Poor little poof

Grady has not eaten in two days. Yesterday he barfed up what could be described as a hairball. I suspect he chewed on a plastic bag enough to swallow some (something he's never done before) and is now dealing with it. One can't say for sure. Last week he barfed up something that I had to examine closely before realizing it was frayed fabric from his collar that he had accidentally ingested, and he's been pretty forthright in barfing up accidentally-eaten things in the past.

Either way, the boy hasn't eaten or had water. He has been to the litterbox. He is in hiding under a coffee table in my bedroom. The doorbell and my cell phone have not been able to motivate him.

This is what will happen if I take him to the vet: He will complain all the way there (fine), then shed profusely in the examination room while clinging to me (fine), get a manual exam from the vet that reveals nothing (yay), have to be x-rayed (super), but not before he is sedated because GOD DAMMIT HE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT. People will be able to hear him from the waiting room, a dog will bark, and someone who just walked in will ask to reschedule. No, I will not allow him to stay here overnight.

Thank you, that will be $400. Sorry we couldn't figure out what was wrong with him.

* g r u m b l e *

They will also tell me to give him half a Pepcid in his food. This will be met with a smile and a nod because I am already doing this for him and when he is eating he is fine. He didn't start barfing until day 2 of his hunger strike.

So if he does not eat or drink something today I will take him into the vet tomorrow and kiss a chunk of my bank account good-bye.

I love this cat, but I really wish he spoke English.

Goodwill Hunting

I have discovered that about 80% of the jobs listed on Monster.com and Indeed.com, among other places, are jobs I have already applied to. I have been searching since February. At the beginning of April it became clear that my usual collection of agency recruiters would be unable to help me and I stepped up applying directly to employers. Not too long ago I even ventured into searching-in-other-cities territory. Nothing ever came of that, which is disappointing.

I keep my job log for the unemployment office pretty full, and have a few weeks where I applied for ten times the number of required job contacts to collect my UI check.

My options are to keep looking for a management job or slide back into test. Those of you who have worked with me know why I left test. Coming home every evening to fight the urge to shoot myself in the face was only one of the reasons I decided to take my career in another direction. Retaining the will to live is extremely important to me. That said, I am also looking outside of tech to keep my head above water.

It would help if the companies out there posting jobs were better about their "no thank you" responses. I appreciate acknowledgment of my submission, but I'd rather hear "no thank you" before seeing the job posting reappear. Nothing is more annoying than seeing a job posted that I know I'd be perfect for, only to realize I already applied for it more than a month earlier. How long does it take to fill a position in this economy anyway?

I am a good manager. The only thing I lack is industry management experience. I have managed engineers, artists, volunteers, and teenagers, while organizing and documenting processes, resources, and plans. My early job titles may not reflect this, but I'm not going to put an outright lie in bold type. What good would that do? I risk being kicked out of an interview before I even get to explain why.

I remain hopeful, though. There's no reason not to. I have friends who have landed work recently, and I'm feeling good enough to continue trying. Only now, the search has become a little trickier as I sift through all those jobs I'd be perfect for but was declined an interview. There are new opportunities out there, I just need to find my glasses...