Putting your life in the hands of another...

It's so strange. R has 2-5 interviews a week, and I am just sitting here waiting. Will we have to move? Will he get this job? Will he be working 50, 70, or 100 hours a week? How much will he be paid?

He's currently at an interview for a big consulting company - what we've decided is the most desirable job for him to get. Of course, there are about 200 PhD candidates alone interviewing for about 5 jobs in the Boston office (and all Ivy League, so they can afford to be snooty!) Of course, all candidates are pretty much qualified too. I can't imagine being an interviewer for a company with a draw like that. It must be difficult - no wonder little things get you knocked out. The first round was a test for crying out loud! He was doing practice GMATs to get ready.

It's strange, because our roommate is almost in the same situation. Her bf, however, already has an offer from this consulting company - he worked there before and he's coming out of HBS, so their interviewing times, etc. are a little different. Our roommate has to decide between the Atlanta and DC office, and they're not engaged, so it makes it a even more stressful for her. She and I also discussed the discomfort that would come from having such disparate salaries from our sig other.

If we get to the point of choosing between cities , it would probably be between Seattle, San Fran, NYC and Boston. If it weren't for my sister (possibly sisters and therefore my mom and dad too), San Fran wouldn't even be on the list... but it is and with very compelling reasons to go. Too much to think about! and this is before we have any offers on the table.

I'm confident that he will get a job - but who knows where and doing what? How often will I see my husband once he starts working?? For now, I just sit and wait... but I wonder: where will I be in a year?

Voting...

Sometimes I wish my vote "meant" more... in MA, the Democrat will almost always win (unless we're talking governors). However, I felt pretty good today when I threw in a couple of votes for the green-rainbow party, the working families party, and the socialist party. Why not? If they don't win, their only opponents were Democrats. I can live with that. It's nice to be able to throw in some votes for other candidates and express a desire for a more than two party system.

I REALLY hope we come out headed towards change. I can't handle another two more years of this - people dying, average salaries decreasing, and nature being treated like a dumpster. We've got a hopefully celebratory party planned at our house tonight. Can't wait to see the results!

oh - and why don't some people vote? Everyone didn't even have the right to vote in our country until the 1960s - is that so long ago that we don't remember what it's like??? I feel like it's a major snub and disservice to those in the world who don't have the right... then again, we're so wasteful with resources, food, and the environment that I guess it's really no surprise. Apparently even the right to vote isn't all that noteworthy.

Cocktail Dress

I need to find a cocktail dress. R and I are going to a March of Dimes event at the Four Seasons this Friday night, and I don't have a dress to wear... well, I have one option, but I wore it recently. I feel like something new. I went shopping for an hour today (during my lunch break), and I couldn't find anything I liked. The one store with a dress I did like only had a size too big and a size too small left. Great.

I feel like I'm between sizes at the moment, although I admit to hoping that I'm on the way down. It makes me feel like I should just wear the old dress (it is very cute!), and wait on something new until I settle into a size... of course, with the way sizings work these days, I'm sure I'll fit into some stores' sizes perfectly. Consistency in size measurements between stores would be nice... except for days when you're not feeling so hot, and then fitting into a (fake) smaller size can certainly be a boost to the ego.

Still... this leaves me with the same problem. I need a new dress. I'm leaning towards red.

Cooking Difficulty

It's amazing what people consider to be hard to make... Rob and I are making chicken tikka masala for dinner. It takes some time to make and requires some planning, but is it difficult? I don't think so. In fact, I'm beginning to realize that when people say something isn't easy to make, it often only means that it takes awhile to make... and now with "30 minute meals," most things will start to be too complicated!

This makes me wonder... what is hard to make? Baking can definitely be a challenge. You stir a few too many times and your cupcakes (not from a box) take on a mild resemblance to corn bread. It doesn't take long to burn something, and from there it's not a huge leap to burning the house down. Ok, now I'm rambling.

I guess my point is... people should start saying they don't have time, or usually the patience/desire to cook. Following a recipe really shouldn't be that difficult, even if it's for something with a lot of chopping, long periods of simmering, etc. Cooking isn't hard (in my opinion); it's just time consuming.

Actually, one thing that was a bit "hard" was making Egyptian food from a cookbook from Egypt. There were many references to foods I didn't recognize, but more importantly, there were very few measurements! Even if you do cook a fair amount, it required either being familiar with Egyptian food or at least having an idea of how all the foods/spices would combine. It was a bit of a challenge picking out a recipe, because I'm not familiar with Egyptian food at all... yet.

Why was I making Egyptian food? No, not in preparation for my trip to Egypt (yay! can't wait!) I had coincidentally picked an Egyptian author's book for our last book club. I had read an interview of the author in National Geographic, and I thought it was a book worth reading. The Yacoubian Building has been the number one best selling book in the Middle East for a couple of years. I thought it might be neat to read in a book club in the States. Oh - and the food (imam biyaldi - an eggplant/beef dish) was pretty tasty.