March 2004 Archives
I think "positive job-related news" and my current company are mutually exclusive. Guess where this is going.
A friend of mine works for a biotech company in San Francisco. She sent me a catch-up email a couple weeks ago, and in my reply I casually mentioned that work sucks. She immediately wrote back to mention that her company's hiring freeze is over and they are bringing people in like crazy. So I went through their online listings, picked out some things that looked good and passed that info along to her along with my resume and a cover letter.
She submitted all that last Friday. I got a call from an HR guy yesterday, and I had a phone interview with the hiring manager for a process engineering position today. Before we hung up, he asked me if I was interested in flying out to San Francisco.
!!!
!!!
!!!
I hung up and was spazzing so badly I couldn't figure out what to do. Scream? (Did that.) Jump around? (Did that.) Fall down? (Did that.) Who to call? Who to email? Do I blog it first? I called my mom first and I said something about "fucking flipping out" to which she replied that I didn't need to "use such language." I almost hung up on her. But I told her the rest of the story and got off the phone so I could call my sister who was appropriately excited.
From the sound of it, my friend's putting in a good word for me has gone a long way. And by all accounts the manager really liked what I had to say. So I'll be taking a trip to the Bay Area in a couple weeks. (Funny, I already had one booked, but I can go twice in a month.)
I am so unbelievably beyond excited about this. I've exceeded my own expectations having even gotten this far. Okay, maybe my expectations for myself are a little low after two years of getting the job search beatdown. Not to sell myself short or anything, but this is a fine example of the power of networking and the fact that who you know, not what you know, is the key to getting yourself in the door.
That said, now I have to study up because there will definitely be technical questions as part of the interview process. Time to bust out the old textbooks and the bible.
I'm so glad I don't have to work today because I would have had a damn hard time going to that place with those people and sitting on this information.
I'm calm. I am. *falls down*
Anybody still need to submit their tax return and planning on doing it with TurboTax for the Web?
I got this "save your friends $5" email from TurboTax.
A man and a woman were sitting beside each other in the first-class section of a jet liner. The woman sneezed, took out a tissue, gently wiped her nose, then visibly shuddered for ten or fifteen seconds.
The man went back to his reading. A few minutes later, the woman sneezed again, took a tissue, wiped her nose, then shuddered quite violently once more. Assuming the woman might have a cold, the man was still curious about the shuddering. A few more minutes passed when the woman sneezed yet again. As before, she took a tissue, wiped her nose, her body shaking even more than before.
Unable to restrain his curiosity, the man turned to the woman, and said, "I couldn't help but notice that you've sneezed three times, wiped your nose, then shuddered violently. Are you okay?"
The O'Franken Factor (with co-host Katherine Lanpher, formerly of Minnesota Public Radio) debuts today. I'm not sure if it's on at the same time everywhere, but it'll be on from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on 1330 AM here in the Twin Cities.
I didn't get to watch it since I was at work, but it sounds like the Minnesota women's basketball team played a pretty solid game against Duke to advance to the Final Four for the first time ever.
Lindsay Whalen is an amazing player to watch. That girl can do it all, but it's a particular pleasure to watch the passes she makes. And Janel McCarville has been unstoppable at center. But really, they wouldn't be where they are if whole team wasn't deep.
So they're facing UConn on Sunday night. I won't be able to watch on account of work (stupid work), but I bet that'll be a spectacular game. I hope they make it to the final so I can watch that next Tuesday. Word on the street is to expect the third UConn-Tennessee final in five years.
Bonus: Candace Parker becomes the first woman to win the McDonald's High School All-American Slam Dunk contest. (Catch the replay tonight at 8:00 EST on ESPN.)
UPDATE: More on Candace Parker from Ms. Musings. (via Lauren)
There exists a show on Northwest Community Television entitled Scotty J's Trailer Trash.
A very unique program showcasing classic B-Movie trailers (or Coming Attractions) focusing on the lesser known, independent, studio-produced "bad" films from the 1930s to 1980s.
I could try to describe to you what kind of eye-clawing and teeth-gnashing watching Scotty J's induces, but its hideously garish website is a much better indicator.
My sister Emily's one year blogiversary was last week.
Where does the time go?
Heh.
This week the Bonfire of the Vanities returns home to Wizbang.
The best post title I've seen in weeks.
"When I hear 'plus size pad,' I think 'plus size vagina.'" (via Dean)
Compulsive Liar genuinely wonders why the hospital is threatening to garnish her wages when she hasn't paid on an $11,000 hospital bill in six years. (She had also never heard of a mullet. Further proof that she lives in an alternate reality.)
Chucklefuck is concerned about his $30,000 in credit card debt, yet he and his wife are about to have their second child in 12 months. I ain't one to judge folks' credit card debt, but isn't a child about the most expensive thing you can obtain with that kind of credit score?
There's gonna be a sixth season of The Amazing Race! And they're taking applications now!
Dave, we ARE applying, dammit. We've got two weeks!
In the event that I accidentally slice a finger off, I'm calling Kate to clean up the mess.
(I tried to come up with a clever snake/laundry detergent play on words, but I couldn't. Not after "putting the fang in newfangled.")
UPDATE: Kate's practically volunteering!
When it's That Time of the Month™...
I don't like it, but it's something to work with.
The Massachusetts Legislature adopted a new version of a state constitutional amendment Monday that would ban gay marriage and legalize civil unions, eliminating consideration of any other proposed changes....
Lawmakers had voted earlier this month in favor of a similar amendment. The revised version adopted Monday would ask voters to simultaneously ban gay marriage and legalize civil unions rather than taking those steps separately. It clarifies that civil unions would not grant federal benefits to gay couples.
By adopting the new language, lawmakers blocked consideration of several other amendments including ones that would have weakened the civil union provision and one that would have split the question in two, allowing voters to weigh in separately on gay marriage and civil unions.
I think (slash-hope) that this is the route that most states will take on the road to equal rights and protections for gay couples.
Meanwhile, back in the corn field, the Minnesota state house approved an amendment to the state constitution banning gay marriage by a margin of 82-14, but it was struck down in a Senate committee on a 5-4 vote (article below for safekeeping).
"You hate godless whores, and you're a fan of vengeance."
"I am a Christian, dear."
From an episode of The Practice (in which Betty White plays a great crazy old lady).
Tell me if you can figure out what the hell this is.
(click to embiggen)
Now, if I understand correctly. This AXE Deodorant ad (seen in Rolling Stone magazine) depicts an armpit with three-toed feet riding a horse with some sort of wild amazon girl on the back. Or something.
WTF?!
I am going to California one month from today.
There will be a hot tub.
I am back on the Slim-Fast diet.
These were the Midwest and Northeast regional finals. On the one hand, the Gophers lost (no three-peat, suckas!). On the other hand, so did the Wolverines. Drat.
Back to basketball.
I am blue cheese:
You are a soft, crumbly white blue-streaked cheese. You are very cool and mellow. You are very knowledgeable and wise and people come to you for advice and help.
Blue cheese is a white cheese with blue veins and a sometimes crumbly interior. This cheese usually has tangy, piquant, spicy and peppery flavor. Use in salad dressings with cream cheese for spreads. [Texture: hard, semi-soft ]
Cheese Test: What type of cheese are you?
(via Casey)
I was browsing the website of Zephyr Adventures, purveyors of "active travel vacations," and happened across their Minnesota Skate Camp FAQ (which sounds like fun and I might see about doing it). There's a testimonial in the left-hand column from a guy named "Brian Renaud" from Ann Arbor, MI.
I thought, "That sounds familiar... where do I know that name from...?" Then it dawned on me: That guy works for my friends' company! How strange is that?
Probably one of the reasons I'm limited to lame internet coverage of NCAA Hockey is because of the popularity of the NCAA Women's Basketball tournament. ESPN has a Page 2 article up on why the women's tournament is more exciting than the men's. There are counterpoints and some comments on why the men's and women's tourneys are not even comparable.
S-Train and I had this conversation before at the end of last year's WNBA season. I prefer women's basketball over men's because of the hot chicks it's more about fundamentals. It's a team game and not just an individual skills competition.
I'm off to root for Minnesota. I'll hate their men's hockey team forever, but the women's basketball team has had a great season and will be making their first trip to the Elite 8 if they beat Boston College today.
I subscribe to David Pogue's weekly Circuits email column from the New York Times. This week he talked about the many many things that Google does. Here's the column. A few I knew already, but most I didn't.
Why is the online sports coverage of the NCAA Hockey tournament practically non-existent? I had to dig through ESPN and CBS Sportsline to find them. And then when you click on the "scoreboard" option at Sportsline it takes you to NCAAsports.com with last year's results up.
It's only being broadcast on television in this area on Victory Sports which of course the major cable carriers around do not have. And even if I did get Victory Sports, they're not broadcasting the northeast region semifinals, which Michigan is playing in (right this moment, and leading New Hampshire so far).
I'm stuck manually refreshing the lowly NCAA Hockey Scoreboard page on ESPN. *sigh*
I'm almost out of coffee. My big ol' can of Maxwell House Original is down to its last grounds.
I just went to the grocery store last week. Twice. I do not much feel like going again. Given the nature of this crisis, I guess I'll just have to suck it up. I'll need more crack flavored creamer anyway. Which reminds me I need to get to Cost Plus World Market because I'm almost out of chai, too.
What did I do to deserve this?
For starters, my roommate happened to leave a piece of mail from the city regarding his property taxes and it just magically leapt into my hands, unfolded. Anyhoo, poor guy's house has been reappraised at $20,000 more than last year. Which makes the Fair Market Value $198,000.
Let me reiterate that I certainly can't afford this shit. I'm just here because he's charging me el cheapo rent under the table. This blows my mind. This is a townhouse, not even a standalone. I would expect the low-end houses around here to go for about that much, but not this townhouse. I need to get into real estate investment.
Anyway, I haven't bothered to look up anybody else's property values in the neighborhood, but I did check to see what kind of campaign contributions have been made.
Use the location search (on your home address) to find those who live near you that have made presidential campaign contributions. You can also search for friends or celebrities by name.
There are some big dawgs living in my zip code. Executives at big local companies. A CFO, a partner at KPMG, a Senior VP at Target, a bank president, the controller for a utility company, a financial services company president, a few other assorted directors. Sheesh. I feel po'.
(via Dustbury)
Dean's asking what defines "the 90s" as a decade.
One thing I wondered when reading the comments is how the age of the commenter might affect their perspective. Too bad I have no idea how old most of those folks are. I'm most definitely a "90s child." I turned 12 in 1990 and 22 in 2000, so I'm right on the cusp of Gen X and Gen Y. My high school and college years all fell into this decade. I think more of stuff like fashion and music, and less of political, philosophical, and economic things. I also don't have much to compare it to. I was very young during the 80s and we're in the middle of the 2000s right now.
Anyway, it's an interesting read, and would be an interesting conversation to re-visit 10 years from now.
...just how cold your hands are until you pull your pants down.
Within one hour of arriving at work today, I got three separate pieces of news. In descending order of magnitude:
1. Stupidvisor got fired yesterday.
2. I'm cleared in the alcohol thing.
3. That news story about kids becoming suicidal from taking anti-depressants (or something like that) - those kids were taking a drug that we make here.
No time to elaborate at the moment, but.... wow.
UPDATE: Here's the details.
Don't forget it's on Wednesday night (that's tonight) again this week, on account of all this basketball stuff going on. I believe this is a recap/never-before-seen-footage episode, so you probably won't be missing much if you skip it. [TWoP recap/let]
Holy shit, y'all, it's 60 degrees outside up here in sunny Minne-scro-ta. I'd go outside, but I don't really have anything pressing to do and that would require me to get dressed. I did slide the deck door opens to let some fresh air in. I hear birds chirping. Hell yeah!
Bonfire of the Vanities, the weekly festival of suck, is has been up at mtpolitics.
While I was there, I noticed Craig is giving up blogging for Lent.
!!!
I am so glad I'm not a practicing Catholic anymore.
Sinbad will be at Mystic Lake Casino on April 8. I so wanna go!
He filmed an HBO special at Morehouse College in, like, 1991 or something that is one of my favorite comedy shows ever (which the quote in the title is from and which won't make sense or be funny if I explain it).
Damn, I have to work that night.
Since 1936, a lone federal worker has sat in a tower along the Mississippi River, scanning the water with binoculars and radioing ship captains on whether to proceed or stop their vessels.
Not for long. The radioman will be gone by the end of the year, replaced by a new computerized system that will track and send messages to all large vessels on the lower Mississippi.
The system will be in place at all major U.S. seaports in 2005 part of a security overhaul at the nation's ports, where officials fear a terrorist attack could cause economic and environmental disasters.
I'm glad that they're upgrading but why the hell didn't this happen sooner? Has this major seaport really been in the hands of one lonely guy in the crow's nest in the 21st century? I would have expected this change (albeit a less sophisticated version) to have been made at least 10 years ago.
On a less serious note, they actually used the word "sketchy" in the article. Heh.
So, the latest spam trend is these subjects and long lists made up of random words. I gotta say that these things crack me up. One spam email I got had this subject:
asiatic foppish blameworthy exceptional bludgeon
It's even better if you say it in a British accent. I bet there's a way to make a drinking word game out of this.
I turned on Spam Assassin on my webhost, so when the messages arrive in my desktop client, a lot of them are already labeled as spam. One nifty thing about Spam Assassin is that it includes a summary of how it determined the message was spam. Here's one:
Or at least I know what the issue is.
Apparently my inability to make my student loan payments online coincided with my switch back to Safari from Camino.
I got an email back (only one day later!) suggesting I check my browser configuration. They directed me toward their help center where I discovered they only support IE, NN, and AOL variety browsers.
I opened up Camino and was able to schedule the payment just fine.
I finally opened that damn bag of Twizzlers.
And I scarfed the first one right down. I bet that one makes it through intact (heh).
I was about to write that I took my time with the second one, but in the space between paragraphs two and three here, I inhaled that one, too. Good thing I only pulled two out and then put the bag away.
I hold Tiffany completely responsible for this Twizzler security failure.
In the "badger badger badger" community: I know y'all know the Badger Badger Badger video. Some group of guys decided to re-enact it, hence the Human Badger Show. (I don't know which is worse, that there's a "badger badger badger" community on Orkut or that someone made this video.)
In the "NPR" community: the Talk of the Nation episode, What to do in the event of a zombie attack (complete with callers from "Sunnyvale").
Amy Grant's I Will Remember You chokes me up.
BOSTON -- Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura threw his feather boa into the gay marriage ring Monday, calling it a "cop out" for Massachusetts lawmakers to send a constitutional ban to voters.
"We have a representative-style government. Represent your people and vote and stand by what you believe in," said Ventura, who as a professional wrestler was known for his flamboyant costumes. "Civil rights issues should not be put on the ballot."
Currently a fellow at Harvard University's Institute of Politics, Ventura appeared at the Statehouse alongside State Auditor Joseph DeNucci, a former boxer.
"We're two tough guys here to show support for a basic human right,'' DeNucci said.
Clad in jeans and sneakers and wearing a full beard and a shaggy ring of hair, Ventura asked, "How is my marriage under attack if two gays or lesbians down the street want to make a lifelong commitment to themselves?
"Love is bigger than government," said Ventura, a one-term governor elected on the Reform Party ticket. "Think about that."
Jesse is, of course, correct. But how lame is it that they had to play up the feather boa and the "flamboyant costumes"? Granted, he'll never live that ex-wrestler thing down (like folks still yelling "time out" at Chris Webber).
Does anyone else access their student loan information via the Federal Student Aid Direct Loan Service Center? You can get your account info and make payments online.
Or you could make payments online up until about a month ago. Maybe it's been longer. Some glitch in their system is recording the current date as being in the year 2000 ("in the year two thoooousaaaand"), even though all my info is current for 2004. When I try to make a payment using a current date, I get a "Please select a payment date within six months of today" error. When I input a 2000 date, I get a "Please enter a date in the future" error.
I emailed them about it. I hope they fix that shit, because I haven't been able to find my checkbook for a couple weeks and I have a payment due. You'd think they'd have found that right away. Get that money.
Hillary points towards this article from the China Daily on the US human rights record and then shares the comment she left in response.
I don't have anything to add in terms of analysis of the article, but it's interesting (and frustrating, really) to read. Obviously you can manipulate statistics and make gross generalizations. How much of the same do we do with regard to China?
That said, I find it hard to take any report on human rights coming out of China seriously. Especially when the article starts like this:
On February 25, 2004, the State Department of the United States released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2003 (called the "reports" thereafter). As in previous years, the United States once again acted as "the world human rights police" by distorting and censuring in the "reports" the human rights situations in more than 190 countries and regions across the world, including China. And, as usual, the United States once again "omitted" its own long-standing malpractices and problems concerning human rights in the "reports". Therefore, we have to, as before, help the United States maintain its human rights record.
You spin me right round baby right round like a record baby right round round round....
I had forgotten how many songs I like on this CD. I think that exact same thing every time I listen to it, too.
There's Bad Habit, Gotta Get Away, Come Out and Play, and my favorites are Self-Esteem and What Happened to You?
*headbangs*
This might be old news, but I lost it in the post queue and couldn't let it fall by the wayside....
January 2005 is the earliest that the next new episodes of The Family Guy will be airing.
*hunkers down to wait*
(via Culture Cat)
I have a bloggy thing I'm dying to implement. I don't want to half-ass it, but I'm also afraid if I don't do it soon, someone else will do it first. I just haven't had the time to work on it.
I already have a name and some marketing ideas. Ooh, I'm all a-tingle just thinking about it!
That makes it sound like a way bigger idea than it actually is. But it really would be neato speedo. At least I think it would be.
Mark Cuban — Dallas Mavericks owner and Regular Joe, inasmuch as a professional sports team owner can be "regular" — has a blog. (via Dustbury)
I think the concept is probably more interesting than the blog itself.
Also, he's working on a new tv show called The Benefactor, which this guy writes for. Probably won't watch the show, but I was intrigued by having made that little connection via blogs.
Liberator Bedroom Adventure Gear received 4 briquettes on Talk Sex With Sue (check the screen shots under "Liberator on TV"). (via Shasta MacNasty, and read the comments while you're there)
Chasing Beaver. Canadian beer commercials are funny. (via Hi. I'm Black!)
I might stop saying, "I'm Rick James, bitch!" and instead say, I'm KathyHowe, beeeeeeooooootch!"
My roommate was up bright and early yesterday morning, disturbing my warm sunny morning peace. He said something about having passed out on the couch Friday night, so apparently he got plenty of sleep.
He walked around in his t-shirt and boxers, pulling his t-shirt down over his crotch so his bits didn't accidentally flop out (I guess). I think taking 20 seconds to walk into his room and put some gym shorts on would have been a more effective solution, but whatever.
He's learning how to play a new song on his guitar. Mr. Jones. It's pretty easy. Same four chords. Over. And over. And over. Again. And again. And again.
I blame myself. I just gave him the .mp3. The regular and the acoustic version.
This morning I hear him shuffle out at about 8:00. He never gets up this early on a work day. Immediately he picks up the guitar. I was hoping I could at least get to bed and be half asleep before he started. He doesn't quite have it down yet. He gets to a point where he's fuzzy on the guitar, but he keeps on singing, and it's not like he can carry a tune, so it's just a bunch of random strumming and wailing.
If any member of Counting Crows were already dead, he'd be turning in his grave.
*stabs self in ear*
UPDATE: Now he's playing and singing along with the .mp3. But in a totally different tempo. Joy.
StealthSurfer. It's a USB plugin that contains a customized version of Netscape. It keeps the cookies, history, cache, etc. on the USB drive instead of on your hard drive. (via NY Times)
LinSpot. It's freeware that you can install on your WiFi network and turn it into a hotspot. It sets itself up so you can charge a fee and collect via PayPal when people sign on. You can still give free access to whoever you choose to. (via Apple Downloads)
I'm also bound and determined to figure out these FOAF and XFN things (even though they're apparently useless if no one else you know is doing it, but that's not the point).
Also, I installed the MTOnThisDay plugin, so in the sidebar under 'round hyeah you will now see "Posted On This Day In:" with the year, a link to the daily archive (I implemented daily archiving just so I could use this) and the post titles from that day. I can't decide how to make it look any prettier/neater/more self-explanatory, so it's just there.
This has been crackin' my shit up for weeks (thanks Ryan, heh). Look for "MORE of Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories." I'm Rick James, bitch!
Methinks Dave Tepper is leading a double life.
WHEN TO SEE YOUR DOCTOR....
- You feel an unusual heaviness or pressure inside your vagina.
- You feel something protruding from the vaginal opening.
The vagina begins to turn inside out, and depending on the location and degree of prolapse, the bladder, rectum and uterus may come along with it. Most commonly, the bulge is the front wall of the vagina that has given way, says Dr. Chapin. The sensation is something like feeling an egg at the opening of the vagina, he says. The bulge or protrusion can get as big as a fist, or even the size of a grapefruit.
Emphasis mine. I certainly would see a doctor if you feel something protruding from your vagina and you know you didn't put anything in there in the first place.
As JenBen (from whence this came) said, yet another reason not to have kids. *squick*