Weird Week
So Monday I plan to do some work on the computer and...
we have an electrical storm that knocks out a power line down the street. Not a priority for the Illuminating Co, as it only affects one street. Not only that, but I had an interview Tuesday and they told me to bring a printed copy of my resume. I'm fretting while the sun's light dwindles, depressing me further, when AJ suggests our friend Darius has a computer and my resume is on one of the memory sticks -- that problem was solved as well as taking care of grove issues while we were at it.
But since the power still isn't on, I have worries about ironing interview clothes, setting the alarm, etc., so I went to a late dollar-movie. Silent Hill -- very surprising metaphor like The Crucible was for its political time... Late that night, when the power comes back on, the internet is down, and the computer keyboard no longer functions. I do some laundry and ironing while waiting for the reboot. Second time I try to reboot after fiddling with cords, the mouse dies. I quit and went to bed, much later than I should have.
Tuesday I had a 9AM interview. Supposed to take only an hour, but then DRAMA hit the office. The receptionist, who struck me as somewhat above average politeness and attentiveness, got a phone call that made her blow her top. From her end of the conversation, it seemed like someone else in the organization who wasn't her boss or superior, had nothing better to do than call and check up on her while she was wearing 3 or 4 hats in the office (phone receptionist, test administrator, pre-interview info intake, etc.). She slammed the phone down after calming down just enough to have a barely restrained "I'm not going to talk about this with you anymore. Good-BYE!" I marveled at how quickly she was able to field the next call (seconds later) with calm politeness. Then all hell broke loose as several women came out of their office holes after hearing the phone slam. The receptionist started yelling at the top of her voice about the incident and how she couldn't take it anymore, had high blood pressure from this job... And one of the ladies came assuring me someone would be with me shortly, and shut the door to my interview room. The noise level did not diminish. Half an hour later, they interviewed me and said my test scores were far beyond what they usually deal with, more blather about how creatively they would work to get me the right job, and that my interview skills exuded confidence. Me???! Gee, were they trying to flatter me to cover up for the incredible DRAMA?
Tuesday afternoon I went to my in-laws in Painesville and experienced the first earthquake I ever realized was happening. And I used to live in Southern California -- one of the ones I didn't notice was around a 5.5. This one was only a 3.3 and it shook the foundations for a few seconds. Simply amazing.
And when I got back home, another brief power outage knocked out the DSL and phone again. We had gotten an extra mouse from my in-laws, and we swapped out the keyboard for a disgustingly filthy (but working!) one, which I have cleaned, along with the dusty, cluttered desk. After getting the computer to work, I managed to add a page to the ULI site, which is a whole lot trickier with their fancy website maintenance program than one might think. Fran thinks I'm a miracle worker. And she's already passed my name along to a magazine publisher she knows (with glowing praise for what I've done for her). Cross my fingers.
Wednesday I got paid double-time for finishing the filing job too quickly -- $30+/hour for filing! Gosh.
Today, Fran came over to give me some thank-you letters for a mail-merge. Took more time to talk about the moderate filing mess (some donors neglecting to fill out the donation forms) than to type in all the names and addresses. And then the mail merge coding took less than 5 minutes. I still have to figure out how to print the envelopes with our printer -- I've never tried an envelope where the feed folds back on itself. We may just be tacky and use labels.
we have an electrical storm that knocks out a power line down the street. Not a priority for the Illuminating Co, as it only affects one street. Not only that, but I had an interview Tuesday and they told me to bring a printed copy of my resume. I'm fretting while the sun's light dwindles, depressing me further, when AJ suggests our friend Darius has a computer and my resume is on one of the memory sticks -- that problem was solved as well as taking care of grove issues while we were at it.
But since the power still isn't on, I have worries about ironing interview clothes, setting the alarm, etc., so I went to a late dollar-movie. Silent Hill -- very surprising metaphor like The Crucible was for its political time... Late that night, when the power comes back on, the internet is down, and the computer keyboard no longer functions. I do some laundry and ironing while waiting for the reboot. Second time I try to reboot after fiddling with cords, the mouse dies. I quit and went to bed, much later than I should have.
Tuesday I had a 9AM interview. Supposed to take only an hour, but then DRAMA hit the office. The receptionist, who struck me as somewhat above average politeness and attentiveness, got a phone call that made her blow her top. From her end of the conversation, it seemed like someone else in the organization who wasn't her boss or superior, had nothing better to do than call and check up on her while she was wearing 3 or 4 hats in the office (phone receptionist, test administrator, pre-interview info intake, etc.). She slammed the phone down after calming down just enough to have a barely restrained "I'm not going to talk about this with you anymore. Good-BYE!" I marveled at how quickly she was able to field the next call (seconds later) with calm politeness. Then all hell broke loose as several women came out of their office holes after hearing the phone slam. The receptionist started yelling at the top of her voice about the incident and how she couldn't take it anymore, had high blood pressure from this job... And one of the ladies came assuring me someone would be with me shortly, and shut the door to my interview room. The noise level did not diminish. Half an hour later, they interviewed me and said my test scores were far beyond what they usually deal with, more blather about how creatively they would work to get me the right job, and that my interview skills exuded confidence. Me???! Gee, were they trying to flatter me to cover up for the incredible DRAMA?
Tuesday afternoon I went to my in-laws in Painesville and experienced the first earthquake I ever realized was happening. And I used to live in Southern California -- one of the ones I didn't notice was around a 5.5. This one was only a 3.3 and it shook the foundations for a few seconds. Simply amazing.
And when I got back home, another brief power outage knocked out the DSL and phone again. We had gotten an extra mouse from my in-laws, and we swapped out the keyboard for a disgustingly filthy (but working!) one, which I have cleaned, along with the dusty, cluttered desk. After getting the computer to work, I managed to add a page to the ULI site, which is a whole lot trickier with their fancy website maintenance program than one might think. Fran thinks I'm a miracle worker. And she's already passed my name along to a magazine publisher she knows (with glowing praise for what I've done for her). Cross my fingers.
Wednesday I got paid double-time for finishing the filing job too quickly -- $30+/hour for filing! Gosh.
Today, Fran came over to give me some thank-you letters for a mail-merge. Took more time to talk about the moderate filing mess (some donors neglecting to fill out the donation forms) than to type in all the names and addresses. And then the mail merge coding took less than 5 minutes. I still have to figure out how to print the envelopes with our printer -- I've never tried an envelope where the feed folds back on itself. We may just be tacky and use labels.