almost serendipity

So I applied for a job with a major retailer in the area, well, not so much in the area but near the area. I got a call from a friend of mine after I applied, and she asked me if I applied at the company. I asked her how she knew that, because as far as I knew she had no ties to the company. It turns out that her husband (who used to work at my last job before I got there) currently works at the company I applied for, in the same department even. The hiring manager knew that he used to work at my last job and asked him if he knew me. He said he didn't directly but that his wife did. My friend (the wife) sent the hiring manager a letter of recommendation.

THEN another friend of mine just moved into a new apartment with some roommates. I was over checking it out and met one of her roommates who used to work for a company that designs a lot of the specific packaging this company uses. She gave me the inside scoop from a different angle.

At the interview, I thought it went well. Apparently it did not, since I got a letter of rejection yesterday in the mail. Oh well.

Garage Sale

So my mom had a garage sale last weekend, but it was part of a huge neighborhood garage sale. A ton of people came by, and since we are the first house on the block, we got a lot of traffic. Also a lot of $20 dollar bills since we were the first stop.

So there were a number of crazies out for all the cheap crap other people are getting rid of. There was one woman who wanted a box of note cards I had on the table (which I bought in like 1986) for 50¢, she asked me if I would take 25¢ for them, how cheap can you get? (I took the quarter)

Another lady bought the box of rubber stamps I had for sale and then proceeded to tell me (totally unprovoked) all about the chicken farm she has, and that she sells the eggs to friends of hers that also sell eggs because her husband doesn't want people coming to their house. She really wanted me to watch out for them because they were laid by special hens that lay blue eggs.

We had some car stuff out and got a lot of car crazies, but since I am one of them I can't really say much...

Nerd Fest

So, I went to the "Makers Faire" in San Mateo on Saturday. It was the biggest nerd fest ever. They should just call it that "Nerd Fest 2006". The goal was supposed to be a do-it-yourselfer gathering, but it was just two things, sewing and Radio-shack style computers. No in-between the one thing that was interesting to me was this pool heater that a guy and his daughter built out of their barbeque. that was clever and interesting, and there was another guy who had an automatic pool filler. That was cool to, but I think the pool filler guy was just selling it, and not showing you how to make it.

It may get better over the next few years as long as they weed out the ren-faire aspect and add some more actual do it yourself informative stuff.

Networking

I went to a "Traveling Lounge" event with the design group I belong to. While I was there, I met someone with the same birthdate as mine! I've never met anyone in person who had my same birthdate. I don't remember her name though. Maybe I will see her at another event.

College Kids Are Idiots

So, our apartment complex is next to this house that has been converted into about 8 little tiny apartments. College kids live there. They have a large back yard which no one takes care of it looks like a jungle and in the very back of the yard right in front of our bedroom window, there is a fire pit surrounded by various seating an old metal two-seater glider, tree stumps, and various out door furniture. Occasionally they like to string a big long extension cord out to the yard and hook up a television so they can watch televised Cal football games in the great outdoors, and drink next to the fire. I personally think all of this is posing a great risk to our building and especially our apartment, since we are closest to the fire pit.

Last night, since there was no game, but it was the first warm night in a while, they apparently decided to have a fire and drink. We went to bed at midnight, but they were yelling and shit until 1:30am As much as I tried to block it out and sleep, it proved to be impossible. I did pick up on pieces of conversation though, which I would like to share with you now.

"I went to public school all 18 years." - guy sounding very defensive about having gone to public school all 18 years

"I'm not drunk." - yelling at the top of his lungs at 1 AM

"I can totally suck my own dick...no really I totally can. It must be those Irish genes." - guy trying to impress girl

Crazy Car Buyers

So, I was at my friend Jamie's house yesterday and she reminded me of a run in with a crazy guy that I had forgotten about...

I've been trying to sell one of my cars for a while now. It has a major problem that needs to be fixed, but other than that it is in excellent condition. So after I put a sign in the window and parked it on the street, I got a lot of calls on it. One guys actually wanted to work on it himself, and came out for a test drive. He said that he loved it, and that it was just what he was looking for, but that he would have to bring his son by to have him check it out. (I'm thinking a pre-teen or teenager at this point) Later on he tells me the kid is 3 years old and that he likes to ride up high in the minivan he's driving around now.

Apparently, the 3 year old did not approve the purchase, I never heard back from him… Who bases their car purchase on the opinion of a 3 year old?

Crazy Drivers

So, this weekend I went on a road trip to San Luis Obispo with some friends, and we went dune buggy riding at Oceana Beach. To rent Dune buggies, you get picked up by a van at the entrance of the state park, and are carted in the 2 miles or so across the beach to where the dune buggies actually are. So the driver who picked us up was funny and jabbed us a bit about never having gone before but he was cool. The driver on the way back though, was a different story...

We are all waiting in the van for the driver, he gets in and says "Do you all want to hear some gross stories?" We, of course, say yes...

he proceeds to tell us about a person who was renting a dune buggy and went crahing off a dune and broke a lot of bones and stuff, and then tells us a story about how he was telling that story to a cocky guy and his gilrfriend, the guy poo-poo'd the story, and went on his bravado way in the dune buggy until he crashed and wrecked his girlfriend (this was only their third date so maybe it wasn't quite a girlfriend). He ended up crushing her vertibrae, and her eye popped out of the socket. It was a pretty gross story. Jamie said to him, "I see why you are the guy who drives us back from the place and not to."

Things in common

It's funny how you have discussions with people you are meeting for the first time, and you talk about things until you find something you have in common that you can both talk about. And then you are both amazed at how many things you have in common when the conversation is over. But you never talk about the things you don't have in common.