Saturday, February 03, 2007
Don't cry over spilled stupid (didja get any onya?)
The final chapter in the most recent job saga does not have a happy ending. I interviewed with Rectangulon South on Monday, and it seemed to go well. The person at another branch who would be handling me wanted to talk to me herself, so an interview was scheduled for Tuesday. So I interviewed with Rectangulon North on Tuesday, and it seemed to go well. The woman sent me to the jobsite to interview with them. I interviewed with the medical insurance call center, and it seemed to go well. I'd been told that decisions would be made and I'd be getting a call from Rectangulon (North) on Wednesday morning. The AM hours were slept away. The PM hours started to whittle away too, so I gave the woman a call and she said she hadn't heard back from the jobsite, which was making both of us a little itchy since training was set to start on Thursday at 8am. (Who starts a week-long training on a Thursday?) I went about my life, had a good night's sleep, and at 11:30am Thursday I finally get a call from Rectangulon North saying the client "did not think I was a good fit". I'm presuming this is because I was realistic and said, when asked how often it is okay to be tardy to work in 6 months, that once a month is okay. The road that business is on was closed for a few days due to snow and ice a mere few weeks ago, you see. But silly me, I should know by now that the correct response is to gasp in horror and exclaim, "There is never a valid reason why anyone should ever be at work even a moment late!" I bet they lose more skilled applicants due to getting sticky about that question. Okay, fine dandy, that case is closed. I have since applied for another job that sounds suspiciously like the one I just was aced out of (same pay rate, same town, same agency, different agent)... and did so by email since now I can't even log into Rectangulon's website for some reason.
Having had the slate for Thursday cleared, I started in on the latest set of home improvement tasks, beginning with... that new ceiling fan for the livingroom. The old fan, which I admit I didn't take a photo of because I'm a knob, was gold with a frosted lighted glass dome and five lights below (four small bells pointing out and one large bell pointing down) and some stray paint on the 54" diameter blades.
The new one is brushed nickel with a frosted glass bowl that matches the three bathroom lights' bells, and the blade diameter is 42". (If you read the diagrams on the top of any ceiling fan box, you'll find that larger fans are for higher ceilings and the scale for what size fan to use starts at 8'. Our ceilings are 7½'.) I got it down in short order, took the mounting bracket off the ceiling utility box, and set it aside. Since the utility box had been supporting the fan's weight for several years, I figured it didn't need replacement. The directions Hunter puts in its fans are very good, so in minutes I had the new fan base mounted to the ceiling, the wiring done, and the motor in place. I envisioned myself in fast-motion video as I got the lighting kit installed, the fan blades assembled and attached, and the light's bowl and chains configured. I flipped the breaker back on, flipped the wall switch, and flopped out on the couch to admire my work [see photo]. Flip flip flop! It's very quiet and at its highest setting it moves a hell of a lot of air... and best of all no one gets decapitated by it; the distance between ceiling and the bottom of the blades is 11", where with the old one the bottoms of the blades were 6' off the ground! (I'm 5'11" and my wife is 5'9", so this all kinda mattered.) But we specifically did not buy a fan with a lot of lighting to it, so after putting in a couple 60 watt incandescent bulbs for the time being (the fixtures' maximum rating, and I'll replace the tungsten bulbs with 11 watt fluorescent 'bulbs' from IKEA once the track lighting is put in this weekend) I pulled a floor lamp from the familyroom in so there'd be enough light with which to read the newspaper. (Though not enough for a book.) Once again, great pride in a job done well. Since I'm going to have to insert a utility box in the livingroom ceiling and wire power and a new switch (oh, and cut a hole for the switch and put in the box for that...) for it, this could take me a wee bit more time than the fan, ya know?
One final note, which isn't stupid at all because frankly it's amazing. A full report on this will show up on Say Something Cryptic's Daybook in a day or two, so here's the overview: A guy I went to camp with twenty years ago emailed me, courtesy of some things I'd written about our friend Lucas which came up in Google, and his letter was very eye-opening. In the mid-1980's he was rather aloof, guarded, to himself, or that's how he came off to me. I think in all the years we knew each other, there was only one time we ever laughed together. So he tells me in this email about all these people we knew that he was in contact with until about 1990, and that he wished that he'd known how much Lucas meant to me because Luke meant a lot to him too and wanted to talk about him with someone. I'd never seen this guy have a human side; I suspected it lurked somewhere but like so many of us at camp there was one personality we use at home and one we use at camp. Anyhow, in email terms this rather sizeable letter was a page-turner. I spent until 4am writing him back; it seems we had a lot to say and in my reply I asked that he keep in touch because I sense that we both have more to let out. He'd noticed that I didn't mention him by name in the list in the Daybook of people I was wondering about (and jokingly said he was hurt); I replied in total honesty that he was among the first names I thought of when I was writing it but for some reason didn't put it in... I guess something in me knew that I should but I didn't follow my heart. The one name I omit is the one person who has responded to my "where are they now?" request. Always listen to the voice in your head, it's usually right.
Having had the slate for Thursday cleared, I started in on the latest set of home improvement tasks, beginning with... that new ceiling fan for the livingroom. The old fan, which I admit I didn't take a photo of because I'm a knob, was gold with a frosted lighted glass dome and five lights below (four small bells pointing out and one large bell pointing down) and some stray paint on the 54" diameter blades.
The new one is brushed nickel with a frosted glass bowl that matches the three bathroom lights' bells, and the blade diameter is 42". (If you read the diagrams on the top of any ceiling fan box, you'll find that larger fans are for higher ceilings and the scale for what size fan to use starts at 8'. Our ceilings are 7½'.) I got it down in short order, took the mounting bracket off the ceiling utility box, and set it aside. Since the utility box had been supporting the fan's weight for several years, I figured it didn't need replacement. The directions Hunter puts in its fans are very good, so in minutes I had the new fan base mounted to the ceiling, the wiring done, and the motor in place. I envisioned myself in fast-motion video as I got the lighting kit installed, the fan blades assembled and attached, and the light's bowl and chains configured. I flipped the breaker back on, flipped the wall switch, and flopped out on the couch to admire my work [see photo]. Flip flip flop! It's very quiet and at its highest setting it moves a hell of a lot of air... and best of all no one gets decapitated by it; the distance between ceiling and the bottom of the blades is 11", where with the old one the bottoms of the blades were 6' off the ground! (I'm 5'11" and my wife is 5'9", so this all kinda mattered.) But we specifically did not buy a fan with a lot of lighting to it, so after putting in a couple 60 watt incandescent bulbs for the time being (the fixtures' maximum rating, and I'll replace the tungsten bulbs with 11 watt fluorescent 'bulbs' from IKEA once the track lighting is put in this weekend) I pulled a floor lamp from the familyroom in so there'd be enough light with which to read the newspaper. (Though not enough for a book.) Once again, great pride in a job done well. Since I'm going to have to insert a utility box in the livingroom ceiling and wire power and a new switch (oh, and cut a hole for the switch and put in the box for that...) for it, this could take me a wee bit more time than the fan, ya know?One final note, which isn't stupid at all because frankly it's amazing. A full report on this will show up on Say Something Cryptic's Daybook in a day or two, so here's the overview: A guy I went to camp with twenty years ago emailed me, courtesy of some things I'd written about our friend Lucas which came up in Google, and his letter was very eye-opening. In the mid-1980's he was rather aloof, guarded, to himself, or that's how he came off to me. I think in all the years we knew each other, there was only one time we ever laughed together. So he tells me in this email about all these people we knew that he was in contact with until about 1990, and that he wished that he'd known how much Lucas meant to me because Luke meant a lot to him too and wanted to talk about him with someone. I'd never seen this guy have a human side; I suspected it lurked somewhere but like so many of us at camp there was one personality we use at home and one we use at camp. Anyhow, in email terms this rather sizeable letter was a page-turner. I spent until 4am writing him back; it seems we had a lot to say and in my reply I asked that he keep in touch because I sense that we both have more to let out. He'd noticed that I didn't mention him by name in the list in the Daybook of people I was wondering about (and jokingly said he was hurt); I replied in total honesty that he was among the first names I thought of when I was writing it but for some reason didn't put it in... I guess something in me knew that I should but I didn't follow my heart. The one name I omit is the one person who has responded to my "where are they now?" request. Always listen to the voice in your head, it's usually right.
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Jamie Dawn said:
Hooray! I'm in again. No "Error has Occured" nonsense [however] I got into the comment page, but it would not accept my user name and password.
I'm glad you didn't get that job since they said you weren't a good fit for it. You don't want to be hired somewhere where you're not thought of as a good fit right from the start. Shake the dust off your sandals and move on! Ta-ta boneheads!!
Nice fan. Our fans are very similar, only with wooden blades. The domes are similar and the blades are not at decapatation height, which is of course a good feature.
It's great that you've reconnected with an old friend. Twenty years is a long time, and you'll have much to share with one another.
Hang in there with the job hunting. I hope just the right fit comes along soon. Until then... your home improvement projects beckon.
I hope you both have some nice plans for Valentine's Day.
Hooray! I'm in again. No "Error has Occured" nonsense [however] I got into the comment page, but it would not accept my user name and password.
I'm glad you didn't get that job since they said you weren't a good fit for it. You don't want to be hired somewhere where you're not thought of as a good fit right from the start. Shake the dust off your sandals and move on! Ta-ta boneheads!!
Nice fan. Our fans are very similar, only with wooden blades. The domes are similar and the blades are not at decapatation height, which is of course a good feature.
It's great that you've reconnected with an old friend. Twenty years is a long time, and you'll have much to share with one another.
Hang in there with the job hunting. I hope just the right fit comes along soon. Until then... your home improvement projects beckon.
I hope you both have some nice plans for Valentine's Day.
Still having fun with Blogger, I see. :-/
From the philosophical point of view, indeed, you're not the first to say "you don't want 'em if they're like that"... still, doesn't get me paid.
Our fan has wooden blades too, without paint on them. :) I start in on the lighting tomorrow, I've got the supplies purchased. And at this moment, no V-Day plans have been created. Hope you have good ones in that case. :)
After I wrote the Daybook entry, he wrote back to me -- several times in the course of the day, actually -- to say he'd hunted up a couple people TODAY he'd wondered about and advise me on a couple things, so the entry has been edited about four times. What hopefully is the final version is there now.
From the philosophical point of view, indeed, you're not the first to say "you don't want 'em if they're like that"... still, doesn't get me paid.
Our fan has wooden blades too, without paint on them. :) I start in on the lighting tomorrow, I've got the supplies purchased. And at this moment, no V-Day plans have been created. Hope you have good ones in that case. :)
After I wrote the Daybook entry, he wrote back to me -- several times in the course of the day, actually -- to say he'd hunted up a couple people TODAY he'd wondered about and advise me on a couple things, so the entry has been edited about four times. What hopefully is the final version is there now.
Illiterate: It's easier to do if you print it. Usually I do it by putting my mouse at the bottom of the vertical thumb-bar and click once or twice to advance by screen page, that's a reasonable facsimilie. And since the story I was in with Rectangulon didn't have a satisfying ending, I've turned the page on them. A local blog says that the Business Examiner newspaper now has an RSS feed -- something I don't need to look into because those sad sacks snailmail me sample copies every week, which defeats the purpose of me subscribing since I get it free. I'd make an analogy about turning pages with the BE except I have never opened even one issue in the last year and a half. (Another reason not to subscribe, apathy.) Maybe I'll find a suitable metaphor that involves a recycle bin or a container for fireplace tinder.
Oh, and I nearly forgot my favorite way to Turn The Page: by reading that new Blogspot webcomic twice a week.
This is Dean Roettger and I just fumbled onto to this. Who is this? I can't see the picture very well.shoot me an email at spot1x1@netzero.com so we can play catch up.
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