My, it’s been an interesting week-and-a-half. If I posted more often y’all would know more about it, but instead you get…

Yet another of Duncan’s weekly recaps!

When last we left our intrepid heroes, we had just returned from Chicago with Datahawk in tow. Having Datahawk here was fabulous! She’s a lovely, personable lady, a low-maintenance houseguest, and not only gets along well with my parents, but with our other friends here in North Carolina. She’s welcome to spend a few weeks with us anytime!

So yes, the day after we got back from Chicago my parents spent the night with us. My dad is looking into doing some consulting for a company around here, so we might be seeing more of them in the coming year. Mom took me, Dan, and Datahawk out to Copelands (mmm, yummy Cajun food!) and we spent the evening chatting in our garage/smoking lounge (it STILL smells of cigarette smoke, too!). They left around noon the next day, but it was pleasant to have them up here.

Also on Tuesday I got the bit of news I was waiting for: I was not offered the job in Minneapolis that I mentioned earlier. They liked my technical skills, and I could have had the job if I wanted it, but I “didn’t show enough enthusiasm for the position.” I’m perfectly OK with this, because (surprise, surprise) I wasn’t particularly enthused about the position. I wasn’t sure about working for such a small company, I wasn’t sure about living in Minneapolis, I wasn’t sure about working with a lot of the (very old) equipment they had there. The kicker was when I got in the VP’s car to ride back to the airport and he started the car, the radio was tuned to…Rush Limbaugh. Eek. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the guy’s a raging right-winger or anything, but it added to the overall conservative feeling I got from him. How do you say, “By the way, how do you feel about hiring a flaming faggot?” At the same time, I always try to make mention of “my partner” in interviews, or at least get across the fact that I am gay somehow. Yes, this might cost me the job, but if they’re going to make my life hell if they hire me and THEN find out I’m gay, I bloody well don’t want the job in the first place. Nothing they pay me can make that worthwhile. (This is what works for me – I’m not saying it works for everyone)

So, where does this leave me jobwise? Pretty much back at square one. On the bright side, my recruiter called me back the next day with a possibility (a very low-probability one, but nevertheless a possibility) in Toledo, OH. That made me feel a lot better because I was afraid he’d drop me if the position went this far and didn’t pan out, and I didn’t want that given that he’s been by far the most productive recruiter I have working for me. No word since on the Toledo position, but quite frankly I’m not expecting jack until the beginning of they year anyway.

So, now we’re up to Wednesday. What fun! You might have heard we had a bit of weather – a good old fashioned ice storm. We were pretty much on the southern side of the storm, so we got grazed, but weren’t hit nearly as badly as areas even a few miles north of us were. We had no trees down around our house, though I was keeping an eye on the maple directly behind us. All down the street, though dozens of tall pine trees were bent down to the ground (or snapped and lying on the ground) – many of them are still there. We lost power at about 11:30 PM Wednesday night. Dan thought about going to work on Thursday, but not only were they urging everyone to stay off the roads, they didn’t have power where he works either so we just snuggled up around our (gas) fire as the temperature in the house sank lower. As it grew lighter and we realized that the freezing rain had stopped and the roads were clear (the real danger was the ice-covered limbs, which were still falling).

We wound up getting a tasty lunch at the (very crowded) MacGregor Ale House, then going to the bar across the way from it and shooting darts for a few hours – a very pleasant way to pass the time. Dan surprised me with a nice glass of Grey Goose on the rocks for winning a game of cricket, so I was feeling nice and toasty when we left.

We got back at around 3 PM to find the lights back on – yay! We got a phone call from Donald & Janelle and Thomas & Sherry who said were still without power, so we invited them to come down and join us for dinner. A tasty dinner of steaks, chicken, and bul kogi (which is Korean BBQ. And no, Donald, bul kogi is not the same thing as bukkake!) ensued, with much drinking of wine – the Steele Pinot Noir Carneros kicks ass!

On Friday we putzed around some more – still no power at work, so Dan didn’t go in. Another day of paid vacation, yay! We went back to Hot Shots to shoot some more darts, then had a nice quiet dinner at home.

Saturday, Donald and Janelle were nice enough to host a (somewhat belated) birthday party for Takaza. Good food, good company, excellent wine (except for the 2001 Nouveau Beaujolais which was pronounced Le Beaujolais C’Est Mort). Then Sunday we met some of the Gang again for brunch at Knightdale Seafood and Barbecue, which I found to be rather underwhelming but maybe it was just what I ordered.

Which brings us to Monday, which Datahawk described in her LiveJournal quite well. On Tuesday I dropped Data off at the airport and generally rattled around the empty house feeling kind of down. Today is much better and I’m going to be getting a few things taken care of, then making some nice chicken and dumplings for dinner. Yay! And now you’re up to date. Don’t you feel special now?