A lot can happen in two days. The painter finished his work, and we're really pleased with the results. If our house does go on the market, it will have much better curb appeal and a more inviting first impression when people step through the door. He and his helper did a marvelous job. As I had feared, however, the cat did decide to mark its territory in one of the previously inaccessible areas of the house, and, not to be outdone, one of the dogs decided to do the same the following day. It took over an hour to clean the messes, and hopefully de-scent the area. Now that the painter is done, and the paint on the door has dried, the room is again off-limits to the pets.

Friday was largely spent in the U.S. After having spent the earlier part of this week updating resumes and applying to a couple of positions, Friday was the day when I finally got to attend classes focused on resume writing and interviewing skills. I don't know why I wasn't aware of this beforehand. It should have been obvious. But it seems that every human behaviour, if studied long enough, will yield insights to how the behaviour can be optimized or improved.

The experts at the seminar on resume writing really opened my eyes. They gave me a fresh perspective on the purpose of a resume, and unfortunately in the process, made me realize how utterly terrible my previous resumes must have looked to employers. It's a shame that I hadn't had this perspective prior to sending out the resumes earlier this week. Anyway, with this new knowledge, and the positive attitude that I have about my own skills, I think any future resumes will be "killer" documents. Just in case, the instructor has graciously volunteered to proofread any resume sent to him. I feel pumped.

On the domestic front, our forced frugality continues to pay benefits on the weight-loss front. I am now down 12 lbs. from my pre-Passover level, and am not feeling deprived in the slightest. In the past, when we shopped for meal ingredients, there would be times when the produce would go bad before we had time to use it all. Lately, we've begun to purchase pre-packaged foods that only need to be heated in the microwave. I'll tell you... these foods have come a long way from the "TV dinners" of the seventies and eighties. They are nutritious, good tasting, and reasonably priced. And the real bonus is portion control. When we ate meals prepared from scratch, there was a tendency (on my part at least) to eat everything that's put on the table. Wanting to ensure that I did not leave the table hungry, my wife had a tendency to put lots of food on the table; and being a dutiful husband, I did all I could to stuff my face to let my wife know I appreciated her cooking. Not only did this inflate her ego and my tummy, it also depleted our finances. Our current arrangement is a win-win-win proposition.... lower cost meals, less effort to prepare them, and limited caloric intake.

When not working on resumes, attending seminars, or blogging, I am making time to continue my online training. I have been concentrating on Java lately, in an effort to boost my knowledge of the product, and to give me access to a free programming language with which to work on pet projects. I need to get away from using the marginalized programming tools that clients and employers have never heard of, and start using tools that will get me noticed. Since Visual Basic is essentially a windows-only development tool, I figured Java would be more universal.

Anyway, that's enough catching up for now. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress on all fronts.