Handy Man Services

That's what the ad on the table at the restaurant last night read, at any rate.  If you need a handyman, however, you're out of luck.  Or, I might fix it for you.

The toilet in the master bath of my condo sounded as if it were constantly trickling water into the commode.  My mom had a handy pellet that I put into the tank and waited to see if blue water ran into the bowl.  (I presume you could do the same with a bit of food coloring.)  Sure enough, there was a leak.

I opened the tank and saw a bunch of silt left from someone's plumbing misadventure a few months ago.  I stirred it up and swabbed it from around the flapper then flushed.  From the afternoon through until this morning, the water leak diminished after each flush, until it stopped (or at least wasn't audible any more).

Then someone had another plumbing misadventure today.  I got back from lunch, flushed the toilet, and the tank didn't refill.  (Worse yet, I couldn't wash my hands.)  Hey, where did the water go?  None of my neighbors was home, so maybe the city crew who has torn up the street and been installing new water and sewer pipes (for nearly five months so far) shut it off (without warning, naturally).

The water has since been turned back on (I had used hand sanitizer before, but I feel much better having been able to wash my hands), and the trickling has returned.  I'll just shut the water off at the wall and see what I can do when I visit again.

Honestly, I had fixed it, until someone else broke it again.

Just as I thought: it wasn't my fault.

So after leaving two voice mails at the corporate office that the HR lackey suggested might be able to help me with the invisible online paperwork, someone called me back.  She was very friendly, and she found a way I could get to the site where the paperwork is supposed to be...  But, she couldn't figure out why the link and most attachments didn't show up in the e-mail.  As it stands, she said I'd just have to complete all the rest on my first day at work.  That's what I planned on doing anyway, but it's nice that I could tell the HR lackey that someone else said so.

All this doesn't change the increasingly obvious fact that technology hates me.

Maybe Yule Be Able to Explain It

My last dream before waking up this morning was of one of my brothers decorating the house where we grew up for Christmas (except it had the front door from my mom's current house).

That's odd; I usually don't start thinking of Christmas until at least July.

Or am I reading too deeply into this?

I've pretty much decided on a particular chain of extended-stay hotel to house me until I find an apartment in Tulsa and have my stuff shipped from the Noog.  Since the only size of bed it contains is full size, you can assume correctly that my deciding factor was the lowest price.  (I figure I can put up with sleeping diagonally for a month or two in the name of saving money, especially since I was in a twin size bed in the Noog for a year.)  The place offers a two-burner cooktop, refrigerator, microwave, and table with two chairs.  There is an on-site laundry.  There is in-room cable TV.  Maid service is provided every two weeks.  If I want more frequent maid service or to change linens, there is an additional charge.  If I didn't have my own tableware with me, I could rent a set (and a coffee maker).  The only add-on I'm interested is the internet access.

I started pondering what wasn't mentioned.  The room will include a dresser and nightstand, but it doesn't say if there's a closet or not.  Since this isn't a typical hotel room, maybe it's not safe to assume there's a closet?  What about a bathroom?  There's a nice picture of the on-site laundry room, but where will I be able to relieve myself, shower, or brush my teeth?  The website pics show the kitchen area (it looks like there's a sink there) and the TV (sitting on what I assume is the dresser).  Those two pics show one wall of the room.  I presume that the other wall has the bed and the (I hope) closet and bathroom.  (Besides my tableware, I have a set of my own towels with me.)

Oh, and the FAQ says that they provide the "first roll of bathroom tissue".  Maybe that's why it's the cheapest extended-stay hotel around.

How high the moon?

I read a children's book about the 50 states, and I noted on some pages the mention of mountain elevations.  The thing is that they didn't specify if the elevation is above sea level or above the surrounding land.  For example, Mt. Everest is the mountain with the highest elevation above sea level, but Mt. Kilimanjaro requires a higher climb from the land beneath it.  Is a 15,000 foot mountain quite so impressive or tall if you're already at 6,000 feet looking at it?  Isn't it just a 9,000 foot mountain then?

Just give me instructions. That's all that I ask.

Even though I'm a technophobe, I can use computers.  (See?  I'm doing it right now!)  So, when the company sends me e-mails to complete forms online before I start my job, I should be able to do that, right?

Should.

I should be able to click on "this link" in the e-mail -- except that there's no hypertext associated with it, to open a link if I click on it.

Okay, so I reply to the second e-mail (the one saying she added more forms at that link) and say that the second e-mail doesn't contain the link, either, and can she just type it so I can copy and paste it into the URL bar.

She did so, and I completed the W-4 form there.  No other forms appeared, and there were no menu choices for finding forms to complete online.

She also asked if I had tried clicking on the link at the bottom of the e-mail.  I replied to confirm that I completed the W-4, noted that I didn't find any other forms to complete, asked if there's supposed to be a separate link for each form, and pointed out that her very same e-mail instructed me to "disregard the following links", so I did.

This all stems from my Myers-Briggs Personality Type.  I took the test when I was 13 and scored I-N-T-J (with a borderline N).  I took the test again when I was 23 and scored I-S-T-J (with a borderline S).  The results indicate that I am not good at intuiting nor at sensing.  In other words, tell me what you want me to do.  I will not be able to guess what you want, and experience shows that too many other people don't think logically, so I won't be able to proceed as if I think the same way you do (or, indeed, that I think the way you think I do).  If you want me to click on a link, I'll do it (as long as the link is there), but if you want me to guess how to find other forms not evident from that link, or if you want me to guess if the instruction to ignore links is false, you'll be waiting for a while.

I thought I was being hired for a "grounds" position?

1 Out of 49 Ain't Bad

Call it morbid curiosity, but I looked to see how many jobs I had applied for.  Including the applications I sent after I began the interview process with the company that hired me, there were 49 total.  Considering that the vast majority of them never notified me about the resolution of the position (even those that confirmed they had received my application), I don't feel the need to let all of them know that I'm off the market.

Are there no jails? No workhouses?

I went to the maul yesterday with my mom.  I figured it would be safe from crowds, it being a weekday morning and all.  The crowds were absent, but I was surprised how many school-age children I saw there, some of them with their parents.  I felt like writing a letter to the editor of the newspaper, suggesting that truant officers (if there are any, any more) go to the maul with a Black Maria and fill it up (or, indeed, more than one).

I found out on the news last night that the schools are on spring break this week.  Sigh.  I'm not even allowed to get up a good head of righteous indignation any more.

Hooray!

I have obtained a job!

I will be working for my former employer (in a different division and region) in Tulsa, OK.  My start date is to be April 8.

The salary will be less than I made previously, but it's more than the posted rate was.  (I think the recruiter persuaded them to bump it up a bit.)  I think I should be able to cover all my expenses, even the rent and utilities that I expect to be higher than I had in the Noog.

Hmm, I wonder if I can come up with a nifty nickname for Tulsa?

More Is Not Always Better

I coined that phrase several years ago, since "less is more" isn't applicable for every situation.  I found out how true it is this week, when I went to donate blood.

I usually give pheresis (a.k.a. apheresis), a process which removes blood from my body, separates it into its component parts (using a machine more-or-less like a centrifuge), and then pumps whatever is unneeded back into my body.  Usually, I'm asked for two units of platelets.  This week, though, I was told that I wasn't allowed to do that; my iron levels were too high.  Too high?  I've never heard that before, neither in my own donation history or that from either of my parents.

The alternatives were one pint of whole blood or a unit of RBC/P (red blood cells and plasma).  I asked, "Which would help more people?"  (Yes, that's a strong clue to my character right there, if you need one.)

I hope that, next month, I'll be able to donate normally again, but I'm certainly glad there are alternatives to being turned away outright.