Pretty quiet week last week – not too much to report. One bit of good news: The unemployment benefits that I thought were pretty much gone for good are suddenly back! With the renewed benefit year (i.e. I’ve been out of work for over a year now), my weekly benefit goes up slightly and I get fourteen weeks of benefits. This is genuinely good news! It means that we’re covered through the middle of January, which is cool, and our savings will hold out that much longer. We’re going into the November-December job drought, and virtually no one is going to be hiring after Halloween. Still, I’ll keep trying. I do get nibbles from recruiters a few times a week still, which is good. We’ll keep hoping something will come of this.
On the downside, jlfranklin, our roommate/landlord, joined the ranks of the unemployed last week. Not sure yet exactly what this might mean. He’s meeting with a realtor this week to discuss his options on the house here, and looking at fixing up his townhouse in Blacksburg, VA, and moving up there. This would leave us in the market for a place to live, and if we have to move I wonder if we’re better off sticking it out around here or just biting the bullet and heading up to Chicago (presupposing takaza could get a job at his company’s HQ in Buffalo Grove). Well, we live in exciting times.
One item of note last week, though: Takaza finally got fed up with the local radio market. We took the plunge and picked up a Sirius satellite radio for the Element. It’s pretty damn cool, I’ve got to say, and is going to be a godsend when we drive up to Chicago. A great selection of music, plus two channels of NPR, one of PRI, and a whole host of other interesting, offbeat stations. I like it!
We spent the weekend hanging out with zenwolph. It was great fun, although we didn’t do too much. Spent some time at the NC State Fair, and we did a little shopping for homebrewing equipment. Yes, after eight years away from the hobby, it looks like I’m getting back into it. I’ll blame Linnaeus for rekindling my interest in it. I’ll probably have some of my first batch available at MFF, assuming everything goes well. More on that later this week.
Midwest Furfest is a little over a month away now. It sounds like we’re going to get a tremendous turnout for Thursday night, so I’m working hard to get staff for that night since most of the people working Registration won’t be in until Friday. Anyone interested in working a few hours on Thursday? It’s good for double gopher hours! It’s also just plain fun, in my opinion. Drop me a line here or at duncan [at] wolfhusky.org if you’re interested. Otherwise, I’ve been working hard ordering stuff for the con, and generally spending the con’s money (mmm, other people’s money. Always so much fun!) We’re going to have some great stuff for people, though, and I think they’re going to like it. Our guests of honor have really come through with some fabulous artwork for some of the items, and I think everyone is going to be pleased.
On my list of things to do this week is to finish editing down the Restaurant Guide. I’ve gotta say this: if you see Chouette at the convention, be sure to thank her for doing a purely fabulous job on updating the restaurant guide! She contacted every restaurant in there, updated all of their info on hours, addresses, and added other info, plus eliminated the places that are gone and added a good number of new restaurants. She’s done an amazing job and I’m sure everyone is going to like the finished product.
Finally, I’ve committed to finishing all of my classes by the end of the month. It’s going to be a near thing to do it all in the next two weeks, but I think it’s possible. And with that, I’m off to go to work on some classwork now. Have a great day, everyone!
Mmmm, beer….I’ve been itching to try this myself, too. Maybe in a few months when I get some more living space…
Well, I thought that I had a good bit of my brewing equipment still around, which would have made getting back into it much simpler. unfortunately, it appears that it all got thrown away in the last move (arrrgh!) so I’m having to spend a lot more than I intended to get back into it. I still need to replace the CO2 regulator ($60) and get my CO2 cylinder pressure-tested ($20-30) and refilled ($15). Oh, and replace all the tubing and gaskets for the kegging system ($10 or so). Once that’s done, though, I’ll be able to keg up the beer I make, or we can make soda for Dan. I’m toying with maybe getting a 3-gallon keg for the soda, though. We’ll see.
You could always bottle the first batch. ‘Course, then you have to buy bottles.
Oh, I’ve already bought two cases of amber longnecks. But, quite frankly, bottling is a complete pain in the ass – wash and sanitize 48 bottles, rack the wort into the bottling bucket, fill 48 bottles, cap 48 bottles, and wait two weeks for bottles to carbonate (and worry about any of the bottles getting overpressurized and energetically expanding beyond its confines in the course of driving up to Chicago).
Kegging, on the other hand: wash and sanitize keg, rack into bucket, siphon into keg. Seal keg, force-carbonate. Wait a few hours, drink beer.
You see the attraction of kegging 🙂
Keggers?
Wait wait wait wait wait.
So you’re actually thinking of kegging your beer? Meaning we could (theoretically) all drive to and have a keg party?
I’m there. Theoretically.
Re: Keggers?
Indeed! And I’d need help. I mean, five gallons is a lot of beer!
Beer Bottles.
Let me know if you need bottles. I have about 600 half liter bottles just sitting in my basement. you might even persuade me to part with some of the Grolsch bottles too.
Re: Beer Bottles.
Heh. Now you tell me 🙂
Actually, we’ve got a couple of cases to get us through the first batch, and then I won’t be doing any more brewing until after MFF. And I hope to use the keg thereafter, but we’ll see. Thanks for the offer, though!
just a quick question
i’ve seen you mention a couple of times now that you are going through a headhunter for your job search. how exactly does that work? how do they get paid, how does one find a headhunter etc.? if you’d rather reply off LJ my email is raeoftirgat@hotmail.com, thanks
Re: just a quick question
Oh, it’s cool to answer it here. First and foremost: recruiters (or headhunters) should always, ALWAYS work on commission. They should make their fees from the company that hires you and there should be absolutely no cost to you. If a recruiter ever even mentions any cost to a candidate – walk away. Don’t answer their e-mail, don’t talk to them by phone, because they’re not legit in any way.
That having been said: Companies that have a job opening will typically contract a recruiter to get resumes for them and screen them for possible candidates. The recruiter then presents a selection of possibilities to the employer, which chooses a few from that narrowed group to actually interview.
Where do you reach a recruiter? Typically on Monster or Careerbuilder, or similar boards. They also sometime advertise in the newspaper, but anymore the Internet job boards is where the action is. The downside is that since the recruiter is in it for maximum commission (and a typical commission is 15%-20% of the annual salary of the position), they’re not going to mess with any positions that pay less than $30k – $40k per year. Anything less than that, you’re probably better off applying directly to the employer.
Hoep that helps!
Re: just a quick question
thank you VERY much yes it helps me avoid stupid questions to the guy i hope will help me get a job
Woo! It’d be neat working next door to Takaza! (My office is just down the street from his company)
Looking forward to seeing you guys at MFF! I emailed Takaza to see when he needs my artwork.. let me know if I need to have it in today. 😉
Yeah, living up in Chicago would sure be nice again, though I have nightmares of spending the money and effort to move only to land a position in, say, Cleveland.
I am not about to speak for Takaza (I’m starting that early, and I plan not to speak for him very, very often in the coming year!), but I will note that he told me this morning that the Restaurant Guide won’t be going to the printer this week (though maybe as early as next Monday). So he probably doesn’t need it today, to be sure.
okiedoke! Give him a hug for me. =)
Registration help
I can help with that on thursday night. I need a reason to get down there early.
Re: Registration help
Great! I’ll be in touch with you by email in the next few weeks to work out the details.