Saturday, October 20, 2007
My Contribution
Scipio at The Absorbascon has put a call for artwork submissions for inclusion on his site.
He posted some specific guidelines for the type of material he wants to see.
Examples include Hal Jordan getting hit in the head, and Jean Loring acting crazy.
Here's my submission; Hal Jordan getting hit in the head by Jean Loring, who is, naturally, acting crazy:
He posted some specific guidelines for the type of material he wants to see.
Examples include Hal Jordan getting hit in the head, and Jean Loring acting crazy.
Here's my submission; Hal Jordan getting hit in the head by Jean Loring, who is, naturally, acting crazy:
Answering The Call: Here's Your Chance To Be A Hero...For Free!
As mentioned yesterday, I need some new portraits to flesh out my Heroic Portraits gallery.
Now, I could just make a bunch of random portraits by grabbing some images of people off the Web, but I think it would be more effective if I were to do some real portraits, which is to say fulfill actual portrait requests from regular people.
Towards that end, I’m asking all Threshold readers to put in their own requests for free portraits.
I can’t afford to do free prints, but I can provide you with free digital portraits, suitable for use as wallpapers, or for profile pictures on MySpace or your blogs, or whatever, and I’ll provide them in high resolution so that you can get your own prints if you want.
So here’s the deal. Send a digital photo of yourself (Or a friend; Heroic Portraits make great gifts!) to portraits@heroicportraits.com, along with a detailed description of how you’d like to see yourself.
That’s all you have to do, and soon you’ll be able to see yourself in all of your heroic – or villainous, if that’s your thing – glory on your computer screen and in my gallery of Heroes.
And then, if you could be kind enough to tell your friends where you got that cool picture of yourself as a super-hero, or swashbuckling corsair, or as a cartoon animal, that would be greatly appreciated.
For more information on my requirements and the process, go here.
Now, I could just make a bunch of random portraits by grabbing some images of people off the Web, but I think it would be more effective if I were to do some real portraits, which is to say fulfill actual portrait requests from regular people.
Towards that end, I’m asking all Threshold readers to put in their own requests for free portraits.
I can’t afford to do free prints, but I can provide you with free digital portraits, suitable for use as wallpapers, or for profile pictures on MySpace or your blogs, or whatever, and I’ll provide them in high resolution so that you can get your own prints if you want.
So here’s the deal. Send a digital photo of yourself (Or a friend; Heroic Portraits make great gifts!) to portraits@heroicportraits.com, along with a detailed description of how you’d like to see yourself.
That’s all you have to do, and soon you’ll be able to see yourself in all of your heroic – or villainous, if that’s your thing – glory on your computer screen and in my gallery of Heroes.
And then, if you could be kind enough to tell your friends where you got that cool picture of yourself as a super-hero, or swashbuckling corsair, or as a cartoon animal, that would be greatly appreciated.
For more information on my requirements and the process, go here.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Funk Week Continues
I haven’t really done much today, which is pretty well in line with what I decided to do this week after getting shitcanned.
Basically, my plan has been to be in a funk through the weekend and not do much of anything productive.
Which isn’t really much different from what my plans for the week were like before getting shitcanned, but I do have more time to spend at home doing it.
The only thing I really did today was fill up the 300 or so comic bags I had previously boarded on my long boring Saturdays at work.
Now I’m out of bags and boards (and long boring Saturdays at work), and I still have so many more comics that need to be bagged and boarded.
I want to get the bagging and boarding out of the way before I try actually organizing them and entering them into my database.
At a guess, I’d say I need at least 600 more bags and boards.
I was awoken this morning by Kathleen calling to inform me that she was on her way to a meeting and that I was her Plan B for lunch when she got back to Leesburg, with Plan A being to have lunch with Brian.
She called back later to let me know that she’d gone with Plan A.
There have been no new developments on the job-hunting front today. Yesterday I was contacted by another IT recruiting service, though he didn’t have any specific potential jobs in mind.
I did get a call from the job placement company whose services are part of my severance package. I have to go in for an orientation on Tuesday, after which I will be set up with a counselor and will have access to their computers for job searches and for printing resumes and so forth.
They have a job fair specifically for ex-AOLers lined up on November 1st.
After I finish funk week, I’m going to start putting some serious effort into doing things like upgrading the Heroic Portraits site, and potentially launching a comics-related site that could, conceivably, generate some revenue via selling ad space.
The Heroic Portraits upgrade would involve not only overhauling the site design, but also cranking out some more pictures to flesh out the gallery and to add some more graphical elements to the look of the site.
I’m not really inclined to get into specifics about the other site idea just yet.
The plan for next week also includes doing some non-Threshold writing.
To execute these plans I’m going to actually draw up a daily schedule.
That’ll be the easy part; actually sticking to it and performing the scheduled tasks will be the difficult and, honestly, unlikely part.
But you never know.
(Okay, with me you pretty much always know, but things can change.)
Basically, my plan has been to be in a funk through the weekend and not do much of anything productive.
Which isn’t really much different from what my plans for the week were like before getting shitcanned, but I do have more time to spend at home doing it.
The only thing I really did today was fill up the 300 or so comic bags I had previously boarded on my long boring Saturdays at work.
Now I’m out of bags and boards (and long boring Saturdays at work), and I still have so many more comics that need to be bagged and boarded.
I want to get the bagging and boarding out of the way before I try actually organizing them and entering them into my database.
At a guess, I’d say I need at least 600 more bags and boards.
I was awoken this morning by Kathleen calling to inform me that she was on her way to a meeting and that I was her Plan B for lunch when she got back to Leesburg, with Plan A being to have lunch with Brian.
She called back later to let me know that she’d gone with Plan A.
There have been no new developments on the job-hunting front today. Yesterday I was contacted by another IT recruiting service, though he didn’t have any specific potential jobs in mind.
I did get a call from the job placement company whose services are part of my severance package. I have to go in for an orientation on Tuesday, after which I will be set up with a counselor and will have access to their computers for job searches and for printing resumes and so forth.
They have a job fair specifically for ex-AOLers lined up on November 1st.
After I finish funk week, I’m going to start putting some serious effort into doing things like upgrading the Heroic Portraits site, and potentially launching a comics-related site that could, conceivably, generate some revenue via selling ad space.
The Heroic Portraits upgrade would involve not only overhauling the site design, but also cranking out some more pictures to flesh out the gallery and to add some more graphical elements to the look of the site.
I’m not really inclined to get into specifics about the other site idea just yet.
The plan for next week also includes doing some non-Threshold writing.
To execute these plans I’m going to actually draw up a daily schedule.
That’ll be the easy part; actually sticking to it and performing the scheduled tasks will be the difficult and, honestly, unlikely part.
But you never know.
(Okay, with me you pretty much always know, but things can change.)
Thursday, October 18, 2007
New Daily Show Site
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart has a cool new site featuring full episodes and an extensive online archive of episodes.
Very cool.
I've added a link to it over on the right, but you can also check it out here.
Very cool.
I've added a link to it over on the right, but you can also check it out here.
This Is Beautiful
Even if you're not into comics you should read this blog post about the late Gil Kane, a true comics legend.
It's just awesome on so many levels.
Speaking of Kane, at my former job there was a poster for the recent Nicole Kidman movie The Invasion on the wall that I just found myself endlessly fascinated by whenever I walked past it (which I did a lot, as it was on the way to the bathroom). It's got a very cool look - I have to say I had zero interest in the movie itself - but there was something about it that just made it especially compelling.
The best I could come up with was that it looked to me as though it had been pencilled by Gil Kane (Kidman in particular has that Gil Kane "look") and then painted by Alex Ross.
In any case, it's a cool image:
It's just awesome on so many levels.
Speaking of Kane, at my former job there was a poster for the recent Nicole Kidman movie The Invasion on the wall that I just found myself endlessly fascinated by whenever I walked past it (which I did a lot, as it was on the way to the bathroom). It's got a very cool look - I have to say I had zero interest in the movie itself - but there was something about it that just made it especially compelling.
The best I could come up with was that it looked to me as though it had been pencilled by Gil Kane (Kidman in particular has that Gil Kane "look") and then painted by Alex Ross.
In any case, it's a cool image:
Pie R Delicious Or Hopefully The Show Won't Be Pushing Daisies Any Time Soon
Writer/Producer Bryan Fuller has created two of my all-time favorite TV shows, the criminally short-lived Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls.
Three episodes in, it looks like he’s created a third all-time favorite with Pushing Daises.
I hope it lasts longer than the other two did.
If you haven’t seen the show, I strongly encourage you to check it out. Like Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me, the show has a premise built around the supernatural, and has a delightfully quirky view of life that’s full of equal measures of comedy and tragedy.
I’d say that Daisies is a little sweeter and less cynical than Dead Like Me or Wonderalls (though the cynicism of those shows existed mostly only on the surface, with a certain sweetness at their core), but certainly not in a bad way
Fuller is also one of the thousand or so Executive Producers of Heroes, though his distinctive touch is not so evident, which is hardly surprising, because there seriously are at least a dozen Executive Producers on that show.
In any case, on Daisies, as on Dead and Falls, the writing, direction, and performances of the cast members all mesh perfectly in a way that is exceedingly rare on television – mostly because shows like this never last.
But it deserves to last, so I really hope that people are watching.
The main character on the show is a pie maker, so pies figure rather prominently in most episodes, and I have to say that watching the show has given me a craving for pie.
So I actually bought one today. Specifically, an apple pie. I was actually craving a blueberry pie, but the only options in the way of frozen pies were cherry and apple, and given that I didn’t feel like actually making a pie of my own, I opted for an apple pie, which has just finished baking and has filled the house with all sorts of apple pie-y goodness.
Personally, I’d rather have a Mrs. Maki apple pie, but given that she’s a thousand miles away Mrs. Smith will have to do.
After yesterday’s post I was contacted by another IT recruiting company looking to fill a NOC position.
This one is considerably more attractive than the other I was contacted about, as it would be a full-time position (after three months, anyway, as it’s “contract to hire”), and the starting salary is actually about $3 an hour more than what I’d been making at AOL.
Hopefully it pans out, but I am, of course, not holding my breath.
Even though I low balled it, I think my salary requirements scared off the person contacting me about the technical writing position.
Oh well.
After meeting at the comic shop, Scott and I tried out yet another of the restaurants in that plaza, a very good Mexican and Spanish restaurant called El Mariachi.
While there I taught them the following equation: White tablecloths + Salsa + Jon = Expensive cleaning bills
Still, the food was excellent.
After that we headed down to the Air and Space Museum to meet up with Stacy and take in a showing of Transformers in the IMAX theater.
The huge screen made the action even more satisfying than it was in the regular theater. Scott pointed out that there were several scenes in the IMAX version that weren’t in the regular version. And he should know, as this was his fourth time seeing the movie.
As we were leaving, Stacy pointed out how cool it would be if I were to get a job right away, making my severance package money that I could just pocket. I pointed out that it was unlikely that my luck would work that way.
She responded, “Hey, Murphy has to stop shitting on you eventually.”
I was going to say that Murphy has an extremely high fiber diet and has ready access to laxatives, but Scott beat me to the punch saying, “He hasn’t stopped so far; why would he stop now?”
Love the optimism there, Merlin T. Wizard.
Pie Update:
I just had some of the pie. Very good.
Three episodes in, it looks like he’s created a third all-time favorite with Pushing Daises.
I hope it lasts longer than the other two did.
If you haven’t seen the show, I strongly encourage you to check it out. Like Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me, the show has a premise built around the supernatural, and has a delightfully quirky view of life that’s full of equal measures of comedy and tragedy.
I’d say that Daisies is a little sweeter and less cynical than Dead Like Me or Wonderalls (though the cynicism of those shows existed mostly only on the surface, with a certain sweetness at their core), but certainly not in a bad way
Fuller is also one of the thousand or so Executive Producers of Heroes, though his distinctive touch is not so evident, which is hardly surprising, because there seriously are at least a dozen Executive Producers on that show.
In any case, on Daisies, as on Dead and Falls, the writing, direction, and performances of the cast members all mesh perfectly in a way that is exceedingly rare on television – mostly because shows like this never last.
But it deserves to last, so I really hope that people are watching.
The main character on the show is a pie maker, so pies figure rather prominently in most episodes, and I have to say that watching the show has given me a craving for pie.
So I actually bought one today. Specifically, an apple pie. I was actually craving a blueberry pie, but the only options in the way of frozen pies were cherry and apple, and given that I didn’t feel like actually making a pie of my own, I opted for an apple pie, which has just finished baking and has filled the house with all sorts of apple pie-y goodness.
Personally, I’d rather have a Mrs. Maki apple pie, but given that she’s a thousand miles away Mrs. Smith will have to do.
After yesterday’s post I was contacted by another IT recruiting company looking to fill a NOC position.
This one is considerably more attractive than the other I was contacted about, as it would be a full-time position (after three months, anyway, as it’s “contract to hire”), and the starting salary is actually about $3 an hour more than what I’d been making at AOL.
Hopefully it pans out, but I am, of course, not holding my breath.
Even though I low balled it, I think my salary requirements scared off the person contacting me about the technical writing position.
Oh well.
After meeting at the comic shop, Scott and I tried out yet another of the restaurants in that plaza, a very good Mexican and Spanish restaurant called El Mariachi.
While there I taught them the following equation: White tablecloths + Salsa + Jon = Expensive cleaning bills
Still, the food was excellent.
After that we headed down to the Air and Space Museum to meet up with Stacy and take in a showing of Transformers in the IMAX theater.
The huge screen made the action even more satisfying than it was in the regular theater. Scott pointed out that there were several scenes in the IMAX version that weren’t in the regular version. And he should know, as this was his fourth time seeing the movie.
As we were leaving, Stacy pointed out how cool it would be if I were to get a job right away, making my severance package money that I could just pocket. I pointed out that it was unlikely that my luck would work that way.
She responded, “Hey, Murphy has to stop shitting on you eventually.”
I was going to say that Murphy has an extremely high fiber diet and has ready access to laxatives, but Scott beat me to the punch saying, “He hasn’t stopped so far; why would he stop now?”
Love the optimism there, Merlin T. Wizard.
Pie Update:
I just had some of the pie. Very good.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Wrack This!
So far in response to yesterday’s carpet bombing job application offensive I’ve received the two previously mentioned FOAD responses, a response telling me that there’s some ginormous form I have to fill out and return in order to properly apply, two e-mails from a company that has a technical writing position, one asking for a Word Document copy of my resume, the second asking for my salary requirements and inquiring about my experience with some specific programs (seems promising), and a phone call and follow-up e-mail from a company looking to fill a contract NOC position.
Not thrilled about the contract position – it pays about what I was getting paid when I started at AOL almost five years ago and has no benefits – but as a last resort it’s better than nothing.
I also got a call from David, my Realtor, as Kathleen had let him know about my situation. He called to offer his support and sympathies and whatever assistance he can provide.
Which was very nice of him.
At this point I’m most interested in the technical writing job, but I think that the salary question more than anything is going to be the sticking point. After all, in the course of nearly five years I made a pretty substantial jump in salary, via raises and equity adjustments, and I’m afraid that it’s pretty unlikely that I’d be able to start out making anywhere near that much money starting out somewhere else.
And it’s not simply a matter of pride or anything foolish like that; there is a certain salary level that I need to be at in order to even squeak by now.
Oh well. So far the consensus of friends and family seems to be that I’m smart and will find something. I’m inclined to agree, but I’ve gone through enough extended periods of joblessness in my life to know that what lies ahead is bound to be nerve wracking.
Quit wracking my nerves, life!
Not thrilled about the contract position – it pays about what I was getting paid when I started at AOL almost five years ago and has no benefits – but as a last resort it’s better than nothing.
I also got a call from David, my Realtor, as Kathleen had let him know about my situation. He called to offer his support and sympathies and whatever assistance he can provide.
Which was very nice of him.
At this point I’m most interested in the technical writing job, but I think that the salary question more than anything is going to be the sticking point. After all, in the course of nearly five years I made a pretty substantial jump in salary, via raises and equity adjustments, and I’m afraid that it’s pretty unlikely that I’d be able to start out making anywhere near that much money starting out somewhere else.
And it’s not simply a matter of pride or anything foolish like that; there is a certain salary level that I need to be at in order to even squeak by now.
Oh well. So far the consensus of friends and family seems to be that I’m smart and will find something. I’m inclined to agree, but I’ve gone through enough extended periods of joblessness in my life to know that what lies ahead is bound to be nerve wracking.
Quit wracking my nerves, life!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
And It Begins
I hope that my foray back into the world of job-hunting isn't as disastrous as getting dumped back into the world of dating was, lo, those many years ago.
I've already applied for a bunch of jobs, and have already gotten two FOAD (Fuck Off And Die) responses.
Whee!
I've already applied for a bunch of jobs, and have already gotten two FOAD (Fuck Off And Die) responses.
Whee!
Shitcanned
So I was among the masses that AOL let go today (There, I said it; I worked for AOL. It's not like it was really ever a mystery.).
Pretty much my entire group was cut, with the exception, for some incredibly bizarre reason that is beyond me, the most recent hire, Clueless the Former Wonder Intern.
This pretty much sucks ass. Coincidentally, I got my first mortgage statement in the mail today. Whee!
Oh well, I've got some time to find something else, and honestly, it would be nice to get a job with a company that's not circling the drain.
We'll see what happens.
Pretty much my entire group was cut, with the exception, for some incredibly bizarre reason that is beyond me, the most recent hire, Clueless the Former Wonder Intern.
This pretty much sucks ass. Coincidentally, I got my first mortgage statement in the mail today. Whee!
Oh well, I've got some time to find something else, and honestly, it would be nice to get a job with a company that's not circling the drain.
We'll see what happens.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Portait Of The Artist As A Flabby Schlub
I call this less-than flattering self-portrait "Saturday Night (What The Refrigerator Saw)."
A Guaranteed Shitty Day No Matter What Happens
This morning found me driving in to Ashburn for a dentist appointment.
I was disappointed to see that not only is the cute but way too skinny Asian girl not there but the cute girl with big boobs who can’t say Massachusetts was also absent. I’m not sure if this is a permanent thing or not, but the two girls in their place were not nearly as cute.
Still, apparently I’m doing things right, as there were no lectures and I don’t have to go in again for another six months.
Afterwards, as I’d skipped breakfast, I decided to grab an early lunch.
I was going to go to the McDonalds across the street, but on the way there decided instead to hit the Wendy’s across the street from where I used to live.
I’m not really sure why, as I’m not that big of a fan of Wendy’s and their latest ad campaign is the kind of annoyingly retarded ad campaign that makes me inclined to not give any money to the business being advertised.
From there I went grocery shopping and then made my way home.
Our CEO sent out an e-mail confirming that yes, 2000 people are going to get laid off over the next couple of months starting tomorrow, but there were no specifics as to who those people are going to be, so I don’t actually know anything more than I already did.
And it was a year ago today that my dad died.
I think that’s pretty much all I’m going to say about that particular subject.
For some reason I’m finding that the HD DVD movies I have, which have a 16:9 aspect ratio and are at 1080p resolution are still showing letterboxes on my TV, which has a16:9 aspect ration and is at 1080p resolution.
Non-HD DVD movies that are upsampled by the player are not letterboxed.
I must confess that I’m baffled, as I’ve gone through every setting and have searched in vain for any information on the subject online.
I would ask for suggestions from my vast readership, but I know pointless that is, especially since I’ve actually talked to Scott about this already.
In any case, I suppose I should find something productive to do, then not do it.
I was disappointed to see that not only is the cute but way too skinny Asian girl not there but the cute girl with big boobs who can’t say Massachusetts was also absent. I’m not sure if this is a permanent thing or not, but the two girls in their place were not nearly as cute.
Still, apparently I’m doing things right, as there were no lectures and I don’t have to go in again for another six months.
Afterwards, as I’d skipped breakfast, I decided to grab an early lunch.
I was going to go to the McDonalds across the street, but on the way there decided instead to hit the Wendy’s across the street from where I used to live.
I’m not really sure why, as I’m not that big of a fan of Wendy’s and their latest ad campaign is the kind of annoyingly retarded ad campaign that makes me inclined to not give any money to the business being advertised.
From there I went grocery shopping and then made my way home.
Our CEO sent out an e-mail confirming that yes, 2000 people are going to get laid off over the next couple of months starting tomorrow, but there were no specifics as to who those people are going to be, so I don’t actually know anything more than I already did.
And it was a year ago today that my dad died.
I think that’s pretty much all I’m going to say about that particular subject.
For some reason I’m finding that the HD DVD movies I have, which have a 16:9 aspect ratio and are at 1080p resolution are still showing letterboxes on my TV, which has a16:9 aspect ration and is at 1080p resolution.
Non-HD DVD movies that are upsampled by the player are not letterboxed.
I must confess that I’m baffled, as I’ve gone through every setting and have searched in vain for any information on the subject online.
I would ask for suggestions from my vast readership, but I know pointless that is, especially since I’ve actually talked to Scott about this already.
In any case, I suppose I should find something productive to do, then not do it.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Perfect Timing
I’m not sure how common a feature it is – no other dishwasher I’ve had has had it – but one thing I like about my RCA(?) dishwasher is the “Delayed Start” option. It’s a very handy feature.
(That RCA makes/made dishwashers – with or without cool features – was news to me.)
I did a little housecleaning today, not so much because it was messy, but in an attempt to clear out any of the lingering cat dander that irritates my allergies every so often, and also to try to clear out the previous owner’s scent.
It’s not that it’s necessarily a bad scent, it’s just that it’s not my scent, and I’m getting tired of walking through the door and feeling like I’m walking into someone else’s house because it doesn’t smell like mine.
I’ve also got all of the windows open to help air things out and because it’s a pleasantly cool autumn day.
Speaking of cleaning things house, the rumor mill at work has been grinding out rumors like crazy, as it seems clear that on Tuesday there are, once again, massive layoffs coming.
As it’s pretty much a given that layoffs will happen, the rumors consist primarily of speculating on just how massive they’ll be and who will get the axe.
Honestly, things don’t really look promising for anyone.
And don’t let the fact that we just moved into a newly-constructed NOC fool you into thinking that there’s any less chance of us all getting cut. Building a new NOC and then laying off all of the NOC personnel a week after they move into it would be pretty much standard operating procedure, which should tell you everything you need to know about why massive layoffs would be necessary.
Given that I just bought a house, I am, to put things lightly, rather troubled by it all, and I have to say that my fears were not at all allayed by the fact that when I got in to work on Thursday I found that the desk I work on was the only one that didn’t have a sign designating what desk it is.
Things only got worse on Friday when I got the following call:
Ring
Me: Operations, this is Jon.
Douchebag: Hello Jon, this is Douchebag from Merrill Lynch Financial Services.
Me: Uhh…okay…
Douchebag: We provide financial services to people in times of crisis, such as layoffs and –
Me: This is a Network Operations Center.
Douchebag: Yes, and –
Me: No. This is a business number. Why are you calling here?
Douchebag: We would like to –
Me: Shut up. Don’t call here.
Douchebag: Okay, but if you would just –
Click
WTF? What kind of douchebag vulture calls people at their jobs and tries to prey on their uncertainty about potential layoffs? It makes ambulance chasing lawyers seem like class acts by comparison.
And what does he know that I don’t? And how did he get our number in the first place?
Still, the fact of the matter is that if my time finally comes on Tuesday, there isn’t anything I can do about it, and if the rumors about the severance package are true, I should be able to get by for a while until I can, hopefully, find another job.
To be honest, there are a lot of jobs in this area, and I do have at least a couple marketable skills – though the fact that I’ve never even been interviewed for jobs I’ve applied for within the company I already work for does give me pause.
Ultimately I think I would find some kind of job, but the real question is whether I could find one that pays as well as the one I have now, or that offers the same kind of schedule, or that has a ratio of actual effort to compensation that’s as out of whack.
(Seriously, the amount of money I make compared to how much work I actually do is just insane if you think about it.)
I have to think that I’ll end up settling for much lower pay, worse hours, and more work.
Still, I guess I cross that bridge when I come to it. If it happens, it happens; no point in worrying about it now.
In any case, it’s put any plans I had for buying stuff for the house on hold. Maybe I should stock up on cheap, non-perishable food instead.
Oh well, I suppose I should take the opportunity to mess with my HD DVD player, as it may be my last major purchase for a while.
(That RCA makes/made dishwashers – with or without cool features – was news to me.)
I did a little housecleaning today, not so much because it was messy, but in an attempt to clear out any of the lingering cat dander that irritates my allergies every so often, and also to try to clear out the previous owner’s scent.
It’s not that it’s necessarily a bad scent, it’s just that it’s not my scent, and I’m getting tired of walking through the door and feeling like I’m walking into someone else’s house because it doesn’t smell like mine.
I’ve also got all of the windows open to help air things out and because it’s a pleasantly cool autumn day.
Speaking of cleaning things house, the rumor mill at work has been grinding out rumors like crazy, as it seems clear that on Tuesday there are, once again, massive layoffs coming.
As it’s pretty much a given that layoffs will happen, the rumors consist primarily of speculating on just how massive they’ll be and who will get the axe.
Honestly, things don’t really look promising for anyone.
And don’t let the fact that we just moved into a newly-constructed NOC fool you into thinking that there’s any less chance of us all getting cut. Building a new NOC and then laying off all of the NOC personnel a week after they move into it would be pretty much standard operating procedure, which should tell you everything you need to know about why massive layoffs would be necessary.
Given that I just bought a house, I am, to put things lightly, rather troubled by it all, and I have to say that my fears were not at all allayed by the fact that when I got in to work on Thursday I found that the desk I work on was the only one that didn’t have a sign designating what desk it is.
Things only got worse on Friday when I got the following call:
Ring
Me: Operations, this is Jon.
Douchebag: Hello Jon, this is Douchebag from Merrill Lynch Financial Services.
Me: Uhh…okay…
Douchebag: We provide financial services to people in times of crisis, such as layoffs and –
Me: This is a Network Operations Center.
Douchebag: Yes, and –
Me: No. This is a business number. Why are you calling here?
Douchebag: We would like to –
Me: Shut up. Don’t call here.
Douchebag: Okay, but if you would just –
Click
WTF? What kind of douchebag vulture calls people at their jobs and tries to prey on their uncertainty about potential layoffs? It makes ambulance chasing lawyers seem like class acts by comparison.
And what does he know that I don’t? And how did he get our number in the first place?
Still, the fact of the matter is that if my time finally comes on Tuesday, there isn’t anything I can do about it, and if the rumors about the severance package are true, I should be able to get by for a while until I can, hopefully, find another job.
To be honest, there are a lot of jobs in this area, and I do have at least a couple marketable skills – though the fact that I’ve never even been interviewed for jobs I’ve applied for within the company I already work for does give me pause.
Ultimately I think I would find some kind of job, but the real question is whether I could find one that pays as well as the one I have now, or that offers the same kind of schedule, or that has a ratio of actual effort to compensation that’s as out of whack.
(Seriously, the amount of money I make compared to how much work I actually do is just insane if you think about it.)
I have to think that I’ll end up settling for much lower pay, worse hours, and more work.
Still, I guess I cross that bridge when I come to it. If it happens, it happens; no point in worrying about it now.
In any case, it’s put any plans I had for buying stuff for the house on hold. Maybe I should stock up on cheap, non-perishable food instead.
Oh well, I suppose I should take the opportunity to mess with my HD DVD player, as it may be my last major purchase for a while.
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