Banana Repblic / Gap Slime

According to KPIX (CBS 5) in San Francisco, the Banana Republic stores in San Francisco are hiring foreigners at minimum wage and putting them up in hotels because they claim they can’t find qualified local workers.  So, KPIX had their staffers try to apply for jobs.  “Oh, we’re not hiring” they said.  When contacted, the Gap/Banana Republic operation said that the store was “mistaken” and that they really are hiring.

Donald Fisher, the now deceased founder of the Gap, was a lying sack of shit and always had been throughout his life.  His purchase of virgin redwoods which he claimed he would preserve (only to be logged when nobody was looking) was just one in a string of lies he laid during his life. 

So, now the legacy of Donald Fisher continues at the Gap and Banana Republic.

How about some honesty in business for a change.  Is that so hard?

 

[Via http://davidkaye.wordpress.com]

Missing home

Well, it’s not like I didn’t know it would happen.  I’ve just been busy enough that I haven’t noticed it.

I miss home.

I think it’s because of Thanksgiving. It’s the first Thanksgiving that I haven’t been with my family.  Because the newspaper prints both today and Friday, it means I can’t make the 14-hour round trip home.  My dinner tomorrow will be single servings of breaded chicken, instant mashed potatoes, frozen corn and crescent rolls.  And I’ll be eating it by myself in front of the Discovery Channel.

I’m really enjoying the new job and my new apartment.  But I think it’ll be much better when my fiance moves down shortly after Thanksgiving.  While I’m busy during the day, and sometimes in the evenings, I find coming home and being by myself all the time is really… lonely after a while.  Because I work at all times of the day and have to head to bed early, it means my coworkers and I can’t hang out during the week.  A lot of times, we’re doing stuff for work on weekends, too.

Now, this is not a sob story.  Most of the time, I’m too busy or tired to really think about being far from home.  And I’m happy here with my new job and the area I’m living in.  I’ve already talked to some amazing people.  Just today, I interviewed a 9-year-old girl who shot and killed three deer over a 20 minute span yesterday.  Clean shots too; no tracking involved and without multiple shots.  She’s adorable and quite precocious, rubbing her dad’s nose in the fact that he has yet to make a kill this season.

But I’m hoping that my dinner tomorrow, though it’s not home-cooked turkey, will suffice for the day.  I’m sure it will taste good anyway.  May all your dinners be tasty, and happy Turkey Day!

[Via http://speakyourself.wordpress.com]

Elaboration

So, to elaborate on the last post a bit…

I got a job.  It doesn’t pay well and the 3 days a week that I work take a day (at least) to recover from.  I’m on my feet all day in (cue evil music here) dress shoes.  I don’t mind being on my feet a lot.  My last job had me walking all over concrete all day but it’s the dress shoes part that kills me.  I don’t know how (or why) people actually choose to wear them.  Anyway, the people who I am working with are infallibly nice and kind, it’s just sort of a tough job for someone like me to do.  Since it is only until January, I’ll stick it out and hope that my feet toughen up a little bit!

The dog that we found we are calling Malcolm (those of you who are Firefly/Serenity fans will know what I was watching before I found him!).  He’s very pretty but he is a lot of work.  He needs a run a couple of times a day or he gets really bored and antsy.  I have gotten together with a neighbor and we are going to walk together a couple of times a day as she has a lovely Golden Retriever that loves to play.  Mal keeps trying to play with Weezy and Meara but he’s just too big and is continuously stepping on them by accident.  I think that it will be good for him to get to rough-house with someone closer to his own size.

 

Mr Malcolm after a good run.

 

 

The weather here has been trying for the past couple of weeks.  It ranges from raining to blowing rain to gusting rain or just gusting.  You can imagine how much fun that has been to take the dogs out into.  At least it gives me some interesting clouds to look at!

My Yarn Therapy group is starting to take off in fits and starts.  I have actually had other people attending it!  I’m very pleased with the ladies that I have had attend so far.  We always get comments from folks that are having dinner in the pub as well.  I’m hoping that more will come as soon as the word gets out some more!

[Via http://hortihoney.wordpress.com]

If I Didn't Have A Day Job

If I didn’t have a day job

I’d need no good luck charm

I’d wake up every morning

Without that fucking alarm

I’d live a life of leisure

Feeling like the richest man

I’d get on out and see the world

And maybe finally get a tan

 

If I didn’t have a day job

Time would be of no concern

Spending hours with my fiancée

With nothing but hours to burn

More time for conversation

And more time to reflect

And, of course, most importantly

Perhaps more time for sex

 

If I didn’t have a day job

I’d write more everyday

Honing any skill I have

And maybe getting paid

Penning lines of poetry

And penning lines of prose

Penning the wonders of this world

And how much Twilight blows

 

If I didn’t have day job

I’d sit strumming my guitar

Realizing any song I write

Eclipses 30 Seconds To Mars

Yes, if I didn’t have a day job

My disposition would be so sunny

But I have a fucking day job

So here’s a gross dead bunny

[Via http://jamesdolata.wordpress.com]

66. God Speaks

Meditations in Job : 66. God Speaks from a Storm

Job 38:1-5 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?

All the talking by the humans has come to an end. Now it is the Lord’s turn. He has remained silent and let the variety of opinions be expressed. For the moment He ignores the three friends and Elihu. He simply addresses Job. Note it says “the Lord answered Job.” These words are going to be a direct answer to all that Job has said, but they will not be a point-by-point apologetic. Oh no, the Lord is going to answer by a very different means.  The Lord comes and speaks through a storm. Saying that, it isn’t that the storm brings Job a lesson, but the Lord’s voice comes from the midst of the storm. A storm, by its very nature, displays power. We are reminded of the revelation that Ezekiel received: “I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north–an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light.” (Ezek 1:4) I think I have never seen this so well shown as in the film Independence Day when a massive alien spacecraft comes with what appears amazing clouds and a storm. It conveyed well the enormity of the power that we see in the Scriptures when God makes His presence known sometimes.

It is important to note this tangible power and might, because it is simply an expression of the Lord’s activity which He is going on to speak about to Job. He is not going to answer Job on an intellectual argument or emotional challenge level; He is simply going to state some simple facts, revealed through questions.

But first He expresses something about Job.  Now later on He will reiterate His good feelings about Job but for the moment He wants to convey to Job His dissatisfaction with what Job has been saying.  Job may have been a righteous man prior to all this happening, but he has given way to the pressures coming from the three friends and has spoken out about things of which he has no knowledge.  He did not know about the prior conversations in heaven and the causes (and objectives?) of what happened, and so all his words were baseless (literally!).  So he spoke without knowledge and so it is going to be on the basis of the absence of knowledge that the Lord is going to help Job regain his right perspective!

As we said, the Lord is not going to enter into an intellectual debate with Job; He’s simply going to help Job regain perspective and when that happens, that will be enough. He uses rhetorical question after rhetorical question. The answers are obvious. We won’t look at them all; you can read them in your Bible. He starts with three that will show the nature of His approach: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? …. Who marked off its dimensions? ….  Who stretched a measuring line across it?” i.e. were you around when I created everything?  Of course not!   Immediately there is this implied acknowledgement that the Lord is the Creator of the world and that lifts Him infinitely higher than Job.

The questions roll on, one after another and the answer from Job’s perspective has to be “No, I am a mere man!”  Every now and then the Lord drops in a challenge that reminds Job of that very fact; for example, “Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!” (38:21) and that just rubs the truth in even more.  No, I’m just a mere man and my few years count for nothing.  The questions pour on, covering nature, the constellations, even the origins of wisdom, and then on into chapter 39 about the habits of all the animals and their strangeness sometimes.  Does He know about all these details?  No, of course he doesn’t; he’s a mere man and it’s not the twenty first century where technology has begun to open up some of these secrets that show us just how wonderful Creation is.

We’ll pause it there and continue to consider the torrent of questions in the next meditation. It is a simple lesson of perspective. Sometimes we think we are so great; we have achieved so much.  Some of us have learnt so much that we fool ourselves into believing that the tiny bit of information we have absorbed makes us important.  In a foolish age when so many deny the presence of God, we take for granted the incredible wonder and power of what we can observe in Creation.  We explain it away and fail to see the enormity of the Creator that defies our imagination.  Because we are tainted by this disease called Sin, we are blinded to the truth.  We think we are great.  But then it only takes a bad cold or the flu or a strained back or severe toothache to bring us down to helplessness and we realise afresh our limitations.  We dare to argue with Almighty God?  What crass stupidity!

[Via http://biblemeditationshop.wordpress.com]

Work at home jobs really do exist

That statement has made some of you sit up and take notice.   Yup I work at home. All I have to do is get up drink my coffee, eat breakfast and turn on the computer. Then I start taking calls. My first paycheck was less than 500$ but my second paycheck is going to be $1287 but that is before taxes. That is for two weeks plus one day of work. After taxes that works out to about $450 per week. I am responsible for paying the taxes as I am an independent contractor. At tax time I now have to fill out extra paperwork. I have to fill out the self-employed paperwork.   Work at home job is my backup plan. I am hoping that it will continue to work out for me. I spent very long hours at the beginning to bring my stats up and it has paid off. How many hours? I got up and was ready for work by 5:30 am and stayed on the computer taking calls until it was time for bed. I am allowed a bathroom break 4 minutes and 59 seconds out of every 30 minutes. By now though I meet my daily $ goal by 3:30 pm and sometimes sooner, so of course my daily $ goal has gone up My daily $ goal was to meet all my bills with nothing left over but now that my daily $ goal has gone up, I will be able to start saving $$$$. I am working 7 days a week but that is because I want to get to a point that I can take two weeks off and visit my friends.   Enough already, what is it I am doing all day, tell us please, OK I hear you. I take calls all day. You have seen these products in a commercial or an infomercial. Magic Bullet, Back2 life, Slim in 6, Debt Cures, and so on and so forth. People call the 800 number for the product and order that product. It is my job to sell that product and any other items that go with it (upsells) then at the end are what is known as Affinities. The Affinities are magazines and other club type stuff like a free gift card and free 30 days of using the service then they have to call to cancel or they will be charged.   Ok some of these products I will never use but just because I don’t find these items useful does not mean that someone else won’t. Also, if I didn’t sell this product to this person someone else will. The first few calls were pretty scary, but you have a ’script’ to follow and that helps. They told me that the FCC requires me to make all the offers and all the affinities. The only way to get past that is if they threaten to cancel the order then you get to skip all the upsells and all the affinities. Sometimes you don’t get a warning, they just hang up on you. Some stuff you HAVE to read ver batim. You can’t leave out one word.   I was doing research on work at home jobs. I applied to one place and I did not hear back from them so I continued to do more research. I applied at a second place but I didn’t type fast enough for that job. So I kept researching. I applied to a third place and bingo!! It paid off.   Start the application process. 1 Provide basic contact and background information.  Then you do a voice audition and take a reading comprehension test and (later) possibly a 45 minute skills assessment. 2 You must pass a background check and a credit check. This is a $50 fee that you pay for via a credit card. 3 Then you will be invited for a Virtual Business Presentation. They send you a code and you log on and see the presentation. You have a limited time to do this. They ask you to sign a contract. (I don’t remember the part about the Virtual Business Presentation). So you are saying to yourself that is a lot of hours. Ok how much time do you spend getting ready for work, then add how much time you spend getting to work, then add how much time you spend at work, then add how much time you spend getting home from work (errands dont count). Now compare that to the time I have spent online. Uh huh not so many hours now ehhh. For me I don’t have a gasoline bill anymore nor do I put wear and tear on my car. I will be able to spend less for car insurance now.   So here I sit in my jammies drinking coffee between calls. I thought I would be able to do knitting or crocheting or other needlework between calls but I have to grab a ’seat’. The calls go to the people that have seats first, then they go to the people that have the highest ‘conversion’ rates. So I spend a lot of time grabbing seats. Hopefully I will reach a point that my conversion rates will rise to the point where I can afford to do a little needlework. I have learned to eat food in little tiny bites so that when a call comes I can finish eating before I pick up the phone. The equipment required: pc, landline phone with headset jack, corded (not wireless) headset, high speed internet connection (not wireless). PC must be fairly recent. Remember any $ spent on these items can be applied to taxes on the self employment tax form when you do your income taxes. This form is schedule C. In addition you have to pay self employment taxes, these are the social security and medicare taxes. Then you have to pay estimated income taxes.

[Via http://thebriefblogger.wordpress.com]

President Obama’s Saturday YouTube Address 11/21/09

WhiteHouse.gov—In an address recorded in Seoul, South Korea, the President discusses his trip to Asia. He talks about his push to stop nuclear proliferation in North Korea, Iran, and around the world. He talks about promoting America’s principles for an open society in China while making progress on joint efforts to combat climate change. And talks in-depth about the primary objective of his trip: engaging in new markets that hold tremendous potential to spur job creation here at home.

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