Hittin' the Q
I haven't been sick or have had any cold symptoms since before Halloween. That's four months. That's the four cold, "everybody is sick and out to contaminate you" months. And I work in retail, where I am exposed to hundreds of people a day. Probably thousands of people during the holiday rush. Everyone else around me has been sick, some of them several times, yet my immune system has held up the whole time. Health insurance is for pussies.

The last couple days, though, my throat has felt kinda shitty. I get very short bouts of runny nose, too. And as much as I want to be a badass and go "cold free" until the first days of Spring, I thought this would be the perfect excuse to use my favorite drug ever: Nyquil.

Oh how I miss NyQuil. It's the moonshine of medicine. Makes me wish I was sick more often.

I don't think I needed to take a hit of the Q (as the cool kids call it), but it was looking pretty lonely and neglected in my bathroom closet.

Looking forward to the sleep time already. Happy Birthday, Jon!
Donnie Darko was fairly decent, by the way. Grr...
While Friday was kinda a bluish day, today is more about determination.

The sense of failure probably isn't the worst feeling in the world for me, but it's probably the longest lasting.

I can't seem to land a job on my own. Most of the jobs I have had were based on having someone I knew on "the inside" to refer me in. Did you know I was denied a job at McDonald's when it opened in my town? How fucking weak is that? I didn't even get my current retail job the first time through. It took a lot of prodding from one of my friends to not give up and apply again. And now it seems my best shot is with a company that doesn't have any openings, but once one becomes available, I might hear something. How reassuring.

I'm sure I can get a job getting paid a whee bit more doing pretty much the same thing. But I'm not looking for that. If... When I leave my current job, it will be for something bigger and better. And much higher-paying. If nothing turns out, I have confidence that I can move up in my current company once the next store opens up and I will assume mid-level power in that new store. But that will be many months from now. And it's not really what I want to do with my life.

Despite having a Bachelor's in IT, I still don't have a solid idea as to what I want to do with my life. I can't even answer any interview questions about "What is your dream job?" or "Where do you see yourself five years from now?" I have no fucking clue. Hopefully a little further along than I am, because whoever is running the VCR that is playing the video tape of my life has hit the pause button about three years ago and forgot to hit "play" again. Everyone else's life around me seems to be moving briskly along while I'm stuck in some sort of space-time continuum. My sister (who is two years younger than me) has a house, a kid, and is married. No "real" career (yet) or college education. Me? I'm 26, forced to live at home because of huge bills and low pay, and the closest friend (distance-wise) to me is over 30 minutes away. Kinda hard to woo the ladies with a personal ad like that.

I'm starting to think maybe trying to get an IT job isn't the road I should be walking down. Too much competition. Who needs a web designer, anyway? I don't really have the time to keep developing my skills by learning new languages, like ASP.NET. What am I going to practice on? This site? Doesn't matter, anyway, because I have no real world experience. Most entry-level IT jobs I'm finding require knowledge of programming languages I forgot even existed. That's kinda counter-intuitive. But anyway, I think maybe I should head down the road labeled "Psychology Avenue" instead. Not sure what I can do with what I know. I'd rather avoid more schooling until I get a couple years of real world experience, at least. Or my existing loans paid off.

Maybe I should move out of NH. It's all I know, though, so that'd be kinda scary. Especially since I can't land a job on my own for whatever reason. I'd want to live near or in a sales tax-free state, though, just in case I need something pricey. :) I'm looking at you, Delaware!

I'm still confused how I can have two phone interviews and then have a face-to-face interview that doesn't really cover any new ground, and then be deemed "underqualified." At least spare me the mileage on my car and tell me I suck over the phone. I got 30k on my car already, and it's 18 months old.

Despite the bleak nature of this post, I'm more determined to do something about it right now than to sit back and weep like a little bitch. Unfortunately, I don't have any other prospects right now. Newspapers and your typical monster.com-like sites don't have anything useful in them. Am I gonna have to resort to opening the phone book and cold-calling places? I'm one of the most patient people in the world, and that has worn thin. Things are probably gonna be a little quiet for a while...
Had my face-to-face interview with a prospective company earlier in the week. I thought it went well. It was a little unusual to be interviewed by people no older than me, people that managed to secure a job before the dot com bubble blew up around my graduation date (thanks a lot, cruel world!). I think it was the first interview I've had where I wasn't nervous at all. I was in business casual attire, while they were wearing jeans and sweaters. On a Tuesday. It felt more like I was just hanging out with some buddies. We cracked some jokes, I got some questions answered, the whole nine yards. I was told that I would definitely hear something soon. So I liked my odds.

Didn't end up in my favor, though. I'm underqualified. I'm confused by that. There are 12 bulleted points that mark the job's requirements, 3 of them marked as "if you know this, that's a plus." The only "non-plus" bullet point I fail at is the "minimum of 2+ years work experience in an Internet related position" requirement. I meet everything else. Including 2 of the 3 "plusses." I was told by my main interviewer that I type faster and more accurately than him. I was told by the other guy in the room that I knew things (like CSS-2) that he didn't know when he was hired. So I don't get it. I thought this would be my break. Looks like I'm gonna have to go crawl back into my hole for a little while.

I did write back asking to be considered for any paid internship positions, so we'll see how that goes.

I hope that "informational interview" place gets back to me soon. Happy Valentine's Day
... to all of my special ladies out there. You know who you are.

*wink* My name is...
Not much going on today. Just some cleaning and paperwork, taxes included. I read online that if you visit the government's IRS Free File Alliance page and click on any of the links there (including the popular TurboTax and H&R Block), it will redirect you to that company's site and it will waive the $20+ fee for using their online software. Ain't that the hotness? So I did that, and it turns out I owe a mere $34 instead of nearly $500. Taking a look at their calculation compared to my own, it turns out I forgot to claim myself as an exemption. That was the only difference. Ain't that something else.

I think for my next job I'll just claim zero on my I-9 and I won't have to deal with the rollercoaster ride that is "claiming one." With zero, you lose more each week, but you get most of it back come tax season. With one, you lose less with each paycheck, but it's a craps shoot when February rolls around.

Had my "informational interview" this past Tuesday. That was ok. I had to fill out a personality survey and when the person in HR read back the results to me, every single point was accurate and read like some of Helen Palmer's work. I love psychology -- especially personality -- and take online tests on that sort of stuff all the time regardless of how bullshit or real the test is. So I wasn't surprised when my work profile read like a perfectionist enneagram. I am a 1w9, after all. Sometimes 1w2. How about you?

Anyway, since it was an informational interview, I wasn't offered a job. But they were impressed with me and now that they have a face to go with the resume, they will keep in touch with me periodically and let me know if there is a position I can fill or if they are still waiting for something to open up. That's nice. And being reimbursed for my car mileage is really cool, too. :) Sometimes, it's the simple things that make all the difference.

I had my phone call interview Wednesday with the other company, and I had another phone interview on Thursday. Now, I'm at the step where they want me to come in and meet with them this coming Tuesday. That will be great. I really hope I get this job. It ties into my IT strengths and will make me feel accomplished and that my education was not a waste of 120 grand. What caught their eye was that in my cover letter, I stated that I hate WYSIWYG editors. That and I taught myself CSS-2. Hiring me cuts down on a lot of the training they'd have to do, or so they say. Sweet!

That's about it, really.

And now I'll leave you with a quote from Aqua Teen Hunger Force (episode 15, Interfection, if you care):

Master Shake: Plaque is a figment of the liberal media and the dental industry to scare you into buying useless appliances and pastes. Now I've read the arguments on both sides, and I haven't found any evidence yet to support the need to brush your teeth. Ever.
Meatwad: I don't know how you'd know, you ain't got no teeth.
Master Shake: Well I got rid of my teeth at a young age because... I'm straight. Teeth are for gay people. That's why fairies come and get 'em.

Uncle Sam isn't very nice.
Ok, so I really didn't do anything I set out to do the other day. Well, at least in regards to this site. I did fiddle around with my taxes, though. I was excited to get my W-2, but now not so much because I think I might owe money this year. I don't get it. I've always got back money. Nothing has changed for me this year over last year. Now, I owe more money than all of my prior refunds combined. I hope I made a stupid math error...

The Super Bowl commercials weren't as I expected. Just one ED commercial makes for a crappy drinking game. I thought Budweiser was gonna rip Miller a new one (Budweiser sponsored the Super Bowl, so Miller didn't get to air any commercials), but that didn't happen, either. Hmm. Oh well. At least the drinks I had were free and watching the Patriots do Terrell Owens dances were quite amusing. Go Dynasty!

I got back my $100 today. PayPal didn't find any evidence that a third party got into my account, though. Damnit.

While I was waiting for my money, I did converse a bit with this Dallas Knight fellow, who I suspected was the one who hacked me. He was wondering why I had a hold on the transaction, and if I would remove the hold. He then wondered if I have received the software from Rilan Soft Labs yet. I responded that I had no idea what the hell "Rilan Soft Labs" is, that I don't know what software he's referring to, that I killed off my bank account, that I want my $100 back, and that the internet police was gonna go Vic Mackey on his ass. Well, I didn't phrase it like that, but you get the idea. The last email consisted of him not knowing what was going on and thoughts that we were both involved in some sort of scam. Rilan Soft Labs got Dallas's resume off CareerBuilder and asked him to be their financial agent. His task was to essentially launder my money and send it to Russia via Western Union, and keep 10% for himself. He did apoligize for being duped, but it still didn't explain how my account was accessed or (coincidentally?) how my mother's computer got ravaged like a Turkish whore. Oh well. At least I got my money back. I guess I'm gonna have to find an alternative to PayPal, now. I'm happy with their swiftness with getting this problem resolved, but I have no guarantees it won't happen to me again.

I have an "informational interview" tomorrow with company #3, a company I didn't really apply for but a friend of mine wants to get me into. They don't have any open positions at the moment, but they seem to growing at a rapid pace, so they're alway looking for more people. My friend there hasn't been there a year and he's been promoted at least two or three times already. Then again, he's known to exaggerate to the point of lying 90% of the time, so it's hard to say for sure. I believe this company is a distributor of food products. I'm not sure what I'd be doing there if hired. I guess I'll have a better idea after tomorrow afternoon.

Called the web development company back today. The woman who originally called me was busy, though, and said she would call me back Wednesday morning. Hmmph. Is it spring yet?
Quiet day today. Or so I predict it will be. I think I'm gonna spend some time fixing up some of the display issues on this site, as well as stylizing the comments. Maybe watch a movie or two. We'll see.

It's pretty nice out right now. 43 degrees. Hopefully this winter will be short, because I'm kinda jonesing for some geocaching action. It's a great way to kill time and get me outside, although skin pigmentation is overrated. ;)

Was cut from the list of four candidates for the job I interviewed for earlier this week. I was surprised, but I didn't lose any sleep over it. I did get a call from the other company, however, which happens to be the company I'd rather work for, given a choice between the two. The other job is for a web designing and consulting firm, which plays into my IT degree I'm still waiting to use. They have a couple positions I believe I could do, but if they do find more fitting candidates, I would consider an internship. They seem like a laid-back group that likes to have fun both at and outside of work, and I wouldn't mind being a part of that. We'll see. I called them back Friday but got a voice mailbox, so I'll have to try again on Monday.

I think I might do my taxes today. I've been wanting to for a long time but my W-2 took its sweet time getting to me. I'm not expecting to get a heck of a lot back. I just want to get it out of the way. Last year I got back $111.79, which happens to be my birthday (1/11/79). That was pretty neat.

Super Bowl tomorrow. I wonder how many scores the Patriots are gonna win by. I'm thinking two touchdowns at least. Then maybe the media can shut the hell up about Terrell Owens as if he was the next messiah or something. Sheesh. If you're looking for a fun drinking game during the big game, I suggest doing a shot each time an erectile dysfunction commercial comes on. You and your party should be passed out within the first 45 minutes! :) Hopefully you'll wake up by the time the game is over and you can watch American Dad. Fun times. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
What an interesting few days I have had.

I applied for a pair of jobs this past Friday, and sent out hard copies of my resume and cover letter on Saturday. By Monday, I got an email from one of the companies to call and set up an interview. I didn't have time to call them Monday, so they called me Tuesday to set up a time. I was very impressed. Normally, I have to cold call whichever company I applied for and then I get the run-around for a while and get told that they're still looking at applicants or that all of the people in charge of hiring are on vacation or some other similar nonsense. But the fact that I was emailed and called within two work days is such a nice change of pace. I don't even remember my last real interview with a real company. I was so excited.

Before work on Wednesday, I spent a lot of my free time looking at apartments within the area of this company. Lots of decent places in or around Manchester I never knew existed. If I can a decent two-bedroom place with utilities for under $1000/month, that would be wonderful. Include perks like free broadband, heated indoor pools, tennis courts, and a game and billiards room and I'm pretty much sold. There's no guarantee I'll use the fitness center or watch all of the DirecTV channels, but for $500 a month each for me and my roommate, I think I'll be living the high life. I'm surprised at the number of places that have most of these perks and meet my budget. Now I just need to get that job. No problem.

Was gonna go in early that day (Wednesday) to work, since I was given permission to, because I didn't want to come in Saturday for a 2-hour meeting/training. I learn quick, give me the book, test me in 15 minutes, you know? But anyway, I couldn't. I had a sinister plot against me. A very sinister plot.

I have a program that lets me know when I get email to certain accounts. I got an alert saying I received email from PayPal. How odd, I didn't make any transactions. So I go into that email account to see what they want. But there was no email there. Hmm, that's a neat trick: alerting me of email when there is no email. So I log into PayPal directly. In my "recent history," there was a transaction for nearly $3,000 I was making to a fellow named "Dallas Knight." At this point, I said "Oh fuck." I had just over $100 sitting there in my PayPal account, which got wiped clean. I quickly logged into my checking account's online statement to see if I had lost over $2,800 yet. I haven't. That's nice. And there weren't any pending transactions. So I refresh my PayPal account's recent history just to make sure I wasn't seeing things. The transaction disappeared. But I still was 100 bucks in the hole. Looking at my complete history, I was able to dig up the details to this $3,000 transaction. I printed out all things relevant before they disappeared, and then reported to the PayPal Feds about my hacked account and fraudulent transaction. I changed my password and then called my bank. I didn't get much useful information over the phone, so I stopped into my local bank and closed my checking account and opened a new checking account. Figures, too. I just memorized my account number after three years of having the damn thing. Oh well. But anyway, it looks like Dallas won't be getting the rest of my money, and I'm hoping I hear something soon from PayPal in regards to my missing $100. I'll call them when I have time tomorrow.

I'm curious how this asshole got my information, since being an IT guy, I don't do anything that would put my identity in jeopardy. I know my shit. I knew how to phish before phishing was even given a name. I have three different passwords I use regularly and a few other random passwords that were given to my accounts but I never bothered changing to something easier to remember. My more common passwords look like a random string of alphanumeric characters, making it impossible to get and completely nonsensical to everyone but me. I don't save my passwords or do any of that "remember my login information" stuff you find on a lot of sites. I have security software up the ass. And if this guy was so good at getting some of my info, you'd think he'd do a little better job at hiding his tracks before I sent the government on him. To quote John Goodman in The Big Lebowski, "This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass!" Enjoy prison, Dallas. It'd be worth the 100 bucks.

After work Wednesday (technically Thursday morning, 2 AM), I found a note from my mother saying her computer wouldn't boot. I haven't played with it much so far today, but I think her hard drive could be dead. Either this was one hell of a coincidence, or perhaps Mr. Knight ravaged her master boot record or something, thinking it was my PC. Nice try, Prick.

That's all I know about this sinister plot so far.

I had that job interview this morning for the company I mentioned earlier. Didn't get much sleep. I wasn't nervous or anything, but being in bed at 2 in the morning courtesy of work and then having to wake up at 7:45 doesn't make for the most refreshed Jerome ever. The interview itself went well, I thought. The position is very similar in work as to what I am currently doing at my current place of work, but with less stress, an office setting, normal hours, a very rapidly growing company, and 50% more pay. Doesn't really give me much incentive to stay at my current job, does it? :) Supposedly there were only four applicants, so I love my chances. I should get a call tomorrow if I'm selected as one of the two potential candidates, at which point I'll sit down with another person, give some references, and hopefully get hired. I'm thinking about getting my post-interview thank you letter written right now. But I'm too tired and I have to leave for work in about 90 minutes.

So maybe this dream of getting a job I can live on and then having this site act like a journal of my adventures will happen sooner than I thought! That's so exciting! :D