Job Not Hunting, Crappy Economy

Whatever happened to Monster.com? It's not friendly. The apply here buttons are gone. Searching for jobs isn't easy either. The list opens up in weird windows. I can't pick multiple categories anymore. No wonder people are drifting away from it. Could be not compatible with Firefox.

Careerbuilder at least, is still usable.

Craigslist is the best in terms of ease of use.

The jobs are paltry right now. Still, my business starts tomorrow as in working for a customer, so see what happens. There's a high level of general scam out there too for job hunters. Must be our wonderful economy. Self employment may be the only option.

It's not going to be a good year, or years. The dollar is turning into toilet paper as the Fed lowers the interest rates. The real estate market keeps on not trucking. Fuel keeps on going way up. Our clueless gummint keeps on putting band-aids over major wounds. Duck and cover, duck and cover......

Having a Meeting

The Committee of Me, Myself, and I

Me, myself, and I having a meeting.

"Content!, we need content!"

"For what? Nothing going on except getting insured. Not what one would call a quick news day."

"Have to write regularly, or people get bored."

"Got news for ya, they are already bored."

I chime in, "And if their eyes don't glaze over after this, they really don't have anything to do."

The outcome was inconclusive, which is what usually happens in a committee meeting with oneself.


Job Hunting Terminated

I'm done with looking for work as an employee. It just isn't worth it. The non-compete pushed me over the edge. This is America, competition is what we do, it is what we are. Of course, there is the guilty until proven innocent assumptions that everyone has to deal with, that I'm a drug user, deadbeat, waded across the Rio Grande, criminally inclined, and just not fit for polite society. Enough of all that. I'm none of the above except for the last item sometimes after dealing with people who do think I'm all that.

So I'm cutting out the middlemen (employers) in being productive and earning a living. I'm going to put the last brick in place of having a business.

Things in General

Da Blog

So the counter isn't ....counting. One more shot at it, and it's gone. I'm going to mess with the heading as well. Also the colors aren't what I like. I'm thinking about Google Adsense but not really keen on advertising. If done, it would be a small presence.

Job Hunted?

Explored Apex and environs, was scoping out a drive in job before I drove in. I kept on driving by and then my phone rang. Drug test. Cool. Getting somewhere. Hopefully, employment. Not much coin but at least I'll have withholding. Also waiting on the business license, that should show up soon. Then to get the liability insurance. Part time business, see how it goes, if well, then full time business.

Scam

The Do Not Call list has got to be worthless. Yet another call. Job hunting is also getting kinda horrible. The sleaze balls and con artists have taken to posting jobs on the main search engines. At least on Craigslist, we can flag them, and I do flag them. If it ain't a job, don't bug me. A lot of it is people looking for door to door sales suckers. Ugh. Wouldn't be such an issue, but a lot of crap gets posted and a lot of "employers" are scraping the public resumes. Looking forward to taking mine private.

Poly-Ticks

Hillary still way ahead....Edwards still way behind. Obama in the middle. He's just too, well, perfect. Just doesn't seem to have enough warts. What is he hiding?

Republicans still have no clear front runner unless one counts Guilani, and that only because he raised a ton of money. Mitt Romney still in the news....not good for him, ever since he did the American Vacation thing with a dog in a carrier on top of a station wagon.

My Townhouse

The townhouse is in a state of arrested repair. It's waiting on more income. The back bath is going to need about six hundred dollars total. The chimney chase will probably take a thousand. The lower level floor needs rosin paper, flooring, and two back doors. Insulation as well. The whole thing needs repainting again. The one good thing about the whole mess, is that it can be done piece-meal, a hundred or so bucks at a time. The labor is free. Once done, it goes on the market, and I'm free. At least a year or so. No rush, real estate market still shaking out.

Book Reviews

Sean Williams, The Resurrected Man. Good read, usual sci fi future but written quite well.

Kevin J. Anderson is currently doing the Saga of the Seven Suns. Humans inadvertently start a war when turning gas giants into stars. Goes on from there. Good beach read and well worth borrowing from a library. Latest book in the series is Of Fire and Night.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I've read the book. I've listened to the radio series. I have both the BBC television series and the new movie on DVD. Each different but all well done. I even had his PC game, Starship Titanic. Doesn't work anymore, even my antediluvian W2000Pro is too modern for it, but when it did, it was pretty good. Still, if one gets bored of thumbing a ride among the stars, there is his series about Dirk Gently, a Holistic detective. Not only worthy of borrowing from the library but worthy of purchase from a bookstore, used of course.

Writing and Being Cheaper

I like to read a lot . I like to write a little. Hopefully, writing will be more in "flow" as I go. The blog is to stretch the output, so to speak. Writing is why I don't really want to work more then forty hours a week on average. It takes away from that. I did try poetry, but even a Vogon* is better then me. Fiction is hard to do. It's a form of untruth, and truth is what I'm better at. I'm thinking about registering a domain name and getting a web presence for the business and some essays, but that is for the future.

Washed the Baja the other day. Works better then a rain dance. Nice warm summer rain....in the fall? Well, hopefully global warming will allow some savings on the gas bill. The gas isn't bad for hot water and the laundry was set to warm/cold, see how that goes. When the laundry detergent runs out, I want to try the cold water stuff.

It was a hundred bucks for my electric bill, incandescent and halogens, so the lighting was changed out to compact fluorescents. That knocked it down to 60 dollars. This time the air conditioning has been kept off with the ceiling fans going. It's not too bad if there's airflow. I'm also being careful with the fluorescents as well. Think the heat/dry needs to be off on the dishwasher as well.

Going bug the "brother" on Monday about one potential job. The NOC job is a real long shot but the hours would be conducive to writing and the business. A stray thought is, no job might be best of all business wise, as that is my main focus down the road.



* Some really bad poets in the galaxy according to "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". Douglas Adams, 1952 - 2001, to paraphrase the dolphins who appreciated the fish, "Thanks for all the words.".

A Pinch of Salt, or a Handful.

Nice thing about not working, I get to sleep in. If getting up at six thirty could be called that. Usually getting up with the thought that maybe I should bite the bullet and do the business thing, but then I go looking and looking and applying. Two cups of strong coffee and my vitamins, then a quick look at Craigslist, Monster, and Careerbuilder. One guy who might hire, calls me "Brother" and seems glad to see me. Hmmm. Glad I have my pile of salt handy. I don't take statements with a pinch of salt anymore, more like whole handfuls.

I don't need to make much, my cost of living is low, compared to most. No debt, extremely frugal, only thing going in my house (owned outright) right now is the computer, cordless base station, two UPS, one DSL modem, bath light, and 26 watts of lighting downstairs. Don't forget the coffee maker though. It's a Bunn, doesn't make gourmet coffee, it's a version of those monsters seen in convenience stores. In two minutes, a pot of coffee guaranteed to wake half a cemetery.

Some reasons why I should start a handyman service.

1. Get the tools out of the place. Three ladders, table saw, chop saw, and power tools everywhere. Then there are the tool boxes, three of those at last count. Tripped over one this morning since I was caffeine free and not quite conscious.

2. I'm good at fixing stuff. Tis true, since I buy stuff that breaks, like this townhouse. Lately, I have been overhauling and replacing toilets. I have three toilets, two of which are very, uh, original. I also fixed one digital camera and my phone. Why I fixed my phone is beyond me. There's been two telemarketers who have been calling me on a daily basis despite being on the do-not-call list.

3. Getting out of the house would be nice. So far, I load up my old steel quarter-century old Fuji bicycle and find a place to ride. I could ride in traffic but I'd rather burn gasoline then get run over. So, what if I got paid to get out of the house? Would make up for the cost of gas.

4. Customer service. I'm very good at it. I actually enjoy helping people. Right now the only one benefiting from it is my cat. She's already spoiled beyond all belief.

5. Income would be nice. Don't need much, but feeding that cat ain't cheap. Then there's me.

Some guy named Steve Pavlina posted an article called "10 Reasons Why You Should Never Get A Job".

The link is "stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/07/10-reasons-you-should-never-get-a-job/".

Makes for compelling reading. He's more white collar then blue though. Also his income seems to be through advertising, public speaking, and donation.

For my own druthers.........

I made a ton of money as a network operator, and a very decent living as a library employee, a facilities administrator and other jobs, but money is money. It goes away after a while. The network still keeps breaking, the facilities keep on needing administrating, the library still needs library work, and unlike Ozymandias, King of Kings, there is not even a large statue sitting in sand to mark my work.

I like to leave something concrete behind Something that people can look at. Be it just shelving, or a whole bathroom, or just fixing some exterior trim, I like to make sure it's nice. I can understand the need to be productive, but sometimes just an extra minute can make the difference between just "O. K." and a good job.

Here's my kitchen from the condo I used to own. I'm proud of that kitchen. It took me nine months to rebuild it. Mostly because it was pay as I go, and it cost some money. The work I did for employment, I did well, but this is what I like to remember. This is what I am about.


Ignore the date stamp. This was 2004. Camera died and reset itself.

Later in the day......

I'm a business now. Not earning any income, heck, only three and three quarter hours old. Town of Cary gladly took my money and was happy to see me as a source of future income (for them that is). I still want to work for someone else, with-holding and all, but income is income. So if it means cutting out the middle man (employer), so be it. Yellow Brick Houseworks is now official but not taking customers yet.

Someone pinged me as a potential worker for a NOC. Don't think I'm what they want but sent them a response anyway. I'm not holding my breath for this one. Apparently when recruiters see these, they start thinking.....

I monitored a network by means of Netcool and Big Brother. I telnetted into Cisco and Juniper routers to diagnosis problems and get data to build a trouble ticket. Answered queries via phone, email, and IM, and escalated issues out to field engineers, and lower level support, produced end of shift reports and kept logs and Remedy tickets up to date.

The going rate now is a lot less then what it used to be. Those days of OT, holiday pay, and the big bucks are just history now.

A Very Boring Post

The Economy

More adjustments in the real estate world. According to Google news and Bloomberg, at last count, 900 plus mortgage employees laid off. Couldn't happen to more deserving people......

Consumers still spending but not like last year. Hires are up, probably due to our exports and the service economy is still growing. Service economy always did suck unless one was a manager or better though, can tell you that from observation and experience.

Job Hunting

Might be close to a job, don't know yet. We shall see.

Speaking of jay oh bees, this just popped into my mailbox........again.

Hi, My Name is Ray Rizzo.  I came across your resume while doing a field search.  Your resume matched my search criteria (none) for a sales and leasing consultant's position at Johnson Hyundai.  Some of our best make well over $100,000.00 Per Year! You may have limited experience, or no experience in auto sales, and that's OK. We will train you on everything you need to know.  Many people's first reaction to this is, "no way", and some are "sure I've thought about it."  Well, this is an opportunity to for your to enter into a six figure potential income!  You should come in for an interview and at least see if it's right for you.  We are recession proof, the second largest industry in the world, and everyone I know including myself continues to make higher income each year! My first Year in auto sales I made over $80,000.  My second year, $97,000, and on my 3rd year, I broke $100K! All the while, making friends, and helping people!  For us, car sales is about building relationships, value, customer satisfaction and personal wealth for our family, and future! In addition, we'll help you get off to a great start with cutting edge training techniques that will apply to many aspects of your life, not just sales.  All the tools you will need will be turned over to you this week. BUT, you have to get through this first interview for the doors of opportunity to swing open.

You will receive dynamic training; a professional and respectful work environment, guaranteed training salary net commissions, the opportunity to grow with the fastest growing Automotive Family in North Carolina, medical and dental benefits, great bonus plan, 401 K, and paid vacations

I will be conducting interviews in the Hyundai New Car Showroom on Monday October 8th and Tuesday October 9th ONLY from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm.

No appointment is needed. Please show up dressed and ready.  If you have any questions you may call my cell phone at 609-879-9188, or Email me at: rrizzo@tkworldwide.com.  Otherwise, I will see you at the interview. I look forward to meeting with you soon.

INTERVIEW LOCAITON: Same spelling error!
Johnson Hyundai
Hyundai New Car Showroom
5000 Old Raleigh Rd
Cary, NC 27511

If you need directions you can go to mapquest.com

Sincerely Yours,

Ray Rizzo


P.S. If you are curious how much the AVERAGE employee makes at a dealership in North Carolina.  Go to this link below, and click on "employment and payroll" and scroll down to your state.  You will need acrobat to read the file, but it's a free download, and almost all computers already have it.  Remember, theses are only averages, and they're still pretty high, just multiply that number 50 weeks, and you'll see what I mean.  Here is the link.  See you at the interview!


link to NADA page data here. 

I'll be at the interview.... in my next lifetime. Notice, same format as the last message, just an automated script that plugs in the names of the "messenger", a local dealer and time. Spam, spam, spam, and just canned "ham".

Nope.

Nope, no cigar. Going after job was interesting, three tests, two of which I passed with flying colors, a week of time, and ten gallons of gasoline burned. Then there was a week of paid work I gave up. One can get a little bummed after this. Going to hit the libraries for some good reading.

Later......

Job hunted some more.... Arrgh. Just not my week.
While job hunting, the router up and died. So I got a new one of those.

It may be time for The Handyman Can biz to get going. My fee is twenty-five (wish it was Euros) an hour, no minimum, and free estimates. Just need the biz license and insurance. Hey, I'll hire me.

Even Later.......

Someone's been scraping the public resumes again. This time, mine at Monster.

Hi, My Name is Deleted. I came across your resume while doing a field search. And everyone else's. Sometimes they screw up and give an "offer" several states away.  Your resume matched my search criteria for a sales and leasing consultant's position at Local Car Dealer. Search criteria .....NONE. .(Edited a paragraph out for brevity) All the while, making friends, and helping people! Smell fertilizer...fresh. For us, car sales is about building relationships, value, customer satisfaction and personal wealth for our family, and future! Fertilizer deeper. In addition, we'll help you get off to a great start with cutting edge training techniques that will apply to many aspects of your life, not just sales.  All the tools you will need will be turned over to you this week. BUT, you have to get through this first interview for the doors of opportunity to swing open.

You will receive dynamic training, medical benefits, guaranteed training salary*, additional monthly bonuses, 401K, fast track management program, and paid vacations.

Name of local car dealer here is a family owned and operated business that believes secure and happy team members will exceed their patrons' expectations. Along the same lines by company policy they maintain professional and respectful work environments. They are not your average car dealer.

I will be conducting interviews in the Brand here New Car Showroom on Monday October 1st and Tuesday October 2nd ONLY from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm.

No appointment is needed. Please show up dressed and ready.  If you have any questions you may call my cell phone at Deleted, or Email me at Email deleted.  Otherwise, I will see you at the interview. I look forward to meeting with you soon.

INTERVIEW LOCAITON: Spelling bee runner up?
Local Car Dealer
Brand here New Car Showroom
123 Main Street
Raleigh, NC Zip here

If you need directions you can go to the dealerships web site at Deleted link or mapquest.com

Sincerely Yours,

Deleted Name


P.S. If you are curious how much the AVERAGE employee makes at a dealership in North Carolina.....money hook here..... multiply that number 50 weeks, and you'll see what I mean.  Here is the link.  See you at the interview!

Link 

*Unit/Performance Based Net Commissions

Did I get it?

In a little while, I'll be either employed or still looking. Long test today. Can't describe it except to say, harder then one thinks. Just in case, applied for yet another job via internet.....

Go here to learn about the wonders of unemployment.

www.dvorkin.com/essays/unemben.htm

Some caustic but wonderful observations about having more free time then one wants. Other good stuff too, some astute looks at job scammers and whatnot. I bookmarked it of course.

I'll know in a little bit.

Third Time's the Charm......

Third evaluation coming up at the new "job". Those of us that made the cut in the second evaluation were like me, older, still in shape. The younger ones were sent away to try again, . . . . a year later. The place is going to do well, going to ship a lot of heavy machinery thanks to the softer dollar. Start at O-Dark on Friday for the third evaluation. Looking forward to steady work and income. Also really nice not to do the quarterly thing anymore. That's a bite if not planned for. If I'm in, going to stay there for quite awhile. Real estate market won't be back until summer of 2009, if then.

Green boss was unhappy that the younger workers just don't have it. Some of em' do. The smart ones stay in school. See a lot of young polished office staff and managers these days. There used to be quite a few that wanted to do houses but they take one look at the housing market and the surfeit of illegals in the biz, and say, "Forget it!".

Got to move my medicine cabinet around in the front bath. It's a bit too high as I tried to give plenty of clearance to the faucet. Going to hide the holes with trim. Painting primer on my remaining replacement siding for today.

Later.....

Didn't paint board one. The front bath is hereby declared finished though. No more touch ups, no more tweaking, and no more hardware. Also a few weeks off until I clear out the back bath. That has been given back to the cat for the time being.
Art is needful in bathrooms. Something to look at while meditating, so to speak. The medicine cabinet is a bit small mirror-wise but it beats rummaging through the vanity drawers for floss. A little off center to the light. The light stays where it is though, to move it would require official sanction.

Latest most pessimistic word on real estate, is that it won't be back at par until 2011.

Multiple Choice? Wowza!

Hot Dog! Good day at the new "employer". Blew through the test in record time. Well, multiple choice.......I can beat anyone on the planet. Not smarter then most, just I have the widest mental download bandwidth that I know of. Just means I can screw up faster then light......

Friday, they see if I can screw stuff together. Out of nine of us, they kept four.

To celebrate, I threw caution to the wind and stopped at Lowes. Nice new medicine cabinet in keeping with the faux period look of the room (Greek Folk Revival), complete with cornice. Pretty decent for the money, i.e., 98 bucks plus tax.
Image is from Lowe's online catalog. No flowers, let alone roses, in my bathrooms.

No work on the chimney today.....just too hot.

Kick out flashing

Job hunting like crazy. If no response, I keep on sending and sending, pushing hard. Road trip to Fuqay Varina today. Also got to fix up the business application and get that done.

The chimney got some attention yesterday. The flashing is much better on one side and it's got some new cedar siding, back primed and painted. Other side to be repaired today, then cutting out old caulk and scraping and painting. I found out that kick out flashing is needed if a roof stops alongside a wall. The water gets diverted away from the wall instead of running down it. The gutters were also full of acorns, including shells and fragments. Messy eaters those squirrels are.

Much heavy editing on the blog. Just too wordy, so snip! Sometimes a word, sometimes a sentence, or whole paragraphs.

Just hire the cat.....

Lets face it. The real reason I'm looking for work...is to feed this.
There are smaller dogs in the neighborhood, or were.....

Somewhat shy or just bored, hard to tell.


I needed some FMT (Forward Motion Therapy), so I pulled my two old beauties out of their long rest. I thought of my old Peugeot UE8M but it's very sentimental for me, so only on nice days.
So it was my "Crackhead Special" as my bro in law calls it. I found this late-70s Fuji Supreme at a thrift shop for ten bucks. It took a month to get it back to roadworthiness. It's a fun ride. Even when you're tired and the legs have had it, somehow, you just want to keep going.Note the rack. Someday, this may be all that we can afford to "drive", so it's rigged as a commuter special. Completely legal for most European streets complete with lights and bell.


Thirteen miles of American Tobacco Trail later, complete with dust and horse dung. I should have been touching up my bath and the old resume and pleading on bended knee for employment, but heck, it's Friday, cool and cloudy, so ...... I .......pedaled my heart out. I feel much more optimistic and better at any rate, must be the endorphins from when my body said, "Thank God, he's gonna stop!".

Ah, the front bath. Just more touch-up. Mostly done and still cheap.


The wall-side of the door casing is always the same color as the wall. Just like it that way.

The "tile" lines up with the threshold. The base-top on the casing gives the door more depth. Also helps hide the fact that the door casing is only 1/2" thick and the base board is 3/4ths.

Bath bling of sorts.....Stainless steel supply lines for both the vanity faucet and the toilet.

Last of the caulking except for the shower. Off white to match the "grout". Shower had a good clean, just need to bleach treat it. Then the recaulking.

Greek Revivial on the Cheap

The front bathroom gets ever closer to done. Yesterday, between job hunting and hearing, "We'll give you a call.", the vanity plumbing was finished and working. I managed to outsmart myself by installing the wrong supply hoses, but, if sufficiently motivated, I can work in tight places. No leaks and all good.


I like white porcelain and chrome knobs and handles. I just do.

My baseboard is pretty hefty compared to the sample of standard baseboard. I like a good solid trim-out.

Mitering corners is fun.

Note the tile in front of the shower.

Some Greek Revival going on.

I solved the problem of the molding on the door casing running into the base cap on the baseboard with some fast coping and caulk.

I can wash my hands to the right........


.....and to the left.

So today, pretty good. Trimming, caulking and setting nails.

I spent how much?

Why so long?

It's been awhile. Just too busy to write. My last day at the Garage House was Friday. I'm still self-employed, but no longer a sub. Boss got a good worker in A anyway and he was trained as green builder, so all good. It's in the plastering stage, electrical mostly done. It's going to be a nice space, high board ceiling reminiscent of the old country stores, nice view out the windows, and last but not least, solar hot water. It's also going to be well insulated and an almost zero net load on the HVAC

Job Hunting and the Question

Job hunting goes well. A temp agency pinged me with an offer. I also passed it on as requested. Seeing a lot of self-employed though, wondering if that's the way to go. The jobs aren't too great as it is, so that might be why there are so many on their own.

The two not-so-cheap baths

I found a matching vanity to my half bath's on clearance but it looked like it got hit by a truck, so what I got is still white, but has three drawers instead of two and cost me 208 bucks as opposed to 168, less the tax. Still, cheap enough as it is. Lowes also sold me a relatively inexpensive white cast marble top, side strip, and enough trim to install behind the toilet location. The front bath is the current focus.

Last night the sheet vinyl was cut to size and fitted. Not bad for a first go. The bare spot behind the pipes is going to be under the vanity.
Then came time to glue it down. A little too much glue. After all was said and done, it took some time to get the excess out. The hammer is for those pesky staples that I didn't smack flat the first time.
I dragged the vanity upstairs and stuck it in the front bath. The first picture shows the vent being laid out on the toe kick, the second, cutting it out, and so on.



More work to be done in shifting the cold water line so it doesn't interfere with the drawers, silicone caulk for the faucet and sink drain, and getting as much done before tomorrow.

Much later in the afternoon.....

I got as far as getting the vanity in, top glued down, and installing the faucet. Nothing is hooked up yet. I also painted the baseboard. The baseboard will be built up out of some very nice clear 1" by 4" Yellow Pine (species Longleaf), an inch high base-cap and a narrow shoe.


Nothing like getting the first fixture in a room to boost morale. It's always in the "Are we there yet?" phase until that happens. Then it's, "Almost there.". A bit of a gap on the wall side of the top. What can one say if the place isn't plumb? Caulk will fix that. I got some cheap stuff but want to use the good stuff by General Electric instead. The drawers are staying out until everything is working.

This is my favorite bathroom faucet. Porcelain handles have a nice feel to them and having a separate control for hot and cold makes it easier to set a water temperature. What is also nice is the clearance under the spout. It also swivels from side to side to make filling large awkward containers easier.

Time to chill and clean up and get some food for the mind. See ya later, Gator.

Ugh, Sheetrock

Boss managed to build more efficient house then anybody. Big media event tomorrow. This would be the "Green" house. It's 60 percent efficient...regular Energy Star only has to be 15 percent. Hopefully this will catch on. If nothing else, it's nice that people will know they can get a better house.

I'm very beat and tired....just don't want to do this full tilt anymore. Ah well, one more cuppa joe and into the showers. A and I are getting an early start today to take care of the heat. Doors came yesterday. More birch veneer. Warned A about their fragility....one nasty look and they scratch.

105 bucks for my energy bill. Would be more if my incandescents and halogens were still around. The culprit is some (lots) missing insulation. Wish I had the time to fix but not, so I'm paying for it. Later perhaps. I only run the AC when it hits 85 degrees up here.

Water bill up too, a toilet decided to keep on running but that was taken care of. New valve body and flapper. Note to people who live in chlorinated water systems, sometimes the chlorine tablet does more harm then good. It tends to dissolves important bits like the overflow tube and the float arm.

Tough week so far and less then half way.

Job hunting on hold. Edge of the world has two bars of reception at best and in the middle of the day....none. Toying with idea of spending next week with an insurance agent and the town to knock out the rest of the paperwork, then going up to my other sister and bro-in-law to help them open up a new showroom.

Nonambition

Nonambition

I wish I could say I have done something of note, but not in the last few days. The Garage-House has more wallboard up. Not ready for it yet, but this time, the HVAC people wanted places to put their return and supply. So, three more pieces on the walls. New guy, A, from the Great Lakes. He sez it's really bad up there economy-wise.

My two cheap baths....nada, zilch. Did nothing.

Job search.....on hold till after the week.

Borrowed Books Reviews

One decent book from the way back when, Way Station by Clifford Simak. Well written, won quite a few awards in 1963. It was republished on his 100th birthday. A refreshing change from the regular "fast food" reading ground out by, well, hacks.

Example of "fast food" reading, State of the Union by Brad Thor. Formalistic thriller and at times, one gets the feeling they are reading a Neiman Marcus catalog. That or authors get paid for product placement. I got about fifty pages and closed it, never to return.

Worm's Eye View of the Economy

Something my boss told me...."55 percent of all people are self-employed in the United States.". I tend to believe this. I have a worm's eye view of the economy, much less an exalted view then from some marble and ivory towers. I'm self-employed. I wouldn't mind working for other people and might land a job sooner or later, but a cat's gotta eat, to quote someone who I forgot.

Doesn't look good on the resume to be self-employed to some, but I'm not going to lie about it. There's the official unemployment rate (4.4 percent to 4.6 percent) and then there's the unofficial unemployment rate (12 percent).

Two links, one the official, the other, the unofficial:

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
http://www.exponentialimprovement.com/cms/unemploy.shtml

More later, gotta go work on a house.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen and Us

Poly-Ticks

The Presidential Race has to be frustrating from a Republican point of view. A guy gets out in front and then self-destructs. Mitt Romney's transportation of a dog on top of his car was a good one. Couldn't help think of Chevy Chase and American Vacation. Sadly, there are few Wagonqueen Family Truckster extant in the world. One of the few cars that's actually uglier then my Baja. Guilani, the former mayor of New York., he has some baggage. He did do a good job during 9/11 and said all the right things.....but he did once tear down an apartment building and prevented any of the occupants from rescuing their pets, never mind their belongings. I have a large feline myself so no need to explain my feelings on that.

Democrats, it's the Hillary and Obama Channel, nothing but. See the occasional ambitious hopeful throwing caution to the winds, but it's a semi-foregone conclusion. They might as well hang it up.

I'm an independent with Libertarian leanings, so it means nada for us. The closest we ever got was H. Ross Perot who really screwed things up for Bush the Older by bugging out as he did. Though in hindsight, Old George, though excellent in international and business, was a whole lot clueless how we great unwashed were getting by on the streets.

Of course I live in North Carolina. One of our current Senators, is Republican Elizabeth Dole who seems to be as every bit worthless as the former Senator, aspiring Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards. Then there's the state gummint. Ugh. Talk about an "owned" system....it sure ain't the people.

House Banging

The Garage-House is going. The room has been mostly framed and wired. The solar hot water heater is mostly done, just needs the panels. We worked on Loblolly Pine stock yesterday and milled it into trim. If I can, some pics of the grain. It's rather pretty stuff. Nice strong pattern and color contrasts. It kinda interferes with job hunting though, since it is located just on the edge of a cell tower. Some days there is no reception at all. Also been a hundred degrees more often then not. It's really hard to think or work in that heat.

I really don't want to do this anymore, just too old. Back was unhappy with me after we furred up the old ceiling. I had to grab hold of a stud just to stand up after bending over. I heard somewhere that construction has the same physical stress as a professional athlete, more akin to football. No wonder there are few old active hammer-swingers.

The Cheap Bathrooms

Nada, nothing, zilch. I did seal up a few openings but no ambition. Just too tired.

That Investment Thing

My investments are coming back. What I hold is very solid and one of the things they did not do, was to hold subprime mortgage companies. I'm getting back to where I was. Figure par by next mid week. It was an exciting time in the market though. Most people held on though, those that sold were in the minority.

Job Hunting

Second interview last week. See what happens. One thing I don't do is hold my breath. Best to stay active in the search. Rule of thumb of internet job hunting is if no response by the first or second day, forget it. Sometimes HR departments can be less then speedy, so I'll keep what I applied to in a list. The "hot" file is less then a week, the "lukewarm" file is one to two weeks, the "soon to be deleted" file is over two weeks to a month.

Got to go to work. Life sucks. Especially in the sun.

August Doldrums

Equipment casualty lists....one cheap blender, the plastic top got shredded. Plastic only lasts when you don't want it too. One camera dropped, did not bounce well. One camera dead of old age. At least the coffee pot still works. That would be a bad thing.

Front wall up at the Garage-House. Solar energy people wanted a finished room for their tank. Boss was not happy. We are not in that phase yet. Still have quite a bit of furring and caulking and insulation to do. Finished room they got though. I'll do the corner taping.

Interview went well yesterday and another one tomorrow. Who ever gets me first......

No progress on the bathrooms....no time.

Off North

When Friday rolled around, I went north. It's cooler up north. Three days away was nice. My best friend up there had surgery to repair his shoulder. Of course he would catch a staph infection in the hospital, one of the really nasty drug-resistant ones. He's doing well but he will be hooked up to intravenous antibiotics for six weeks. He'll probably watch every video and DVD he has twice. Cabin Fever redux.

Usually I go I-440 to I-64 to I-95 to get out of North Carolina. I went I-85 instead. Prettier road and less traffic. Found an old time gas station with fried food.


Really neat interchange to a toll road south of Richmond. Picture doesn't do it justice but it stands pretty tall and proud, and at one point, has three layers.

If you drive north on I-95 toward Richmond, This city skyline complete with skyscrapers, rises out of the horizon. The road then swoops by an all brick Romanesque train station right at the roof level.
Finally I get to where I was going. Another hazy lazy August afternoon looking toward the old home place.

Free wallpaper. Never say I don't give anything away. Black Walnut, very hardy tree. I planted and moved quite a few onto the front lawn. The only drawback is the green hailstones they grow. Not really desirable near sidewalks and driveways during certain months of the year.

Just more free wallpaper. I must be feeling generous.

The kitchen is getting worked on at the house. Oak floors. My Bro-in-Law is going to order the cabinets soon. Until then, it's like this for livability's sake. Very old kitchen, been there long enough, it has one of these......
Kitchen fireplace and back stairs for when there were servants. Fireplace was redone several times, last in the 1960's, but it always has been meant for cooking.

This grate actually swings out. It also has a pot hook. It was welded together by the local blacksmith who made the grate as well. I sent many a cord of wood up the chimney here, and grilled a few steaks.

I spent yesterday at the Garage-House. We got the interior walls framed. Also was contacted by another recruiter, so I got their online thingie done too. Today we do the exterior wall and frame in the old garage door.