So...good luck with that

A little rant, in which I get more than a little hyper-critical and judge-y:

My husband has a friend who was married just out of high school, whose son is the same age as mine. This friend and his wife are about my and my husband's age, if maybe a year or two younger. They have four children, the oldest being eleven, the youngest being I believe four or five (with a ten and seven year old in between). They've never had a lot of luck, moving back and forth between here and family in other states, and often struggling to make ends meet. In the past, I've mostly wanted to attribute this unsettled and transient lifestyle to certain choices and the husband's inability (or lack of interest) to hold down a steady job after leaving active duty in the military. He's been supposedly enrolled in classes in "aircraft maintenance" somewhere, but he's always struck me as one of those perpetually lazy people who only ever wants to do the easy thing, and I get the feeling that he spends a lot of time playing WoW these days. His wife works rotating shifts at a convenience store and is taking some classes. The two oldest kids, both girls, ages 11 and 10, were recently allowed to create Facebook profiles. The older girl's profile is peppered with the word "fuck" (and all her mom & dad have done is post comments warning that she's not allowed to take those quizzes any more?!), and neither has their pages set as private, so they seem to be viewable by anyone using Facebook. The younger girl lists her interests as "men". It's like I'm watching a set-up for 'To Catch a Predator'. I see bad things on the horizon for these little girls. Then, to top it off, their mom just went out and got tattoos of all of her children's names. On her wrists. Her. Wrists. In rather large lettering. Because nothing screams "7-11 employee for life" like a well placed wrist tattoo. Her daughters are posting to her Facebook profile how much they like her "tats". And the circle is complete...

Rant off.

And you thought it couldn't get worse? Wrong. They just made a Facebook profile for the seven year old. Lost faith in humanity I have. Facepalm I must.

Of dead cultures and missing links

It is so cold in my building that I'm wearing my heavy coat inside my office. The temps in the offices are ranging from the 40s to the mid-60s. Although it was around 30 degrees outside when I got in this morning, and it is technically warmer in here than out there, there is still a pervasive chill that I haven't been able to shake, even with coffee fresh out of the pot. Don't even get me started on the meat locker ambiance of the restrooms. And I wish the HR receptionist would stop acting like the world stops because she's chilly. We're all cold. The facilities people are doing what they can to make it warmer. Convincing the manager to call the maintenance department head isn't going to make the boiler work faster. It's not like no one realized it was freaking freezing in here up until you mentioned it.

We got really cold rain over the weekend, but the possibility of snow never quite materialized. I got one little icile on my roofline on Saturday night, and there was a brief period earlier in the day where we could see a flake or two in the drizzle, but that was about it. Other areas of the state did see the white stuff, though, and the proof will be in the spike in price for strawberries and oranges. It's supposed to warm up laster this week, in time for M and I to see Jonathan Coulton with Paul and Storm at this gorgeous little place downtown called NOVA535. I'm thinking Hook's for some edamame, miso soup and maki rolls beforehand?

I am all set for my Cultural Anthropology class. I'm actually looking forward to it. One of my coworkers* has decided to make fun of the fact that I have the syllabus, the lecture outlines, the supplemental reading and the class calendar (that the professor made available as part of the course outline - I want to hug her!) all together in a binder. I'm a little fanatical about being organized. Sometimes.

My Literature class is the the exact opposite situation, though, and far from ideal - no syllabus posted, seven assigned books (one of which isn't even available to purchase because it's - get this - out of print), and according to the college staff, they haven't seen hide nor hair of the (adjunct) professor since the holiday break. Of course, the staff promised to find out what was going on and get back with me. Which they did not do. Big. Surprise. The class is tomorrow. If it turns out that this is a potential disaster, I'll drop it and find another literature or writing class that will suit me for this semester. No use in making myself crazy for something that I'm just doing for fun for the time being.

Just because:

*The one who may not have a job after this week. So...yeah. Hahaha. Make fun if you want, lady. At least I know I have a job (whether I like it or not...). She's hinting around that all of her projects will be reassigned to me. Which makes me...not laugh.

Nothing new under the sun

The above is for M. I hear the fjords are AMAZING this time of year. Impressive craftsmanship.

And by special request: an update! (I know, right?!)

As 2009 winds down and the decade of the naughts draws to a close, most people will find themselves reflecting over the year in review while tossing back booze and making asses of themselves while things go boom. Not me. I'll be glad to see this year well behind me. It's been eventful. Definitely stressful. And the year to come already seems to be shaping up to be an attention-demanding, energy-sapping beast, so I don't feel like I have much time for fondly reminiscing over 365 days that went so fast and blended together so fully that the year almost literally is a blur when I try to recall it in total. And with the gaping, slavering maw of TwentyTen barreling toward me, I will have to steel myself for the moment of impact, where the year does its best to devour me, body, mind and spirit.

(No resolutions for me, but if you're in need of some personal promises you'll never have any intention of keeping, try the Random Resolution Generator!)

Of course, 2009 did have some high points. And I'm blessed to have been able to have experienced the things I did this year. The mantra for 2009 seems to have been "It could be worse". It could have been. In many respects I, and most of those close to me, were very, very fortunate to have been spared (or to have successfully weathered) most of the hardest challenges this past year presented. But I'm hopeful that the rallying cry for 2010 will turn out to be something more...full of promise, less full of dread masquerading as optimism.

On another note, I busted my ass at work this week and finished all of the projects that my boss had assigned, by the deadline that was presented. That's one monkey off my back, which is a good feeling. Too bad those little bastards reproduce like proverbial rabbits, and where I successfully shed one, two more are there to cheekily take the place of their vanquished associate.

So the classes have been narrowed down to one, mostly due to scheduling and the general lamenessof this semester's offerings: Contemporary Literature, with the focus being Native American lit. Wish me luck!

I'm eagerly anticipating my backyard fowl experiment in the Spring. Expect pictures and posts as if suburban flocks are the most interesting thing in the universe...

Hello! To whom may I be speaking please?

Yesterday I got an email from someone working at a company called SynergySoft, Inc. Since posting my resume to Monster on a whim (aka, "keeping one's options open"), I've gotten several emails from "companies" that, upon application of a little bit of Google-fu, turned out to be, well, lets say...let than legit, as far as I'm concerned. SynergySoft appears to have a main office based in Texas (back offices located in - surprise - India!) and seems to be doing a booming business by hiring idividual contractors for state-level government, as well in the corporate arena...if the internet is to be believed. The job I was flagged on is out of my metro area, but across some nasty traffic-snarled bridges, working with a large computing services corporation. I'm still not sold that this is a real opportunity, as it could just as easily be more junk being peddled to the millions of people desperate for a job. Which, thankfully, I don't count myself among at the present time. Ahem.
What irks me is that the email I got included a request for additional contact information (they already had my personal email and home address from the resume posted on Monster). I'm not hard to find, should one have the need, based on my name and current employer alone. A quick search for myself results in loads of hits to websites and docs associated with my job, with work email and phone listed in numerous places. The other question I have relates to education level. There is no mention of college-level education on my resume, and there is no mention of the educational requirement for this position. I could always call the phone number listed in the email I got...but I have a feeling it would be routed to the "back offices" overseas. So. A quandry. Not a large-scale one, but there it is.

What prompted my mention of this solicitation out of nowhere? The fact that the rumor mill is circulating the possibility that someone who just got a signifigant salary increase for "additional" (read: not higher level, just "more") duties may be getting another one for being assigned something else. Now, I wouldn't begrudge this person for getting a little extra coin for taking on this twice a year event (M knows of which I speak)...BUT. If what the mongers say is true, then this person would have received a 40% increase to their base salary in the span of six months, between those two bumps (to the tune of $14K in total compensation if this actually materializes).
Over the summer, after much discussion with HR and a great deal of work on my part on making my position description accurate (my supervisor didn't have one ready when I moved to this department, even after talking about the possibility for over a year, so I had to write my own), and quite a bit of research into title, duties, and salary level comparisons (not to mention the collective bargaining agreement that I am covered by), I was rewarded with 15% (less than a hundred bucks a payweek) when I switched departments (supposedly hand picked by my current supervisor, also supposedly with the full support of my former supervisor, mind you). During this process I was made to feel like that increase was more than I deserved, that I was an ungrateful pain in the ass who should feel lucky to even have a job "in this economy", that the increase was not necessarily supported by my supervisor but was at the request of our manager, and that no matter what was asked of me in the future, because I "got mine", there would be no further review of compensation, position grade and level, or duties, for so long as I work in this department. Subject closed, not open for discussion.
Meanwhile, I watched as others were given 20% for taking on less. The manager of the unit seems to be trying to take some sort of ridiculous moral high ground by saying that just because others are doing these things, doesn't mean he's going to throw his fiscal resources around so carelessly. Okay, so while he's busy setting an example that no one has any intention of following, most of his staff continue to get screwed. Awesome. That sends a great message, which is: We're working for the wrong damn boss!
In addition, there's a staff member leaving the PR area, so there's been a vacany ad up for a couple of weeks. I didn't apply. Mainly because the jury is still out on the manager of that department. Then there is the fact that they aren't considering anyone who doesn't have at least ten years of experience plus a Bachelors degree. To be a glorified secretary. For less than $35,000 per year. They apparently had over a hundred applicants, although I have no idea how many meet the ridiculous qualifications. I'll check back in a few months and let you know how that's working out for them. In the meantime, my boss is having me go to a meeting with the PR staff and find out what they will need until their new person is hired and up and running. Wanna know why? Because she has probably already offered me up on a platter to "fill the gap". I imagine I may very well be expected to "help" this department. "Temporarily". What does that have to do with my role in my department? Nothing. What would I get in return for being so kind as to do some grunt work, clean up any spills I might find in the no doubt questionable record-keeping, and score some brownie points for my supervisor with this other manager (to whom neither of us reports)? I'm guessing absolutely zilch, unless the warm-fuzzy feeling of JOB WELL DONE (while being treated as community property) is suddenly something that can earn gains in commodities trading with a true market value that can be used to pay my bills. I'd probably also get farther and farther behind in my own workload. Which changes daily, on the whim of my boss.

So, maybe that call to India isn't sounding so bad, after all...

Generation waaaaahhhhh

OMG no hot water somebody call a lawyer!11!

Seriously - read the article linked in the post and honestly tell me that reading a college student claiming that not having hot water for a handful of days is "borderline criminal activity" doesn't make you weep for our future. This kid needs to be sent to a third world country for what us fogeys like to call "perspective"...