Two steps forward, three steps back

I lost my job before I even had it.

In the space between my acceptance of the offer and the start date, the company was sold and all new hires (meaning me, since there are only 2 staff members in Australia) were put on indefinite hold.

The strange thing is, I can't say I'm surprised. The boss was pretty flaky, like a freshly baked croissant. Every interaction I had with him had something weird going on.

Not that he's alone: I am amazed at the number of employers who tell me they'll call me two days after the interview... and I never hear from them again. Would it kill them to pick up the phone and say, "Never mind, we're not interested after all?" Even worse is when I hear from a different recruiter that they're still trying to fill the same position... months after they didn't call me back. You know, if they had hired me, instead of still looking for a employee they'd have their problem solved by now.

But that's only half the companies. The other half are perfectly reasonable. I just wish I could figure out which ones are the flakes before the interview, instead of after.

Another American

I met another American today. We needed new keys cut for the Toyota, but the locksmith couldn't come to us. We had to go to his house because the software he had to use only ran on an XP computer, and he only had Windows 7 in his van.

Yes, that's right, his van was not compatible with Windows XP. I could almost give Microsoft a pass on this (who expects automobiles to be a standard peripheral?), but I won't, because I hate them that much.

Anyway, she had finally gotten her work permit, and with a little embarrassment admitted she had started her career at the bottom, as a Department Store greeter... for $21 an hour.

Meanwhile, I'm taking a pay cut to write software that makes expensive equipment not blow up.

This whole egalitarian thing is a lot easier to swallow in theory than it is in fact. I mean, it's all well and good to say that all people are equal and work is work, but when you say I don't deserve a TV that's 3 times as large as everyone else's, then it gets personal.

Another day, another stack of cash spent

Here's my latest purchase in preparation for work:



Since I'll be spending at least an hour a day in the car, no matter what job I get, I wanted a car I actually fit in. And Sara wanted dual air bags. Like I'm not enough of a gasbag for her!

The thing that makes it Australian is this:



That's an LPG cylinder. Liquid Propane Gas stores less energy than petrol (as it is so quaintly called here), so you get about 80% of the work out of a liter. But a liter of LPG costs half as a much as a liter of petrol. So I expect to save $1,000 a year just on fuel costs.

All for the trivial inconvenience of having a huge bottle of explosive gas in my boot.

A tough act to follow

Sara's book has been nominated for the Philip K. Dick award!

Philip K. Dick award Nominees announced

This is one of the most prestigious awards in the industry. Just being on the short list is a real achievement. I'm very happy for her, even if she did wake me up early to brag about it.

The End is Nigh!

The end has arrived. This eschalotical event is heralded by the unthinkable:

Sara and I got cellphones.



I don't understand the whole obsession with phones. We decided how much we needed to spend (29$ a month), then picked a carrier we trusted (Virgin). After that we had like 2 choices in phones. So really, the huge galaxy of different models did not impact our decision at all. I gather that's not the normal way to do it?

We are now struggling to master these perfidious new devices. The first step was inserting the sim card. We had to call tech support. Apparently the little snap-frame in the corner is for memory cards; the sim goes in a nigh-invisible slot above the obvious connection.

I managed to take a picture of one of the phones and email it to myself, so that's something. And we picked out wallpapers and ringtones from the defaults provided (though I've already forgotten what they sound like). On the other hand, the dang thing just made some kind of new sound, and I have no idea what it meant. If this is my last post, it means Mossad found me...

The event has finally occurred...

I met another American!

He was a young kid from SoCal working in a cell phone store. Didn't have a chance to talk long, but I had enough time to complain about how everything costs twice as much here.

He said, "Ya, but you get paid twice as much!"

I shook my head and said, "Not at the high end."

He was quite surprised, but then so was I.

We were in the cell phone store because we need phones now. We were also car shopping and looking for a place to rent in earnest. I finally got a job offer. The salary is not what I was hoping for, but it's enough to live off of, and I might be able to fix it later. It's in a small shop (by small I mean I am the 3rd guy!), so it's a chance to do really put my own stamp on the software, which is always more satisfying than writing one cog of a hundred-thousand part machine.

Anyway, I start in a week and a half, so we're rushing around trying to restart our interrupted lives. It turns out used cars are not actually that cheap. Dang it.

What hath we wrought?

We have created a monster. The baby has learned to crawl.

Now if you plop her down in a corner, expecting her to be there when you get back, you will be dismayed. The little monster scoots everywhere, picks up everything, and puts it in her mouth. Do you have any idea what this does to electrical circuitry?



We have had to resort to bars to keep the creature confined. Its caterwauling, however, has only become more agonizing. I suspect some kind of frequency distribution targeted to the human nervous system. The creature waits for the most unexpected times - say, 4:00 AM - before cutting loose with its auditory assault.

More disturbing, just yesterday it learned to hide under a blanket. When we expressed surprise at its sudden return to visibility, it cackled with unabashed evil glee. Does this sudden ability with subterfuge harken a more dangerous future? I shudder to think of the creature developing sufficient intellect to utilize weapons, but my co-conspirator in this research is dismissive of my fears. And perhaps she is right - the monster's claws, when applied to unprotected skin, are sufficiently painful. I have considered only approaching when suitably armored, but my partner assures me this will only display weakness, an admission I concede we dare not make.