Archive for the ‘Nonclassified Nonsense’ Category

We don’t have a TV because Berck doesn’t want one. I don’t mind not having a TV around…except when the Olympics are on. We could apparently get a gadget so we could watch cable on the computer monitor, but it costs $30 and would take however long to get here…by then after the Olympics are finished.

I had my phone interview for the volunteer center coordinator with the University of Central Oklahoma at six on Thursday. We’re supposed to get off at the warehouse at five thirty, but lately we’ve been working a lot of overtime. My last check had eight and a half hours of overtime on it. I’m not sure that working till seven at night is worth it, though.

I worked really hard all day to make sure we got off on time. We did.

The phone interview went fine, I guess. I don’t think I’ve got the sort of personality they’re looking for. They said they would give me a call the next day to see about coming in for a real interview this coming week. But I didn’t hear from them.

On Fridays I get off at one. I dashed home yesterday, scarfed down a hot dog, and dashed up to Oklahoma City for an interview with Temple of Faith school. As I was looking for it, I passed through a run-down black part of town, then little Vietnam. I turned on to the street where the school was supposed to be. The streets were all pot-holed, the cars that were driving down them all looked a block from breaking down, the houses were decidedly low-income. I saw a bigger building on the next corner and hoped it wasn’t Temple of Faith church. It looked fifty years old and crumbling. I pulled in front of it and considered calling and canceling the interview. This couldn’t possibly be worth it.

But I went inside anyway. The girl in running pants at the front desk took me to a conference room and gave me an application to fill out. I don’t know why one has to fill in all the information on applications that is already in printed form on one’s resume. But I had nothing better to do while waiting for my interview. Before I finished, an attractive young woman came in and introduced herself as the director. She waited until I finished and then asked me some more questions to fill out another form.

Finally she told me some about the school (the reason I’d have to come for the interview anyway, since the lady answering the phones would only make me an interview). The church had wanted to form a school for about four years, but they’d had to go through 30,000 dollars renovating the building.

And renovate it they have. We went on a tour of the facilities, and the school half of the building is beautiful, freshly painted rooms, each colorfully decorated and filled with great new toys. The church is just starting out with an all day school for infants through kindergarten with after school activities for school-aged children. They want to expand into a full elementary school in the future.

They’re opening at the beginning of September and still don’t have all the teachers they need (one for every age group and a part time position for after school programs). They pay between six and ten, and since I have a master’s degree, I’d probably be able to get nine or ten.

The director’s enthusiasm for her new school was infectious. I didn’t tell her it wasn’t enough money, wondering if this could actually work. The pastor’s wife, who is out of town this week, is the executive director and performs final interviews. I would get a call this next week.

Of course, after thinking about it more, I don’t think I should do it. But it was nice to have a positive interview…or any interview at all.

We don’t have a TV, so for the first time, I’m forced to simply read about the Olympics instead of watching them.

Here’s a great article about an American who won ten gold medals…and you’ve never even heard of him.

Zach called me at noon today to tell me that my stage check wasn’t going to be today afterall. It’s supposedly tomorrow at 3pm. I’m not going to hold my breath.

Joanna says that I’ve given her my allergies, so it’s probably a cold. She’s probably right. I felt worse today. I spent most of the day reading.

This endless game of hurry up and wait drives me crazy. I work like crazy for a week, only so they can dawdle about scheduling my stage checks. I haven’t done anything since Friday.

My allergies have been acting up this weekend, so I haven’t been feeling great. Today was better than yesterday.

Yesterday, I went to the pharmacy to buy some pseudophedrine. It seems that in the state of Oklahoma, purchasing Sudafed is almost as hard as getting narcotics. You don’t need a prescription, but you do need a background check. Apparently it’s an ingredient used in the manufacturing of crystal meth. And apparently the state of Oklahoma thinks that making it difficult to get will do something about the “drug problem”. So far all it’s done is increased meth traffic 300% between Texas and Oklahoma. And seriously. If I’m going to make crystal meth, a short drive to a neighboring state to pick up some Sudafed sounds pretty simple compared to selling the stuff. It makes me mad.

I tinkered a bit with Arthur today. He has breaker points. I’ve heard about breaker points in history books, but never actually seen them. And I certainly don’t have a “dwell meter”– the device needed to set points properly. You can, it seems, make do with a feeler gauge. Which is what I did. He runs quite a bit better now, but he’s still making an ignition-related noise I’m not sure about.

I’d like to sell him, but I just don’t know that it’s going to happen. After running an ad in the Oklahoman for a week, I got all of one phone call. Considering that an ad in the Oklahoman is $44, I can’t exactly afford to run it for a couple of months. I’m not exactly sure what to do. I’d put him on ebay, but I doubt I’ll get any bites there either. People looking for old trucks haven’t don’t seem to go for places like ebay. Unless it’s an old rust bucket they hope to pick up for $50. Putting him on ebay means I need pictures. Without a digital camera, that takes awhile.

I wouldn’t mind keeping him forever. But he’s not a terribly practical second vehicle. An excellent third vehicle, but I’m not sure about second. And he still needs a lot of suspension work and the transmission’s been a bit flaky since I bought it. I plan to drive the transmission ’till it craps out. The suspension can be a bit more dangerous. Particularly when it comes to hauling things. Which is what he’s supposedly good for.

But it’s little things. Like the turn signal stalk broke off in my hand last week.

I got a phone call today that my stage check will be tomorrow afternoon. I hope I pass, because if I don’t, I’ll probably have to wait around another week until they call me again.

I’m just not sure about the simulator. I have a hard time taking it seriously and pretending it’s an airplane. But if I pass, that’s all I’ve got to do in it. Well, for my instrument rating anyway. I’ll have to do a little more time in my commercial with it. Stupid thing.

I made potato and leek soup and some salad for dinner. Joanna seemed excited about it, which is good because I think she’s going to be eating it for lunch for a few days:)

She won’t eat my Russian dressing. She put mayonnaise on hers.