Worked all day at the post office yesterday. Brought my lunch in my new bento box.
Behold, my very first bento lunch.
Feb 282010
Yet Another Job Scammer
General
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Feb 262010
They must be catching all the newbies, because a week or two of scouring the job boards is enough to spot the scammers:
I was suspicious (hardly any reputable companies use throwaway Hotmail addresses these days, it just doesn’t look professional), but I responded anyway.
Their reply:
Thank you for your interest in the position we have listed on Craigslist – Accounting Asst. Please go to
http://career-network-rockymount.com/ and you can complete the application process. You can do it! Sincerely Gail P pls note – I have 2 other positions open, billing associate and Administrative Accounting Aide. If you are interested pls send me a separate email for each with job title in the subject line thanks, this facilitates a faster reply GailP good luck. Also consider looking into some additional training/education as there are funds available.
Yeah. One of the first things you learn is that if they send you to another web site to “complete the application process,” there is no job. They’re just harvesting your data, or trying to generate clickthroughs, or both.
I did a search on the domain name, and discovered it’s one of literally thousands being used by one guy for these fake job ads—what he’s really pitching is continuing education. (Check out the list at the bottom, of only some of the domains he’s used.)
Job scammers like this will be going to that very special level of hell reserved for child molesters and people who talk at the theater.
Killer Pothole
General, I Love My Car
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Feb 242010
It’s been an unusually cold winter here in North Carolina. We’ve actually had almost a week of snow, and the temperatures remained around freezing until just recently.
As a result, we’ve got a lot of potholes in the roads. Some of them are real axle-busters—one just up the road from us had cones and warning lights around it until the city could get it filled in.
Monday night, driving The Artist home from his evening class, I encountered one of these vicious road hazards. It was dark, it was raining, and I didn’t see the hole in time to avoid it. My little Nanovan banged through it, and immediately my tire pressure warning light came on.
“Uh oh,” I remarked, and babied her into the nearest parking lot. I sought out a streetlight with plenty of open parking spaces around it, and we got out to inspect the damage.
“Yep, definitely flat,” observed The Artist.
I was reflecting on an interesting fact: although I’ve had two or three flat tires before this, I’ve never actually changed one myself. A helpful male always swoops in and takes care of it for me. This works out well for everyone, because he gets to feel good about himself for helping, and I don’t have to change the tire.
In this case, though, the helpful male available had never changed a tire, either. But I can read a manual with the best of them, so I got out the trusty owner’s manual (mainly I wanted to make sure I was bracing the jack in the right place) and together we got the spare on.
So yesterday instead of helping out at the homeless shelter, I was sitting in the lounge of NTB waiting for them to put a new tire on. I called the shelter to let them know I wasn’t coming in, feeling like a total slacker because I won’t be coming in for the next couple of weeks either (starting a temp job next week).
I figure that temp job should just about cover the cost of the tire. I feel like a financial Sisyphus.
32M5YK522UFY
PSA
Geek Wannabe
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Feb 222010
Hat tip to Brokey McPoverty for this helpful diagram.
Van Saga Continues
General
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Feb 202010
Last April I heard from the lady who had bought my old, dead van from the people that bought it from me, and we determined that the intermediary couple had tried to pass the van off as a working vehicle—and signed my name to the transfer.
She’s been working on the issue since then. It’s a bit difficult as the perpetrators live in another county, but she’s irate and she’s determined. She called last week to let me know how things are progressing, and see if I want to get in on the court action with her.
Someone has committed fraud in my name. You bet your ass I want in on the court action.
We’re going to meet next week to exchange information and sketch out our game plan. She’s got the information about the couple who sold her the van: name, address, etc. I’ve got a copy of the estimate I got from the repair shop, detailing the problem with the van and how much it would cost to get it fixed (seems that one particular paper mysteriously disappeared from the folder of papers I turned over with the van).
She’s also been talking to the sheriff’s office in the other county; apparently these people have pulled this particular trick a number of times, and the sheriff’s department was very helpful and forthcoming with all the information she could need to press charges. Sounds like they’d like to do something about these folks, too.
Should be an interesting experience. You know, as in the Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”
Temp Work
Geek Wannabe
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Feb 182010
Yesterday I went to learn how to count mail for the USPS.
Our little group learned how to distinguish between letter, flat, and parcel (each group gets counted separately). There’s a nifty little gauge for measuring anything that’s so close to the size boundary that we can’t just eyeball it. There’s a particular form to fill out with our totals (of course there is, this is the government), and we have to fill it out in just a certain way (natch). It’s important that we count accurately, because the letter carriers’ salaries are determined in part by this data.
It took an hour, but we’ll get paid for four because that’s the temp agency’s minimum. Woot!
So I’ve got work for a couple of weeks. Paycheck = good. Even better, I’m hoping after I’m done my manager from this job will allow me to use him/her as a reference for future work. I strongly suspect that a major stumbling block in finding a job is the fact that I’ve been out of the work force for so long; I’m hoping a current reference on my résumé will help to remedy that.
Sadistic Bastards
Breeder's Corner, General
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Feb 112010
On the mailing list for my son’s high school, I got a brief note about the school choir’s “singing valentine” promotion.
With details on how I can order a singing valentine for my child.
To be delivered to him in class.
In front of all his friends.
From his MOM.
Gee, what high school kid wouldn’t want THAT?
Unusual Mementos
General
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Feb 092010
Last night Alpha Geek and I saw a bit of a program involving a man in Michigan who had been lost in the woods, overnight, in mid-winter. He had suffered severe frostbite to his feet, and one of his toes had to be amputated (and he counted himself lucky that was all).
“I keep it in the freezer as a memento of my ordeal,” he chuckled, pulling from his freezer a small container.
Alpha Geek: o_O
Me: Well if he’s going to save it anyway, he ought to have it stuffed. Then he could hang it on the wall.
Alpha Geek: O_O
Geography of a Recession
Geek Wannabe
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Feb 082010
Fascinating and depressing at the same time.
AIDS Ad
Geek Wannabe
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Feb 052010
This is a hilarious, and completely NSFW, AIDS education ad.
I Got A Receipt for My Pee
General
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Feb 032010
Today while I was out doing my errands, I stopped by the lab to do my job-mandated drug test. By way of preparation I stopped at a fast-food place and bought a giant soda.
There was nobody else there, so it was a quick stop. I gave the lady my ID, took care of business (so to speak), she decanted it into an official specimen container, and she handed me a receipt. They’ll be sending the results to the temp agency.
Quick and easy, but I still can’t help but wonder why it’s a requirement. Is marijuana really such a huge problem in the work force these days? Or is it, as is my suspicion, a tool to reinforce the fact that I’m just a faceless work-force peon who is easily replaced if I don’t toe the line?
Whatev. At least I’ll get a paycheck.
Feb 022010
Got a call from the temp agency this morning—they’ve got a two-week assignment near the end of the month, if I’m available.
Oh yeah, I’m available.
It’s something at the post office, not an accounting job, but it will give me a) a paycheck and b) some current employment to put on my résumé. I suspect the ten-year-gap in my work history is hurting my chances as much as my lack of experience.
They’re sending me some forms and the location of their approved drug testing company. Yeah, I’ll have to get drug testing. Passing it won’t be a problem—I’m not even on birth control any more—but it’s still demeaning. But I’ll put up with it for the same reason anyone else does: because I need the work.
WTF Is This White Shit?!
General
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Feb 012010
We got snow Friday.
We hardly ever get snow. Maybe once a year we get a little bit of a dusting. Maybe. What we get is ice.
So all day Thursday people were rushing to the grocery store to stock up on bread and milk and beer. You know, the staples. The kids were grumbling because it was going to snow on Friday night and they wouldn’t get a snow day.
Saturday morning we woke up to a nice, thick blanket of snow. The Director went outside and played in it. The Artist and I shoveled it out of the driveway.
I was very happy that I can now drink hot beverages again, thanks to my new crowns.
Sunday morning, there was a little bit of new snow. The temperatures never got above freezing. This is quite unusual for our area. Most people around here simply don’t have the clothes for this kind of cold—why would we?
And schools are closed today. The main roads are fairly clear, but the secondary and residential roads are still icy and treacherous. The kids got a snow day after all.
