After about a year of talking to any/all recruiters that called, talking to a number of HR managers, applying to jobs if I liked them...I'm now in the process of interviewing for two totally different, but forward moving jobs.

The first is a senior software consulting (helping departments use the $verticalmanagementsoftware) job that an old coworker referred me to at the $academicmedicalfacility. Had the interview on Thursday morning. Manager loved me, etc. Pretty much in the "have to wait until it gets officially posted by $academicmedicalfacility HR" mode, need to apply and then another interview with the managing directors. Probably won't see job until Feb/Mar next year...

Good: Reputation of workplace. Doing something useful for society. Hella awesome bennies like tuition reimbursement for LO and myself. Also organization is so large that I could grow my career (make director level) if I went back for some sort of medical info systems grad degree (position is in the business side not the IT side).

Bad: The daily commute into the city. It was an hour and 20 (ok, I went the long way), so let's say an hour for me on the day I went in - so getting up at 6am every day to be on the road by 7am. I could take the train, but on days I have LO that'd be worrisome since my local line is the most unreliable. I was told to expect salary to be lower than I wanted and the net for me would probably be 5k more than I make now due to city tax (about 3k), commuting costs (parking and train), and the fact that the business side wears, well, business suits.

I told my folks about the job and the ex, since I would have to depend on them for help moreso than I do now.

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The other job is a User Interface/PM job at a place in the state I love to hate (not too far from my old job, in fact). I applied there in the spring for another job, got a thank you letter and then the HR woman called me back and asked if I would be interested in this one.

Had an almost 2+ hour phone interview with the direct manager last week. Have the interview on Friday. (She's getting a promotion to do the same work on the corporate level and she'll be my boss/mentor. She's four years older than me and was brought into the org at the same experience level where I am at.) When I read the job description I thought it was a joke at first since it read very closely to what I do presently, except for the fact the organization is much larger and the job more formalized.

The catch? Oh, I will be expected to not only PM the graphic work and manage a number of Web sites, but I will be doing the Web implementation in a scrum environment. No shit.

The bad: It's in that state I am not in love with (I'll be able to see the VP's house - well, almost). Also the job isn't business focused as much as it is programming focused. I am not sure if I want to continue doing that for the next four years.

For both jobs it looks like I will need to put LO in before care for school. She is a terror in the mornings now.

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Aside from that, not much else... LO came to my house on Sunday upset after a fight with her Dad. He wanted her to leave a shirt at his place, she refused, they fought and apparently she left the house and was going to walk to my place (!!!) before he found her.  After she talked to me and vented about the situation at her Dad's, she seems fine now.

She has been great for me. I had a little talk to her about rules at my place due to her emailing in the morning before school and making us late. This morning, she got up early and got her clothes on with minimal Mom nagging. I was so pleased.  She is even cleaning up the family room so she can have a sleepover this weekend.

This was almost exactly like what happened last summer too. I think she is trying to create something more stable for herself since over there it is more chaotic, she is expected to assimilate to that household and Dad and his wife continue (at least) to have what seems to be sharp words with each other.

As opposed to my place, where we hang out together and she can talk to me at almost any time, and the biggest issue we face is the cat pee in the hallway.

And ...I have a hole diary to write for later...

That is all.