What does it take to land a really good job? Especially one a step up from where you’re at?

A great resume is one of the key factors in landing any job. It’s hard to get an interview without one. But I read on MSN Careers some of the amazingly stupid mistakes people make when writing their resumes.

Now no, I am not looking for a job. This is just something I came across and found amusing. With some of the mistakes you have to wonder if the people were doing everything possible to not get the job. I gather some people like being unemployed.

Applicant specified that his availability was limited because Friday, Saturday and Sunday was “drinking time.”

Nothing like a good bit of drinking to waste the rest of your life away, I guess. If you’re drinking so much that it’s interfering with your work schedule, it’s time to quit… drinking, that is.

Applicant explained that he works well nude.

Sorry dude, but that’s not an advantage in most workplaces. Try a strip club or work from home where no one will care.

Applicant explained a gap in employment by saying it was because he was getting over the death of his cat for three months.

I love cats too, but I can get over the loss of one a lot faster than that.

Am I the only one who reads these things and wants to create a worse resume? It could be fun to see how plausibly I could do it, and how many job interviews I could get.

Technorati Tags: bad resumes

This one may sound kind of funny given my interests, but quilting really does interest me as a hobby. Yes, I’m into science, science fiction, technology and so forth, but quilting sounds like a really great hobby to me. Something to keep my hands busy when I’m not online.

I can safely say my interest comes from watching my grandmother quilt. She lives 500-1000 miles away, depending on the time of year, so I haven’t been able to take lessons from her. But one of my sisters and I have discussed taking lessons at a local shop together. We’re thinking it could be a Christmas present from the husbands.

Once that’s done, I’m sure to be in trouble any time the local fabric shop has a sale, at least if I’m at all like grandma. And I’ll probably pick up a book with quilting patterns, just to have a great source of ideas available.

Of course, any time my grandma wants to give me another quilt, I’ll take one!

Technorati Tags: quilting, hobbies

It’s been interesting watching my daughter get used to kindergarten. We’ve dealt with her getting in trouble regularly in class to the point where her teacher was suprised to find that my daughter had indeed been in preschool, including a year on the same campus as the kindergarten.

There was the day my daughter proudly told me that she hadn’t had to sit in the “character chair” at all.

But now she’s rarely in trouble, so far as I know. She’s getting used to the idea that being in kindergarten is very different from preschool or at home. And she’s enjoying the learning process.

My daughter is in fact becoming quite the motivated little learner. It used to be that she would not let me teach her anything. But then she came home one day quite distressed that several of her classmates were in the “Reader Rabbit” section of class because they could read already, and she couldn’t.

I think that taught her something, and now she’s willing to look at learning things from me at home. She has developed a surprising interest in learning Japanese, and I’ve finally decided to get the KidSpeak 6-in-1 program to help her on that path. It will let her experiment with others as well, which I think is a benefit.

But I want to have resources to help her in more ways. And so I’ve been looking not only at websites and computer games, but on printed resources.

I’m planning on buying the Making Math More Fun - Math Games Package for her. It’s affordable and the games look pretty fun. The recommended age ranges go from 5-11, so we should be able to use it for several years. It comes with 4 ebooks of games to play and print out.

I’m a big fan of supplementing my children’s educations in ways that they will enjoy. Now that my daughter is feeling more open to the idea, I can really start working at it.

Technorati Tags: education, education supplementation, math, math fun, math games, teaching children

I have a bit of a challenge right now. My 5 year old daughter has decided that it’s time for her to learn a foreign language. Obviously I think this is wonderful.

Except she wants to learn Japanese. I have no idea where she came up with that one.

I’ve been looking around, trying to find anything that is good for checking a child’s interest in learning a language. I don’t want to spend a ton of money on it if it’s just a short term thing. And of course none of the courses I’ve heard of offer Japanese for kids anyhow. Not Muzzy (although it appears they may have once had it. I can’t find it now). Nor any other program I can find.

Of course, a lot of them really are not geared towards children. Not even when I search the videos and DVDs on Amazon. Things looked a little more promising in the software section, but not by that much. I’m considering the KidSpeak 6-in-1 program. It offers six different languages, so we can see if another sounds good to her over time. The one trouble I have with it is that it’s so OLD. Asks for Windows 95 or higher, and looks to date from around 1997.

It’s tough figuring out what to do with her. But I think whatever language she likes, I’ll have to see about learning myself.

Technorati Tags: japanese, language, foreign languages, learning

Life has just been crazy these past few years. But it’s finally quieting down a little, if not for the best of reasons. But after everything, I could really wish for a vacation.

But my daughter’s in kindergarten. So a vacation isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

Things were hectic due to the illness and death of two of my grandparents. As you can imagine, that really does change things. And now that it’s over except for the emotions, I’m just plain worn out.

Besides, I dog-sat two dogs this weekend for my mom and her boyfriends. Put two dogs together with two kids who are very excited to see the dogs, and you’re going to be worn out. Even though the dogs are very well behaved.

No idea where I’d want to go. Maybe the Grand Canyon, where my husband and I started our honeymoon. Maybe Vegas for something more noisy but focused on adults. Maybe just wandering about and seeing what looks interesting.

I’m just about too tired to be specific.

Yes, it really is almost October. Really is time to get serious about your Halloween costume, if you’re going to wear one.

I have a standard set of Renaissance Faire garb I usually wear for Halloween. It’s quick and easy, but one of these years I really ought to switch things up. You know, buy a new Halloween costume. After all, I have to work up something new for my kids each year.

My daughter is old enough to have definite plans. She’s thinking Rapunzel this year, as she still loves the dressup outfit I got for her as a Christmas present last year. She’s also just considering going as the color pink (her favorite, of course). It’s a costume I call a pigment of the imagination.

No idea what I’m dressing my son up as. He hasn’t expressed an opinion on any of the things I’ve suggested, but he really doesn’t understand what Halloween is yet.

I do love to shop online for Halloween costumes. So much of a better selection than the stores have, and no fussing through the selection trying to find the right size, hoping it’s not sold out yet. You just generally have better odds online.

So… what are you dressing up as?

Technorati Tags: halloween, halloween costumes