Superfluous Baloney

1. Traffic on Friday evenings 2. Traffic on any evening 3. People that cut you off and slam on their brakes 4. People who lie about who they are 5. Voicemail 6. Impatience 7. Closemindedness 8. Interviews!!!! 9. Laundry 10. Gas Prices 11. Potty Training Puppies 12. Feeling Rushed 13. Moody People

Angelsrentfree took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Needs a change in her circumstances or in her rela..." Click here to read the rest of the results.

I have been doing a lot thinking lately regarding my recent found addiction to online gaming. These microcosms of social interaction can fulfill quite a few of our basic emotional needs as adults. For example, when I am online playing a game I am completely absorbed in whatever I am doing. It takes my full attention and time slips by at an unfathomable pace. I sit down in front of that screen and don't acknowledge reality again until something forces me to (like the puppy peeing on the floor and someone yelling to me to clean it up). It is the perfect escape from the havoc we call living. I don't stress about work while I am battling mystical creatures. I don't worry about bills while I chat with my fellow "guild" members. I don't fret over the growing hostility surrounding the immigration debates or the war in Iraq. There are no traffic jams, no laundry, no puppy's that need walking and house training. I simply play my little make believe character in her make believe world where everything is simply black and what (unless you have a brand new, kick ass graphics card like myself and then it is brought to you in high definition color!!:). The perfect vacation world waiting patiently for me to enter. These games also provide an opportunity to achieve goals, both long term and short term, while providing rewards for even minor milestones. Who doesn't want to feel the satisfaction of achieving something on a regular basis? Who doesn't want to be recognized for a job well done? The games fulfill the desperate need each person, from childhood to adultdom, crave each and everyday. In the particular version I play you can move higher and higher in "levels." After each new level is achieved you receive a particular new "spell" as well as continual acknowledgement from peers as each one of your achievements is displayed across the chat screen for everyone to see. Typically several lines of "grats", "cool, good for you", "awesome job", etc. follow from congratulatory guild members who also earn additional status from your achievement. Each time you battle a new enemy, complete a new quest or tackle a new receive for your tradeskill you are given something additional, whether it be new armor for your character, something to sell to the broker for additional coin or even an increase in your progress bar toward the next level. You are surrounded by consistent goals and the opportunity to achieve them and be rewarded are available continually. All things humans crave and need in order to feel fulfilled in life. These games also provide the opportunity to feel like you belong/fit in/are accepted somewhere in your life. When you start out as a new character you fill a camaraderie with other low level players as you try to make your way through new lands and adventure and struggle to pick up on the basic aspects in the game. As you make your way through various obstacles and increase in levels you can ask to become a member of various guilds that players have gotten together to create. No one guild is particularly better than another, they don't fight amongst each other, and typically no one is denied a membership. In fact, often their officials will seek you out. You mean a group that asks ME to join THEM? It's like always being picked first on the kickball team at recess. It just feels good. The bonding can continue and spread as smaller "groups" are occasionally formed amongst players of similar levels to battle stronger creatures and help accelerate the leveling process. More friendships and alliances are formed. It's like heaven to all of "nerds" in the world who never got a chance to hang out with the cool kids. EVERYONE can be cool kid here. And later when you need a helping hand locating something on the map or gathering a particular ingredient to make something new in your tradeskill someone is always willing to point you in the right direction. Some will even go so far as to seek you out and guide you personally. Who could ask for more? And for all of those women out there, how could you not LOVE a world where no matter how much you eat or how little you exercise, you never gain an ounce and always look like a hot elf, halfling, nome, etc.??? Bottomline: If I could be a level 30 Darkelf Necromancer in real life and blow up all of those idiots on the freeway with my withering rot spell, I sure would be a hell of a lot happier.

There's always gotta be that one guy (or gal). You know the one. The one that ALWAYS has to give you a hard time. The one who HAS to question your every decision. The one that MAKES you flex your proverbial muscles. The one that FORCES you to engage in a power struggle over each and every issue that arises. I have one of those here at work. There is a good 20 years age difference between us and we were quite obviously born polar opposites. I am a people person. It's painfully obvious he would do anything to avoid social interaction. I am by nature an optimist and generally upbeat. He walks around with a scowl on his face. I'm HR, he's operations. 'Nuff said. This guy has to challenge me in his passive aggressive manner every chance he gets. All of our operations have to submit any associate reviews to me prior to giving them to the employee. Mainly for legal reasons, but also to ensure they are being fair and spending the proper amount of time on completing the review. This guy knows, typically, I will kick back his reviews. Not because I view him as my arch nemesis (although I do), but because he makes it blatantly obvious that he a)spent no more than 10 minutes on it, b)is way too vague on his statements and feedback and c) plays favorites. Recently he did all of the above on two reviews. The first one he submitted to me for approval and I replied with the following statement: The purpose of a performance appraisal or evaluation is to help the associate being appraised to do better, accomplish more, and get motivated to work toward making the organization more successful. We can achieve that by setting standards that are observable and measurable, thus making it easy to provide feedback that specifically identifies the behaviors and results that have contributed to the successful or unsuccessful overall performance of the associate. The information that a manager relays on the appraisal needs to use examples, facts and accomplishments to present a factual, complete summary of the associate’s performance as well as providing specific, achievable goals to help them progress professionally. I think it would be helpful to enlist [associate's lead] help so we can provide more specific, complete summary of [associate's] performance and how she can progress professionally. Also, please note that the time period the review is to cover is 11/15/05 through 2/15/06. Thanks. Please let me know if you have any questions. It was so blatantly obvious that they guy had sent ZERO time completing it. I mean he couldn't even get the dates right. Anyway, I got noresponsee to my e-mail (typical). Two days later the reviewconvenientlyy lands on my desk signed and dated by both him and the associate with NO changes made. He couldn't even be bothered to correct the dates. This all happened about a week ago. Another review landed on my desk yesterday (signed and dated by both parties) that had not even been submitted to me yet. It was on one of his favorites. He gave this kid the highest score available, despite this kid being written up not even a month ago for insubordination. Now is this guy asking for a confrontation or what? Its like he just stuck it to me and said, "FU, I dare you to say something to me." I have avoided confrontation with him up until this point. I will refrain no longer. You're asking for it and now I'm pissed enough to give it to you. I don't care if it gets ugly, I don't care if my boss gets involved. You are a fucking idiot and just because I am younger than you and, in your mind, do notwarrantt any respect, does not mean that you can treat me as if I have no say. I have a write to stick it to you and know for a fact there are individuals in high places (WAY higher than you) that will support me 100%. So you asked for it and this time you're going to get it. Enjoy your Easter because on Monday you're going to be praying for the second coming.

...that was fallen' fallen. But whatever you DOOOOO don't put the blame on YOOOOUUUUU! Can you hear me belting this lovely Milli Vanilli song at the top of my off key lungs? Anyhoo, it's raining here in Sunny Southern CA yet again. March was full of only intermittant sunshine followed by LOTS AND LOTS of rain and I'm just plain sick of it. The one and only selling point of this god forsaken state is supposed to be the weather, so what the hell? Gray skies make me cranky and unmotivated. On raining days I typically don't even bother to go out to get lunch. I just sit at my desk and starve sulking in my laziness and crankiness. Like today for example. Gross, gray and just all around Blah. So here I sit starving, gagging my way through a protein bar just so I don't have to get up from my desk. I have found though, I am a horrible interviewer when I don't eat. I can't freakin' talk. I know what you're thinking. You aren't supposed to do a lot of talking, you just ask questions and they are supposed to gab and gab and gab. Riiiiiight. No such luck. Most of them are too nervous to gab and I try really hard to make it seem more like a conversation rather than an interview. It calms them down and allows them to be more themselves, which tends to mean a better interview for them and a less painful one for me. People can't perform when they are nervous and stressed out. So if you make it seem more like two people chatting they relax a bit and open up more. In fact a guy yesterday relaxed so much he admitted to me that he was gay. In the middle of an interview. With a potential employer. Uhhh yeah, I wouldn't reccomend this. Too much honesty is not a good thing. Keep the personal tidbits like relationship issues, children, animosity toward past employers, sexual preferences to yourself. Don't provide the opportunity for a company to discriminate. At least make it make it somewhat of a challenge for them. Being the more optomistic type I tend to look past all of that and try to believe that everyone needs a chance. Even single mothers with three children (HELLO ABSENTEEISM) and individuals who couldn't pass basic training (HS DIPLOMA???) OR hold down a job for more than three months (LAZY). My managers, however, expect rocket scientists and can never see the underlying potential in people. IT DRIVES ME NUTS. Alright, going to go back to my sulky, rainy day mood now. This whole blogging thing is taking too much effort. :)

I just went to a website I frequent and got the following message: Resource Temporarily Unavailable Error 503 - Resource Temporarily Unavailable

This could be for several reasons: - The site you are visiting has exceeded its bandwidth quota - The webserver is experiencing an unusually high load - An invisible monkey is bending the wire that carries your Internet connection, disrupting the flow of information. Get away, invisible monkey! Get away!

Please try again soon.

1.Last kiss? This morning 2. How do u flush the toliet in public?Foot 3. Do you wear your seatbelt in the car?Yep, serious fines in CA if you don't. 4. Do you have a crush on someone? Yeah, Jenson Ackles from the WB's "Supernatural" Mofo is hot as hell. 5. Name one thing that you start to get tense about if you are close to running out of it:Peanut Butter!!! 6. What famous person do you (or other people) think you resemble? Punky Brewster 7. Favorite pizza topping: Cashews. HEY, don't knock it till ya try it! 8. Finish this sentence: if my life was a sitcom my theme song would be... Lord, I don't know..."If You're Goin' Through Hell" I guess. 9. Do you pop your knuckles? Nope. Poping bones freaks me out. 10. What song do you dislike the most when it gets stuck in your head? The Song That Never Ends - The Lambchop show. 11. Did just mentioning that song make it get stuck in your head? Nope. Thinking about my first interview this morning. 12. What are your super powers? I can read people's minds. 13. Peppermint or spearmint? Peppermint, spearmint gives me a headache. 14. Where are your keys? Buried in my purse despite my best efforts to keep them somewhere visible. 15. Who's answers to this questionnaire do you want to hear? Drew Barrymore's 16. What's your most annoying habit?: Most annoying? I don't know. Probably that I leave a lot of stuff lying around and I always have a lot of trash in my car. 17. Where did you last go on vacation? Real vacation? Omaha for a bachelorette party. It was a good time. 18. If you could punch one person in the nose and get away with it, who would it be? One of our account managers. 19. What is your best physical feature? Eyes or smile. 20. What CD is closest to you right now? Jimmy Eat World 21. What 3 things can always be found in your refrigerator? Cheese, mustard and yogurt. 22. What superstition do you believe/practice? Knocking on wood 23. When you're in a public place and your underwear gets up your crack do you sit there and take it, or do you dig it out and let the world deal with it? Rarely wear the stuff and when I do its a thong and meant to be up there. 24. If you could murder 5 people and get away with it, who would they be and why? Even if I could get away with it, 5 is a heck of a lot. What am I? A serial killer? I would start with the leader of Iran, move on to North Korea, off a couple in the Chinese government and then move on to a few terrorists. 25. Do you talk on your cell phone when you drive? Yep and I'm damn good at it. 26. What are your favorite sayings? Suck it up. Holy Hell, What are you, NEW or something?, Sucking my will to live. 27. What song(s) do you sing most often in the shower? I make up my own. 28. If you could go back or forward in time would you and where would you go? I would go back in time to the 40s maybe, but I might be a little too mouthy for that time period. 29. What is your favorite Harrison Ford movie? What Lies Beneath 30. What CD is in your stereo? Nickleback 31. What OCD qualities do you have? None, probably should get some though. 32. how many kids do you plan on having? Three 33. If you could kiss anyone famous who would it be? See number four or Ewan McGregor. 34. Would you really want to kiss someone you didn't know? Sure, that's kind of hot. 35. What do you do when no one is watching? Scratch my nose. 36. If they made a movie about your life, what actor/actress would play you? Sophia Bush 37. Would you rather die in a blaze of glory or peacefully in your sleep? In my sleep 38. What candy, from when you were a kid, do you miss the most? Gobstoppers 39. what is your favorite movie? Singin in the Rain and The Notebook 40. Favorite musician(s)/bands you've seen in concert? Jimmy Eat World 41. Have you ever been in love? Yep, more then once. 42. Do you talk to yourself? Sometimes, co-workers do it ALL the time. :) 43. Is there anybody you just wish would fall of the face off the earth? Not enough room to list 'em all. :)

It sucks my will to live. That basically sums up my sentiments on that subject. I have eight openings right now, for hourly, entry level positions. Three of which are for Customer Service. I work in an industry that is really a niche market. It is extremely difficult to find someone that has the type of background we are looking for from a customer service aspect. Typically what I end up having to look for is someone with customer service experience that will be bright enough to pick up on the industry aspects along the way. But even that is extremely difficult to find at an entry level wage. And then when you do find someone you still have to deal with managers and supervisors who have illusions of grandeur and expect a $15 an hour person at a $12.50 per hour wage. RIGHT. Let me wave my magical HR wand and make that happen for ya. With eight open positions you can imagine my attitude toward this process is only going to get worse. Just like my attitude toward work in general has gotten worse lately. Probably because I'm actually having to do some. :)