You are feeding the cats, right? Anyway, just call up the utilities and explain that the party responsible for making the payments has skipped town and say you'd like to work out a payment plan. They'll keep you on for $50 down.
So I've been looking for extra employment for the fall. Recently I discovered that the community college where my wife works is looking for part-time English instructors. I rejoiced, because I fit all the requirements and it looked great. So I was set to apply.
Then I got an email from one of my profs here in Michigan. Apparently the chair of the English department at this community college emailed him asking him for some recommendations. This prof sent the chair a list of four people with me at the top. Hooray! I was recommended to the chair!
So I applied this morning; wrote a cover letter, checked over my CV and teaching philosophy to make sure it's sound, filled out the answers to the questions regarding pedagogy they had, and clicked submit.
An hour later I realize that I forgot to change the date on the cover letter from my last application attempt about two months ago and I didn't have a salutation, just my contact info at the top then the body of the letter.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.
I got too excited and got careless. Hopefully they won't mind too much and will focus on the fact that I've been published (kinda), have presented multiple times on education stuff, have great student evaluations and will have kick-ass letters of reference. Please don't let the fucking cover letter do me in.
This one's for Jakey and just because it pisses me off. I turn gas and electric service back on after it's turned off for non-payment, very often, people make a partial payment and work out some payment plan with the company and that entitles them to getting the the utilities turned back on within 24 hours. That's fine, it's usually like half the amount owed payed up front and some easy payments. Like, if you owed $500, you might pay $200 and $20/month until the rest is payed. Pretty lenient and not a big deal, they also can't be delinquent on any future bills.
So, tonight I had a job for gas and electric at a fucking mansion. They payed $905,000 for this house in August of 2007 and their property tax is $17,000/year. In 3 years they managed to rack up a $5000 electric bill and a $4000 gas bill. The Department of Social Services made a payment of $50 on each for them, which is why I was turning it back on, and they have a payment plan of $10/month on each utility. Yes, paying 1% gets your utilities turned back on with an interest free, 4 year payment plan on the other 99%. WHAT THE FUCK!
A basement window well here just flooded and poured many gallons of water into the basement. My wii was sitting right in front of that window. Awesome.
Fuck the Wii, there was a miniature swamp forming in the basement for a bit there. Thankfully my computer is on the other end of the basement a couple rooms over. Still, the wall around the window is gonna need to be tore open and all the insulation replaced and crap now. Just spent the last couple hours cleaning up water and mud. I'm not so pleased for the moment.
A spider mysteriously attacked me at work today. I'm not sure why or where it came from. Maybe from the air vent above me, maybe it was making a home underneath the desks, but for whatever reason there was a giant spider on my arm.
I'm not hating because of the spider attacking me. I'm hating because it was such a waste to come to me. When I saw it, I didn't make any noise. I just swatted it off me and stomped it, albeit maybe a little more angrily than I would have normally (pretentious asshole spider isn't so hot now). Nobody else near me knew about it. I am hating because I sit surrounded by 6 other girls, all of which I remember freaking the fuck out when a mouse trap caught a tiny mouse in their vicinity several months back. A spider crawling on any of them would have been so much more amusing.
This isn't anything major, but it's still an annoyance. The soda fountain at my college's dining hall is stocked with Pepsi products. I don't like most of Pepsi's soft drinks, so for most of the past three years I've been drinking Root Beer (and tea, when it's available). About halfway through my last semester, the root beer fountain inexplicably ran out. For the rest of the semester, they never replaced it.
Cut to the beginning of this semester. The root beer fountain has been entirely replaced with Cherry Pepsi. That's not too bad; at least that stuff is drinkable.
But within a week they ran out. And now they replaced the stuff with more Pepsi-brand undrinkable sludge.
This is actually a pretty radical idea, and it took me some time to get used to it when I first moved to China, but here goes.
You don't always have to drink Pepsi or Coke products with your meal.
I am not being sarcastic, I'm being serious. Drinking carbonated drinks at cafeterias and meals has basically become an assumed part of your meal, and it's something that offers virtually no health benefit. Drink water, tea, fruit juice (real stuff, not super sugary stuff), etc. I was irritated at first when I moved to China and found that my work's cafeteria didn't serve coke or pepsi, until I realized I was assuming all meals should be accompanied by them.
Really they shouldn't. Really, we should all consider soft drinks like we consider ice cream; something you eat occasionally as a treat. Eliminate it from your diet if you feel inclined. You're not losing anything. In fact, you're gaining quite a bit.
Start drinking water. Get a washable plastic jug and fill it up twice a day. You'll be hooked in a few weeks.
That said, I'm still addicted to soda. I just don't drink it often.
I actually find pop (I call it pop) to be kinda sticky and not really that special. If I'm really thirsty I just drink water. It satisfies better, and a lot of meals I just have milk. Even the 1 can of Pepsi I have most days, I consider to be too much. I've seen other people go through a 12 pack in about a day and a half and it seems gross.
I usually only drink coke or sprite if I'm mixing it with booze. And even so, I've been cutting out beer and other drinks from my diet, saving it only for once a week. Now I'm living off water and green tea, to try and be healthier.
Comments
But really, either is fine.
So I've been looking for extra employment for the fall. Recently I discovered that the community college where my wife works is looking for part-time English instructors. I rejoiced, because I fit all the requirements and it looked great. So I was set to apply.
Then I got an email from one of my profs here in Michigan. Apparently the chair of the English department at this community college emailed him asking him for some recommendations. This prof sent the chair a list of four people with me at the top. Hooray! I was recommended to the chair!
So I applied this morning; wrote a cover letter, checked over my CV and teaching philosophy to make sure it's sound, filled out the answers to the questions regarding pedagogy they had, and clicked submit.
An hour later I realize that I forgot to change the date on the cover letter from my last application attempt about two months ago and I didn't have a salutation, just my contact info at the top then the body of the letter.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.
I got too excited and got careless. Hopefully they won't mind too much and will focus on the fact that I've been published (kinda), have presented multiple times on education stuff, have great student evaluations and will have kick-ass letters of reference. Please don't let the fucking cover letter do me in.
Fuck.
So, tonight I had a job for gas and electric at a fucking mansion. They payed $905,000 for this house in August of 2007 and their property tax is $17,000/year. In 3 years they managed to rack up a $5000 electric bill and a $4000 gas bill. The Department of Social Services made a payment of $50 on each for them, which is why I was turning it back on, and they have a payment plan of $10/month on each utility. Yes, paying 1% gets your utilities turned back on with an interest free, 4 year payment plan on the other 99%. WHAT THE FUCK!
I'm not hating because of the spider attacking me. I'm hating because it was such a waste to come to me. When I saw it, I didn't make any noise. I just swatted it off me and stomped it, albeit maybe a little more angrily than I would have normally (pretentious asshole spider isn't so hot now). Nobody else near me knew about it. I am hating because I sit surrounded by 6 other girls, all of which I remember freaking the fuck out when a mouse trap caught a tiny mouse in their vicinity several months back. A spider crawling on any of them would have been so much more amusing.
Yes, I am a bad person. I revel in it.
8 girls start freaking out, and then my friend starts chasing them around the room with it.
Good times.
Things wouldn't be so bad if I had someone to talk to, but I guess I'll just have to get used to it again.
Fun way to spend a Friday night.
Cut to the beginning of this semester. The root beer fountain has been entirely replaced with Cherry Pepsi. That's not too bad; at least that stuff is drinkable.
But within a week they ran out. And now they replaced the stuff with more Pepsi-brand undrinkable sludge.
My Life is Inconvenient.
You don't always have to drink Pepsi or Coke products with your meal.
I am not being sarcastic, I'm being serious. Drinking carbonated drinks at cafeterias and meals has basically become an assumed part of your meal, and it's something that offers virtually no health benefit. Drink water, tea, fruit juice (real stuff, not super sugary stuff), etc. I was irritated at first when I moved to China and found that my work's cafeteria didn't serve coke or pepsi, until I realized I was assuming all meals should be accompanied by them.
So the question is, why do they have to be there?
Start drinking water. Get a washable plastic jug and fill it up twice a day. You'll be hooked in a few weeks.
That said, I'm still addicted to soda. I just don't drink it often.