01:14 - 24.08.07
behind the scenes
Yesterday the morning began to the sound of a jackhammer around 7 in the am. Someone breaking up the asphalt in the alley two doors down from my home. That always makes me nervous because similar events in the past have usually resulted in the disruption of service in one or several essential utilities. Sure enough the water pressure was much less when I tried to take a shower later in the day. Seems to have righted itself today though.
The other issue has been with the internet connection through our service provider. As you know, dear diary the connectivity has been unstable for about a week but the crash today was monumental. I had major withdrawal symptoms after waiting five hours to get a signal back. To be fair to the workman I don't think the problem originated with the digging out back, but I would speculate that that action just amplified the problem. When I first called the tech support line today the announcement was that there was a heavier than usual volume of calls and also an ad asking for applications for tech support workers. Hmmmm. I suspect low wages and customer abuse has made retaining their employees difficult. The agent I spoke with was very skilled at dealing with my frustration but had no more knowledge about what was going on than I did. In the past the techs have generally walked me through the process of releasing the IP address and pinging the servers but he barely knew the set up of a high speed connection and I couldn't recall the sequence of actions necessary. Had to wait until my youngest came home for those instructions. Wrote them down this time so I won't have to wait so long again. Lost a lot of time that could have been used sending out resumes or updating a couple of "in place" commitments. Bleagh.
Yesterday also saw me shopping for groceries. The cash flow is so low that I have to be very careful when and how much money is spent. When most of the boys were still home that was the norm of course - teenaged boys are just like walking vacuum cleaners when it comes to food. Not that I minded, since it meant that they were healthy and growing as they should. When I would go shopping, after combing the flyers for combinations of sales that would let me maximize my purchases, I would add the price of each item added to the cart in my head, usually coming out to within a penny or two of the total by the time I reached the cashier. That was absolutely critical then because I often was searching for pennies under the sofa and in corners to be certain I had enough to cover the bill including the tax. Tax meaning I often couldn't afford fresh vegetables - the most expensive part of the operation. Anyway that is where I am again and the old skill hasn't rusted out of my memory. I managed to tally the bill within .20 cents - the tax rate has changed you see. The one thing I have really been craving that is totally out of range right now is oranges, but I guess there could be worse things, right?
I received a couple of responses to resumes I had sent out yesterday too. The first one was frustrating in that I don't know how to read the placement agencies that vet the resumes before sending them off their clients. Twice now the agent has stated that they are calling about a specific job that I have submitted my resume for consideration, but then they state that that placement is no longer available but would I take this other one instead. Each replacement job was less interesting and less pay too. Both have been for work that isn't on my resume anywhere and that I have given no indication of an interest in trying it. The replacement jobs aren't even close to what the ads I responded to listed as skills and qualities required. Especially with this last caller I think that she truly had no knowledge of the industry in which I usually work. She didn't understand the words and phrases that are standardized ways of communicating specific skills and experience in that industry. I could expand my resume to capture all the relevant details but it already quite long. Just frustrating when the people culling the resumes don't have the background to do a good job. One of the owners of one of the larger placement agencies was a neighbour of mine growing up. She acknowledged, many years ago, that she wouldn't be able herself to do a good job placing people any more having been out of those offices for so long. I'm not certain what criteria are used for hiring their agents but the mismatches I've witnessed over several years indicates that even basic technical background isn't part of it. The second call was much more professional in that the interviewer knew his industry and also had understood what my resume contained. He wanted to do a phone interview first because of my "non-standard" skill sets - they are much more eclectic than most, was his comment. He was concerned that I might not find the work challenging enough. I explained that sorting through a year's worth of filing that had been hidden by one staffer at one assignment was hardly something that one could call exciting. My satisfaction came from other aspects of the assigned work - the research aspect that was attached to the documents. Made an appointment to meet with their hiring manager after about 40 minutes of discussion. What I appreciated about the interviewer is that he stuck to asking about skills, aptitudes, attitude and interests specific to the work. He answered my questions about the company and its major goals clearly and with no bluster or obfuscation. No mining for personal information and no pop psychobabble. Just the facts, ma'am.
Today there was follow up to the news stories about the agent provocateurs at the three amigos summit. The police admitted to the accusations. In contrast, when one of Montana's labour specialists asked if the provincial government's energy board had indulged in such practices when dealing with their citizens the province opted to lie about their behaviour. The sad thing is that the current governing party has been doing exactly the same thing as the federal government, now in place, for decades with very little dissembling about their tactics and intentions. Could it be because the new political party in power federally is the same as the one that has been in power in this province for decades now. Are they collaborating on their tactics to wield power against the wishes of their voters? It is truly embarrassing when another country's officials are the only ones who can safely call the provincial ruling party to account. Many local citizens, including me have tried, but the retaliation is pretty vicious. One judge even likened the provincial party to a third world dictatorship for their gerrymandering the electoral map. It was also a huge embarrassment.
The most interesting news today was all about astronomical and science related findings. Things that are upsetting many long-standing theoretical applecarts. The exciting part is that the scientists aren't trying to suppress new information in order to maintain the status quo. They are even asking lay people like you and me to help them gather data. Those two factors haven't always been the case, to our society's detriment. Go scientists.
Time for a nap now though. I caught the flu that my grandson was fighting. No wonder he was so fussy, poor thing. Good night dear diary.
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