Cool New search for the week

It always cracks me up the things that bring people to my humble little site here. Typically they are pinball machine machine related occasionally they are a little obscure, but this week we have a new champion. Someone seaching on yahoo uk searched for "I am going to humiliate you", and I was at the top of the list. I'm not sure if I should be proud of this or not.

So Long CJA

Interesting goings on at the MOHP this week. The other temp who I have not so affectionately dubbed Captain Jerkass (a name that I have given to everyone who has made my job search more difficult) Announced his resignation today, having scored a marketing analyst gig at another large bay area company. I had some particularly negative things typed in this space that I have decided not to publish, because they made me seem negative and petty so I will say these things only as succinctly as possible.
CJA Taught me a TON of EXCEL shortcuts, a good portion of my future success will occur because I had someone teach me these things.
CJA had trouble communicating ideas as whole sentences often "umming" every 2nd word This made learning from him extremely difficult.
My favorite interaction with him happened one day last week.
He usually came in late around 8:15 or so, and would silently scurry into his cube and not say anything at all to anyone.
After about 45 minutes I hear
CJA Hey Jason um...
Me: Oh hey good morning CJA
CJA: (After a thoughtful pause) Oh yeah.... I really need to work on greeting people...Anyway (something he said constantly to fill gaps between incomplete sentence clauses)Rambles on...

So Now I have to solve all my Excel difficulties on my own, and there is some suspicion that he might not be replaced. Which unless I'm brought in full time is really really not going to be any fun. But could also be a sign that money is being freed up for a full time analyst. Stay tuned for more developments on that.

Breaking free from my Seattle based opressors

It is now thursday at 10:12 p.m. and I have yet to partake of a single Starbucks beverage this week. Is that easy? No, Caramel Macchiato was starting to flow through my veins. But at 3.95/day for a Venti, you can imagine why I was feeling like I didn't have any money in the bank. Plus they have these delicious apple fritters that are absolutely wonderful for breakfast. At some point that had to give way to making coffee at home. I lack complete motor function before 5:30 a.m. so that has meant getting the pot ready before bed and fumbling only to turn it on in the morning. The transition to home brew hasn't been perfect... I keep leaving my travel mug at work (fortunately I have 2) and it means I lose my newspaper turning hand becuase I have to keep the mug upright. No newspaper hand means reading a lot of headlines on the train instead of risking accidental spillage from a sudden train speed change. I also can't run if I'm late, so I almost missed the bus one day too. The bus driver knows I always show up there, and saw me hustling and was nice enough to wait. I have really been standing out at the MOHP this week. The supply chain manager responsible for one of our largest customers has taken note of my work on improving on-time delivery to his customer. As more and more people learn my name/face/reputation around there, good things are sure to happen. You're getting a lot of posts from me this week since I have much thinking to do about my immediate future. I have until the Tuesday after Memorial Labor day to make a decision, but at the rate I'm going I honestly don't see it going that long.

A little fuzzy math for you algebra lovers out there

Jason Has 2 jobs
He earns hourly Rate B at the BRO and Hourly rate M at the MOHP
M = 2.6B
Jason Gets offered a promotion at the BRO that will pay him 2B which sounds nice, but would require him to give up salary M
Jason's current earnings are:
40M + 30B which we'll call X
Accepting the promotion means Jason only earns
80B which we'll call Y
How do those compare you ask? (you could do the math yourself here but I'm feeling generous)
X =1.7Y
A complete analysis here means assigning some sort of premium to the guarantee being offered by the BRO, Since I am only a Temp at the MOHP but I am not really sure what that's worth. To be fair I'd have to assign some other premium to how much I enjoy what I do at the MOHP and how much I'm learning there. Then Since I'd be managing people at the BRO, I'd have to assign some sort of value to the management experience I'd get from doing that job. So lets face it, these things are difficult to quantify and terribly subjective; which kind of defeats the purpose.

Where have I gone?

Yes, I know. My blog is badly neglected. I had free hosting for my little favorite Icon (The little pinball that used to appear in the address bar) and I didn't log in often enough to keep my acount open. What have I been doing with all this time? Well that's actually a good question. Time is flying, but i'm not really having all that much fun. Things at both workplaces are still good. There's much buzz at the BRO about a promotion, but only a small one. Meaning I'd have to give up my much more lucrative gig at the MOHP. I don't really see that happening, since I'm quite happy there and doing exactly what I need to do to get the job I really want. Also on the job front fellow MBA'er Vicky N finally scored a real gig at City Group. She was even nice enough to let me know they were looking for one more if I was interested. But I have vowed not to move again anytime soon. I wouldn't quite know what to do with only one job anyway. This Week W had Friday off, so she came and met me at work for lunch. I was really excited about trying the Pacific coast brewing company. The beers were awesome, but the food was only average and we got the worst service ever. If i'm at a brew pub and no one ever asks me if I want another beer, I'm not going to say nice things about you. Not to mention we never got asked how our meal was. I will go back, but only to drink, not to eat.
I'm starting to owe less and less people money these days, so hopefully soon I can stop working 60-70 hour weeks and start enjoying my sorroundings. I have been assured of a Gig at the
In other family news (so you'll know where I get it from) I'm extremely proud of my grandmother these days. She packed up all her stuff and moved into a nice retirement place. I have tried to call her a couple of times, and she refuses to sit still long enough to answer the phone. That's how we work in this family, we move away and fully immerse ourselves in whatever's available.

Sure, like most of my weeks aren't crazy

This really was a strange week. I was the most rested I'd been in two months, so on occasion at the BRO I was really nice to people. I didn't even look like a walking zombie. I had strangely been scheduled not to go in until 6, which meant I could even go home and squeeze in a nap on occasion. Job prospects all continue to improve. A higher up at The BRO called me in to his office to make sure I was still interested in moving up there, because 2 positions would be opening up in the very near future. I said it might come down to who made a bigger move first. My supervisor at the MOHP also said this week that one of the other higher ups decided he'd really like me to get hired, and If I could master one particular task it would be very easy for the 2 of them to convince the director I was needed on a full time basis. To make matters even more interesting I fielded two job offers while standing at my register this week, one from a financial services recruiter wanting me to sell life insurance and mutual funds for him. (yeah, we know where that one leads; No thank you) The other came from a guy in human resources at a hardware store.
Here's how our conversation went:
Him: Are you new here?
Me: Me, I've been here about 2 months
Him: O.K.
Me: Why, are you a regular here who notices these kinds of things.
Him: No, I just am the kind of person who notices when people are doing a really good job
Me: (Flattered, Grinning and maybe blushing a little) Well, thank you very much.
Him: So are you a student or something?
Me: No, I have a real job during the day and just work evenings and weekends here for some extra money
Him: Well alright, Keep up the good work
Me: Thank you, Your total is...
Flash forward past his payment and he's frantically digging through his wallet. I move on to the next customer. He eventually moves to the empty register next to mine while continuing to search. Finally he walks back over leaves a card on my register and says "if you want to make more money part time give me a call".
So suddenly a guy who went a whole year without a real job offer is about to have to make some very difficult choices.
Choice 1, Accept potential offer from Transportation department at MOHP
Choice 2, Apply for really great Finance position at MOHP that has been open and staring at me for a while
Choice 3, Accept potential middle management job at BRO and have to leave MOHP
Choice 4, Assume that I won't stay at BRO for much longer leave for more cash at the new offer
Assumptions
1. Job in transportation Department at MOHP will pay more than my temp position there, but not as much as the job in finance
2. A single rung up the ladder at the BRO will still have me earning much less than I currently make at the MOHP, but would offer stability and certainty about the future.
3. The newest part time offer would yield me a bigger discount, in a Hardware store!!!!!! That might be worth the price of admission on its own.

Plus there is the final question of will I be happier as a guy who sits at a desk all day staring at a computer doing spreadsheets but has a nice set schedule or as someone who is up and moving around all day interacting with people but has to work holidays, weekends and nights.
Alas, nothing is ever simple

Your chance to browse our personal Ikea catalog

Here is the long awaited picture of Mr Hemnes in his daytime mode he's a wonderful place for a nap

Reason # 2 you should come visit me

Yes, you also miss having me around but the guest bedroom amenities are suddenly very nice. Here it is in sleepy time mode , extra comfy

Our newest thing

Say hello to my lil friend! This is the newest addition to our home ikea showroom, the matching night stand to Mr Hemnes. He came to us as a gift from W's parents who took the new stuff on its maiden voyage