This week in the news

After a pretty mild week weatherwise, we expect freezing rain on Sunday. At least the weather held for Spring Career Fair on Friday. It was much colder than they had promised us all week, but it didn’t rain or snow, so the crowds still came. We had 195 employers come, and most of them were very satisfied with their day. 1239 candidates came through the doors, so we did pretty well that way. I always shoot for 1500 or more, but that seems unreachable.

Most problems occur as employers set up in the morning, and I have developed some little tricks along the way so that I can be flexible in solving different issues that come up. For instance, one company said their display was too big to be in the middle of the row. Even though I told people the floor was sold out, I kept one table in reserve, on the end of a row, so I sent them there. Another table needed electricity, though they hadn’t requested it ahead of time. I got their table moved to a powered row and they were happy. Another was mad because I didn't put her in the healthcare section, and I explained that since she was looking for Biology and Chemistry people, I put her in the Science section, and that we had sent emails to the Science students telling them where to find this particular employer at the Fair. She wasn’t quite satisfied with that perfectly lucid explanation, and stalked off saying “We’ll see.” You know what? If she filled out her evaluation and tells me again that she was unhappy, I’ll stick her in the healthcare rows and let her fend for herself.

Oh-one more story about annoying people at the Fair: There is a therapy place called Tender Loving Care, and the woman who represents them comes from Boston for the Fair. Every time she calls and announces herself in that harsh accent as being from “Tenda Loving Cay-uh” I always doubt that that is what I would receive from them. Anyway, she is always complaining about things so I put her at Table number one. Later I saw her sitting at a table in the middle of the front of the Fair and I said, “Nancy, you’re supposed to be at Table One.” She said, there was a “One” on this table so that’s why I’m here. Well, she was sitting at a premium priced table, and those are designated with letters of the alphabet to distinguish them from the other tables. She was sitting at Table I (eye), not one. I kicked her out and sent her to one. The big bank that was supposed to be at “I” was at “one”, and decided to stay there, so we got another table for Tenda Loving Cay-uh.

The other day I climbed the stairs for the first time this month, and four year old Max was upstairs already. He ran to the top of the stairs and said, “How’s my buddy doing?” This weekend he slept over and woke up early, of course. Kathy amused him for a while, having him feed Kodiak. Max told us about his dream where Nana was in a video game with him and she killed 129 baddies, or something like that. Today Shane took him to a kids’ event at the Cleveland orchestra called “The Velvet Violins”. After that exposure to culture, a trip to the Natural History museum was planned as well. Max got a bug in his head that he also wanted to see the planetarium. Shane explained that it involved a lot of sitting, but Max was still intrigued with the idea of seeing the stars and planets. LATER: Max loved the Velvet Violins and insisted on listening to classical music on the way home. After the orchestra show they did go to the Natural History museum to see Sue, the world famous Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, which was also a big hit with Max. The planetarium idea was shelved for the time being.

One interesting thing that came of my being sick this month: I weighed myself on a new scale and I am down to 170 pounds. Last month I was at about 184. I did want to lose some weight before the cruise, but I was thinking in the neighborhood of five pounds, not fifteen. Guess I just haven’t felt like eating much lately.