Posted
9:23 PM
by Nicholas Holland
Just thought I'd give everyone an update on the school/job/everything situation...
I have been rejected from every firm that I interviewed with except for two so far (there were thirteen in all). Those two are Rogers and Hardin in Atlanta and Stites and Harbison in Louisville. The first one was the one I interviewed for over Christmas and I'd be surprised if they even remember that I exist. The last is one that I really want, but it too looks doubtful since I haven't heard anything from them yet. As you might guess, I am extremely frustrated with this whole process--like everything in law school and law related, it seems very arbitrary and the fact that I don't yet have a paying job is really putting a damper on my summer plans. If I hear no from Stites and Harbison, I will try to get a research assistant job at the law school. I won't really be able to save any money because I'll be living in Durham, but I need to have a job doing something "legal" this summer. If anyone has any suggestions I would be open to them.
On the positive side of things, my appellate brief for my writing class is almost done. (Insert your own "Why do they call it a brief if it's so long" joke here) Our brief topic was an appeal on whether the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" telephone selection process was a "public accommodation" under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which would mean that they had to change the contest to accommodate individuals with disabilities. I was arguing for the class action plaintiff, and I never ever want to hear the word "accommodation" again.
As a heads up to everyone South of me. Sarah and I will be heading to Atlanta on Friday and two of our friends from Transy will be accompanying us. We will probably stay in Atlanta Friday and Saturday and head to Sarasota on Sunday, hopefully stopping in Tampa on the way. I'll call all of you tomorrow probably.
Anyway, I'm just trying to keep my head up about all this job stuff--rejection SUCKS...
Posted
8:09 AM
by Geoffrey Holland
Despite their initial objection to being boxed and carted across town (all of two miles), the Holland Annex cats seem to be adjusting well to the new environs. Upon arrival and after the usual "crouch and sniff" of the entire apartment, Audrey took her usual position on the back of a piece of upholstered furniture. Sophie cased the joint for garbage. The Scavenger's efforts were fruitless, though, thanks to a food disposal and a door between her and the trashcan. Malcolm seemed to take it all in stride, investigating the many partially-filled boxes. Winnie has spent much of her time under the bed, but it appears to be more out of her own weirdness than out of fear. All in all, a fairly calm transition. Of course, they are "home alone" today, so who knows what havoc they might be wreaking.
When I got back from Mailboxes and the grocery store last evening, Jennifer's car was parked out front. Her visit was partly to make use of our yard to spraypaint some cork boards purple (EVERYthing at Oncology Solutions is purple, and if it isn't, you MAKE it purple). But there was a deeper, more sinister motive for her visit -- to move the four cats to their apartment. Unsuspecting, Malcolm, Sophie, Audrey, and Winnie were all doing their own funky things around the house -- in the cat tree, in the garbage can, in the food dish, generally in trouble. Soon Geoffrey arrived, and went downstairs where he retrieved no fewer than three cat carriers they own (didn't even have to borrow any of ours) and the fun began. Audrey and Winnie each got her own small carrier, and Malcolm and Sophie shared the big one. There was some struggling and a major amount of hissing on Malcolm's part, of which poor Sophie was the recipient, but they settled down pretty quickly. The other part of the move was the cleaning, disassembly, and moving of the high-tech catbox (Littermaid) that G&J had purchased and set up in the back bedroom. It hadn't been cleaned out in a while, and made a charming job for Jen, who claimed that Geoffrey had made a trip to Home Depot yesterday afternoon so he could avoid that chore. Upon the removal of their catbox, we put our own in its place. They work pretty well, despite my initial skepticism, but you have to keep them clean or they can become very vile. The cats are fascinated by its little rake-it-up routine. They hear the motor start up and run back to watch it.
We haven't had the report on how the adjustment to the new venue went last night. Our bed was noticeably less crowded. Even our own cats stayed away for a while, bumped out of their usual routine. Now that Sophie's gone, we can have Donna clean all the windows and baseboards that Sophie has been so fond of marking, with some hope that they'll stay clean. Thus endeth the Era of the Nine Cats. Five is enough.
Tuesday, March 05, 2002
Posted
10:14 AM
by Rob Holland
I spent part of the morning in the endodontist's office, having my root canal looked at. Now I thought, once they rooted out your canal, that was the end of it. The tooth was dead, but still functional. Not so, gumpick-breath! The endo thinks there may be another canal in there they didn't see the first time, or that the canal work they did may have "fractured." In order to find out, he'll have to do an "exploratory." This does not sound like fun.
After that I ran an errand at Rich's and stopped by the house briefly, where I encountered our cleaning woman, Donna. Donna is like a parody of a cleaning lady. She has the biggest hair I believe I have ever seen, and a thick W. Virginia or Kentucky accent. And she loves to talk. She's been great as a cleaning lady, as she loves the cats and does a good job, all the while redecorating and rearranging our living space. It's like having a bi-weekly "Trading Spaces" experience. We never know what she's going to dig out of the back of the linen closet and put on the table, or what knickknack we haven't seen for 20 years is going to reappear in the middle of the sideboard. She drives an old rattletrap van (which ours is rapidly beginning to resemble) and pretty much spends the day at the house, puttering around cleaning. She says she doesn't like to be rushed. O-Kay. Hopefully she won't knock the crockpot plug out of the wall today -- the crockpot with your Mother's excellent sauerbrauten bubbling away in it.
Monday, March 04, 2002
Posted
11:48 AM
by Rob Holland
I got a call from Benjamin just now. He said they arrived safely in Key West about 1 a.m. The turnpike cost them about $20.00 he said. Richard and Rhonda are apparently going down there on Thursday and Josh is flying back with them, so the Carolina boys will be going back up the East Coast, on I-95, bypassing everybody along the way, when they return next weekend. Benjamin's phone isn't picking up a very strong signal down there, so it may be tough to reach him. He called me on Travis's phone.
Posted
6:16 AM
by Rob Holland
We went over to visit Geoffrey at the new apartment yesterday. Jennifer was out and about, having left Geoffrey with the mountain of boxes to be unpacked. Hopefully when they get all the packaging removed there will be room for everything. As it stands, it looks doubtful. It's a nice, roomy two-bedroom, but Geoffrey and Jen are blessed with material possessions. The cats remain at our place for the time being, until the chaos factor is reduced at the apartment.
I spent much of the day making a first pass at the corporate taxes. Thank God for Turbotax. The hard part, though, is scratching for all the expenses/deductions. Our record-keeping is pretty good, but it's easy to miss stuff. That little expense tracker in the Visor is helpful, though. It converts to a spreadsheet on the desktop that summarizes expenses quite neatly. The business about broke even last year. Comparisons with year-earlier periods for the months since 9/11 show that sales were cut almost exactly in half. They're beginning to recover, but they're still far below early 2001 levels.
Benjamin passed through here briefly yesterday, with Travis and Sean (his little brother in the fraternity). They hit here about lunchtime, had a sandwich and some Cheetos, filled their trunk with Mommy-provided drinks and snacks, and headed on down to Florida. They also picked up Josh. I guess we'll see Nicholas and Sarah as well on their way south.
Sunday, March 03, 2002
Posted
4:59 PM
by Christopher Holland
I got Benjamin on his cell phone earlier tonight. Looks like they're going to turn off for the east coast of Florida at the Turnpike, which is well north of here, so we won't be seeing them tonight. Maybe on their way back up, but I'm not pinning any hopes on it. Sarah and Nicholas should be here next weekend for their own Spring Break. That's all I've got for now.
Posted
5:01 AM
by Rob Holland
The move took place yesterday in the pouring rain, successfully, but not without incident. Geoffrey and Jennifer and Jennifer's brother Stephen spent the night here one more night because the mattresses couldn't be moved in. The original plan was to move them in the van, which would keep them dry, as opposed to the pickups, which would not. However, on a trip out to Jimmy Carter Blvd. to pick up some furniture G & J had bought, Pamela's friend Richard plowed into the back of Pamela, driving the van, whom he was following. As a result of that crunch, the back door to the van won't open and therefore the mattress move will have to wait for dry weather today. Nobody was hurt, but it put a damper on an already damp day. Geoffrey promised to get some pictures of the move activity, since Mommy and I drove out to Watkinsville to the hellebore nursery and bought some new plants. Not only was it wet but it was bone-chillingly cold, so we stayed only long enough to buy some plants and leave, without touring the grounds as we usually do.This gave us more time to shop the sales at Belk in Snellville on the way home. There apparently was no quilt show this year, or it was moved somewhere else. It's usually in the Oconee County convention center, but all they had there yesterday was soccer sign-ups.
The move should be completed today, and I'm sure Geoffrey will be e-mailing or posting his new address and phone number. Oh, and the most important thing, the cable guy came yesterday. Now there will only be the long wait for the DSL . . . .
Posted
12:07 AM
by Benjamin Holland
Well, we (Sean, Travis, and I) arrived home at about 11 pm from Roanoke where Winthrop University claimed its 4th consecutive Big South Conference title and trip to the big dance. Tomorrow we leave for Key West, FL for spring break. We are spending the week in Josh's parents extravagant house hoping to have an enjoyable time. I will be thinking about all the working people in the family as I enjoy the 80 degree weather in the Keys. That's all for now, until next time.........
