Monthly Archives: January 2013

I Smile

Just as I thought it would only be a temp job, it was just a temp job. I did have a sit down with Francois when I got in. The storm last night caused some leakage in the bathroom ceiling and that needed to be dealt with, so a call to the landlord was in order. Our next door neighbor on the fifth floor had a leak too. We figured it was some damage left over from Sandy, something was fixed and then the high winds and rain last night slightly undid what was fixed last year. It’s better now, but I guess we will wait until the next storm to find out.

So I got to the office an hour later than expected. I was able to get Francois’ attention and we did talk, mainly about what I wrote last night, about how I interviewed for a position and was offered an entirely different position. We both agreed that leaving now would be best before things get too involved. And I should not be so quick to say yes to anything that is offered to me. One doesn’t buy a pair of shoes if they don’t fit, at least I don’t.

It ended well enough I suppose, Francois and I hope to maintain our friendship and since I didn’t really meet anyone in the office, leaving was not a problem at all. I guess there was some static on Francois’ side, why hire someone who is more of an office support guy (jack of all trades) and train someone for sales when there are more qualified people to do the sales thing? With the storm last night and the leakage and the temp job finishing up the way it did I will be happy when this day, week, month is over.

The position I originally interviewed for and aced remains unfilled. Ultimately the decision fell to the owner of the company. Francois who was great mentioned off hand that his position is tenuous since who knows, the owner could decide that she’s tired of seeing Francois and could terminate his position at any time. That would be too bad since Francois had proven himself to be a stand up gent and quite a professional. But that is the nature of the beast and I left today knowing that Francois would still be friends despite the past 48 hours.

Meanwhile the ceiling seems to be mended which is very good. The temperature has dropped considerably in the past few hours and it’s still quite windy. I just got in after picking up Bill’s laundry and a stop at the really getting on my nerves supermarket. I guess they realized that their competition will be opening within a fortnight and decided to ramp up the attitude as well as the prices. Friday is a sale day and already they have taken the tags off this past week’s on sale items which can cause confusion, or at least it usually confuses me.

And Bill has been stellar the past few days. Good things coming up ahead.
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Strange dream last night. It took place back in Lodi or parts of Lodi that I was not familiar with since it was the other side of town from where I grew up. I ran into Declan an old friend from Maxwells. We had a good talk, joined by Bill and my former roommate William. I mentioned I had to walk to the supermarket and they joined me, walking past places I had never been before.

We lost Bill on the way and William and Declan sidestepped a freshly made spider web. I got entangled and freaked out, pouring butane over my jeans. Then I lost them both and walked down some streets to the supermarket which was just closed due to some incident inside.

I walked around and found my shoes were gone. William rode up on his bicycle with some native artifacts he just purchased. I walked around some more, looking at a house that might also be a bar and I kept walking not paying attention to where I was going and came thisclose to walking into a column on a porch.

I made it back to Bill and still could not find my shoes. I had no idea how I lost them since I never took them off. William showed up again with shoes that weren’t mine. I saw Bill’s Doc Martins and was stepping into them which were quite big, too big.

Then Bill got a phone call and he was very upset since Digberto died. I asked who Digberto was but did not find out if he was a relative since the dream ended.

It seemed the dream was riddled with symbolism.
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I watched The Kids Are Alright the other night. Every time I saw it listed in the guide I think it’s the movie about the Who from the late 1970’s. So I finally sat and watched it and it was pretty good. Julianne Moore, Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo were very good. It had songs by Bowie and MGMT and some talk about Joni Mitchell, but nothing at all by the Who. Annette Bening should have gotten the Academy Award that year.

Last night I watched Grace of My Heart which is good but slight. I remember meeting the director Allison Anders when she visited Right Track Recording when Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello recorded God Give Me Strength for the soundtrack. She was nice and I think I might have met Ileana Douglas at the time as well. Having read Carole King’s memoir I could see certain resemblances.

Reading about it on Wikipedia afterwards I read Joni Mitchell wrote a song for it, sung by someone else and produced by Joni’s ex-husband Larry Klein. And some songs were written by Gerry Goffin and his daughter with Carole King, Louise. I definitely remember meeting Carole King when James Taylor was recording and she was super nice. I had seen Louise perform a few nights before and mentioned it to Carole who was beaming and so proud of her daughter.
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And I did ask Bill if he knew anyone named Digberto and he didn’t.

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07 Shaktar Donetsk

I Smell A Rat

It has been day two and it went fine I suppose. I didn’t do much of anything except some research on reselling DVD’s which was to no set purpose. Basically the DVD’s I was looking into reselling are business training DVD’s. Not much of an audience for that type of viewing. Resellers are more interested in entertainment, Hollywood movies, not IT project manager videos. But I did what was asked of me which was basically looking at websites for mostly disreputable companies. And not one of them was interested in any non-entertainment DVD’s regarding how to be a better project manager.

I also sat and looked at videos on the DVDs and an online catalog of the programs and classes that this company has to offer. Last week I looked at the hard copy catalog, for the past two days I looked at the catalog online. The office hummed all around me, but no one really talks to me. I overheard some talk about a pool for the Super Bowl, but I wasn’t asked to join which is a good thing since I don’t care for football and I especially don’t care for the Super Bowl. I don’t even know who is playing this year actually.

I also changed the bottle of water in the kitchen twice. I came in this morning and after I filled my bottle of water I noticed it was empty. I did not want to hear how that new guy did not change the bottle of water so I did it myself. I’ve been drinking a lot of water at this job and later in the afternoon I refilled my bottle once more. And once more, the bottle was empty. So I did the whole thing over again and when I was done I noticed a guy standing there.

He thanked me for changing the bottle of water and I joked, ‘Jump in, the water’s warm’. I didn’t stick around to see if he got the joke or thought I was just that new guy who says the strangest things. After that it was back to looking at descriptions of what is offered to the up and coming project manager and videos. And I fell off the wagon, smoking cigarettes again. I know, I know. I don’t like it like I used to and I don’t think it will last. I did sneak out for a quick puff and smoked so fast I was really buzzed from it.

I emailed the person who asked me to research the reselling of the DVD’s. I wrote the email this morning once I was done with the research but didn’t send it until this afternoon. An hour later I walked by their desk and asked them if they had gotten my email. They asked when I sent it and I told them about an hour ago. They checked their email queue and there it was, unread. And still unread as far as I knew when I left the office for the day.

I came home and there was Bill willing to lend an ear and a hug. I needed both. I explained a lot more than I wrote here and Bill suggested that I talk to someone about it tomorrow. The line I could sell ‘Ice cubes to an Eskimo’ was something I brought up during the second interview. You see, I did have two (three actually) interviews last week. For the same company.

The first interview was on the phone and went really well. It was for a support position and it set me up for the second interview. The second interview did not go so well and it was for the person I was hoping to support. During the interview my sales experience came up and that is when I brought up the Eskimo thing. I should have mentioned that yes, I could sell ice cubes to an Eskimo, if ice cubes were cigars. But they’re not and I find myself looking at an online catalog. I like cigars, been smoking them for a couple of decades so I know my stuff.

That set the antenna on the second interviewer and then I met this afternoon’s email recipient. And that interview went well and they thought ‘Sales! This guy is a salesman!’ I should have inserted the caveat that it would have to be something I am interested in and doing for about 25 years.

This is a temp to perm job, but I think it is just a temp job. I am grateful to Francois.
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Cheese and Onions