Jeffrey L. Cohen

After having two phone interviews for two positions, I am now back to zero actual positions that I am being considered for. One position was put on hold and the other has chosen to move forward in the interview process without me. I need to email them to find out why, but my guess is that they had some folks who were a better fit.

When I told Grace I was back to zero, she asked me how many I started with. I told her two. It was sort of a surreal conversation because I did not give her any context, but she kept asking questions.

I am still meeting with people and expanding my network, but not much has materialized from this process yet. I am also trying to ramp up my “on-line applications,” so I can at least get in the running for some things.

I also need to broaden my search beyond open positions, and seek out companies that might need my services.

On the old company front, I’ve been speaking with my old boss, and he may be putting something together that would include me, but even he acknowledges that it might not be the best thing for me to do. But of course that assumes I have some other options. At this moment in time my calendar is pretty clean.

Grace came home with a picture she had drawn and I asked her what it was. She said Miles Davis. I asked her if she knew who he was and she replied that he was a jazz musician. And so was Charlie Bird Parker, she added.

I thought this was pretty cool, so I asked her if she listened to their music. She said a little bit. I made her a CD of Miles Davis, Birth of the Cool to take to school today. She said they listened to it all day.

The job search is going okay. I got 2 interviews very quickly. I had a 2nd Round Interview with one company on Friday. I also had been waiting for a call back on the first interview I had. Everyone seems to want to do phone interviews first, which I think are great. I can sit at my desk, easily take notes (which I can’t really decipher later) and have their web site up on my computer.

One of the jobs is Account Manager for a Market Research firm that works with Fortune 500 companies. The other is the Marketing Manager for a Mail Order Company’s Web Site. Today I found out that the Mail Order Company will not be filling the Web Marketing Manager position at this time, but shuffle the responsibilities among other group members. I think that is a mistake, even on an objective level. People will focus on their primary job, not the web site.

I have been out of a job for a month now, and I still am just barely getting started on all the things I was looking forward to doing. I don’t really miss going to work, but I miss having a job. A job defines much of who you are, even if you don’t identify with it too much. I was Director of Marketing for a toy train company. That had great cocktail party value. Now I’m just another guy looking for a job. Don’t get me wrong, everyone is very nice and very helpful, but I no longer stand out in a crowd.

I have been very busy between job hunting, and household errands (although not enough around the house, according to Meg). I seem to have changed my focus a little bit. I really am trying to build my network of contacts, instead of “looking for a job.” This way lots of other people know I am looking and can pass on leads or referrals to other contacts. This is much more satisfying than sending resumes into the “Monster” black hole. I have to do that too, but it is very frustrating. It is much more fun meeting people for coffee for 30 minutes to an hour, than sitting in front of my computer all day. And I like coffee.

The other night we were getting some movies from the video store. Our video store of choice is a great independent, alternative place that happens to be next store to a rock club. There’s a pizza place on the other side. You gotta love Carrboro.

We came out of the video store and the band was doing their sound check at the rock club. This meant there was loud, thumping music working its way out the door. Peter put his hands over his ears and hurried to the car.

Grace stood on the sidewalk wiggling her hips back and forth. Baby, she was dancin’. She had a big grin on her face and said, “I like it. When are you going to take me there.”

All I could do was smile. My 5 year old daughter wants to go to Cat’s Cradle, the premiere music club in the Southeast. Bands like REM played at an earlier version of the place when they were coming up.

It finally feels like Winter in these parts (hi 40s lo 25 tonight), so we are having chili for dinner. I just put the pot on, and it will simmer for about 3-4 hours. I’ll bake some corn bread in a cast iron skillet to go with it. Mmmm!

Ingredients:
Onions
Green Peppers
Garlic
Chili Powder
Cumin
Tomatoes
Black Beans
Beef Chunks
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

A goombah driving a beat up Lincoln Town Car with paint worn off the trunk and weighted down so much that the rear tires are no longer round and the rear bumper is just a little too close to the ground. The only thing I can think of is that he must have a body in there.

Anyway, a homeless guy carrying a sign that says, “I’m Homeless, but Jesus is my Lord” approaches this car. The goombah takes off his seat belt, reaches into his pocket and gives the guy some change. I’m sure that every little bit helps, but the look of disgust on the homeless guy’s face was very apparent as he counted the change in his hand.

Highway exits in Chapel Hill are very lucrative, so this guy was used to getting more. I think the goombah was trying to relieve his conscience of the body in the trunk with 50 cents.

Thursday Night / Friday Morning I am lying in bed and I hear Peter wake up and go to the bathroom. All of a sudden I hear him turn on the shower. For a moment I think I must have dozed off and it is now 6:00 am, the time he wakes up. I roll over and look at the clock. It is 2:30 in the morning.

I get out of bed and go into Peter’s bathroom. Peter, what are you doing, I ask him. And Peter, the master of the obvious responds, I’m taking a shower. I try to explain to him that it is 2:30 in the morning and he doesn’t need to get up for several hours.

He turns off the water and gets out. I help him dry off and we go into his room. I point to the time on his clock. I ask him what made him get up. He thought he heard his alarm go off. Peter put his pajamas back on and gets in bed. I tell him I’ll see him in a few hours.

NY Times: The short answer is that the borough was named for the Bronx River, and the name was shortened to the Bronx for convenience. If Manhattan had been named for its main river, we would probably be calling it the Hudson.

Jonas Jonassen Bronck was a Swedish-born sea captain who arrived from Amsterdam in 1639. “When he died in 1643, at the age of 43, the only thing that was named for him that kept his name through the centuries was Bronck’s River,” Professor Lloyd Ultan, the Bronx borough historian, said. “It was much easier to abbreviate it as Bronx.”

In 1898, when the city set up the borough system, it was decided that the annexed areas north of Manhattan should also become a borough, but it had never had one name before, the professor said. People in Manhattan called it the Annexed District; people in the district called it the North Side.

In the middle of the territory was the Bronx River, and so the borough was named.