Interviewing...

I guess I haven't talked much on here about what this job-seeking process is like. I also want to limit how much I disclose in the online universe. Companies, as it turns out, really do check up on people. I know that I used to do that for my company when I did recruiting.

It's unreal how much everything feels like dating. The companies are so temperamental about you showing interest in them, and even when you think you''re clearly communicating your intentions about your interest, they don't always understand it.

Cisco was a company near the top of my list, and I felt like I had done all of my homework for them going into the interview process. I talked with each of their recruiters. I had even began correspondence with one before I even got into the program. I went to their office hours, their info session, out to lunch with them, and I even went on a trip out to the Bay Area to make sure they saw my face.

And in the end I didn't even get an interview with them. It came down to the fact that I never explicitly told them they are at the top of my list, so they didn't even bother interviewing me. I couldn't believe it. That set off a chain reaction for me of reaching out to all of my remaining companies and letting them know my level of interest, and asking them for next steps.

There was a week period when about 6 or 7 companies came to campus and interviewed people. I only interviewed with one, where for a number of people they interviewed with maybe every single company, and then they told me no, and then a bunch of people were starting to get offers and fly-backs.

I started to feel panicky about my situation. Should I have applied everywhere even though I only had lukewarm interest? Did I put my eggs in too few baskets? Was I going to be able to get any offers?

Then my top companies started to have their deadlines, I started getting interest, and now I'm back to feeling like balance has been restored. I had an interview yesterday, one today, and I have two lined up for early next week, and I would be perfectly happy working for any of these companies. Once again, I feel confident things will work out.

It's just kind of a crazy process, but it's really fun too. Today's interview was the coolest interview experience I've ever had. I just loved it. Part of it was just two questions and in-depth conversation about my most significant accomplishment, and then how I would approach a case situation. The second part were questions directly related to their business, and it felt kind of like a game to me. I loved it.

When I got my first no, it really made me kind of mad, and shook me up, but I think it turned out really well. Now that company is getting sued for a billion dollars by the federal government, and after hearing about how they've handled some other things, I am actually glad that one didn't work out and I wasn't forced to have to make my own decision about that company.

I feel really good going forward. It's a nice place to be. We'll see where we end up and with who.

Elections and such

Someone has been emailing me about a broken link from a post that is 5 years old. I couldn't believe it. Then I really couldn't believe it when she followed up 3 more times in the last month or so. That forced me to go back through my blog and look for it, but I couldn't believe how much content I used to put out. I don't know if y'all realized this, but I used to post. A lot. I used to write a lot, and then link and excerpt even more.

I don't know that I'll ever get back to that level of output, but here is some more for you anyway...

Romney is still doing really well. This article by Victor Davis Hanson points out just how much the debates turned the tide for Romney. His strategy in that third debate really was pretty straightforward - he didn't need a knockout, by any means. All he needed was to basically hold the line, look Presidential, and not mess it up. He could've done more, that's for sure, but he didn't need to, and he pulled it off.

This one is by Michael Barone, who always has a really good grip on how to read these things. From the article:

The list of target states has certainly not been fixed. Barack Obama's campaign spent huge sums on anti-Romney ads to create a firewall in three states that the president won narrowly in 2008 -- Florida, Ohio and Virginia. But post-debate polling shows Romney ahead in Florida and tied in Virginia.

National Journal's Major Garrett reported last week that Obama strategist David Plouffe omitted Florida and Virginia in a list of key states but mentioned Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. Obama carried the latter three by 10, 10 and 12 points in 2008.

So much for the firewall. In addition, polling shows Romney ahead in Colorado, which Obama carried by 9 points last time, and the race closing in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, which Obama carried by 14, 10 and 16 points.

And then there was his massive rally in Colorado two nights ago.

In the all-too-important swing state of Ohio, Romney is really starting to close. This post in the Corner at NRO shows that Romney is looking like he's setting up for a big finish in Ohio:

The race for Ohio is slowly tightening, but Mitt Romney does not hold a lead in a single poll in the current Real Clear Politics average (he is tied in two). Two polls from Time and CBS/Quinnipiac have grabbed headlines by showing Obama a five-point lead in each. Romney is chipping away at Obama’s poll lead, but the Democratic advantage in party-ID has increased across these polls. When looking at the polls in Ohio, it is becoming entirely possible that Mitt Romney should be able to win Ohio without ever showing a consistent lead in the polls, or any lead at all.

Lastly, a reason a lot of libs are still feeling optimistic is that they keep saying, well, it's the electoral math. Romney may lead nationally, but the math for getting to the magic 270 electoral count just isn't there, but again, that's misleading. Rasmussen polls, among the most reliable out there, is showing that of the 11 key swing states that went for Obama in 2008, Romney now leads across the board 50%-46% . Formerly, Obama's team was thinking that they had a firewall in Florida, Virgina, and New Hampshire, but now Romney is either tied or out ahead on those. He is also up in Colorado, North Carolina, and closing in on the rest.

So what's the big thing now besides voting? Pray for good weather. If you want a Romney win, pray for good weather for two Tuesdays from now. Turnout will favor the GOP because of their enthusiasm, and nothing suppresses turnout like unfavorable weather. Kind of like today in Utah.

Hold Serve

That's all Romney has to do tonight. He can go after Obama if he likes, but really, the only thing he needs to do is to continue to appear to be Presidential. With that first debate, Romney finally broke Obama's serve, and he held that last debate, and he just has to do it one more time. I think if he makes it through tonight without any real hiccups, then this race is his to lose.

I can't believe he's thisclose to be coming President.

Romney Continues Momentum

Caught this last one too. It was kind of interesting. Romney crushed it on anything related to economics, the debt, and the like. Also on energy. He missed a big opportunity on Libya, and Crowley made it worse by mistakenly siding with the President. He did not attribute those attacks to acts of terror.

Anyway, I felt like it was a wash. Neither of them really came out ahead. Romney was pretty good, but he got distracted on a few points, and missed when he got the Libya softball tossed to him. Too bad.

But the more significant point was that for a challenger to hang with the incumbent is usually a win for the challenger. That's a big deal.

And the recent polls are bearing this out. This article refers to the Rasmussen poll:

The Left seemed pretty pleased with Barack Obama’s performance in Tuesday night’s debate, cheering his renewed energy and aggressiveness.  How did it play with voters overall?  The spot polls produced mixed results, generally agreeing with most pundits that it had been a draw.  Today’s Rasmussen tracking poll shows Obama falling slightly further behind as the first post-debate data gets added to the mix:

 The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows Mitt Romney attracting support from 49% of voters nationwide, while President Obama earns the vote from 47%. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, and another two percent (2%) are undecided. See daily tracking history. …
These updates are based upon nightly polling and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. As a result, roughly two-thirds of the interviews for today’s update were completed before Tuesday night’s presidential debate. Saturday morning will be the first update based entirely upon interviews conducted after the second debate. Matchup results are updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update).

Interestingly, Romney’s 49% is solid with or without leaners.  Without leaners, Obama only gets to 46%. Among those “certain” to vote, Romney leads 46/44.  Republicans now have an eight-point advantage on enthusiasm, 83/75, with independents nearly as enthused as Democrats at 72%.

Pretty cool, methinks. Even more surprising is that Gallup shows Romney ahead today by 7 points. Although Gallup is becoming less reliable lately and this looks like an outlier, it's still significant.

Also, RealClearPolitics finally has the electoral map in favor of Romney for the first time this whole campaign, although there are still lots of toss-up states.

It's a looking very up. If Romney can continue to hang tough in the debates, and not stumble to the finish, he has a real shot at this.

Ryan v. Biden

I still haven't had a chance to watch the first presidential debate. I was flying into San Jose as it was happening last week, but I did catch tonight's. I thought it was really interesting. A few quick thoughts:

• Biden is really insufferable, isn't he? You knew that he had to come out swinging, especially after Obama's performance last week, but I have to wonder if people that are still undecided could ever find that kind of person appealing. I guess in one respect Ryan may have come off as passive, but it seems like one of the strength's of the Obama ticket is that they are supposedly so likeable, but the way he behaved, I would think, would appear to be very, very off-putting.
• Ryan got him good with the quip about Biden's own frequent gaffes. The townhall really loved that, but Biden got him on the letter that Ryan had written to Biden. Even if Ryan had a valid point, Biden didn't allow him to properly respond, which I guess is good enough.
• The Libya stuff is pretty damning for the administration.
• The personal stories woven by Ryan in are sometimes pretty compelling, Sometimes it may be overkill. 
• Ryan had some awesome, awesome lines on economic policy, but is his strength. Unfortunately, the debate did not center on this topic, only really coming up toward the end.
• The Catholic-abortion question was well-answered, and I can see the argument that pro-choice'rs have about guaranteeing others the right to choose, but I wish Ryan could've painted a clearer picture about how extreme the liberal views are on abortion. Partial-birth, even live-birth abortions are very appalling. Could anyone ever get behind that?
• To the last point also, the Ryan point about Catholic charities having to sue to not be forced to practice against their beliefs, Biden is so brazen. The only reason why they haven't to this date is because they forced back the decision on that point until after the start of the new year. So yes, they haven't yet, but it's only because you forced the issue to a later date. Very deceitful.

I think it went for Ryan, but I'm not partial. In the end, this will probably be a wash. It will be interesting to see how the mainstream media spins it. I checked out Huffington, and in a huge headline in bold they have written BIDEN'D, touting a survey that says he won 67%-30-something percent, but the survey is of only 300 people, and advertised by the heavily liberal HuffPost. CNN has it essentially a draw. I'd think it'd be energizing to the base, but a turn off to undecideds. We'll see.

Crushin'

It's the funniest thing, but it totally feels like I have a crush on my little girl. When I start day dreaming my mind drifts toward her. I look on FB, on Instagram, on Amy's blog to see pictures of her. And I get excited to come home and see her.

It really is so life-changing being a father, and having a little girl for that matter. Admittedly, I wanted a boy, but I really wouldn't have it any other way.

I just love her.