Journal Entries
The Job Vortex
Posted Jul 2, 2002
I keep getting sucked into this thing, argh!
First, I had a phone interview. I thought it was odd that all they would do was a phone interview, but after I had undergone said interview, the recruiter very pleasantly told me that I would surely be hearing from them soon. She sounded very positive, I must have satisfied the interview well enough anyway. And so I waited for a call.
So I waited, and finally, they called back. And I was so excited. And... they wanted me to come in for computer testing. *sigh* Ok, got it, testing. So I racked my brain going back over my A+ books and such, called people who had undergone the testing, etc etc etc... and finally I got to go in for testing this morning. It took me an hour to write the written computer test, and much less time to score 87 words a minute and 97% accuracy on the typing test... which was placed into the "Excellent" category on my testing sheet. Excellent is above the "Above Average" field 
Even though that speed isn't really up to my personal best... but, hey, I was nervous. Anyway, I completed their rat maze of questions, and finally I got to go home. So I asked the recruiter who was walking me out (because that place is a maze on the inside) when we could be hearing about a possible job?
And she said... "We hope to be contacting people for interviews towards the end of the week or the beginning of next week."
Another interview?! MAKE IT STOP! So now, I wait. To see if I get yet another call.
ugh.
I have to say, the computer test they gave me really and truly surprised me. It was no easy "move this file to this directory" while someone hung over your shoulder and watched you. It was a completely written test, and the first half of it was the type of thing where you need to describe everything in detailed paragraph answer form. And the latter half of it... hey Matt, remember when you said "They aren't going to give you an A+ test"? ... well it was pretty much *drum roll* an A+ test! They wanted me to name fun things like IRQ's for COM ports, and talk about the processes of the POST, how many devices does the USB support, how can you fix the registry, how do you edit the registry... for some of us, these seem like simple questions. But really and truly, it was all straight out of the A+ exam, I couldn't believe it, and I felt sorry for the guy to my left who I knew couldn't answer any of this stuff.
Well, we'll see, we'll see.
- ametropia
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Latest reply: Jul 2, 2002
Happy 3-month / Happy Canada Day
Posted Jul 1, 2002
July 1st: Happy 3-month to my wonderful boyfriend. 
Love you. 
And happy birthday Canada!
love always,
- ametropia
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Latest reply: Jul 1, 2002
The Buzzing
Posted Jun 28, 2002
I haven't had any sleep in days, and why not? Well, there are several reasons, but the main reason? The buzzing. I've been hearing buzzing at night, and I think there must be some sort of wasp congregation happening in one of my walls. Not as strange as it sounds actually. Most people probably wouldn't jump right to this conclusion, but my family isn't "most people." A few of years ago (more than that I think, wow am I ever getting old) we had another wasp problem, except these wasps were hanging out in the wall of my *parents* bedroom. My mom decided that banging on the wall was a super idea, and I don't know if that made them angry, but they came out of hiding and swarmed the house. Literally when you looked out the window you couldn't see across the street because of the wasps. And it took us a long time to find an exterminator through all the terror that would actually come and solve our problem. One guy came to the house and said he had to hire a carpenter to drill the holes in the wall. Yeah right. Another told us he wouldn't touch the place with a ten-foot pole. But we did find one place that came and solved our problems, but not before I was permanently scarred for life.
And now, I think they're back. Yes, it happens every year. No, not the wasps in the walls. In the spring or summer, many wasp populations go on the move, sometimes because a large hive has split and the new partition needs to find a new home. These moving communities will pretty much take any space they can find, and we just happen to live in a house that is over 100 years old and has pleanty of holes and spaces for the growing wasp family to renovate.
So, the buzzing. It has been happening for days now, and at first I thought it was faulty wiring in the walls that was humming. But last night was the last straw. Sometime around 3am I got up from attempting to sleep and starting listening to every single wall in my room to try and track down the problem. I narrowed it down to one wall that seemed to be buzzing when I put my ear against it; one of the slanted ceiling-to-wall connections. I listened very very carefully. I did hear the buzzing, but was it wasps? What I was listening for were basically buzzing sounds that got louder and softer, that would indicate wasps flying around in there. And I think that's what I heard... or is it my over active imagination :\ I was too scared to keep my ear pressed against the wall, and besides, there was nothing I could do at 3am anyway, so once again I've had another restless night with no sleep.
When I did sleep though, sometime around 8 or 9am, I had a lucid dream. It's been awhile since I had one of those. It was interesting.
I also made a guide entry covering Kemetic Orthodoxy's very basics for those who have been asking me: A775884
That's all for now.
- ametropia
Discuss this Journal entry [3]
Latest reply: Jun 28, 2002
Great Big What?
Posted Jun 28, 2002
Three or four download attempts and an iso file later, I finally have Slackware 8.1 ... well, not installed, but I'm that much closer having it all downloaded. Only took me two days and no sleep.
Oh, you want to know what's so big, heh. Right. 
Great Big Sea. One of my favorite bands. Playing down at the waterfront sometime around August 8th or so. There will be an entire series of concerts/bands spanning three days, the event which is scheduled during Action Week (a familiar event in Cape Breton that occurs once a year during August) is called Rock the Harbour. And being the Great Big Sea lover that I am and knowing my boyfriend also enjoys them, I figured I'd get tickets. Just for Great Big Sea, because you could also get a weekend pass, but that would probably be expensive. Now, I have no idea if this is even a full concert or not, but after I found out the *price* for these two tickets? It better darn well be a full concert! Yeesh... VISA card here I come :
I'm well on my way to bad credit. I guess its the only thing I'll ever inherit from my parents
Anyway... So that's that. Sounds like fun to me. I'll think about the money later. Way later.
And hopefully I'll have a job by the end of July anyway... yeah right 
Anyone want to hear my valid excuse for why I think the EDS call centre will not call me back offering me a job even though the recruiter who did my phone interview said on the phone said I'd probably hear from them? I know my boyfriend doesn't Damn optimists and their "oh it'll all work out, stop thinking negatively, and no I don't want to hear your 'valid excuse' because it isn't true" -- but it is true, it is! 
Sorry, went off on a tangent with the emoticons When I start getting into chickens, I know it's time to quit.
On the bright side (actually, nothing in this post was depressing, but I feel the compulsion to use the aside starter 'on the bright side' despite this fact), the servers with h2g2 are working much much better these days. I can actually navigate through the entire works of h2g2 without reloading each page several (hundred) times in vain (vane?) attempts to make them load, either quicker or at all. Hopefully this will last. Unless I've just jinxed it with this entry. In which case, no angry mobs please. Or if you intend to form an angry mob to send my way, at least schedule an appointment first. There's no need to be animals
later days,
- ametropia
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Jun 28, 2002
Slack-tastic
Posted Jun 26, 2002
I was up until about 5am downloading a copy of the new stable release of Slackware (8.1) off of a mirror site I happened across that I could actually get speeds above .2 kb/s, unlike the main site (and that was a generous estimate). I'm still downloading parts of it though. But I'm so incredibly tired.
I had started the download in Linux and was about half way through it when something started to go wrong, I had to scrap the entire thing, and switch over to windows to download it all, from scratch. that was around 2am. And at that time the download speeds started to drop. Argh. But, I do nearly have it all now.
And I've been named the Keeper of Lost File Fragments. Give me a little bit to update my space, preferably when I'm awake.
My mind which often runs away with things, ran away with something awful the other day, but it was only my imagination. Things were not how I made them out to be and were not as they seemed to me. That's often the case. I need to work on that... but it is a hard thing to control.
We might go to the Canada Day picnic over in Petersfield Park on Canada Day (happy birthday Canada! Well, on monday 
). That'll be fun.
More later if I wake up :
*yawn*
- ametropia
Discuss this Journal entry [2]
Latest reply: Jun 26, 2002
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