A set of friends (Nathan, Caitlin, Patrick) and I have started documenting our respective/collective job searches on our homemade whiteboard. Called "The [ ]hiteboard" or "Wall of Rejection", it displays lists of places we've applied; documents interviews, fade-outs/no-responses/empty sets; and acts as a gallery for tangbile rejection letters (so far we have only two--email seems to be the rejection m.o. in these economic times). So far I feel good about it. Maybe we'll have a party when we hit a big figure, i.e. 30 rejections (so far we're at 16) or 75 applications (currently at 45). So far I've applied to the fewest jobs, but have the highest interview:application ratio (3:8), so I'm feeling good(ish) about things. There are planning jobs out there, I swear it--we'll all be gainfully employed, or at least close to it, by the end of August.

I took Mao to the groomer's for a Lion Cut on Monday (see it here!). He's so far garnered at least four new nicknames: Muskrat, Brook Trout, Tiny Lion, Possum. I expect more to develop.