Gettin' the Job - OIT Prepares its Students for Jobs!

Hey, everyone. This is the first of, hopefully, a series of blogs about OIT students who score jobs related to their major. I'm trying to meet up with people I know who have been offered jobs, and ask them some questions about their experience through the whole "job search" ordeal.

Just recently, I interviewed a close friend of mine by the name of Clint Moran. I'll go ahead and show the transcript, then I'll talk some more about it.

M: I'm here with Clint Moran, a graduating senior here at OIT. Clint recently acquired a job at HP, Hewlett-Packard up in Boise, Idaho. So, I've got some questions for him.

You got this job at HP, you got the job offer, but before all of this happened, were you even thinking about HP as a potential employer?

C: No. Not at all.

M: Ah, so when HP came school, what did you think your chances of getting a job there were?

C: Slim to none. Just, yeah, because of the competition. Like, the other students that were interviewing for the initial interview on campus... I had a perception that they were smarter than me, and more capable, and would do better in interviews. But apparently I did pretty good, because I was one of the four or five that got to go to Boise. So, yeah, I didn't see them as an employer, or I didn't see my chances as being very high. I guess I was kind of... not setting my goals very high, so I wouldn't be disappointed. [laugh]


M: [chuckle] Okay, so how did you find out about the whole HP opportunity?

C: One of the instructors in our program [CSET].

M: So, you were told about this, and obviously you were interested because you went after it. But what kind of things did you have to do in order to get that initial invitation to Boise for the interviews?

C: I had to impress the two recruiters that came, I guess, by showing my technical competence, and somewhat my people skills by giving a decent interview without acting too skiddish or awkward.

M: Right, so did you meet them before or after the interview at all?

C: They had a little meet and greet in Purvine the day before the week of the interviews. So they had just a a really informal, kind of, "ask about Boise," "ask about HP," "ask about the job that they're offering" [sort of thing].

M: Were you really interested, at that point, in moving to Boise? Or was that just something that would happen if you got the job?

C: Yeah, it was just up in the air. I wasn't set on anything yet, at that point, because I wasn't sure if I would even like Boise, or like the campus, or like the people there... but it all turned out for the best.

M: Cool. So, the first couple of interviews [in Boise]; did you actually do anything to prepare yourself for them?

C: Yes, actually. I was mostly concerned about the programming competency questions like basic data structure questions, and stuff that we'd been taught - you know, just the fundamentals of our [software] program. And so I just went and created a project on my computer, and I just went over all the basic things like string manipulation, and stuff that I had just assumed I'd be asked. The basics of our program are what I practiced before the interview.

M: You said four or five people went to Boise for the rest of the interview process. Were they all from OIT, or were there more from other schools?

C: Actually, the only people from OIT were me and three other guys, and then there were like 20 other people from other schools. So there was about 25 people at the interviews. They were from all over the country.

M: Okay, you got invited to Boise, but did they give you any sort of itinerary of things you were going to do when you went to Boise?

C: They had a whole planned out event. When we arrived, they'd check us into our hotel, then they were going to give us a tour of the city on some bus, you know, just take us around to the major sites around Boise. Then after that, there was going to be a big dinner where they discuss what was going to happen the next day - the interviews and stuff. At dinner were all the hiring managers at HP so we could get to know the people who would be interviewing us, or people we could be potentially working with. But, unfortunately, all of the OIT guys missed that because our flight from Klamath Falls was delayed.

M: Oh that's a bummer! Was this all scheduled for a weekend?

C: It was for a Sunday and a Monday. So the tour and the dinner were on Sunday, and the interviews were on the Monday morning.

M: You had three interviews scheduled up in Boise, right?

C: Yeah. The Monday morning of the interviews, there were three interviews scheduled for all of the applicants. [They] went in different orders, but each interview had, kind of, its own theme. One of them was a kind of a HR interview, like, "what would you do in this situation, if this employee was doing this," or "how would you deal with a customer if x, y, and z." You know, just general questions to see if you would be able to handle difficulties in the workplace.

One of the other interviews was a technical interview, and that was about the basics of our program, so like, C/C++, different problem solving like "write a linked-list append function" and I think another one was "write i to a," so converting from an integer to a string or a string to an integer. Then just basic data structure questions.

Then the last interview was a problem-solving, like a logical interview. For example, the question I was asked was "given 8 balls [one of which is heavier than the others], find the heavier of the 8 using only two tests on a tip-scale". So, just stuff like that.

M: Cool. Going into the interviews, how were you feeling? Were you nervous, did you feel prepared?

C: I did a little bit of studying the night before, but I didn't want to over-exert myself because I didn't want to psyche myself out. But before the interviews, I was real nervous, because that [introduction interview] was the only other interview I've ever had for this type of situation. After the first interview I kind of loosened up a little bit, and then I was relaxed for the next two, so they went really smooth. I think that helped a lot.

M: Sweet, so after that first interview, you pretty much had a load off your shoulders.

C: Oh yeah. Big time. Because I knew what to expect, well, I didn't know exactly what to expect, but I knew the flow of the interview, how things would go. And everybody was really nice, so I wasn't expecting to get some drill sergeant kind of guy asking me really tough questions I had no idea the answers to.

M: So this all worked out, and now that you have the job, how much would you say your education at OIT helped you?

C: 100%. [laugh] Just talking to some of the people from different schools, I felt like they were up to snuff on most of the things that we were. So, I don't know if it's just basic programming language skills, like knowing the C++ language front and back like we do (because they [instructors] hammer it into our heads the first two years here), or just the problem solving skills (because our classes are all practical, they're not just theory). But the practical knowledge is what actually helped me through the interviews, because most of the questions I was asked, I had already been asked before and I knew the answers to them.

M: Those are all the questions I have for you right now. So, thanks a lot, Clint, for coming in and answering my questions.

C: No problem.


M: It was really enlightening and, I don't know, AWESOME!

First of all, congratulations to Clint. He's a great guy, and it sounds like he's got a great job waiting for him when he graduates. Really proud of him.

One thing that I should probably mention is that he was pulled aside before leaving Boise, along with a couple other guys, and was given an informal job offer on the spot. After that, it was all about just waiting for the official job offer email. He got it while we were in our networks lab. Needless to say it was hard for us to do any work after that.

We talked for a bit about some random things after his interview with me. One of the funnier things we talked about is how intimidated he was when he saw all of the interviewees in the same room. Some were dressed "heavily" while others limited themselves to shirt and tie. He talked about how his first impressions of the other interviewees made him feel pretty inadequate and unprepared, but his interviewing skills pulled him through.

Clint knows his stuff. Despite rocking only a shirt and tie, he got the job, so he must have impressed in the interview process. And a tough one at that. Early in the morning on a Monday, three interviews in a row...

What I think is really great is how much he attributes his success to his OIT education. 100%. Anyone can study programming. Anyone can study computers. Anyone can pay tuition at a school to assist in studying, and obviously at least 20 others on site at Boise had. But Clint chose to pay tuition at OIT, and he's 100% sure that what he was taught at OIT is what got him the job.

It isn't just about what you learn at OIT, though. It's about the relationships you make. Clint has made relationships with most of his instructors over the years, and I'm sure each of them have great things to say about him. This is how he found out about the HP recruiters coming to OIT. If you haven't already, make friends with your program's instructors! Their help, in addition to Career Services' help, can really get you somewhere!

Stay tuned. I think I have another person lined up to be interviewed. And if you happen to know someone that has been offered a job related to their major, drop us an email at career at oit dot edu. Thanks for reading!

I've made my own luck.

Some time ago, I was reading an article that discusses what makes "lucky" people so lucky. At the time, I was in a life-rut, but I knew it would pass soon enough. It always does. I never stay in a funk for any unbearable amount of time, and I like to think it's because I have "lucky" streaks that put me back on top. So reading this article was exactly what I needed to facilitate the occurrence of that "lucky" streak.

Unfortunately, I don't remember what website I read the original article on. But I've found an appropriate substitute. I can look back on all the times I'd jump right out of a rut, and apply most, if not all of the points they make in this article. It really does seem valid in retrospect, of course, just like most other ideas, but I recently had another "lucky" experience that really has me believing that I can make my own luck.

I have this aspiration to do freelance webdesign and webdevelopment in addition to whatever full time job I score after school. I've been practicing both of these things since I was in my early teens, and it's a great passion of mine. Unfortunately, to really have any credibility in the freelance field, you need to have had clients. And to get clients, you usually need to have some sort of credibility. It's the typical chicken-or-the-egg problem. But just recently, I caught a good break.

I was hanging out at a classy location killing time just before spring break had hit. Over the past month or two, I'd been frequenting this location, and I had gotten to know the owners pretty well. I knew the location needed a website, but I wasn't going to bring it up to them without anything to show. They always seem to comment on how bored I look when I'm there, and so generally some conversation starts up, especially when business is pretty slow. At some point, I asked what the special of the day was, and it happened to be Mojito Monday. I wasn't too keen on having a drink just yet, nor could I really afford one, so I asked the bartender to give me a minute.

Anyway, the bartender left and returned with a couple of tacos-gratis and some more conversation. He learned pretty quickly that I'm a software engineering technology major with freelance webdesign ambitions. At that point, he all but shoved a couple of webdesign job offers in my face. I was a little awestruck by how quickly a bit of smalltalk had evolved into something just short of job offers, but eventually it hit me that I had just been lucky.

See, I put myself in a position where I was exposed to new people. New people mean new opportunities, which means a better chance for a "lucky" event to happen. Being in the right place, with the right people around me, at the right time, with the right mindset got me almost-job-offers, which I then pursued.

One of them turned into a real job offer, and the other one is still pending a meeting between the interested parties. Needless to say, I'm really stoked. My motivation to pursue this has skyrocketed only from the onset of a project. I'm currently working on the website for the location, I've started a personal blog for my exploits in the web industry, and I've started putting together a resume website to showcase my work.

It's funny that one of these "lucky" events can completely brighten up someone's short-term or even long-term outlook. And because a person is so lighthearted and optimistic, more of these "lucky" events are likely to happen. It really is possible to make your own luck. The article I mentioned earlier, "How to Make Your Own Luck" lists attributes that are common amongst the "lucky" people who were studied, and those are a great place to start! Observe the wonders it has done for me!

"Spring Break, Woooo!....."

"...Let's go look for jobs!"

That's something you won't hear many college students saying these days. In fact, for most, it's probably the second to last thing on their minds (second after school). Think about this for a second. It's Spring Break - everyone is probably partying, traveling and/or relaxing at the beach... no one is searching for a job. So if you need one, what better time is there to look for one?

Actually, your job search should have started months ago. But if you're still putting it off, it's crunch time. I'm not saying you should blow off your entire spring break, but now is a great time to put a dent in the search.

Boston.com's JobDoc says you can do both, and explains how to get away with it! My particular favorite is very first step listed: clean up your web presence, and keep it clean. Employers are looking for workers, not partyers. Get rid of, or hide the images that employers won't like - you know what they are. Scrub your Facebook wall so it's devoid of things employers won't like - you know what they are. The idea is to make yourself look like the perfect candidate... because they will find your profile, and they will scrutinize it.

One thing they don't list on there, which I think is a really powerful tool, is Zumeo.com. OIT has its own network set up on Zumeo for its students which, hopefully soon, will have exclusive job posts directed at OIT students from companies that love to hire from OIT. But anyone can make a Zumeo account separate from OIT's network. Any of you job seekers out there who are even remotely interested should check it out! If you're an OIT student, and you'd like to know more about Zumeo, come on up to the Career Services Office (LRC219) or send us an email at career@oit.edu, and I'll give you a quick rundown.

The moral of this story is that the coming weeks are a great time to start working on your job search. You don't have to attack it all-out during Spring Break, but do yourself a favor and get that small head start over everyone else by tackling some of it in your free time.

Career Fair Keepsake..... Again!

It's Wednesday, and here we are in the calm after the storm (it's raining) of yesterday's All Majors Career Fair. Well, it wasn't much of a storm, but I suppose the table arrangement resembled a cyclone. That isn't to say this career fair wasn't exciting, though!

I helped set up again this time, and before I started I was expecting the worst. Jan mentioned that she couldn't get us table cloths, and that we were using the paper again. It only took me a second to remember that we trashed the ones we used in the fall career fair, but I still wasn't quite enthused. When we started, though, hope filled my heart as I saw the box was unopened! We were using brand-new paper table covers! Not entirely satisfied, I looked to the bright side - there weren't any holes, but we still had to deal with ugly creases. Amy, my new coworker helped get them all set up. Most, if not all, of the companies brought their own table covers... so at least I didn't have to look at the creases the whole time.

Something I was really excited about was that Justin from Zumeo would be at the Career Fair giving people the run-down on what Zumeo is, and how it can help them. I don't know when this arrangement was made, but I'm sure Jan had a hand in it. What a great idea! I think Zumeo is way cool, and that we really need to start promoting it hard. So this is a great start.

Fast-forward to just before lunch. I guess, while I was away running an errand, that Amy and Alicia decided I'd get lunch first. I guess Alicia thought I missed lunch last time because of her. I just didn't feel like eating lunch. I heard that this time they were going to serve lasagna, which didn't sound great for lunch... and so I skipped it again.

I had a chance, after that, to chat with Justin. He and I have been in contact quite a bit trying to get things going for Zumeo and OIT, and so it was nice to meet him in person. At least now I know he's real. Actually, he told me about some of the cool stuff that's lined up for Zumeo in the future, as well as their new attitude for marketing and such. These are good times for Zumeo, and hopefully OIT can help! I promised him I'd do my best to send people his way if they missed him on the way in. He was set up at the side of the hallway without a massive sign for people to see, so people did miss him... a lot.

There isn't much else to write about that I didn't write about last time, so I'll jump right to my impression of this term's career fair. The first thing I should bring up is that student turnout was dismal. While talking to a couple of my friends who seemed rather unprepared, I found that a lot of them had heard about the career fair less than a week ahead of time. I wonder how this sort of issue comes about. Maybe we need to look into our promotion plans for the next career fair, so we can get more attending students AND hopefully much more faculty support.

I can't really comment on how students were dressed. I was a bit too busy sending them over to Justin to talk about Zumeo, so I paid little attention to attire. I definitely saw someone in a kilt, however. Not sure a lot of companies will hire him on the spot for that, but maybe it hit home with some of the recruiters on a personal level.

I took a photo of Jan holding a baby.

A lot of students I talked to seemed disappointed in how few companies were represented this time. But when I looked at our list of companies, I saw at least five companies that I haven't been here before. How reassuring is this! We can attribute the smaller company attendance to rough economical times, but at least five new companies are interested enough in OIT to send representatives down here! That's amazing, I think.

It was also pretty nice to see Sky Lakes Medical Center and Asante Health System out there supporting our medical students (and some other majors). Not a whole lot of medical students see any benefit in coming to our career fairs, mainly because the externship system gives them a strong headstart at a particular venue, but also because there are so few companies attending our career fair to give them more options. Hopefully we'll see an upswing in medicine-related companies at our career fairs in the future!

I also spent some time chatting with the guys from Kinetics. From a personal standpoint, I think what they do at Kinetics is fascinating. It almost makes me wish I had chosen one of the majors they're interested in... almost.

As usual, there was a lot of great SWAG to grab up. Pacificorp brought some sweet wind-up dancing dudes, Asante had some colorful shopping bags that folded into a small pouch. GE was handing out the same awesome frisbees they brought in the fall, and I saw Nor-Cal Products had job applications available on the spot. A couple companies even brought candy. I made sure to visit them.

Overall, I'd say this career fair was successful. I've only seen once of the employer evaluations that was returned, and it looks like one of our students secured a job offer already. Congratulations to whoever that is! Hopefully we'll see everyone back next year!

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Three of my Favorite Late-Game Job-Search Tips

Everyone, these days, knows the basics of a successful job search. If that's the case, how to you make sure that you get the job instead of the other guy who did everything right just like you? Well, aside from being more qualified, you can make yourself shine brighter than the rest of the competition. I've been reading through article after article looking for these little things that recruiters like to see, that not a whole lot of job seekers do, and I've picked up three very cool little points to talk about.

So, suppose you've already done your networking, and you've already submitted your resume to various recruiters. Next is the interview. It's game time, now. This is where you build the recruiters' interest in your own personal brand. Everyone's doing that, so here are some things you can do, that some people neglect.

An article was recently posted on New Grad Life listing off some various job hunting tips which we should all make ourselves aware of. While the tips are great, and very useful, only a single, brief piece of advice stands out to me. The article talks about following up, and how important it is. That's nice, but we should all know about this already. The big qualifier in that part of the article, though, is the emphasis on adding value to your follow-up call. The "Hi, I'm just calling to check up..."  situation seems all too common and mostly fruitless. Add a little value that can show the company you're still interested, and still doing your homework, and you'll be surprised how quickly they start to notice.

Though it's a good idea to follow up after your interview, you should first send a thank you note - ideally within the first 24 hours after the interview itself. Traditionally, these would be very formal letters mailed via the post, but these days that isn't necessary, and could even be detrimental. According to a short list of interviewing tips at Job Bound, only 25% of job seekers even bother to send a thank you note. Add the fact that positions need to be filled quickly, sending a thank you note via post may result in the letter not being received on time. The quickest way to express your thanks is by email! So, do yourself a favor and drop the recruiter a brief email after the interview to thank them for their time and consideration.

The last tip I found that I like is rather subjective. It specifically applies to phone interviews, but can be easily adapted to much more than that. Career Rocketeer says, "Don't Say Hello". The idea behind the article is that, usually, your phone interview will be scheduled just as a normal interview, and that you should be ready to answer the call professionally when it comes in. We won't all get phone interviews, but it's highly likely that we'll make some sort of contact via phone call with someone important in your job hunting process. These days, we commonly use cell-phones which have caller-id, or we have caller-id on our land-lines. If you've submitted your resume to anyone, you should always answer calls from unfamiliar numbers with "Hello, [first, last name] speaking." or something to that extent. This way, the awkward pauses depicted in "Don't Say Hello" will be avoided.

You can never go wrong if you adopt the above tips into your practice. They show the recruiters you're responsible as a candidate, and that's what they like to see.

Etiquette Keepsake - How to Eat your Dinner, Part 2

So there I was finishing up my soup, and just as I was putting another spoonful back, the waiter asked if he could take my dish. I wasn't quite ready for this, and it also seemed a pretty simple question to answer. After politely refusing his offer to take my dish, Robin told us that this isn't a regular occurrence. Normally servers are trained to look for placement of utensils as a signal that someone is finished with a particular dish. Placing the soup spoon to the side of the soup bowl signals that you are finished, and that the server may take the dish away.

Robin prompted us for questions, which none of us had, and so she pulled out a little cheatsheet lathered in great etiquette related questions. Questions like "Where does your napkin go when you get up from the table?" and "What do you do if your napkin falls on the floor?". Do you know what to do if a piece of your food falls on the floor? You leave it, and just be sure you don't step on it. What do you do if someone accidentally grabs your drink instead of theirs? Politely ask to use their drink.

I won't bore you too much with dinner. All you need to know is the chicken was delicious, the pasta was hard to eat properly, and it is not polite to use more than two packets of sugar in your tea, and if you are going to use two, open them at the same time. Also, if you eat an olive that is still stuffed with the pit, you need to be pretty dextrous to remove the pit from your mouth. You're supposed to place it onto the fork and put it on the plate.

Dessert was great, and it was supplemented well by Jan's presentation on interview attire. Like Mr. DaSaro, she did a good job keeping it up to date and connecting it with our generation, and there were good points made throughout its entirety. The biggest point I retained from the presentation is that the focus of the interview should be you - not your clothes. Wear something conservative and neutral. Distracting the interviewer with what you wear will sometimes tell him that you are hiding something. Another great point is that you really should shop with the intention to spend some decent cash. Buy the best clothing you can afford. To a point, more expensive clothes are produced with greater quality, and will probably fit you better. Look at it as an investment.

Jan finished her presentation without a microphone, and we transitioned to the Geomatics "Best Dressed" contest. All of the Geomatics students in attendance stood at the "front" of the room and we voted on who we thought was dressed the best. #10 was a sure shot for generalized criteria, but I really don't think his suit was appropriate for an interview. It didn't quite fit him properly, and looked kind of blocky, and I really think big jackets like his are more appropriate at the CEO level. Jackets are alright, just make sure that they don't make too much of a statement. Some of the other contestants were wearing outfits that looked more suited to some sort of formal. No one really seemed to be dressed for an interview, but that's just my opinion. Regardless, #10 got my vote, and also won the contest.

Robin shared her closing thoughts, praised our table, thanked our hosts, and I got to stand up along with Alicia and Amy to receive a round of applause for being Career Services student workers. That made my night, and brought an end to the event.

In conclusion, I had a great time. I learned a lot about proper dining, and got to have a decent dinner, too. Dining is such a complex game; not to be underestimated.

Etiquette Keepsake - How to Eat your Dinner

Take your seat after the host - napkin in your lap - elbows off the table - chew with your mouth closed....

These are basic table manners. Some of us grew up with them, others just seems just seem to know, and some haven't the slightest idea. This past Wednesday, February 17th, OIT Career Services put on ah event to carve these table manners into the minds of job seekers and students alike. We call it the Business Etiquette dinner.

The whole idea behind this is to prepare future or current job seekers for a quite important part of the job interview process; The Dinner. Some recruiters will invite an interviewee out to dinner to supplement the actual interview. This isn't just a night out, no. It's a full on second or third or whatever interview. So, naturally, OIT Career Services wants to make sure that our grads go into this just as prepared as they would any other interview.

I'm one of those kids who grew up in a family that doesn't sweat table manners. If I ate the food in front of me, my parents were happy, and I was happy. The only exposure to proper dining etiquette was through television, indirectly. And so I couldn't really understand what all the hubbub was about.

This night gave one of the most direct answers I could have asked for.

I was assigned to work the event, but I was encouraged to take part in it as well. The encouragement was rather strong, as I found my name was assigned to a table when I arrived. People began to show up and get their table assignments and name tags, and were told to wait outside the dining area. It seemed like everyone but me knew what they were doing. I saw and heard people greeting each other and talking about things that weren't always interesting. I shook a few hands myself and talked about some things that weren't interesting as well. I guess this is called mingling, and it happens all the time at conferences and conventions.

Mingling is very important. This is where a great deal of the magic happens. This is your chance to meet and learn about people who could be very useful in your networking structure, and in the process, allow them to learn about you. Your goal is to impress. As I mentioned before, this is another part of your interview process, no matter how little you're speaking directly with the interviewers. Make it count.

I was surprised how much small talk goes on. I'm not a big fan of small talk, because it doesn't get a whole lot done, and takes a long time, but it really is important. Knowing how to small talk shows you know how to be sociable, and if you do it correctly, can land you a new friend who could be in a high place. Just be sure to stay away from any topic that's more controversial than the high school uniform debate.

Robin Thompson, who was assigned to do part of the opening gave us a small talk about small talk (punny), and shared some pretty important mingling advice with us. First, turn your phone off. Phones are not only distracting to whoever you're talking to, but can also distract *you* from what you're talking about. Next, if there are appetizers or beverages, pass on the appetizers and, unless you absolutely need it, pass on the beverage. If you do find yourself carrying a drink, make sure you carry it in the hand that won't be shaking someone else's hand. Wet hands feel gross. Cold, wet hands even more gross. Lastly, be prepared for the aforementioned smalltalk. When someone asks you "What's new?" make sure you have something to reply back with before the question is even posed. "Not much" is never a good answer. She also explained the dnb concept to us, to save us any possible drink or bread related embarassment.

After this brief lecture, we moved inside. I was assigned to Robin's table, and since I had no idea what I was doing, I made sure to follow and observe my tablemates. Everyone was at the table standing behind their chairs, so I did the same. Robin pulled out her chair and say in it, and I did the same; after everyone else. Robin unfolded her napkin and placed it in her lap, and this time, I figured I didn't have to wait for everyone else. My plan had succeeded, and I knew it when Robin praised us for knowing not to take our seats until the host had. This made me feel good.

We spent some time introducing ourselves and doing the small talk thing again. I was kind of spaced out, but managed to retain what everyone else was saying about themselves, and say something about myself also. I phrased it different from the other people at the table, which would probably make me stand out. Nice.

At this point, Mr. Don DeSaro began his presentation on general etiquette do's and don'ts. He's a great public speaker, and he knew what points to stress and how to apply them to our generation. He briefly went over the layout of the table, which really resembled what I was seeing in front of me. At this point, I decided to practice Robin's dnb, and found that my bread plate was, in fact on my left side, and the drink on the right. I will never have to worry about grabbing someone else's drink again.

Mr. DeSaro also covered other interesting topics like drinking and partying, but not very much in depth. What I gathered is that we don't attend events for the food or the drinks. We attend them sometimes as part of an interview and every time for the networking. So don't treat them like a party, and keep your drinks under control. What you do at this event is just as important as what you did in your actually interview. Have people remember you for how qualified you are for your prospective job, not for how many invisible objects you trip over.

Some time near the end of Mr. DeSaro's speech, we were served the opening course of the meal; the soup. I'm not a fan of vegetable soups. Much less a fan of the onions that were in this particular soup. But I sucked it up and ate it, since I didn't know what else to do in this situation. Lucky for me, I was served last at my table, so I didn't have to be too concerned about waiting for everyone else to be served before starting. I realize now that I had stopped listening to Mr. DeSaro's presentation when the food showed up. I must have been hungry. I did, however, pick up the fact that being nice and *respectful* to the servers is just as important as being nice and *respectful* to the people you're dining with.

While we all dealt with the soups in front of us, we had some time to ask Robin some questions. I took this chance to ask about how common these set-course dinners were. Be prepared. At conferences and conventions, usually you don't get a menu, and you're served the same meal as everyone else. If you aren't a fan of something that they're serving, politely give the server a "No, thank you".

So, right now, I'm going to take an intermission. Part two on Monday!