Thursday, July 12, 2007

Working Woman

The interview at BP went well - and in fact they offered me the job and flexibility - I am going to work 3 10 hour days in the office, 1 10 hour day from home and have Friday's off. The only point of contention was the start date.

My sister G is going to come and live with us, but she could not be bribed out of her own previous engagements and can't come until mid-August. In the end, I am going to start work on August 13 and Grandma and Ryan will take time off for the first week so that we can get G settled in and Audrey used to her. Then G will be watching Audrey until the end of the year. Then she is going back to school for Winter semester and we are (tentatively) planning on getting an au pair.

Child care is a huge deal for working moms and was almost enough to make me just turn down the offer completely - luckily for both myself and BP they were willing to let me start later.

In the end, I am v. excited to be going back to BP. I am really excited to work with some old colleagues and meet some new ones. I am also excited about doing the work and having a new challenge - the two countries I will be supporting have quite large programs. I am also thrilled that I will only be commuting 3 days a week. Around these parts - the commute is what really sucks the life out of you. Plus working from home one day will let me eat lunch with cute Audrey and make her dinner too.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Jobs

Tomorrow I have an interview at BearingPoint. I worked there for a little over a year about three years ago. It was one of those slightly crazy jobs where people just didn't really believe you when you told them what you did - which was foreign military sales - which is a nice way of saying arms dealing admin.

Part of me would really love to work there again - mainly because of the people. I met and am still good friends with some amazing people there. Some of whom are still there. It would be very nice to work with them again. Plus they have hinted that they would be willing to do some sort of part-time or flex-time arrangement - which is of course dreamy.

Part of me doesn't want to work there again because of the politics of it. It is the type of job that you can and do take home - not necessarily because there is not enough time to do your work, but because there are always so many cooks in the kitchen. I think I would be better at dealing with all of that now than I was then, if only because I know what to expect (more or less). Even so, I still wonder if that is what I want.

My other option, though an interview is still pending is with a small defense agency that I worked at right before having Audrey. They are hiring my old job again and have expressed a great deal of interest.

Again, part of me would love to work there again. The work itself was extremely interesting and the nature of the job made it semi-autonomous, though still part of a team. I also liked that it was not a job that I could bring home at all. I couldn't bring home papers, my computer, nothing. So, when I was done, I was done and that was nice. And they paid well - the philosophy there was, we want to hire and keep the best, so we are willing to compensate accordingly.

The down side - there isn't any possibility for part-time or flex-time arrangements - which I really want. And my good friend and old roommate who worked with me there is no longer there, so the social aspect is greatly reduced.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Latte my way

It is a well established fact that I make the best coffee around. And with the contest going on, I have had to come up with a new lower calorie way to make it just as delicious. My solution has been to make it iced - still using whole milk, raw sugar and a double shot of coffee. Here it is right before I put the ice in and mix it up. I love how beautiful the colors are and the way they blend.