The test results are in!

I got my band letter from the city of Long Beach today (well, yesterday, Friday). I got a 90 on the test, putting me in the top band, A! Woohoo!! I hope to get a call from some department for an interview soon :) Just briefly, the way the city works is to test people, and then they band the people who passed by score. The city of LB has 3 bands, A, B and C, with the top scorers being band A. They work from the top band down in their hiring process.

The other talking point of the day obviously is the presidential debate. Style and substance are two different things, and I personally don't care who has better style. I don't care if Kerry is the next Abraham Lincoln as far as orators go (which he isn't by a long shot!). Iraq isn't going to be won by debate skills. North Korea isn't going to disarm because of some eloquent and impassioned speech asking them to.

What matters is substance and Kerry has none as far as I can tell. I didn't hear anything last night that convinces me that he has a darn clue about the big picture of the war on terror. The man just does not get it at all. I don't even know what to say about it beyond that, but he just doesn't get it. The war on terror is about more than avenging 9/11 or bringing down bin Laden. bin Laden is not the be all and end all of terror in the world. Hussein is a terrorist in his own right. The Taliban are terrorists in their own right. The Russian school tragedy was an act of terror.

I went shopping today for a new outfit to interview in. I discovered at my last interview that the outfit I'd been using doesn't really fit me quite right :\ That's a horrible clue that I've been putting on weight, which I'm not at all happy about. So I wanted an outfit that fit me properly, but also one that I felt good in instead of feeling self-conscious.

I ended up with 3 outfits, but I think I can only interview in one of them. The other 2 are dresses, which would be fine for a business casual office or church, but not for an interview. But they were on sale so I got them :) The one dress was a dress I'd seen a few months back, but couldn't afford the $100 price tag. Today it was marked down to $40, so I got it :) It's purple silk, although the dry clean only tag is a major negative. The other dress is a dark blue green color and a textured fabric mixed with some spandex or lycra. It's kind of a shame it's not terribly appropriate for an interview because I felt really good in it. The interview outfit is 3 pieces with pants, a top and a jacket, and it's black and a sage green with a little white. Due to the sale they were having, I saved $130 all together :) It was great.

They had another few outfits I liked, but they didn't have my size, and my mom said we'll go to the other store after church tomorrow and she'll get them for me if they have my size. :)