Today's Assignment

Today's assignment was to read U.S. New & World Report's "Jobs for the Future" issue cover-to-cover. The goal, find either new ways to search for a job or some sort of long-term career advice.

I have read the issue and it was full of great information and some very helpful tips. While I didn't end up with the "to-do" list I was hoping for, I did end up a list of great blogs to add to my favorites.

EvilHRLady
Overlawyered
The Consumerist
AskaManager

The News

Once again the "news" strikes again with misleading headlines and sound bites.

On the local NBC news - "Toddler in Houston first U.S. Swine Flu Death"
On the Today Show - Basically the same sound bite
On AOL - "Toddler in Texas dies of the Swine Flu"

So, I'm thinking the swine flu is alive and well in Houston.

The rest of the story - on MSNBC.com "Mexican Toddler is first U.S. Swine Flu fatality" The MSNBC home page goes on to say that the child came to Houston for treatment. The story explains that the child recently traveled from Mexico to Brownsville, became ill and came to Houston for treatment.

It's tragic that a child has died. My heart goes out to his family.

The impression I had from the multiple "breaking news" interruptions by the local NBC affiliate was that a Houston child had died from the disease. In terms of progression of the swine flu situation, a child who recently came from Mexico, got sick and came to Houston and died is very different from a child who lives in Houston contracting the disease and dying. You wouldn't know the whole story, if all you heard was the soundbites. I had to wait until 9:10 a.m. (over an hour) for a local press conference to hear that child was a resident of Mexico, recently arrived in the U.S.

At times like this, it is so important for the media to do responsible reporting. It's critical to keep the public informed, not create a panic. My biggest fear is that the media is going to sensationalize things early on so much that if things really get bad, no one is going to believe them.

Again, the really important thing in this story is that a child has died and that is a tragedy. My condolences to his family.

Apparently, I'm Cranky Today

I don't feel cranky, but things have been irritating me all day, so at some point, I had to acknowledge that it might, at least in part, be me.

It started out at the gym this morning when a woman hopped on the treadmill next to me and then proceeded to yap on her cell phone the entire time. The cardio room wasn't even 25% full so why she felt the need to hop on right next to me, I don't know. As if the bickering between Matt and Meredith isn't irritating enough, (seriously, what is going on with those two?) now I have to listen to one half of a random conversation. Fortunately, she didn't last long.

Then, while at Central Market, between the lunchtime sample grazers and the cart abandoners it was like an obstacle course getting through there. I know I've been spoiled shopping in the afternoon (God help me when I go back to work and have to shop on Saturday again) and I should have avoided lunchtime, but quit parking your cart in the middle of the aisle while you flit about, people. It was hard enough for me to navigate, but I really felt sorry for the pregnant lady trying to negotiate one of those extended carts with two little girls in it.

Finally, let's talk about "reply to all" for a minute. The reply to all button is great when you are having a conversation with everyone in the address line. It is completely unnecessary when one person sends out an email to a large group requesting specific information. For example, a meeting request. Reply to the sender with your availability, you don't need to reply to all. It just causes everybody's email box to fill up with clutter.

I think I'll keep a low-profile for the rest of the day.

I Love You, Man.

Surprisingly good. I wasn't expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not crazy about humor based on people making fools of themselves, but I only cringed a few times. They had several opportunities to make the predictable move, but didn't. Bravo to the writers for going in more interesting and less ridiculous directions. Definitely worth seeing, or at the very least, add it to your Netflix list.

Puppies!

Another round of foster puppies arrived yesterday. {Cody and Jake both went to their new homes on Saturday.}







Sammie, short for Samantha, and Rascal are about five months old, I think. It's hard to tell exactly what breed(s) their parents are, but I'm guessing there's some lab, some collie, some pit and something small in their family tree. They are the sweetest girls, ever. They're slowly figuring out their new home and have already learned that toys are fun, especially to tear in to tiny little pieces, bones are for chewing and couches are for sleeping.


That's Sammie (purple collar) and Rascal (pink collar).


For information about about all the puppies currently looking for forever homes, please visit pupsquad.com

Nonsense Tip

Don't buy plants in the dark. You might just end up with a carload full of plants requiring "full sun" for a yard that's in the shade by 2:00 p.m. every day.

Out of Hell

In the interests of full disclosure, I must give the Texas Workforce Commission props. Whatever weird no man's land I stumbled into online, it did not affect my claim. The magic little debit card has arrived.

Duplicity

Clive Owen and Julia Roberts, witty repartee, gorgeous exotic locales like Dubai and Rome and a twisty plot with an unique narrative approach....what's not to like? The story of two ex-intelligence agents who've gone corporate and concocted a plot for a little personal payout, Duplicity is a lot of fun.

Okay, so maybe unique is a bit of an overstatement, but I found the use of flashbacks to be interesting. I wouldn't put it on my top ten list, but I thought it was well done. In fact, I was so caught up in what was going on and didn't want to miss anything that I never left the theater during the movie, despite drinking my entire "small" Coke. (Those of you know me, know what a feat that was.)

I will admit that Julia Roberts never really stopped being Julia Roberts; no reflection on her acting, but when someone is that famous it's hard to see the character; I have the same problem with Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman (damn tabloids). The payoff, pardon the pun, was well worth it. Definitely worth checking out.

Really, Career Builder?

I was scrolling through my CareerBuilder.com "Job Matches" email today and came across this "good match".

Senior Engineer - New Technologies with Oil Field Experience - Houston, Texas

Requirements
*Bachelor's Degree (check - Political Science and Engineering are pretty much the same, except for all that pesky math, right?)
*Experience leading meetings (check)
*Understanding of risk and reliability (huh?)
*Insight and understanding of the oil & gas industry (nope)
*Have a specialization within an area of the oil & gas industry and have knowledge of the relevant failure modes within this area. (Hmmmm, NO experience in oil and gas, let alone a specialization and don't know exactly what "failure modes" means)
*Ability to learn and understand new technologies (I'm not exactly a technophile, but I do okay)

So, it's good, right...except that I'm NOT an engineer which I'm guessing is a deal breaker. I LOVE recruiting by algorithm.

Car Shopping Confusion

Car shopping can be overwhelming, I know....so many decisions to make. Never fear, Nissan has a solution if you can't pick a color for your new Z.

No, you're not seeing things. The car is three (3!) different colors. Most of the body is grayish silver, the front is dark blue and the black (and gas cap) are black. On purpose.

Puppy Trauma/Drama

When I'm going to be gone for longer than a couple of hours, I can't leave the puppies in the crate, they're too young, so I have constructed a rather impressive puppy jail, or so I thought. A safe place with room to play, room to sleep and puppy pads at one end. However, despite all of my security measures Jake escaped puppy jail the other day. One puppy loose in the bedroom was bad enough, but the worst part was, at least to them, that only one puppy was loose. One puppy remained in puppy jail. {To me the worst part was the destruction Jake left in his wake, but hey, that's just me.}

Apparently, the dual traumas of being home without humans and being separated was too much. When I got home they were beside themselves. (I hope that they didn't start making all that racket until they heard the garage door go up or I owe my neighbors, big time.) When I took them outside, instead of running all over the backyard, they wanted nothing more than to sit on top of each other in my lap. For the entire hour they watched me repair Jake's adventures, they never stopped touching. It was awfully sweet.

Puppy jail now involves a closed door, which actually is impregnable. They can't watch TV anymore, but hey - everybody's got to sacrifice something these days, right?

Shocking!

Hold on to your socks. A Central Market employee was rude to me.

I know, it really is shocking. It's also a first for me, after seven years of shopping at Central Market. {For those of you unfamiliar with Central Market, it is a food lover's paradise. An amazing grocery store full of all sorts of exotic delights. One of the coolest things about CM is the "foodies" (aka employees). They are passionate about food and (seem to) genuinely like their customers. They're also incredibly patient with all of my random and sometimes stupid questions and seem to have a sixth sense telling them where they're needed. They always seem to pop up right before I completely loose hope as I wander aimlessly seeking some obscure ingredient I've never heard of but need desperately.}

That's what makes today's encounter so, well, shocking. I was minding my own business in the bulk candy aisle, delighted to have found teeny, tiny bags; the perfect size for the small portion of non perils I'd decided to treat myself to for finishing my errands.

After carefully arranging the opening of the bag inside the bin's spout and gingerly moving the lever to allow just a few candies to drop in my bag I was startled by a harsh a voice sharply admonishing me that I was "using the wrong bag." The voice continued "that bin is not designed for small bags." Both I and the woman behind me stopped cold and stared at him. His scolding continued predicting that candy "was going to go everywhere and I needed to get a bigger bag." I did (and ended up with way more candy than I wanted) and continued shopping. I couldn't even respond. I might have thought it was just me, except the woman who witnessed his tirade came up to me and rolled her eyes behind his back. (Thank you to the hip gramma who was buying her ridiculously cute granddaughter chocwit. I needed that!)

Seriously, bag Nazi, was that really necessary? I was actually negotiating the candy bin quite successfully. However, if you were so concerned about the impending doom of an avalanche of chocolate candies cascading all over your precious candy aisle, how about just offering me a bigger bag instead of treating me like a misbehaving five year old?

Bureaucratic Hell

I finally applied for unemployment benefits last month (this post will also serve as an unemployment update - filed for unemployment - 'nuff said) and found the Texas unemployment benefit process online system to be pretty impressive. Or so I thought.

I logged on to the web site this morning to check my payment status only to be told there was no payment request on file for me. Funny, since I have a four-page printed confirmation, but maybe I did something wrong. So, I tried to file a payment request, only to be told that since it had been less than two weeks since my last payment request I couldn't file another payment request. ???? Thinking it might be a web error, I tried the automated telephone service; same story. You don't have a payment request filed/you can't file a payment request because it's been less than two weeks since you filed a payment request.

It's a never ending loop.

I did try to call the numbers given if you have a problem only to be told that they're very sorry, but they can't answer my call at this time....for TWO HOURS.

Now what? Cross my fingers and hope "the check's in the mail".