  I kept a similar tracking sheet to what I keep today.  Sadly, I did not have it nearly as well organized as I do now so my data points are much less specific in terms of dates and the timing of responses, but at that time (2009) in a 4.5 month period I applied for 210 positions, had 43 responses (not clear if all of those were rejections), 7 first interviews, 2 second interviews, and 1.5 job offers (the 0.5 was an offer that was going to be made except I had already accepted another one).  Even counting that at two,  it is still a 0.0095% success rate.  Fortunately we are not nearly there - yet.

I will say this whole experience is an excellent reminder of how quickly money can dissipate in an emergency.

- This morning (Sunday) as I got up, two Canadian geese were outside of the back door.

We have had geese here for many years, returning every year. My father TB The Elder was always glad to see them.  They have never been so close to the house though.

In lieu of anything else, I will take it as a sign my father is still looking out for me.