The other big difference here in the southern US (and when I say ‘southern’, I mean ‘Maryland’, which is as far North as you can get and still be below the Mason Dixon Line — which runs between Maryland and Pennsylvania) from the Pacific Northwest is the heat. It has finally started to cool off a little since I got here, now at about 26 C, which is a little warm but tolerable. Prior to today, I pretty much had to stay inside with the air conditioning going all day. The same was true of going out — all stores, cars and restaurants have their air conditioning blasting so hard that you frequently have to take a jacket with you to keep from getting too cold when inside! I can’t bear to think what the electricity usage is here. The Onion made fun of the whole global warming and rise in air conditioning story this week.
The heat means lots of insects, plants (my parents live in a lush area to the north of the Baltimore beltway), birds and animals. We’ve seen cardinals, finches, hummingbirds, mourning doves, mockingbirds, woodpeckers, chipmunks and if course, squirrels. I missed the visit of a semi-regular visitor to the property, a red-tailed fox, who my parents spied this morning as he loped across their backyard and woods.
It’s a Done Deal. Or Not.
I’m still dealing a bit with the time change, and trying to stay in touch with work and life back home. The day before I left, I had an exciting potential contract that I responded to immediately with a major web company (whose name I’ll withhold for the time being) that looked like it was about to go through. While I didn’t burn any bridges back at my current job, it looked like upon my return to Vancouver, my old part-time job would be more or less over (with a few things to tidy up, some good-byes, etc.) and I’d be starting a new 6‑week contract. Resumés, samples and a follow-up phone call had all gone through with encouraging words from my contact, a staffing person with the company.
Somehow all of that went terribly wrong while I was on the road, and the staffing rep’s emails got sketchier and vaguer with each passing day. Now it looks as if that person overstepped their authority in offering me the job, and that someone else was referred to the company. Since I was out of town (and our phone voice mail was still MIA), I was too hard to reach, and the whole thing has now vanished and another staffing person from that company is telling me to ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you’. I’m really disappointed about this, and feel like I was treated pretty shabbily (The original contact has still not contacted me with a definitive ‘no’ and any sort of apology.) If I had gotten the nibble at any other week of the year I could have been able to push for it (or at least I thought I could — this is, in all honesty, just speculation). Such is the way life goes. Sometimes it is indeed, all in the timing.
David, I can totally sympathize with your situation. Bad timing (by me) and poor communication (on a potential client’s part) have definitely impacted me in my wallet. Hopefully, your stored-up karma will result in a swift turnaround and a bounty of riches — well, a new contract, at any rate. Best of luck.