I have a logjam of books, all of which I really want to finish. I've assigned myself to read a certain number of pages per day. That seems to work more or less, although I may end up quitting on SPARTINA and go on to its sort-of sequel, COMPASS ROSE.
I think I have a new reading project, to try to read the National Book Award winners.
Maybe not surprisingly, the book that I'm having the easiest time with is the Stalin book. It's written in a fresh, surprisingly irreverent manner.
I wonder why Hitler is more "popular" than Stalin as far as an overall symbol of evil.
Maybe because a war was fought and won against Hitler, giving us a happy ending. People usually don't like it when the bad guys get to die of old age.
I read a book once about Hitler where it was claimed that Hitler was scared of Stalin after meeting him, and knew at that moment that he would eventually have to go to war with Russia. At the same time, he sort of admired his ruthlessness. It's funny to imagine Hitler telling someone, "That guy's crazy!"
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
The Recruiter Runaround....
My wife is off at a multi-day meeting, and I am unsure on what to do with myself.
Friday I got a call from a recruiter about a possible interview tomorrow, but did not get any follow-up confirmation. Late this afternoon I learn [after asking] that the interview may not be until later this week, and possibly not until next year. The client may have "jumped the gun," whatever that means.
This probably isn't the recruiter's fault, but it is the type of thing people complain about when dealing with recruiters.
I'm reading and playing too much Scrabble. Nothing really seems appealing. There are a few things to apply to, so I guess at least I'm okay for this week.
Friday I got a call from a recruiter about a possible interview tomorrow, but did not get any follow-up confirmation. Late this afternoon I learn [after asking] that the interview may not be until later this week, and possibly not until next year. The client may have "jumped the gun," whatever that means.
This probably isn't the recruiter's fault, but it is the type of thing people complain about when dealing with recruiters.
I'm reading and playing too much Scrabble. Nothing really seems appealing. There are a few things to apply to, so I guess at least I'm okay for this week.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
"History is full of abnormal people..."
Basically a paraphrase of a quote from Stalin. I just started a bio of him called COURT OF THE RED TSAR which believe it or not I first heard about back when I worked retail.
My retail days were a mixed bag. I worked at Borders and enjoyed the store I started in, although the pay was quite low. At the time, I wasn't qualified for much else, having an English degree and no desire or aptitude for teaching.
I loved working with the books and helping customers find the books they were looking for. We had a lot of customers who were pretty serious about reading. But I hated dealing with music and DVDs and all of the other things the store sold. I especially hated working the cash register. You'd get jerks who would want to buy a newspaper with a $100 bill at ten in the morning. Stores generally don't have more than $40 or so in the register to start the day.
It was during the 2004 election so we'd get a lot of angry conservatives pissed off about why we didn't have certain books but only carried "liberal" books. The problem was made worse by one of the conservative publishing companies--they deliberately under-printed copies of an anti-Kerry book in order to pretend like the book was being "suppressed."
One of the funnier moments--there was a book out at the time called THE REPUBLICAN NOISE MACHINE about how conservatives disseminate their message. One day I had a lady come in and return it. She complained that she had bought it as a gift, "but then I found out the book was against Republicans." Oh those crafty liberal writers and their evil ways!
We ended up moving back to where we live now. I transferred to the Borders store here and got a rude awakening. The store here was not a book-oriented store and we generally didn't have any of the books that people would come in and ask for. Our system would say we did, but we could never locate anything, so just about all of the books were special ordered. It was really frustrating. Sometimes the inventory people would just tell me to give the customer some other similar book. When I couldn't sleep at night because I hated the job so much, I wound up quitting. They had cut my pay [lower cost of living here, about the only thing to recommend this burg] and hours so it wasn't that hard to walk away.
My retail days were a mixed bag. I worked at Borders and enjoyed the store I started in, although the pay was quite low. At the time, I wasn't qualified for much else, having an English degree and no desire or aptitude for teaching.
I loved working with the books and helping customers find the books they were looking for. We had a lot of customers who were pretty serious about reading. But I hated dealing with music and DVDs and all of the other things the store sold. I especially hated working the cash register. You'd get jerks who would want to buy a newspaper with a $100 bill at ten in the morning. Stores generally don't have more than $40 or so in the register to start the day.
It was during the 2004 election so we'd get a lot of angry conservatives pissed off about why we didn't have certain books but only carried "liberal" books. The problem was made worse by one of the conservative publishing companies--they deliberately under-printed copies of an anti-Kerry book in order to pretend like the book was being "suppressed."
One of the funnier moments--there was a book out at the time called THE REPUBLICAN NOISE MACHINE about how conservatives disseminate their message. One day I had a lady come in and return it. She complained that she had bought it as a gift, "but then I found out the book was against Republicans." Oh those crafty liberal writers and their evil ways!
We ended up moving back to where we live now. I transferred to the Borders store here and got a rude awakening. The store here was not a book-oriented store and we generally didn't have any of the books that people would come in and ask for. Our system would say we did, but we could never locate anything, so just about all of the books were special ordered. It was really frustrating. Sometimes the inventory people would just tell me to give the customer some other similar book. When I couldn't sleep at night because I hated the job so much, I wound up quitting. They had cut my pay [lower cost of living here, about the only thing to recommend this burg] and hours so it wasn't that hard to walk away.
Friday, December 3, 2010
This month will be different....
...actually it won’t. I’m already slacking on posts.
I had the possibility of a job yesterday but ultimately decided it wasn’t enough money. It was nine dollars an hour. The range I’ve told people is $10-12 an hour. $9 is far less than I make on unemployment. It’s not much more than I was making in retail a few years ago. The job would have been full time, which would have made it hard for me to find anything else. I wonder how many people end up taking jobs that pay far less than they used to make and just end up permanently underemployed? It would be interesting to see how the employment picture would look if underemployment were taken into account. Congress continues its fight over tax cuts, and I’m hoping that unemployment benefits might be included in an attempt to compromise. My time is soon ending with benefits either way, and when that happens I guess I will go ahead and work for $9 an hour, which is even less than I made back when I started out for the Quasi-Federal Agency Known for Workplace Violence. And that was in 1996.
2011 looks like it may be a tough year. It’s going to require major changes no matter what. It’s my hope that a year from now things will be different.
I have a lot of books to read, but I’m having a hard time sitting down and reading.
I had the possibility of a job yesterday but ultimately decided it wasn’t enough money. It was nine dollars an hour. The range I’ve told people is $10-12 an hour. $9 is far less than I make on unemployment. It’s not much more than I was making in retail a few years ago. The job would have been full time, which would have made it hard for me to find anything else. I wonder how many people end up taking jobs that pay far less than they used to make and just end up permanently underemployed? It would be interesting to see how the employment picture would look if underemployment were taken into account. Congress continues its fight over tax cuts, and I’m hoping that unemployment benefits might be included in an attempt to compromise. My time is soon ending with benefits either way, and when that happens I guess I will go ahead and work for $9 an hour, which is even less than I made back when I started out for the Quasi-Federal Agency Known for Workplace Violence. And that was in 1996.
2011 looks like it may be a tough year. It’s going to require major changes no matter what. It’s my hope that a year from now things will be different.
I have a lot of books to read, but I’m having a hard time sitting down and reading.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
A final depressing note for November...
I was in Target and heard a Gang of Four song playing...turns out it was an ad for some video game. Oh well, at least it was for one of those Wii fitness type games, and not one of those "beat a hooker with a lead pipe" type of games.
Guess even 80s lefty rock bands need a little Christmas cash....
Guess even 80s lefty rock bands need a little Christmas cash....
End of the month blues...
I think I'm posting just to beat last month's post count.
I forgot to mention that I am also reading a book called THE VAULTS by Toby Ball which is, as Jess Walter [another favorite author of mine] put it, is a Kafkaesque noir set in an alternate 1930s America. Although in reality, there is nothing that really identifies its place or time. Terrific read, a nice short book that is good as far as being able to put it down and get right back into it. Brevity is a good thing sometimes.
We're trying to plan our next move, and I think things may be very different by this time next year.
It's time for the unemployment extension debate again, and I'm more or less planning on being without benefits in a little over a month. I'm hoping to get some temp or contract work at that point. I'm working a lot more with recruiters than I used to.
I forgot to mention that I am also reading a book called THE VAULTS by Toby Ball which is, as Jess Walter [another favorite author of mine] put it, is a Kafkaesque noir set in an alternate 1930s America. Although in reality, there is nothing that really identifies its place or time. Terrific read, a nice short book that is good as far as being able to put it down and get right back into it. Brevity is a good thing sometimes.
We're trying to plan our next move, and I think things may be very different by this time next year.
It's time for the unemployment extension debate again, and I'm more or less planning on being without benefits in a little over a month. I'm hoping to get some temp or contract work at that point. I'm working a lot more with recruiters than I used to.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Turkey Time
Actually, we're having Chinese food for Thanksgiving.
The interview yesterday was a lot of the same old thing--the usual "What have you been doing for the last year and a half?" questions...[Um, trying to find a job in a job market that has 17% unemployment if you're being charitable in your estimates.]
They think I should specify on my resume that in addition to my master's degree that I've taken several undergraduate accounting courses [I think having a CPA license pretty much shows that I have a sufficient background...however, I'm game to try this in case that has been the one thing that has been holding me back this entire time.]
Also, they say that most places don't have people doing both tax and audit [This is absolutely untrue for this local market, and the fact that they don't know that is cause for concern.]
The one weird thing is that for this client [btw one thing in this recruiter's favor is that they are legitimately trying to fill specific jobs instead of just playing a numbers game and signing up everyone] is that they want everyone to take personality tests including the Wunderlich which I believe is the same test they give to future NFL players at the combine each year. One thing I'm good at---standardized intelligence tests. Although I didn't finish all the questions in the alloted twelve minutes, I finished at least 80% of them and hopefully got most of the ones right that I answered. Maybe that will help. You never know what these people want.
Reading SPARTINA, a former National Book Award winner. Mainly about an middle aged crab fisherman trying to make it.
Also MATERHORN, a novel about Vietnam. Everyone is going nuts over it and I can see why. Will give my thoughts at a later date.
The interview yesterday was a lot of the same old thing--the usual "What have you been doing for the last year and a half?" questions...[Um, trying to find a job in a job market that has 17% unemployment if you're being charitable in your estimates.]
They think I should specify on my resume that in addition to my master's degree that I've taken several undergraduate accounting courses [I think having a CPA license pretty much shows that I have a sufficient background...however, I'm game to try this in case that has been the one thing that has been holding me back this entire time.]
Also, they say that most places don't have people doing both tax and audit [This is absolutely untrue for this local market, and the fact that they don't know that is cause for concern.]
The one weird thing is that for this client [btw one thing in this recruiter's favor is that they are legitimately trying to fill specific jobs instead of just playing a numbers game and signing up everyone] is that they want everyone to take personality tests including the Wunderlich which I believe is the same test they give to future NFL players at the combine each year. One thing I'm good at---standardized intelligence tests. Although I didn't finish all the questions in the alloted twelve minutes, I finished at least 80% of them and hopefully got most of the ones right that I answered. Maybe that will help. You never know what these people want.
Reading SPARTINA, a former National Book Award winner. Mainly about an middle aged crab fisherman trying to make it.
Also MATERHORN, a novel about Vietnam. Everyone is going nuts over it and I can see why. Will give my thoughts at a later date.
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