A Job in Australia

I found a company in Sydney, Australia that's kind of a competitor with my old company.  So I applied for a job there early last week thinking, "Maybe they'll think I have all this special knowledge that they'll value."  In the application, you have to say if you live in Australia and if you don't, you have to answer the question "Why do you want to move to Australia?"  If I was telling the truth, the answer would be "Because you're going to pay me and I think that might be fun and it looks cool in movies and I liked Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country".  But my answer was much more boring.  I said I wanted to be close to my cousin who lives there.  Now, it's actually one of my wife's cousins that's there, but close enough, right?

I got the rejection e-mail a few days later on Thanksgiving.  At first, I was thinking, what are they doing working on Thanksgiving?  But then I remembered that this is Australia.  Supposedly, they do Thanksgiving there, but in March.  However, there isn't a wikipedia article on Thanksgiving in Australia so I'm thinking it can't be that big of a deal.  But it doesn't matter I guess.  But I think I would've really considered it if they wanted me there.  I can guarantee that I would've been on the next flight if they wanted to pay for a trip there to interview. 

Song of the Day - Amy Grant

Now that we're officially in the Christmas season, our first Christmas song of the day is "Mister Santa" by Amy Grant.  The only video on youtube was this guy's christmas lights.



This has to be one of the all time ridiculous Christmas songs.  Go back and listen to the lyrics around 1:45.  "We've used a Kleenex when we've blown our noses."  Wow.  And this super cheesy "Santa...  Here comes santa."  My wife and I heard that on one of the christmas stations a few years ago and were floored.  Now, Amy Grant has done some OK pop stuff in the past (and according to sales figures, must have had good christian music too) but I think this song and the fact that she continually does christmas albums might signal a downturn in her career.  I'm thinking though that if I were a musician, I might easily sell out too if all I had to do was squeeze out a few christmas standards once a year.

And let's talk about this video.  I'm really glad that I don't live next door to this guy.  Maybe I could do something like this since I'm unemployed, but really, I don't care that much and I think doing the sync to music doesn't really look all that great.  My wife took me by a house in her hometown where the family decorates both the front and the back of their house (you can see the back through the alley) and they had so many decorations that they took over the neighbor's front and back yards also.  That was quite the spectacle.  I think I would say no if asked, but maybe I would say yes if it really required zero work from me and they would pay all the electricity too.  (I am unemployed.) 

Song of the Day - Adam Sandler

Today's song, and the last of the Thanksgiving themed songs of the day, is The Thanksgiving Song by Adam Sandler.



If I'm still blogging in a year (and I'd better not still be unemployed), I doubt I'd ever do five days worth of Thanksgiving type songs.  I do plan on doing some christmas songs, but it'll be more like once a week.  Anyway, I don't really have anything to say about this song.  And I'm not going to give you silly list of things that I'm thankful for this year so I'll end the post here.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Hooray for Networking

So a friend suggested I go to a meeting for a local chapter for an engineering society.  It was mildly interesting and a lot of the guys were middle aged guys and up and not too many people my age or younger and definitely lots more introvert types.  My initial thought was, "Is this what I'm going to be like when I'm older?  Is this what I'm like already"  Sigh. 

Anyway, afterward, I was talking to as several of the people there and came across another person who's unemployed.  We're talking and he has a contact at a local company.  He suggests I send him my resume.  Well, the resume gets to the contact and then the contact's boss and I'm going to meet the boss, no phone interview even.

So I guess I'm surprised that networking worked and in this case without any strong ties at all.  I just met this guy and he just met his contact recently as well.  I'll let you know how it goes after I meet the boss.

Song of the Day - Natalie Merchant

I'm running out of interesting Thanksgiving-ish songs and I refuse to pick Dido's Thank You or Alanis Morissette's Thank U.  (There are a surprising number of songs named Thank You.)  So I'm going with Natalie Merchant's Kind and Generous, where she says thank you fifteen times in the song.  (Yes, I just counted it from the lyrics.)   



In the video, I just like the dancing in the cannon.  It just seems kind of weird and surreal.  Really, if there were a jazzy version of Eraserhead (yeah, right), I think it'd use these kinds of scenes.

Song of the Day - Andrew Gold

Continuing with the Thanksgiving theme, today's song is "Thank You for Being a Friend" by Andrew Gold.  Now, most readers know this song as the theme song to The Golden Girls, but this version is far superior. 

As you listen to it, you'll find that it's pretty similar to the TV theme song version, but then it gets so much better after the two minute mark.

My wife and I were in the car and I was flipping through stations and one of them had on the Delilah radio show.  I think it can make for really funny listening because I kinda feel like everyone that calls in is pretty stupid.  Anyway, Delilah plays this song for a listener and my wife and I thought this version of the song is hilarious.

For you trivia buffs, Andrew Gold also sung the theme song for Mad About You.

A Scene From Hannibal

SPOILER ALERT: I'll be giving away a major scene from Hannibal, not that it matters.  The movie's like eight years old and from what I've heard, not that good.  

My wife and I were watching TV and while flipping channels, she stopped on a movie that she recognized as Hannibal.  I haven't seen it, but she has.  She said, "It's the scene where he eats Ray Lolita's brain."
"Did you just say Ray Lolita?"
"Yeah.  What?"
"It's Ray Liotta."

We tried to figure out if it was some sort of Freudian slip, but couldn't really come up with any explanation.  That'd be a good prank to play on him though.  Like a reporter is on the red carpet somewhere and gets an interview with him and introduces him to the camera as "Ray Lolita". 

Job Search Statistics

Let's take a look at my job search statistics.  Since losing my job, I have applied for 45 jobs and sent my resume another 25 times without having any specific position to apply for.  This has led to one in person interview where there is a real job opening; this of course ended in rejection.  There were two other in person "interviews" where they're interviewing in case an opening comes up in the future; I'm doubtful on one of those and modestly hopeful on the other. 

I've had six phone interviews with actual companies.  Two are official rejections.  One went very poorly so we'll put that one down as a rejection.  One, I haven't heard back from after a few weeks, but I just followed up this week so maybe I'll hear back.  I feel like it's been too long already and am not feeling optimistic.  Another phone interview was over a month ago and I'm not feeling good there either.  The last one, they decided to close their Minnesota office so at least I can say that one's not my fault. 

Lastly, I've met (either in person or over the phone) with 8 recruiting companies.  I can pretty much say that so far, they've been pretty useless. 

So, let's remove the recruiting companies from the stats (five of the jobs I applied for were actually for a recruiting company).  So 65 resumes sent out led to 9 interviews, 12 official rejections, and no job offers.  Still, the fact that I've generated some interviews is probably a good thing.

Song of the Day - Beck

Today's Thanksgiving song is "Nicotine and Gravy" by Beck.  You can think about this song as you're having gravy with your turkey.



Like many of Beck's songs, the lyrics are completely nonsense: "Her left eye is lazy/She looks so Israeli/Nicotine and Gravy".  Beck has also admitted that he'll adlib "scratch" vocals that fill in space. To me, it's always interesting that he can say complete nonsense, but the songs still sound really good.  A friend was telling me once that there's a website where they make pictures based on Beck lyrics, like "Mouthwash Jukebox Gasoline" from Devil's Haircut.  And the picture would be an old school gas station and there are gas pumps plugged into the side of a jukebox which is filled with blue liquid.  Too bad she didn't remember the URL.  I feel like this song would also make a few good pictures.

Song of the Day - ABBA

Today, I'm going to kick off a series of songs of the day that are all Thanksgiving-ish.  So my first one is "Thank You for the Music" by ABBA. This is someone's random video set to the song.  There's a more official video that doesn't allow embedding, but it's a typical performance video and you get a good idea of all their dated crazy outfits from this video.  Be sure to check out the 1:55 mark where you can see the band wearing nothing but aluminum foil.



This is the type of person I am.  I have always loved ABBA because in the years when I was starting to form all of my musical tastes, I saw the movie Muriel's Wedding.  "My life is as good as an ABBA song.  It's as good as Dancing Queen."  I don't really feel that way right now, but I'm sure things will get better.  (Ooh.  Maybe in the future, I'll pick "Things Can Only Get Better" by Howard Jones.)

The Big Sweatshirt

So last week, I was wearing a sweatshirt that I haven't worn in a while.  I don't wear it that often because it's way too big for me, but it was a gift and it reminds me of home so I still have it.  My wife noticed that I was wearing the shirt and commented that she hadn't seen that in a while.  My response was that I ran out of other sweatshirts.  And she said, "Maybe you should wear something other than sweatshirts."

Should I?  I spend hours at my computer just sitting here.  I'll change to shorts and a t-shirt when I run and then go back to the computer.  So comfort's a good thing. 

For a contrasting viewpoint, my boss from two jobs ago used to work out of his house.  He talked about how it really helped him to take a shower and dress in work-type clothes every day. 

I guess I don't really have a problem (yet) with motivation to job search.  And I feel like I get out of the house enough to motivate me to clean up.  However, there have been some days where I didn't shower.  Maybe I'll avoid that in the future.

Song of the Day - Ben Folds Five

Today's song is "Best Imitation of Myself" by Ben Folds Five.



I just heard this on Pandora and thought it was a good song for today.  The song's about being what someone else wants you to be, but one of the good lines is "Maybe I'm thinking myself in a hole wondering who I am when I ought to know." 

I've spent a lot of time applying for and interviewing for as many jobs as possible and of course everything is tailored to that possible employer.  Certain things are left out or highlighted on versions of my resume.  My objective changes with the job.  Aren't I old enough to know what my true objective is? 

I remember once several years ago interviewing for a job with a patent law firm.  I became exactly who I thought they wanted.  I told them that the patent process was fascinating to me.  I told them I was considering law school even thought I wasn't sure yet.  To my surprise, they bought the whole thing and offered me a job, which I turned down.  Hopefully, I don't have to act that much during this job search.

New Recruiters and my Database

So I made one of my resumes on Monster public.  Perhaps not surprisingly, this has brought on a new set of recruiters.  I got an e-mail today with a possible job and I got a phone call yesterday.  You know, I'm really surprised at the number of recruiting agencies here.  I seem to encounter more and more of them as I go.

So yesterday's phone call was interesting.  Before I get into that, I should describe my job search process.  I have an Access database tracking my job search activities.  Every time I apply to a job or even check a company's website to see if they have any interesting positions, I create a record in my database for that.  As there are a lot of companies here, my database has hundreds of records. 

Yesterday, the recruiter asks, "Have you applied at [large medical company that rejected me]?" and I respond that they rejected me.  And then he asks about another medical company and I say that I've applied there too.  And then another company, this time smaller and I say that when I last checked, they didn't have any open positions for my skills.  Of course, he says, "Well, I know the hiring manager there and maybe I can help you."  This went on for a while.  Every company he named I had either already checked out or applied to.  Why do I even need these people?  I have heard of damn near every company in the twin cities that might employ someone like me.  But let's see if he actually has some pull.  I'm guessing he'll be like the other recruiters I've met; I have yet to hear from any of them in the past month with any positions.

Song of the Day - Cake

Today's song of the day is "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps", the version by Cake.  There's no music video for it and I don't even think it was released as a single.  Here's a link to Lala so you can at least listen to it.

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps - Ca...

So a while back, I met someone who gave me a good vibe on a possible job, but he wanted to wait to see what projects would come up and how I might fit into that.  So really I'm just in a waiting mode.  I'm going to follow up with him and this song seemed appropriate for the situation.  "If you can't make your mind up, we'll never get started.  And I don't wanna wind being parted, broken hearted."

For you music trivia people, the original for this song was actually done sixty years ago in spanish.  Who knew?

Vote for my Fail Submissions

One of many funny websites out there is failblog.org and I just made 3 submissions.  If you like them, click on the pictures and give them a high rating. 

Lemonade Fail


Christmas Decor Fail


Cookbook Fail

More Thoughts on the Thundercats

Food
So far, through these first few episodes, you know that they have rations and at one point Lion-O eats fruit from a tree.  Obviously, they don't want to show animals being killed in a cartoon for kids, but you kinda get the impression that the Thundercats are vegetarians.  For instance Lion-O and Snarf stop these pirates from capturing a unicorn for food.  Didn't they think, it must taste good if these pirates are going to all this trouble to get one?  In the same episode, some fish get caught in the Thundertank, but Panthro makes an opening and the fish are able to escape.  Aww.  If they were really cat-like, wouldn't they be excited at the thought of a fish?  Heathcliff (the cat) would've stopped right there and eaten them all I think.  On a similar note, does Mumm-Ra need to eat or do the evil spirits provide all that for him?

Housing
So the Thundercats make this enormous panther shaped palace called the Cat's Lair.  Now, there are only six of them.  A little excessive don't you think?  The Ro-Bear Berbils (they're like robotic ewoks) helped them make the whole thing and I'd be pissed if I was one of them, especially since it's not like they had a crane or any other big machinery.

A New Empire
In the first episode, Lion-O declares that they're going to form a new empire.  To me, I feel like that'd be a little difficult.  There's only six of them, and only one of those is an adult female.  Don't you think they should get started on populating this empire?  Would Cheetara not be able to run as fast if she were pregnant?

Cooking - Simple Stuff

So since I'm home all the time now, I do all of the cooking.  But of course I'm constantly looking for new things to cook as a way of keeping myself entertained, but I'm also finding that simple stuff can be just as interesting.

For example, I had my first pomegranate yesterday.  Well, not my first, but it was the first time I did everything myself.  That's really a lot of work.  No wonder POM charges so much for juice.  And there were a few red marks on my sweatshirt afterward, but it was pretty good.  I guess they're in season right now (only $2.50 at Cub).  Maybe I should cook with one next, but I'm not really wowed by any of the pomegranate recipes on Allrecipes; most of the recipes are for drinks and not for food.

Another simple food: popcorn.  We were watching a Good Eats episode about corn and we learned that you can just put popcorn in a paper bag and put that in the microwave.  It's very easy and, of course, very cheap.  It was about $5 for a bag of popcorn, some paper bags, and a little thing of popcorn salt.  I would recommend the larger paper bags, not the really small ones.  With some of the salt, it turns out pretty good, but it's not a bag of buttery goodness.  I've read that movie theater butter really isn't pure butter so I'll have to find a way to replicate that, though it's probably not all that healthy.  I did find a recipe for microwave caramel popcorn which I think would be really good. 

Lately, I've been making breakfast sandwiches.  In the past, I've always had cereal in the morning before work.  But then I feel like I have time for whatever now.  But I learned it's really easy and fast to make a scrambled egg in the microwave and our small pyrex bowls make an egg that's a very close match to the size of an english muffin.

So I guess if there's any silver lining to my situation, I'm at least changing my eating habits a little.

Song of the Day - UB40 and a Winery Trip

Today's song is Red Red Wine, the UB40 version.  (Really far superior to the Neil Diamond version.)  A fun trivia note here.  UB40 was named after a form in the UK and stands for Unemployment Benefit Form 40.  I thought that was fitting for me. 

Anyway, I'm not picking this song because I'm drinking myself to death like, say, Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas.  (I always liked the line, "I'm a prickly pear.")  I'm picking this song I recently visited some local wineries with my wife, Politico, SEWMOC, and WQS. 

Our first winery was Alexis Bailly in Hastings, MN.  They were doing a special thing there where the tasting cost $10, but you get to keep your glass, and the pours were pretty generous.  It was a beautiful day this past Saturday, like 60+ degrees.  (My brother texted, "That's hot for there, right?")  The winery has a great deck and a bocce court and an idyllic setting.  We came prepared with our own crackers, meat, and cheese so we had a great time sitting outside and hanging out.  It took us over two hours to get through something like 10 pours so things were good.  My wife and I have been to most of the wineries in the area and I think it's the prettiest.  Like if I were to pick one of these wineries for a wedding, I think this one would be the winner.

I had originally planned for us to go to 3 or 4 places, but we decided to only go to one more place and we decided on Cannon River Winery.  It's in the town so it's more like being at a wine bar than at a winery.  And we spent part of our time complaining about how measly the pours were and how we didn't really like any of them as much as the Alexis Bailly wines.  This place must also be some sort of community center because there were kids there doing a fundraiser for kids in Afghanistan.  So we bought a pan of Rice Krispies treats so we kind of did our part. 

Anyway, I don't really have a snappy ending for this post, but we all had a good time.

Movie Extra

So I signed up for a mailing list that sends out notices when movies need extras.  I think that would be a fun experience though I was also told that it's like jury duty where you spend a lot of time waiting.  That's OK with me too as I haven't really made a dent in Infinite Jest yet.  I don't know how many movies really get made here though.  The Coen brothers were filming here a while ago and then that football movie with George Clooney was done here too.  Extreme Makeover Home Edition was filming here recently too, but I was employed at the time, but I would've helped with that house if I had the free time that I have now. 

Little known fact about me is that I once tried out to be on Double Dare (they should put that out on DVD).  There were hundreds of kids there though.  I was placed in a group of like 20 other kids and then they asked us to make funny faces and stuff like that.  And then they picked 1 kid out of the group of us and unfortunately it was not me.  I think someone should recreate the set of Double Dare like at an amusement park or something and then you pay like $20 to go through the final obstacle course.  That would almost make up for not being picked all those years ago. 

Power Outage

So last night, the power went out on my block.  It's really kind of eerie how dark it gets.  We were completely unprepared.  We're fumbling around looking for our phones for an initial source of light.  And then we're like, "Where are the candles?"  I remembered there's a flashlight in the garage, and when I found it, the batteries were dead.  We looked all over the house for a second flashlight and finally found that and a set of tealight candles.  I then had the bright idea of getting the portable DVD player and watching something.  That battery was out too sadly. 

Our halloween stuff was still out so one of the candle holders we used was a skull, so that was kind of creepy.

I called the power company and the recording said that it's usually fixed in 4 hours, but it was only like an hour and a half last night, so not too bad.

So just a reminder to all of you to have flashlights and candles ready and portable electronics batteries charged up.  I'll be picking up a set of D batteries today.

Running with the Thundercats

So for the past two weeks, I totally ignored the treadmill.  My excuse was that I had jury duty and then I was sick, but I'm back on the past two days.  I finally finished Kill Bill vol. 2 and have since moved on to a set of Thundercats DVDs that I received as a gift a while back.  Here's the theme song to get you thinking about that.



Just to give you a weird picture, sometimes I'll do the sword motions with Lion-O during the beginning credits.  It's kind of fun and adds a little extra to what's really a fairly boring treadmill run.

One of my initial thoughts was the possibility that Mumm-Ra was bored before the Thundercats crashed on the planet.  I feel like there was really very little for him to do before he decided he would try to get the Eye of Thundera. 

I asked my wife if she could name any Thundercats even though she really had never watched it.  Off the bat, she came up with Tygra, but then her second guess was Panthera.  The correct answer would be Panthro. 

More thoughts on the Thundercats to come as I watch more episodes.  There are 33 episodes in the set so it'll take me 20 more times on the treadmill to finish them all.  Maybe I'll have a job before then.

Song of the Day - Dirty Vegas

I woke up this morning not sure what today was and then I also remembered last night when I talked about my old company in the present tense, as if I still worked there.  So today's song is "Days Go By" which many of us probably heard for the first time from a Mitsubishi commercial.  No video here for it today because the record company isn't allowing video embedding for the song, but you can click here if you want to watch/listen.

I guess all my days were the same before losing my job, but it just feels different I guess.  And talking about my company in the present tense is something I really haven't been doing.  I even used the word "We" as if I was still a part of things.  I even did that in a job interview a while back.  I wonder if they even noticed or even thought about it.  Probably not, but I felt a small moment of sadness after saying it. 

Update on the job search

Considering how my unemployment is the catalyst for this blog, I should write about how the job search is going.  In a few words, not great, but not all hope is lost yet.

The big company I interviewed with a week and a half ago.  Didn't get it. 
"We appreciate the time you invested in interviewing for the position, however, have decided to offer the position to another candidate whose skills, experiences and backgrounds more closely match the requirements of the job."
So I'll be boycotting this medical device company.  Of course, one of my friends asked, "What if you're passed out?"  Obviously in that case I don't have a say, but if I'm going over options with my doctor, I will try to push them towards one of their many competitors.  But let's hope I never actually need one of those things.

My wife believes that my interview was kind of a formality and that they had someone else in mind already considering that my interview was very last minute and I wasn't asked any technical questions, which is really rare for me.  I'll never know if that's the case, but I definitely got the feeling that the behavioral interview thing is very standard there.  


I got two more job rejections around the same time and I also had a phone interview that just went poorly.  This HR person really wanted to know all of the details of why I'm not at my last job and really, as much I danced around, it was difficult to get everything to sound good.  So if I'm ever in need of a floor cleaning machine, it won't come from Tennant just because I thought that woman not very nice or understanding.


And I just got a job rejection from Mckinsey, the consulting company I had applied to a few weeks ago.  I wasn't qualified for the job, but still got this message from them:
"We have reviewed your background and are impressed by your accomplishments. However, we are unable to offer you the opportunity to interview with us at this time.  A decision such as this is always difficult to make, as we receive applications from many highly qualified and accomplished individuals."
You know, I really don't think their decision was really all that difficult in my case.  At least they sent me an e-mail.  Most other companies you get the form letter right after you apply saying they'll keep your resume on file for a year and they'll contact you if anything comes up and then you never hear back.

I do have one company that I met with last week.  That went well, but of course nothing is set in stone, but he had me feeling optimistic.

Blog Milestones

A few milestones for this blog were recently met and I thought I'd use a post to pat myself on the back. 

First, the 100th pageview was met.  Of course, most of those are probably me and my wife, but whatever, it's a round number so it sounds good.

I also hit 50 posts for the month of October.  I actually did a lot of job searching during that time too so it's not like I'm sitting here blogging all the time.  Of course, this doesn't approach a blog like TrueHoop which has like 100+ posts per month, but that's like his full time job.

We also had our second international visitor.  This time, it was someone from Karachi, Pakistan.  According to Google Analytics, this person spent 0 seconds on the site, so it must not have been all that interesting.

And I'm up to $29.87 in AdSense revenue.  But I have a hold on my account because I'm worried about losing unemployment money if I get paid.  So to get this money, I have to get a job, when I wouldn't need this money anyway.  whatever.  Thanks for clicking on the ads. 

Probably not surprisingly, I haven't earned any money yet from my random links to Amazon.  And really, there have only been 2 Amazon clicks so far and I think both of those are me.

Song of the Day - Goldie Lookin' Chain

Today's song of the day is "Your Missus Is a Nutter" by Goldie Lookin' Chain, a rap group from Wales.  Who knew there were rap groups there?  This song has absolutely nothing to do with anything going on in my life, but it happened to come up on my Pandora and I thought it was really funny.  The video's really good too, like a cross between Weird Science and The Exorcist.




Now that you've heard the song, it'll be fun to bring up whenever we go out and any of the girls has more than a few drinks.

On a related note, I looked up famous Welsh musicians and there really aren't that many that I've heard of.  We have Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey ("Diamonds are Forever").  Famous Welsh bands include The Alarm, Badfinger, and The Stereophonics, but I've only heard of these bands; I actually couldn't tell you any of their songs. 

Early Book Review - Infinite Jest

Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace committed suicide about a year ago so I've been meaning to read some more of his stuff.  A while back I read a collection of his essays called Consider the Lobster and Other Essays and really liked it.  The best ones are the title essay about what happens to a lobster as it's boiled alive and another about his experience at the AVN Awards, the "Academy Awards of Pornography".  The latter essay is interesting in that it's written under two pseudonyms, as if two people wrote the article together.  Maybe I should do that with this blog and make up someone and attempt to write in a completely different persona.  That's actually something I can't do well as a writer, you know, put myself completely in the shoes of another character and not write it like it's me.

Anyway, back to Infinite Jest.  With my time in jury duty and reading afterward, I'm only at page 127, so it's not the fastest read, but in my defense, the print is really small.  So far, I'm fascinated and confused.  I would compare it so far to Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash (one of my favorite books) because it's kind of a sprawling world and there's a video that kills people, kind of like The Ring.  I guess I would also compare the beginning to Joyce's Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man just because I'm kind of confused by it all.

On a side note, I wanted to challenge myself with Joyce but after the first chapter, I decided I needed to buy the Cliffs Notes.  The girl at the register at the bookstore was actually chastising me for needing them.  Can you believe that?  I can't imagine reading anything by Joyce without some kind of annotated copy or book notes or something.  There are a few reading companions to Infinite Jest, but they don't have a single copy in any of Minnesota's libraries.  I feel like it'll take some modern lit class to make students read the book before those companions make it into libraries, but he's dead now so that should elevate his work, right?

On another side note, I learned from The Man Who Loved Books Too Much that libraries have a lot of first printings of books and book thieves will often steal from libraries.  (Side Note 3: Elvis Costello's Everyday I Write the Book has just started playing on my Pandora.)  The copy of Infinite Jest that I'm reading actually is a first edition, but it's only worth $20 on eBay.

Back to the book.  A lot of it takes place at a boarding school specializing in tennis instruction and some of the students go on to become tennis pros.  Except the founder was also a filmmaker.  And it follows one of his sons, who likes to smoke pot, but only in private.  Very weird. 

And there are lots of drug references.  The number of prescription drugs I've used is very small, but this book is a catalog of every possible prescription drug that's ever been abused.  Each time a new drug is brought up, it gets its own footnote.  Wallace tends to have lots and lots of footnotes in his writing. 

And I'm going to quote an atheist joke from the book now, mainly because I don't hear too many atheist type jokes: "What do you get when you cross an insomniac, an unwilling agnostic, and a dyslexic?"  "You get somebody who stays up all night torturing himself mentally over the question of whether or not there's a dog."

I can hear the groans right now.  But anyway, this was kind of a fun post to write. 

Book Review - SuperFreakonomics

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance

As I've said earlier, I read this book on day 2 of jury duty and I think I was already halfway through by 10 AM, so it's a pretty quick read. 

I was pretty much fascinated by the whole thing.  I most enjoyed the sordid subjects.  In the first book, there was a whole thing on the economics of dealing drugs.  This time, there's a whole chapter on the economics of prostitution.  I just thought it was interesting how the price of prostitutes have plummeted since the sexual revolution and the whole concept of season prostitution was new to me.  Apparently, there's a huge surge in prostitution around the Fourth of July.  And apparently, it's good for prostitutes to have pimps; there's more money and fewer arrests.

Now, there's a controversial chapter on global warming on possible solutions to that.  It didn't really bother me, but it might considered too radical.  Just a warning.

In general, there are good explanations of basic economics and how it applies to all of these situations, which is good for me as I never took economics in college.  And it's amazing to me the correlations that can be picked out of all the data that we now have.

So in general, I would recommend the book, especially if you enjoyed the first one.

Jury Duty Summary

I've been keeping a list on post ideas and I'll be getting to all of those at some point.  Mostly, I haven't been posting a ton because I haven't been feeling well.  I'll start by reviewing my last two days in jury duty.

On jury duty day #2, I actually got called into jury selection so it was good to get out of the waiting room.  During the interview process, I learned that one of my fellow prospective jurors is obscure celebrity Rudy Maxa, who hosts a travel show on PBS.  So that was kind of interesting.

I assume I can talk about the case now (if not, whatever, right?) and one of the questions was if you've had experience with an interpreter.  I haven't, but our celebrity had to detail how he works with interpreters for his show.

In the end, neither of us was picked so that was disappointing, at least for me.  That would be the only time I was called into jury selection.

What else...  On day 2, I finished all of SuperFreakonomics (review to come) and skimmed through a second book on salary negotiation (not worth discussing).  So on day 3, I brought Infinite Jest, which is a thousand pages and has a hundred pages worth of footnotes.  Needless to say, I haven't finished that yet.

There was a juror that looked like an old version of Paul Simon, like 70's Annie Hall Paul Simon, not clean cut You Can Call Me Al Paul Simon. It was kind of weird.

I got a hot chocolate from a vending machine and the cup was interesting.  There were pictures of playing cards on the side of the cup and then it told you to look at the bottom of the cup for the hole card.  My final hand was Aces and Jacks.  But it's not like there was a contest or anything like if I get a royal flush, I get some money.  Apparently, it's just for my entertainment.  But it was really the only interesting thing that happened to me in the courthouse on day 3 of jury duty.

Just want to reiterate that I liked being downtown.  Maybe someday, I'll be one of those busy people walking with a purpose while reading important e-mail on my Blackberry instead of me looking into every store window in the skyways with a bored look.

Song of the Day - Scandal

I know I haven't done a song in a few days, but I wanted to do a post about severing ties with your old company and "Goodbye to You" popped into my head.  Once again, I have shown my age because when I think of "Goodbye to You" I think of Scandal and not Michelle Branch.  But here's another example of an awful video from the early days of MTV.



Anyway, I think severing ties is an important part of what I call the "cleansing process" after leaving a job.

So one of the first things I did was gather up all of the clothes amassed that have the company logo on there.  Those were all thrown into the Goodwill pile.  We finally went to Goodwill a few weekends ago to get stuff for our Halloween costumes.  (I'll discuss the halloween party in a later post.)  So that feels good that I won't be reminded of my old company when I open the closet in the morning.  Some might consider burning stuff like this afterward, but I feel like it's slightly more productive to donate.  I had actually considered paying for additional company clothing at one point.  That would have been a terrible use of money.

I think transferring your 401k out is another important part of severing ties.  It's more convenient for me because I use a different investment company for my Roth IRA stuff and now they're all together in one spot.  And really, do you want to contact your old HR person about this stuff years down the line?  I'd do the same with my Health Savings Account (HSA) but hopefully, my next company will also do the HSA thing and I can transfer that money too. 

I guess I'm not really severing personal ties, because I do like most of my old coworkers.  When I got the news, I was of course (unfortunately) unfailingly nice and civil about everything.  It would have felt better to give them a piece of my mind and really make things memorable for all involved.  (Side note.  Isn't "giving a piece of my mind" a weird saying anyway?)  I was promised a recommendation letter but I'm still waiting.  Sigh.

Update: I also just removed myself from a Facebook cause that I had joined because of work.  Take that, former company...

A Far Away Job

So I saw a job on craigslist and I didn't really think about it at the time, but the location said north of the twin cities.  To me, that means Forest Lake or somewhere around there.  I sent my resume and heard back from the recruiting agency (obviously) last week.  And then he asks me about relocation.  Why would I want to relocate?  Well, the company is actually 100+ miles north of the twin cities.  And he didn't say Duluth, so it must be in some random place. 

I tell him that I am not interested in relocating.  All the recruiters I've spoken to, I basically tell them that it would have to be a compelling opportunity to involve relocation.  (I'm thinking Director or CTO or something along those lines.)  And he gets back to me and asks about doing contract work.  This would involve me spending 5 days a week in unnamed MN town.  I respond by saying that the compensation would have to be right.

I'm not even sure what right is.  But my wife and I put some thought into this.  I'm considering contract work for when my unemployment runs out (though hopefully, I find a real job before then.)  And the going rate for an experienced engineer is in the $40-75/hour range and of course there wouldn't be benefits.  So if the pay for going to unnamed MN town is only, say, $50, it's a definite no.

But what if it were $150/hour?  This scenario is highly unlikely, but I'm pretty sure I would have to say yes.  I'm not sure I'd ever make a salary approaching that and I think I could live with the temporary inconvenience.

So then what if it were $100/hour?  That's now on the border, but I think I would only say yes if a place to stay and mileage were also included.  And we also thought that I should only do it for 6 months tops.  I was once offered a job that was supposed to be like 5 days a week of travel and I didn't take it because it was weird to think that I wouldn't know where home was.  It'd be like in Fight Club, where he's like, "You wake up and you're in LAX..."

But currently, I don't have any offers to work anywhere else, so I guess I have to consider all of my options.  My guess (and probably your guess too): the pay for the job wouldn't be anywhere close to what it would take to get me to go.