I found a better position. I hope I hear back from the hiring manager about it. It is an STE position, and we discussed $16 dollars per hour. It would last me until June, which is good. That means I can have a steady job for the next few months, and also a steady job when I'm moving. Other than that, I have 4 more leads to follow up on. The job I'm looking at and three others are through Volt... I have a back up job through Robert Half Technology... and I have leads for Tek Systems, Aerotek, and Judge...
I have been trying to figure out if I like CareerBuilder.com or Thingamajob.com better. They both seem to give me a lot of job openings, but Volt only uses Career Builder... they seem to both really like me, and they call me back right away. One time, when I applied in the morning, they even called me back that day. I guess all of my managers gave me good reviews, so I get a higher priority, plus everybody likes to see Microsoft on a resume... Volt does over half of Microsoft's hiring. Plus they have VMC... which the "bull-pen" really sucks to work at, but it is a last resort.
The "bull-pen" is this place at VMC. You sign up for it, and technically call you when they need you to show up the next day. However, it is best to just show up at about 6AM and hang out in the cafeteria until 8AM to find out if they need anyone to work. Otherwise, they might call you to come in, and then there is no work for you because it is a first come first serve basis. You are also lucky if you can make $9 /hr there.
The only benefit I can see is that it is better than $7.50 /hr at Labor Ready doing road construction or crap jobs for some contractor somewhere. Also, if you have any knowledge about testing or using computers, or... really if you don't smoke crack you can get promoted to a position where you will make $10 /hr and have reliable temporary work... but they don't like to keep anyone at VMC very long, and once you go through the process they try and keep you away from it. It is kinda a way to weed out the pot heads that think that testing video games is all about playing games all day long... but anyway...
Also I saw this awesome link on cousin Liz's blog: The story of Stuff with Annie Leonard that made me think.
Other than that, I also discovered that the head lamp I got for christmas is perfect for Jaani to use while walking at night. I can put it around his neck, and then he has a light to see and be seen with.
So... that's life in Seattle.
Later,
SteveO
Friday, January 11, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
The interview...
So, today I had a job interview. It went well, but I don't know if you job they chose is really the job I want. So, I guess I have a back up plan just in case I can't find a better job in the next week.
The position is a Web Support Technician, which is a fancy way to say help desk position. It might be a good thing however, it would allow me a good amount of time to go back to school. It's a third shift position... 4 days a week, midnight to 10AM.
In the mean time, I have several other positions that I am looking at, for which I have 3 interviews next week. I think it's a good sign that for every position I got an interview for, I got a job. The key things about this job would be a higher pay rate, few calls would come in, 12 month contract, opportunities to move up, and benefits. The downside is that I would have to work a call centre in the middle of the night. I have to be honest, I was really looking forward to actually seeing the sun and getting out this summer.
It's a hard decision, but I'm sure I'll be in good shape. All I have to do is make my car payment, and make sure I get a job in the next week.
Other than that, I went to Cost-Co today(that means that dad's Cost-Co card works for me) and got some food, logs for the fire, and razor cartridges. So now I can look nice and sharp for my interviews. I also got a nice pair of pants for interviewing. I have a lot of pants, but I just realized that most of them are no good if I want to interview somewhere.
So tonight I'm curling up by the fireplace to watch a move with my Cost-Co spinach salad and Jaani (he actually eats spinach... if it has the dressing on it...)
I hope the fire logs will have the impact on my heating bill I want them to have.
So, that's all for now.
Later,
SteveO
The position is a Web Support Technician, which is a fancy way to say help desk position. It might be a good thing however, it would allow me a good amount of time to go back to school. It's a third shift position... 4 days a week, midnight to 10AM.
In the mean time, I have several other positions that I am looking at, for which I have 3 interviews next week. I think it's a good sign that for every position I got an interview for, I got a job. The key things about this job would be a higher pay rate, few calls would come in, 12 month contract, opportunities to move up, and benefits. The downside is that I would have to work a call centre in the middle of the night. I have to be honest, I was really looking forward to actually seeing the sun and getting out this summer.
It's a hard decision, but I'm sure I'll be in good shape. All I have to do is make my car payment, and make sure I get a job in the next week.
Other than that, I went to Cost-Co today(that means that dad's Cost-Co card works for me) and got some food, logs for the fire, and razor cartridges. So now I can look nice and sharp for my interviews. I also got a nice pair of pants for interviewing. I have a lot of pants, but I just realized that most of them are no good if I want to interview somewhere.
So tonight I'm curling up by the fireplace to watch a move with my Cost-Co spinach salad and Jaani (he actually eats spinach... if it has the dressing on it...)
I hope the fire logs will have the impact on my heating bill I want them to have.
So, that's all for now.
Later,
SteveO
Monday, January 7, 2008
3 hours and counting.
in three more hours gOS v2 will be available for download! I have been anticipating it so much for the past couple of days. I just loaded it up on one of the Dells, and it runs great!
Funny thing today. I am pretty sure the Evelyn is definately going to cancel the Internet access. I am making a big deal out of it, even though I really don't care. I can still connect via our neighbor's connection, but I want to make her think that she is really upsetting me with it.
The final straw came when the Dell she was using broke. I still haven't figured out what is wrong with it. the main problem is that the screen won't turn on. Honestly, I suspect that she broke it by throwing it or something. She is trying so hard to make it sound like it was my fault, which is why. Part of me wants to tell her that she has to pay for it, but I just don't want to put up with her kicking and screaming about it. I guess it is lost now. I have two laptops and a desktop that all work. Now one of them even has the best parts from each of the Dells. I'm happy about that. The only thing I need now is an internal laptop blue-tooth antenna. but for the time being, I actually have 2 extra internal Wifi cards, 2 sticks of 256BM DDR RAM, 2 ATA 80GB Laptop HDDs, a 15.4" WXGA LCD laptop screen, a 15" XGA LCD laptop screen, and misc parts for my desktop computer.
Ev has been a real handful today... it is that time of the month... I guess it's only times like this when I remember that sometimes it isn't that time of the month. She needed more pads. She said it last night... then started to throw a hissy fit about nothing in particular and didn't want to go... she said she was using her last one earlier today, but she was too busy telling me that I am her problem to go to the store... so then after that she called me when I was at Jet City. She said that she was out of pads and was going to stay in the shower until I got home with some. I told her that I would come home when I finished my coffee. What I didn't realize that by stay in the shower, she meant that she was going to run the shower the whole time I was gone. She called me a little later, and asked if I left yet, I told her not yet, and that I have no sympathy for her because she refused to go to the store, and she was not only asking me to get them, but she wanted me to pay for them too. She hung up on me.
Over the next little while, I took Jaani for a walk, got dinner for myself, and eventually went by walgreens to pick up the smallest pack of pads for her I could find. Meanwhile, she called me at least 2 or 3 dozen times. eventually I picked up right before I got to walgreens. She said to hurry up... and I said I would be there soon. She called again after I left Walgreens... she said never mind, she would have Mani bring it... I thought to myself, self, it sure would have been nice if he did something about this 3 or 4 hours ago.
The moral of the story is that Ev is an ungrateful B**** that probably broke my computer, blamed it on me, and is now going to cancel the Internet access because she is too worthless to go out an get a good job, her own computer, her license, or do anything for herself.
I have never met a more ungreatful and thankless person in my life.
Later,
SteveO
Funny thing today. I am pretty sure the Evelyn is definately going to cancel the Internet access. I am making a big deal out of it, even though I really don't care. I can still connect via our neighbor's connection, but I want to make her think that she is really upsetting me with it.
The final straw came when the Dell she was using broke. I still haven't figured out what is wrong with it. the main problem is that the screen won't turn on. Honestly, I suspect that she broke it by throwing it or something. She is trying so hard to make it sound like it was my fault, which is why. Part of me wants to tell her that she has to pay for it, but I just don't want to put up with her kicking and screaming about it. I guess it is lost now. I have two laptops and a desktop that all work. Now one of them even has the best parts from each of the Dells. I'm happy about that. The only thing I need now is an internal laptop blue-tooth antenna. but for the time being, I actually have 2 extra internal Wifi cards, 2 sticks of 256BM DDR RAM, 2 ATA 80GB Laptop HDDs, a 15.4" WXGA LCD laptop screen, a 15" XGA LCD laptop screen, and misc parts for my desktop computer.
Ev has been a real handful today... it is that time of the month... I guess it's only times like this when I remember that sometimes it isn't that time of the month. She needed more pads. She said it last night... then started to throw a hissy fit about nothing in particular and didn't want to go... she said she was using her last one earlier today, but she was too busy telling me that I am her problem to go to the store... so then after that she called me when I was at Jet City. She said that she was out of pads and was going to stay in the shower until I got home with some. I told her that I would come home when I finished my coffee. What I didn't realize that by stay in the shower, she meant that she was going to run the shower the whole time I was gone. She called me a little later, and asked if I left yet, I told her not yet, and that I have no sympathy for her because she refused to go to the store, and she was not only asking me to get them, but she wanted me to pay for them too. She hung up on me.
Over the next little while, I took Jaani for a walk, got dinner for myself, and eventually went by walgreens to pick up the smallest pack of pads for her I could find. Meanwhile, she called me at least 2 or 3 dozen times. eventually I picked up right before I got to walgreens. She said to hurry up... and I said I would be there soon. She called again after I left Walgreens... she said never mind, she would have Mani bring it... I thought to myself, self, it sure would have been nice if he did something about this 3 or 4 hours ago.
The moral of the story is that Ev is an ungrateful B**** that probably broke my computer, blamed it on me, and is now going to cancel the Internet access because she is too worthless to go out an get a good job, her own computer, her license, or do anything for herself.
I have never met a more ungreatful and thankless person in my life.
Later,
SteveO
Saturday, January 5, 2008
$199 (Linux based) PC at Wal-Mart!
Wal-Mart has is shipping a PC that comes pre-loaded with Linux! Granted, it is a desktop PC, but I am excited to see Linux pre loaded on a machine sold at Wal-Mart!
Click Here!
I think this is sweet, but the best part is that they are selling out everywhere! On the surface it doesn't look like much. It is pretty much the laptop I just got... but it comes pre-loaded with Linux. gOS to be exact. Which is almost the same thing I put on my laptop... An OS based on Ubuntu that uses a different GUI (Graphical User Interface) and a few other minor changes... but it is something that excites me to see and hear about!
anyway... just wanted to share.
Later,
SteveO
Click Here!
I think this is sweet, but the best part is that they are selling out everywhere! On the surface it doesn't look like much. It is pretty much the laptop I just got... but it comes pre-loaded with Linux. gOS to be exact. Which is almost the same thing I put on my laptop... An OS based on Ubuntu that uses a different GUI (Graphical User Interface) and a few other minor changes... but it is something that excites me to see and hear about!
anyway... just wanted to share.
Later,
SteveO
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
A new OS for a new computer!
Today I finally got my new computer running on Ubuntu. From my experience I have learned that Windows Vista will crash constantly if you run it on a machine with less that 1GB of RAM. Which makes it the biggest abomination sense Windows ME.
On the plus side, my computer is running twice as fast with Ubuntu. I use less than half of my RAM... I didn't have to install any drivers for my Web Cam, Bluetooth adapter, Printer... or anything. It just took me a minute to figure out that my wireless networking adapter uses a non-free driver, so I had to enable the restricted drivers. I didn't have to spend hours installing software... I didn't have to click 2 billion ok boxes to install extra stuff I wanted... I just set it up, and now it works like a charm. and the ReiserFS runs like a charm with my 7200RPM SATA HDD.
Yes, life is grand.
I have a light weight, fast, reliable machine. It works on networks with Windows XP machines... Vista machines... Macintoshes... even other Linux machines (duh...)
I was more than happy this morning to wake up to my old familiar default background for Ubuntu.
Actually, my only issue was that the Live CD wouldn't run. It booted, but then it just wouldn't load all the way.
I thought it was interesting that so many other people had problems with a Lenovo 3000 N200... then once I looked at the Lenovo site, I realized that I most have purchased an older model of it, and that is why everyone else had problems. Just my luck, if I chose the Acer, I would have had trouble too... nobody could get the graphics to work right with the ATI chipset... it even seems like people were having trouble with the newer Nvidia chipsets... but not me with my Intel 965 chipset. works like a charm. and once I get another GB of RAM I'll have no problem editing a dozen or so pictures at a time in GIMP... while surfing the web... and compiling some code... and chatting on Pidgin... and updating my blog for mom... and I'm sure I'll come up with something else that can't wait until all that is done... cause all that will take forever.
Yes... and now with a battery that actually lasts me 3 1/2 hours... I mean it did with Windows Vista... now it last me almost 5 full hours... I can even do things outside the house with my laptop... heck, my laptop is even light enough for me to be happy to toss it into my backpack and roam the city!
It turns out this machine is less than half the weight of my dell. at a mere 3 1/2 lbs. oh yes...
well, to finish, Thank you mom and dad! the Laptop is great, the rain gear has come in handy several times (even today!), and everything out here is going great!
Later,
SteveO
On the plus side, my computer is running twice as fast with Ubuntu. I use less than half of my RAM... I didn't have to install any drivers for my Web Cam, Bluetooth adapter, Printer... or anything. It just took me a minute to figure out that my wireless networking adapter uses a non-free driver, so I had to enable the restricted drivers. I didn't have to spend hours installing software... I didn't have to click 2 billion ok boxes to install extra stuff I wanted... I just set it up, and now it works like a charm. and the ReiserFS runs like a charm with my 7200RPM SATA HDD.
Yes, life is grand.
I have a light weight, fast, reliable machine. It works on networks with Windows XP machines... Vista machines... Macintoshes... even other Linux machines (duh...)
I was more than happy this morning to wake up to my old familiar default background for Ubuntu.
Actually, my only issue was that the Live CD wouldn't run. It booted, but then it just wouldn't load all the way.
I thought it was interesting that so many other people had problems with a Lenovo 3000 N200... then once I looked at the Lenovo site, I realized that I most have purchased an older model of it, and that is why everyone else had problems. Just my luck, if I chose the Acer, I would have had trouble too... nobody could get the graphics to work right with the ATI chipset... it even seems like people were having trouble with the newer Nvidia chipsets... but not me with my Intel 965 chipset. works like a charm. and once I get another GB of RAM I'll have no problem editing a dozen or so pictures at a time in GIMP... while surfing the web... and compiling some code... and chatting on Pidgin... and updating my blog for mom... and I'm sure I'll come up with something else that can't wait until all that is done... cause all that will take forever.
Yes... and now with a battery that actually lasts me 3 1/2 hours... I mean it did with Windows Vista... now it last me almost 5 full hours... I can even do things outside the house with my laptop... heck, my laptop is even light enough for me to be happy to toss it into my backpack and roam the city!
It turns out this machine is less than half the weight of my dell. at a mere 3 1/2 lbs. oh yes...
well, to finish, Thank you mom and dad! the Laptop is great, the rain gear has come in handy several times (even today!), and everything out here is going great!
Later,
SteveO
Saturday, December 22, 2007
A Family day!
I spent the entire day doing family stuff. Went over to Mega Coney Island for breakfast... Then came home to finish wrapping gifts. Scott came over around 2:30 or 3pm... Susie and Mike showed up shortly after. Sally and Bernie came over with Steven and Lillian... and Sheila came over by herself. I guess Even and Nathe had a very bad fever so they couldn't come today, but I'll still see them on Monday.
We all gathered for dinner and to exchange gifts. Sheila gave everyone a bead. Sally and Bernie gave me a gift card. I opened the rain gear I wrapped for myself, some socks, and a copy of the Simpson's movie.
I was pleased that everyone seemed happy to get USB memory sticks. 2GB for everyone! and it went over great! Steven got a RC car from me that he loved. Lillian got a movie from me... and Datura got a Dora the Explorer toy/doll thing. they all liked it. Its nice to see all the kids happy. I
I finished the day by sitting down with a glass of Glogg and the spinach salad from Cost Co I love so much.
Tomorrow is picture day, and the Courtois family party. It will be good to see everyone else.
Later,
SteveO
We all gathered for dinner and to exchange gifts. Sheila gave everyone a bead. Sally and Bernie gave me a gift card. I opened the rain gear I wrapped for myself, some socks, and a copy of the Simpson's movie.
I was pleased that everyone seemed happy to get USB memory sticks. 2GB for everyone! and it went over great! Steven got a RC car from me that he loved. Lillian got a movie from me... and Datura got a Dora the Explorer toy/doll thing. they all liked it. Its nice to see all the kids happy. I
I finished the day by sitting down with a glass of Glogg and the spinach salad from Cost Co I love so much.
Tomorrow is picture day, and the Courtois family party. It will be good to see everyone else.
Later,
SteveO
Friday, December 21, 2007
most expensive star bucks drink...
I'll have a 13 shot venti soy hazelnut vanilla cinnamon white mocha with extra white mocha and caramel. Here is your $13.76... now give me my drink (which apparently isn't that bad.
I just read that on the Seattlest blog... and I had to share.
Later,
SteveO
I just read that on the Seattlest blog... and I had to share.
Later,
SteveO
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