My Five Random Interview Questions

Why is no one asking interesting interview questions these days? Well, no one except for NPR's "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me," of course. I love the segment "Not my job." Last week they asked Gillian Flynn 3 questions about Gilligan's Island. This week they asked Tig Notaro about Tug McGraw. I figure they'd ask me 3 questions about ABBA. I'll be waiting for their call.

I've been invited to a couple of job interviews in the last few weeks and I've been asked all the typical interview questions: What's your educational background? Why are you applying for this job? What would you do in a challenging customer service situation?

No one is asking me the questions I want to answer, though. Mostly because they have NOTHING to do with the job(s) I'm applying for. So I've taken the liberty of lining up five random interview questions and answers. Just for you. Maybe you'll be interested in hiring me.... for something.

1. If you could have a house concert with any person/band this weekend, who would you choose?
       Ray LaMontagne. Something smaller than this BBC show, or this PBS show, so I can hear this. Or this one. A while ago I would have said I'd like to see the Civil Wars in a house concert. But now that they've abruptly stopped working together that's a bit like asking a couple to show you their wedding video after they've just told you they're separating. Sad and awkward all around.
2. Tell me about a book you've recently recommended to someone.
        I told a couple of librarians about a book I checked out with a cover that glowed in the dark. I was really happy to tell them how cool I thought that was, and in the midst of my excitement about recapping the book and the fact that the book cover glowed in the dark I neglected to tell them the title of the book. They pointed out my omission, and once I told them ("Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore") I realized it would have been more witty for me to say something like "I was figuring you'd just stay in the library after dark and look for the glowing book."
3. What character trait do you wish you had?
        My sense of humor is very dry and leans towards the sarcastic, which is a fine line to walk. Going with my answer above, I always wish I was more witty. I think of the best thing to say about 12 hours after the fact.
4. What's the hardest thing about being a parent?
        I would have to say that there's sometimes a lack of accountability for parents these days. Beyond the extreme (hello, social services) or the voluntary (hello, MOPS or mom's playgroup at my house), parenting can be an isolated job without any oversight, accountability, encouragement, or guidance. Besides the obvious fact/assumption that you and your parenting partner (if you're lucky enough to have one) have consciences and morals and previous experience (from being a kid who was raised by, you know, parents), this parenting thing is really quite perplexing. Those internal guides or your friends or your kids' doctor might suggest parenting books, seminars, techniques, or trends, but when it really comes down to it, the buck stops with you and what you choose to try/do/listen to/follow. It's a wonder so many kids wind up being successful and healthy and accomplished and safe. Parenting is the hardest job I've ever had to do, and I took it on voluntarily. (I wish I could come up with an analogy to illustrate this. Give me 12 hours and I'll come up with the perfect thing.)
5. What new device or invention do you think makes peoples' lives easier?
        Frankly, I know what I want someone to invent to make my life easier: I'd like to see someone invent a tape-dispenser for band-aids because I hate them. I hate that my kids treat them like stickers and then only half of the wrapper pieces end up in the trash (see my answer to #4: parenting is hard. Like making your kids come back to the scene of the crime and pick up eighty billion band-aid wrappers). And then the ONE TIME you actually need a band-aid to stop the flow of BLOOD coming out of your (or your child's) finger or knee or elbow you have to have the finger dexterity to PEEL through three layers of wrappers and manage to get the padding where it needs to go and keep the sticky parts away from the wound. I might just have a case here to either inspire someone to invent a tape dispenser for band-aids, start a parent-led boycott of band-aid purchases, or get arrested by the grammar police for my use of that last run-on sentence.

   

   These two would hire me, I think.
   If only to pick up their band-aid wrappers.
   And they totally got how cool that glow-in-the-dark book was.

My One Year Anniversary

One year ago, on June 29th 2012, our family drove into this little town for the first time. We barely knew a soul within 1000 miles, outside of professional contacts and acquaintances.
We have invested our time and energy reaching out to the community, the schools, and the businesses (well, to be totally honest, the wineries), in order to settle in and make this new and strange place feel like home.
In the midst of work and school and holidays and exploratory day trips we coined a new catch phrase that we now find ourselves saying often, as a means of capturing just how much we've fallen in love with this area: We live here.
Last night we watched the sun settle over the Pacific on the anniversary of our arrival here, surrounded by dozens of locals--both friends and strangers. We are so glad to be in a position to say "we live here" and we look forward to the memories that will be made here for us and our family in the future.

My Preschool's Cuteness

It's just too much.

My Sweet Sunset

In honor of The Philosopher's birthday we went to the Carmel Sweet Shop for some toffee and fudge and then traveled down to the beach to watch the sunset. Toby and Daddy got distracted trying to rescue a kite while Norah and I watched the surfers.
Our new family motto was coined over this spring break:

We Live Here.

We are loving it.

My Mystery Trip

We snuck out of town one weekend last month and ended up here:

A view from an elevator.

A pit stop for pizza.

Toby tries out the camera phone.

We rode on interesting public transportation.

We played in the park.

We saw a ship in the harbor. And behind that ship, a prison.

We saw a very long bridge.

We stayed up late reading among the city lights.

We stayed just long enough to get a good taste of a wonderful city. We'll be back, I'm sure.

My Spring Time Activities

While the Philosopher has been working up in San Francisco this week we've been keeping busy at home, enjoying Spring.

On Tuesday we went to the beach after school.

 

 

On Wednesday we dined at Luca, stuffing ourselves on pizza, spaghetti, and gelatto. The kids shared their window seats with some friends, Ozzie and Little Dog, and they shared bites of their gelatto. It was determined before we ordered our meals that Toby would have chocolate and Norah vanilla.

 

We pulled out a box of old toys to have some quality block-building time.

 

And on Thursday we cheered on Toby at his game in Carmel Valley. The weather was just wonderful. (This was a picture of his last hit of the day.)

 

My Little Slugger and My Little Mudder

At baseball today Toby got three hits, and one was a double! It's so cute because he is still learning the rules of the game and how to make plays. I apologize for my craptastic video skills, but the sun was in my eyes while I was filming this so I missed my little guy running for first, as well as the first base coach telling him to keep going! But hopefully you get the idea.

And while Toby was swinging away (the nice thing for these kiddos is that the coach pitches until the kids get a hit), Norah was digging away in the mud.