Daynotes on a budget

So far, so...  well, OK.  Had one interview and decided that a three hour gap between sessions does not lend itself to sitting in a parking lot.  These days it is entirely possible to have those cops called on you because you might be stalking or something similarly dangerous.  

Don't think this first interview in a series is going to pan out.  Small company, looking to grow, but only 35 PCs.  Don't think this is going to be an ideal shop to hang my hat in.  Despite the fact that they make up-scale office furniture, I don't think they're the one.  Well, off to interviews two and three, and cursing Verizon all the while - they promised me a new cell phone in 5-7 business days.  Of course, that was 8 business days and 11 calendar days ago.  Putzes.  At least their service area in this region is a heck of a lot better than Sprint.  If they spent half the money on towers that they did on advertising, I'd have been able to get a signal in the parking lot of my office building.  Oops.  My OLD office building.  You know what I mean.

Later: Well, that's another day shot.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  First interview was for a company with 35 PCs - probably not big enough.  Second interview was with a bank.  Went OK.  I'm not sure about getting a call back.  Third interview went better (I hoped), but we shall see.  Tomorrow two more interviews, then I can "relax".  Then we move on to lining up more interviews for next week.  Wow, this is a whole lot harder than I thought.  A couple of scoops of Kemp's Nut Goodie ice cream just isn't solving the problems.  

So far, I can honestly say that the addition of Dennis Miller to Monday night football is a heck of a lot more fun for Al Michaels and Dan Fouts than the rest of us.  Although I think about half of the quarterbacks in the league passed through the Viking's organization - let's see - Brad Johnson, Jay Fiedler, Rich Gannon, Wade Wilson, Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham, Dante Cullpepper - that's more than a division's worth of quarterbacks.  Get the feeling that there's a significant issue with talent evaluation in the Viking's organization?  Yah, me too.  That's why I've given up on pro sports.  Those people (athletes, owners, coaches, and etc.) are just a waste of my time.

Though I see I've got catching up to do on the Dr. Keyboard site - I'm probably guilty of maintaining the same prejudices everyone else has of the French, and didn't give it a second thought.  Then I started reading his site.  He makes the south of France sound like an absolute paradise.  It helps, certainly, that the man not only has talent, but also a viable business plan, income independent of employers, and he sounds pretty rich.  Of course, just about anyplace would be compared to a city being destroyed by Mr. StayPuft.  Just think of the smores they could have made.

Later: Another day, another couple of interviews.  Good people, good organizations.  Nothing firm so far, but some really neat places.  We'll have to see how it goes.  I'm very very tired 

After re-reading this stuff, I'm beginning to get the feeling that I need to get a job if only to get a life...  ;-)

And I see Dr. Keyboard is banging away on different fronts - he's now updated his site so you can review the last week's worth on your palm pilot.  Being a former proud bearer of the demon tool, I can assure you that they are infinitely more useful than just to be able to check up on web sites.  Of course, if they had a useful lifespan - mine died after 14 months.  Not a good sign.

Then, I get Icked (okay, UCE'd) from my local favorite pizza delivery joint, Papa John's, for a $10 pizza - then I check out this page on the internet and see PJ's got an Ad on my page (nice of me, eh? - too bad I don't get compensated for it - then again, the site's free, so what).  The good news is that they've launched an upgraded web site - I was pretty impressed with their old one.  Unfortunately, it relies on Apple's Web Objects tools for construction.  Why do I say "unfortunately"?  Well, when I was with my previous employer, we briefly investigated AWO as a potential fit for our technological needs.  It was $50,000, plus required large multi-brained people to work with it, and the nearest one was in Chicago.  Recently, Apple decided they'd recouped the investment on the product (apparently) and dropped the price.  No, not to $40,000, or even $10,000, or even $1000 - it was going for $699.  It REALLY makes me wonder just what the heck is going on when a company can cut a product's price by nearly 99%.

Anyway, if you've got a PJ's in your neighborhood, go ahead and place an order with them.  If you like garlic, you'll be much satisfied.  If not, well, get back in your coffin and wait for dark; you'll be fine.

After running spell-check, that's profoundly curious.  Spell check will recognize Fiedler as a legitimate name, and yet choke on StayPuft.  Discrimination, I tell you, against those of us who prefer sugar as a food group.  And a major one at that.

Back to the news of the weird, as I see it - Looks like Puerto Rico dodged a bullet named Debby, while at the same time, so did Al Gore (for now).  I can understand him being a bit confused, but come on, here, folks, this isn't Ron Reagan with the Alzheimer's trucking along - it's a fairly young fellow (yes, he's a grandpa, but only one grandkid so far), and I can't imagine how he could show up at an "event" and FORGET that it's a fundraiser...  sheesh.  And I am a three-legged dog.

Elsewhere, seems that the National League is running out of pitchers.  Not surprisingly, a former Twins pitcher (Pat Mahomes) gave up ten runs.  Odd.  I thought that Ray Miller wasn't coaching in the NL right now.  He's about the only person I can imagine would leave a pitcher in there to give up ten runs.  Unless, of course, the NL's gone and messed with baseball to get back at the AL for that Designated Hitter deal, and added six bases to the diamond.

On another front, I've received my first Japanese/Chinese spam - I could read a few URLs, including "china10.com", and the rest was kanji (or whatever).   My ultimate goal (fantasy?) someday is to redefine the US Legal code and in some form include a hunting season for spammers.  I once lead a quest for "Nerdlings" while in college - we sought Freshmen who felt their computer knowledge was superior - we then showed them what superior knowledge actually was.  I hung out with a bunch of real computer nerds, and we had all the tools to freak people out in the various utilities (mail, phone) that we had.  I also see my first UNIX (SCO) is morphing.  I firmly believe that one day soon, we'll awake to a combined "Acme Conglomerate" that owns everything - of course, Bill Gates will be shareholder number one.  Though why SCO would sell their software and services division to Caldera (uh, don't they already have a *nix variant in the Linux camp?) is something I don't think I understand.  Then again, I'm unemployed, so what do I know?  ;-)

Oh, dear.  When I was a kid, I loved Battlestar Galactica.  I had models of the Cylon Battlestars and fighters, the Colonial Vipers, and even the Galatica.  I had two books, as well.  One of them was about an ice planet with some sort of cannon device which could destroy the BG if it got hit - so, while flipping around the cable channels and sure enough, that episode is the one I see of BG.  Figures.  Off to check web sites for jobs - By Your Command.   hehehehe.

No calls back on all those interviews; so it's time to revise the resume, redirect the job hunt, and keep slugging away.  I've got another 78 days here before I panic - well, let's be honest - I'm panicking now, but that's because it's not going as easy as I wish it would.  Stiff upper lip, and all that.  I'll get a good job, it's just going to take persistence.  A whole LOT of persistence.  

This afternoon, I've got to pick Mrs. D up early because they're done early (like 2-ish, which is pretty cool when they only require her to show up an hour and a half early then let her go, uh, two and a half hours early.  What a bargain!  No, absolutely no sarcasm in that one - they're good folks, all of them.  Though I'm jealous about those flat-panel monitors...  grrrrrrr...  Now that I've got a nineteen inch monster on my desk, I want a 15-flat-panel, but then again, I'm nuts.  Anyway, after the early pickup, we hit the farmer's market over at Mary Mother, and then probably get the kids and pick up a tee shirt for Rhiannon - she needs one for her summer camp tee shirt they're making.  They do it every year at Daycare - how I forgot, I'll never know.  Probably not a bad idea to get one for Jack as well, and we can do something with it this weekend if they haven't got plans for it next week.

And, of course, the STATE FAIR started today.   I've linked to the front page inside their stupid Flash intro - some day, people will all have high-speed DSL and cable modems, and most importantly, FAST SERVERS.  When you have DSL or similar high-speed connections, you can tell who's got the pokey servers and who's got fast ones.  Dial-up's just got too much of a lag.  Ugh.  Anyway, here's a link to the fairgrounds maps, as well.

And before I forget, I use iWon for news and someday, they'll pay me.  Until then there's also a free-prize giveaway thing here, as well.

Later: I just love Farmer's Markets - we wander into the one at Mary Mother and visit with the fine gentleman at Otis Farms.  He's got Beef, Pork, Lamb, and even chickens.  The first three you can get whole or half, at fairly reasonable prices (I'm getting good at this food pricing now).  The lamb, for example, is running about $90 for a half-lamb.  I have no idea how many pounds.  However, Mr. Otis gained our eternal patronage by giving us a package of the Sweet Italian Brats.  We're having those for dinner, along with Bodacious sweet corn.  Spent about $24 at the farmer's market all told, and got about 10 pounds of meat (Ground Lamb, lamb chops, and pork chops, plus the free brats), 18 ears sweet corn, and some other stuff.

Pick the kids up at daycare, and of course, they're in the middle of music class.  Music Class?  Yeah, the one that happens at 10 am on Tuesdays?  Yeah, that one.  Anyway, we watched the kids sing about frogs and such, and then hauled them off to Michaels - Rhiannon needed a shirt for the decorating shirt stuff tomorrow, and since Jack was along, he needed one, and then, and then...  About $30 later, we got out.  I just love how we go to Michaels to save a few bucks over a tee shirt from Target, and then spend a whole hell of a lot more than we'd ever dreamed of.  

And when I return, the bank I interviewed with on Monday wants to see me again.  Gulp.  This could be the job.  Might be kinda fun.  A wonderful opportunity to learn a whole hell of a lot about everything, pretty much.  I've got to go back and review the money, etc.  They might not fit - but I'd love it if they did.

Time for dinner - Spicy brats, Sweet Italian Brats, hot dogs, sweet corn, and other fun stuff.

Artoo-Detoo, returning in Episode II to one of his most famous roles, wrapped his work in Australia this week. Before moving on to location-shooting, the little droid received permission to seek some local thrills while he waits. "Artoo's never been in better shape," said Don Bies of Industrial Light & Magic. "He's doing all of his own stunts in this film. None of us can keep up with his energy level. When he said he wanted to go bungee jumping, we knew there would be no stopping him."

Artoo and a small entourage of translators and bodyguards traveled outside the Fox Studios lot to an adjacent bungee jumping attraction. While the droid was unavailable for comment after the jump, the smiles of the children and on-lookers who gathered were proof that the entertainer is still in top form after all these years.

Golly, mom, I thought he was a special-effects robot.  Either I've been soundly whacked upon the head with some form of mallet, or, more likely, someone's slipped his gears at LucasFilm.  Then again, I may well have subscribed to the Child's version of the Star Wars E-Newsletter.  Who knew.

Today is preparation day - we're going grocery shopping tonight, and then there's the weekend - Sunday, near as I can remember, is the parish picnic.  Should be a fun place to go.  Of course, Monday morning is my second interview with a potential employer; then there's Monday night's meeting at school for the first grade parents, then come Thursday, when we go back to drop off Her Royal Highnesses' school supplies and such.  Times like this I find myself identifying more closely with my son.  His older sister's barreling through many a challenge with flying colors, and he's trudging along bringing up the rear.  I think I need to spend a little more time with him, getting up to speed on what it's like to do everything second - Both Mrs. D and I were oldest, and she was the good child, while I performed the "evil one" functions in my family.

Although there are times that I'm very happy to be a Minnesotan, there are moments where I hang my head in shame for having voted for a walking, talking, living, breathing joke.  Such as today.  In his playboy interview, our esteemed governor indicated a desire to be reborn as a bra.  Frankly, I think that's a bit of a step down - from boob to boob-holder.  At least I can say we pretty much are treating politics with all the respect they deserve in this state.  What an embarrassment...

There.  Removed that monkey from my back.

Man, I just LOVE the Farmer's Market.  This morning we got there, and (excluding the meat), we dropped about $30.  We also picked up a half-bushel of Roma tomatoes (33 pounds, if you can believe my cheesy bathroom scale), potatoes, carrots, peppers (for the ketchup), and the find of the morning - Spinach Feta bread from the Great Harvest bread company.  I know, the combination is about to the point where you want to run screaming for the hills or highway - it made me want to, anyway - but, since I'm trying to find new things, I tried it.  Boy, is it good.

Of course, to blow the whole thing, we also spent plenty of bucks on good beef.  I don't begrudge the amount, because it all goes to the fellow who takes care of the food in the first place.  And, of course, I run into someone I know just about all the time there now - one of my former co-workers (and a nice one, too) picked up beef AND pork - it's good, trust me.

So, after that, we stopped back home to drop off our haul, and in the process, I resolved my login problem with Windows 98.  I had a vague memory of an "autologon" parameter from way back somewhere, so I decided to play messy - I backed up the registry to a zip disk, and to a floppy (had to zip it down though), and then did a search for "autologon" - removed the key, and then restarted the machine.  Just like it used to, it booted clean, and popped up with the username/password/domain prompt it always did.  Pretty slick, eh?

After that, more errands.  Now we're home, Mrs. D and I are exhausted, and yet the small house-apes we've somehow created are rocking and rolling like it's a full-bore carnival in their room...  As they were told they had to take a nap if they wanted to hit the pool (second-to-last weekend the pool is open here, gotta hurry), I'm thinking the pool is likely not to happen today.  Sure will upset them.  Probably will upset me more, though, when I try to put them to bed a 9 pm and they're still running around like lunatics.  

I'm continually amazed by those who insist the Bible is the "literal" word of God.  Sorry, folks, but if it were the literal world, it wouldn't have required translation - those of us who needed to read the bible could do it without a translation into less-specific vernacular, or even the more vulgar languages.  Once you introduce translations, and interpretations, you encourage agendas, and you encourage deviation.  End of the lesson.  </Lesson>

After mass, we ran off to the grocery store, this time for picnic supplies.  We had the annual parish picnic today, and it was attended by many happy families, as well as about a thousand damned yellow-jacket hornets.  We were mobbed - they only stung one kid that I'd seen, but I'm sure there were others.

I do love the park we were in - every day we go there I find another special spot.  Today, I found two...  There's a paved path that zig-zags up the hill above the park - amazingly, they've run drainage lines through there, and these drain lines have the occasional open collector, so no matter how high you get above the creek running through the park, you still hear running water.  The second neat area is just out of right field off the ball diamond.  If you follow a little path back there, you find three or four clear, shallow ponds.  Most of them seem formed by beaver dams that are poorly maintained (certainly not by union beavers, that's for sure).  But it's a beautiful, peaceful, undisturbed area.

After that, shopping.  Now we're not in the same league as Dr. Keyboard and his wife, but we're good.  We ran back to the grocery store to pick up food we couldn't get before; then we got a hankering for certain bagels which Mrs. D wanted - we went to the second grocery store, and they didn't have them, but they DID have the quart Mason jars which I'll need when ketchup production kicks into high gear this week (figure Tuesday).  So we went to Grocery Store three, which had her bagels, then I remembered the sprayer we needed for laundry.

Those of you who are doing laundry and have small children (Are you listening TOM?) know just how big a mess they can create.  I swear by the pre-treater Shout, though just about all of them work in one form or another.  Anyway, after getting cramps from repeated sprayings of clothes, I found this pressurized sprayer at the local garden store - it's a Hudson 1.65 litre sprayer.  I choke way down on the nozzle settings and pressurize, and I can go through an entire load of kid clothes with only having to stop to pump twice.  Man, this thing has saved my arms about a hundred times over.

Time to go switch laundry, get dinner going, and RELAX - I've got a 9 am interview which could take some time tomorrow, and more scrounging for ads tomorrow afternoon.

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