Last Week of August

On the way to school Friday, I turned on the radio and there was an advertisement for the K-Pop Demon Hunter Sing-along movie.  Natasha zeroed in on it and said we should go on Sunday because she had soccer team pictures Saturday afternoon (more on that later).

and I made shrimp scampi

I looked it up when we got home, and indeed it was for Saturday and Sunday only at participating Malco Theaters.  Since it's a cost item, I reached out to upper management (aka Nightingale) and we decided we would do it.  We also invited SIL and her crotch goblins to join us, but she was sick, perhaps with COVID.  

We offered to take the crotch goblins along without her, which she reluctantly agreed to.  She was hesitant because of costs, not trust.  Everything is so expensive now, and she, like everyone, including us, is stretched to the max.  That's what happens when you vote for a lying, petulant, insecure, thrice married, serial wife-cheating, porn star-banging, blue collar-worker-stiffing con artist.

With the soccer pictures being at 1:30, it meant we had to pick a later showing to be sure we could get changed and make it there in time. In the past, soccer pictures consumed at least an hour of your time, not counting the less than 10-minute drive to the field.  This time, however, was different.  We got there at 1:25 and, after filling out the required form, were in line immediately.  The total time investment was 30 minutes!

Something was different this time, and I think it was that they staggered the photo times between teams more widely, so that you weren't waiting for one team to finish before you got to take your photo.  Or maybe the later start time was when most of the other teams were already done.  Either way, yay! 

This coming weekend is Labor Day, and NG has invited the family over for a cookout.  Nothing is set in stone or finalized because we would need to check the weather.  The issue is that our kids like playing with their cousins.  But Confederate Jethro cannot go 5 minutes without saying something that would get you called into HR.

Going through the motions

 Follow-up to my job hunting post.  Have not heard from or reached out to law firm recruiter.  He obviously found some other candidates and/or read the fine print and realized I'd need to live in a particular city for that role.

The consulting recruiter asked me to suggest some times for an interview this week, and I gave him a half dozen, in order or preference.  He, or the person he forwarded them to, didn't "notice" my mention of Central Time Zone.  This is a common occurrence among lazy, incompetent people.  The recruiter also sent both versions of my resume that he requested rather than pick one.  Again, lazy.

I decided to just have the interview an hour earlier and get it out of the way.  It actually was one of the better interviews I've had but that is mostly because the majority of interviews suck.  

Since I had this interview and NG managed to get me a long overdue doctor's appointment, I proactively reached out to the Call-Center Recruiters to tell them that my Wednesday was no longer an option.  They called and what an amazing coincidence: the client reached out to them at the exact moment I sent that email.

They begged me to have a call with them on the same day.  So for those keeping score at home, two interviews with 2 hours between (thanks to time zone screw ups) followed by a doctor appointment.

I did it but regret it because the call didn't happen because the  Bank people had a Production Outage they had to deal with.  There were also technical issues because they were using WebEx and they have it so locked down, I could join the call but no audio.  

WebEx!   What, Skype wasn't available?  it's like using AOL chat instead of Slack. We rescheduled the interview for the next day and it went somewhat okay.  Still had technical issues so we just did a phone in.  They asked a question I couldn't answer and couldn't bullshit.  Call-Center Recruiter told me afterwards they had interviewed two other people so unless they fucked up more, I'm not getting this role.

Finally, Mid-August is bad for interviews because people are squeezing in last of summer vacations and Labor Day is fast approaching.  No one wants to work this time of year.  And interview fatigue is a thing.  If they talked to two other people before getting to me, they are exhausted of asking the same questions.  Throw in the technical issues so they didn't get a chance to introduce themselves and the overall dysfunction they have emanated and I think I will have to just settle for working overnights at the Home Depot.  

What I am watching or have watched these days

Unfortunately, I have too much time on my hands these days.  That is not to say I don't do things to keep up the household and take care of the children.  To be sure, in the mornings I feed them breakfast, pick out their clothes and make sure they brush their teeth and comb their hair. 

And then I try to get some things done around the house.  It might just be laundry or sweeping up the floors or picking up the yard after my douche nuggets leave all their toys in it.  

I also do the majority of the cooking

When I catch a break, I watch or have watched the following shows listed here in no particular order.

• Emily in Paris: This is essentially Friends in France.  A group of well-to-do young adults whose luck only surpasses their good looks.  
  
  
• Fallout: Season two will air in December, and there will be a Season Three, so if I can just stay alive, I have a lot to look forward to.
  
  
• School Spirits: Waiting for Season 3.  The first two seasons are spread around a typical school year, but how long can they reasonably stretch this out?
  
  
• Interview with the Vampire: Season 3 will premiere in 2026, and I just cannot wait.
  
  
• Mayfair Witches: This show has had the unfortunate problem of dealing with the source material and making it work.
  
  
• Watson: getting better.  It was a bit clumsy at first but that was because they were busy setting the table.  Investing in everyone's backstory, fleshing out the characters and building chemistry.  The last few episodes really stuck the landing.  
  
  
• Ghosts (US): it's kinda mailing it in this season, but we watch it as a family.
  
  
• Strange New Worlds: The first two seasons were great with one or two WTF episodes.  The 3rd season seems to have a few more WTF episodes.
  
  
• Alien Earth:

ththt

Still you gotta try

In my industry, I have three paths, if you will, for employment.  I could work for a law firm that uses the No-Name Software I am a SME in.  Unfortunately, the law firms in Memphis do not use it, so I either have to relocate to a state where a law firm that does use it has an office, or find one of the few firms that are set up to use remote workers from anywhere.  Or I get a contract job and the 3rd party is set up to pay me from the fee they collect from the firm, while skimming a little off the top for "administrative costs".

The second option is to work for a consulting firm that specializes in No-Name Software.  The challenge here is that I'm a tad bit too seasoned in that I would not likely be pushed around as much today as I allowed when I consulted in the naughts.  It doesn't help that I haven't been working in over a year either.

The third option is a non-legal entity that also uses No-Name Software.  This is my preferred option because for all its ups and downs, Corporate America is better than Legal America.

As it so happens, this month I have been contacted by three recruiters for a role at each.  

First up is a recruiter who previously reached out to me last year for a law firm role.  Apparently, someone else had already submitted my resume there without my knowledge or permission.  This time, he reached out to me about two weeks ago, for another law firm role, an hour before he left the office to go on vacation.  I'm not confident about this one because even though it is remote, the JD specifically mentions specific states one has to work in.  Recruiters miss this all the time because they just hear remote or assume they will find someone in those places.

The second is a guy who called me about a consulting gig at a place I interviewed at about 3 years ago to the date.  He actually acknowledged this but says the company has had an overhaul.  And he demonstrated this by reaching out to me periodically over the last couple of weeks to try and set up an interview.  Calendar invite pending.

Finally, a recruiter reached out to me about a role at a Big Bank that I would love to work for.  He is not the first to reach out about this role nor is it the first time.  This started in May but apparently the job req got put on hold.  At first it was contract.  then it was FTE.  Now it is back to contract.  And it is hybrid.  They would want me in a office 3x a week.  Chicago is one of those places.

So let's look at this.  Big Bank couldn't figure out the job req.  This happens a lot because of budgets and end of fiscal year, yadda, yadda, yadda.  Big Bank hired a bunch of low rent call center recruiter to fill this position instead of using their in-house people.  And the team is spread across several offices which means Teams Meeting but yet they want you in the office in one of those cities.

This screams disfunction and yet I would take this chance at earning money again in a heartbeat.  I don't even bother telling Ng about these interviews since they often go nowhere.  We would like to move back north and this might be a way but it seems to be on the highest difficulty setting.

If they actually hire me, I would have to move back to Chicago immediately.  katness said I could use her guestroom, but that would only last so long.  And the thought of being away from my kids for an extended length of time freightens me, inspite of their douche nuggetness.  

When we moved down here, NG knew it would only be two months of being separated.  This could take longer.  much longer.  

Note:   I'm writing these entries as they happen and as I have time to jot things down but I may not publish until months from now (or ever). Note: This post was written when the events were still fresh.  I waited for a while to post this because I didn’t want to risk my job-hunting efforts.

Saving some Java

 We waste a lot of coffee in this household.  many a morning, I pour myself a cup of coffee that gets cold before I can drink it.

Nightingale has decided that we should save the coffee since the cost has gone up so much (thanks Trump).  This works for me because that means setting the pot every other day.

We have an Alexa-enabled coffeemaker because I didn't want to go through the trouble of setting a timer once for the weekdays and once for the weekend.

Eleven down, one to go

Today I went for my 11th visit for the Clinical Eye Study.  This means I only have one left, and we are scheduled for 42 days from today: September 16th.  

I had, unrealistically, hoped to encounter a particular kind of conflict since I began this study.  I hoped I would either have a job that made it difficult to keep the appointment or that I would be back in Chicago.  Alas, neither occurred.  

On the It's a Small World After All scale, it is kinda ironic interesting that the place we bought our Bathroom tile from is literally around the corner.

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The Claw

In Chicago, if you needed to get rid of a mattress or sofa, or other such items, you put it on the alley and it would disappear within the week.  The garbage trucks would take it even though sometimes the item wasn't on the approved list.  As a good citizen, you would leave a case of beer out around the holidays.

Down here they have a vehicle called the Claw that comes around and picks up things that cannot go into ordinary trash bins.  The thing is, no one knows when it will come.  
It might come Monday afternoon, or Wednesday Morning or alternating Thursdays.  

Nightingale really wanted me to trim the tree branches that were practically touching the ground so they wouldn't slap our lawn crew in the face when they ride their lawn mowers.  That she wanted it done during the hottest part of the summer (yet) annoyed me, but to be fair I could have done it earlier in the year.   

So I did a little bit each day and Natasha helped me trim them into smaller manageable pieces to put out for The Claw, which didn't show up for a week.