London

So, I went back for a week. Wrote this on the tube one day.

It's the little things. You know, like tyhe light switches on the outside of the toilets. Calling them toilets. The jokes sbout Bush that are not powered by bile, but rather a benign contempt. The "excuse me" that doesn't come across as at all. Polite. The black people. Sports that the whole country cares about - if only for a moment. The tube. The pubs (though the Newspaper said that 25percent of Britons drink too much - only 25?). The buildings that are older than your grandparents. The bacon roll that is older than your grandparents. The rugby that suprises, the football that disappoints. This earth, this realm, this England.

Funny to be at a place in my life where I'm not feeling any difference between here and America. It's as if I went to bed one night and walked out of.a different door in the morning. I suppose that will change. And that I will change. But that's the thing about change, you usually don't feel it while it's happening. If your lucky, you just notice it one day. Usually, someone else points it out.

A side story

No time to catch up, so I'll have to fill in with a German joke.

It's great to have something to fall back on.

At dinner the other night, my friend Don was telling us about being in Cannes with two Germans. The Germans spoke no French, and the waiter spoke no German. So the conversation was in English.

After dinner, they were thinking about dessert, and so asked the waiter.

"Do you have ice cream?"

"Yes. We do."

"What flavors?"

"Chocolate and Vanilla"

"Do you have strawberry?"

"I will go check." Waiter leaves.

10 minutes go by.

Waiter returns. "Yes. We do have strawberry."

"Good." (Pause) "I'll have chocolate."

And no, he wasn't joking.

More on the job search

Sorry, had to cut the last one short and have not been able to get back to writing. But Lola is out eating Sushi with some friends who are in from London and the boys are asleep. And I, well . . . I should be studying, but this is a good excuse not to, and it's better than watching the end of "I, Robot", "I, Spy" or whetever's on the really crappy cable that they have in Palo Alto.

So, where was I?

First, let me go into the differences in the job markets. I did spend some time in London looking around. Partly to see if there was some killer opportunity which would make it make sense to stay there. But mainly to get into the habit of looking for a job. Still, with the lead times, there was little to no chance that anything would pan out, so it was really just a chance to make sure my suits still fit.

For anyone who's reading this who doesn't know, job lead times in Europe are massively longer than in the US, mainly due to notice periods. In the UK, which is the most "free market" of the major European markets has a 3 month standard notice period. Even if you talk that down, most employers expect at least 6 weeks to get someone in the job.

Ironically, this doesn't seem to add more urgency to the process.

But, of course, one thing I hadn't considered was that all of the interviews in London got my name into the system. So, thanks to the power of SpinVox, I've gotten several messages from recruiters in London. So, I'm spending almost as much time talking with recruiters over there as I am people here. Mainly, I'm giving them the names of people I know in London who are looking and/or getting them to refer me to their offices here.

The irony, of course, is that the work of companies going international seems to be focusing out of London.

The other difference of course is the dress code. Not so much with the suit/tie. So far, I've been massively overdressed (as in, the other guy is wearing jeans and a t-shirt.) But I figure it's better to err on the side of caution. Of course, it may just be a big beacon that says, "This guy's a prick!" But I think it's professional (at least it was in the UK.)

Ok, it's late, so I'll just put up a list of the companies I've talked to so far as a poll. More soon.

The Quest for Fire . . .

or the quest after being fired. Whatever you want to call it.

So, I mentioned that we were doing a blog to my brother, and now I feel more obligated to keep it up. Hopefully, that will mean more regular updates. Provided, of course, that I have something to say. But I decided the other day when I wrote a treatise in response to a linkedIn question (http://www.linkedin.com/answers/career-education/career-development/CAR_CRD/105768-141052?browseIdx=2&sik=1191466664704&goback=%2Eama) that maybe I should be writing on the blog more.

Everyone needs an outlet.

So, the job search. It's turned into a bit of an existential exercise. Seriously. If we had stayed in London, it would have been about maximizing cash, but probably not much in our lives would have changed much. But since we've moved and are isolated from our routines, such as they were, I'm forced to deal with some of the fundamental questions:

1) Is my career path more important than time with my family right now? [Before you jump on the righteousness bandwagon, consider that I'm thinking of this in the long-term. Will I be able to provide more opportunities for everyone down the road, will I be able to spend more time with them in the coming years if I make the right job decision now?]

2) What is it I want to be doing with my days? [Since I jump into whatever it is that I do, I'd love for it to be something that I really care about.]

3) How do I balance my degree work?

4) What is it that I'm really good at?

5) What is it that I'm really bad at that I think I'm really good at.

6) Am I ready to start wearing khakis again?

Ok, gotta go get dinner. I'll come back to this anon. And yes, I'll try and get Lola to post again.

And what comes next?

Oh, gosh, where to begin. Not that I think anyone is reading this, I'm just hoping that I'll remember to come back to this someday and check out what it was like coming back.

Usually, it's been the grocery stores where America really hits me in the gut (no pun intended). Of course, my first trip out of the country was to Soviet Russia, so the idea of there actually being food in a grocery store was stunning. Now, it's more of the idea of size and wait.

Now there are a couple of big grocery stores in London, but one of them is Whole Foods, so that doesn't really count as it's just an American import. By and large, though, they're just smaller. Or at least they feel that way.

Then there's the expiration dates. In the UK, things pretty much expired while you were walking home with them. Here they last forever. They need to, since they come in jumbotron sizes. But, one must wonder what kind of preservatives are involved. Maybe Americans die pre-embalmed. Then again, Americans have a pretty good life expectancy, so can't really complain.

Finally, there's the schizophrenia. Forgive me if I've previously mentioned this, but I'm somewhat flummoxed by the preponderance, the emphasis, on organic on the one hand. And on pre-fab, fat injected, deep fried, unnaturally colored. I wonder how Hostess is doing, but then I see that Wonder Bread (best known for it's putty-like qualities) is making a comeback.

Ok, that's it for now. I suppose next I should talk about the actual job search.