Nick is supposed to start the maintenance phase of his allergy shots at this point, but he seems to be just as allergic (to everything) as he was when he started. He plans to discuss this with the allergist and see what he thinks, but it certainly makes me less hopeful about getting a cat, or three.
Fortunately, Baby, the more social of our rats, is really turning out to be quite a wonderful pet. So until Nick finds a miracle cure or we can afford an allercat, it appears that I will be getting my pet fix solely from small fuzzies. I do miss Bailey terribly, but she is very happy, visitable, and well-taken care of with my parents; I'm still hopeful that she'll come to live with me some day, but until then Baby is my bud. :)
"He wants to do Matt by phone and we can watch each other on video."
-Ken Krieger, in an attempt to explain the complexities of a conference call.
Microsoft only allows spouses and same-sex domestic partners to be added to an employee's health insurance plan. WTF? So Nick and I could live together for 15 years and have five kids that he could put on his plan, but not me? If I got pregnant would the birth of the baby be covered but not a necessary hospital stay for me? What if I'm opposed to marriage because it excludes gays? What if I just don't freaking feel like it? This burns me up. If two men can live together and claim domestic partnership - regardless of their real level of committment/togetherness - why can't Nick and I? I am truly astounded that Microsoft doesn't allow different-sex domestic partners. My company does, and we're way less progressive and benefits-happy than MS.
Here's to May 6th through August 1st being injury and disaster-free. >: (
Okay, back to the credit check thing. I think this is just wrong. The reasoning behind the credit check?
1. If you have a lot of debt, you're more likely to steal from the company.
2. Poor credit history indicates a lack of responsibility, and therefore indicates what kind of employee you will be.
Reason one is simply not true. Show me some facts. Oh, but wait, don't just tell me about pen and paper and soda threft *cough*Microsofties*cough*. Tell me about white collar crime - that's right - the crime committed by people who are NOT the receptionist or the janitor, but rather the CEO of CFO. These crimes cost Americans over $50 billion a year (that's a 1980 stat, to boot). Do you think the men and women who commit these crimes have bad credit? My guess would be no. They probably have great credit. I, on the other hand, NEED my job. Badly. I'm not going to embezzle OR steal pens, because I can't afford to get fired.
Reason two is also simply not true. Yes, a poor credit history CAN indicate a lack of responsibility, but it's not an if-then situation. Lots of things can indicate a lack of responsiblity, and lots of things can cause bad credit. The two are not sufficiently linked for this to be a legitimate consideration in employment. I ran up a bunch of credit cards in college because a) I couldn't get a job to save my life, and b) I was stupid. I've been very responsible for the past two years by consolidating, cancelling, and paying down these debts, but throw in a car lease and student loans and lookie! I've got myself some less than spectacular credit. I pay all my bills on time, but will that matter? No. The boil it down to a score that indicates nothing about who I am or how I handle my finances.
So pissed . . .
My one conservative bent (that I'm fully aware of) has always been my acceptance of drug tests as a legitimate part of sports or employment requirements. But now that I'm being forced to take one (or not get a job), I'm rather put off by it. My future employer wants to check my credit and my urine. How friendly. But really, neither of these things are any of their damn business.
IF the credit report is just a quick hit that comes back saying "credit history ok"
and IF the drug test just says "no illegal substance found", then FINE. Do it. I don't care. But if they are going to see how much I owe, to whom, and for how long I've had these debts, as well as every substance in my sytem, I'm going to be more than a little peeved. Normally I would have assumed both of these limitations to be true, but it looked like they were going to use two difference credit-check services, and the guy behind the counter said "good luck with that drug test, they check for *everything*". He might have been pulling my leg, but I don't know. I'll ask when I get to PacLab tomorrow, since I have to take said drug test within 48 hours of picking up the forms.
I dig that companies have interests and assets to protect, but I don't appreciate being treated like a suspect or criminal for NO good reason. Grr.
Why do Yahoo and MapQuest send me the long way to the ProClub from our house? I'm guessing because there are less intersections? I really wish I knew how to put a picture in here . . . foo. It's clearly shorter to go up 40th, but these mapping programs want to send me up 51st. No comprendo.
But as a cool side note, even the long way is only 2.1 miles, so walking it is totally an option! Totally! =P
I got what I wanted . . . the low paying job that required tennis shoes and comes with a fancy ass gym membership. :) The better job was not for me, and the lady interviewing wasn't at all impressed with my skills, so blah on that. Swishy pants, here I come!
Less money, killer hours, lateral move with room for promotion, warm-up pants and tennis shoes required, neat fringe benefits, one week of vacation
More money, normal hours, upward move, not necessarily room to go up from there, business casual, no neat benefits, but probably two weeks of vacation
I think I have to go with the latter, but damn, I really like what a lot of the former has to offer. Perhaps I will have no shot at the latter and taking the former will be my only option. Not that I don't like options.
Someone please tell me that I'm just barely 24 years old and the fact that I'm a law school reject receptionist looking for a new job as a receptionist doesn't mean that I'm doomed to mediocrity for the rest of my life. God I'm a loser.
Okay, is it just me or does "What happens here stays here" not scream, "Come cheat on your spouse or sleep with a hooker and we won't tell!!"? I mean, if you're there losing $10,000, then what happens there does NOT stay there. It comes back to your checking account, wife, husband, kids, bills, etc. Seems that the only thing that can really "stay there" is deviant sex sans diseases you might bring back. Grr.
This is cool - I paid down the highest rate credit card to a point that I could transfer it to my lower rate credit card. (That was most of my refund, btw; I feel so responsible) Then I completed said transfer. I'll only save $90 a year, but hell, $90 is $90. Most people don't get rich wasting money. =P
My spluge with my tax refund, waaaaiiit for iiiiittt, is to make my clothes fit. That's right, I'm taking three to five pairs of pants to be altered. Pretty exciting, huh? Yeah, I didn't think so either, but since I have an interview Monday and hopefully a few more after that, and then a NEW JOB, I need some clothes that say "I care", as opposed to the "go fuck yourself" clothes I have been wearing. =P That's not true, actually, most days I dress sufficiently "business-casual", but then other days not so much. Anyhow, that's my splurge. I thought about buying a Dell desktop because they have ludicrous offers right now, but I *do not need* a desktop for any reason. I already have an iPod, I'm too fat to enjoy clothes shopping, and well . . . there's pretty much nothing left.
Oh, I'm going to go play that Tetris-y game on PSP. I'll suck because I'm kind of drunk, but that won't make it any less fun, dammit!
Tax return = yippee!
But what do I pay off or down? The obvious choice is the debt with the highest interest rate, but that is the only credit card I currently use, and I fear that if I pay it down I will simply run it up again (for those of you about to lecture me on self-restraint, I encourage you to try living paycheck to paycheck - literally within a dollar of being overdrawn - and then tell me how easy it is not to tap into a credit card occasionally). The next highest rate is only 1.5% less, and that credit card has been destroyed for some time - so that's an option. But then there's the most exciting possibility - I can pay off my entire SallieMae loan with money left to spare. Granted, this has a very low interest rate, but it's $51/mo. for an $800-something loan and paying it off would totally eliminate one of my monthly bills and give me a sense of "I owe less people/companies" money. What to do . . .
Or even more to the point, who sets up an appointment for 7:00 a.m. when they know they can't get up for it?
I missed my routine dentist's appointment last week - just totally slipped my mind that I had it and didn't end up going. Not a huge deal, called in, apologized, and rescheduled. The dumb part comes in when I decide, since I'd screwed up and missed one, that I should just take whatever they offered in substitution in order not to cause any more trouble. That replacement was this morning, at 7:00 a.m.
There is exceptionally little in this world I would wake up at 7:00 for, and a tooth cleaning certainly would rank very low on any such list I would come up with.
So of course, I slept through it today. Now I owe a $75 missed appointment fee, and I feel like an idiot.
Why, why, why did I schedule an appointment I knew I was highly likely to miss? Sure, maybe it feels right to be accomodating, but I didn't help anyone out by setting one up that I was bound to miss. Like chasing after bad money with good ... you'd think I'd have learned this lesson by now.
Next replacement appointment, 11:00. I'm thinking about having it tattooed into my hand.
--Nick
There is a headline on yahoo today - "Lethal injection may not be painless". . . Um, I don't give a flying *uck if it's painless. Said person raped/killed/tortured at least one human being - if he feels some pain while dying, I think it's well-deserved.
With that said, I'm not sure I agree with the death penalty. In spirit I don't mind it at all, because I honestly think there are some people that deserve to die, but in execution (no pun intended) it's not so simple. There is a racial tilt and the possibility for error, both of which are very bad news. But in a perfect world of criminal justice where everyone is treated the same and only truly bad guys make it to death row, I think a little - or maybe a lot - of pain is just fine.
If I were even vaguely normal I would probably not broadcast this, but since people will be asking . . . I didn't get in to law school.
I've been wait-listed at Lewis and Clark and Seattle University, but the chances of being let in at this point are pretty slim. So with that, I move on. I only applied to three schools, so I was practically asking for this outcome. If I were to do it again I might also apply to Willamette, UofO, and Gonzaga, but that's it. And really, I don't think I'd want to go to any of those schools. Maybe if I'd stayed at USC instead of transferring to a state engineering school, or if I hadn't wasted two years of my life as a receptionist, or if I were from Honduras or had lived in an igloo most of my life . . . but alas. The Universe has spoken, and I will listen. Not law school - at least not now.
If anyone knows of any good jobs for which I might be qualified (stop laughing), let me know. I'm looking.
The Law School Admission Process has turned me into a mailbox monkey. And a check-the-status-of-your-application-online monkey as well. It feels as if my entire life is currently hinged on small (bad) or large (good) envelopes that should be arriving in my mailbox. I suppose it's reasonable to feel this way since my life is, in fact, hinged on text of these letters. Not the quality or importance of my life - if I don't get in anywhere I'll throw myself headlong down some other path - but the direction of The Rest of My Life will ultimately be changed by the information that will be appearing in my mailbox.
In fact, we're down to one letter. UW didn't let me in. I figured that would be the case, so no worries; I didn't, and won't be, crying into any oversized mugs of beer. Lewis and Clark put me off until next month, but I want to stay in Seattle so that's kind of an "eh" situation. Seattle University, which I am now afraid to call my safety school, hasn't yet gotten back to me. I've done my taxes, I've done my FAFSA, I had my application in on Jan. 15 (but they were pokey and my file wasn't completed until Feb. 7) . . . so now, I wait. And wait some more. This is a school where my LSAT and GPA were above the 75th percentile of their entering class last year, so I didn't really think my app would end up in the "lets spend more time thinking on this one pile". Maybe that isn't what has happened, but I can't help but worry that I'm just not "diverse" enough. And yes, that deserves quotes. White, middle-class, 24-year old female from the NW doesn't exactly scream "new and exciting ideas and perspectives". Oh well.
So, I will continue on in my monkiness until I know whether or not I should be applying for a new job, buying a laptop, or packing my life back into my Bug.
OK, so maybe the forums are 99.9% dreck.
Once in a while, there's a diamond in the rough. Absolutely hilarious. Even if you're not into WoW.
Why is it that meta-anything always seems so clever? We actually had an interesting conversation at lunch about this today - somebody was bringing up the fact that the WarioWare games seem indicative of society's ever-shrinking attention span, and my counterpoint to this is that these games are actually metagames, not games. The activity that you do isn't what's interesting - it's the process of figuring out what you're supposed to do that is the actual gameplay. When you look at it that way, making the activity really short is sensible - if you make them too long, you spend less time in the meat of discovery and more time in the fat of random trivial button presses.
Relevance of any of this to anyone? Not much. Just rambling. But the thread is cute.
--Nick