December 7th

ADVENTURES IN JOB HUNTING

A job posting showed up at Yahoo Hot Jobs in my field, so I sent in my resume. I should have remembered that every other job I've found at YHJ has been a scam, but I didn't. A week or so later I got a call from a man who told me that the jobs all required a credit score of 620 or above, and would I qualify. Sure! So, he scheduled a phone interview for last Thursday at noon.

Noon came, noon went, no phone call. Finally at 12:30 a woman called, (who sounded like she wasn't very smart) said that they were running late and could she call in 45 minutes. No problem. FOUR HOURS LATER she finally called back and we had a little chat. She said that the reason they needed to verify credit was that they were offering salaries of $200,000 (for a loan processor? $50,000 is more in line with reality!). She kept rambling on about how they were going to be approved to be a bank in all 50 states, how they were buying distressed properties to boost the assets, and a bunch of other irrelevant nonsense. Nothing about the job, about when it would start, just a lot of useless blather, IMO. Then she said that wanted to fly me to Las Vegas for "training". Uh, what? You want to bring me in for training without an interview? Backtrack. It's for an interview and to give me more information about the company. She said she would call Friday morning to set something up.

Again, morning came and went. She finally called at 5:30 and left a message that she wanted to schedule me to come to Las Vegas on Tuesday, and she would call "tomorrow morning" to set it up.

I didn't answer the phone on Friday, because in the meantime I had tried to find some information on this company and I wasn't ready to talk with her. A google search couldn't find a current website. The only internet presence was a gazillion ads posted looking for loan officers all over the country (including the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico). There was ONE yellow pages type listing for this company in Las Vegas. So, I looked further. The phone number of the guy who called at first is the business number for an answering service in Tacoma WA. The number the woman called me from is an unlisted land line in Los Angeles. The address and suite number shown for the company is the same as the address and suite number for PAGES of other companies. The phone number shows as belonging to a janitorial company. The company is not licensed as a mortgage lender in Nevada. There is a company with that name that was terminated as an FHA approved lender, but I don't know if that's the same company or not.

To continue the same pattern of not doing what she said she would, the woman didn't call Saturday. She finally called this morning-which is Monday. I started asking questions. She did give me an internet site (which has very little actual content, basically the company name and a couple of addresses), but she ignored my questions about why they were calling me from different locations. She claimed that their Nevada license is under a different name, but didn't give it to me. I then told her I wasn't feeling comfortable and would not be giving her any personal information. This is when she completely lost it and began screaming. "I haven't asked you for any personal information!" "You keep stressing that you need to check my credit, how would you do that then?" Silence. Then more screaming. I was "slandering" the company name, let me give you more information..." She just kept yelling and wouldn't shut up. I finally managed to yell over her that I was done, and good-bye. "You can't be done, you're slandering us. You need to listen to me."

I would think that if this WAS a legitimate company and a not some sort of scam she would have been a bit more reasonable. My experience with scammers is when you start to question them they react with indignation, as if they are going to change your mind with anger and threats. I finally hung up on her. She called back and resumed screaming. I hung up again. She called again but this time I let the machine answer. She left the name of "her" lawyer. "Hers", not the company's? That's odd. She told me to call them, that they held the license. So, I checked. Nothing under that name either. (Although a google search revealed that this is a huge firm, that doesn't have a stellar reuptation.)

I don't think I would want to accept employment with someone who screams at people, or who never once followed through with a phone call when she said she would, even if the company is legitimate. I don't think they are though, I think that it's two scammers looking to steal some identities.

November 13th

MORE IDIOTS FOUND AT COSTCO!

Sometimes I'm convinced that people have to pass a Rude Moron test before being issued a Costco membership. There are always the ones who are so frantic to get a free sample of something that they park their butts and their carts right in the way of anyone who doesn't want a little bite of some random food item and just wants to shop. Yesterday's winner of the Rude Moron of the Day Award was a completely clueless woman who looked like she escaped from an East County trailer park without bringing her hairbrush. The vitamin aisle at Costco is usually the worst. People block the aisle standing next to their carts while trying to decide which bottle of Vitamin C to buy. Yesterday was business as usual, with the added thrill of this moron who was standing next to a cart yakking on a cell phone. Someone said "excuse me" trying to get through, and she didn't think that actually moving out of the way was a good idea, she just flattened herself against the shelf, and then stepped right back out as soon as that one person went by, despite the fact that there were at least three other people wanting to get through the aisle. I made a comment that she obviously thought that talking on the phone was more important than paying attention and getting out of the way. Well, Miss Trailer Trash didn't think that SHE was the problem. She started yelling "This isn't my cart!" Uh, so what? You're standing next to it blocking the aisle. "I'm not in anyone's way!" she yelled. So, I headed my cart right where she was standing and she finally decided that perhaps she WAS in the way and that moving was the prudent course of action. Well, she did keep yelling at me that I was rude. Okay, I'm rude. I did manage to escape the vitamin aisle though.

FOSTER DOG APOLLO

This poor guy has separation anxiety. He's okay in a crate as long as I'm here, but he freaks out when the front door opens. The other day I came home to find that he had escaped the crate and had pushed down the baby gate and had managed to get it wedged against the front door so that it wouldn't open. My key won't work in the outside of the side door. Fortunately I was able to get in through the back door. I got some melatonin to try with him. I'll give him one today and see if I can get him to stop freaking out when I open the front door. Poor guy even gets anxious when I get dressed.

November 2nd

HAPPY ADOPTION DAY KIARA!

Six years ago today I brought my sweet girly-girl home to foster. She never left. She had been in a shelter and adopted, but was dumped back there four months later. Skin and bones, covered with fleas and with the staples from her spay surgery still there. They guessed at the time that she was 4 1/2. so that means she's at least 10 1/2 now. I can't find her old pictures, moved to a hard drive. New ones? I'm bad about taking photos of my own dogs. The cobbler's children have no shoes.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, OR NEIGHBORHOOD NUSANCE?


Church Bells taken to court

Okay, I'm all for freedom of religion. But, your freedom to express your particular religious belief stops at my eardrums. (Or at my front door, I am in no way obligated to open my door to allow you to save my soul. My soul is fine, thank you very much.) The church wasn't there first, so they can't argue that people moved to the neighborhood knowing that the bells would ring starting at 6 fucking am EVERY day. The priest, rector, whatever he calls himself came off as such an arrogant bastard in the news report (I have the right to annoy you because that's how I want to express my religious fanaticism) that I wanted to take his bells and shove them up his self-righteous butt. I'm glad that the court ruled for the neighbors. The priest, rector, whatever he calls himself probably was so annoying in court that the judge was more than happy to slap him with a conviction for disturbing the peace. There's nothing wrong with tasteful ringing of bells, but apparently this was recorded bell music that was so loud that people were being woken up by it with doors and windows closed, and that clearly interferes with people's right to quiet enjoyment of their homes.

October 3rd

HOW TO GET COX COMMUNICATIONS TO STOP BEING SUCKY

At least partly anyway. First, do not ever, ever, ever try to get a rational response by calling them on the phone. Their phone people seem to have all passed a Bad Customer Service Test: Are you below average in intelligence? Do you have a bad attitude? Are you incapable of listening? Yes? You're hired! Add to that their completely horrible phone tree which will put YOU in a bad mood by the time you're finally able to reach one of the people who passed the Bad Customer Service Test, and the result will not be pretty. Second, write a blog post about why you are aggravated with Cox Communications. Third, send an email to them with a link to the blog post. It will take you a few emails to get someone to actually READ what you wrote and to grasp that this is on a very public blog and to actually use their brain to figure out what they should do, but email is much less frustrating than calling them. You will eventually get a response from the one rational human on their payroll.

I'm still not entirely pleased with CC, because that one human implied that they are doing me a HUGE favor by not charging me their "usual" $75 fee to come out and fix their screw up (how absolutely magnanimous of you!), but at least they're going to come and get their stupid box that they assured me they wouldn't send in the first place.

I may still call AT&T though.

September 16th

QUICK UPDATE

I haven't blogged lately. My bad. After Durango died I fostered a young dog named Kirby. Sweet little thing, but I did the happy dance when he was adopted. He was still in the chewing phase, and I'm out one remote control and a couple of shoes. Now Apollo (handsome fellow pictured above) is hanging out here. Nice guy, much calmer than the Kirby-Monster. I hurt my back and didn't feel like doing anything but mope around for two weeks. Better now, need to get back out and take some pictures this week. Maybe tomorrow. The Tweeker-House has been completely untweeked, and is up for sale. I'll get around to posting a recap of the History of Tweeker House one of these days.

BUT NOW, I MUST RANT A BIT

Cox Communications SUCKS! I have more than one story to tell about them, and they have put me into a really pissy mood, so I'm telling.

My old TV had a broken internal tuner (wouldn't go above channel 10) so I had a cable box. When I moved here I was told to just bring my box with me and continue to use it. No problem. But, when the service guys came to hook up the cable they brought another box. I told them I didn't need it, but they said "Oh well, now you have two" and refused to take it back. No problem for a few years until Cox Communications (who suck, BTW) started billing me for two boxes. I called them, endured the most annoying phone tree system in existence, and finally was able to get to a real person. I told them the story, and they told me that in order to no longer be charged for a box that I wasn't using, hadn't asked for and their employees insisted on leaving at my house I had to go out of my way and bring it back to their office. Uh, no. I finally convinced them (although it wasn't pleasant or easy) that the proper and polite thing for them to do would be to come get it since it was their mistake that I had it. They did, but it took two more months, and two more phone calls and two more encounters with the most annoying phone tree system in existence for them to acknowledge that they had it and to stop billing me for it.

A few months ago that TV finally died completely. I wasn't going to complain about being billed for a box that I wasn't using, I figured that I should unhook it and take it back but hadn't gotten the enthusiasm worked up to do it. A couple of weeks ago I got a letter from Cox Communications (have I said that they suck?) saying that that old box would be disabled and that they were going to send me a new one, but to call if I didn't need it. I called immediately, and of course once again endured the most annoying phone tree system in existence. As is usual when calling Cox Communications (the cable company that sucks!) the reason that they told me to call wasn't one of their choices, and it takes five steps to get to talk to a person. Come on you morons! If I'm not calling to order new service the first two times I'm presented with a menu of irrelevant choices, what are the chances that I'm going to be calling to order new service when I get to the third, fourth or fifth list of irrelevant choices? Did I just forget the first four times, or are you hoping that if you keep asking I'll change my mind? So, once again I was finally able to talk to a human, and told her not to send the new box. According to her there wasn't even an order on my account to do that, and she was surprised that I had received the letter, but she assured me that the new box would not be sent. Of course, they wanted me to bring back the old one, but she did finally agree to send a return label for it because the letter said that they would do that.

Guess what's sitting on my doorstep? BINGO! The new box, that I don't want, don't need and was assured that they wouldn't send. Back to the phone, and the most annoying phone tree system in existence, and I finally get a person. I won't call this one human, she was a snooty bitch and when I told her so she hung up on me. Okay, now I'm really pissed at Cox Communications (who suck) because I have to endure their phone tree AGAIN. And, their "solution" for their screw up is for ME to take care of fixing it.

Uh, no. Your stupid box is sitting on my doorstep. You sent it after you promised you wouldn't, getting it back is YOUR problem. Hope the neighborhood hooligans don't make off with it before you pull your heads out and take care of your screw up.

July 20th

RIP SWEET DURANGO

My affectionate, goofy and always entertaining foster dog Durango passed away suddenly yesterday. He was less than two years old, and I miss Mr. Trouble very much.

Let me tell you his story from the beginning. We got a plea from the local shelter to take a young dog. He had been turned in by his owners because he had chronic diarrhea, and "the pills weren't working." The medical staff at the shelter put him on the kill list because they didn't have the resources to fix the poor guy, so I went down to evaluate him.

There was no way I was going to let this handsome GSD die alone on a cold table in the shelter. He was very skinny, but I knew that I needed to help him. It turns out that he had a condition where he wasn't able to digest or absorb nutrients from his food, but the addition of enzymes to his meals would manage it and allow him to live a normal life. I broke my "no kibble crosses my threshold" rule for Mr. Rango-Bango. For him to eat raw I would have had to either buy very expensive ground stuff, or buy a strong grinder because the enzymes have to touch every bit of the food and sit for a while to work. Sprinkling them on a chicken leg quarter doesn't cut it. Didn't matter to him though, Durango loved to eat. Even some things he shouldn't, which may have been the cause of his demise.

He was a complete cuddle bug, and took it upon himself to chase all birds and flies out of the yard. One day a sparrow flew in my back door, and he caught it. He took it to his crate and let it go and it flew away. No sparrow dinner for you!

From what he went through in his final moments I think that he either had an intestinal blockage or his intestines twisted. My house is too quiet without him.

Hope there are sparrows for you to catch in doggie heaven Pudda Head.

June 22nd

NO MORE KODACHROME!

Apparently it's big news that Kodak is discontinuing production of a film that has been made for 74 years. (Note to news people-please stop playing the Paul Simon song over and over and over. Momma done took the Kodachrome away already!) The thing that they aren't mentioning is that Kodak recently introduced a better color film using newer technology-Ektar. Kodachrome is just taking its place in history and going the way of the Brownie camera and 8 mm home movies. Yes, sales of film have declined drastically due to the rise of digital, but there are people who still shoot film. I'm not one of them, but my Uncle Ed tried a digital SLR a few years ago and didn't like it at all, went back to film. There are at least two people that I know of in the MeetUp.com photo group who shoot film, although one prefers B&W. Film isn't dead, it's just finding a different group of users.

I had a good outing with the meet-up group at the Glider Port yesterday. I'm still viewing and editing photos, I'll put them up in my Flickr Galleries when I'm done. It takes a while to go through 385 pictures!