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Wednesday, September 05, 2007
I have a new job...
And they actually think it's good to talk about work on my blog, so here we go.
I work at a flipping TECH COMPANY! Who would have guessed, yeah- not me either.
It's quite fun, loads of boys who don't bitch or gossip AND the position comes with a free gym membeship! Whoot!
Did I mention the free massages on Friday?
So enough bragging, and let me tell you why I'm happy. In addition to the glitz and glamor of internet startup stardom, I get to work with some fantastic people- official movers and quakers.
So in short, we officially rule the web**
You've never heard of us? Shame on you, even corporate america knows about PBWiki,
Over 1/3 of fortunte 500 companies use PBwiki
Now, aren't you excited that I've returned to Blogging?***
** As stated by 'How to Do Anything and Everything on the Internet---Better, Faster, Easier' by Mark Frauenfelder
*** The real juice to come when I'm not blogging from work. Oh and the juice from this office! |
posted by Tree Trunk Ho Slappa
11:44
 
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Sunday, August 12, 2007
Big Boy
It's official, Milo turns FOUR today.
It's a bit shocking that he has survived this long and is still wholly intact. (Can you see his little baby head sticking out of the basket?) Yeah, that was the least of what Milo had to power through.
Today it's off to the park and the high end doggy retail store for a special collar and leash. |
posted by Tree Trunk Ho Slappa
10:07
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Thursday, August 09, 2007
Been around the world
and I still can' find a place to lay my head. Let's count, starting with the new Millennium.
2000 Spring - Bordeaux, France
Summer in Spain!
2000 Fall - DZ house - Blech, Ohio
2001 Spring - DZ drop out / Fresh dorm Kent, Ohio
Summer in DC
2001 Fall - Ghetto Valley, Kent, Ohio
2002 Spring - Burlington Vermont
2002 Fall - Bronx
2003 Spring - Bronx
Summer in Paris!
2003 Fall - Manhattan
2004 Spring - Manhattan
2004 Fall - Manhattan
2005 Spring - Brooklyn
2005 Fall - Brooklyn
2006 Spring - Brooklyn
2006 Fall - San Francisco
2007 Spring - San Francisco
2007 Fall - ??????
This will be my 14th move in 7 years, with an average of 2 moves a year and a high of three moves in 200 and 2001. This time it is not by choice. Vin and I are asked to move because our Landlord wants to profit commercially from our residential space. Yup, there goes our sweet pad in the mission to be replaced with????
Needless to say, we're totally bummed.
Here are the list of cities where I have spent at least three months in the past 7 years:
- Kent, OH
- Pgh, PA
- Bordeaux, France
- Torremolinos, Spain
- Washington, DC
- Burlington, VT
- Paris, France
- NYC - Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn
- San Francisco
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posted by Tree Trunk Ho Slappa
14:59
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Monday, July 02, 2007
Reason # 1 why I love the internet
Planethiltron.com
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posted by Tree Trunk Ho Slappa
15:27
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Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Dense
It took me while to understand the thrill of biking. I love riding my bike but never relied on it as my primary means of transportation. Until recently.
My 1970's yellow piece of Sears shit Free spirit bike, that is "ok to tool around the mission" has taken me everywhere. And although it's heavy, bulky, uncomfortable and slow, I've come to LOVE the thrill of pushing past the limits of what I thought Free spirit could achieve.
I've begun to think over my routes, finding the wiggle room or the steeper hills, and attempt to bike past people with better bikes. Sometimes I succeed, and when I don't I always blame the bike.
If you have on spandex, I should not beat you. If you have a beat up messenger bag, and a rubber band around your jeans, you're way better prepared than I am, and I should not beat you. And if you're on a brand new bike, I should never beat you.
People that I should beat include: those with baskets, old women, delivery men, tourists on bikes and those who have a free spirit bike.
I can NOT wait to buy a real bike. It's been fun, perfecting my gear change and learning how to use my brakes, I would really love a lightweight, fast bike that I'm not afraid to ride down Haight street. (If you change the gears to fast, the chain falls off, and the brakes are old/broken so I have to walk down hills that are too steep.) |
posted by Tree Trunk Ho Slappa
11:54
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Tuesday, June 05, 2007
A brief story drawn out into a long tale
In Short: Cingular wireless offered awful customer service, added fee's to my bill, then harassed me for leaving. I am not a fan.
The Long Story:
I love kids. One of the reasons is that kids come up with some crazy ideas, and tune in to some very adult issues that I don't expect. While babysitting recently, ( 2 year old twins and a 6 year old boy), I had a very interesting conversation with Matthew about his choice of a cell phone carrier.
What?
Matthew decided that he wanted to choose his cell phone number and write it up on a business card, so then when he gets his cell phone, I could contact him. Matthew is six. First he wanted to know how many digits a phone number had and what exactly an area code meant. No problem, easily explained.
During our conversation on cell phone numbers, Matthew realized that he must decided on a carrier. That's when he busts out with:
"My mom's on Verizon, and they offer a pretty good plan. But did you hear - AT&T is the new Cingular. You see, Cingular was the New At&T but then they switched again. I think AT&T is a more recognizable brand. My dad uses sprint. What do you have?"
"T-mobile, but I used to have At&T. Don't chose Cingular / AT &T, they have poor customer service."
"I think I'm going to chose Sprint so I can have a treo." Matthew then wrote out his name, phone number and cell phone carrier on a piece of paper and gave it to me. "Don't call for a few years," he said.
I take two things away from this conversation: 1) Children are perceptive. Business news or commercials really make a direct impact, and 2) my distaste of Cingular has gone so far that
I advise a 6 year old not to chose them, even for pretend.
Why? They harass me everyday. I usually ignore the Cingular Stalkers when they call. Today I didn't. I answered the phone and told them that I would never pay their bill, that I was very unhappy with the service they offered me after the merger and that, even if they're the only company offering the Iphone, I would rather be technologically retarded than deal with them again.
Before I could say that, my operator Kevin had to finish his slightly X rated conversation with his office mate. I sat on the phone while Kevin said, "Oh yeah, slap it in there, baby. Right there. Yeah. Slap it. That's right." He had a nice voice but I'm still not going to pay that bill. |
posted by Tree Trunk Ho Slappa
13:06
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Saturday, June 02, 2007
How do you respond to THAT?!
Brutally unhappy with the way things are going, I've decided to apply to jobs that are way outside my field, just for the off chance that something cool will hit me. You would not believe some of the INSANE things people have asked me during interviews. My temper is starting to fray.
I had a first interview at a local non profit that deals with underprivledged children - not my forte, but something new. Both women that interviewed me were of indian descent. They asked me, "How do you work with people of color?'
a) I worked with an international multi ethnic, multi racial South African organization, and I've lived abroad - it's on my resume, read it. b) Why should I treat you any differently because you're indian, black or Chinese? Are you crazed? c) would you ask this question to me if I weren't white? Is is appropriate for me to ask how you work with white people?
I was interviewing with a French company, where the primary language spoken is French... Interesting, n'est pas? I haven't spoken french in several years, but it is something that I used to do, and I would love to pick it back up. I also lived and interned in France. Underline, intern, as in: worked in a professional organization in France, spoke french, interacted with French people on a daily basis. The woman interviewing me asked what differences that I noticed between French and American workplaces. As all of my workplaces have been more than slightly dysfunctional I really wasn't sure how to answer this. My response, "The french have a high level of professional politess, and I noticed a more relaxed atmosphere."
HER counter response, "What I was looking for was how you say hello to french people at the office"
Me: "Bonjour?"
Her: What if someone is on the phone?
Me: Bonjour?
Her: Do you interrupt their phone call?
Me: (Thinking "where the HELL is this going?) I don't interupt, but make eye contact to indicate that I notice them?
Her: You don't interrupt to say Bonjour?
Me: Umm...no
Her: In french workplaces you must say Bonjour to everyone. If you don't it's considered a gross insult.
me: I wouldn't want to interrupt a phone call to say bonjour
her: There are many people you pass in the hallways and in your office that you don't say bonjour to in the United States, in France it is very important that you say bonjour to everyone.
Me: I worked in non profit in FRANCE. I didn't have a problem with any of my colleagues, especially over saying bonjour.
Her: Did you say bonjour to the whole office when you entered for the day?
me: (This has to be a wind up, we can NOT be seriously talking about the bonjour protocal) The office was one open room, and there were no individual offices, it was quite easy to say Bonjour to everyone.
Her: Did you insult anyone by not saying Bonjour?
Me: Ma'am, I worked in a very casual non profit environment where I recorded donations and translated materials from french to english. I did not have a problem with anyone, EVER.
Her: What about your superiors?
Me: (OK, ready to hang up now, the woman is obviously mad) I was an intern, everyone was my superior, and I did NOT have a problem with any of them. And I said bonjour to them.
This went on for at least seven minutes. I know this because I started timing how long we were speaking about saying bonjour. (I was over my cell phone minutes, 5 bucks spent on bonjour.)
Finally, at a second interview at yet another children's non profit, where I had already passed both the phone and the first interview process, I was asked. Can you write?
For the record. I can write. |
posted by Tree Trunk Ho Slappa
13:19
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