Interesting Developments
Jun. 28th, 2011 01:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
howeirdYesterday I un-friended a recruiter on LinkedIn after not hearing anything from her for a month after I had a phone interview for a 3-month, low-paying contract. Today she calls telling me the client wants me to come in for an interview. We set it up for Wednesday afternoon. She blows off the usual "meet the candidate" opportunity which most local contract agencies require before they send someone out on an interview. She blames the client for being slow, but on a short term contract it's unheard of for a hiring manager to take more than two weeks to bring the finalists in.
But it's good to have a bite, and the company is one I like, and the commute can be done on non-freeway roads if I want.
I left a thank you note on Facebook to the director of Oliver, and he replied he was looking forward to seeing me at callbacks Thursday. This confused me for a bit, because the web site said callbacks were Tuesday, but I'm guessing he's doing the major leading roles Tuesday and the rest of us Thursday. Anyway, it means I don't need to wait for a phone call.
Spent the afternoon looking for items on my shopping list. First, though, was a trip to a Chinese place a BASFA friend highly recommended on Pruneridge called 456. He is in love with their "hot oil dumplings". I have never heard of this dish, in all my years of dim summing and Asian eating. Plugged the address into the GPS, it took me there, but by the time it said I had arrived I was half a block past it, and just barely noticed it. Their sign is just plain weird. Drove around the block and got it right the second time.
On the outside this looks like a cheap, tacky joint, but inside it is very nice. The plan was to order a variety of appetizers to go and bring them home for lunch & snacks. The women who took my order were very nice, I took a seat at a table and read my Kindle. The order was up in less than 10 minutes, I think. Prices are high - $8/pint for most of them. $1 each for "paper-wrapped chicken". More on this later.
Told the GPS to find me the nearest Fry's, which was the one on Brokaw. Kind of a roundabout route, but it got me there. Sort of. It said I had arrived when actually I was a left turn and two blocks away from the main entrance. I was looking for full sheets of inkjet-printable decal and/or clear labels. They didn't have any. Next, Office Depot, which turned out to be the huge one in the megacomplex of megastores on Coleman. It had both. I bought one of each. Next on my list was Target, to get mesh laundry bags, but they didn't have the ones I needed (these are replacements for a hamper, so not just any will do). Then PetSmart, for small plecosthemus to chomp down the inch of decomposed plants at the bottom of what was my betta tank, and which I wanted to be again. They had just what I wanted, I bought four, and they also had a pair of adult female bettas, very rare indeed for a chain store (the bettas they sell are babies, too young to mate by maybe 3-4 months). I also wanted to get gas, but that far from home with live fish I needed to go straight home.
Home, set the fish in their bags in the tank to equalize temps, heated up a plate of "hot oil dumplings" and had that for lunch. A pint was more than I could finish. Not because they were too filling, but because they got difficult to eat as they cooled. This dish is not a dumpling in hot oil. It is boiled pork won tons in a very mild Thai satay (peanut) sauce. Very yummy, but for entirely different reasons than the name suggested. After I set that aside, I nibbled on a couple of BBQ pork ribs, which were very good, and a couple of pieces of BBQ pork, also good. Those will be snacks over the next few days. The "paper-wrapped chicken" was really chicken gizzards baked with a mild broth/sauce and bits of spinach or bok choi leaf, in a square of material folded in half and pinched to make a closed triangle. The material is a thin foil on the outside and coated paper on the inside. These were the best of the appetizers. Only one more left. :-)
Cut the fish bags open and poured the fish into the tank. They all have found their hiding places and nom nom stations. The bettas look lovely. I need to wait a couple of months before getting a male, though.
Hung around with the cats, then went to Rotten Robbie's for gas - I hate hate hate that $3.779 is a bargain price. Obama-Congressfail. I so hope a strong Democrat will beat Obama in the primaries. One who can stand up to the Pentagon, Wall Street and the teabags. Hilary might be able to pull it off, but if she wanted to she would have resigned by now, I think.
Clocktower is across the street, had an iced tea and read some more Darwin. Still too early to go to BASFA, so home to kill time, then to BASFA. Pretty thin crowd, but it was a lot of fun. Auctions did not have enough interest.
Plans for tomorrow:
Depends on the weather. "They" are predicting rain. I doubt it. But:
Rain: Stay home, maybe see a movie, get a massage, start ripping my show tunes CDs
Sun: Pacifica with my fishing gear & camera.
But it's good to have a bite, and the company is one I like, and the commute can be done on non-freeway roads if I want.
I left a thank you note on Facebook to the director of Oliver, and he replied he was looking forward to seeing me at callbacks Thursday. This confused me for a bit, because the web site said callbacks were Tuesday, but I'm guessing he's doing the major leading roles Tuesday and the rest of us Thursday. Anyway, it means I don't need to wait for a phone call.
Spent the afternoon looking for items on my shopping list. First, though, was a trip to a Chinese place a BASFA friend highly recommended on Pruneridge called 456. He is in love with their "hot oil dumplings". I have never heard of this dish, in all my years of dim summing and Asian eating. Plugged the address into the GPS, it took me there, but by the time it said I had arrived I was half a block past it, and just barely noticed it. Their sign is just plain weird. Drove around the block and got it right the second time.
On the outside this looks like a cheap, tacky joint, but inside it is very nice. The plan was to order a variety of appetizers to go and bring them home for lunch & snacks. The women who took my order were very nice, I took a seat at a table and read my Kindle. The order was up in less than 10 minutes, I think. Prices are high - $8/pint for most of them. $1 each for "paper-wrapped chicken". More on this later.
Told the GPS to find me the nearest Fry's, which was the one on Brokaw. Kind of a roundabout route, but it got me there. Sort of. It said I had arrived when actually I was a left turn and two blocks away from the main entrance. I was looking for full sheets of inkjet-printable decal and/or clear labels. They didn't have any. Next, Office Depot, which turned out to be the huge one in the megacomplex of megastores on Coleman. It had both. I bought one of each. Next on my list was Target, to get mesh laundry bags, but they didn't have the ones I needed (these are replacements for a hamper, so not just any will do). Then PetSmart, for small plecosthemus to chomp down the inch of decomposed plants at the bottom of what was my betta tank, and which I wanted to be again. They had just what I wanted, I bought four, and they also had a pair of adult female bettas, very rare indeed for a chain store (the bettas they sell are babies, too young to mate by maybe 3-4 months). I also wanted to get gas, but that far from home with live fish I needed to go straight home.
Home, set the fish in their bags in the tank to equalize temps, heated up a plate of "hot oil dumplings" and had that for lunch. A pint was more than I could finish. Not because they were too filling, but because they got difficult to eat as they cooled. This dish is not a dumpling in hot oil. It is boiled pork won tons in a very mild Thai satay (peanut) sauce. Very yummy, but for entirely different reasons than the name suggested. After I set that aside, I nibbled on a couple of BBQ pork ribs, which were very good, and a couple of pieces of BBQ pork, also good. Those will be snacks over the next few days. The "paper-wrapped chicken" was really chicken gizzards baked with a mild broth/sauce and bits of spinach or bok choi leaf, in a square of material folded in half and pinched to make a closed triangle. The material is a thin foil on the outside and coated paper on the inside. These were the best of the appetizers. Only one more left. :-)
Cut the fish bags open and poured the fish into the tank. They all have found their hiding places and nom nom stations. The bettas look lovely. I need to wait a couple of months before getting a male, though.
Hung around with the cats, then went to Rotten Robbie's for gas - I hate hate hate that $3.779 is a bargain price. Obama-Congressfail. I so hope a strong Democrat will beat Obama in the primaries. One who can stand up to the Pentagon, Wall Street and the teabags. Hilary might be able to pull it off, but if she wanted to she would have resigned by now, I think.
Clocktower is across the street, had an iced tea and read some more Darwin. Still too early to go to BASFA, so home to kill time, then to BASFA. Pretty thin crowd, but it was a lot of fun. Auctions did not have enough interest.
Plans for tomorrow:
Depends on the weather. "They" are predicting rain. I doubt it. But:
Rain: Stay home, maybe see a movie, get a massage, start ripping my show tunes CDs
Sun: Pacifica with my fishing gear & camera.
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