God’s Dominion

I know that I promised this forever ago, but I spent most of last week in bed and most of last weekend out.  It’s a bit late, but I figured I’d go ahead and post it anyway.  I’ll probably post my little statement on the priest and the politician tomorrow.  At any rate, the article is a little long.  I had actually planned to update it before posting, but I figured because of the timing I’d just post it as is and update it next year.  As is, some things may be omitted (like I now know where bobbing for apples comes from) and a few of the details may be wrong (although I hope not).  Because it’s so long I decided to post it as a separate flag page rather than writing it here.  So, here it is.  Look it over and let me know what you think.  I wrote it roughly a decade ago.  Laterz!

I’m full-blown sick.  As a result, my post today will be short.  I’ll do my best to keep it coherent.   Of course, you’ll have to wait for my thoughts on Foley and the priest.  I’ll probably post on Halloween first since that’s coming up quickly.

Anyway, I wanted to let everybody know that I didn’t get a job…I got two.  Go figure!  Kraft gave me a really nice offer, but it was only until December.  I hate being out of work in December since nobody’s hiring.  During my interview today at SAI (which seems like a really good job for a really good company), they suggested I accept the Kraft job then go to SAI afterwards.  In other words, I already have a job at SAI when I’m finished with Kraft.  It’s a bit weird because the job at SAI is a permanent position but it’s only for 18-24 months.  That means I get the benefits package that comes with a permanent position (yay for medical insurance!), but it also means I’ll probably be making less money.  Hopefully it’s a good enough offer that I can get by.

Anyway, that’s all for now.  Thanks for your prayers (I’ll keep you in mine for a permanent position, Wendy).  I prayed for help in deciding which offer to accept yesterday.  Little did I know He’d work it out for me to get both!  God is good!  Laterz!

Well, I have another one day contract.  Apparently, some doctor’s office (vet, not people) is having a problem with a web page.  Yep, one page.  They expect it to take me 4-8 hours to fix.  I get paid for at least four hours even if it takes me fifteen minutes.  I guess that’s good.  I have an interview Tuesday and another one on Thursday.  I haven’t heard back from Kraft yet, but I know they had more people to interview.  I should at least hear something early this week (Monday or Tuesday) even if it’s not a final decision.  I’d like to see what happens with the other two interviews first.  There’s also the possibility of getting an 18 month project at $50-$65 per hour at Hewitt in Lincolnshire.  That would be a nice one.  I’m going to give them a call and see if they’ve started interviewing yet (or at least the recruiter).  So much for what’s going on here. 

I actually want to post something about something I read about that congressman who quit because of contacts with some teenagers and what supposedly happened between him and a priest when he was younger.  Nothing to say about the first part, but I wanted to comment on the second.  I think I’m getting sick so I’m not really feel up to posting that right now, but keep your eyes peeled this week.  Before the end of the week, I’ll also be posting something on Halloween.  That’s all for now.  Laterz!

Wow…two posts in three days.  Must be a record, huh?  Anyway, I had my interview with Kraft today.  It actually seemed to go really well.  She was talking to me like she had already hired me and I had already accepted.  My major issue with this contract was that, although it took me 45 minutes to get there, it took about twice as long to get back (during rush hour).  In other words, I’ll be looking at a pretty ugly commute unless I work some weird hours.  Of course, I have another interview on Tuesday and there’s a possibility that I’ll soon get an interview at Abbott Labs (I might get to work with Jermaine!).  If I get an offer from Kraft, I’ll have to tell them to hold off until Wednesday.  Considering they said I wouldn’t start until November 1st, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem…I hope. 

Anyway, on my seemingly endless drive home, I ended up behind a truck from Martin John, which is a landscaping company.  I remembered that when I was looking for somebody to do my lawn they were one of the companies I called.  I called three or four of them.  Most of them never bothered to call me back and the rest told me they weren’t taking new customers.  I was shocked.  They were actually telling me they didn’t want me as a customer.  Although I love being here in Illinois, I noticed that as an odd trend.  I’ve actually had businesses tell me they weren’t interested in my business.  That seems a little odd to me.  Why would you tell a customer you don’t want their business?  “Sorry, we’re too busy for you.”  Sorry I’ve inconvenienced you by trying to pay you to work for me.  Anybody else seen this behavior from a business?  Let me know.  Laterz!

I’ve been a little lax about writing here over the past few weeks.  I’m working on it.  Apparently, I have picked up a new out-of-state reader (Hi Maria!).  I think that’s really cool since the out-of-state people are who I put this all together for anyway.  After all, with all due respect to you locals, we talk all the time.

Anyway, as you probably know, I’m looking for a new contract after my last one ended a couple of weeks ago.  I’ve gotten quite a few nibbles, but no bites…until today.  I got a call that they wanted to schedule an interview for me at Kraft this week.  I don’t know when yet, but it’s an interview.  Meanwhile, I have an interview next Tuesday for a security company called SAI.  They saw my resume and decided they wanted me in their company but didn’t have a project in mind for me.  It’s a bit odd for me for somebody to hire a contractor without a project.  There’s also still Hewitt.  Their contract doesn’t start until November so they haven’t started interviewing yet, but that’s an 18 month project paying over $50 per hour.  I’ll be sure to keep you all posted.  Keep me in your prayers.  (Hey, how’d your interview go Wendy?)  Laterz!

Before Halloween I plan to write up a little something about Halloween from a Christian perspective.  However, I think that it should be common knowledge that churches usually speak out against Halloween.  I have never seen a church embrace Halloween.  As a matter of fact, I stopped watching Seventh Heaven because they had an episode where the church had a Halloween party and the pastor’s wife went as a witch and his son as a vampire.  I remember thinking that was just wrong as a church wouldn’t do that.  Today, I was proven wrong.  I was on my way to Celo’s house (my cousin for you non-familian readers) and I passed a church on Old McHenry.  They had a big sign out front advertising a haunted house.  A haunted house at a church?  They are going to celebrate ghosts, the undead, and witchcraft?  How can they justify celebrating something the Bible speaks out against (the “creatures”, not the holiday)?  I just thought that was wrong.

Anyway, what I thought would be a week-long project turned out to be 4 1/2 hours.  I got a call to interview for an 18 month project that pays almost twice as much as my last one, but it doesn’t start until November so the interview won’t be for another few weeks…if I’m still available.

As always, drop me a comment so I know who’s reading or just to respond to my posts.  Laterz!

Okay, maybe I exaggerate a little, but not much.  On my way home from Elk Grove today, we had a pretty serious storm roll through.  A tornado touched down in Zion about the time I left and was moving southeast at about 50 miles per hour (fortunately that was away from me as Zion is only about twenty or thirty minutes away by car on surface streets). 

The storm had rain, wind, lightning, and hail.  The rain and wind were so strong that I couldn’t see more than a few feet away.  I could only see the road when the lightning flashed…of course, it flashed every 3-5 seconds so I was okay most of the time.  I hydroplaned once.  Lightning hit a power poll just a few feet in front of me, which then exploded for almost thirty seconds and dropped a wire on the cround igniting some brush.  The hail actually sounded like it was cracking my windows.  I made a phone call at one point and couldn’t hear the other person because of the noise of the rain and hail hitting my car.

Obviously, I made it home okay but for awhile there I was considering pulling over and sleeping in my car.  The last time I had it this bad was driving through the remnants of a hurricane in Massachusetts.  I actually think this one was worse mainly because of the lightning and the dark.  Many roads in this area have no street lights so it was really dark.

As always, drop me a comment and let me know you’re reading this.  I guess I may have a few more readers from Follett (hey guys!).  Laterz!