It Is Finished

A wonderful feeling. The bamboo guy finished with the floors and put on the new baseboards this afternoon, so we are now finished with the remodeling for now. We have yet to return all the stuff that we removed from the living room and dining room, so no before and after pictures just yet.

Tomorrow I'm going in to the Foothill Training and Employment Center (the service arm of the EDD here in California) for a job search strategy workshop and an appointment with their business liaison. Seems I'm one of the 25 top employable yet unemployed people in the WIA program (which is where I got my web design training).

When they want to know what my dilemma is, I think my answer is fairly straightforward: you say you have web design training and everyone asks, "Where are the websites you've designed?" It's like being in my 20s again, and everyone wants two years of experience before they hire you, but you can't get the two years of experience until someone will give you a job. My two decades of design work don't seem to count for much of anything in those situations.

I did make application for a senior designer position with the Museum of Natural History of Los Angeles County. Sounds like a really interesting position.

Tonight I found a listing for e5 Global Media (the company that bought the Hollywood Reporter from Nielsen) for the position of Art Director at the Reporter. I could not help myself and applied for the position. There has been a big change in staffing and management and, who knows, perhaps the fit would be perfect.

I have a feeling Deeann will probably apply for the position as well (although she doesn't know web design and they specifically requested that), since she was art director there for almost 16 years. I doubt if either of us would get any calls, but stranger things have happened. I am not, however, holding my breath on this one.

With an all-new creative management staff hired from Us Weekly magazine, I think they want to go in fresh new directions. I'm all for that; when I was there, there was too much status quo for me, even during the redesign process. And if they do call me in for an interview, I would go because I want to move forward, not because I'm looking to go back to the old turf: Same building but a new century is the only way to go with publication these days.

Stay tuned for the before and after pictures of the house, just as soon as I get out the camera and everything has found its way back downstairs, which will be soon, I hope: This office is crowded.