The team interview on Tuesday went as well as could have been anticipated. I say that because, like most team interviews, they are asking a series of pre-defined questions. My answers overall seemed satisfactory, my questions back to them - my standard ones of "Why are you here?" and "What one thing would you change if you could about this place currently?" were well received and had honest responses in turn. The hiring manager interview has been moved to next Tuesday. So we prepare and wait a bit longer.
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Training for the product job has commenced. I started the on-line part last Saturday and have about 50% of it to complete, which will need to be completed next Saturday. Best news? I get paid for training. First check for the princely sum of $62.47 (pre-tax) dropped yesterday.
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Earlier this week I had to drop a comment into spam (it was clearly spam). On a whim, I went to look - and found not only that comment, but comments from my regular commenters there as well that were not designated as spam. You know, those usual firebrands like Ed, Becki, and STxAR. It had even helpfully identified a number of my responses as spam. I have restored them all, including my own - so in the event you thought you commented and it never came up, mea culpa. I will check the spam box more often now.
Things like this give me pause about the true power of Artificial Intelligence.
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This week was effectively my last almost full week (4 days, more or less) of work. I am fully off today through next Friday and for the bulk of the following week, pending two half days. All e-mails are organized and sorted, all remaining responsibilities discharged, Out of Office notification typed up, with the helpful "After 29 May, this e-mail will not be monitored" added. I have six remaining meetings, 50% which I am interested to attend just as follow up, 33% with individuals that I value for the conversation, and 17% for the remaining required meeting, which is literally the last thing I will do before I push my computer over the side and call it done.
Looking at the work calendar, it is hard to believe that 43 days ago my world was so differently focused.
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The Outdoorsman and I will be off hiking again, leaving today and returning on Sunday (so in advance, apologies for the delay in responses with the excuse of spam). With the potential change in jobs one way or the other, I have no idea if this will constitute the last training hike before our planned hike in August. Either way, I full intend to enjoy the experience. After that, I will need to start doing prep work on clearing the house out to prepare to rent it. Bittersweet all around.
Life. Sometimes it is playing the hand you are dealt instead of hoping for a better hand.
The times, they are a-changing. Have fun on the hike and don't spend that check all in one spot..... :)
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - In the past, my rule of thumb has always been to use some of the first check on something memorable for myself. Not that such a large amount will buy much in the current economy, but I will find something.
DeleteThe times are indeed changing. The fact I struggle with change makes it all the harder.
Life. Sometimes it is playing the hand you are dealt instead of hoping for a better hand.
ReplyDelete^^^Best quote of the day!^^^
Spoil your beloved, the dividends are worth it :-)
Thanks Michael! The quote is certainly not original to me, but it certainly does speak to me.
DeleteLife certainly does hone the 'What Just Happened ?' reflexes around here too. Enjoy your hike and don't worry about checking in while you are out there - enjoy the change in scenery instead.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things we train for in Iaijutsu (as with martial arts) is zanshin, a combination of total awareness and readiness to act and complete calm. It has proved useful in the "things keep changing" arena as well.
DeleteFortunately during my hikes, we usually do not have cell service so I am forced by default to focus on where we are and what we are doing (an unlooked for but useful side effect of going out in the wild).
As a former landlord a suggestion. DON'T Advertise your rental, you'll be forced to accept by Law (and lawsuits) to rent to whatever shows up.
ReplyDeleteFormer because I sold most of mine just before COVID and the mother in law is my storage for now.
I rented by word of mouth. Better a good tenant who pays his/her rent on time and doesn't destroy the property than fighting in court to evict a destructive deadbeat.
Michael - My parents had never advertised their rental in all their years of owning it and had no issue with finding good tenants, except for 1 or 2 examples.
DeleteTo be completely honest, I will figure something else out before we rent to people that will treat the property poorly.
When hubby and I had a couple of rentals we never advertised. When someone called or knocked on the door he would always say I'll come to your home soon to discuss it. That gave him a look at how they lived prior to talking to their present landlord.
DeleteGreat suggestion (going to prospective tenant's home). Here's one from a former property manager. Always require 2 or 3 (preferred) references from former landlords, and rely more on older ones because they are more likely to tell the truth. Some landlords are anxious to get rid of bad tenants and will give them a positive reference in hopes of getting rid of them.
DeleteDixie
Those are both fantastic suggestions! I would have never thought to visit them at their home, nor looking back that far in history. Thank you!
DeleteI am in the SPAM bucket! I'm somebody!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are STxAR! - Although to be fair, it was spamming me as well, so I cannot speak too well of some of your company there...
DeleteRolling on the floor laughing as I was also in the SPAM bucket LOL.
DeleteTough crowd
Michael, it happened again. What Blogger seems to be doing is randomly dropping old comments in as Spam. I am not sure what the motive is, but I was able to catch it more quickly. I will look to see if there is some kind of pattern.
DeleteI unfortunately have the habit of checking my spam bucket on a daily basis. I have rescued some of your comments out of it along with many other regular contributors. Like you, something like this seems so simple to fix that it doesn't make me optimistic about more complex problems like A.I.
ReplyDeleteEd, as I noted to Michael above it happened again. It literally seems random. It could just be a Blogger thing, but I cannot imagine that an individual is combing over ever comment on my blog. I wonder with, if additional attention, it might decrease.
DeleteEnjoy your hike, TB. I look forward to more pictures, whatever you see. Be safe and God bless.
ReplyDeleteLinda, it was a great hike. I have a great many pictures.
DeleteOh, I'm so glad I read this post in my attempt at some kind of "catching up" here. I have been so sure I've left comments that never got published, but then I also know how easily it is to type something up (or think I typed something up) only to find I've clicked off the comment page and don't even realize I failed to finish the job. You caused me to back and look at the SPAM folder on my blog. I have no less than 90 comments there!!! Yikes! And most of them are my comments back to others' comments. Oh boy... thank you for writing about this, TB! I could have gone years (possibly decades) before figuring that one out on my end.
ReplyDeleteBecki, it seems completely random (I am a bit embarrassed that I did not catch this sooner). Apparently something has changed in Blogger (again) as this seems to be happening to several people.
DeleteThe fact it flagged my own comments as spam (as yours) suggests that there is a larger problem at work.
You know TB... as I looked at the comments in my spam folder some of them looked familiar - like I had approved them once upon a time. But some of them didn't look familiar at all. I don't know what to make of that. And I don't know what to make of the fact that some of mine went back to I think 2009. I wasn't kidding when I said I could have gone decades before catching on to this!
DeleteBecki, for a long time mine appeared to be true Spam - then at some point, Blogger just started "dropping" some in. It is frustrating in the extreme.
Delete