Good Stuff Happened Today

[howeird]

Caught my low blood sugar episode before it had a chance to wreck my night - Klondike bar at bedtime when 81 Hgl was threatening to go lower. Had a pretty good sleep, maybe one more than the usual pee breaks.

Up at 7, used an alarm app instead of changing my clock radio from 7:30. That's the second alarm app I've tried, and both are now deleted because the first one put ads where I needed to press, and the other automatically told me it was time for bed at 9:30 based on my one-time 7 am alarm.

Was at NOVA job center at 8:15 for a 9 am class, but killed time by listening to Amanda MacBroom tunes and peeking inside the community garden across the parking lot. Checked in at 8:30, was directed to a room in another part of the office complex. Had time for a pit stop. Once again the staff was terrific, the signage clear and everywhere it needed to be. This was for their orientation. Excellent presenters, very coordinated, good materials, and they were done early with each section.

Three part session. Part 1 Ramina walked us through The Four Steps Of Job Hunting and tied those in with what services the center offers, and when, with hints at what classes are prerequisites even though I don't really need them.  Part 2 Chris explained how they got their funding, and tied that into step by step filling out some simple forms. Part 3 was Chris and Kim collecting our documents (for me it was passport card, unemployment benefits stub and layoff notice). Those were copied elsewhere and returned to us. And Chris explained that in a couple of days we would get email telling us we were registered, and how to get our badge, and that we could get one (1) 1-day pass between now and then if we wanted to use the facilities, take classes, etc before our badge arrived.

This place is hugely better than the company which my former employer hired to do a lot of the same thing. I wish I'd known about it a month and a half ago. Looks like both prerequisites are on the calendar for Wednesday, I will probably waste a couple of hours there.

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Next stop, MV Kaiser lab, urinalysis and kidney-related blood test. There was no line, for a change. I've already gotten the results, everything is normal. I expect to hear from my doctor or urologist or both telling me my symptoms was a false alarm. I won't complain if the urology hands-on test next Monday is canceled.

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Thought about going home for lunch, instead parked in the Sunnyvale underground lot by the PO and walked towards the new Starbucks, but got distracted and had lunch and laptop time at the even newer Prolific Oven. Love their chocolate dipped cream puffs. Some of their sandwiches are okay too. And this location is prime eye candy viewing, both in and out of the store. I sat near a window.

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Home, plowed through all the job alerts, found one iffy one to apply to, and reworded two of my alerts so I would stop getting offers to be a silicon chip inspector.

Walked around the gardens. I am so jazzed about the poppies and roses in bloom and how many bees have discovered the "bees friend" flowers. I used to be deathly scared of bees, now I have no problem observing them close up. One time when I was suppose to be bugler at a boy scout camp, a bee or something like one stung my lip, I looked like a Ubangi all week, and someone else got to bugle. :-(

Dinner time reminded me that I had another slab of corned beef in the freezer, and a couple of onions and some garlic and celery left, so I set that all up in the slow cooker with rosemary and basil from my gardens. I cooked up some corn dogs for tonight's dinner. Tangelo and oreos for dessert.

Watched a fascinating episode of Who Do You Think You Are,  which showed some minor Hollywood pretty boy that one of his ancestors was in George Washington's elite private guard, and a more distant fellow in the same line had been hung as a witch/wizard in Salem. Andover, actually. And that dude's dad and mom were two of Mass.'s first settlers.

While I was watching that I was cutting small slices of cheddar to snack on, Spook ate two of the three I set on the rug in front of her. Good sharp white cheddar was too much for her.

Chatted with Automation Guy, who is now in charge of a section of Amazon's automation team. He said Python is the language to learn, so I'll see what I can do about that. NOVA said there might be paid training available. I don't want to code for a living, but most of the QA jobs require some of that.

Both of the NAS units I had on eBay sold, they are boxed and ready to mail. One to Arkansas and the other to LA.

Plans for tomorrow:
Job search as usual
Expect to hear from a doctor or two
Janice's, install the new backup drive and start a backup

 

Comments

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine you as a silicon chip inspector. While chips are tasty, that could be too much of a good thing. And, also, you're a carbon-based life form and it's tough to switch. (Did I perhaps not read that the right way?)

[howeird]

You are totally correct, my good sir. Silicon chips are what I like to call an acquired tasteless.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

I was merely pointing out that in the phrase "silicon chip inspector" it is ambiguous as to whether "silicon" describes "chip" or "inspector."

Has anyone ever run a convention in the sv area and called it "Silly Con?"

[howeird]

Almost. There used to be SiliCon, which started at the same venue as BayCon, targeting the same membership. BayCon was held on Memorial Day Weekend and SiliCon started on Labor Day Weekend. SiliCon had a target charity or two which part of the membership fees would go to, and after a while the con was bought by Maurine Starkey and her partner Dann, both fannish artists (Mo won best fan artist Hugo a few years ago). After a few years, the con shrank to the point where the venue was too expensive for such a popular weekend, and they moved the date to Halloween or something even less well thought out, and eventually the con ceased to be, and they also ceased to be a couple.

It was silly.