Good Idea from Jessica

Thanks, Jess!

1. Seven things I plan to do before I die (not necessarily in order):
<1> learn how to deal like a Vegas dealer
<2> learn carpentry
<3> learn how to work on my car
<4> get married
<5> live abroad
<6> become fluent in another language
<7> invent something

2. Seven things I can do:
<1> dislocate my jaw
<2> bake and cook
<3> sing kinda well
<4> tap dance
<5> read a lot
<6> multitask
<7> make friends easily

3. Seven things I can't do:
<1> roll my Rs
<2> shop for extended periods of time
<3> listen to music and not sing along
<4> live without my computer
<5> understand fashion
<6> talk on my cell phone while parallel parking (I agree, Jess!)
<7> cross the monkey bars (never learned and haven't tried)

4. Seven things that attract me to the opposite sex
<1> collarbones
<2> honesty/integrity
<3> nice hands
<4> genuine concern for others
<5> good sounding laugh
<6> warm personality
<7> a brain

5. Seven things I say most:
<1> "Dude."
<2> "Holy Cow!"
<3> "My bad."
<4> "Riiigghhhttt."
<5> "No way."
<6> "Bummer."
<7> "That's AWESOME!"

6. Seven celebrity crushes:
<1> Prince William
<2> Ethan Embry
<3> Jude Law
<4> Hugh Dancy
<5> Ioan Gruffudd
<6> Rob Lowe (I know, I know...)
<7> Jake Gyllenhaal

7. Seven songs I know the words to:
<1> Shoop by Salt N' Pepa
<2> Gangster's Paradise by Coolio
<3> Wonderwall by Oasis
<4> theme song of Fresh Prince of Bel Air
<5> The Luckiest by Ben Folds Five
<6> Don't Take the Girl by Tim McGraw
<7> Black by Pearl Jam

"Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N' Roses

Well, Northrop Grumman was a bust. The project they're hiring for sounds cool, but they totally don't have it together about the hiring process. They said it'd probably take a couple of months to interview enough candidates. No thanks. Saves me from filling out all that security clearance paperwork anyways.

On the other hand, I received my first rejection. Cisco turned me down. Bummer. Well, not really, I had already decided I didn't really want it, anyways. But rejection still sucks.

Now for a story. A couple of months ago my dog bit the neighbor. He's old, and he gets protective of our property and my parents. Our neighbors walk up and down our hill past our house every day, and usually he just barks. It's been that way for years. Something changed, though, and he decided to bite. Not good. Anyways, they were going to put him down, because he can't be chained up, and there's no place to fence him in. Luckily for Rex, Mom is a chatterbox and struck up a conversation with some random guy who said he'd take Rex in. So, Rex moved to a yard in Santa Rita. Apparantly, he was NOT happy, because he decided to walk home. Now, I went to high school in Santa Rita, it's about a 15-20 minute drive from our house. Not only that, we live on top of a hill. Rex either followed the road back, or hiked through the jungle. What a good dog! I'm so proud. But he can't stay. My aunt Sam said she'll take him, but she has to move out of her apartment to a place where she can keep a dog. Mom's given her a week to find something, or she'll put him down. I know that sounds rather heartless of Mom, but she has to do something. She can't keep him. The neighbors would have a cow. We'll see what happens. Here's a map, showing where he went: Red is where he started, in Santa Rita, and the blue is where our house is.

Ok, until next time.

"Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves

I'm walking on sunshine...WHOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!

Ernst & Young made me an offer yesterday, yay! It's for Chicago, but they're letting me start in June. I don't think I'm allowed to publish the dollar figure, but it ain't bad, especially for Chicago. And, I know a grad student here who was only offered $2K more and being placed near LA. Great, so now I know I have a job!

Second piece of awesome news, Google wants me to fly up! That's awesome, I told the recruiter that it'd have to be ASAP since I am considering the other offers. But YAY.

Downer note: I'm sick. Probably due to late nights at Cruiser, lack of sleep and stress. Should make for an interesting Northrop Grumman interview this afternoon!

Ok, gotta go get ready, :)

I'm selling out.

[07:29] blah: how's the job search?
[07:30] L to the indsay: it's going, went to San Jose on Monday for Cisco.
[07:30] L to the indsay: going to Texas for Microsoft on December 4th - 6th
[07:31] L to the indsay: but, looking positive
[07:31] blah: right on
[07:31] blah: you want to work for satan?
[07:31] L to the indsay: satan pays incredibly well
[07:32] blah: yeah
[07:32] blah: I'd sell my soul too
[07:32] L to the indsay: this conversation is totally going in my blog.
[07:32] blah: solid

Thanks, Josh, for the support.

"When I Get You Alone" by Thicke

Good song, the guy who sings it is Robin Thicke, son of Growing Pains TV dad Alan Thicke. Bow to the Queen of Random Trivia.

Cisco was, uh, okay. The day wasn't as enjoyable as the Ernst & Young day, but it wasn't bad. Most people didn't get technical interviews, but all 3 of mine were. We'll see what they thought. At the dinner (which was at Dave & Busters, an adult arcade-type place, where I went on Friday with the crazy kids from ABC.com - who were MUCH more fun), my on-campus interviewer told me: "I think you'd be great here, and I highly recommended you." Sweet. I'll find out in a week or so.

The most exciting part of the trip was getting there. Short flight up, and when I got to the airport I had to go pick up my rental car. Don't I feel important, I get a rental car! And it wasn't at the cheapo PayLess/Enterprise/Budget rental car, it was Avis. Ooh Aah. When I approached the rental agent, a really nice guy named Jose, he said I had an 'intermediate' car. Wow, intermediate! I have no idea what that means, but...AWESOME.

Jose: "Would you like to try the new Chevy HHR?"
Me: "Wow, okay, that'd be great!" Thinking, "Look at me! New car!"
Jose: "It's like a PT Cruiser, I'm sure you'll enjoy it."
Me: Thinking, "Why is he smirking?"

I soon found out. When I found my car in the parking lot, it reminded me of the bastard child of a station wagon and SUV. "Eh," I thought, "New car!" I put my luggage inside and started out for the hotel. Because of poor visibility, it felt like I was driving one of those 40s gangster getaway cars:

Once I arrived at the hotel, I parked in the garage, got out of the car and walked around to the trunk to get my suitcase out, and finally looked at the car. It was orange. I hadn't noticed it in the dark of the rental lot. Not just any orange, a deep deep orange, the color of burning.

I felt so used, so THAT'S why the guy was so nice, cause he saw a sucker! Jerk. The next morning when all of the candidates had to meet up, everybody else had nice, sensible rental cars...black, grey, blue sedans. Not me, thanks to Jose.

"Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes

It's sad that I know who sings that song off the top of my head.

Oh, I love sleep. I just had a WHOLE night's full! It was amazing, you'll have to try it sometime.

Yay for Saturday! I'm going to go hang out at Pam's and do laundry. Tonight is Monica's birthday dinner, so we're going to eat dinner and play pool. Then tomorrow, I'm flying to San Jose for my Cisco interviews on Monday. Whoohooo.

On Thursday evening in my cinema class taught by Leonard Maltin we watched the new kids movie Zathura. Wasn't expecting much, looked like Jumanji 2. However, it was much funnier than I expected, see it if you have a kid (or know one). Jon Favreau (actor in Made, Swingers, Dinner for Five) directed it, he also directed Elf. He came and spoke, and he's a BIG guy. He's also really intelligent and funny. Anyway, it was a good class, thought I'd share.

I'll let you know how Cisco goes, cross your fingers!

Something came, all right, it was a...

TRAIN. That bowled me over. Ouch.

It feels like I had one very long day. It began on Monday and is still going. Once I finish this, it's goodnight (until I get up for my class at 7pm)! Monday was a normal day of class and such. Then on Monday evening Sally and I went to Pam's because Aloha was visiting from the Philippines. Aloha is Pam's/Mom's/Carol's first cousin, and she's a famous movie star/singer in the Philippines. I haven't seen her since I was 13 or so, and Pam hasn't seen her in 35 years! It was a good time. Anyway, once I got home at 11 or so, I packed for New York. Monica's dad took us to the airport at 4:30am. Our flight left at 7am, arrived in New York at 3:30pm. Monica had never been to NY, but unfortunately there wasn't any time to see anything. We drove by Flushing Meadows, and had a few minutes to walk a block around Times Square, but that's it. Then we had a "meet and greet" dinner, went to sleep, and had the interview day from 8am - 4pm, spent 2 hours in a taxi to get to JFK, sat in a plane for 9 hours (including the 2 1/2 hours we spent not moving before we took off). Came home, slept a little bit, woke up for an interview on campus this morning, and now here I am. Phew.

If I decide to do consulting, this will be my life...flights, delays, suit-wearing, etc. Can I handle that?

The interview day went really well, everyone was really nice and informative, and I'm pretty sure they loved me. I'll hear back within 7 - 10 days. I also found out that they're considering me for Chicago. Live in Chicago? I've always wanted to GO, but it'll be SO cold to live there. Gosh, I don't know. I haven't had the time or brain power to contemplate my choices, yet. What do you all think?

The interview this morning with Avanade was HORRIBLE. It was a 45-minute technical interview. The questions weren't hard, or anything, but my mind was in NO position to think. Mitch (my interviewer) would ask me a question, I'd answer it, and then he'd tell me the answer using different words. I'm confused....does that mean that he thought I answered incorrectly, or was he confirming my answer? I really don't know. Good thing I'm exhausted, or I'd be wound up with worry. Eh, it's over. We'll see. I've stopped caring. (Not really, but I'm telling myself that).

"Something's Coming" from the West Side Story Soundtrack

Could be...who knows? There's something due anyday; I will know right away, as soon as it shows.

Good lyrics, eh? Fitting that it should be stuck in my head when I awoke this morning. This weekend should be pretty chill, no big plans. I'm supposed to work at Cruiser tonight, but may take off because it was Casey's (former roommate) birthday earlier this week, and she wants to celebrate. We'll see. Otherwise, all I've got is homework to do. And passport pictures to take. All in all, good chill weekend. Yay.

"The Joker" by Steve Miller Band

Again I've been told that I'm boring. I don't deny it. But it's your choice to keep reading. And I think you will. I may be boring, but addictive.

I watched the new movie Pride and Prejudice tonight in my cinema class. It had some great landscape shots of the English countryside, and the director who came to speak was English. It reminded me that I'M GOING TO ENGLAND!!!! So soon! And, hopefully, before I leave I'll have a job set up for when I return from my travels. And, I aspire to have some money to live on. I guess with this whole job search I'd forgotten about my upcoming holiday. It'll be a big party: Sally, Jim, Allison, Lilah, Shelly, cousin Robert, cousin Lynsey and I...all together. And I'll get to see my brother!

Warms my heart this cold evening working at Cruiser.

"Rapunzel" by Dave Matthews Band

Sorry for the lack of posts, busy busy busy.

I decided not to accept the KPMG, Deloitte and Chevron interviews. I just have too much on my plate. Besides, I already have second round interviews with Cisco in San Jose, SanDisk in San Jose, Microsoft in Texas, Hitachi here in LA and Ernst & Young in New York. Those plus classes, work and my internship are already too much! There are exactly 30 days left until classes are over. Wow. Then I'll finally be graduated, whoohooo! It's taken long enough.

I bought a suit for my interviews today. Suits are SO expensive. I had no idea. I guess it's tuna fish and ramen until next paycheck.

I worked at Cruiser for Halloween, and we were allowed to wear costumes. I wore my regular polo uniform shirt. BUT, I spiced it up a little. On the right side of my face I had my awesome roommate Bethany apply fake skin to look like I had a few deep gashes. Then we applied fake blood that ran from the gashes down my neck and under my chin. The reason I did this was because when I'm driving to pick up people, I speak to them from the driver-side window to confirm I'm picking up the right person. After confirmation, they walk around to the passenger side and get in the car. So, while speaking to them on Halloween, I looked normal, but once they sat in the car and looked at me, they freaked out. It was great. My boss almost didn't let me drive because I looked so gruesome. Then he got into the spirit of it and used me to play pranks on other Cruisers. All in all, it was a good costume. I don't know yet if I won for best costume, but I gave it a good shot.

My aunt Susan sent me a lovely email extoling my writing. She said it's my calling. Nevermind Computer Science. I do actually enjoy this little bit of writing, I forgot what it was like to write semi-creatively. But anyways, that warmed my heart, thanks Susan!

Thanks for the comments, everyone. You keep commenting, and I'll keep writing.

No song, woke up swearing.

So, for some odd reason my alarm didn't go off this morning. I checked it, it was set correctly, but didn't go off. Hmm. Therefore, I missed my interview call, but he called back, I answered, spoke for a minute. Then my phone suddenly shut off. Now it won't turn on, and when you call it you hear it's not in service. I just got this replacement phone yesterday, because my other phone's buttons wouldn't work. So, not only did I lose all my phone numbers, it cost me an interview. I called Cingular, they said my account looks fine and to call the Warranty department. I called the Warranty department, where I got a message apologizing that they couldn't take my call. I'm so mad at them.

I worked at Cruiser last night til 3 am, and if you didn't know already, Thursday is college party night. So you end up picking up a lot of drunk people. Especially drunk freshmen sorority girls. I loathe drunk freshmen sorority girls. In addition, they were all dressed in SKANKY costumes for halloween. I saw at least 4 nurses, 2 maids, and countless referees. I don't understand how they can degrade themselves so much and then wonder why they get sexually harrassed or their frat boy boyfriends treat them like dirt. Stupid.

There was a lot of police activity last night. On one occasion, I was driving down a street to pick up some kids, and a cop pulled up behind me, then another pulled up in front of me, then 3 more cop cars pulled up, I was boxed. They all got out of their cars, and walked towards me. I thought I had killed someone with my car without knowing it. I rolled down my window and said, "Officer, sir, uh, are you here for me?" He just looked at me and said, "No." Except it sounded like, "You're a moron." Thanks, Officer. Anyway, they milled around for a moment, then got in their cars and left. I continued to drive.

Ok, time for birthday cake for my boss!

no song, too tired.

Today started out not so great. I woke up way too early (5 hours of sleep this time!) to study for the midterm I had at 9:30, and a project that was not finished due at 11. However, the midterm was easy-peasy, so I was done by 10. Then, I went to the lab and hurriedly finished the project. Whoohoo! Go me. After that was done, I ate lunch, came home, and checked email (as usual).

In my email were 3 things of note:

1) I got interviews with Deloitte Consulting, Chevron and KPMG.

2) A notificication of a second phone interview with SanDisk (tomorrow morning).

3) An email from Microsoft asking me to interview for a Presenter position! YAY! YIPPEE! I'm pretty sure that means they'll fly me up there. Out of all my interviews and job considerations, Microsoft is the one I'm most excited about. Because they take care of their employees, they've got a great culture.

So, even though I have class til 11 and have to work til 3am, it's a great day.

I hope you're not all sick of hearing about my job search, but it's a big thing in my life right now, and c'mon, it's better than hearing about how routers work.

Moving on, Chris and Lahra left this morning. It was great having them here. We totally approve of Lahra, she's funny and fun. She's really organized and clean, too, which is a bonus when you're entering our family. My aunt Pam said that Lahra was more relaxed with her - which is understandable because I'd be quiet and weirded out by her, too, if I was marrying her son and meeting her for the first or second or third time. Our family is weird and crazy - therefore intimidating to normal people! Sally, Lahra, Chris and I had a great conversation the other night about the virtues of being raised by Ragans. Though we were raised by chain smokers, pot users, single & broke moms, without many rules, we all grew up fine. Because we were raised to be honest, decent, educated, experience-seeking, world-minded people. And there's nothing more important to the Ragans than family - we're all around the world, but we're still close, and any of us would do anything for another. I can't imagine growing up in any other way.

That's what I have to say.

Googliffic

Google called! Gotta fill out a worksheet, then phone interview. Cool!

"Cruisin'" Huey Lewis & Gwyneth Paltrow version

Wow, why haven't I had any good music stuck in my head recently (besides CS&N - see earlier post)? These won't make my loyal (incredibly small) fanbase think, "Lindsay's got really good taste in music." In fact, now you're all thinking, "Not only is she boring, she knows crap songs." Admit it, that's what you're thinking. I take no offense.

Well, Chris and Lahra are here, I spent some time with them this weekend. On Friday night we (including Sally) went to Universal Citywalk - Howl at the Moon and Saddle Ranch. Slutty girls galore, no joke. However, in the hundreds of people there: not one attractive guy (no offense, cousin Chris, but relations don't count). I kid you not - unless you're into that greasy hair, open shirt with gold chain, sleazy type. Which I'm not. Ugh, just recalling it grosses me out.

On Saturday we drove around Hollywood (Mann's Chinese Theater, "Ooooh...", Hollywood sign, "Ahhhh..."). Never got out of the car, though. We're lazy tourists.

Monday was my last day of interviews, well not LAST, but I get a break. But I thought I'd give you an update:

Microsoft - had phone interview, expecting to hear back this week.
Ernst & Young - second round interview in New York in early November.
Disney Consumer Products - turned it down, because it started in January, and the position wasn't all I thought it would be...though maybe I'll readdress the idea sometime next year.
Avanade - had initial phone interview, have second on-campus interview scheduled for 11/10 (provided I'm not in NY for Ernst & Young).
Hitachi Consulting - Interviewed yesterday, really went well, should hear by end of week if I made it to Round #2 held here in LA. Update: Made it to Round #2 on December 2nd.
Cisco Systems - Made it to round #2, so they'll fly me to either San Jose, North Carolina, Massachusetts or Texas sometime in November.
SanDisk - A company not previously mentioned, kinda happened quickly. Interviewed yesterday, went really well - see story below.

So that's my progress.

Interesting SanDisk story: My interviewer (an older Indian gentleman named Arun) called me LindsAy instead of LindsEy, so I told him the story behind my name's pronunciation (See my old Xanga for story). He in turn, told me a tale of his own. In India as a child, he slept in this roll up kind of mattress bed which had lots of pockets and such for storage. When he was done, you would just roll it up like a sleeping bag. Anyway, his really old grandmother would call it the Holdo, so he grew up calling it a Holdo. Last month he was speaking to some Indian friends and mentioned the Holdo, but the didn't know what he was talking about - so he described it. Turns out it's called a Hold All, and due to his old grandmother's accent, he'd been mispronouncing it for most of his life. Funny story, at least I thought. Got the interview off to a good start, at least.

Well, thanks for reading this - I expect you to comment!

"Trouble" by Shampoo

Yes, random song from the early 90s, not popular in the US, but I heard it in the the Philippines.

Note about comments: where are they? I need feedback, people! Xinh (from ABC) told me I was boring, but that's what you signed up for when you became my friend. Family, sorry, you're stuck. He said I should make stuff up. Right. I'll work on it.

Campus Cruisering

If you didn't know, I started working at Campus Cruiser again, 2 years after I left. I'm now cruiser 82, but if I'd stayed I'd be Cruiser 3. Anyway, I'm answering phones, so I thought I'd post. Tomorrow's a busy day: class from 9-12:30, then the career fair until 3, the interview with Cisco at 3:15. Then class from 4 to 6, dinner, midterm from 7 to 11, then campus cruisering from 11 to 3am. Whooohoo. Busy day. Cousin Chris and his wife Lahra are coming in tomorrow, but I won't get to see them until Friday after ABC. Bummer. Oh well, I'm excited to see Chris after so long, and to meet Lahra. Chris just got out of the Army, he's a Captain, so now he's on the job hunt.

Anyway, work is over, I won't have time to post tomorrow. See you on the flipside.

"Slumber" by Gabriel Mann

Gabriel Mann

or as covered by the SoCal Vocals

Junk Comments?!

I've been comment spammed!!! I didn't know it was possible! I had 3, count that...THREE junk comments. So, I made a change: you can still comment anonymously, but you have to do a word verification. Sorry to make it difficult, but man. Wow. Junk comments, I can't get over it.

"Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" by Crosby, Stills and Nash

Last night I went to Monica's Rock & Roll class because they were going to talk about CS&N (and CSN&Y). It was neat, they listen to music and hear cool facts about albums/bands. Anyway, because of the class, I woke up with "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" in my head.

I got called back to Round #2 of Ernst & Young interviews! Yay! They'll be held in New York on the 8th & 9th or 9th & 10th of November. Monica and Shawn are going, too. How fun! So far, all of my interviews have gone well, I think. :) I just got off the phone with the initial interviewer from Microsoft. We'll see if I make it any farther, that one was difficult to gauge. Not bad or anything, just...hmm.

Dude, our car overheated...AGAIN. Sally took it in to the shop, and I was mad because we JUST had the radiator replaced. Apparently there was something wrong with some hose or something, and the bill was around $500. HOWEVER, the guy never called Sally to tell her the cost, they just went ahead and did the work without her approval...so it was FREE! FREE! Yay for free car work, what a godsend.

Anyway, gotta go stress out about Microsoft...

Witty Titles

Ok, so it's post #4, and I've already run out of attention-grabbing titles, so from now on, the titles are going to be whatever song is stuck in my head. For those who don't know, every morning I wake up with a song in my head. They are very random songs, covering all parts of the spectrum from nursery rhymes to classic rock songs to television jingles. So, stay tuned from now on. I didn't title this post with a song because it's 2pm, and I already forgot what song was playing in my head when I woke up. I'll make a point to remember next time.

Thanks for your comments, Dad, Anne, Jon and Monica! I feel special! Don't worry, Dad, I'll try to stress less about finding a job. If you know of any good job-finding websites in England, let me know!

Right now I'm sitting in one of USC's computer labs, about to start writing a lab report on "the overfishing of the world's waters." Oh well, better get to it.