Checking In

A catch-all, catch-up post

There are 1,132 posts filed in Checking In (this is page 64 of 114).

Get results

One thing I’ve always liked about Monster.Com‘s user interface is that the button you click on when you fill out a form says “get results” rather than the word “submit,” “Get results” is far more positive than “submit.” Nearly everyone would rather get results than simply submit. I know I would. Now if Monster could only scrub their user interface of all those sneaky University of Arizona signup pages they’d be all set.

On a related note, one thing I hate about submitting my resume to sites like Monster and CareerBuilder is all of the solicitations I get from pyramid scheme-ish “business opportunities” or “affiliate marketing programs.” I’ve already sent three of them to the bit bucket this week.

Sheesh. Save the scams for the suckers, please!

Everybody wins

One thing about being at home during the day is that I can dance and belt out songs without an audience.

Mail

Wow. I just saw the mailman actually delivering mail to us at 1 PM. Something must be wrong: the mail has always come after 6 PM at this house. I mean always.

I wonder if we finally picked up a regular letter carrier, rather than being stuck with whomever was available that day.

Desktop space heater

Since my laptop went on the blink I’d been using the Mac Mini that was our MythTV frontend as my primary computer. Making out the text from the couch wasn’t all that easy (or convenient, as odd as it might sound). I decided to revive my old desktop PC so I could work from upstairs.

Problem was, the desktop PC had a bum power supply. I picked up another one yesterday from Intrex and popped it into the desktop. I was quite pleased to hear the fans start whirring and the hard drive spin up after almost a year of silence.Unfortunately, that was all I got from it. It never got to the POST stage.

I’ll clean it off and reseat all of the components as some may have jiggled loose during our March move. Its doubtful I’ll sink much work into it, though, with twice-as-fast barebones systems being sold by TigerDirect for $150 (yeah, I say that as if that’s a bargain for a PC – and it normally would be if one has a job!).

For now, the Mac Mini has become my primary computer, which is fine for now as MythTV isn’t quite healthy yet, either.

Silver lining

It hasn’t been all bad news this week. We got word from our insurance provider that we’ll be getting a hefty check for our totaled van: one pretty close to Blue Book value! The folks at Farm Bureau were easy to deal with and seemed to get things done quickly.

The other nice thing is that we don’t need to replace the van right away. I obviously have no job to drive to (and didn’t drive to my last one) and since car dealers are losing their shirts right now we can bide our time to the end of the quarter or later if we choose. The money may come in handy for more immediate needs (like, uh, the mortgage) in the meantime.

Or I may get that scooter I’ve been meaning to get and become one of the cool kids.

Trifecta complete

As Chris so helpfully pointed out (or was he cursing me?), trouble comes in threes. If so, I can now breathe easier because this afternoon as I prepared to resume job hunting I discovered my laptop will no longer power up its hard drive. Its not that the hard drive is broken – its just that my Thinkpad isn’t powering the drive at all.

I think its an internal power supply problem rather than the drive itself, which is good news and bad news. The good news is that I don’t have to fear losing any of my data. The bad news is that there wasn’t valuable data on it anyway and I can change a hard drive in my sleep, its so easy. Vague power supply problems, not so much.

I am so buying a lottery ticket tomorrow.

Seven days

Last week I felt like I could change the world. This week, not so much.

Job hunting

I updated my resume last night and snagged about six job descriptions off the Internets to get me started. I’m holding out for a cabinet-level position with Obama’s administration but if that doesn’t come through I’ll need a backup plan.

Still trying to decide what I’d like to do. There are plenty of things I can do, but I’m not the same person now as I was when I did those things.

I should have more to say about the layoff experience later today. Right now I’ve got a Parks and Rec tour of Sanderford Road’s new neighborhood center to attend.

Totaled

Just got word this morning that the minivan’s a total loss. Apparently I smacked into that tree hard enough to bend the frame, though if you looked at everything but the driver-side door you’d think the van was in great shape. Ah well.

On the bright side, my coworker pointed out that with the economy in the pits and the end of the year approaching, its a great time to buy a new car. I don’t know if we’ll go that route but its good to know.