The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
Back at the Library
I raced home Thursday to give Eloise her meds and “baby cereal”. Then I had to change my clothes. Ate a Lean Cuisine pizza standing up at the counter talking to my mother about…something..I don’t remember – before racing off to my shift at the Library Used Book Store.
Between the holidays and Convention, I hadn’t been there since before Christmas, and you know what that means. I spent a big chunk of time poring through the shelves in case something cool came in while I was out.
I picked up a copy of the Warren Commission Report. No, I don’t actually see myself reading the whole thing for real. But I am building a library. Shouldn’t every library have a copy? Now that I think about it – I refused to even touch the Starr Report. And I don’t have the 9/11 report, either. Whatever. It was a dollar. Then I saw a beautiful copy of an early Ian McEwan novel that I haven’t read yet.
Finally, I started taking out new inventory. I only went through one box – on a good night I can go through four. And I only listed two books online. But it was nice to be back.
Eloise – Round 2
I brought Eloise the Grey back home from the Refuge when I returned from San Antonio. She is still on her meds from the fungal infection and it seems that she lost weight again so she is on a supplement. Karen, our volunteer director, likened it to baby cereal. I mix it up and feed it to her from a large syringe. She laps it right up. When she isn’t dribbling and wiping her beak on the counter and shaking her head and splashing it all over my shirt.
Like baby cereal. Or so I hear.
Then I started making a batch of the regular dry diet. Because when I am fostering, I go through it twice as quickly. The base is pellets, with some cereal, dried pasta and other cereal and Nutriberries. I looked at the counter full of stuff that I mix together and it hit me that this is bloody ridiculous:
That is seven things I am mixing together. And this is just for the dry food they get in the morning. While I was putting this together, Eloise was on the T-stand eating her birdie bread with an almond butter booster. Of course, Shadow the Dog was right where he could catch the crumbs and there was no way to get a picture that wasn’t tragically blurry.
Kiwi sat on the refridgerator and watched:
Finding a Mechanic
I have talked a bit about my mechanic, Bill. This morning I came across this article in MSN about choosing one, which has way more detail than I would bother to pursue. However, it makes an interesting point about the different types of vendors:
Apparently, some people only go to the mechanic at their dealership. This isn’t a bad idea, if only to confirm that any work done maintains your vehicle warranty. I find them difficult to schedule, though.
Some people go to chains. Sears Automotive was the one mentioned in the article. I can’t really comment because I haven’t tried it. Is it better cost, or perhaps the comfort of the big name? When I was young and struggling, I did my oil changes at Jiffy Lube for a couple of years. I was never entirely comfortable because someone different was working on my car every time I went.
Independents might seem like a dicier prospect. The article says they are patronized by “community-conscious” people. I found mine because the original proprietor was my friend Susie’s dad. The current proprietor was the manager for many years when Susie’s dad was semi-retired.
I agree that getting referrals is the most important thing. If someone you know is pleased with the service, you will probably be fine. If that doesn’t work, I use Angie’s List. I also like the part about discussing your concerns with the mechanic.
Bill knows that if something on my car has to be fixed, the first thing I want to know is, “Did I do that?” Because when I was younger and my dad was paying for my repairs, it helped to know if I was in trouble. But that question helped me to understand, on an extremely low level, the operations of my car. These days, he knows that I am concerned with the beating my car takes on my commute.
The article doesn’t address being a good customer. Obviously we are paying for a good service, but I swear it helps if your vendor likes you. So my first rule is that I always call first, and do not assume that the rest of Bill’s operation stops because I need something. Second, we always drop our cars off for oil changes. I realize that not everyone can do that, but we leave a car there on Friday afternoon and pick it up on Saturday morning so that Bill can get to it when he has time and there isn’t an impatient person pacing his office when he is trying to help someone else. Finally, we are clear on the estimate rules. They are, “If it is $500 or less, just go ahead and do it. If it is more that $500, please call first.”
While I think building a relationship with vendors is always a good thing – like the snow plow guy – it is vital to me to be able to trust a mechanic. I don’t know much about cars and don’t want to know much about cars. Could I be cheated? Easily. But I am certain that is not happening.
Those Calls
As you may know, I make it very easy for the world to leave me a message and rather difficult to catch me live and in person. If I don’t recognize a caller i.d., I rarely answer the phone.
A woman calls me at work and leaves a message giving her name and saying that she is calling regarding C.N.A. (from whom we have purchased retirement annuities in the past). I don’t know this person, but I also don’t have a current contact at C.N.A., and perhaps they need something for one of my retirees. I call her back.
First, I talk with the receptionist, who wants my name and purpose. I give her my name and company, then tell her I am returning a call. I am transferred. I introduce myself and say, “You called me regarding C.N.A.”
“Yes!” she replies. “C.N.A. has been downsizing and I am working with a lot of their people and I know we have some candidates that….”
She is a recruiter.
Then the dance begins. I am not hiring. I do not need help. My turnover is extremely low.
We know you aren’t hiring now. We just want to meet with you to build a relationship for when you are hiring.
I have a smidgen of sympathy, because recruiters have a difficult job. Horrid HR people like me do not return their calls, so they become tricksy. But they do not take “No” for an answer, which makes me avoid engaging in the conversation. Now I have a meeting booked with some stranger trying to sell me something that I don’t need. And I resent it.
So did she win, because I agreed to a time? Even assuming that I don’t cancel, she does not win. Strike One – You basically tricked me into calling you. Strike Two – You railroaded me into a meeting. Strike Three – I do. Not. Require your services.
So then, the question is “What is a recruiter to do?” Well. Everyone is different. But in my file of 10,000 cards from recruiting firms, there are two or three that are likely to get a call if I have a recruiting need. I get the occasional e-mail or note from them, so that I know they are still around. But otherwise they leave me alone. I appreciate them.
Radar Bait
I love statistics from the car insurance companies. They taught me never to buy a Jaguar. MSN just published the most likely to get ticketed for traffic violations. One of my co-workers has rules for not getting ticketed for speeding (she is on the highway a lot):
1. Stay in the right-hand lane whenever you can.
2. You can drive faster than other cars, just not conspicuously.
3. Drive a sedan. Buicks are best.
4. It helps to be a middle-aged lady.
It looks like she is correct about the Buicks. Hummers are ticketed the most, then Scions, then a Mercedes and a Toyota Solara. Hard to tell if it is a prejudice of the cops or the “profile” of the drivers.
The other thing the insurance companies tell us:
Insurance claims data generally back up ISO Quality Planning’s findings. Ratings information from State Farm, for instance, advises Hummer owners to expect to pay significantly higher than standard premiums for liability. Likewise, Scion owners typically face much higher than standard rates for comprehensive and collision insurance.
You can read the entire article (and check some statistics) here. I am liking my Saturn today.
Online Job Searches
Career advice is everywhere lately and you don’t really need more from me. However.
Rachel from I Hate HR blogged a bit about her pet peeves from online applications. The big one was using someone else’s e-mail address. So. True. If you are looking for a job, the first thing you should do is get a personal e-mail address that is not cutesy or profane or kitschy or otherwise lame. Or belonging to a spouse or roommate.
HR professionals are all different in what impresses or irritates. For example, Rachel doesn’t want anyone to send her a cover letter without a résumé. I do not want anyone to send me a résumé without a cover letter. For what position are you applying and who or what referred you to me? And personally, I prefer that cover letter be in the body of the e-mail, as opposed to an attachment. If your résumé is an attachment, I have to open two documents. For a hundred or so applicants. But nevermind that.
Just get a respectable e-mail address.
Hotel Values
The Chicago Tribune ran an article about how much trouble the hotel industry is in these days. As if we couldn’t guess.
“The first-class traveler is traveling coach. The suite buyer is scaling back to a standard room.” Says The Four Seasons hotel. Yeah.
But check this out:
Many hotels traded hands during the boom years and, like many homes, are no longer worth as much as their outstanding mortgage debt.
Whoa. I understand that staying in hotels is the first thing we ditch when money is tight. But I hadn’t thought of the hotel industry in terms of its own credit crisis.
Except for Galena, Illinois and the occasional trip to New Orleans (oh, and that spa in South Dakota), I stay in chain hotels. Marriott when I can manage it. I am a sucker for rewards programs, but mostly I just like to know what to expect. I like seeing different cities, but I also like to sleep someplace familiar.
I have seen chain hotels change hands over the last few years. I remember when we were in Charlotte a decade ago, we stayed at the Westin adjacent to the convention center. A few years ago, when we returned, the Westin was something else. That pink hotel in St. Pete’s was independent until Loew’s bought it a few years ago. I imagine there are franchises that change hands. I imagine that the historic Bed and Breakfasts are bought and sold as people retire. I just hadn’t considered that hotels could have the same debt-to-property value issue that homeowners have. And that their one source of income has decided on a stay-cation this year.
I am going to plan my summer jaunt now.
Kindle
About five minutes after I posted that I had no use for electronic books, it was Christmas morning and my brother gifted me with a Kindle. I took it with me to San Antonio and here are some early thoughts:
First. $9.99 is more than I pay for books. Generally, I pay a dollar for a book. Browsing on Amazon, I found Bill Ayers’ Fugitive Days. This has been on my wish list for a couple of years and since I had not seen it in my usual Used Book haunts, I downloaded it.
Then I discovered that if a book is out of copyright, it can be had for pennies. Specifically, I bought the complete works of Shakespeare for 99 cents. My mother called that a waste of digital space – as if I am really going to read sonnets on the airplane. I might. And anyway: it’s cool.
There were a few books that can be downloaded from Amazon free of charge. So I picked two that sounded vaguely interesting and went for it. My bargain method is to search for “Kindle Books” and sort by price from lowest to highest.
Oh, but you wanted to hear about actually using the Kindle.
My friend, Brandon, is a gadgety-tech sort of guy and he wrote a detailed review that does a far better job than I could. You can read it here. Following is my whiny, non-technical analysis:
Pro:
It can lay flat on the table. So when I am at lunch I do not need to keep a hand free to hold it up.
Con:
The device costs a fortune. Am I really going to carry it around to lunch? At my meeting last week, where I tend to leave my bag lying around rooms in the convention center, I was afraid to take it out of the hotel room.
Pro:
You can always download a book on the fly. Very convenient if I am stuck in an airport all day.
Con:
Lack of page numbers. And no good way to know how close you are to the end of a chapter. And the clock isn’t where I want it to be.
Pro:
The pages are easy enough on the eyes. Turning pages is easy, although the “Back” and “Previous Page” buttons messed me up.
Con:
There is some lag time between screens. But I became pretty adept at hitting the “Next” button with a couple of lines to go so that the page turned in sync with my brain.
Overall, this is a nice toy. But I am not giving up my used books.
I Wasn’t Kidding
There is no good way to get this picture, all jammed in with my pretend desk, but that bookcase is my “to be read” pile. I also have two more books to read on the Kindle. I took the picture because Library Thing once had a way to upload them, but I couldn’t find it this morning.
School has started again, so my pace will be drastically reduced until May. Again.
This Weekend
Saturday morning was the first morning where I could sleep in two weeks. At 6am, Spooky the Cat started yowling and climbing on me and wouldn’t shut up. I scooped him up, tossed him back to his space at the foot of my bed and lay back down. He came over and sat down right on my bladder. What do you think I am going to do to him right now?
In other events, I went downstairs to feed the birds and found this:
Clearly the work of Shadow the Dog. But..he left the bag alive. Normally, (well, not normally, because this is not a regular occurrence) there would be pieces of empty bag all over the room. What does it say about the chips if Shadow won’t eat them?
Garden Salsa Sun Chips.
The Next Dark Age 