Brrrrrrr
I'm freezing. Ever try to sleep with the A/C cranked on high? I have been trying to fall back asleep for the last hour and I'm thinking that's just not going to happen. Sometime in the middle of the night Tricia decided to turn this place into a Frigid Air. 've been up snce 5.30 countng sheep.
Alrght. Ths s freang annoyng. Ever try to type when ONE key snt workng?
ARRRRRRRG. never mnd. wll wrte when keys work.
earth shattering
Uh, what's the deal with the earth tremors lately? Am I going to become a statistic and fall into a chasm? Or be squished on the interstate? Slightly unsettling, particularly when driving beneath an underpass. Not exactly the way I'd like to go. Bleh.
Had I stayed home I'd be worrying about Santa Ana winds. How funny. Something exciting happens to the weather in southern cal and I miss it.
One more day in SF before heading back to LA. I'm kind of sad to leave. I've thoroughly enjoyed being Tricia's shadow on her client visits, and could see myself in a similar role. Interesting. Today I played tourist and finally explored areas outside of Union Square. (During Scient boot camp I stayed close to home and actually studied the training manuals. I know, dumb move, but I was naive in my belief system.) As a result my derriere hurts. There are a whole lotta hills in this place. Sweet bejeesus. I grabbed a cable car to the seaport area and then wandered my way over to the Coyt Tower. Before meeting up with Tricia I found Lombard Street... a.k.a. the Crooked One. Neato. Then there was the Precidio and the Cliff House. And a nightime jaunt to another waterside area. And most importantly: White chocolate mocha for moi while the rest of the crew enjoyed ice cream sundaes. YUM.
I think we're going to hit Berkely (however that's spelled) tomorrow with one last peek at the Haight.
But now I'm just pooped and must sleep.
My Aura
Last night at dinner a man leaned over to our table and passed us a business card. Robert said my aura was positive and he'd love to do a full reading. A pychic, but still nice to hear.
Very little computer time before we head out the door, but hot damn, the drive up CA-1 kicks ass. It's a once in a lifetime kind-of-a-thing you simply must do. Stunning vistas. I've taken oodles of pics and will post over the Turkey weekend. If I don't speak to you before then have a fabulous holiday.
Ah...the British
Love the BBC. The news in SD is military centric, while the LA folk worry solely upon entertainment and beauty. So I turn to the BBC for witty enlightenment and global news. Today I've learned about a new show that I absolutely must see: What Not to Wear.
The commercial has two women wrinkling their faces and yelling helpful things like," It makes your ass look huuuge" and "Bloody Hell! Put it back!"
snicker.
The BBC channel also introduced me to the E-Z Decorator. They immediately reminded me of a childhood past time, which of course the name escapes me. You know what I'm talking about, the plastic things you'd stick onto a board. Anyone have a clue what it's called?
Alright, must get offline. We're leaving shortly for our first retail visit.
Sharp as an Orange
That's Mujaji, the new girl dog. She just doesn't get it sometimes. Mercifully she has stopped the peeing-just-because-phenomena, so she's allowed in the house for extended periods of time.
She is now snoring during her midday snooze. I didn't realize dogs snored.
Anyhoo, it's almost time for me to leave. I have a few errands to run before catching the train. Instead of Tijuana my brother is coming to sightsee with me in LA next weekend. Yay!
My connectivity is ambiguous at this point as I'll be in a car and staying with friends in SF. Best way to contact me is on the phone and using my hotmail account.
Have a good one folks!
Is it OK to take time off between jobs?
Er, not really. That sentence was the first thing to greet me this morning. Thank you netscape.
Couple of things. I hate getting my period. It makes me irritable. (Alright, more so than usual.) I know my opinion of things sours as the date approaches, so it should come as no surprise that I feel negative about my work situation. However, I find it unbelievably rude when people don't return phone calls. People who 1) encourage you to call them and 2) you know are in the office. I refer to my favorite HR woman. WTH. I called the week after as requested, nothing. (This was Thursday). I called Monday chipper as can be, and well, obviously she has better things to do. When the economy does turn around it will take people some time to forget this type of behavior. Knowing this isn't really helping me, but I'm put off at the time I wasted preparing and participating in the interview process. My gut feeling is that I wouldn't have been happy there anyway, but I'm miffed. FINE.
Next item on the gripe list: Soliciting resumes eons ahead of a real hiring cycle.
The gig with Tricia's boss is further away than either of us anticipated. I received a polite thank you note from the big dude stating:
Thank you for for your letter expressing interest and praise for Mavi, but also for your clear self expression and summary of your work life. We will be taking a number of initiatives in preparing to better service and grow our business in 2003.
(Alright, not bad right?)
Then it says:
We will contact you before the Christmas Holiday.
Oooooooooo. So they're not looking for immediate help. We're talking the year three. How (and why for that matter) a company would open a new office with ONE person is beyond me. So that's on the back burner.
And I've been waitlisted at the other place. Actually, the correct term involves placing me on the "availability list".
Bleh.
Even though the smog is heavy in LA, I think I'd prefer to live there in my transient state. Fingers crossed the roommate thing evolves. Ho hum, it's Thursday. The plan is for me to return late Friday to Burbank, shooting up the west coast Saturday. Thanksgiving in San Fran and then I just don't know. Perhaps the brother would be interested in Tijuana?
DUI's
A recent bubble of DUI's over here makes me wonder: WHAT IS WRONG? It's not like you don't know drinking + driving = bad. A teenager, maybe. An adult, no excuse. You should know.
Just in case we're not clear here, you can refer to this handy dandy chart or use this calculator.
The penalties suck. Your insurance will likely increase threefold. Your license may be taken away.
If you do get pulled over, I was surprised to learn one shouldn't submit to a breathalyzer. If you blow a high BAC your car will probably be impounded. If you refuse to blow, the police will leave your car wherever it is.
Here are some visual indicators of DUIs in progress. Ahem, these are to help sober drivers distinguish a drinker in the lane next to you.
Alright, I'll get off my high horse.
Principles of Marketing
So I'm looking around online for additional information on Mavi Jeans. I stumble across a Turkish course in marketing. (Turkish company, Turkish case study homework makes sense.)
Imagine taking a course where the instructor's feedback consists of helpful bits such as:
... comsi comsa
... Yes, Yes, YEEEEEEESSSSS !!!!!
... This time you have some good ideas, keep up with them.
brb. And to preface the grade, the instructor's choice words are "You Get".
Interesting.
WTH
* WTH= what the hell
Uh, so I've got the tele running in the background and saw the strangest news lead-in:
Michael Jackson startles onlookers as he dangles a baby over a railing.
And the thing is, he does(!) He holds a baby with a towel over it's head, and dips the kid over the side...and then he just walks back into his room. If you happen to catch the news when there's more information please shoot me an email.
Student Loan Contest
No, the one most in debt does not win.
CareerCity is running a contest where you can win 25K to cover loans or 12K in cash. You need to become a member and post a reume in order to enter, but hey, I'm game. *(If you do win, you owe me a fancy dinner.)
Look at this shameless dog. Don't know him personally, but someone needs to warn him of the danger of coffee stains;)
Connectivity
Oh! One more thing. I can't check my cox.net email here. Password issues. If you've sent mail since Sunday, or would like to find me for the rest of the week, please stick to hotmail.
I know, I know. I'm such a pain. But you love me right?
L.A.
Hey folks!
DSL is kind of cool. Tricia has DSL and I'm impressed with the speediness of it all. I am simply in awe of her cute apartment. It's changed so much from the jumbled mess of boxes from a month ago.
Played phone tag yesterday with the peeps in HR (joy), stopped at one of Tricia's accounts and then headed up to L.A. It's really a quick drive in a car (2 hrs.) compared to the Amtrak trek (3 hrs & change). Driving into the fashion district I was reminded of New York. It's a similar mixture of grime mixed with the glamour of metallic clothing racks everywhere.
Mavi is housed in the 'Old Mart' which to me is a brand new 10 floor structure that oozes style. Granted, everything in NYC is old. The Old Mart is planted in the middle of downtown L.A. I can see why people rarely leave the confines of their offices when they work here.
I ventured out after lunch in search of a bottle opener (the lunch place delivered bottled water with caps that did not screw off). Let's just say that it's good I'm comfortable in all sorts of environments. And that I speak Spanish. And that I've been to Harlem and the outer boroughs of Manhattan. Er, the homeless do live outside in L.A. And they really start to congregate as night settles in. During the day there's a mixture of the old biddies scurrying about, chicas in incrediby tight clothing, and an assortment of panhandlers. A solid," No tengo un trabajo" garned smiles instead of frowns. (Who cares how true it is. I am not in the habit of giving quarters to anyone.)
Mavi's office is still a raw space, but located on a chi-chi floor with other young designers. I definitely feel the urge to shop after seeing so many beautiful window displays. San Diego is, um, lacking in the area of style. Either you're half naked (think low riders and a bathing suit inspired top) or wearing work out clothing. Comfy, but I have not been making use of 3/4 of the clothing I've brought along. It's killing me. L.A. is a nice change, where wearing makeup is not frowned upon:)
I have an interesting proposal from a new thesis student to mull over. Actually, I need to find time to read it in order to avoid another let's-bore-the-reader-to-death-debacle. So my paranoia from last week is just that. I was having a hissy fit imaging the subpar copy/paste guy reading any of my thoughts.
And.....I have a host of procrastinated errands to run. Bleh. I think I'll be headed back to SD Wednesday - largely to bake promised cookies for Caylin. THen I'm going to scope out San Fran during Thanksgiving with Tricia. We're going to visit 10+ accounts. Yes, I said we. I am exploring my options. THere are many intriquing things starting to circle, but who knows. Denim, or no?
Spoke with the brother and was semi-alarmed to hear he needs to worry about bears. And glad that he truncated his bike ride after seeing signs that warn him of hunters....and that wearing a bright orange vest would be in his best interest. Eek! He's in the sticks. On his first night he almost hit a deer. Luckily he's alright and was able to fix the damage to his gears. Geesh.
How are y'all doing?
Whoo hoo!
Copy, paste comes through. Here's what I thought I lost....
Does this cat look amused?
It's probably not a stretch from the faces I was making last night. Oof.
Excited to have Tricia come down for a night out, I dragged my brother along to a Taste of Thai in Hillcrest. Warning bells should have gone off when the rest of our party was a half hour late, but no. I kept my chin up and tried to participate. (And no, they didn't call to let us know why they were running late.) I don't have the heart to describe, but there were girls at our table with nothing in their heads. One of which kept referring to Manhattan as a 'cool city with this really cool vintage store... you know, in Soho.' (As if there's only one.) This was the same girl who said, "Ew, that's disgusting!" re: tattoos at a table full of military wives (and my brother who has 3 tattoos.).
I thought I had reached my boiling point after:
.... dinner ended and we finally asked for the bill (but no)
.... the bill came and we slowly paid our respective parts (but no)
.... we (my brother and the couple in front of us) watch the twenty percent provided for service be redistributed to the table because we (the table) went over the 15% gratuity (zee tip was already factored into the bill.) (but no)
.... we continued to sit at the table for ages while the airheads talked (but no)
.... we stood up (yay!) and observed the dingalings talking in the the entrance (but no - we couldn't leave b/c 1/2 of us were going out afterwards.)
.... we go outside and (yes I know I should have left by this point) the dumbdumbs still keep talking about denim (but no)
.... my mouth literally dropped when Tatoo-hater-girl went back into the restaurant to pee. (but no)
.... as pee-er enters the restaurant someone suggests the rest of us go inside to wait.
.... and everyone goes in!!!
(the hostess looked equally appalled.)
Hallo! If you want to keep hanging out, go out. But don't repeatedly suggest a coffee house for god's sake. We made it clear what our plans for the remainder of the night entailed. I know it costs money. But if you can't you can't. Finally, I sigh, and patiently explain that lines form downtown if you show up too late. (Which, as we learned, does happen.)
Sidenote: My brother smartly zipped out while the 1st indoor denim conversation was taking place. Since dinner started late (ahem) and ran late, it started cutting into his packing time. Before the crack of dawn he was on the road east, for what was supposed to be an 8 hour drive to Ft. Huachooca (dunno how to spell that). Later in the day he calls and said it only took 5.5 hours. Careful brother, careful.
Tricia, Erin and I waited in line at a place called the Martini Shop. (Did I emphasize how long we waited in line? Something like 20 minutes. Why??) Then I was horrified to learn there was a cover charge. I couldn't figure out why, since it looked like a bar. (Killer apple martinis though). Once inside I realized the other half of the establishment consisted of a sticky, dark, dance club. Cracked me up. A lot like a grammar school dance, with stiff looking guys observing the girls from afar.
Not the wild and crazy night Tricia had hoped for, but it was fun going out. Tricia came down to stay with her childhood friend who v. responsibly abhors drinking. "So no more than one ladies!" (Poor Tricia, I felt for her when she kept trying to sell me on shots. I am too old to do shots. period.)
Anyhoo, this test does little to boost my ego:
Which Peanuts Character Are You?
And with that foreboding warning, I'm going to LA for a few days. Tricia's driving back tomorrow, so I'll only be buying a return ticket for Wednesday.
And finally, I know it's awful to poke fun at people. However, The History of Michael Jackson's Face caused my lip to scrunch about. The SD radio crew has been relentless in mocking this MJ. Any car ride reminds me of the dangers of plastic surgery. (Note the comparisons on the right hand side, which include Judy Jetson and Sigourney Weaver.)
brb.
well crap
Everything I just wrote is gone.
n'evermidn.
going to LA for a few days.
Pictures for my parents
Happy Friday!
Lots of things to be happy about, but most importantly was my friend in NY understanding and appreciating the significance of a temporary Target opening. A boat! How cool is that? She has promised to go for me. (Shhh, if she lies I'll still be happy!)
No fires, gas leaks, or flat tires today. In fact, my new seat did wonders for my rear, adjusting my seat height made me zoom around the track, and yes, I enjoyed yet another fire (contained in a fireplace) this evening. After driving over to Lake Murray (way nicer than dealing with car noise in your face) we stopped at an In-n-out. I know it defeats the pupose of exercise, but damn, they're good.
Once at home we cleaned like super freaks. The back porch is clean. Furniture has been juggled about the house and things look spiffy. Lately I've been playing the Martha role and baking like a fiend. Not sure why since i've never been one to cook anything without a box. But yet, my brownies and pies mysteriously disappear. ANd I've been pre-booked to cook brownies for Caylin next week. Har.
The following is for my momma and poppa. Pictures of the kiddies:
Charlie Waving on a Cliff
Charlie & Irene
Birds Commuting
(Alright, so they're not immediate family. But they look like they're going somewhere. Throw in a tie and/or a briefcase and you've got lawyers!)
Check this little blubber of fat sunning himself. Notice anything unusual about him?
Look closer, the rock agrees with his disposition .
And this final one is me using my brother for my purposes. I needed him as an excuse to photograph this house in La Jolla. Directly across the street is the ocean...and a precipitous drop to sea level, but still a killer view.
... Drumroll...
zee bikes.......
(My brother's mongoose is blocking my, ahem, beautiful aluminum frame.)
My brother on his bike
My Boobs on my bike
(Come on. You were thinking it. And yes, I look stupid with a helmut. My brains, my brains!*)
A standard no sign on the trail.
* Note: reference to my noggin, not my girls.
Strange Things
This is from last year, but decidedly a local phenomena. A San Diego man wanted fur grafted onto his skin so he'd look like a tiger. Freak.
And something forwarded to me from another NY transplant:
All Look Same.
I don't know what to say about this. It may/may not help you differentiate between epicanthic folds.
One more observation
Looking at these birds sunning themselves and you might coo how neat the rocks are.
(You might need to squint to see dozens of birds dotting the cliff.)
Add some color to the vista and you've got lots of crap
.
That's alot like life sometimes.
Only in California
I begin my introduction to signs.
There are many signs in this state that make you pause.
It's hard to explain, so periodically I'll just show you.
Like now....
An Important Crossing Point, La Jolla
[In general there are a lot of 'No' signs.]
Don't
frolic in public.
(As posted on the edge of a sidewalk.)
If you go to the beach, be prepared for
many more restrictions.
"Hosting fees are non-refundable, but you can cancel at any time!"
Well, whoopdee! Isn't that a deal?
How Irritating
The term 'mind your own bees wax' comes to mind. Have no fear, I shall be moving URLs in the near future. And deleting personal references. If you want to keep up with my nonsense, shoot me an email the day the blogspot url stops working.
To the person interested in my association with higher education
If you are my former student AND the IM stalker, well, that's weird.
(And no, I don't put everything in here.)
If you are my thesis student I suggest you start providing original research for your paper.
(You will be hearing from me shortly. Stop waiting for miracles to happen.)
Either way, this site is intended to be read by my friends and family. If need be I'll institute a password feature.
Buh bye.
(What'dya think? I wasn't going to check my log files?)
Perspective
You live in a place long enough and you start to forget what makes a place unique. I can't tell you how many times I've stepped over a bum sleeping at the bottom of subway stairs, or looked past the trash pickers.
Today I looked at a blog from a former Scienteer (Sarah out of the London office) and here are the pictures she chose to represent New York.
Ugh. It's not all like that.
But I guess the images I have imprinted on brain about Los Angeles can compare. It's still a big scary city to me. And the longer I stay in San Diego the less small it seems. Quaintness has become de rigeur.
I have also become spoiled by my nightly fire. An excellent means of recycling my WSJ as tinder, and my tootsies are warm during ER. (George brings home free wood from work, so there's never a need to purchase logs that cost 2 bucks a pop.) No fake fireplaces, or furnaces controlled by tightfisted landlords. And there's a spoiled lab fighting me for couch space. We've come to a mutual agreement where my feet propped on his rear are ok, so long as his head remains on a pillow. My favorite part of our nightly struggle is the deep resounding sigh Chuckie breathes...as in," Fine. Go ahead. I'll just try and sleep with this racket.".
Now that's not so bad, is it?
Now it all makes sense
We rode 13 miles yesterday. No wonder I was tired last night. But I slept like a baby, and woke up without any aches. Not so bad.
The bad part was finding two flat tires this morning. There are apparently a lot of thorns where we rode. Thorns which penetrated my inner tubes. $27.96 later for 2 new inner tubes and 2 heavy duty tape covers for me, and the same for my brother. Cherish hooked me up and gave me a softer seat. I expressed how sore my rear was during the tune up and poof! A freebie. I suspect the service level would have differed had I made my purchase at Sports Authority. A free seat! (Did I mention my helmet only cost me 20 bucks? I priced it in a few other places and the range started at $35. Wheee. Regular price $50. Talk about retail markups.)
Nothing terribly exciting today. Lots of panic sending out more resumes, and little hemming and hawing over my future, the kind of senseless worrying that's going to cause more gray hairs. But hey, something will happen. Otherwise I may be moving to Los Angeles to be Tricia's assistant. How crazy is that?
Tomorrow is my last chance to goof around with my brother as Tricia is coming up Saturday. We're going 'out' with her friend from college (whose husband is in the Navy) and painting the town red. Sunday I'm heading to La Jolla to be trained by Craig on recruiting research. Hallo monster and hotjobs passwords. (Is it unethical to look at resumes that fall beyond the realm of my search? Er....) Back to my earlier point, Charlie is heading to podunk Arizona for some training Sunday a.m. He won't be back until late late Tuesday. sniff.
Um, and that about covers it. I may fiddle with some pics I haven't uploaded, and post later. Just more stuff from La Jolla on foot.
Owie
Rubber legs. Tired.
Kind of overdid a ride today. Instead of sticking to our neighborhood we biked to Lake Murray. Being the sorry asses we are, we decided the return trip on an incline was not for us. Instead, we trecked around parts of El Cajon I hadn't seen before. And I got to use my fancy (read annoying) blinking tail light at night. But there were definitely more hills. Oy. And I stopped being embarrassed wearing a helmet. Everyone in California wears one. And with sunglasses on it's fine. Icognito Irene.
There's a certain logic to got2eat.com:
to eat you must work and to work you must find a job
Copy that.
(Super fast search engine.)
Where does the time go?
Veteran's Day in a military town is a big deal - almost everyone gets the day off. To maintain a moderate level of sanity, I've stopped desperately clutching my laptop every waking hour and take weekend days off.... Except that today was a Day II of Bike Shopping, so too bad.
I forgot in my excitement over the interviews to mention feedback is forthcoming after this week. ALL of the people I met with (including the HR chick) are on vacation this week. The more I think about Friday, the less excited I am about the CRM job. Don't get me wrong. I know the economy is bad. I have a bad feeling it's a company that doesn't know what they're doing, and working there would be messy. H o w e v e r, the pay is above average, so Irene would shet ep, and run to the dentist (and assorted medical community); anything for benefits:) So basically I'm trying to talk myself out of it in the event they don't ask me back for a second interview.
Day I of Bike Shopping was not fruitful. I am short. My inseam is laughable. Ahem, 25" the way my momma made me, 26" with shoes. (The proper method for measuring your own inseam includes stuffing a book in your crotch. Just in case you're interested.) Nothing for moi, but bingo for Charlie. I mean he bought a bike people. Minds out of gutter.
My brother made off with super savings due to bad karma from an idiotic salesperson at Sports Authority. Originally priced at $499, my brother was pleased to find 'his' bike on sale for $399. He rides it around and we start throwing accessories into the cart: gel seat, water bottle cage, water bottle, pump, tools, gloves, extra tire, and some other things I can't remember right now. We proceed to the counter. Sales girl rings everything up, saving the bike for last. While she's typing in the bike info I unintentionally distract her. I wanted to write a formal complaint about Venny, the salesperson who dropped us in a new york minute for the japanese family interested in exercise systems. (I presume they work on some sort of commission basis. Whatever, but it irked me.)
Salesgirl does something wrong, and says the total is $426.
Er, remember the bike is supposed to cost $399 before taxes?
I opted to not fill out a form in the store, and said we'd come back later. RIght. We ran to the car, threw the stuff in, and peeled out of the parking lot.
Yay for my brother!
Finding a bike for me was an arduous process. Starter, a.k.a. cheapo bikes, were impossible to find for 'little people', the term my brother loudly coined yesterday. *sigh* Images of Irene slamming to the sidewalk at a stop light immediately pushed me away from anything with a high bar between my legs. Hence the search for a woman's frame. (Anyone know the logic behind giving a man/boy another potential landmine for his family jewels?)
Anyhoo. Cherish (yes, that's her name) was the guru who held my hand and worked magic to 'make' my dream bike. Well, what I could afford. I am now the proud owner of an aluminum yellow schwinn that cost entirely too much money. No more discretionary funds, but hey, I have wheels! Cherish's family owns the Bike Shop (original name, don't ya think?), but this 17 year old wonder was running the show; her uncle was clearly working for her. Not only can she set prices and discount merchandise, she's going to open her own store. Yep, an accomplished teen....who races professionally. What were you doing at that age?
*sigh*
Must check email. Sleepy and ready for slumber, but not sorry I watched 24. I am addicted.
Sloppy joes
Yesterday was still wet, so we ran our errands with the intent purpose of returning home asap.
Highlight of the day:
Buying cooking brandy at a liquor store connected to a gun store.
Dinner:
Sloppy joes & vino. Not a stellar combination. But we achieved an excellent level of spice and kick.
Need to hurry and dry my hair so we can run out. We're going to buy bikes today. My brother is going all out, since he'll be using his in Garcia Diego (as his primary source of transportation). I am going the Huffy route. As long as there are shock absorbers I don't care. I want to save my pennies for a CD burner for this computer. I'm getting chock full of photos.
And in case I haven't harped on this sufficiently in the past, my favorite part about Sundays are the breakfasts my brother cooks. Washing dishes is a small price to pay. I woke up to the smell of eggs and sausage this morning. Yum!
Tummy full, must die now.
oooooooof.
Made a variation of the Martha's butternut squash risotto. Dear lordy, that was good. Forget about the fat. Think about the warm comfort associated with something like this. So what if I've just cut my lifespan by 2 years, I'll die happy:)
I was uber pissed off after She made Her grand entrance this evening. Her 1/2 sister figured out the Grand Madame was leaving earlier than planned and burst into tears, slamming doors, and acting like the 12 year old she is. OF course my brother is the evil one. Never mind that She regularly states that moving is necessary "because she doesn't want to raise Caylin anymore." As if. Damn woman is never home. Like a moron I was offering the upset child opportunities to see her sis. I've given the little brat pictures without so much as a thanks, and she's completely not following house rules by letting the girl doggie in the house. (I had copies specifically made of photos of Caylin on Halloween, the pooches, her sis, etc. Gee willagers, that was rewarding.)
OH! And don't get me started on her favorite phone buddy. At the drop of a hat she'll run to the phone to talk with Debbie. Debbie stayed for seven months - rent free in this very house. They set up an extra twin bed IN Caylin's room. You may already be raising an eyebrow, but turn around so I can smack your butt.
Debbie is 3 7 y e a r s o l d.
Caylin learned about her sis moving out from Debbie. Does this woman have any common sense? eGads. And she's tossing words around like 'divorce' before She, or Caylin's Dad, have had a chance to sit down and sort things out. Hallo. Moronic woman. I feel like pranking her. And I just might. (How childish is that? If I drink enough of something strong, who knows....bru har har.)
I'm sooo tired from today. Getting up that early was painful. I was on time for my interviews, and they went ok. I wasn't nervous because I caught a really good friend at home, and had a wonderful chat. With my shoulders squared, and my chin high I walked in to fill out the longest application ever. And my super-snazzy pen my brother loaned me died mid-app. Symbolic?
The HR woman loved me, but I'm not sure how the Director of IT felt. He laughed alot at what I was saying (not sure if that's good or bad?:) The afternoon meeting with the recruiter was awesome, and I'm hopeful that Susan (who is from Dayton) will sincerely help me find a job that's challenging and quasi-rewarding. The best part of our conversation was during the dollar chapter. According to her, I'm lowballing myself. Yeehah. ANyway, she's nice and kind of like a teeny little grand-aunt. Next time I'll suggest we meet over tea.
After driving home in the rain with people completely incapacitated by the fear of rain, I help the brother disassemble the boys bunk beds. We loaded those puppies into the van, and I started washing the boy's blankets. (Hey, I'll do anything to smooth the removal of evil.) I plan on taking a bubble bath, making a drink, and snoozing early. Totally lame, but that's all I want to do. brb.
Defunct companies
equals PITA*.
(*remember that term e?)
Checking references and confirming dates of employment is a royal Pain In The Ass when former employers go under. I was jotting down names and numbers in preparation for tomorrow's interviews and have zilch to show for Xceed. My first boss is a loon, and completely unreliable. My second boss is a certified loon and has dropped off the connected zone. Soooo that leaves me with former project managers and peers. Bleh.
I'm just praying (no, not that way) the IT/ HR dudes aren't expecting a heavy tech person to show up. They've got me. Ho hum. Can't do much worrying at this late hour. But I am not looking forward to getting up so early tomorrow. I'm supposed to be shaking hands at 8 a.m., which means I need to leave myself an hour to find the place, navigate traffic and park. And since there's going to be rain (which is a big deal in these parts) there will inevitably be more traffic and (hopefully not) accidents. So everyone has suggested I tack an extra half hour to my trip. Hello 6.30 departure time.
Today Charlie and I hopped out for what was supposed to be a quick stop at the car store. He needed new window blades, no biggie. That was before he broke the actual wiper framething, the realization the 2nd wiper needed replacing, and some confusion over bosche vs. store brands. Whatever. Boring. With me 'hanging out' in the parking lot while he ran in and out of the store. To amuse myself, I kept telling the nice people who were offering to help that my brother wasn't letting me sit in the car. (In reality, he had forgotten and I was amusing myself making phone calls.) I am terrible.
It's a big deal in southern cali when the rain is coming and people literally run to the stores to prepare. The parking lot was full of folks replacing wiper blades and refilling wiper fluid. (The store shelves were beginning to look bare of wiper fluid when we left.) Everyone was worried about 'the big storm'. It's rain people. Geesh.
Wish me happy thoughts. Nite.
December Travel Plans
Yo! My brother and I are coming home December 10th. Yay! First time in a long time I've had a flying buddy.
He's staying until Saturday.
I'm staying 7 days.
Jot that down and call me!
Southwest rocks. Cheapie fares ($234 from San Diego to Islip - which is a hop, skip and a jump to my parents.)
Recent Pics: Mission Trails
Part of the reason I was pooped today is attributed to recent hiking activity. My bro is on the go, and we've been exploring like tourists.
Yesterday (which seems like eons ago) Charlie decided a revisit to Mission Trails was in order. (The boy was determined to make up for our pictureless trip to Point Loma. Here's me, with really really bad hair in Pt. Loma. WHY didn't the boy stop me and say,' Hey, your hair, er...' And that would have been enough. But noooooo. In revenge I shall refer to him as a blowfish. Doesn't he look big and mean?)
The volunteers at the help desk went beyond the call of duty and were eager to please. It was like visiting an older neighbor/relative. I now know where Janet lives (up the hill), where she's from (Chicago), and how many kids she has. Seriously though, she was super nice and hooked us up with tons o' brochures. They have midnight moon hikes that I'm going to check out. Janet was funny and kept emphasizing the FREE aspect. Irene is all about the cheap these days:)
This treck was nothing in comparison to the level 5 we did a few weeks ago. This level 3 was moderately paced, but the scenery was unbelievable. Part of our trail (good ole no. 8) crosses the a thin section of the San Diego river. The mountains surrounded us, and we skipped over boulders and tree stumps exploring. These series of signs cracked us up. Framing the "warning: blast area" are signs urging you to be cautious of nature, and to not wander off disturbing the environment.
It dawned on me that I own a very limited selection of tank tops. And so I strategized and zipped up for this photo in front of trees.
(Note to self: Look in mirror prior to leaving the house.)
Put a camera in the hands of children, and you'll inevitably have a shadow contest (Note: We do not possess the most aethetically pleasing profiles.)
The best part of the hike was the bright orange blaze of the sun hitting the rock walls.
Energized by the view we rushed to La Jolla in the hopes of catching a view at Sunset Cliffs. We were late. BUT saw two of the cutest kittens ever. Standing on the edge of the water provides a pretty wide view of the sky and the ocean. As the sun disappears, it just gets prettier and prettier. You also see a lot of couples come nightfall. (And yes - Dad - I was there with my brother and not a 'nice young man'.)
brb. Weird. Pictures don't convey everything.
Now I've seen everything.
Barbara Walters said 'tits' on television. It's even funnier b/c they (B & Sharon Osbourne) were referring to Camilla. As in Prince Charles. I think the expression on Barbara's face was the best. She just kept nodding through every profanity that spewed out of Sharon's mouth.
Hmmph.
Lots of stuff going on over here. The expression," When it rains, it pours" is right on the money. I don't know where they've been hiding but two more recruiters have crawled out. Phone tag has resulted in a 'real' interview for Friday, and a placement agency either tomorrow or Friday. Hurray. I can feel the budgets opening up. Jobs are spurting up in all of my discussion lists. So good things abound.
Yesterday we trucked all over the place, making the most of Charlie's leave. I'll post some pics later. California is such a car culture, it's impossible to imagine sans freeways. If you time it correctly, you can minimize the impact of traffic, but it's still there. But the thing that keeps me here (and I imagine a host of others) is the amazing weather. It's still tank-top time. Driving a convertible is relaxing. There isn't any smog. People don't honk. They just drive fast. And the freeways are clearly labled, so even I, the directionally clueless, can get around.
I have the biggest tummy ache due to the massive burger I ate today. Don't get me wrong - it was FABulous. But I'm not used to eating so much bread. We finally visited the famousIN-N-OUT. No frozen meat ever, fresh spuds, and a surprisingly non-surly crew. I am a convert. To give you NY-ers an idea, it kicks the Corner Bistro's butt out of the water. No beer, but man, you haven't had a burger until you've been to an IN-N-OUT. The pictures you see posted on their site are accurate. The produce IS fresh. Bizarro.
I had to take a nap earlier to catch up on some missed sleep. Monday night was a waste trying to sleep. I was supposed to crash after we watched a movie, but didn't turn off the lights until I finished reading news online. (God, I miss the NY TImes on the weekend. I need to subscribe as the local paper is laughable.) Then SHE came home and woke me up in another drunken rant. (Which, apparently, she doesn't remember.) But things are looking up on that front. Fingers crossed for the bro.
Anyhoo. I came home from an afternoon of hiking in La Jolla and slept at 7pm. I kid you not. I got up around 9.30, returned Tricia's phone call (who was too busy watching the bachelor:) and ran into my brother. We had a lovely chat about stuff, he went out to buy some beer called Mickey's (partly in a celebratory manner), and returned in time to shop for southwest fares. Then we watched in utter amazement Barbara interviewing the Osbourne clan. (Ozzy cried at the beginning. Talk about a precious moment for the network.)
We're having minor issues with the girl poochie - she's peeing at every opportunity in the house. She's happy, she'll pee. She's being reprimanded, she'll pee. She's never been an indoor dog, so that might be part of it. And she seems perfectly content staying outside. She does need a little house, or cave though. The house has a back laundry area that has a dog door, but she prefers to hide in the bamboo when sleeping. She's the cutest, most loveable, sweet tempered animal. Not that smart, but soooo cute. We talk her for her second walk today on a leash. Very successful.
She gave Mujaji to Caylin (before asking her husband(!)) last week. Sneaky, because She specifically told Caylin NOT to speak to my bro about it until She had told him. Hallo. You should discuss that kind of thing first, don't ya think? But with Charlie's departure for middle-of-nowhere coming quick, it made sense for Her. One less thing to pack when she moves. Ahhhhhhhhh.... so She generously gave the dog to her 1/2 sister to benefit Herself. Whatever. But it's good b/c that little girl loves Mujaji. Now she just needs to learn some responsibility.
Ho hum. I am going to put the final nail in the thesis student tonight. Must log off to spend time confirming most recent plagiarism. He's going down. What a waste. No paycheck for that humongous effort, but I'll be happy to close that chapter.
Happy trails folks. Nite!
yippee!
A "real" HR recruiter called me. And the hiring manager has already seen my resume. And they want to know my availability to interview.
yay.
Oh, the irony.
I may soon be working (on a commission basis) for a recruiter.
Funny how I had been cursing them earlier in the day, and now I'm talking 1099s. Hey, I'm online enough and I'll be able to write off my phone, internet, and 1/2 of my rent. And I'll have an insider's view of the major resume dbases. It's a risk, but it can't hurt to try while I'm sending out my own resumes.
Any of you have experience with 1099s?
Project Manager, Head Content and Collaborations
Great! A recruiter emails me an order with an enticing title.
Then I read:
You will interact with customers, assist in sales [uh huh], and manage the relationship between the customer and the laboratory [er...what?] effort for each project.
You will also manage timelines [fine] and assist in the early laboratory steps of the genotyping [wrong wrong wrong person] or gene expression projects, including; managing the Oligo [any idea what that is?] design and ordering, receipt and pooling, receipt of customers samples and delivery of customer reports.
D'ya think he failed to read the job order in its' entirety??
If he was using scanning software I would hope it'd notice I don't have a Ph.D. in a Life Sciences field
America, this is who our teen population admires...
"The first day of seventh grade I was very nervous. I was in history class and the teacher said to raise your hand if you knew the continents. I said 'a,e,i,o,u.'
... Those aren't even consonants, they're vowels."
- Jessica Simpson, popstar.
For the record, I am getting tired of Blogger's sluggish time. If I wasn't paying to host my images, I'd switch.
Open 24 hours
Dude. Talk about disappointing. It's not even midnight, and Amazon showed me this just now.
It's late, but not that late.
I was curious if Amazon stocked Rubba Duckies.
(That picture doesn't look so innocent, now does it?;)
I wonder what lucky industrial designer worked on this one.... and what this person tells his parents he does as a living.
Boy, is it early
or late. Depends on how you look at it. And I'm not sure if I'm tired, or if it's time to take a shower. hmph.
We came home fairly early from a long day out. Charlie and I hit Point Loma somewhere around 3ish. Decided it was too hazy to take any decent pictures, and headed towards the Gaslamp district. The plan was to browse some of the shops, poke our heads into a few bars, and just sit around. We deviated, and spent entirely too much money. I'm forcing myself to list it out, as I'm mad at our poor decision making. We had oodles of fun, but still. Very bad.
Preparation from home:
- tank of gas $35(!)
(Thanks mom! That one was on my mama.)
Mall:
- hair clips (none of which hold my hair properly) & bandanas $14
- dreamweaver book $23
(I was only supposed to buy one clip to validate parking. Seduced by the 'buy one - get the 2nd 1/2 off' I bought 4 clips and 2 bandanas. I could easily have bought a photoshop book, except for the moronic salesperson's antics. He was annoying to the point where I scowled at him during checkout. God, waht an idiot.)
Mooseheads:
- 2 beers for irene
- 2 beers for charlie
- "strips & chips"
- wings
$ 40
(Thanks Charlie!)
Moved the car from the mall parking garage.
$0
Some Irish bar with older people who wore white sneakers and yankees jackets:
- 2 beers
$12
(Again, biglittlebrother)
Dicks:
- 2 small beers
- 2 mixed drinks
- water for irene when the 2nd set of mixed drinks arrrived. Couldn't hack it, and decided it was time to move along.
(crazy place that actually encourages napkin fights. will have to go into detail on this phenomena later.)
Stopped at a grocery so we could buy drinking material for home. (Here's where my wallet went 'ouch!' $50.) AS IF we needed anymore. Charlie made the drinks, but I ended up tossing mine in the sink.
Made my brother stop at Jack in the Box for a cheeseburger. Which I ate like a famished fiend. Oy.
Came home around 10pm and watched some tele. Woke up to find myself snuggled in a blanket, and babbling to George in the kitchen. That was at 2am. So after watching more of "Behind Enemy Lines" I tried the news. Fearful She might stroll in the door I went to my room. I'm completely wasting a perfect opportunity to be productive since I have zero motivation. ugh. I hate that.
But I do have to tell you about Dicks. Strangest place.
I cannot draw
So when I see a site like Happy Pencil
it seriously makes never want to try. Sweet bejeesus. LOOK at this guy's work. It's amazing. I poked around the high bandwidth version, popped on my earphones and was completely absorbed for ages.
Here's my favorite member pic. (He uses a doodle instead of a real pic.) Compare that to someone who looks nearly naked. I'm sure she's a nice person, but this makes me feel like the site could be misused as a dating service for some. And I suspect some people do that already. Very interesting. I'm fascinated by the broad differences in the people I've had contact with in o n e day. Actually, 'nearly naked' has an amazing portfolio of work. Check her it out:). I love that she has a category grouping for her writing titled "Screw Editing".
Before you can start using ryze, you're asked to state what "you have" and what "you want". One married cutie dad has asked for, "25 years before his daugher starts dating." (The daughter looks about 2. Tops.)
Also from my newly addictive site:
The trouble with talking too fast is you may say something you haven't thought of yet.
How true. I think I'm going to Michael's tomorrow to pick up craft supplies to make a present for Caylin out of that quote. hehe.
And no, I did not spend the entire eve in front of this computer. (Remember, I'm an unbelievably fast typer. Ahem.) I hung out at the homestead drinking beer (I milked one. JUST one.), eating some delish pizza, and watching Mr. Deeds with George, Caylin, and a sleep over buddy, Ashley. (A cute adorable girl who has impeccable manners. But is yet somehow the 11 year old daughter of a 28 year old mom.) An odd combination which worked really well. That, and we had a roaring fire with poochies snuggled around. ONe thing for another.
Best Registration Agreement Ever
This made me smile:
By registering for membership of this website, you agree not to be stupid. We reserve the right to moderate or delete any stupidity at our own discretion. This will have to suffice for now. The TOS can and will change, soon than you think. By submitting the following registration form , you agree to the above Terms of Service.*
* Note the page title: Whoa, look who wants to participate!
http://www.axe-wound.com/
I stumbled across that on
axe-wound.com. Which stemmed from an earlier discovery of
ryze.org. I'm sure it's been around for awhile, since I am notoriously a late adapter. So far I'm really impressed with the site and the functionality built in. Simple, no flashy stuff, but it's really effective. I've made oodles of interesting contacts without leaving my home. Which is kind of neat. And because my interests, location, work history is transparent people can easily find a connection. Check it out, it's SixDegrees.com on steroids. Free to join.
Recent discussion lists, networking sites, etc. that I've joined include:
Digitalevela.org
Softweargirlz.com
Websandiego.org
Society for Techinical Communication
My fun night painting the town was rescheduled, due (of course) to Her. Everyone quick, think mean, spiteful thoughts on my behalf! Sigh. The bro and I had planned to head out tonight, but did not after Her needs took precedence. AA meeting, but still. She could have invited me to dinner. My brother thinks they're going to watch a movie afterwards, but She told me about a cool band that's playing tonight. At a bar. (NO!) Supposedly Charlie and I are "allowed" to go out sans Shewoman tomorrow night. She already has plans with one of her bar buddies during the day. She's spackling said person's bathroom. (Funny how little time she has to clean her own house, take care of own children, or talk to her family...) Ok, done ranting about Her for now.
And yes - I did finish ALL of their laundry. The only thing missing was a dog washing. They managed to escape due to a recent application of Advantage (flea prevention). Did I get a thank you? Nope, I just succeeded in supremely pissing her off.
Do people listen to each other?
Last week I was researching graduate programs online. I saw something that sounded interesting and decided to request a catalog.. (It's in Canada and I can't see myself living there, but none the less, I wanted a hard copy.) On this particular institution's site they have a form that is very specific. In plain old English they offer to send a catalog IF you fill out the form.
Today I get this in my in-box:
We have been advised by that you are interested in obtaining further information about the Blah Blah program at Blah University in Blah, Canada. Since program details are available on our web site, we encourage you to browse the following at your convenience:
And then they provide the school's home page URL.
Er...
Either:
1) the admin responsible for sending mail is a moron
2) they have no budget for marketing purposes (which is kind of scary. what school doesn't have the resources to send a brochure?)
3) they have no idea their own web site was the catalyst for my request
Hallo.
It's Friday and it's stunning outside. I'm in a cleaning frenzy ever since SHE sneered," Oh, you can really tell I haven't been home. This house is a mess." Instead of saying...." Oh, wow. Irene you haven't cleaned since the last time, I'll come home tonight and help you clean my house."
GRRRR. She went on her bar crawl last night after finishing up at work in record time. Normally it takes her over an hour to close her bank and slug a few drinks. I guess the incentive to saturate her liver motivated her to move faster. Her shift ends at six. She was home, changed, and out the door by 6.37. She didn't come home until the wee hours. Think dawn.
Call me a domestic goddess. Both bathrooms are shining, my room smells like flowers, the shared blankets have been washed, I'm working on carpets, and the living room is done. So that leaves the kids play room, the kitchen, and my brother's bedroom. (My poor brother's stuff is still jammed into garbage bags. But I think he's going to ditch half of that stuff anyway when he moves. But it must be really annoying.)
My logic for doing the housework is that it frees up Charlie for play time with me. Today was his last day until he leaves in January. Hurray! He has one week of training in Arizona next month - but ships out Jan 7. I can't wait for him to come home today. His commanding officer wrote a stunning letter of recommendation and presented him with an award. (He told me the name of it, but I immediately filed it under 'navymilitaryribbonthingiwon'tremember'.)
In between cleaning, I am resending mail to all the recruiters/positions I applied to last week. I have confirmed that hotmail and outlook were not working very well. So if you haven't heard from me in ages, don't think I'm ignoring you.
Yesterday I went shopping with George for candy after mentioning I needed to go to FedEx to pick up a package. (My parents hooked me up with some stuff I needed for the fraud admin nightmare.) We picked food up for the cats, who were obviously waiting for us. George and I had started a fire by the time Charlie got home. My grilled some kick ass pork chops and then made me drink Bud Ice. Ugh. (But it's a better option than drinking the $6 vodka She has.)
Early into the evening, I became fascinated with my lit pumpkin . (Aw come on. You can't expect me to but my work of art to bed already, can you?)
I drank enought to think Chuckie would look cutein my costume and to steal candy from Caylin's pile. (I tried to convince Mujaji to play dress up, but she refused to come out from her cave (under Caylin's bed... She's mad at me for vacuuming everyday, and has decided it's homier, ahem, dirtier, with Caylin. I'm still miffed as I miss her little droopy hanging on my every move.)
I have finally recovered from last night. My head felt like cotton candy this morning. What have you kiddies been up to? I'm excited to hear from Perrin. She's flying in soon! (not that I'm in New York, but it's still closer!)
Alright.
Happy Happy 'ween
Mujaji on her first leash walk
George really IS a nice guy. My brother purchased the shirt he's wearing. And yes, I've already yelled at him for his lack of taste. And while I'm on my soap box, George totally gets it. And I don't mean it in the Scient sort of way. George understands what kind of a drunk b*tch his daughter is. When I snuck out to 'hide' the empties from tonight he said, and i quote,"You can tell her I bought the beer. ALL of it." So, you see, he understands that his daughter's need to go on a bar crawl tonight is well, ridiculous. And he also said," She better not start any of her *shite* tonight." As in - the crap that flows from her mouth when she comes home loaded. She's a mean drunk.
Why can't she be like me?? (This was the result of five dollars. Cut me some slack. The three to five year old group was impressed. Or maybe they liked my tootsie rolls.) Ridding myself of the cape, I look retarded with piggy tails.
And there's more. But you know what? I'm pooped. Nite nite.
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