29 January 2010

Friday 5s: Hoops and Personal Adds

Sorry about the absence from the airwaves again, folks, but the job hunt continues and, as such, I have been neglectful of some areas of my life (such as blogging and personal hygiene).  So here's hoping I have a job soon, and a reason to put on pants in the morning.

On with the Friday 5!

Friday 5 from January 22nd: Personal Adds

What’s your favorite “just add water!” food?
That's a toss-up between condensed chicken noodle soup, ramen, and cheesecake pie filling.

What’s your favorite thing to add vinegar to?
Egg dying kits, and the water I use to spray my cat when she's being bad.

What’s something weird you’ve added to normal food?
My secret to making the perfect bowl of ramen is to throw in a few pine nuts.  Feels classier, somehow, and it really does add to the flavor.

What’s your favorite thing to add whipped cream to?
Pudding or pie.

What’s something you refuse to add anything to, even though most people add something?
CREAM CHEESE.  I really abhor flavored cream cheese.  It's gross.  Even the bacon and shallots schmear from Bruegger's, and I love bacon.  It's a delicious spread on its own!  Why add fake strawberry?!


aaaaand Friday 5 from January 29: Hoops

When did you last feel you were required to jump through meaningless hoops to get something you wanted?
The last time I applied for unemployment, or at one of my previous jobs.  A lot of meaningless tasks to do before gaining a paycheck.

What kinds of hula hoop memories do you have?
Hula hoops make my think of my best friend's little sister, Ruby.  The first time I met her, she had a hula hoop.   And a trampoline.  Either that, or it makes me think of learning to do fire hooping sometime.

How do you feel about basketball?
Eh.  I played for a few years in elementary school, and I sucked at it.  I think college hoops needs to get more acclaim because people learn to play as a team and not as individuals, and that's how the game should be... but it's not.

What do you think of hoop earrings?
It really depends on who they're on, and what size.  Because they can make a person look classy or like trash, dependent on the application.

What’s your favorite Whoopi Goldberg movie?
"Ghost."  Which, by the way, WAAAAAY funnier when you're watching it the day after Swayze died, like my sister and I did.  We've developed really morbid senses of humor since our grandmother passed, and it prompted things like, "Hey, do you think Whoopi keeps waking up to 'I'm Henry the Eighth I Am' now that Swayze's actually a ghost?"

That's all for now, folks!
Coming soon: my thoughts on what's left to cover in the final season of LOST, more on what it's like finding a job in a recession, my thoughts regarding the recent actions of NBC, and my thoughts on the restaurant moto-i in Minneapolis.  But for now, another Friday, another 5.

15 January 2010

The Friday5: Misses

What’s something you frequently misplace?
My gloves, my phone, and occasionally, my motivation.

For whom are you often mistaken?
My sister, sometimes.

When were you last misinformed about something important?
I can't think of a time I was misinformed about something important.  Though a previous employer did hire me with one pay rate in mind, and tried to short-change me when they ran my first pay check.  That was frustrating.

Where in your home do you have a seemingly random collection of miscellanea?
Either the hutch drawers, or my headboard, and possibly my dresser.

Upon meeting someone for the first time, what qualities in the other person are likely to cause you to misjudge him or her?
The bumper stickers on or in their car, and possibly even Facebook groups and whatnot.

14 January 2010

On the job hunt...

It's a new year, and I'm on the job hunt again.

It's a very different world out there for the job hunter, from what I understand. Fifty, heck, even twenty years ago, a person could start work right out of high school or college and expect to stay at that company until retirement. Not so today. It's an incredibly competitive market out there now, and I'm in the thick of it.

I think my biggest hang-up right now (*gets out soapbox*) is the testing I've been taking at the various staffing agencies I've been going through to try to find work. Most of it has been typing, alphanumeric and ten-key - pretty standard stuff (I type at just over 50 WPM, my ten-key is at between 6,000 and 7,000 KPM and I can do alphanumeric with no errors, if you were wondering...) - but what really gets my goat are the Microsoft Office applications tests.

At my previous job, the computers ran Vista (since about March), and therefore had the sexier, sleeker Office 2007 interface with the programs. In these tests, I've been running 2000. The other issue with them is that they expect a very specific combination of keystrokes and button clicks in order to perform the task at hand - not something I'm used to. I have my own way of doing things that still works. Microsoft Office has that capability - several different ways of doing the same thing (like editing a filter - something I can do with proficiency, but not if you look at my test scores! The 2007 filter system is a lot different from 2000, but I can still do it.

I am reminded of the movie "Blazing Saddles." There's a scene where Gene Wilder - "the Kid" - is asked to shoot something. The bad guys or adversaries or whoever tell him he has to hold still, and they instruct him how to shoot. He misses. He then asks, with that wonderful drawl and a glint in his eye, "Can I move?" He then hits the target perfectly.

So, how 'bout it, Microsoft Office applications testing... "Can I move?"

11 January 2010

Catching up! The Tuesday10: Newness and Last Resorts from Friday5s past!

2010 has come, all, and as such... I've started my year as a procrastinator and run behind on my Friday 5s.  Here's a double dose of what we all missed!

January 1: Newness


1) What’s something that’s better when the newness has worn off?
Sewing machines.  When mine was new, all I wanted to do was play with all the cool new features and whatnot.  But now that I've had it a couple of years, I know how everything works, and I use the features a little more wisely now.

2) What’s something you already own that could stand to be replaced by the newer version?
Guitar Hero.  Yeah, I have version 3, which rocks, but I could stand to have Rock Band.

3) What’s something that was better before someone made it “new and improved?”
iTunes.  You used to be able to cut songs and create ringtones without having to pay like $2, and not all songs had the dastardly DRM... or did they?

4) Of geographic locations whose names begin with the word “new,” which seems like the most interesting place to visit?
I'll go with the obvious here - New York City.  I was only there once, for a weekend in the eighth grade, and really only got to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island due to excessive cloud cover.  There's so much more to the city, and I want to see it!

5) On what date will 2010 no longer feel like the new year?
Probably my birthday - April 6th.  Or whenever I get my taxes back.


January 8: Last Resorts

1) What’s something you wear only when you’re just about out of clean clothes?
Laura's old jeans (because they're too big) and my oversized tees... and typically nice button-ups and skirts.  It's either the bottom of the barrel, or the part that makes me look like I'm from Wall Street.

2) Who’s someone you hang out with only if nobody else is available?
Eh, if I want to go out and no one is available, I'll either stay at home or go to Chatterbox.  I'd rather drop in on those guys than invite a burden upon myself.

3) What’s something you eat only when the budget is really, really tight?
I'd love to say ramen, but eating ramen occurs when I'm lazy and don't really want to cook.  Egg noodles with summer sausage last a while and are delicious together with a little parmesan cheese and butter, or I dig out whatever's in the back of the freezer and fry it up.  Last resort would probably be whatever's in the back of my PARENT'S freezer.  (And yes, I'll be making a stew out of the ham bones from Christmas dinner.)

4) Who’s someone you call for help only if you absolutely must?
Anyone, really.  I hate calling for help.  I have a phone with GPS and a car with four-wheel drive.  I hope to not need it.  But if family's gone, and assuming Laura doesn't answer her phone, and my roommates are passed out in bed with their phones in the living room, then probably... Alisa.  She's first alphabetically, and typically pretty reliable.

5) What’s something you’ll watch on television only because it’s slightly better than watching nothing?
Montel.  Las Vegas.  Pretty much anything on networks during the daytime.  And especially... the "news."  I can learn more about what's going on in the world with a five-minute RSS feed troll than I can watching the news.  But watch it I do... when there's nothing else on.