Ranting, Jokes,
and Bargain Wisdom...
Ranting, Jokes,
and Bargain Wisdom...
Dating is so often full of stupid games
and BS, that
it comes as a nice surprise when one comes across someone who
is honest even when it's difficult to be. Had one such
surprise recently, and while it was an awkward conversation, it was worth
having... especially since I had the same concerns as she did.
Too many people avoid honesty because it's inconvenient
and they go to stupid lengths to avoid it,
when in fact more often than not addressing things in an honest fashion makes things
better for everyone in the long run (provided
it's done tactfully of course). So to all the honest
women out there, and a certain one in particular, you are appreciated
:^)
Honesty
June 18,
2006
Well my car
decided to crap out on me today out here in eastern Oregon.
Turns out my alternator has bit the big one and needs
to be replaced. My car managed to limp to a town
here called Ontario, and unfortunately no one here has
a replacement alternator for my car so
I have to wait till tomorrow morning for the
part to arrive. And this looks like it's going to cost me about 470
bucks. This just really sucks.... I'm only a
day away from Colorado, and I've been having
to spend most of the day doing nothing in a motel
room. As for the rest of my two week assignment in Ft Greely, that
period passed pretty
uneventfully. While the area around Ft Greely/Delta Junction was scenic and there were some
outdoor activities in the area (fishing, four-wheeling, hiking, etc), I'm kinda
glad management decided to relocate me to Colorado instead of
working there. It can get kinda dull there, and my
job there was even more boring. I felt like Homer Simpson, spending
most of the day in front of a computer console and instrument panel,
alternately snoozing and finding various ways to waste time. For example each day I
moved all the chairs in the room in a different odd
arrangement, like the chair conga-line I made one day, or the chair 'seance' scene I made
by circling the chairs around the table with the
chairs' armrests linked together (yeah so I'm weird, deal with it).
The work I do in Colorado
tends to be much more interesting and educational, more engineering work and less mindless-drone-work. I
know I would make a real bundle working in Ft Greely, but
I think Colorado is still the right move.
Provided the car actually manages to make the rest of the
trip there that is....
Car
Troubles
June 15,
2006
You might
be curious as to why I'm eating Army food.... well I'm spending
about two weeks in Ft Greely filling in for a co-worker while she gets two
weeks of leave (what, did you think I lost my mind
and enlisted or something? HA!). Just about the only place to eat on
base is the small Army cafe here, which is called the 'Ballistic
Bistro'. I'm assuming the 'ballistic' refers to the kind of barfing
one does after eating there hehe. Ok to be fair some of the
food is decent, but some of the rest IS pretty
bad. As for Ft Greely it's pretty standard for a smaller
army base, except for all the new stuff associated with missile
defense going on here that you've probably seen in the
news. Haven't had a chance yet to see much of Delta
Junction yet except for the IGA grocery store (expensive but that's
typical for a remote small town store) and one of the local restaurants, a
place called Poorboy's. The place is a diner sort of affair and is a
little unimpressive looks-wise, but so far their food has been damn good
and you get a lot of it too. Tried another place called Adam's Rib
which is about 10 miles east of town, and that place was pretty good
too.... had an excellent BBQ pork sandwich with waffle fries.
But I have yet to find anything to DO here yet. So at the
end of May when my assignment here ends, I'll be flying down to
Anchorage to pack up the rest of my things and get ready
for my permanent relocation to Colorado Springs. I'll have
some free time to monkey around in Anchorage for a week or so before
starting my drive down, and it'll be nice to visit with friends and family
for a bit. And this will be one more opportunity to take a long
leisurely road trip and not even have to use up any vacation time (being a
corporate goon has its perks!). So this'll kinda be like a free
two-week vacation. I think I might finally pick up a new digital
camera so I can get some really nice pictures of the trip.
And as for the
taste of the Army food, let me just say that what the food lacks in taste
it tries to make up for with salt. You'd think with all
the difficulties that Army folks go through they could at
least get consistently decent food. And not to
mention this was some of the worst clam chowder I've ever had.... I'm
having flashbacks to certain scenes from the movie 'Fight
Club' and am hoping the cooks here didn't get too many
ideas from the same movie.... :P
So THIS is what Army Food Tastes
Like...
May 19,
2006
I found this online quiz and thought it was
neat. It's the "Which Serenity character
are you?" (obviously if you haven't seen the movie or at least seen the
sci-fi series Firefly this will mean nothing to
you...):
The Operative Zoe Alleyne Washburne River Tam Hoban 'Wash' Washburne Simon Tam Shepherd Derrial Book Inara Serra Capt. Mal Reynolds Jayne Cobb Kaylee (Kaywinnet Lee) Frye Heh... so needless
to say that wasn't the character I thought I had most in common
with. Sure I can be focused and driven at times and I admit I
possess a somewhat coldly logical side to my personality, but I'm not THAT
bad. Apparently this was a tie-breaker between this guy, Zoe,
and River.... funny that the one thing they all have in common
is that they beat people up a lot (hey I'm a very nice guy, really I
am! ;^). I personally think I would resemble the ship's
pilot more than anyone else (seems I was pretty close though).
Anyway taking the quiz has got me in the mood to watch the movie again,
but I just realized I loaned out my folder of DVD's to Jupi for the week
while she waits for her cable to be hooked up.
DOH!
Cute Little Quiz
May 7,
2006
You scored as The
Operative. You are dedicated to your job and very good at what
you do. You've done some very bad things, but they had to be done.
You don't expect to go to heaven, but that is a sacrifice you've
made for a better future for all.
Which Serenity character are you?
69%
69%
69%
63%
56%
50%
44%
38%
38%
31%
created with QuizFarm.com
Yup, tomorrow I will turn 32 years old. And to
celebrate, I get to work an 11-hour shift at work.... ugh! But
actually pulling the extra hours tomorrow lets me take Friday off so I can
get a 3-day weekend. So I'll hold off on the birthday celebrating
until then. I might treat myself to some pizza or other junk food
tomorrow on the way home from work, but overall I'm just going to relax
and play my new video games. I received Capcom Classics
Collection and Death Jr. for my PSP, and they both rock! Death Jr.
is just a fun little game, and the Capcom Collection has a bunch of
neat games I haven't played for awhile, like Strider and Black
Tiger and Magic Sword and all kinds of good stuff :^)
A few days
from now will also be the six-month mark of
employment at my new job. So far everything is going is good,
and just today I was told my final security clearance has
been processed and approved! So now I have fairly
solid job security, and even in the event I end up looking for work
elsewhere I'll be very employable. But for now I'm sticking with my
current position... I have some very cool managers and I get to work with
neat stuff. As I think I've said before, the downside of it is that
I can't talk much about much of the aforementioned 'neat stuff'. But
it's a small price to pay for a good salary and a job that doesn't bore me
to tears. In other news,
there's a sweet girl whom I've been seeing for a little while now. To
be honest I didn't expect to be dating anyone on a serious level this soon
after I started dating again.... after all I can be really picky (though I
prefer to call it 'being selective'). So the fact that I'm willing to date
her exclusively this early on probably says good things about her :-)
She is cute and smart and is almost as much of a geek as I am.
I've met and dated several nice women the past few months, but she is
simply more interesting and stands out from the rest (I shouldn't say too
much, or she might get a big head if she reads this hehe). Why, just
today she sent me a text message while she was at work. It said, "I
wanna stab them all in the eyeball!". I mean, how could one NOT be
interested in a woman like that?..... ;^)
Happy Birthday to Me!
April 26,
2006
I've plunged myself back into the single dating world
about two months ago, so I'm just going to list off a few observations,
stuff I've discovered or rediscovered after having been out of the dating
world for awhile: Dating Multiple
People: Seems that this is definitely becoming more common
nowadays. I didn't start trying it until I went back to school in Tucson,
but I've come to accept it as a smarter, if not necessarily easier, way to
date. It's smarter in the sense that it gets you out meeting more people,
making it more likely that you'll find the right person. The difficult
part of it comes in trying to remember which conversations you've had with
whom.... at least if you're one of those guys who actually listens to your
dates hehe. And the other difficulty is that everyone has slightly
different ideas as to what point you start dating one person exclusively
(and of course some don't even want to date exclusively). Personally,
after no more than 5 or 6 dates (oftentimes less) I can usually tell if I
want to date someone exclusively, but for other people it might only take
one date or as many as a two or three dozen dates. And then there's always
that bit of awkwardness when it comes to telling someone that you're
dating other people.... so far I've operated under the policy of only
mentioning such things if asked. Seems pretty tactless otherwise to be
mentioning other women. And so far I haven't had any bad reactions from
the few women who asked... in fact one actually seemed to act MORE
interested afterwards (you women are weird ;^) Older Women: Perhaps it's the move
from the college atmosphere in Tucson (where it's mostly younger women) or
it's just something about Colorado, but I seem to be getting a lot of
attention from women in the 35+ years old category. You
hear the jokes and cliches about older women looking at
younger guys the same way a starving wolf looks at a
raw steak (or the way we guys look at you ladies hehe), but apparently
there's some truth to that. I'm generally partial to women near my
own age (within 3-4 years or so), but I admit there had
been occasional thoughts about making an exception or two.
There is always that unique appeal to the thought
of spending time as a sex puppet for one or more attractive
women in their late 30's/early 40's! As if it isn't obvious, my mind
has been spending a lot of time in the gutter the past few months
hehe.... Ring Checking: No I'm not talking
about determining a tree's age; I'm talking about how women check your
hands for a wedding/engagement ring. It's something that I almost
never think about, but shortly after I started dating I noticed one woman
checking my hands and I've tried to keep my eyes open for that. I
never realized how many of you women do that! What I'm really
curious to know is this: does this often indicate a sign of 'interest', or
do women just tend to do this with everyone? (like out of curiousity or
something?). I'm thinking it's most often the latter, but then I
have to admit I don't always catch it when women show an
interest in me. Part of my 'absent-minded
professor-ness' ;^) Nice Guy or Bad
Boy: Actually this topic came up in conversation with someone
just last week. Interesting to hear a woman's honest opinion on
it.... it definitely seems to confirms some of my suspicions. As
with most things, what it boils down to is that too much of either thing
is not good. The problem traits associated with being too far in the
bad boy category are pretty obvious: fooling around, bad tempers, too much
drama, just being an asshole in general, etc. But being 'too nice'
carries its own problems... and it seems to mostly point to being
"boring". Traits like being too passive, always bending over
backwards trying to please their date (i.e. acting like a pushover),
coming off as desperate, or just being too shy. So my theory is that
it's excitement that draws most women to bad boys, and that's something
any guy can do if he puts his mind to it. Granted there's always the
women who consistently date assholes, but they usually have self-esteem
issues so they're not worth pursuing in the first place. So the
important thing is to be a nice guy in the obvious ways that count:
being thoughtful on occasion, actually making attempts to listen, no
fooling around, and having some standards and self-control. Some of
my female friends/acquaintances in Tucson dubbed me with the 'nice guy'
label primarily on the basis of that last trait... seems that simply being
a guy who does NOT try to sleep with all his female friends or with women
with boyfriends/husbands or with women who are drunk is enough to be
labelled a saint. My, how far you ladies' standards have fallen
these days... ;^)
General Dating
Observations
April 19,
2006
The whole 'metrosexual' movement has been mildly
annoying me for quite a while. Now there's nothing wrong with having
some great clothes and looking nice for the right occasions, but it
seems to be going too far. It's one thing to tell a guy he
needs to get rid of his unibrow or needs to get some
clothes that don't make him look like a total goober.
But when you start getting into spending big bucks on
facials and exfoliating treatments and $100-300+ haircuts, you've
GONE TOO FAR. I suspect a lot of it is perpetuated by the
makers of various obscure grooming products and absurdly expensive
clothing.... trying to create a huge market for unnecessary
crap by playing off guys' insecurities. They've been doing it to
unfortunate women for ages, and now they've found their way in to do the
same to us guys. So my rant for today is on the subjects
of fashion, hygiene, and grooming for the average guy: 1) Fashion: Here's a simple test
to see if you need to change the way you dress yourself. Does your
normal apparel consist of ripped jeans and 'Metallica' t-shirts? Do you
wear the same clothes for more than 2 days straight without washing
them? Does your regular wardrobe make you look like the spitting
image of 'Larry the Cable Guy'? Are you wearing a t-shirt that says
'Dirty Sanchez' on the front? (I saw that a few weeks ago.... some of you
guys are just plain sick sick sick!) Does your underwear
consist of grungy tattered strips of cotton barely held together by an
elastic band? If the answer is yes to any of these, get your
80's-metal-band-obsessed, smelly, Git-R-Done, nasty, lazy ass to Sears or
Target and pick up some new clothes. You don't need to spend a
lot... just pick up some pairs of jeans, some shirts, and some
new underwear that doesn't have more holes than an Alaskan highway
sign. 2) Hygiene Products: It's
mind-boggling all the new crap that's being marketed to us guys.
Probably the most absurd is the 'Axe' body spray and line of
products... all of which essentially say "Hey, use this and hot chicks
will make you their sex puppet!". The sad thing is that it
seems to work rather well, judging from how many commercials and new
products they're still putting out (also shows how stupid and gullible the
average guy is when the mere mention of sex is involved).
Here's a clue for you guys who are unaware: no amount of body
spray/cologne/whatever is going to draw women to you. In fact odds
are you'll probably overdo it and create an overpowering stink-cloud
that'll have the opposite effect. My advice: try developing a personality
instead. And for god's sake use the colognes and what not in small
modest amounts, or not at all (and that goes for you ladies
too). And then you get into all the special facial cleansers,
pore treatments, exfoliating scrubs and all that crap. They're ALL
UNNECESSARY. All you really need are the 'big five': soap,
shampoo-conditioner, deodorant, toothpaste, and mouthwash. Everything else
is optional! Ok ok, I'll make acne treatments a partial
exception. Now for those that are truly hygiene impaired, all
society asks of you is that you use the 'big five' at least once a
day. Or at least if you're going out in public (I hope it's safe
to assume that everyone knows which product is used for which
body part, and nobody's about to wash their hair with toothpaste)
3) Grooming and Hair Removal: Again,
here are some simple questions to help determine if you need grooming
help. Does your hair and beard remind others of Charles Manson or
the Unabomber? Are you easily mistaken for a member of the 80's
big-hair band "Poison"? Do you have a comb-over or toupee? Are
your fingernails long enough to stab your brain when you pick your
nose? When you're not wearing a shirt, does your back hair make
others think that you're wearing a sweater? If you answered yes to
one of the first three, immediately go to the nearest barber/hairstylist
and tell them, "Fix my hair so I don't look like an ass". And if
being bald bothers you that much, there's plenty of treatments for
that nowadays; or just run with it and shave it all off.... shaved heads
can have some appeal, comb-overs just make people laugh inside
when they're talking to you. Now if you answered yes to the fourth
question, just trim those nails.... the ladies don't like guys
with long nails (if you have to ask why, I'm not going to explain the
details). And if they're too long for clippers, try using an
electric pencil sharpener to save you some time! And finally, if you
answered yes to the last question and do in fact look a little like
Chewbacca, you have some serious hair removal to do. Get your back
waxed or shaved or lasered-off, whatever it takes. And if you can't get a
friend to help you and don't have much money, here's what you do: get
yourself the necessary shaving products and a big bucket of
chicken from KFC. Then you go find one of those
guys holding a sign saying "will work for food" (do you see
where I'm going with this?). Tell him if he does a good job
shaving your back, you'll throw in some buttermilk
biscuits. (Mmm....
buttermilk biscuits....)
Engineer Eye for the Straight
Guy
April 5,
2006
My internet connection and cable TV was shut off
yesterday, apparently due to some billing problems between Adelphia Cable
and the apartment management. So I figure this is a good excuse
to contribute further to my neglected blog
site.... It's
mind-boggling the number of times my situation has changed in the
past 6 months. When I was first hired by my new employer, I was
to work for a period of at least a year or two in Ft Greely,
AK. Then almost two weeks into the job while training in
Huntsville, my managers discovered that there was a previously unknown
issue with having me work in Ft Greely with only an interim
clearance. So they asked if I would be ok with working in Colorado
Springs for about six or so months until my full clearance was received,
and I said I could do that. That gave me about six days
around Thanksgiving time in Anchorage to hurriedly prepare and pack
enough things for a half year stay 3000 miles away from home.
Then a month and a half later, Katie and I made the decision to split
up.... and so it was back to the single life for me for the
first time in two years. So
needless to say the past several months have been a
whirlwind of major changes for me, and a few weeks ago yet
another major change hit me by surprise. My
manager was visiting here in Colorado Springs on business, and while
here she told me about some restructuring going on in the department, and
asked me if I would be willing to stay here in Colorado Springs on a
permanent basis. There were good reasons for moving and good reasons
for staying in Alaska, but ultimately moving to Colorado was
the best course. So in early July when my temporary assignment
here ends, I'll be flying back to Anchorage to pack the rest of my things
and drive on down to Colorado. I pride myself on being
adaptable and taking changes in stride, but I'm really starting
to feel like a yo-yo. As for Colorado
Springs, it doesn't seem too bad and I think I could potentially
enjoy living here. The climate isn't a huge change from back home,
and there's some pretty country around here. The one thing I really
don't like about this place is the disproportionally high number of
religious zealots here (not surprising considering 'Focus on the Family'
has it's headquarters here). Ah well, at least there're lots of ski
areas.... in fact two weeks ago I made my first attempt at
snowboarding. I think I did a decent job picking it up, but I still
fell on my ass a lot. In fact I don't know if my butt has ever hurt
that much (maybe except that one time, at Band Camp....
;-)
Yet Even More Changes
Mar 27,
2006
Just a quick update.... Well I'm now working in Colorado Springs and the job
and the location is all going good so far. I got myself an
apartment the beginning of this month, one of the few furnished ones I was
able to find around here for a reasonable price (that was halfway
decent). I get a per diem to cover the costs of the apartment and
some food while I'm here on this assignment, so most of my living costs
are covered which is nice. As for the workplace, most of them people
I work with seem pretty nice even if they tend to be mostly hardcore
conservative types. Most everyone I work with is military or
ex-military and much older than I, which creates an 'interesting' work
atmosphere. It does tend to make me feel like an outsider at
times. Also there's only two of us in this office that work for my
company (the rest are with other contractors), so we're sort of outsiders
by default. The only thing that I find hard living here is that I
don't know anyone here outside of work. And just about everyone else
in the office is much older and/or married with families, so they're not
really the types to want to hang out and play video games or go downtown
on Saturday night and things like that. Hopefully I'll meet some
more people around here soon. And in other less happy news, Katie
and I split up last week. As I mentioned in my last post
it was something we both knew was likely to come and had talked
about. We did at least get to spend the week of Christmas and New
Years together, which was very nice. Anyway, I have no regrets and
I find myself fortunate to have had this time with her, and I know
that feeling is mutual. I miss her a lot, but given the
situation I think that dwelling on it is counter-productive and
the best thing to do now is to move on. We are still
friends (it went about as amicably as breakups can go), and I think in
time we'll be able to talk more without some of the mild awkwardness
that's between us now. As for dating again, I'm honestly a
little leery of it; I know there ARE other wonderful women out there, but
they're not always easy to find. And in the meantime you end up
meeting the women who are dishonest, interested mostly
in money, or are so emotionally scarred that they can't
help but create problems even if they don't mean to. I know women
probably have it tougher finding decent guys, but it's still no
picnic for us guys. I'll start dating again eventually, but for
now I'm just going to focus on my new job and enjoy the extra 'me
time'. So all you ladies out there, give me several weeks
before you all start beating down my door.... ;^) (I kid, I kid..... guess it's not hard to tell that
humor is my defense mechanism of choice ;^)
Life in Colorado Springs, Being Single
Again
Jan 16,
2006
| Lots of New Things Goin' On |
| Nov 19, 2005 |
|
Quite a bit has happened for me in the last three months.... First of all, this Halloween I started my new job as a systems engineer for a large defense contractor. Just to be on the cautious side I'm not going to reveal the name of the company here, as even though I don't divulge anything incriminating here (not that there IS anything incriminating <wink wink>), I'd just rather not have my employer know about my little site. Furthermore my position deals with sensitive information, and even if one doesn't reveal anything proprietary or classified apparently it's still considered inappropriate to talk too much about what you do (sadly, that also means that my opportunities for bitching much about work will be somewhat limited). Now for the past two and a half weeks I've been in Huntsville Alabama going through training and orientation, and it's definitely been an interesting experience (both the job and the location). As for the job, I'm getting to work with some pretty neat stuff, and it looks like my work will be fairly stimulating and enjoyable for the most part. The only downside of the job thus far is having to go through the whole process of getting my security clearance. I know a security clearance is a valuable commodity, but the process is just so damn intrusive and uncomfortable (just think how it'd feel if I actually had something to hide...). Oh well, I'll cope. Now as for Huntsville, it seems like a pretty decent place. It's not that big of a city, but there are some places of interest here, such as the U.S. Space Flight and Rocket Center (just went there today... neat place!). I can't really imagine living here though. While there's a lot of cool high tech stuff going on here and an abundance of engineering/science/computer nerds like myself, you still can't escape the fact that this is the South. Not in the stereotypical rednecks-wearing-coveralls-and-driving-jacked-up-trucks-with-big-tires kind of way (though there is some of that)... it's not total hicksville. It's just I feel really out of place here, where a heavy majority here are Christian-conservative, football-crazed, President-Bush-adoring, big-time country music fans. I'm sure there are some people around here that I'd click with, but in general it seems I'm better off just visiting. Plus it gets hot and muggy for much of the year, and I'm not loving that idea. Second, as a result of my new job I'll be living and working outside of Anchorage. Sometime after Thanksgiving weekend I'll be moving down to work in Colorado Springs for at least six months. Should be interesting... I've been to Colorado Springs once, but was only there a few days. The length of stay and some other details are still being worked out, but they did say that they would have a car provided for me so I can't complain. Then sometime later in the year they'll be sending me to work up in Ft Greely for a year or more. For those of you who don't know, Ft Greely is an army base in the middle of nowhere in the Alaskan interior, about 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks right next to the small town of Delta Junction. It also happens to be brutally cold in the winter (frequent subzero temperatures, as bad as Fairbanks if not worse), and pretty isolated. Fortunately for me I don't mind either of those as much as most other people, and my employer also offers some nice financial incentives for working there. With that I just might be able to pay off my student loans in merely two years :^) The last new development is not so happy: my girlfriend Katie and I are kind of at a difficult crossroads. Put simply, the prospect of maintaining a long-distance relationship for an indefinite period is something neither of us are terribly comfortable with. It wouldn't be so bad if I worked closer to Tucson or had frequent opportunities to visit her, but as it is I'm going to be far away (much much more so once I start working in Alaska). It's been hard enough just spending this past summer apart from her. We're kind of in this 'gray area' now, knowing that a split is likely inevitable but haven't come to that point yet. She doesn't want to move away from her home and friends, and I don't blame her. Even if she was willing to move, Ft Greely/Delta Junction would be horrible for her. I think we'll be spending a week together this Christmas (my company gives me a week off for Christmas and New Years). And afterwards we'll just have to see where things take us. Got Something to Say? Well Then Let Me Have It... |
| Life as a Geek |
| Aug 10, 2005 |
|
Well, for about the past two months I've been working at BestBuy in their Geek Squad department. Yeah that's right, those people in the white shirts, black ties, black slacks, and official looking ID cards that are there to fix your computer. You might be wondering why someone with two degrees, one of them in aerospace engineering, is working an entry-level tech job in a retail store. Well apparently everyone else has been wondering the same thing, because I've had about 200 people ask me that same frigging question. The general manager made a point to mention my degree at the first store meeting I went to, and ever since I've been getting, "So what the hell are you doing here?" Now to be fair it's a reasonable question... I'm just a little tired of having to answer it over and over again. Well to sum up, the reason is that I need some income while I'm hunting for a proper engineering job, and in the event I find such a job in Anchorage I'll stay on part-time for some extra cash. Secondly, when you need to find work it's stupid to be snobby about it and turn up your nose at an available job simply because you think 'it's beneath you'.... you take what's available and continue searching. As for my job searching, from what I've seen there are a fair number of aerospace engineering jobs available, but most of them are for engineers with experience and not too many for entry-level. And while I recognize that I'm limiting my options in an already competitive environment, I've been focusing my efforts on those jobs that are either directly related to my interests or located in Alaska (I just don't feel like "settling" for less). I'm going to be giving it another month or two, and if I haven't found anything by that time I'll move down to an area with a heavy aerospace presence like California or Texas. I know I'm at a disadvantage with respect to local applicants when applying from another state, so hopefully that would give me better odds. Ok, getting back on topic. I got the job almost two months ago after my friend Dave (who works here as well) informed me of job openings there and recommended me for a position (not that I wasn't already more than qualified, but odds are that his recommendation helped speed up the process). It's not a bad job in most respects and the pay is decent, at least for an entry-level technical job that doesn't require a degree. I would probably recommend it for anyone looking for a way to get their foot in the door in a computer-related job. So for anyone thinking of working in the Geek Squad, here are a few things I've discovered: 1) What surprised me the most about the job in Geek Squad is how little tech work one actually does there. The job is probably more customer service than anything else. And while that's not a bad thing in and of itself, when you have people already upset about their computer not working you tend to get the occasional grumpy customer. And as with any service job, you have some customers that treat you as though you're their indentured slave, and expect everything to be fixed NOW NOW NOW GODDAMMIT!!! Oh yeah, and I better fix it for "free". Because goddammit, their computer/iPod/whatever isn't working right which is inconvenient and they're important people! They don't care about such trivial facts as the need for it to be sent off to the service center to be repaired, or that software troubleshooting isn't covered by the service plan, or that they didn't even bother to get service plan in the first place, etc. All that matters to them is that they get what they want, no matter how unrealistic it is or how unfair it is to other customers or how store policy simply doesn't allow us to do what they're asking. Thankfully most customers are fairly understanding, but you will have to be able to force yourself to be polite in the face of the occasional belligerent moron. Speaking of which, to a Ms. L*** Young of Anchorage, you do realize that after being such a self-righteous hose-bag and treating us like crap, you left your computer in my care? As well as your personal information? A word of advice, dipshit: not everyone has a strong work ethic like I do, so treat those in the retail & service industry with a bit of respect if you know what's good for you. A less principled technician could have installed some evil stuff on your computer. Or just gone to your house and poured several gallons of rancid chocolate milk in your car window. So remember, it's not our fault you're old and ugly, so don't take it out on us. 2) Another thing I found surprising is how much consumer electronics (camcorders, cameras, DVD and CD players, and especially iPods) we have to handle. While the service center does the actual repair work, we're still expected to be able to diagnose problems with all of this stuff. And while I'm proficient in computer troubleshooting and repair, when they first shoved me up to the front counter to help customers I didn't know much more than the average schmoe about digital cameras or, god forbid, your frigging iPod. So whenever you hand me your gadget, if after the first couple minutes I say to you, "Excuse me for a moment, I'm going to try something different" and go to the back room, that means I've gone in back to profess my ignorance to my coworkers and see if they have a clue. Seems to be a slightly better idea than jumping up and down on the gadget, making loud monkey noises, and flinging poo at the customer... though definitely not as much fun. 3) It seems the Geek Squad assigns these amusing titles to their employees, all going along with an 'espionage/spy' sort of theme. For example, I'm officially a 'Counter Intelligence Agent', which is the title for the techs who work in the store. And the guys who drive around in those VW Beetles and do in-home computer/network repair and setup are called 'Double Agents'. You can go the Geek Squad website and see the rest of the position titles and descriptions. I suppose it's meant to sound cool, but to be honest I find it all a little cheesy and pretentious. But then I've always heavily favored substance over style, and I typically don't get impressed by 'fancy packaging'. However lots of people are just the opposite, so I can't fault Geek Squad too much for using what works for most people. I still say it's really cheesy though. 4) My one real complaint about the BestBuy workplace is this: BestBuy really pushes its employees to be part of this "Rah! Rah! Yay Team!" cheerleader-type atmosphere. And I am NOT that kind of employee. I'm not a curmudgeon, but that's just not me. These company cheers and motivational activities appeal to some people apparently, and if that works for them I won't criticize them for that or tell them to stop. What bugs me, though, is that they try to push it on you as opposed to participating being optional. So far I've just hung in the back of the crowd until such things are over (I've noticed I'm not the only one who does this). If management continues to leave me be then there won't be a problem... but if they ever TELL me to participate, I'll simply have to say no. To be honest, though, I don't expect it to become a problem. I can't imagine the management having a fit about something like this, at least if I'm not a dick about it. At worst I'll get labelled as 'not a team player', and I really couldn't give a rat's ass about that. 5) It is amazing the lengths some people will go to escape blame or get something they aren't entitled to. Such as when a couple brought in their laptop, complaining that the screen made a funny noise and then their display just went all crazy... all by itself. And when I look at their computer what do I see? A large spiderweb pattern of cracks on the screen, clearly indicating DAMAGE (all the other techs agreed with that assessment). Which as you might guess isn't covered by the service plan. Now I understand that it was probably an accident and I do feel bad for them, but I'm also pissed that they're putting me in such an awkward position. So then I had the uncomfortable job of basically telling them that they're not being honest and that they'll have to pay to fix it, but in a tactful way that doesn't get them all pissy and offended. This same sort of thing has happened a number other times too, and I'm getting tired of it. Things would be so much simpler if I were allowed to bonk them on the head with a rolled-up newspaper and say, "Bad! Bad customer!" =) Got Something to Say? Well Then Let Me Have It... |
| Christina | ||
| July 1, 2005 | ||
|
A couple weeks ago my friend and old girlfriend, Christina, died in a hiking accident. I'm still finding it very hard to talk or say anything about it right now, but I just wanted to say something. She had some very rough times in her life and yet still remained a good and strong person, even if she didn't always think so herself. And even though we turned out not to be terribly compatible romantically for the long term, I had some of the best times of my life with her. She taught me a lot, about women in general as well as how to be a better boyfriend. She was a wonderful girlfriend and an even better friend, and is one of the most important people in my life. I can't thank her enough for all she's done for me, and words cannot express how much I miss her....
Got Something to Say? Well Then Let Me Have It... |
| Graduated at Last! |
| May 14, 2005 |
|
Well today I finally reached the end of my 4-year University of Arizona experience and officially graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering. I wish I had time to party and relax, but my folks and my brother are visiting right now and this is the first time in a while that I've seen them. Plus I still need to be completely moved out of my apartment in about 3 days. While there's a couple promising leads for jobs, there are no sure things as of yet so it may be several months until I secure the right job. The general plan is to spend a week with my girlfriend here in Tucson, and if I haven't received a job offer or a local job interview by the end of that week I'll be heading up to Alaska again for the summer. I'll do my best to find an appropriate engineering job in Alaska, but I'm not expecting to find anything up there.... I'm more or less just planning to spend some time enjoying myself back home until I find the right engineering job. Maybe do some temp work in the meantime. Anyway, for this entry I'm just going to include some advice for anyone who will or may be going to the University of Arizona anytime soon:
That's about all that comes to mind at the moment. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with my experience at University of Arizona, and for the money I'd say it's still a pretty good deal. |
| 100+ Things About Me |
| March 13, 2005 |
|
Some of my friends have already done this and are trying to get the rest of us to do the same. So here is my list of 100 random things about me:
|
