So after the downer of Harlequin, things have started to look on the upside. Just as I was preparing myself to wait until January for any other job opportunities, suddenly a slew of leads have come up!

I had a shotgun phone interview last week with a company called Moneris solutions (credit card payment company), which turned out to be quite intense. As usual, I was taken off guard from the call, and before i knew it i was answering anything from behavioural based "give me a time when..." to pure marketing questions like "what is positioning? (i answer) How would you then position Moneris?". Crazy for a phone interview, i must say. Anyway, yesterday (tuesday) the guy called me back for a formal interview, which will be held next week. I'm not sure how good the job is, but it's off the subway so that's good. We'll see how the 2nd round of interviewing goes.

I also got a call from Magickwoods Inc., which is a kitchen/bath design manufacturer. The "creative marketing manager" would be responsible for both marketing and a little design too, so that looks like a lot of fun! It was also started by UW grads about 8 years ago, and they're already grossing over $20M per year in sales.

In terms of leads, through a friend i may be able to snag a position at an Ad Agency, i'm assuming as an account coordinator to start, then leading toward media buyer or something along those lines. That would also be a great job, and I think it would be a great experience for me to be in an Ad Agency, b/c of their innovative and conceptual avant-guarde thinking, which of course i would love to be apart of. Then may be i can hear conversations about "brand equity" or "creative insight" or "brand stewardship" and feel giddy inside. :)

--but again, that is just a lead, so i can't get ahead of myself. the first two are much more realistic since i have interivew dates nailed down.

On another front, my webproject has also started to get a bit busier. I'm delivering 2 presentations this week to schools alone, so i'm preparing for that. I know the material, i just need to calm myself down and articulate it effectively. I need to communate with enthusiastic flare, but not flaring so strong that I'm racing through the material, leaving everyone in the dust. Nonetheless, this will be great experience for me, since i've never done a sales pitch by myself before.

BEEF BEEF BEEEF!
Oh, also 2 nights ago I was invited to my friend's staff dinner party. It was at Le Bifteck Steakhouse. The night was fun, since it was free food for everyone! I don't eat steak anymore, nor giant pieces of prime rib, so i had to salmon. But after taking a few bites of the salmon, it was clear that they're speciality was definitely steak/prime rib, hence the "steakhouse" as part of their title :). But it was still good, and the desserts were great too! they also had deep fried crutons, which at first sounds gross, but were actually really good... as long as you don't eat too many of them!!

One of the funniest things about this place is their way of labeling the meat for the waiters and waitresses to know. they put little plastic cows on the slabs, ranging from pink to dark brown. On the mini cow, it says "medium rare" or "well done", with french translations as well! And when you translated the french "medium rare" it was "bleeding meat" :) em em em!

So hopefully things will stay on the positive side for me.. we'll see how it all goes!

Take care,

RE

"eat drink and be merry"