The job of the hunt...

... or the hunt of the job....
... or the finding of a job...

I'm looking for a vehicle | I'm looking for a ride | I'm looking for a party | I'm looking for a side

I'm looking for a job. I've made no hiding remarks about it. I'm at the point now, where I'm not looking to back track and do things I know I can do, but get less money for it. I want to move forward with my skills and I recognize there are some things that are beyond my scope of actually figuring out. Therefore, my limits are also refined. 

However, I did apply to Comcast in the end of March, given the challenges we've been having in my house regarding the advancement of the cable company's non-transparent business practices. I thought if I could get my foot in the door there, I'd be able to not only better figure out what they're doing to make their personnel not helpful, but maybe I could be one of those that could help. 

So I had a scheduled interview for 11am in the beginning of April. It was one of those automatically generated emails where you pick your time and they'll call you, although the confirmation stated it would be from 10-10:45 CST.... wherever they were calling from, it was the middle of the US. Ok, fine... even though it's a company all over the country, they can do what they want. 11am comes around. No call. 11:10 comes and passes. No call. 11:30 comes and passes and my phone was still dead silent. I sent a response to the email program that originally set the appointment up. I questioned the legitimacy of the interview, as no one has reached out to me and I don't have a number to dial in to. Almost immediately, I get a reply... the interview has been cancelled and I need to reschedule. 

Wait... what? 

I waited around for 30 minutes... shifted my day around...  to be told I've been cancelled on? What if I hadn't emailed them... would they have contacted me? Probably not.

I played the game and rescheduled for 3pm that afternoon. Time came and at 3:05, my phone rang. It was an Orlando number, not a Midwest number. The woman on the other end deeply apologized to me, saying she was supposed to call me this morning and got stuck in a meeting. She's sorry no one contacted me to reschedule, but is glad I was able to do it myself. She stated the phone call was being recorded and that I shouldn't worry if it sounds like she's hung up on me. She is making notes to be able to send to the hiring manager of the store I applied to. She's actually calling on behalf of Comcast... this was a recruiter calling me. 

Weird... first they thought I was contacted about rescheduling. Then I'm told I'm being recorded. Next they're a slow typer and are making their own notes to pass on... This is about to get interesting... 

She asks me if I'm aware of the job I applied to. I say kind of, yes. She goes on to explain that this particular job is the back of house position for one of the retail stores. It's a loss and prevention / stocker job, where I'd be rotating all the products off the shelves. I'd make sure all inventory is accounted for. I'd be helping the sales floor staff, but I'd not be making commission; I'd make an hourly wage (more than what I'm making at my current job) plus a 5% quarterly raise would be mixed into this. I wouldn't need to worry about a base salary plus sales salary as it's straight pay. It's also 40 hours a week with benefits.

What's the catch? I won't have a life. 

They require a literal on call type of guarantee from everyone. 

Meaning, you have to work weekends plus all holidays. They have a 2 week rotating schedule which means for one pay period, you could work Sunday to Thursday and then another pay period work Monday to Saturday. The work week starts on Sunday so you're at the whim of the scheduling needs of the store.

There's really no days off with this job, nor is there a straight 40 hour / Monday - Friday schedule. 

Which means I could work an entire month and not have a day off... which is something that happened when I was working for Kmart. During the height of season, I worked 30 days straight with no day off. I paid the price by getting sick - I had a nasty head cold at the end of that shift and couldn't shake it for over a week. I don't want to relive that. 

So after talking to this woman for 10 minutes (mind you, this was supposed to be a 45 minute phone call), I mentioned the whole schedule thing after she finished describing it to me. I said I was really looking for the full time aspect, the pay, the benefits, but I need Monday to Friday. She said she can't help me with that, that it happens to have been the reason for the cancellation that morning - her superiors said that if anyone this group talks to, mentions scheduling conflicts, the conversation is over. They can't go further with anyone if the perspective employee has any type of challenge with the hours described. 

I told her I'm more than willing to work the job... that it's really 7am to 9pm due to opening and closing routines... I will work any number of hours within that time frame, to make 40 hours, as long as it is Monday to Friday. 

Nope. I have to accept a flexible, fluctuating, rotating schedule. Since I won't, conversation has to be over. 

And so it was. 

Ten minutes.... it was all I got. Within 30 seconds, I got two emails in my inbox from Comcast... thanking me for applying for the position, but telling me I can't go any further with the position, due to my "no longer having any interest in the position".

Seriously.... they emailed me saying they don't want to go further with me because I said I'm no longer interested in the job. 

I never said I wasn't... I only made comments about the schedule. I was interested in working for Comcast, but not at the hours they wanted. 

Potato, potahtoe, I guess. *Shrug* 

Guess I've got to keep looking...

Last weekend I saw the movie Songbird. It's a December 2020 release that describes "a devastating pandemic ravages the world and the United States is in its fourth year of lockdown. Infected Americans are ripped from their homes and forced into quarantine camps known as Q-Zones, from which there is no escape, as a few brave souls fight back against the forces of oppression. Amid this dystopian landscape, a fearless courier, Nico (KJ Apa), who's immune to the deadly pathogen, finds hope and love with Sara (Sofia Carson), though her lockdown prohibits them from physical contact. When Sara is believed to have become infected, Nico races desperately across the barren streets of Los Angeles in search of the only thing that can save her from imprisonment ... or worse". 

It co-stars Craig Robinson, Bradley Whitford, Peter Stormare, Alexandra Daddario, Paul Walter Hauser, Demi Moore

The movie basically plays on what has been happening over the last year of the global life of humans. Visually, this movie is amazing. I did a little research and found out it was filmed on RED Komodo cameras (which cost thousands of dollars... and their accessories cost upwards of a grand). Whatever this camera does... it films amazingly. The scenery is crisp and clear, and I think you could actually see stubble on men if the camera panned close enough to the shave. Haha. 

I have a friend who likes The Walking Dead, as well as good photography and thrillers. So I told him that this movie has the back drop of an apocalypse (TWD) + aspects of The Purge (because it's a Michael Bay production) + a global pandemic + it's filmed beautifully. There's no problems in scene jumps or too many light flares (I hate these new movies that rely on trapping light in scenes. 

See Also

* The song lyrics in the beginning of this post ("I'm looking for a vehicle") belong to 1984 by db.

Half a month in...

 ... and the Orgain Organic Protein Powder, Vanilla Bean is still heavy in the cinnamon department. That's even without PBfit All-Natural Peanut Butter Powder (because I ran out 3 days ago). 

I wanted to do a quick update about this powder since talking about it at the end of March.

It's so weird that I'm still heavily tasting cinnamon and apples, yet, this morning my mom says it "smells like cake". I said "it's vanilla bean flavor" and she said "it smells like vanilla cake". I don't know what to do or say... to me, even with vanilla yogurt and coconut water, I only taste cinnamon. 

I drink the smoothie mix before I drink my coffee, so it's not a crazy combination of the two mixing. While drinking my coffee, I taste coffee... because there's nothing mixed in it besides my creamer. 

I don't know how else to explain it... I don't have a spice allergy, otherwise I'd be having worse reactions plus it would happen every time I had cinnamon or anything else within this container. Maybe I'm just a little more sensitive to that ingredient without being allergic? Who knows. 

It's still not bad; I'm finding myself struggling some days to want to eat lunch (6 hours after I drink the powder) because it leaves me full enough in the morning, that by noon, I don't want to eat, but know I probably should. With all the fruits and veg in the product, I know that's the reason I'm not hungry all morning. But the problem is, if I eat lunch, I then struggle to eat dinner (5 hours later). That's even when I'm running around all day doing stuff at work, so I'm obviously maintaining some physical workload and working it off, but I'm not starving by meal times. Given that I've got a YETI Rambler 30 oz Tumbler filled with water in my office, I am using that through out the day to keep my hydrated.

Typically within the tumbler, I've got Emergen-C Vitamin C Powder with now a couple little slices of ginger root mixed in. I decided to mix it up a bit and buy a little bag of ginger root (because I like ginger and thought it would be interesting). Every night before I go to bed, I open the packet of the Emergen-C, put it in my Yeti. Add a little water to stir everything up. Cut up some ginger, put that in, then ice. Fill the tumbler with water. Put it in the fridge and by morning, things played well enough that I've got a wake up drink when I take a sip at work. 

I got a few free samples of various Liquid I.V products and the other day I had the ginger + Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier (Strawberry/16 Count). That was a surprise taste! I wasn't expecting the flavor profile, especially since I had made it the night before and didn't drink it until the afternoon. So it was sitting in the fridge over night and then an additional 7 hours outside "at room temp" until I took a sip. 

As I don't always carry the Yeti around, it sits on my desk all day. 

So the strawberry packet and the ginger surprised me because I didn't realize it was strawberry when I opened the packet (again, it was a free sample). It's not a horrible taste, but by itself, the strawberry is a little sweet. I'm glad I added the ginger to mix it up because I don't know if I would necessarily buy it alone. 

I've also tried the (again, free sample) of Liquid I.V. Energy Multiplier (Lemon Ginger) (14 Count). This is something I would buy, given the opportunity. I like lemon ginger stuff, and where this product "Utilizes breakthrough science of Cellular Transport Technology (CTT), a specific ratio of potassium, sodium, and glucose that is designed to enhance rapid absorption of water and key ingredients into the bloodstream", plus using a "revolutionary blend of Matcha, Guayusa and Ginger, powered by CTT for delicious, sustained energy throughout the day. While Energy Multiplier contains roughly 100 mg of caffeine, which is equivalent to 1-2 cups of coffee, it's actually a much better option!". I drink my normal cup of coffee in the morning, but find this particular powder to be refreshing in a cold kick way. Since I make it the night before, the fridge lets everything get nice and cool so when the tumbler sits on my desk all day, it stays cold. There are times I find myself actually wishing I had another packet with me because I've done so much work, that I've finished the water and want more. There's plenty of ice in the cup, but nothing to drink. I can get more water somewhere, but the powder is no more. Which is fine; I don't mind plain water. This just makes it better. 

Knock on wood, I haven't gotten sick this year, so maybe everything I'm doing is actually working??

That's about it for now... 

Cheers;

Dude, that looks -AWESOME-

 ... and it shows where we are in our technology world.

I'm about to sign in to Amazon to get my daily free Kindle books, when on my home page, there's this promotion for Day 1 Editions | Built It products. 

Amazon is branching out to innovators and creators, by having a sub genre of interestingly cool technology / products. Think of this as the powerhouse's answer to Kickstarter. 

I've seen things like (sticking the the previous posts about coffee) Barisieur Coffee Alarm Clock Coffee Maker. If this is the one I'm thinking of, it started off as an Amazon Innovations promotion. Man, does it look cool... Total science aesthetic mixed with functionality. With an alarm that can start your brew and a beaker fridge to keep your milk cold, this is a lazy person's most wanted gift! If I could have the need for that (and the money), I'd totally buy in to it. Too bad it's $445 and I have no where to keep it in my house (we have a Hamilton FlexBrew, currently). This is an amazing conversation piece, for sure. 

Anyway, what caught my eye today was the Smart Sticky Note Printer | Works with Alexa | A Day 1 Editions concept. It's a thermal printer (read: no fumbling with ink) that prints on Post It Note type squares. Rather, it's a roll of paper that looks to be the same concept as sticky notes, in the basic yellow color (when this gets built and shipped, they'll make the other colors sticky notes come in). 

It's old school meets new school: connect this printer to your WiFi and sync it to Alexa (which you have to have). . Whenever you have a thought, instead of scrounging around for scratch paper, you tell Alexa to make a note on this printer. -zoom- note printed. 

Funny enough, the requirements do state:

We want you to know

Smart Sticky Note Printer must be paired to a compatible Echo device (sold separately). It is NOT compatible with Echo (1st Gen), Echo Dot (1st Gen), Echo Plus (1st Gen), Echo Dot Kids Edition, or Amazon Tap.

2.4 GHz wifi required.

Comes with 1 yellow sticky paper roll.

I say that's funny for two reasons.

1. You do need an updated Echo device. Which is something people are doing these days - updating their tech.

2. Which is the craziest reason: 2.4 GHz wifi required. Look what happened with my Comcast modem. The xFi connection is automatically 5.0 so none of my printers worked when I had to get the new modem. As soon as I separated the networks, everything connected. SO...make sure you carry a 2.4 network if you buy this. 

I would, because it's actually pretty cheap at $114.99. But with my Pixma printer and my not being home enough to print sticky notes, I don't need it. I actually was carrying around a notebook at one point, but it got too crazy in my bag to carry something so big. So I stopped carrying reminders with me, and honestly, I don't shop enough to warrant it. But if I did, bet you I'd buy this and use it every day. 

Thanks for listening.

Cheers;

“We’re drinking, my friend...”

“To the end of a brief episode

Make it one for my baby

And one more for the road”

Frank Sinatra

One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)

1940

I forgot to mention yesterday that I’m using my phone for the post, along with my Logitech mouse and Apple keyboard. I’m using the same set up today.

My friend Rachael, the one with the ladybug podcast, has switched donation sites. I don’t know if she’s still on Patreon, but she was promoting Ko-Fi the last couple episodes of her insect show. 

I thought I’d help her out by promoting her various links.

* Twitter: @hwabpodcast

* Instagram: @365.ladybird

* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hiddenwingsandbloodlust

* Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/G2G63KMOK

She has been having quite the few interviews lately, including a “low level government official” out of Baltimore, MD. Rodney C Burris, who also is a “professional development coach and speaker” according to the show notes, and his interview. He has a few Books on Amazon, which seem like the usual suspects of motivational readings. There’s nothing wrong with it, and quite honestly, Mr. Burris seems like he would be amazing to have a few conversations with, just hanging out and chatting. No pressure or anything; purely based on his interaction with Rachael. However, the professional that he is, who knows how real it was. I always take self esteem speakers with a grain of salt. 

Much like when Ray Higdon spoke at the hotel I worked at, and I had to run his lighting for him. The only thing I liked about that event was the fact we got to use different lighting backgrounds (walls and such) and my work went up the corporate ladder to the SWFL area manager, who called me out to other locations... he was impressed on what I had done. 

Too bad that AV job didn’t amount to much in the end, due to lack of events in the area... my boss wanted me to grow within the lighting world and “become one of the few females within the company who can do proper event lighting” and possibly invest in the travel part of the business. 

*shrugs*

Anyway, go check out my friend Rachael. This May marks 20 years I’ve known her... she’s a keeper, apparently! LOL.

Cheers;

“ Man is least himself when he talks in his own person...”

“... Give him a mask and he'll tell you the truth”

Oscar Wilde

I’ve been having a conversation with a friend of mine (who shall remain nameless, for the sake of anonymity due to the subject). It’s a conversation about clothing styles... things he and I constantly have (mostly) similar thoughts about.

We both showed our age a couple weeks ago, when we were chatting about JNCO jeans... the popular super wide bell bottom type pants that were wicked popular in the 1990s. Amazon is selling similar styles Here. My friend said he saw someone wearing a pair almost a decade ago, while traveling through Iceland. The guy wearing the jeans was from the west coast of the United States and my friend was amazed the pants were still in good standing (literally). The guy took great care of this outfit, as the pants did not look aged, ratty or gross. 

Today, being Good Friday, a lot of people have the day off. I took off due to having a lot of PTO to use. My friend didn’t mention whether he took the day off as well, or his employers were closed, but he said he attempted to wear a new style of clothing for most of the day. 

I must put the disclaimer up now. I’m about to start talking about a subject that may offend people. Gender norms, clothing styles for men and women, people wearing outfits not meant for them (not so much “cross dressing”, but similar). 

If any of this offends you, please walk away now. Close this page ... but come back to visit another day. I want to be able to talk about situations openly and freely, without worry that someone will get upset with the topic.

So my friend and I were comparing notes about what we have done today, regarding clothing options. I had mentioned I went to a big box retailer with the intention of pants shopping. 

I spent about $73 on 4 pairs of shorts and I tried on at least a dozen different pairs, including a pair of Dickies work shorts, loose fit. I can’t find the exact pair online, but I felt like a gang member in them, as they were too wide in the legs, too starchy and although I needed the waist, I’d be the laughing stock of the world. 

Yes, I wear men’s clothes (jeans and shirts) for being a female. They are a bit more comfortable and less form fitting, especially since I’m a fit kid trying to hide my fat.

So I bought 4 pairs of shorts. All Wrangler brand, combination jeans and  Cargo shorts. I didn’t buy the Dickies. I’d be attracting unwanted attention.

My friend then mentioned he wore a dress today. He sent me a picture, and it was actually a nice form fitting dress. Long sleeves, calf length, dark color. It was a mix of black, white and greys, but solid. I had to ask him if it were a wool dress, as that was the tone it was giving out. He said it is probably a cotton mix, but it’s not 100% wool. 

I told him that it was quite flattering, as it was tight enough to accentuate his body, but loose enough that he was still able to leave a lot to the shadows. Keep things hidden. 

He appreciated the remark, and said that he felt he needed to wear a cardigan or a turtleneck with it. My response was easy to help him decide. Although I’m no fashionista, I told him he needs to keep the outfit simple. Because of his shape and the style of the dress, a turtleneck will be sleeves on sleeves. As this is a winter dress, two long sleeved items on his body won’t work, since he would have to find a way to unzip the dress to take the underlying turtleneck off. If he wanted a cardigan or something to cover him, keep it elegant. Something light in color and function. Jazz it up with simplicity without causing attention. 

I ended up linking him three things. 

1. J. LOVNY Women's Stretch Three Quarter Sleeve Midi Length Cardigan with Pockets

2. Urban CoCo Women's Drape Front Open Cardigan Long Sleeve Irregular Hem

3. Women's Sleeveless Draped Open Front Cardigan Vest Asymmetric Hem

I said that any one of those three would look amazing with what he was wearing. It would tie everything together well and he wouldn’t feel like he was showing off or seeking attention. Again, it’s simple yet elegant. He could rock any one of them, as he looked pretty good in the dress. 

He thanked me for the suggestions and said that he liked 1 & 3 and could see himself attempting the look. 

I told him that he should look into it if he plans on doing more excursions through out the next few months, especially since he stated his girlfriend was the one who purchased this dress plus a couple summer ones for him. He plans on going out and dress shopping once stores open fully, and he has his girlfriend to support him. Which is totally fair. 

I wish I knew the brand of the dress, I would link to it. 

I’m happy for my friend. He is finally able to be himself. I know he has struggled for years in figuring out what he wants in life. I’ve known him for 19 years, and although I kept quiet in the beginning on what his sexuality was, as well as what he did outside of school, he was my friend nonetheless. I trust him, I like him, I will always support him. If he wants to continue on the path of exploration, I will continue to talk with him about his escapades. I will add my opinion and respect what he is doing on this path. He has definitely grown as an individual and I am super friggin proud of him. 

Happy chocolate bunny weekend...

Cheers;