Everyday Stupidities

Dear Diary... it's me again!
   The law of averages doesn't normally work for me, but oddly it had some effect... I only submitted one online application Thursday night. And at 11 a.m. Friday I got a call from that one application -- helpdesk, internal support telling coworkers to reboot, for an online travel company everyone's heard of, fifteen dullards an hour and no requirements on average handle time (I was told twice that 30 minutes per call is kosher). Which surprised me because every other position with that company I've ever seen listed was handled through a different placement agency; in fact at least one of the interviews with that placement agency I've done for some techie job in the past was conducted in the travel agency's office. I was at the placement agency's office in Bellevue at 2 p.m. to chat them up, and am told to expect a call from the travel agency's person on Monday since he wasn't available at the time. This gives the appearance of things going well, though I know appearances can be deceiving. One word: Woot! More when I know it.
   Now I've updated the Spackle site. I think I'm a better writer of humorous captions when I first see the picture and still have some of that spark when I'm putting it on the scanner, but lose much of it however much time later when I'm putting together the page for the picture. I try to give them names that will remind me of what I found so funny when I first saw them, but it doesn't always work. I may have said this before (I know I have said it on the Spackle site itself), but after several months of not having a guestbook when the site changed hosts I finally got off my duff and implemented a new one, using the one Indeterminacy suggested. And after all these years and a few suggestions, Yahoo Groups still hasn't added Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul to their list of found photo sites. They added some others which may not fit the definition or are flash-in-the-pan sites, which only salts the wound. But I can't help it if they suck. Anyhow, have a gander, at least some of the captions are funny.
   A funny thing happened to me in the supermarket today... I was checking out and the cashier looked distantly familiar. I looked at her nametag to see if it matched what I thought it was... surprisingly, yes! This was Leticia, whom I haven't seen since the fifth grade! I didn't get the courage to confirm this with her (the nametag had the correct first initial of the last name though) but it was kinda neat and/or weird to cross paths with someone I haven't seen in about twenty-five years. The person I really want an update on is Cassie Garnes, the tall redhead I was dating for a short time in my senior year and whose family I took a liking to for being so kind. (It's odd, I lived 2 blocks away from them for 3 years while I was in college but probably only wandered over to say hello once at most.)
   Since my blog is "Everyday Stupidities" it'd be fitting to tell this story there. Do you know how hard it is to get rid of a fluorescent light fixture and tubes?! I found out on Saturday. I was under the impression that I could just waltz into the Habitat For Humanity ReStore and donate the light trough I took out of the kitchen ceiling plus the tubes, since I've seen tubes in thrifts or somewhere for sale cheap recently. It's obvious by looking at it this fixture was recycled itself out of some other building. So does anyone want it? Noooooooooo. Habitat, as well as St. Vincent de Paul, do not take fluorescent fixtures (or the ballast part anyway) because of PCBs, and don't take fluorescent lights because of the mercury. So where do contractors and regular people get rid of these things then? Seems that the best place to go is to a landfill that handles hazardous waste. The one I usually go to in situations like this met me half-way: they took the fixture (considering it household waste and charging the minimum dump fee of $19), but I'm going to have to take the light tubes to a different landfill which has the benefits of not charging to get rid of hazardous waste, specifically claims to accept fluorescent lights, and is open on Sundays. While I feel a little bad about getting rid of the lights because somebody must have a use for them and would probably like to save a few bucks over going to the store for new ones, and they do still work, they'll be out of my hair and properly recycled. But my research brought an interesting gap to light: The Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology are very much in favor of recycling fluorescents and other mercury-using items. They encourage people to recycle them at every turn. IKEA (where I recycle the compact fluorescents) doesn't take the big tubes but also is big into having people recycle and has various links recycling resources which in turn have links to recycling businesses, one of which is just up the highway in Seattle. But does any of this info from the EPA, the WA DoE, NEMA, or Ecolights NW tell where and how to get the tubes recycled? No. Or not in any clear terms. I had to Google "fluorescent recycling pierce washington" to find out where in this county to take the tubes, and came up with two locations (one I'd been to and takes lights twice a week, likely with a charge; the other is where I'm going today and it's said to be free). With the increasing popularity of compact fluorescents, and the continued popularity of fluorescent tube lights (which have been around since the 1940's), you'd think this information on what to do with fluorescent lights -- and watch batteries, which also contain mercury -- would be widespread. Nope, so people put them in the trash. It's not the consumers who are stupid in this case, they don't know better because they haven't been given any info. The lack of widespread information and education by those who should get the word out, that is stupid.
   I haven't done any further home improvements (not even the sanding and final coat for the kitchen ceiling) but did have a look at a new flooring liquidator down the street, which it turns out we've visited before at their old location a few miles up the highway. The cat wandering around on top of the hardwood flooring stacks looked familiar. I need to finish that project today, as well as give the lawn a final mow for the year. But there has been no talk about when the patch jobs will be textured and painted, which you'd think my wife would be very eager to do or have done. Oh well, it'll come. And with that, I must go to bed. Goodnight, Diary... and you voyeurs of this, don't miss the previous entry, it has been one of those rare instances I wrote twice in a week.