Self-Improvement Blogs (525)

I made a very, very long post on Facebook a while back, where I told people, that I had applied for 400 jobs, without hearing back from 394 of them. From that post, I got a bit of support, and a lot of people told me to apply for a lot of jobs.

So I did.

Usually, when I apply for a job, I either hear "Thanks for your application. We will get back to you as soon as possible" or "Thank you for taking the time to apply for the job. We will have a look through your application and get back to you". 98% of the time, they don't get back to me, which made me kind of want to give up on applying for jobs at all.

These past few days, I have received a flood of calls. "You applied for a job. Are you available for a chat?".. I mean, it only took a lengthy Facebook post for the people to get back to me. I even heard back from a job I applied for 3 year ago. "Are you still available for hire?" "I am, but I forgot what job it was for!" "Oh okay, I will send you the info in an email"..

But for now, I am waiting to hear back from the job I was interviewed for yesterday. I hope for a reply today. If not today, then on Monday!

Winning!

So here I am talking about looking for the best match but it seems in reality you can't find that real match the reality is that everyone or every thing is broken nothing is unbroken and you will have to fix your way into a relationship but it's worth the challenge when the person is going to be yours, keep searching far and wide you never know what the future holds for you.

My major interview was today. Yesterdays interview was just a short one, while today was the interview, that will determine if I get the job or not.

I had to complete some tests again. The first one was where i had to answer 16 questions. On that test, I had 93.33% correct, which put me at the top. The second test was designed to calculate my WPM. I ended with 56 WPM with 2 spelling errors, which landed me in the top 5% of results.

Next followed a series of questions, where I was asked about previous jobs. How I handled stress, how I was as a person and how I approach my job.

The entire interview was little less than an hour long, and it ended with the interviewer saying, that she didn't think I would have any issues with the job. That makes me think, that I am in with a very real shot of securing employment on a full time basis. The salary is also pretty good, which allows me to save up for a new place to live!

Fingers crossed that I will hear some positive news back from them! They said tomorrow or Monday at the latest!

I saw a blog a few weeks ago that had a YouTube video featuring a public speaker talk about goals and procrastination. Using some visuals, he was the captain of a sailing ship and described due dates for projects. When he had ample time, his 'instant gratification monkey' would convince him to play and surf the internet.
As the project due date grew closer the monkey would continue to assure him he could procrastinate longer (having fun) until he passed the date where he could complete the task. At that point a monster appeared scaring the monkey away as well as putting fear into the man who would stay up all night to finish what he could have easily done had he not listened to the monkey.

I have a monkey too...

Unlike the monster, I have a logical voice of reminder and I'll refer to her as my mother.
I'll tell mother I'm working on a project for a meeting in the morning and go off to play a few rounds of Freecell. Maybe an hour later, mother will come into my office with a bowl of watermelon chunks and ask how I'm doing with my project. My typical reply would be "I was playing with the monkey, but I'll start in a few minutes" A few minutes later, she returns to get the empty bowl and asks me to show her what work I need to do. By then the monkey has gone and my mind begins to focus on my project.

I have a few bills to pay tonight and log on to my remote office computer to finish some prices for a customer meeting tomorrow. Hopefully the monkey won't bother me as I don't have time to shop for guitars and new cars!

I made a sales call to a customer who admits being a hoarder. I shook my head and said I understand. Wanting to know my story, she asked and I said it was more of collecting than hoarding. My shed was filled with years of hand drawings for kitchens and furniture, family photos, memorabilia and things I was holding for friends and family who didn't return to claim them.

80% is gone now and it's hard to unload the rest.
Tools? Sure I've got 3 jigsaws. I'll keep the best one and unload the others. I don't need a machete anymore or do I... No plans to go postal so I'll gift it to someone at work.

Strangely, my brother asked today about the wall plaque my father received when he was in the Navy aboard the battleship USS Missouri where the Empire of Japan signed a surrender which ended World War II. Yeah, I replied. I had it in my hand yesterday and don't know what to do with it. I'm glad he said it's okay to mail to him along with other family memorabilia.

No room, no time for it.

My neighbor is nice enough to hold a dozen plastic storage bins of mine and I'm trying to take 2 every visit. It's a holiday weekend and that could be four that get moved. I have many things to unload and will probably do some local Craig's list or offer up.
2 used jigsaws... make offer!

Hi to everyone

This is my first entry/attempt as a blogger, which makes me a newbie to this.

I'm proud of myself for taking this first baby step into the unknown world of blogging.

So i must sincerely apologise in advance, if I stumble along the way, as I'm a constant work in progress. Please bear with me on this point.

I will get better as my confidence in myself grows, and I know I will embrace this unknown and become more and more confident within myself, as I slowly learn to hopefully become a seasoned blogger. Fingers crossed. :-)

I will end here for now, because this is a start. I've had the courage to write this and for me, that in itself is a HUGE accomplishment for me.

This first blog is just an explanation to anyone out there who chooses to read my future stories, that I've taken this first step.

Wish me luck. I will be back.

Take care and more importantly, be safe.

I'm enjoying the freedom of not having a job, but my list of accomplishments seems to have fallen off the face of the earth! Quote me on this: "I'm getting less done being retired than when I was working a 50 hour a week job."

Probably 10 months ago when carrying a printer up the stairs one night, I caught the paper tray on the handrail and a screw popped out from under the machine. I've got the screw but have no idea where it actually came from. The print quality was horrible and I professed many times I'd replace the machine. Office Depot was running a sale on the newer model and offered $50 for a trade-in of any old printer. I got lucky... this one is wireless network ready so I can put the printer anywhere and use it with any computer, tablet or cellphone on my network. Is this one of my biggest accomplishments of 2020? Hmmm...

Okay, working on home renovation was a real struggle. My mother had a saying "That will take a month of Sundays to do" in that, if you could only work on something Sunday and you worked at it for 30 weeks to finish... she was right. If everything follows course that episode (sale of a house) will be over within a month. I've got tools and 40 years of memories in storage unresolved until the pandemic dissipates.

My accountant started my taxes in January and I dragged my feet so she filed extensions for me. She sent over the drafts for review 2 weeks ago and this past weekend I did the review. The final final tax papers and quarterly reports arrived this morning for me to sign. Just before the deadline for the quarterly report. An accomplishment I'm not proud of.

I was working on a large remodeling project that got shelved. The client called to make some adjustments and the boss is happy we didn't lose the sale. I'll probably take that to the next step in a week or so.

Note to self:
You actually have the time now to do what's on your mental and written list.
Need I remind you more?

I really wonder what schools teach these days. Talk to high school graduates and they have so little knowledge of the past now. I know even when I was in school, only bits of history was taught. And grade after grade the same bits. I started out in a one room school. The teacher tried to teach everything she could because she knew some kids would never go beyond 8th grade, particularly farm boys and girls.
I then went to a 4 room which combined the 4 last one rooms. Again they pushed everything they could because that was how they had been programmed to teach.
High school was boring due to knew it from grade school. Plus I had our library at home and parents taught me too. No book was off limits. Learned to be a prolific reader.
This plague is just one of many that humans went through since civilization began. Many plagues occur in countries that lack basic sanitary living conditions in super dense areas. Problem is now with air travel, too much interaction occurs with those countries. Fly to a foreign country and home before you know you are sick.
People today are too complacent. Go to a buffet. How many wash hands before eating? Then those who do use the same serving utensils everyone who didn't paws. Sit down and eat. I have hand sanitizer I use once at table. I open doors by the most awkward place I can, not the common one. Wear gloves in stores all winter. I view everything as contaminated, even aisles someone just breathed in. So I am well prepared for this new plague.
There is a saying that he who does not learn the history of the past is doomed to repeat it. Most of what occurs in the present has teachings in the past. Parents need to get kids to enjoying history. Then they will know we have been there before. And how to deal with things. Like mom used to say..there is nothing new under the sun. And people need to get over the attitude of not me.

Hello everyone. Long time no see. Hope you all are doing ok in this world craziness. Please stay healthy and safe all.

Anyway, in Riyadh still keeping the working hours. No matter how I wish to stay home to get some rest, I cannot. I was supposed to go home, but lockdown kept me here, so after my 2-year contract, I'm here and can't move. I am not complaining. Im am very grateful that I still have a job and get paid at the end of the month. However, I'm so freakin tired! I wish to have even just 2 weeks of rest straight..

But I'm ok. Thank God for keeping me healthy and safe althroughout this debacle so far.

Just ranting for a bit guys. Thanks for understanding.

How are you all?

Hello lovers!

So many blogs about this famous virus so I decided to just post one of my own.

March 2, we had our first case here in Jordan
government took extreme measures in order to protect us.
launched awareness campaign
halted travel to/from different countries . Thousands of passengers from the last few planes that landed here were taken straight to quarantine areas - 5 star hotels for 14 days.
suspended tourist travels. I had to cancel my trips.
March 10, halted all educational institutions operations, public and private sectors closed down, started working from home
March 17, implemented our National Defense Law, total lockdown.
March 22, the government allowed Gas and Water deliveries
March 23, the government allowed doorstep deliveries of water, bread, and baby formula
March 24, small neighborhood grocery and convenience stores along with pharmacies, drinking-water stores and bakeries were allowed to open from 10:00 to 18:00 .on foot only to get basic supplies; vehicles are still not permitted.
Thursday till Sunday morning, no one allowed to go outside.

425 total cases down to 165 active cases, 7 deaths.

Things here look very promising and could go back to normal soon.

Our government acted early and able to control the spread so yes, I believe the quarantine, lockdown are helping...

meanwhile...

I'm working from home for more than a month now. The company decided to make some golden hand sanitizer so we are busy and still in business, very grateful for that, many out there are losing their job.

this lockdown thingy keeps me grounded and brought me closer to loved ones and old friends. From a distance I'm able to organize a group of young people back home to do something for our small community and help the most needy there. Sent some help to buy sacks of rice and groceries to give to the poorest of poor. Also able to give back to my beloved old convent school, with my classmates, we were able to raise some funds to give to our sisters in need and some of our mentors then. Feels good!

Somehow this virus is doing us a lot of good, we sit back, reflect and realize the most important things in life.

Be well and stay safe everyone!