Thursday, January 09, 2003
WARNING: VERY LONG ENTRY! GET A CUP OF TEA AND GET COMFY IF YOU INTEND TO READ IT ALL!
Sorry for the couple days of no posting. Life gets in the way sometimes, ya know? I actually wrote a blog entry on Tuesday while I was at work, then saved in on a disk thinking I’d cut and paste it when I got to my parents’ house that night, but then I forgot the disk. Duh. I already went ahead and posted that entry, so you could see what I was up to on Tuesday, if you were interested. For today I’ll go ahead and post all the fiber stuff, then the non-fiber stuff, so you can stop reading whenever you stop being interested :-) My socks are still coming along, but I’m not to the heel yet. I hope to have them a least to the heel after tonight, because I’m having a mini knitting party. Mark has to work tonight, so my mom is coming over. She’s treating to Chinese and we’re going to sit and knit together after dinner. I’ll be working on my sock and Mom will be working on a scarf she’s making. There was a great big sale at Hobby Lobby last week: all knitting needles and accessories were half off and Lion Brand Homespun (my favorite blanket weaving yarn) was on sale for $3.22 a ball, which is a great price. So, while it was on sale I bought a bunch of it, enough to make my first ever sweater and enough for three hat/scarf sets for charity. Mom’s going to be making the scarves, and I’m going to be making the hats. And as soon as the socks are done I’m going to start my sweater, which will be a hooded pullover. I actually got the pattern from Lion Brand’s website, so all in all this is gonna be a cheap sweater :-) The colorway I picked is called Romanesque and I think it’s really pretty, it’s a light pearly grey with dark green and purple accents. I still haven’t had a chance to spin lately, and I’m really jonesing for it! Maybe I’ll spend some of my time tonight spinning. I still haven’t decided what to spin though. I think spinning for socks would be good because it would go a lot faster than spinning for lace and I don’t have a lot of patience right now. Plus, I’m just really into socks right now, with my thus far successful first attempt, and the inspiration of the Twisted Sisters Sock book, which is so colorful and fun. Well, that’s about all the fiber news for now, so if you’re not interested in more of my whining about the job and the move, stop reading now!
Whiny rant about moving and my job
Okay, before I really get going into my whine, I want to just say that I know this blog has been incredibly whiny and I just want people to know that’s not how I usually am. There has just been so much going on that I’ve been kind of overwhelmed and not viewing things in the most positive light. I realize that I am incredibly blessed in every single aspect of my life, from love to creativity and even to money. I know I complained about spending $150 on networking supplies, but I also must say that I am so blessed to have one let alone two computers in the apartment, that I live in a country where technology is readily available, that I have a store near me where I can buy networking stuff, also that I have a job that pays me enough that I have the money to buy the stuff and that I have the intelligence to know what to buy and install it myself. So just for that one thing, I have about a hundred blessings. I try to realize how lucky I am, but sometimes I get caught up in a pity party and I really need to find a way to stop that. Anyway, with that said, onto the whining LOL. First of all, I spent Tuesday night cleaning all my files, old emails, etc off of our second last computer so that my mom could give it to a co-worker whose computer is a true dinosaur (I didn’t necessarily wanting him reading old emails to me from Mark, and I didn’t want to take up his memory space with all my games). Then, I disconnected the computer my mom’s keeping, took the desk from it, cleaned everything, then put up the new desk, and put all the stuff on it, but I didn’t connect it because Mom wanted to get going. So then we packed up the cars with the computer desk and chair and the old monitor (there was no way I was going to buy a new monitor when we had a perfectly good extra one). We then lugged all that up to the apartment, and in the process I nearly fell down my stairs with the computer desk riding me like a kid on a toboggan (and I was going to be the toboggan, not a good position to be in, trust me). But we all survived, so that’s good. After all that I was too tired to do anything, so I watched my tape of Alias from Sunday night, then went to bed (I love that show so much. Marshal is just so sweet. Vaughn is ever sweeter, though Rrrrrrrrrrroowww!) Wednesday I ran errands most of the day while Mark waited for his computer to be delivered. I had to reconnect Mom’s computer, get all the addresses of my ebay auction winners, mail the auctions, get stamps, grocery shop, and make a special trip to our favorite bagel place for bagels and hummus. At that point I stopped at the apartment for a late lunch, waited around to see if the computer would be delivered so I could take Mark with me for the rest of the errands, but it didn’t’, so then I went to the electronics place for surge protectors, plug adaptors, printer ink and paper, and some CD cases (all of which I forgot on my networking shopping spree, because all I was thinking about was networking). I had another errand to run, but I knew it could wait and I was tired, so I headed back the apartment, and what to my wondering eyes should appear? A UPS truck in front of our apartment! At 3:00 when Mark had to work at 5:00 :-( So, we spent the next hour and fifty minutes in a furious rush of networking activity! We were installing software, installing network cards, plugging in Ethernet cables, attaching hubs and routers, adding filters to our phones, etc etc etc. And at 4:45 I announced to Mark, it’s done! We turned on our computers and were greeted with… an error message! A cable in your network is not connected! So with five minutes before we had to leave to get Mark to work on time, we’re jiggling and pushing everyone one of the zillion cables connecting the two computers and various other hardware. We restart the computers and… another error message. At this point I am screaming at the computers “You are connected, all the cables are connected, why won’t you work for the love of GOD!” It is now past time for us to leave, so we grab out stuff and head out the door. I get Mark to work in the nick of time and continue onto my parents’ house where I’m having dinner. I spend time in their company and calm down, and my mom decides to come back to the apartment to see our new computers. And I get home… I turn on the computers figuring I’m going to figure out a way to whip these things like the bitches they are… the computers gear up… Windows opens… and… NO ERROR MESSAGE! The darn things resolved themselves somehow while I was gone. And there was much rejoicing. So, Mom and I talked and cleaned up boxes while I loaded games onto the computers. I was so very happy. Once again, when I feel something new for the first time and it’s a reasonable success (as with socks or networking), I feel like the queen of sheba. So, even though it took a little while to realize that it was all connected, I did it right the first time, and I am quite proud of myself. So tonight my blog is coming directly from my own humble apartment and for this I am so very grateful. You don’t realize what you have until it’s gone, i.e. a computer in the comfort of your own home. I know I only went without for a little over a week, but it was tough. Yes, I know I’m a wimp!
Anyway, onto work stuff, if anyone is still reading! Here’s the situation: I graduated from college in May with a B.S. in psychology. When I started, I had intended to become an art therapist, but ended up changing my mind for many and varied reasons, one of which is that it’s not a recognized field in my state. But, I decided to stay in psychology because I love it. So, it got to my senior year and I was tired of school, in a huge way, I was ready to be out in the “real world” and I wasn’t sure what I would do in grad school even if I decided to go. So, I worked out a plan where I would take a month off after graduation, then go to work with my boyfriend for the summer making low money, but with lots of schedule flexibility so we could really enjoy our summer together, and then I would start looking for serious jobs. Well, the working with Mark thing fell through because the company he works for is trying to get a more “serious” staff that is dedicated to the job and will stay on for a long time so that they don’t have to keep training a new batch of sixteen year olds every week, just to have them quit a month later. And so they didn’t want to bring me on because I planned to be there such a short time, even though I had worked there before and they knew I was a good worker. So, this sucked, but I ended up taking the summer off. I applied for a couple of jobs early and was offered a position at a bank, but it was in a VERY bad part of town and the money was horrible (I could make more at a pizza place) so I turned them down. So, it started getting closer to the fall and I still had no idea what I wanted to do. So, I thought it would be a good idea to go to a temp agency for maybe a year, I’d try lots of different things, find one I liked and start applying in that field. I chose a certain temp agency that we’ll call ATA (a temp agency) because I heard that they provided all the temps for a certain Giant Corporation (we’ll call in GC) and that GC used ATA to screen potential new employees. So, I wanted to work for GC because they have a fantastic benefit plan including stock options that ensure every employee who plans it right will be a millionaire when you retire. I thought this would be a good place to work until I had enough money to open my shop. So, when my “handler” called with my first assignment and it was a GC I was ecstatic. Plus, it sounded really important, I was going to be gathering research for a new department that they were establishing. Also, the pay was incredible and the assignment was to last 2 months, which I thought would be a nice period of time for an assignment. Well, I got here and my job description changed a couple of times, which I was ok with, and finally I settled pretty firmly into the position of purchaser for this new department. Early on I was told that the group I was in COULD NOT hire anyone, so I was stuck being a temp. I was ok with that because I thought if I stuck around long enough, I’d show what a good worker I was and maybe they’d eventually see that they had to hire me because I was so valuable. Soon, my supervisor was seeing what kind of work I did and was quite impressed. He couldn’t hire me but started thinking of ways he could keep me around. Now, ATA has a policy that the temps can only work at GC for 999 hours in a fiscal year (some stupid legal thing) so this was going to limit how long I could stay there, and my supervisor didn’t want this. So he started talking about me switching to a different temp agency without this policy and having me stay until he could hire me, which could be months or years. I was very excited about this, because it was a good job with good pay and I enjoyed well enough for a “straight job” (a.k.a. non-fiber job :-) But, I was told that they really wanted GC employees filling these jobs but no one was interested, which is why they had temps. And I was also told that at any time if a GC employee decided they wanted my job, I’d be bumped. This was not a problem for awhile, but as I wrote on Monday, over the holiday a GC employee decided that he wanted my position, so out I go. I’m really unhappy about this. But, ever since we decided to get the apartment, I’ve been saying I need to find a permanent job because this temping stuff just isn’t sure enough for my sanity. I’m still on my first assignment, so I don’t know how long I might be off between assignments. I could have a job the next week, or not for months. I just don’t know because I’ve never been there. So, this is the nudge I need to get looking for permanent jobs. I’m trying to see this in a positive light, but I’m really upset about it. I just hope I can work it out. My supervisor said he can see keeping me on until June, but starting in February, I’d be moving to a much more physical job that will be messy and take a lot out of me physically. I’m grateful he’s trying to keep me on, but this isn’t what I want to do. I’m thinking that with my psychology degree, human resources might be something good to look into. I need to take a look at the want ads. There’s a big job fair coming up on February 4th that I’ll probably check out, but I really want to start looking before that. I’d actually like to have a job lined up before that. I guess I’ll just have to take it one day at a time, put out the effort and hope for the best. Well, if you read all of that you deserve a gold star! If you could send some good thoughts my way, I’d certainly appreciate it! Lots of love and here’s hoping you’re blessed and you realize it. Make it a great day!
# posted by Jenni @ 1/09/2003 05:39:00 PM
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