mizkit

Apparently it’s Monday, and I’m not entirely clear on how that happened. I feel like I’m several days, at least, behind. I woke up at 7:something this morning, thought, “I should get up now,” decided to lie in for a few more minutes, had a rather scattered yet vivid dream involving not so much Dean and Sam as the Impala (which the Good Ol’ Boy in the dream said was a Dodge Impala, wtf, but I was playing the part of a … girl/friend who was trying to replace the Impala (which didn’t actually need replacing, but I was *really* trying to find out some other thing to help solve the mystery that was going on, and so *dumb blonde giggle* well sure Dodge I mean it’s a car what do I know about them except he looooooooooved his car soooooooooo much) and the next time I really looked at the clock it was 9:00. I staggered out of bed a little confused.

Then I nerved myself up for Certain Doom and called Continental Airlines, upon whom I am supposed to be flying to Comic-Con. I’d gotten a notification last week after Dad reserved the ticket saying ‘The ticket hasn’t been issued due to technical problems, you need do nothing’, so I didn’t, and then after a couple of days of nothing I got nervous, and there was a bunch of jumping through hoops, and I emailed to say “um?” and they emailed back eventually and said “call this number”, so this morning I did, basically figuring the fare was going to have quadrupled (or even just doubled, that would’ve been more than problem enough) and that I wasn’t going to get to go.

Instead I talked to a very nice guy who accidentally hung up on me, then to a very nice woman who explained they’d been having technical problems for the last week and she wouldn’t even try transferring me (which was how the first guy hung up on me), she’d just see if she could do all the website stuff herself. And she could, and did, and got me the plane ticket at the original price, and I am now waiting VERY NERVOUSLY for it to arrive in my email box as promised. Within an hour, she said. It’s been about half an hour now. If I don’t have it by noon or one my time I’ll call back and see if I can talk to her again specifically, since she knows what’s up with me.

This is not much like writing a book. Furthermore, my brain is absolutely certain it’s Sunday (possibly Sunday the 29th of June, mind you, but Sunday) and that I really ought to get to have today off. Neither of these things are true.

*stares nervously at email*

sheldoncomics

http://www.sheldoncomics.com/forums/sheldontalk/5409/

Does iMovie '08 have a way to change the duration, such that a section of video can run at 2x, 3x, or (any) increased speed? The old version of iMovie used to have that...but we're hard-pressed to find that functionality in the new version. After 2-3 hours of looking online through tutorials and FAQ, I thought I'd ask Sheldonistas.

Anyone have a suggestion?

sheldoncomics

http://www.sheldoncomics.com/archive/080707.html

Jump to a Random Strip in the Archives! | Get Sheldon Books 'n Shirts | Buy This Original Art | Forum Chat | Archives | E-mail Dave

thornrosie

http://www.mimisgrotto.com/thorn/170.html

naamah_darling

cadhla

"All the heroes want to dance
Down at Medusa's in the dark;
Mirrored glasses blunt her glance,
And snake bites always leave a mark.
All the heroes want to chance
Themselves on something worth their while.
We're victims of our circumstance
Until we see Medusa's smile."

absurdlycoolff

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FreebieFinderUSA/~3/328585470/

http://www.tacobell.com/frutistafreeze/

30toseoul

From: NOAA (South Pole)
Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 6:48 AM
To: POL-WinterPoleAll
Subject: Be careful out there

Hi folks,

Weather conditions have gone downhill dramatically over the last two hours, with surface-level gusts over 20 knots and lots of blowing snow. Even bright lights cannot be seen more than a few hundred feet away, and drifts are being shifted and reinforced rapidly. This is not all that abnormal for South Pole, but we've had a remarkably benign first half of the winter, so this is fairly novel for us. If you're going to be out this morning, it's probably worth taking a little bit of extra time and caution in orienting yourself, as navigation, particularly of areas that aren't well flagged, is going to be a bit more challenging than usual.

Johan

From: Heiser, Josiah
Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 7:01 AM
To: NOAA (South Pole); POL-WinterPoleAll
Subject: RE: Be careful out there

Polies,

For those of you not fully comfortable with trying to get somewhere on your own, I should be able to provide transportation. I will need advanced notice, preferably 1 hour or more so I can organize my tasking accordingly. If you find your self disoriented, don't just keep walking and get more lost, call me at radio # 367 and I will locate you with powerful lights or at least give you a nav point so you can find me. If for some reason you can not reach me I would recommend trying Jack or Jason at radio #s 375 and 374.

Siah

popfiend

Your result for The Best Thing About You Test...

Intelligence

Take The Best Thing About You Test at HelloQuizzy

aleurier
bella_sol

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elorie

• Written 1700 words of my thesis project story.  Go, me!
• Traded Tarot readings with lupaloo
• Cut up part of an old blanket which had holes in it into a mat to go under the litter box.   Other uses for the blanket will be found.  This means that the blanket does not get thrown away, AND I don't get cat litter underfoot and ground into the rug in my bathroom, AND I don't spend money on a mat at the pet store, AND the blanket doesn't sit around here forever, being useless as a blanket and yet not useful for anything else.  I WIN.
• Made my very own version of basil coconut curry vegetables, out of CSA veggies and stuff I had around.  Ingredients include garlic, scallions, butter, curry, cayenne, ginger, cloves, coconut milk, basil, fish sauce, lime juice, carrots, zucchini, eggplant, and snap beans. Currently simmering on the stove.
• Made a quick version of a julepito involving the aforementioned mint-infused bourbon and organic limeade I bought at Earth Fare.  I am sipping it now.

sailor_jim

http://sailorjim.net/wordpress/?p=944

It’s been a fun couple of months (seven, to be precise), but I can’t say I’ll miss retirement.

I go in for orientation tomorrow, learning all the official rules and regulations of my new workplace.  A full workday of lectures and films and paperwork … whee.  To the good side, it’ll be the easiest fifty-six bucks I’ve ever made; to the bad side, it will be bloody boring … every orientation I’ve ever been to was bloody boring and I can’t imagine that this will be any different.

My new workplace is a national chain of superstore what shall (if only due to my wanting to hang on to this gig for awhile) be nameless as far as this blog goes and my new job will be sitting around in a white lab coat, waiting to sell and fit glasses to faces.  Which would be pretty cool, if only for the lab coats (especially since my co-workers, the ones who work in the main building, all have to dress in vests and brown colored pants), but will be extra cool since I’ll be trained to measure eyes and adjust glasses.  (More overall useless skills to add to my collection, huzzah!)

I sent a follow-up letter to the nice lady who decided to consider me for that great professional position (this one, in case you’ve forgotten).  It was a tough letter to write, let me tell you, since she’s considering me for both an Admin Assist and a Counselor position, so I decided to keep it light.   I thanked her for her time and, in the next paragraph, commiserated with her for having to decide between hiring me as an excellent Admin Assist or as a superior Counselor, then added:

Please permit me to offer my heartfelt apology for being such a good candidate for either position … but please remember that it was only your own keen eye for qualifications that presented you with the problem in the first place.  Thankfully, I believe I have a perfect solution for this knotty problem:  Hire me as a Counselor and, if you are not delighted with my performance after a year or two, demote me to Administrative Assistant!  Problem solved!

The next paragraph starts with “All joking aside,” so it should be okay.  Damn, I want this one.  I’d be dealing with a lot of old veterans, helping people puzzle their way through all sorts of state and federal programs, which is my personal idea of heaven.  (Not to mention the fact that the pay and benefits are, frankly, kicking!)  It would call for quite a bit of travel, at least one over-night every other week, and the first few months have tons of training involved … as a matter of fact, I’ll have to pass two qualification tests as part of the requirement for the job.  The first, which would have to be passed within the first six months, struck me as kinda stupid.

They’d send me to Dallas for a couple of day, where I’d go through two days of intense training, followed by the qualification test.  The woman who interviewed me said that many counselors washed out at that point by failing the test.  I nodded and asked what kind of test was it?

Shipmates, it’s a one hundred question, open book, test.

I stared at her like she’d offered me a small mouse and asked, after a bit, what the catch was?  Was there a time limit of an hour or what?

Nope, no time limit.

I stared at her like she’d offered me a small mouse wearing a gold lame gown.  “Hold up,” I finally exhaled.  “You’re telling me that there are two days of intense training, followed by an open book test of just one hundred questions … and there’s no time limit for the test … and some people actually fail it?!?”  She nodded, as baffled as I was.

Go figure.  The second qualifying test is at the eighteen month point and will be administered in San Antonio, where I’d be in training for a week of training prior to taking the test.  She didn’t remember if it was an open book test, but noted that most counselors pass it with little difficulty.  (Which makes sense, if one considers the first test as a sort of weeding out process.)  Somewhere between the two tests, there would be conventions and national meetings in various cities that I would have to attend.  Both positions start on August 1, the day before my birthday, which I’m hoping is a good sign.

So, to recap, the ideal is to work at my current position for the rest of July, only to have to quit to work for a much better full-time position next month.  (Then, of course, all my remaining teeth will explode in my mouth, but … well, who cares?)