Straws: Grasp Them Tightly
In an attempt to get ANY income coming in, I found a pay for survey site. lol I got $7 in my "bank" just for signing up and filling out my profile. From what I can tell, they get a list of surveys every day and compare the needed demographic with their user list. If you match up, they tell you about the survey and you get a % that indicates your likelihood of qualifying to take that survey. The surveys seem to pay $2-$5 and some enter you into a contest to win more than that. When you reach $25, you can start to cash out or donate to a charity of your choice. I just signed up for it today so I have no idea how well this thing works. I may not fit the right demographic for a lot of it, but you never know. Like the husband said, even if it's $30 extra a month, that's still $30. So, we'll see.
The Seattle Seahawks have started their training camp today. I had no idea this happened until I was woken up at 7AM by their drum group thing drumming away on the street corner half a block away from my apartment building. Apparently fans are allowed to watch the practice. There's no parking where they practice, so they're parking in the empty lot across the street and being shuttled over by schools buses. The drums are there to get people pumped. They start about an hour/hour and a half before the last bus leaves. It's like getting woken up by a marching band except the band is all drum majors and cymbals. And we have to deal with this for, I think, the entire month of August. I wrote an email to their customer service. Here's the transcript:
Question or comment:
Will those of us that live in the apartment building in the Landing have to be woken up before 8AM to listen to the same repetitive drum solo every morning and every day of this camp or is it a one day thing? Enthusiasm is great, but it can get monotonous. There's also the fact that there's at least two apartments that face Target where the residents sleep during the day because they work graveyards. They could close their windows, but it's summer and there's no AC in this building. I'm sure to the public wandering by and hearing not too much of the drums, they'll think as I thought at first: Hey, these guys are pretty good. But after an hour it becomes: Hey, I wonder if they're going to do this all day please let their arms fall off before they do. I don't know if the camp didn't realize people live over here or not, but we do. Just as most of us would probably not send a marching band to your neighborhood to be woken up on a Monday morning well before your alarm is set to go off, we'd appreciate it if that same courtesy was given to us. Thank you.
Nikoda,
Thank you for your e-mail. We are sorry for the noise today. There are only 3 other 8:45am practices (Aug 9th, Aug 11th and Aug 20th). We will look into this and make adjustments.
Sincerely,
Seattle Seahawks and Qwest Field Customer Service
888-635-4295
cs
I have no idea if anything will come of it, but it would have been nice if our apartment complex warned us about it. My husband thinks they may be in on it at least a little as there's a brazillion free mini footballs in the office. I believe he's going to go and collect as many of the footballs as possible for payment. lol
I kind of feel like the crotchety old neighbor sometimes. lol I complain about being forced to enjoy a game and team that I could care less about. The other night, the Friday before last, a bunch of neighbors were on the sidewalk below our apartment with their dogs. Their little yappy dogs. This was like 10PM. They stood out there and talked while their dogs barked and attacked each other. My husband has to get up and go to work at 5:30 every Saturday morning. We tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, but around 11:30, another person came out to join them with another yappy dog and half of them SAT DOWN ON THE SIDEWALK. So, standing on my balcony, I announced, "Oh, hell no." and went downstairs and said the following:
"Hey guys, I don't mean to be harsh here, but you've been out here for an hour with your dogs barking their heads off. I understand they need to come out and go to the bathroom, but they're done. They've been done. And now they're barking and none of you are taking control and making them shut up. So I'm here to ask you to please make your dogs shut up. Other people live in this building. My husband, being one of them, has to get up and go to work at 5:30 in the morning. It's hard to sleep with these high pitched little dog screeches that carry. I don't know if you don't realize they carry or what, but I'm informing you of this now just as I'm informing you you're not the only people that live here. All I'm asking is that you please respect that. Thank you."
Then I turned around and stormed off. lol One girl just looked stunned the entire time. There was this one older woman who kept trying to cut me off, probably to argue with me, but I didn't let her get a word in edgewise and made it quite clear that none of them were going to get any word in anywhere. The next morning my husband called the office and complained. lol
So, yeah. We're the football hating, dog hating old farts on the fifth floor now. I'm terribly proud. But I don't think we're the only ones. The other day we got a note in the door that was put out to all tenants saying, "Hey, it's summer, this is a non-smoking building full of people who don't respond well to cigarette smoke, stop smoking outside their open windows you dickholes."
On a positive note, we learned there's 8 inches of reinforced concrete between us and the floor below us, which is keen. I forget what's in the walls between apartments, but it's pretty top notch stuff too, which is why it took us forever to realize we have a next door neighbor. So that's something. But there is a part of me that's a little, "Egad, I'm over this city living." But then we go for a ride into the country and we drive by a barn and I have a panic attack and try to hide under the dashboard. lol Someday I'll figure out where to live once all my assorted phobias and social issues get documented enough.
And, maybe someday I'll get a new job, too. That would be just as novel. I have an interview on Friday for a place called Teavana. From what I can tell, I have a 50-50 chance of getting into a good store vs. a nightmare store, typical of retail, but I guess the nightmare stores are real bad. I'm halfway tempted to ask in the interview what store this one is. lol I'm sure they'll be all, "Whaaaaaa?" and then I'll be all, "I have the internet. A lof of interesting stuff pops up when you google 'Teavana sucks'." lol But, sadly, they had the best reviews out of all the other stores hiring around. I just need to get out of retail.
I'm still seriously considering Nikoda Fox: Writing Style Coach: Helping you find your voice and hone your craft. It's not quite "editor" so they can't be all, "Get me published!" Not that they still won't be like that, but some of them may be less inclined. Especially if I say I have no ties to the publishing world (which, in retrospect is actually kind of a lie....ha!), and this is more or less a pay service for improvement of self or some such shit that the self-help people who have no business being self-help people say. But, I actually do have an ability and a talent for turning some really bad shit into something worthwhile and I'm going to charge considerably less than an actual editor. Plus, I won't be all, "Fanfic? Ewww! That's not a form of writing!" which may help me out or make me want to burn my brain. lol There's a part of me that thinks it would be awesome if I could make it work so that I can say to people I know that have the same grasp of the english language and style that I do and say, "Hey, wanna make some money on the side?!" That would be all manner of spiffy, yes indeedy.
The Seattle Seahawks have started their training camp today. I had no idea this happened until I was woken up at 7AM by their drum group thing drumming away on the street corner half a block away from my apartment building. Apparently fans are allowed to watch the practice. There's no parking where they practice, so they're parking in the empty lot across the street and being shuttled over by schools buses. The drums are there to get people pumped. They start about an hour/hour and a half before the last bus leaves. It's like getting woken up by a marching band except the band is all drum majors and cymbals. And we have to deal with this for, I think, the entire month of August. I wrote an email to their customer service. Here's the transcript:
Question or comment:
Will those of us that live in the apartment building in the Landing have to be woken up before 8AM to listen to the same repetitive drum solo every morning and every day of this camp or is it a one day thing? Enthusiasm is great, but it can get monotonous. There's also the fact that there's at least two apartments that face Target where the residents sleep during the day because they work graveyards. They could close their windows, but it's summer and there's no AC in this building. I'm sure to the public wandering by and hearing not too much of the drums, they'll think as I thought at first: Hey, these guys are pretty good. But after an hour it becomes: Hey, I wonder if they're going to do this all day please let their arms fall off before they do. I don't know if the camp didn't realize people live over here or not, but we do. Just as most of us would probably not send a marching band to your neighborhood to be woken up on a Monday morning well before your alarm is set to go off, we'd appreciate it if that same courtesy was given to us. Thank you.
Nikoda,
Thank you for your e-mail. We are sorry for the noise today. There are only 3 other 8:45am practices (Aug 9th, Aug 11th and Aug 20th). We will look into this and make adjustments.
Sincerely,
Seattle Seahawks and Qwest Field Customer Service
888-635-4295
cs
I have no idea if anything will come of it, but it would have been nice if our apartment complex warned us about it. My husband thinks they may be in on it at least a little as there's a brazillion free mini footballs in the office. I believe he's going to go and collect as many of the footballs as possible for payment. lol
I kind of feel like the crotchety old neighbor sometimes. lol I complain about being forced to enjoy a game and team that I could care less about. The other night, the Friday before last, a bunch of neighbors were on the sidewalk below our apartment with their dogs. Their little yappy dogs. This was like 10PM. They stood out there and talked while their dogs barked and attacked each other. My husband has to get up and go to work at 5:30 every Saturday morning. We tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, but around 11:30, another person came out to join them with another yappy dog and half of them SAT DOWN ON THE SIDEWALK. So, standing on my balcony, I announced, "Oh, hell no." and went downstairs and said the following:
"Hey guys, I don't mean to be harsh here, but you've been out here for an hour with your dogs barking their heads off. I understand they need to come out and go to the bathroom, but they're done. They've been done. And now they're barking and none of you are taking control and making them shut up. So I'm here to ask you to please make your dogs shut up. Other people live in this building. My husband, being one of them, has to get up and go to work at 5:30 in the morning. It's hard to sleep with these high pitched little dog screeches that carry. I don't know if you don't realize they carry or what, but I'm informing you of this now just as I'm informing you you're not the only people that live here. All I'm asking is that you please respect that. Thank you."
Then I turned around and stormed off. lol One girl just looked stunned the entire time. There was this one older woman who kept trying to cut me off, probably to argue with me, but I didn't let her get a word in edgewise and made it quite clear that none of them were going to get any word in anywhere. The next morning my husband called the office and complained. lol
So, yeah. We're the football hating, dog hating old farts on the fifth floor now. I'm terribly proud. But I don't think we're the only ones. The other day we got a note in the door that was put out to all tenants saying, "Hey, it's summer, this is a non-smoking building full of people who don't respond well to cigarette smoke, stop smoking outside their open windows you dickholes."
On a positive note, we learned there's 8 inches of reinforced concrete between us and the floor below us, which is keen. I forget what's in the walls between apartments, but it's pretty top notch stuff too, which is why it took us forever to realize we have a next door neighbor. So that's something. But there is a part of me that's a little, "Egad, I'm over this city living." But then we go for a ride into the country and we drive by a barn and I have a panic attack and try to hide under the dashboard. lol Someday I'll figure out where to live once all my assorted phobias and social issues get documented enough.
And, maybe someday I'll get a new job, too. That would be just as novel. I have an interview on Friday for a place called Teavana. From what I can tell, I have a 50-50 chance of getting into a good store vs. a nightmare store, typical of retail, but I guess the nightmare stores are real bad. I'm halfway tempted to ask in the interview what store this one is. lol I'm sure they'll be all, "Whaaaaaa?" and then I'll be all, "I have the internet. A lof of interesting stuff pops up when you google 'Teavana sucks'." lol But, sadly, they had the best reviews out of all the other stores hiring around. I just need to get out of retail.
I'm still seriously considering Nikoda Fox: Writing Style Coach: Helping you find your voice and hone your craft. It's not quite "editor" so they can't be all, "Get me published!" Not that they still won't be like that, but some of them may be less inclined. Especially if I say I have no ties to the publishing world (which, in retrospect is actually kind of a lie....ha!), and this is more or less a pay service for improvement of self or some such shit that the self-help people who have no business being self-help people say. But, I actually do have an ability and a talent for turning some really bad shit into something worthwhile and I'm going to charge considerably less than an actual editor. Plus, I won't be all, "Fanfic? Ewww! That's not a form of writing!" which may help me out or make me want to burn my brain. lol There's a part of me that thinks it would be awesome if I could make it work so that I can say to people I know that have the same grasp of the english language and style that I do and say, "Hey, wanna make some money on the side?!" That would be all manner of spiffy, yes indeedy.