Zamfir

Originally posted by Bonoman Not for me, man. Extreme weather is no good on either end of the spectrum. We just went from having the coldest winter in Toronto history and we are now officially in the hottest summer in Toronto history. To give you a clue, it's about 114F here today. It's hotter here than it is in Florida. There's something fundamentally wrong with that. How the {censored} does *Toronto* get up to 114 (I assume that's heat indexed?) ??? Must be all the steaming cow{censored} in Sasketchewan, blowing east...

Captain Niomo - sorry to hear about the job interview. If it's the wrong job...they can go sit and spin! Originally posted by mxpxfan I got Yes - Fragile today. Excellent! I can't say I'm a big fan of their cover of "America" that they tacked on there. Has its moments, but...probably should have stayed in the vault. In other news, god-ZAMN, but it's humid out there. *retrieves Pilsner Urquell from fridge* *fssst* *ahhhhhhhh*

Thanks! Very informative... *cuts, pastes, and saves* OK, time to cook that tuna I was harassing (b)asshunter about on ebassist...

I've been playing the Lotto, too, once it gets above 50-70 mil. I limit myself to 1-3 tickets, depending on the pot.

OK. Thought experiment. If I were to made a radical career change leap into IT, what is the least painful stuff to learn to do and still get a decent job? As in, the least steep learning curve? I don't know any programming languages other than a smidgin of basic HTML. The minute you start talking about Java or SQL or XML, I don't know diddly. I imagine that might crimp me on programming or web design. But. I do learn foreign languages and music pretty fast/easily, and am analytical. Back in the day, I kinda of liked playing with early versions of Photoshop, but haven't touched it in years. I've gotten better at figuring out statistical functions in Excel. Never touched Access, though. That about covers it.

Another application down. I wish the government could make the process as painless as Lexis Nexis. As in, enough with all the KSA questions that tend to exclude me from consideration.

Originally posted by Bonoman No, but hacking Nicole Kidman's home computer certainly does! Does she even know how to turn it on?

Originally posted by niomosy I'm generally not interested in any security clearance stuff so it's not too huge a worry Come on...getting paid top dollar to hack China doesn't appeal to you?

Originally posted by niomosy I didn't see anything on there for the U.S. They did have some jobs for me up in Toronto, though. Don't think I'd wanna move up to the chilly winter areas, however. From what I understand, it should be easy enough for me to get my Canadian citizenship. Just gotta get some info from mom. Come to think of it, I should get it just to have. Word to the wise: if you want to work anywhere requiring a security clearance, dual citizenship will greatly complicate your life...at a minimum you'd likely have to give one up. If.

Originally posted by niomosy Yeah you might want to get yourself into a bit more circulation A job to tide you over and get some cash flowing in couldn't hurt. Income's never really a bad thing I'm spoiled in the techie world. With dice.com, monster.com and hotjobs.com, I get a pretty good number of jobs that I can apply to as well as recruiters calling and emailing me. Of course, some of these recruiters are idiots and either don't pay attention or ignore my preferences for perm local positions. I still get emails for those 6 mo. contracts in MN that I've said no to at least a dozen times now I know visibility is key, but I can't figure out how. Academia is naturally isolating. I wormed my way onto a conference panel last year, just to be seen by academics as well as gov't and NGO types. But when you're unemployed and holding (some) costs down...hell, I rarely even get out of the house, just so I can avoid spending gas and money, unless it's for an interview. That reminds me, I should probably kill my cable TV service. Anyway, I barely see anyone, even though my friends and family know by e-mail that I'm lookin'...they're (most of 'em) just all in the wrong fields (damn scientists and lawyers... ). Monster and Careerbuilder i think are too broad for me as national sites that drown in employer spam (are you listening, oh you Naval Reserve recruiters? ). Better to target actual employers directly through their sites. Frankly, it's hard to convince anyone on those national jobhunting sites to take me at 34 and no corporate experience. :-7 Don't they understand that they gotta offer something for me to get some? I just got the 2005 version of Parachute as part of my wife's birthday present, but I'm tempted to crack it open early now that she's postponed her return for a couple weeks. My 1999 version is a bit out of date... Makes me wish I'd answered that American Express recruiter a year and a half ago. But then, was I really gonna stay in Portland, ME? Hm, maybe... Anyway, tell those 6 month idiots who ignore your prefs, to piss off.

Thanks! Part of the reason why it's slow is because I've waited on some of these gov jobs. I haven't really hit the jobs around town because I was thinking I'd have moved to DC well before now, and because I've been picky based on the hope that I could actually use my Pile Higher and Deeper. But. I'm probably gonna call Lexis Nexis today or tomorrow (they have a branch here in town), and maybe dump an ap off at Barnes & Noble. Then maybe look around for legal assistant type work or something. Anything to tide me over with a bit of income. Since June of 2004, I've dumped off 52 applications. I suppose I could increase the ratio over time...

One more job application down. In 30 minutes. I'm so tired of this {censored}. The worst part is that half the employers never get back to you, and many (especially the government) don't leave you a good contact option ("Don't call us..."). At best it's some harried OPM clerk who probably processes hundreds of aps a day. Damn. I just noticed the application I just sent off listed as a contact point the woman I had to correct a few months ago about bull{censored}ting me over an incorrect deadline.

After four days of road, you better have some good wine... Tank ewe! But this forum is sucking my ability to lead a life! ...and earn income...

Originally posted by mxpxfan Cooking can be fun. And why no love for us. Because I've been on the forum since mid-morning and my head hurts and I gotta get {censored} done. As it is, I'm trying to catch up on Romania news that I missed for a week and a half. Oy...

Originally posted by niomosy You should come over. Most of my friends don't really like wine. Drinking solo isn't as much fun. Thanks, I'd actually be tempted. Where do you live again? Zammit, I got next to nothing done today. My head hurts. Time to fix dinner. I gotta swear off the bass forums.

Originally posted by Bonoman Me too, so we'll see. I actually had a really conversation with a woman at Scholastic today. She said she didn't anticipate anything in the next month, but definitely by the Fall. I'm just going to have keep bugging her, I guess. What do you think? A call or an e-mail every two weeks? If she said by this fall...mmm, possibly every three weeks. You don't want to be an annoying stalker, just politely persistent and interested. Kinda like the way you go after bus chicks.

Originally posted by Bonoman Actually, I'm going to meet Neighbour Girl for a movie in about half an hour... Because I'm bad, I'm bad, you know it! Bonoman!!!!!!! You ARE bad. ...boinked her yet? Disclaimer: I am not urging that you do. Any extra-relationship boinking is the sole discretion of Bonoman and his subsidiaries, agents, and lawyers, not of Zamfir or anyone or anything related to Zamfir. Offer void where prohibited. You must be at least 21 to play this game.

Originally posted by Bonoman Yup. Tomorrow is my one year anniversary at this company. I feel like crying. Sounds like someone needs to call Red.

Wine snob. *peers mournfully at empty wine rack with a few liqueurs/vermouth*

Originally posted by Bonoman No, they just decided to inform us that our benefits were slashed last week, particularly dental, and that sucks because I just went to the dentist and need a ton of work. Time to visit The Hammer on ebassist! Edit: Sorry to hear that, man. That really {censored}ing sucks. One more reason to take action and locate a better job, no?

Originally posted by Bonoman Headaches suck. Telephone from Red?

Originally posted by Bonoman Only three days? I'd eat 'em all. They needed to ripen. Edit: hence the paper bag. *Now* I can eat 'em all.

In other news, is it reasonable of me to believe that after three days in a paper bag on top of my fridge, that a 1 out of 8 spoilage rate for peaches is pretty good?

Originally posted by niomosy How's it going, eh? Heh, when we were in Vancouver last year, I was driving my wife nuts with the Bob & Doug impersonations Is that just a Central Canada thing? My mom's from Toronto and doesn't remember ever hearing it. Didn't hear it in Vancouver, either. +1. I'm curious too.

Originally posted by Bonoman If my girlfriend and my sister had had their way I would have been one of those people this weekend. Well, it was a really bad cold. With a high fever (105), kidney pains, vomiting, and dizziness. But I knew I'd be okay so I didn't go. A 105 fever is probably more than enough to make me go, (edit: assuming I'm rational and it's climbing, and I can't wait another day or three for an appointment). Kidney pains and vomiting are extra. Sounds like more than a cold to me. I'm talking about two kids with the sniffles. I realize doctors are rare in the rural areas and don't make house calls, but geez. Using the ER as your doctor, instead of aspirin, water and sleep like he's going to tell you a few hundred dollars later?