09.28.06
Posted in General at 8:55 pm by Nicholas
When pricing a home computer repair gig, it’s sometimes worthwhile to use a sliding scale based on what the client is able to afford. In doing so, however, I’ve learned the following: rich people ask for a printed bill, and then write a check for exactly what you ask. Poor people pay cash, and they tip.
Also: I’ve had this ravenous craving for spinach ever since I learned I couldn’t buy any. Now I hear it’s gradually making its way back onto the shelves. Welcome back, spinach! Let’s get together soon, OK?
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09.12.06
Posted in General at 8:45 pm by Nicholas
That should cause a few coffee spills.
Honestly, when I first saw this Metafilter post, I expected the link to lead to The Onion or a particularly inspired imitation thereof. But no — it goes to a Washington Monthly article wherein seven prominent conservatives explain why they hope the Republicans will lose in the upcoming elections. It’s a beautiful read.
Not that I’m terribly impressed with the current crop of Democrats, mind you. I guess I’m just ready for a change of scenery.
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09.01.06
Posted in General at 9:51 pm by Nicholas
First of all, an update on last week’s interview: it went well, I think. I don’t know how many people they interviewed, or what kind of qualifications my competitors have, but I think I have a decent chance.
I hadn’t blogged about that until today because that very afternoon, not long after the interview was over, my internet connection died — right in the middle of filling out an application for yet another temp agency. I hooked up my cell phone via USB cable, finished the application, and called tech support. Apparently I was one of the first to report the outage, because the status on the tech’s screen changed during the call. She said it would most likely be fixed in a few hours, and that I should call back later that night if it wasn’t.
The next day, I went to the temp agency for an interview. That went well, and on the way home I got a call saying they’d found a short job for me — 3-4 days, starting the next day — and that they’d email me the details. So I got home, checked my email … still no connection. I connected via cell again, got the job details, and called tech support. This was one of the most ridiculous tech support calls I’ve ever experienced — and I worked tech support. The woman I spoke to actually told me that it would be fixed “about an hour after they figure out what’s wrong.” I asked her to repeat that, and she did — I had not misunderstood. When I asked when they might figure out what was wrong, she had no estimate. “So,” I asked, “it will be fixed an hour after some unspecified time in the future?” The tech failed to see the humor in this. Long story short, my internet connection finally got fixed yesterday, after being out more than a week. I’m trying to get Comcast to prorate my bill — wish me luck.
I went to that temp assignment Friday — twiddly data entry work for an HR firm, where a bunch of records in a database are out of date (in this case because the state has changed the process for child support wage garnishments) and someone needs to go through and fix it by hand. Some records required research to verify case numbers and court orders. It’s mind numbing work, but it’s also the sort of thing that I’m really good at (I’ve been known to copy edit documents and format them in LaTeX for fun), so temp agencies tend to throw a lot of it at me. In fact, I’ve got another temp job starting next Tuesday. Data entry again, but this time it’s a 3-6 month assignment, and it pays almost as well as the school did.
So now I can breathe a little bit — money’s still tight at the moment, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. I even sent in my registration forms to the University of London External Programme today.
Last weekend I went to a wedding in San Francisco and then stayed with my friends Ty and Autumn in Albany. Ty and I took BART to The City Sunday morning and rambled all over town, talking, just like we used to seven years ago when I lived in Marin. It felt good. And I just got back from the Sacramento Greek Food Festival, where I saw several of my former students dance and talked to them about their summers and their plans for the future. My grandparents were kind enough to take me (and buy my food), and I think they enjoyed hearing the kids call me “Mr. Dunham.” It took me a while to get used to that, too.
All in all, I’m starting to feel human again. Things are looking up.
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