RANT: I found out today that when my dad dies (which will be soon), I'm going to lose the auto/farm shop that I've been using for years. The company that he (and his shithead brothers) sold it to will not rent it to me for any price; they want it for themselves. There is a SHIT-TON of valuable equipment in there, and I'm gonna need to find a place to put it all really soon, or lose it. That company (which used to be my dad's employer for 25 years) can go suck a fat dick.
Rant: Working the phone to get insurance figured out. I think I've called like 7 different numbers now and have been put on hold so many times. All I'm trying to do is get my ID and group # so I can pay for a medication today. Apparently thats asking a lot.
Rave: My 3.5 year old daughter is very perceptive. Rant: My 3.5 year old daughter is very perceptive. My FIL is drunk/alcoholic. He basically just lives in the lower level of the house, and my MIL lives on the upper level. My daughter stays over there about 2 or 3 nights a week. We just tell our daughter that is he sick when he is passed out which is most of the time. He knows he isn't welcome upstairs when he has been drinking, and doesn't drink up stairs most of the time. Well yesterday my daughter found a mostly empty bottle upstairs behind a couch up against a wall. She handed it to my MIL and said pour it down the drain, my wife walks into the house to pick her up to take her skating as this is happening and my daughter turns to my FIL and says "go downstairs grandpa". My FIL turns to my wife that has just entered the house and my wife goes "well what do you expect."
RANT: My Sous Vide Supreme just packed it in. Piss me off, I love cooking with that thing. RAVE: Called them up and they're shipping me a new one in the morning, no questions asked. Gotta love a company with good customer support.
Rant: Wondering at this point if management here is just trying to get even more people to jump ship, the decisions they are making is baffling. Rant: Job hunting blows. Rave: Finally got a message back and had a phone interview, I don't want to get my hopes up too much but it sounds like a really good fit for me besides not being at my current location. I was starting to feel really shitty about my job prospects ("I'm qualified, right??") so at a minimum this was a nice confidence boost.
Rant: I logged into Bank of America the other day and all my accounts except my savings account in my online banking profile were missing. Upon calling them, they had me flagged as deceased, for reasons that they could not determine. This sounds funny, but its a huge pain in the ass. I had to jump through hoops with them to prove that I was still alive and reactivate my accounts. Not only that, I've had to validate with the credit agencies that it wasnt reported, and I have to make follow-up calls to them on Monday. Same thing with the social security administration. Same thing with the IRS. I was traveling this week and luckily my other cards with other banks werent affected and I could get myself home. Sought the counsel of my wife's coworker's husband, who worked for the social security admin and he gave me all the steps to take to make sure things were not completely fucked. I have a working understanding of banking and finance, and this was a huge headache. I have no idea how someone that doesnt would know how to begin dealing with this.
Rant- Holy shit did I just bomb an interview. Well it was fun to think of working at cool company while it lasted. FUCK.
Rave: Just booked our summer vacation. We're headed to Cape Cod for a little over a week in July and we'll end the trip at a Red Sox/Yankees game at Fenway(ESPN Sunday night game) where I was able to book one of their pavilion suites. Believe it or not that was actually cheaper than buying individual tickets for the game. (There will be 10 of us going)
Rave: Bored at my parents place, thankfully I'm leaving back for Minni on Thursday so only one more day of this before I can start packing etc. Rant: Projected low in Minneapolis on Thursday is -11
RAVE: Had to re-apply for my expired passport, and went into the local office yesterday. I have to say it was an incredibly painless experience. I was in and out in under 30 minutes, and the staff were quite helpful and friendly. It is an office of the Federal Government staffed by union Government employees. I'm confused.
Rave: After the snow, it somehow hit 68 degrees here today, with a ton of sun. I thrive on being outside, in the sun, so this was an awesome chance to get beers, do outside stuff. Rant: Foolishly went with my summer vibe, bought Corona. Clear glass bottles - sulphur tasting piss. OMW to fix it, but maaaan.
Rant: I've eaten about 10 servings of brussel sprouts as well as whole grains, salads, and a metric fuckton of water over the last several days. I haven't pooped properly in 2 or 3. I sense that something big is around the corner, but whatever it is needs to hold back for another 2 hours...
Rave: About to start a new job in 2 weeks time and my new manager has just sent me a few documents to read so I can get an understanding about what I'll be buying. The first document is a document on the various types of ancient grains that exist and are available. The kicker I wrote the document 4 years ago in one of my old roles. I'm getting back to what I love and know and can't wait.
Rant/Rave: I got a disappointing raise after working my ass off in the past year and just found out my boss was promoted to VP. It sucks, but it just goes to show who they care about here and why I'm leaving. Rave: Phone interview led to an in-person interview yesterday with a group of my (hopefully) future peers at the company followed by a department director. Overall it went really well and I just sent off thank you notes to the interviewers and immediately got a positive response back. Next step will be meeting a VP, I'd really like to think I can at least get that far. It would basically be my same position today but in the woodworking industry, I don't know how there could be a better fit for both myself and their company. I'll be jumping every time my phone goes off for the rest of the week.
Rant/Rave: Kids things say. Last night while putting my daughter to bed, my wife about to put on my daughters pull up when my daughter turned around and wiggled her bar ass in my wife's face. Wife: No one wants to see your bare ass. Kid: Someone does.
Rant: How come people in the desert can't fathom how a thermostat works? I woke up and it was 54 degrees in he house. My roommate decided it got to warm so he went to the thermostat and shut off the heat. Not lowered it, shut it off. It happens all the time. In the summer it's visa versa, it gets to cold? Shut off the A/C. Same thing happened over at my aunt's house, for some reason the technology and theory behind a thermostat is beyond these cretins comprehension.
Raves: 1) 3 weeks ago I had my Yearly Review. I crushed everything I could be graded on. Highest marks on the review in our department, highest numbers in performance, everything. Got a decent raise too. 2) Moved to a rental house not far from our house that flooded in August.* Much better than the apartment we were in and a much shorter commute to work. 3) It appears we may get enough money from insurance to just pay the flooded house off. Then we can get a smaller construction loan to rebuild/repair after all the contractors repairing all the other flooded houses stop gouging people. That would be nice, paying rent on one house and a mortgage on another we can't live in is kind of expensive. 4) Just got back from a one week vacation in San Diego (booked literally 2 weeks before the flood ) We stayed in the Gaslamp District, did all the tourist things (the zoo, SeaWorld, The Midway, whale watching) and it was phenomenal. HUGE FUCKING RANT: "Oh, you're back from vacation? Guess what, we're eliminating 3 departments, including yours, and you'll need to reapply for a new position here or a lateral position - in Oklahoma or Arizona." Roughly half of my coworkers will either have to relocate or seek employment elsewhere. Rave-ish? / Not Sure? Two different people in leadership/ management have told me I really shouldn't be as worried as I am about possibly being unemployed or relocating (based on my performance and review I mentioned earlier). But that's not a guarantee and I am NOT wanting to relocate or start anew with a new company. *Our insurance adjuster can fuck right off. We have been going back and forth for literally months on our contents of which we had plenty of insurance coverage. We get a call once a week from this guy telling us "item X is not going to be covered... they're just not going to pay to replace that" I do think we are finally at the end now - just need to sign the latest estimate and submit it.