The last minute MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Sorry, I got sucked into housecleaning and watching tv yesterday, and forgot to update. :slight_smile:

I drove through the snow and ice storm to get to the interview–and the driveway to the place was the only plowed road in northern New Jersey, it seemed. I kept thinking about how I would have loved to take this job about five years ago, when I lived less than two miles down the road from it. Bah. I hated that apartment, anyway.

So, I was supposed to meet with three people, one of whom hadn’t come in that day. I talked to the HR lady, who was very soft-spoken, which kinda bugged me. You can’t tell me about the job if I can’t hear you telling me about the job. And she had a handshake like a wet fish. Ick. After twenty minutes with her, it became clear that she didn’t really know anything about the job, other than I would be supporting two executive assistants–one for the (apparently very famous) doctor who ran the place, and one for the second banana.

After that, I talked with Top Doc’s assistant, who told me about the job. She was nice, I enjoyed chatting with her, but the more she talked, the more I realized I really don’t want this job. As she started talking about former assistants, I realized she was petty and vindictive and looking for a serf rather than an assistant. I was supposed to call back yesterday to arrange a time to meet with the second assistant who wasn’t there, but I haven’t bothered. I’ll send HR Lady an email today and tell her I’m not interested. It’s not worth getting dressed up and driving out there when I don’t even want the job.

So, the search continues. But I was forcefully reminded of one thing: I hate job interviews.

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OMG! Speaking of math, my brother just sent me a bunch of pics of math exams that made me laugh out loud. I will forward to any who would like a guffaw. E-mail in profile.

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Thank goodness it’s Friday! And! It’s a three-day weekend! Yeah, pathetic how the little things make me happy, huh?

kai, I think you handled the situation with grace and aplomb. I’m also glad you weren’t hurt.

Drae, I’m sorry the job interview didn’t go well. I guess it’s better to find out now you wouldn’t like the job, than after you’ve been hired and have been working there for awhile.

Nothing too exciting going on here. The mailbox was LOADED with stuff for my daughter. The “stuff” being brochures and letters from colleges and universities. She’s still seething over having to attend in state unless she receives a scholarship or two for an out of state school. She told me there’s no way she’ll receive a full ride because she’s not a minority, athlete, or 'specialized". I told her it doesn’t hurt to check EVERY option. It falls on deaf ears…sigh.

I need to win the friggin’ Lotto or something. I guess it would help if I bought a ticket now and then.

Hopefully Swampus Ursus will check in soon and let us know how things went with today’s interview.

I should work now, I guess. I don’t want to, but I will, because I’m a good little robot.

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Morning all!

Yesterday we had a reception with recruiters from the local community colleges - some of them were actually really interested in my ESL experience, so I’m hopeful I’ll land an adjunct position of some sort before fall. crosses fingers

Damn, I meant to post pics of the two dresses I was trying to decide on, but outside pressure demands I wear the Chinese chipao, in keeping with the party’s theme being “ridiculous.” I shall post pictures of the party afterwards, though. Should be fun. We start drinking at 4pm. :smiley:

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Morning, all. Eeks, Kai! Good on you for staying calm. I’m surprised the dog was so aggressive – goldens/Chessies are usually really mellow. Our guy has a huge bark but no bite, and believe me, he’s had provocation. But it sounds like you handled it just beautifully, not only with the dog but with the neighbor. Hopefully this will teach her to keep the dog leashed when outside.

Papa Tigs used to take Isaac, our lab, outside with him when he was working on the front yard, but Isaac was apparently abused by someone with a broom or shovel before we adopted him because he still freaks at the sight of them. And one day last winter when Papa Tigs was out shoveling snow and had Isaac with him, Isaac kept running over and barking at a neighbor, who wasn’t afraid but was extremely unsympathetic. So, I have to admit, was I – we do have a leash law and Papa Tigs was violating it, even if he was right there to stop Isaac from doing anything other than bark. He doesn’t take him out off leash any more, fortunately; we have another nasty neighbor who calls animal control at the slightest provocation, and we’ve been warned about her by our nice neighbors.

Jahdra, that is gorgeous! Is that the “Lady Eleanor” scarf? And are you using Silk Garden or another Noro yarn? That’s my post-knee-replacement project, and I got Silk Garden Lite for it, so we’ll have to compare scarves when we’re both done! Maybe when Swampy hits the lottery and hosts the Great MMP Reunion, we can compare notes in person. :smiley:

I am feeling seriously unmotivated today. It doesn’t help that I don’t have anything too urgent to get done, but I should still be doing it anyway. Instead, I just want to go back to bed, which I could hardly get out of this morning. I was just so comfortable lying there this morning. It’s not fair that beds are so comfy! And it’s too cold to go anywhere unless I’m feeling really motivated, which I won’t be until my paycheck arrives. It’s amazing how motivating that can be. :smiley: :smiley:

Sorry the job wasn’t what you wanted, Drae, but it sounds like you made the right decision. I hate working somewhere where people who’ve been there a long time think they own the universe. I once worked in a law office with a senior and junior queen, and man, were they both bitches. They kept claiming they wanted other people to stick around, but then they’d go out of their way to drive them off as fast as they could. It was ridiculous.

Okay, maybe more caffeine will help me wake up enough to at least do something. Other than sit here and keep warm, which I am emjoying more than I should!

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I don’t know. They’ve got an awful lot of flour. I prefer brownies that have at least twice as much sugar as flour. They should be dense and fudgy, not thick and floury. I’ve got a good recipe with 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of flour, and they’re amazing. But that’s just me.

Nava, I think you’re right that the stats prof makes all the difference. I had a so-so one for my first class, and then a bad one for the second and third classes, and I understood progressively less each time. Ugh. I shudder even thinking about it.

Scary dog stories!

Sorry the job didn’t sound good drae. I’m with you on hating interviews.

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My garage looks like a sewing machine shop and a telephone company collided.

We’ve got at least half a dozen old sewing machines that were donated to us for the seniors. One the building renovations progress to the point where the rec room is usable again, we’ll pick the best one or two, buff 'em up and bring them over. Most of them are Singer Touch and Sew models, so it’s pretty easy to scavenge parts to make a Frankenstitch.

For phones, we’ve got what appears to be three office phone systems. My job is to sort the stuff by species, then recommend which one should be used to replace the failing system at DH’s building. All told, it’s about $5,000 worth of phone stuff - took a bit of wrangling to pull that donation in! Next project will be to try and find someone to donate their services to install it.

I might know single-line phones inside and out, but I don’t know diddly about setting up a Lucent Partner ACS. But, once it is working, I think they’ll be happy to have a reasonably modern system that can do paging, conferencing, music on hold, and if someone donates the appropriate module, or they come up with the $700 to buy one, they can even have voicemail. No more smothering the mouthpiece and yelling “Joe! Mary’s on Line Two!” :smiley:

Oh yeah, it’s not just Friday, but a long weekend! Woohoo!

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Thanks for the comments, I have both been bitten and witnessed a couple of dog attacks, and I was in a very vulnerable place in so much that there was no way for me to get back up on the deck and into the house without turning my back on the dog, and I know better than that. I am a dog person, I have taken care of other people’s dogs as well as my own, and I know when a dog is going in to do some serious damage, and that dog had blood on it’s mind. I really do think that she was startled by the walker, and the owner let me know that the dog is in heat (and running loose, there are not enough roll eyes in the world for that bit of information). I have a female in heat (gated in my kitchen and crated when I am not available to supervise her) and the scent may have also been a factor. She has always been a very nice dog, even if she does crap in my yard and dance across my flower beds. I am outside of the city limits, and there isn’t much to be done about loose dogs until they have actually either bitten a person, or are seen running deer. As I stated before, since there will be times when I am out in the yard tending my posies this summer when no one will be around I will be getting a can of pepper spray. I have no confidence in it’s effectiveness against bears, but it will certainly deter a dog long enough for me to gimp my way back into the house. As for her breed/s, she looks an awful lot like the dog belonging to a friend of ours, which is a Chessie/Rhodesian Ridgeback/AmStaff. Sadie (the dog) is a baby doll, so much depends on the socialization and training a dog receives at a young age. The same applies to my little dogs, too much of the time people with toys allow them to get away with too much aggression because they “are so cute”. My poms are not yappy little ankle biters, bad behaviors are dealt with swiftly.

Moving on, #3 has developed a fever and a general feeling of ickyness, so she is home from school. She must really not be feeling well, as she is still sound asleep. I have seen The Son off to school, taken my morning meds, and am going to crawl back beneath my blankets with some tea and watch The Weakest Link on BBC America. We just got a bunch of new channels this week, and I love the BBC comedies which come on right after this. I hope you all have a marvelous day, chat at you later!

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Get ready for exciting news – I was up most of the night with a puking 2-year old! Ugh. Every sheet, towel and blanket in the house is in the laundry room right now. Poor baby did his last barf at 7:15 am, and has been sunny every since. He’s taking a nap right now, and I anticipate it being a long one. Poor lamb.

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Since it didn’t belong in the last post at all, I posting again with cheese grits recipes for Magic Eyes … and anyone else in the mood for something cheesy, buttery and delicious.

Baked Grits and Cheese
I would add garlic to this.

1 ½ c grits
3 eggs
3 tsp savory salt
2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp paprika
Dash of hot sauce
1 lb. Sharp cheese, grated
½ c butter

Sir grits gradually into 6 cups boiling water; cook until thickened. Beat eggs until thickened; beat in seasonings. Add small amount of hot grits to egg mixture, stirring constantly. Stir egg mixture into remaining grits gradually; add cheese and butter. Mix well; pour into greased casserole. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. 6 servings
West Texas-Style Grits

2 c. hot cooked grits
2 c. sharp cheese, grated
½ c butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs, well beaten
1 sm can green chilies, minced

Mix all ingredients together; place over low heat, stirring until cheese and butter are melted. Pour into greased casserole. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour. Yield: 8-10 servings.

Jalapeno Cheese Grits

2 c. quick-cooking grits
2 qt. boiling water
½ c. butter
1 roll jalapeno cheese
1 8-ox. Package Velveeta cheese, diced
1 sm. Onion, grated
4 eggs, well beaten

Stir grits into 2 quarts boiling water gradually add butter, cheeses and onion. Stir until cheeses and butter melt. Fold eggs into mixture. Pour into large well-greased casserole. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour until mixture is set. Yield: 12 servings.

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taxi, the brownies have two cups cocoa, four cups sugar, and two cups flour. And almost two cups of butter. I think they’d be okay, texture-wise. Two cups white sugar, two cups packed brown sugar.
I have returned from the Exotic Asian Supermarket. I bought:

Fish sauce
Two bottles of chili-garlic sauce
Black bean sauce
A lot of baby bok choy
A can of something called ‘Milk Drink’ with an alarming picture on the front
Tofu both regular and deep-fried
Two packages of TVP
Really fresh ginger- the skin is very thin and it smells really gingery
Butter
Fresh noodles
Broccoli
Very hot peppers to make spicy vinegar with
Palm sugar
Scented rice
Sticky rice
In a moment I’ll see if it will fit in the fridge. I’m going to do a chicken-black-bean-bok-choy gingery thing tomorrow, with assorted other veggies. And this time I will eat the damn tofu before it goes bad.

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That’s my opinion of the stuff as well. :smiley:

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Howdy Y’all! It’s me reporting in.

The job interview was ok. I’m kinda like Drae in that I’m not sure if it’s the job for me (Human Resources) but I can do it and am well qualified for it. Know what though? I’m kinda in a position where I don’t have to take the first thing that comes along, so I feel really good about that. Plus I have two more interviews lined up, one next Tuesday and one next Wednesday.

Sean makes staying in town a lot more exotic than it is. See, after doin’ the funeral thing and all (got back around seven last night), I stayed at ACBG’s place cause the interview was first thing this morning and well, I just wanted to. I gotta say the perks for stayin’ there are good. :smiley: Anywho, last night we were talkin and he told me I needed to take today off from job huntin’. He told me he was worried I’d burn myself out and besides, I had some interviews lined up for next week, so I earned it. I’m takin’ his advice. We had lunch together today and now I’m back home.

I know all about IBR. I’ve never been but maybe one day. Gotti you should tell your neighbor you expect a couple of bears as payback for helpin’ him out like that. :wink:

Kai yikes! Glad everything worked out about the dog though.

Tigs purty pictures, but I’m glad it was you and not me. Just sayin’.

Ellen I’m glad BabyCherry is feelin’ better.

MBG glad Cuervo didn’t kill you [sub]yet[/sub].

Taters hang in there!

Drae you deserve the job you want.

Mindude I have no idea what all that puter stuff means but I’m glad it all turned out ok.

FCM has Monday’s MMP.

Umm… everyone else, YAY! BOO! ICK! GOOD LUCK! ETC!

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Puggy, I sent you an email about the math tests. Looking forward to those. :slight_smile:

Ellen, puking 2 year olds are gross. Hope the little guy - and you, after all that cleanup - are okay.

Swampus and DraeDrae, you just keep fighting the good fight.

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Can you stick them up on something like Photobucket?

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I forgot the package of rosebuds. You can get packages of tiny rosebuds in the tea section for a dollar fifty. So i got some, and they’re in a pretty bowl on the table.
I used to hate tofu, but now I think it’s okay if it’s in something that’s strongly flavoured (miso or oyster sauce) or deep fried. Deep frying makes most things better.

What are some nice, very very simple shapes to applique onto a baby blanket? I’ve got it hemmed, and I think I ought to fancy it up a bit.

Those grits sound yummy, Ellen.

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Last night we were watching the news and saw that Peter Pan with a 2111 number on the lid are recalled. So the GF goes to check, and sees that the new jar we have is one of the bad ones, and that someone opened it and had some. The younger stepdaughter-to-be says, “Yeah, I saw that it was the recalled stuff last night when I made a sandwich.” So I asked the very first thing that popped into my head when she said that: “So if you knew it was bad, why did you put it back in the cupboard?” She did one of those fish impersonations, and walked out of the room.

I swear to the crying baby Jesus that those girls are one stupid thing away from finding everything they own on the lawn and new locks on the doors.

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Tell her that when the salmonella has her projectile-ing from both ends that you’re just locking her in the basement, and she can clean up after herself. Bet she’s more careful with the Peter Pan after that.

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Aw, sorry, gotti, I don’t have an account. Just lazy I guess. I’ll see what I can do this weekend.

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If you knew it was bad, why did you make a sandwich with it?