Interview update and other tidbits

Well, my interview is done. I'd never interviewed with a state agency before, and it was a more structured interview than I'm really used to. I talked to three people, and first I got a brief rundown of the benefits. (My health insurance would be free, I'd pay for J's - that would be a pretty good savings over where I work now!) The region this particular office serves covers Tarrant, Parker and Palo Pinto counties, so most travel wouldn't be overnight unless it was traveling for training - that could be in Austin, Houston, San Antonio. They asked if I'd have trouble traveling - big no, I know K and I could work it out if I had to be gone a night or two once in a while for training. Then each person had a list of questions they asked me about my background and abilities, different scenarios within the job, when incarceration might be appropriate for nonpayment, negotiation vs. litigation, and so on. I answered as best as I could, and I told it straight. I told them I'd always had an interest in children, that I'd really liked working with CPS cases at the DA's offices I'd worked for, and that I felt even more strongly about it now that I had a child and now that I'd seen what a nasty divorce/custody/support battle can do to a family through my sister's divorce. I told them I felt like people who have children have an obligation to support those children, and if they aren't, then someone needs to hold them accountable, and I wanted to be that someone. I didn't see any need in beating around the bush, so I was as straightforward as I know how to be.

It sounds like it would be a pretty high-intensity job - big dockets two days a week, smaller dockets or special settings another one or two days a week. I could be in court every day, but they said that doesn't happen every week. Still, if I'm doing something worthwhile, something I enjoy, I can handle that.

I don't know when I'll hear anything. If the position is offered to me, I'll get the call from Human Resources in Austin. The managing attorney at the office I'd be working at gave me his card and asked that I please call him if I did get the job, saying that often Austin won't let the field office know for three or four days who they've hired! Interviews are today only, and at the end of the day they'll be making their recommendation to Austin, but I don't know how long it will take Human Resources to act on that (especially given that part of downtown Austin was shut down this morning due to a whole bunch of unexplainedly dead birds - that may make things move just a little slower, if the Human Resources people couldn't get in to work!). So, now I wait. I do feel pretty good that they're just doing a handful of interviews today and that I was one of the ones chosen. I told them I'd applied for similar positions before and was very excited when I'd gotten called for the interview. It's out of my hands. Fidget, fidget, fret, fret.

I've been enjoying my day off. I used up all but a dollar and change of my gift card at Barnes & Noble. I got two exercise books (one with ten-minute yoga exercises, one for the exercise ball), a fun little mystery novel, a devotional book (How to be a Mom after God's Own Heart - I read the back cover and it fairly bonked me over the head and said, "Buy me!"), a Curious George treasury for J (something like 7 or 8 stories for $12), and a REALLY good CD. It's a CD of club mixes/remixes of Enigma songs. I also got a coffee and a cookie. And I still have a teeny tiny bit left!

I got a whopping $22 from things I dropped off at Once Upon a Child and Half Price Books, and I found book eleven in the neverending Robert Jordan series at Half Price, hardcover, for only $5. So of course I had to get that (I'm going to have to go back and re-read the whole stinkin' series now!). Then I spent $53.16 at Target, $50 of which was a gift card. I've had a good day and come home with $13 more in my pocket than when I left the house!

I think I'm going to put on a pot of chili to have leftovers for lunch this week. It's been a good day off. And next Monday is a holiday, so next week will be another short week. I'm getting positively spoiled with these short weeks.