karmaville

Hope is lost, lost is hope

Melodramatic I know, but I now officially given up hope on getting the job. If it comes through, bonus, if not, screw it.

Still waiting

Still no word...the waiting is killing me.

Baseball in Portland

Just when you thought baseball in Portland wouldn't be any fun, the Portland Beavers show how to liven things up.

Worry and disappointment

So I had a job interview on Monday with a different nonprofit. It seems like the perfect job: more responsibility, stability, Monday through Friday, etc. They were interviewing 10 people total over Monday and Tuesday and the woman I interviewed with indicated she would call people within 72 hours for a second interview by phone.

Well, if I account for the time it took to interview everyone, the 72 hours started last night at 6pm. So here I sit, waiting for the phone to ring. I took all the right steps including sending the thank you note, so now I can do nothing but wait.

I have an extreme amount of patience but this is just killing me. Hopefully I'll hear something today because I am just in a pissy mood until she calls.

I think I did OK in the interview, she had some positive comments like "Wow, that's a great question" and "Well you already answered these four questions." But, I still worry that I won't get the job. So I try an not set myself up for disappointment but at this point all I have are negative feelings. I really want this job and I can't stand waiting.

Arg.

UPDATE: No word yet as of 3:30pm.

Better and Better...

The Portland Tribune has more on the next step for baseball.

Tribe: Put us in, coach!

The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde plans to offer its services as a guarantor for bonds that would help build a major league baseball stadium in Portland.

Now if only an owner would step up to the plate, so to speak.

A Baseball Dream Lives On

From the Oregonian:

Baseball Bill Goes to Governor

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A $150 million baseball stadium plan won final legislative approval Monday, a major step toward luring the Montreal Expos to Oregon.

Final action came as the House, with no debate, voted 31-24 to approve an amended version of the bill that passed in the Senate late Saturday.

It now goes to Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who's a leading backer of the move to bring Major League Baseball to Oregon as a way to boost the state's ailing tourism economy.

With legislative action on Senate Bill 5 now completed, Portland officials were preparing for the next steps in their quest to bring a team to Oregon.

The hurdles include finding a team owner and a guarantor to back stadium bonds, crafting a Portland tax package to pay the remaining $200 million of the $350 million stadium price tag and picking a construction site.

Oregon is competing with Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia to get the Expos, a team major league baseball hopes to relocate next year.

The bill would pay for a new stadium using the income taxes of future team players and executives.

Woo-hoo!

When the woman of your dreams waltzes through your life

While helping cover a shift at work today, I helped a gentleman and his daughter from Georgia. She was the epitome of "perfect".

The women who catch my eye are rarely the drop dead gorgeous supermodel chic hipsters but the down-to-earth quiet ones who have that mischievous smirk just under the surface of their smile. The woman from Georgia looked the part of a woman from the Northwest -- short blond hair, North Face fleece, jeans, low-rise hiking boots and had dimples to die for. But the clincher? Her smooth as silk southern accent. If it wasn't for her father standing next to her, I would have immediately asked her to forget her past and run away with me.

But alas, it was not to be. She took her ticket, said thanks, and all I was able to get out was "Can I help the next person in line?"

A Bad Day for Portland

Just when things were llooking promising...

Ore. Senate kills Portland baseball stadium bill

By KGW and APStaff

Oregon could be out of the hunt to lure the Monteal Expos as the Oregon Senate Friday voted down a measure to finance a major league baseball stadium. The measure was defeated by just four votes.

Senate approval has been the largest hurdle throughout the legislative session. The Oregon House passed the bill Wednesday and Gov. Ted Kulongoski said he would sign it if it got past the Senate.

After the Senate voted down the proposal 12-18, backers gave notice they may make a motion to reconsider the measure later.

Earlier this week, baseball supporters said they thought they had the needed 16 votes for Senate passage -- but they acknowleged it would be a close vote.

Senators debated the measure for about an hour late Friday morning before voting to defeat the funding plan, known as Senate Bill 5.

A graphic of a proposed baseball stadium that could be built near the Broadway Bridge in Portland. (KGW Graphic)
Oregon is competing with Washington, D.C. and northern Virginia to lure the Expos. Neither of the other two suitors has a stadium bill in place, but Oregon baseball supporters said if the bill failed so would the state's chances of getting the Expos. Major League Baseball has said it hopes to announce the Expos' new home by Labor Day.

Sen. Lenn Hannon, an Ashland Republican who vowed to defeat the proposal, said the state shouldn't help build a stadium, particularly for a team that is loosing money.

Major league baseball "is trying to dump a poor asset to the highest bidder," Hannon said. "Anyone who has the money to play a player $10 million a year has the money to build their own stadium."

The bill defeated by the Senate on Friday would have payed $150 million toward a new stadium, using the income taxes of future team players and executives. That money would have been bonded and backed by a "guarantor." That could be a rich person, a city government willing to back the bonds, or a combination of the two.

The guarantor had yet to be identified, and many Senators voting no Friday said that made them wary of how good an investment a major league team would be.

The rest of the $350 million stadium money would have come from a combination of private financing and other Portland-area taxes associated with the team. But the details of where that money would have come from were never defined.

Supporters had argued the baseball plan would provide jobs to Oregon's struggling economy.

"Three thousand team players come on down and find your job," said Rep. Donna Nelson, R-McMinnville, earlier this week when the House passed the bill. She was referring to the estimate that the stadium would require 1,500 construction workers over each of the next two years.

Saturday at Work

I added my first pictures to my photo album today. I took a few pictures at work while I was opening this morning.

Special thanks to Dooce for the 'Dooce Effect' that I used with these pictures.

Fair and Balanced

Amen Brother.