Mr & Mrs Peters

One of my dear friends, Alicia, e-mailed me this comic strip because it reminded her of my most recent posts.

Enjoy.

Justin has made it abundantly clear that he thinks my last post was too harsh. He even went so far as to say that I was using the blog as my “bully pulpit.” That seems a bit of a stretch, but okay, sure…

In my defense, I would like to introduce you to “Will,” the person who sent me over the edge on Monday.

Will is interested in an open position here at my hotel. After calling (and bugging) the department manager several times, he called HR wanting to schedule an interview. I asked him if he had experience with a specific computer program and he said no. I told him that at this point I was only considering candidates with that specific experience. He assured me that even though he didn’t know the program, he would still be the best candidate. I could immediately tell that he was the sort of fellow who would continue to call me, daily, until I agreed to interview him. I made the decision to give him an interview, in efforts to get him off our backs. At the time I thought 20 minutes in an interview would be a good trade out for his daily annoyance… I was wrong, so very wrong.

One the day of his interview he had someone call me from the Emergency Room not once, but twice. He wanted to make sure I knew he wasn’t just ditching his interview, but that he was in the hospital. “When can I re-schedule?” he asked. I told his representative to have him call me when he got home from the hospital.

When he called me later last week we set up a time for him to come in on Monday. Later that day I found out that we actually were going to offer the position to an internal candidate. I called to cancel with all the other applicants who I had interviews set up with, but to my surprise, Will had never applied online like he claimed he did. So I had no way to get a hold of him.

Because I was unable to call to cancel it was only fair to give him an interview. I felt wrong about turning him away at the door after he came all the way down to the hotel. (Keep in mind this is really HIS fault for not applying online when he said he did)

An hour later (YES, he dragged out the interview and what normally takes 10-20 minutes was an excruciating 60) I got the typical, “So, what are the next steps? Who do I interview with next?” I told him the department manager would be out until Wednesday and I would call him then. Not two hours after he left he had a thank you card delivered to my office.

I shouldn’t have been surprised when I got a call from him at 7:30 this morning.

Am I wrong to be bothered by his obnoxious, abrasive, and assuming behavior? I get that he REALLY wants the job, but dude… Give me some space! If I say I will call you, don’t call me! ( Especially not at 7:30 in the morning!)

Moral of the Story (for Melanie): No matter how annoying someone is on the phone- don’t give in!! They will only become more of a thorn in your side.

We are in a tough economic climate and many people are looking for work. I have conducted many an interview and read bajillions of resumes and applications so I thought I would give you all some pointers, in case you are on the job hunt.

How not to ruin your chances at a job:

Don’t show up more than 15 minutes early for an interview.
I regularly have people show up anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours early. By showing up that early you are basically saying, “HR, you must have nothing else to do all day but sit and interview me.”

Please, dress up!
I see people come in to apply wearing some pretty interesting outfits. Even if you think you’ll just be picking up an application, you could be meeting the very person who will have the final say in hiring. You would be amazed at the amount of women who come by to apply wearing what I can only assume are the same clothes one might wear to perform in a strip club. I once had a lady show up in red sweat pants and roots grown out at least 2 inches. That brings me to my next point.

Shower!
You should always be clean and tidy when you go to visit a prospective employer. Heck, wear extra deodorant and throw in an extra breath mint just to be safe.

Stop bugging me!
There IS such a thing as being too aggressive. Nothing annoys me more than a candidate who calls every day and forces themself on me. I don’t care how qualified you are, if you annoy me after one interview I probably am not going to want you working at my hotel. One follow up call and a thank you note is sufficient.

God made spell/grammar check for a reason.
Please, please, please if you do nothing else- have someone proof read your resume before you print 100 copies to distribute around the city. I will never be able to take you seriously if you can’t even spell correctly on a resume.

Time to sit down and think of all the blessings that were evident in my life this week. Isn’t it great to be in the practice of regularly ‘forcing’ yourself to be thankful? I think it helps to guard us from becoming negative and pessimistic.

1. Justin is very good to me and likes to surprise me with gifts or acts of service. This week he went to REI to use up a gift card on some new hiking boots. He came home with a gift card for me, and it said:

To my hiking partner, From your trailblazer… So you can have boots with the fur, too!

He is amazing.

2. The new recipes continue! This week I tried out a zucchini bread that was good, but personally I thought there was too much cinnamon (even though I didn’t use all that the recipe called for!). Even though not every recipe is a hit, I am glad to keep trying!

3. Babies are everywhere!! Two of our cousins have had babies in the last 2 weeks, and on Saturday morning I attended a baby shower for another cousin who is due in a few weeks. I love watching mom-to-be’s opening shower gifts. Looking at cute little baby clothes never gets old

4. Saturday afternoon Mom and I made a day trip down to San Diego to visit Paul, Paige, and Charley. They had just come home from the hospital and it was so special to watch them in parenting mode. Paul has only been a Dad for a couple days and already he is a pro at swaddling and soothing little Charley. Paige is a master at feeding her… so I think between the two of them it will be a breeze (cause all newborns are easy, right??)

She has the cutest nursery ever! (But, I suppose that happens when your mom is an interior decorator)

Look how teeny-tiny!

She has her very own chandelier!

Paul has always been very special to me and it meant the world to me to spend the evening with his new family.

No caption needed, you can all guess what I am thinking here!

One last picture… Paige has a great old window in her kitchen that she uses as a menu planner, dry erase type board. When I saw what Paul had written earlier this week I couldn’t stop laughing.

5. We got some much-promised rain at the end of the week. I was so ready for a break from the heat wave that has been upon us for awhile.

6. February is going to be SUCH a great month. I think almost every day about how much I am looking forward to some of the events that month has in store. (and no, Justin, it’s not because of Valentine’s Day)

Do you collect anything?

You know, like thimbles or license plates or something along those lines?

Growing up I had a collection of pins. I also had a somewhat sizable stockpile of keychains. Probably the most random item I went after were these little beauties:

As nerdy as it seems now, I really did think pressed pennies were a cool thing to collect. For a spell I had quite the thriving set of Disney pressed pennies.

As I have grown up, I have became a lot more practical. I only like to purchase things I know I will use, and use frequently… otherwise I tend to feel very guilty for having spent the money in the first place. One collection I do keep, however, is city mugs from Starbucks. I don’t remember where/when it started, but here they are nonetheless.

My England mug broke awhile back and I am still sad about it. I am pretty sure I had others at some point, but in 2007 I moved 4 times and I think I lost things along the way.

Two of the mugs shown above were gifts- Megan brought me the mug from Paris and Mom and Dad bought the Miami Beach mug last April when they went for a conference. For me, this is the perfect collectible- pretty and special and still VERY practical.

A special congratulations to my cousins Paul and Paige who welcomed their beautiful baby girl Charlotte last night. Charley, as she will be called, is the first baby in our family for quite some time and the whole family is thrilled!!

You know those moments where you are so frustrated and flustered and then in the midst of your budding rage, the whole situation just becomes funny? That happened to me at work this morning… I was trying to get in contact with the Orange County Child Support Services Department about a garnishment order that I received for one of our employees. They utilize one of those terrible automated voice systems where instead of punching numbers you have to say your request out loud. Here is an excerpt of the 10 minutes I spent on the phone this morning, before I finally gave up and hung up.

Say the county you are trying to reach.
Orange.
Did you say Delaware County? Say yes or no.
NO!
My mistake… Say the county you are trying to reach.
ORANGE!!

And then I realized that I was in my office, alone, yelling at a computer operated phone system.
And I just started to laugh.

We had a great weekend in the Peters household and therefore my Sunday Six will be all from my lovely days off…

1. Saturday night Justin and I had a “date night.” I cooked us a special dinner and then later we went to go see Slumdog Millionaire at the theater. It was a good movie and showed me a side of India that I had never before seen. Very eye-opening…

2. On Friday night I joined my dad, Coco, cousin David and his girlfriend Kate at Disneyland for the night. We had a delicious dinner, walked through the newly renovated Sleeping Beauty’s Castle display (which was incredibly disappointing, in my opinion they ruined a classic attraction) and rode Indiana Jones right as the park closed. On the way out we shopped our way down Main Street and then into Downtown Disney…

3. I have a tendency to be a bit of a bookworm. Sometimes instead of starting a new book I get the urge to re-read an old favorite. This week I have been indulging in a book series, lent to me by Becky, that I originally read a little more than 3 years ago. On Sunday I started the second book and was done with it by the mid-afternoon.

4. Last month the empty house next to us finally sold. We had been praying for good neighbors to move in- in particular we were hoping for a young couple as the rest of our street is filled with families and senior citizens. You can imagine how thrilled we were to meet Jarod and April, our new neighbors. They got married a few months before us and are first-time homeowners as well. So far we are getting along well (Justin says that maybe we haven’t had time to find out their weird quirks yet!). This week they even got a dog, so now Skyla has a new friend, Mr. Beau. Last night they invited us over to watch the Ravens/Steelers game which was a blast.

5. One of my goals for 2009 is to constantly try new recipes and to be more adventurous in the kitchen. While this recipe isn’t necessarily “adventurous,” it certainly was new to me and was quite a hit. I made it to take to the game on Sunday…

Cheesy Pepperoni Pizza Dip
courtesy of noblepig.com

3/4 cup chopped pepperoni
1 can (15 oz) pizza sauce
4 green onions, finely chopped
1 can (2-1/4 oz) sliced black olives, drained
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1-1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 package (3 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 package refrigerated breadstick dough (I recommend using 2 packages for a bigger gathering)
1 Tablespoon butter, melted

In a heavy pot, over medium heat, combine pepperoni, sliced olives, green onions, oregano and pizza sauce. Cook until heated through, about 5-7 minutes.

Add cream cheese and mozzarella cheese. Stir until melted and mixture is well combined. Turn heat to low while preparing the breadsticks. Stir occasionally.

Remove breadsticks from tube and cook according to package directions.

When breadsticks are finished baking, brush with melted butter.

Serve warm.

6. I love when Justin and I both have the same days off. It is so nice to be able to go to sleep at the same time, wake up together, share meals, etc. This weekend was such a nice time of togetherness!

As I write, it is 77 degrees outside. The last few days have been toasty, to say the least. We are taking advantage of the summer-like weather with a few outdoor projects.

You will recall, Justin started a project to put in a sprinkler system months ago. Well, after being on pause for quite some time… Project “Peters Water Flow” is back on. Justin had a “Master Teacher” today, Vince. Vince is a pro when it comes to designing lawns and has been quite a help thus far.

As usual, Miss Skyla is anxious to be of help.

Does this mean I will have nice grass to snooze on again soon?

My project for the day involved a poor indoor plant that we have ignored over the last year. (I never claimed to have a green thumb!) Anywho, I thought the plant needed some new life and after putting it on my To-Do List for ages, I went to Home Depot and purchased some tools to help bring this plant back to life. We will see how well my project turns out in a couple of months.

Sad, ignored plant:

Pretty new home for aforementioned sad, ignored plant:

Cross your fingers, folks!! Let’s hope this baby grows!

Looking for a low-key but still yummy dinner? Look no further, my friends.

I bring to you: Lemon Curry Chicken

Ingredients:
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

In a bowl, stir together paprika, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle seasoning over chicken pieces. Dip pieces in egg, then dredge in bread crumbs. Arrange chicken pieces in a single layer in an aluminum foil-lined cookie sheet.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, turning once.

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stir together sugar, lemon juice, and curry powder, stirring until sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.

Drizzle lemon sauce over chicken, return to oven, and bake 5 minutes more.

We had this Monday night for dinner and it was super yummy!