We had a highly-regarded person come in for a job interview. He's the kind of person that everyone knows who he is if you're in my area of work: he's written multiple books, founded a well-known consulting company, etc etc...the kind of guy whose name you want to have associated with your group.
Man, he f'd his interview day up--and it was so preventable.
All he did was take a phone call at the end of his interview day. He took this call right in the middle of our bullpen (we have a little couch/hang out area)--everyone can hear you--it's clearly not a private or secluded area whatsoever. And what did he decide to loudly discuss with this unknown person on the phone (WHERE WE CAN ALL HEAR YOU):
- Other companies he's interviewing with
- His expectations of the kind of company he wants to work for & commuting preferences
- Cursing multiple times saying things like: "Design firms are bullsh*t--which is kind of ironic because he founded one
- Naming people in the field and talking about their personal lives (and yes, we all know these people even if they're not at my company--our field is small)
- Denigrating two companies by name and saying that they had poor design groups
I mean, really? REALLY? This is what you thought would be appropriate to have a conversation about in the open area where you've been interviewing all day? Did he think this was demonstrating self-awareness and honesty? I was seriously stunned and for the length of his conversation (maybe 20-30 min), just IM'd back and forth with my boss about everything he was saying.
Needless to say, he won't be getting an offer from us.
LUNCHNOODLE--Keep this post in mind. He's actually super interested in your company, I kid you not. He may have even already interviewed with you guys (though I know you have multiple teams that do design, so maybe it's not directly in your line).
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
More self-indulgence: Manual home timeline
I'm oozing nostalgia of all sorts tonight, though maybe that Facebook timeline stuff I've been hearing about is influencing my thinking.
I haven't seen how the FB timeline works yet, but if it's only pulling from what you post (which I'm assuming is all it can source data from--at least for now), that seems to be a limited impression of "your life."
My little timeline of where I've lived, since about age 6.
I haven't seen how the FB timeline works yet, but if it's only pulling from what you post (which I'm assuming is all it can source data from--at least for now), that seems to be a limited impression of "your life."
My little timeline of where I've lived, since about age 6.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Los Angeles memory preservation
I have pretty poor recall when it comes to events in my life, so this post is just to capture one odd event in Los Angeles when I was there in 2008. This post is prompted by the fact I Googled one of the people from that summer, and a 1988 LA Times article about that person appeared: "Two Accused of Running Ten-Million Prize Scam." Woah, that hadn't been digitized & indexed previously when I first met this person.
I was renting office space--just a desk, computer, & phone really in the main reception area of a 3 room suite to work on my dissertation--I think it was $200 a month. It was on Sawtelle Blvd., a few miles from my apartment, I found the space through Craigslist. I never realized it was next to a medical marijuana facility until the end of the summer, those places do a good job at being subtle.
I first met JR (the woman who leased the office suite & posted on Craigslist looking for a sub-letter) in the parking lot of La Salsa on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. This is the coolest looking La Salsa I had ever seen. I was meeting her there because I wanted to sign a sublet agreement, and her fancy Lexus roadster was in the shop (so I would pick her up because La Salsa was near her Malibu home and we could chat/talk about lease while driving to Santa Monica together so she could get her car.)
JR was like a cartoon character crossed-between Ghost World and the Simpsons--a punky-gothic misfit of sorts with an over-the-top townie personality. She was in her 50s, had a brusque East Coast sounding accent, was very talkative, and decked with a spiky faux-hawk, she looked like this random person from the Internet except older.
She boasted about her talents throughout the drive from Malibu to Santa Monica. She had written a hit pop song in 1973 and was a highly-desired organizational consultant, brought into large companies to help them restructure their business plans and improve bottom lines. She also said she was a pioneer in a new form of advertising called 'live advertising'--which was essentially having digital screens outside of businesses. She was a self-made wealthy woman with a home in Malibu by the beach, a dog she loved, a Lexus, and cool-hair. That was the story she told, anyway.
The ensuing 6-months that I leased the office space were bizarre to say the least. The self-described organizational consultant appeared to me to be running a low-rent headhunting firm (there was only a single client--some friend of JR's that needed pharmaceutical or sales reps of some sort). From 10am to 4pm each day, JR would be on the phone with unsuspecting young ladies with resumes on Monster, where she would pepper them with questions such as:
When JR wasn't on the phone asking inappropriate interview questions, she was on the phone with Monster, yelling at their tech support for something being wrong with the web site ("I PAY A LOT OF MONEY TO YOU GUYS EACH MONTH! WHY ISN'T THE SITE WORKING/GIVING ME THE RIGHT SEARCH RESULTS?!?!).
She also seemed to get into a lot of screaming matches with people who I thought were calling to find out more about her business and whether they might hire her (JR). Since I could only hear one side of the conversation, I never could figure out what would set her off, but these calls would end with a low growl and she'd be shouting "LOOK, YOU CALLED ME BUDDY. DON'T CALL HERE AGAIN, I WILL BE CONTACTING MY LAWYER ABOUT YOU."
I sat out in the main reception area with an unfortunate-young-lady-of-the-week who was desperate enough to have taken a job with JR directly. This unfortunate-young-lady was tasked with doing the same work as JR, except she was paid practically nothing and her salary was supposed to come from a commission for successfully soliciting other girls into the sales rep positions for the client.
I'm not sure how legitimate the sales rep positions were because there were about 6 unfortunate-young-ladies who came through in a single month to flex their headhunting skills, lasting only a few days each. Marci lasted the longest at about 1.5 months working for JR, though she seemed to leave on the verge of tears at the end of each day.
And then the weirdest person to ever have a stint in JR's office was someone I'll just call Bob. I have no clue what his name was, he had many. He kind of looked like this random person from the Internet, though without a genuine smile and more of a creepster air about him.
I arrived one day, and Bob was sitting at the spot typically reserved for the unfortunate-young-lady-of-the week. JR said he was just going to be here for a few days borrowing space. OK, whatever, I was used to random faces at this point.
I was not, however, used to such a LOUD person. JR could be loud at times, but Bob was LOUD FOR 6 HOURS STRAIGHT. And just vile and weird in all his conversations; he was trying to sell something, and for each lead he would call, he would take on a fake accent and fake name while being super aggressive. So if he was calling an Arab guy, Bob was now Mohammed with some rendition of an Arab accent. "LOOK MON, I GIVE YOU GOOT PRICE!"
If it was a Jewish guy, he was Shlomo; Italian? Maybe Vinnie. I wish I could say I was being facetious, he really did this--I had no clue parts of the world operated this way.
I don't have any great build-up to this story, except I think I now can guess a bit more of the shadiness that happened right in front of me after reading the LA Times telemarketing scam article from '88. My hypothesis is that this was a multi-level marketing scheme and the sales rep girls were used to help lure in new "investors." Hence, the high turnover rate of these sales reps and constantly needing to stock new ones (who wants to do this job once you realize it's scamming people?).
In all fairness, I have to say that JR never bilked me out of any money (my security deposit for the keys was returned in full without issue) and she never tried to involve me in any of her dealings. I suspect I must have had some smell of nerd-snitch about me that made me less desirable for the picking.
2008 ended on a positive note: Julie and I had a great vacation to Mexico City and Mazunte, and then I moved to San Jose -- though it would still take me another year to finally complete that damn dissertation.
I look forward to Googling JR in a few years to find out the latest installment of her saga.
I was renting office space--just a desk, computer, & phone really in the main reception area of a 3 room suite to work on my dissertation--I think it was $200 a month. It was on Sawtelle Blvd., a few miles from my apartment, I found the space through Craigslist. I never realized it was next to a medical marijuana facility until the end of the summer, those places do a good job at being subtle.
I first met JR (the woman who leased the office suite & posted on Craigslist looking for a sub-letter) in the parking lot of La Salsa on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. This is the coolest looking La Salsa I had ever seen. I was meeting her there because I wanted to sign a sublet agreement, and her fancy Lexus roadster was in the shop (so I would pick her up because La Salsa was near her Malibu home and we could chat/talk about lease while driving to Santa Monica together so she could get her car.)
JR was like a cartoon character crossed-between Ghost World and the Simpsons--a punky-gothic misfit of sorts with an over-the-top townie personality. She was in her 50s, had a brusque East Coast sounding accent, was very talkative, and decked with a spiky faux-hawk, she looked like this random person from the Internet except older.
She boasted about her talents throughout the drive from Malibu to Santa Monica. She had written a hit pop song in 1973 and was a highly-desired organizational consultant, brought into large companies to help them restructure their business plans and improve bottom lines. She also said she was a pioneer in a new form of advertising called 'live advertising'--which was essentially having digital screens outside of businesses. She was a self-made wealthy woman with a home in Malibu by the beach, a dog she loved, a Lexus, and cool-hair. That was the story she told, anyway.
The ensuing 6-months that I leased the office space were bizarre to say the least. The self-described organizational consultant appeared to me to be running a low-rent headhunting firm (there was only a single client--some friend of JR's that needed pharmaceutical or sales reps of some sort). From 10am to 4pm each day, JR would be on the phone with unsuspecting young ladies with resumes on Monster, where she would pepper them with questions such as:
"Based on your college graduation date, it looks like you're probably in your late 30s. Can you doll yourself up and look younger? The client really needs women who are lookers."
"Do you have kids? The client needs women who have flexible schedules and aren't running off to pick up their kids all the time. Is that going to be an issue?"
When JR wasn't on the phone asking inappropriate interview questions, she was on the phone with Monster, yelling at their tech support for something being wrong with the web site ("I PAY A LOT OF MONEY TO YOU GUYS EACH MONTH! WHY ISN'T THE SITE WORKING/GIVING ME THE RIGHT SEARCH RESULTS?!?!).
She also seemed to get into a lot of screaming matches with people who I thought were calling to find out more about her business and whether they might hire her (JR). Since I could only hear one side of the conversation, I never could figure out what would set her off, but these calls would end with a low growl and she'd be shouting "LOOK, YOU CALLED ME BUDDY. DON'T CALL HERE AGAIN, I WILL BE CONTACTING MY LAWYER ABOUT YOU."
I sat out in the main reception area with an unfortunate-young-lady-of-the-week who was desperate enough to have taken a job with JR directly. This unfortunate-young-lady was tasked with doing the same work as JR, except she was paid practically nothing and her salary was supposed to come from a commission for successfully soliciting other girls into the sales rep positions for the client.
I'm not sure how legitimate the sales rep positions were because there were about 6 unfortunate-young-ladies who came through in a single month to flex their headhunting skills, lasting only a few days each. Marci lasted the longest at about 1.5 months working for JR, though she seemed to leave on the verge of tears at the end of each day.
And then the weirdest person to ever have a stint in JR's office was someone I'll just call Bob. I have no clue what his name was, he had many. He kind of looked like this random person from the Internet, though without a genuine smile and more of a creepster air about him.
I arrived one day, and Bob was sitting at the spot typically reserved for the unfortunate-young-lady-of-the week. JR said he was just going to be here for a few days borrowing space. OK, whatever, I was used to random faces at this point.
I was not, however, used to such a LOUD person. JR could be loud at times, but Bob was LOUD FOR 6 HOURS STRAIGHT. And just vile and weird in all his conversations; he was trying to sell something, and for each lead he would call, he would take on a fake accent and fake name while being super aggressive. So if he was calling an Arab guy, Bob was now Mohammed with some rendition of an Arab accent. "LOOK MON, I GIVE YOU GOOT PRICE!"
If it was a Jewish guy, he was Shlomo; Italian? Maybe Vinnie. I wish I could say I was being facetious, he really did this--I had no clue parts of the world operated this way.
I don't have any great build-up to this story, except I think I now can guess a bit more of the shadiness that happened right in front of me after reading the LA Times telemarketing scam article from '88. My hypothesis is that this was a multi-level marketing scheme and the sales rep girls were used to help lure in new "investors." Hence, the high turnover rate of these sales reps and constantly needing to stock new ones (who wants to do this job once you realize it's scamming people?).
In all fairness, I have to say that JR never bilked me out of any money (my security deposit for the keys was returned in full without issue) and she never tried to involve me in any of her dealings. I suspect I must have had some smell of nerd-snitch about me that made me less desirable for the picking.
2008 ended on a positive note: Julie and I had a great vacation to Mexico City and Mazunte, and then I moved to San Jose -- though it would still take me another year to finally complete that damn dissertation.
I look forward to Googling JR in a few years to find out the latest installment of her saga.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
I like the library again
I finally have reason to use the library again--being able to check out books on my Kindle is perfect for me (as someone who is never willing to make the time to check out books in-person because I find it too inconvenient). Now I just have to figure out what the unpopular titles are to check out, I'm 52nd on the waiting list for Jennifer Egan's "A Visit From the Goon Squad."
I had a nice afternoon hiking around Tryon Creek park today. I really liked this park for an easy nature jog--there were some hills, but not too many, and the paths were super-maintained and pretty wide (so easy to pass people and stable surface). Also, all the trail spurs were pretty short, so it was always easy to modify the route at any time and start heading back.
I'll have to come at a less popular time though, there were a ga-zillion dog and child walkers out.
I had a nice afternoon hiking around Tryon Creek park today. I really liked this park for an easy nature jog--there were some hills, but not too many, and the paths were super-maintained and pretty wide (so easy to pass people and stable surface). Also, all the trail spurs were pretty short, so it was always easy to modify the route at any time and start heading back.
I'll have to come at a less popular time though, there were a ga-zillion dog and child walkers out.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Media Experimenting Continued
This definitely is the year that I am noticing a shift in how I value access to media (TV shows, movies, whatever). And yes, this is major #firstworldproblems, I get it. I'm just trying to figure out how to easily find stuff I want to watch while minimizing having to pay for things I'm not interested in.
I cancelled Netflix today because I don't want to have to use 2 separate sites for streaming & DVD rentals. I can stream the content Netflix has from many other services and I don't want to start from scratch building up my ratings and queue on a new site for rentals. Now I will just try starting fresh and paying for new movies I want to watch on a pay-per-view basis.
I'm still wanting to cut the cord with broadcast cable (I would keep the uber-basic local channels), but I secretly still want nonsense to watch without having to seek it out, any time of the day.
I cancelled Netflix today because I don't want to have to use 2 separate sites for streaming & DVD rentals. I can stream the content Netflix has from many other services and I don't want to start from scratch building up my ratings and queue on a new site for rentals. Now I will just try starting fresh and paying for new movies I want to watch on a pay-per-view basis.
I'm still wanting to cut the cord with broadcast cable (I would keep the uber-basic local channels), but I secretly still want nonsense to watch without having to seek it out, any time of the day.
Cake Ball Making
In celebration for someone's return back to the office, I am Dean of Treats (other people are doing cube decorations, etc.), with dark chocolate M&Ms being the theme and favorite candy of said person.
I've decided to work on my cake ball making skills (cake truffles if you wanna be fancy), and I've improved drastically since when I first started making these a few years ago. Mine used to be way too sweet when I followed previous recipes that insisted on incorporating a can of frosting, so I eliminated canned frosting completely for just my own mixture of cream cheese, butter, and minimal powdered sugar.
However, it's still seeming impossible to get more of a cake texture inside, and while my coating is better than prior years (I used to coat them really unevenly), it still looks very amateur. Of course, tacking on an M&M to anything doesn't exactly help in that area.
Too gooey looking inside (and I barely used any binder):
The successful things to do again were:
1) Use Alton Brown's red velvet cake recipe, weighing all ingredients--fantastic tasting, not too sweet
2) Use chocolate melting pot & tap off excess chocolate after rolling cake ball in it
3) Don't use canned frosting
4) Use minimal sugar in any binder
To try for the future:
1) Drying the cake out so it's less moist
2) Finding some kind of icing/candy writer to make a drizzle pattern
I've decided to work on my cake ball making skills (cake truffles if you wanna be fancy), and I've improved drastically since when I first started making these a few years ago. Mine used to be way too sweet when I followed previous recipes that insisted on incorporating a can of frosting, so I eliminated canned frosting completely for just my own mixture of cream cheese, butter, and minimal powdered sugar.
However, it's still seeming impossible to get more of a cake texture inside, and while my coating is better than prior years (I used to coat them really unevenly), it still looks very amateur. Of course, tacking on an M&M to anything doesn't exactly help in that area.
Too gooey looking inside (and I barely used any binder):
The successful things to do again were:
1) Use Alton Brown's red velvet cake recipe, weighing all ingredients--fantastic tasting, not too sweet
2) Use chocolate melting pot & tap off excess chocolate after rolling cake ball in it
3) Don't use canned frosting
4) Use minimal sugar in any binder
To try for the future:
1) Drying the cake out so it's less moist
2) Finding some kind of icing/candy writer to make a drizzle pattern
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Gardening Outcome
Well, it took 3 months, but I have successfully birthed more peppers than I will ever use. I will definitely be planting again next summer, but not peppers -- though now I understand why someone would be inclined to make pepper jelly. Actually, I'm still not inclined to do that, and so these will be taken to work and given away. May they end up in many delicious salsas, curries, or stir fries.
Friday, September 2, 2011
September Workouts
1 - 5.5 mile light jog/walk
2 - 4 mile run
3 - Nothing
4 - Nothing
5 - Fishing
6 - Nothing
7 - Nothing
8 - Nothing
9 - Nothing
10 - Nothing
11 - 3.6 mile run
12 - Nothing
13 - 5.4 mile run
14 - Nothing
15 - Nothing
16 Nothing
17 - Nothing
18 - Nothing
19 - Nothing
2 - 4 mile run
3 - Nothing
4 - Nothing
5 - Fishing
6 - Nothing
7 - Nothing
8 - Nothing
9 - Nothing
10 - Nothing
11 - 3.6 mile run
12 - Nothing
13 - 5.4 mile run
14 - Nothing
15 - Nothing
16 Nothing
17 - Nothing
18 - Nothing
19 - Nothing
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