You've all probably noticed (or anyway, I hope you have!) that I've been quiet around these parts for a bit.

I just got hired in as a Technical Specialist at Chrysler through RGBSI.  I start on Tuesday, and a lot of my radio silence was due to my getting things prepared for this move, as well as a bunch of other things (Harvest Dinner, Alpena Nile Club visit, yardwork, interviews, etc etc) going on.

So.  An update.

I'm moving down to Auburn Hills today (eeep!) and will be staying in a residence hotel.  Sounds kinda icky, I know, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Then I'll be moving to Auburn Hills Apartments.  I got lucky with this walk in.  We drove all around the Auburn Hills area and I managed to get a nice apartment in the same complex I was in before, but a different building.  If you want my addres, please email me, and be aware that I'm not moving there til October 29th.

So.  Yeah.  I start work on Tuesday.

Wish me luck!

Oh, also, check out the pictures I posted from our drive up to Alpena here on my mobile pictures blog.  We had a good time, and I'm looking forward to next year!

Well the title says it all. ~Rants~ Well, can anything else go wrong?  This is usually a bad question to ask, but it seems that everything goes bad at once.  Forgive me while I put my ranty-pants on for a sec.

1. The car has a dead battery. Or at least I think so.
2. The netbook has a battery that's not charging the way it should be.
3. The laptop's internal hard drive died.  Lost 4 ripped CDs, my saved games and my Windows partition.  I'm glad I did a backup of my /home on the Sunday before it totally died.  I would have been in tears for a week if I'd lost everything.

Grumble. ~Computers~ Well, I managed to get a hard drive from my brother to replace the one that click-clacked itself to death.  I'm pleased with it so far, but I'm not pleased with the amount of space; only 200 gb.  It's working just fine.  I'll probably end up getting a 500 gb drive sometime and upgrading.  I want 100 gb to devote to Windows 7 so I can keep my skills current, as well as test things like Flock and play games.  I'd like to play some more Sim City 4 and The Sims, as well as World of Goo. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the netbook battery.  I posted something to the Ubuntu Forums, but I don't know if I'll get any help.  It's taken about a day and a half to charge. Unacceptable. ~Some Good News~ I got a call today from a recruiter about an interview.  So I have a phone interview with a company that does plastics processing and whatnot.  The job is for a Product Engineer, which is something I really want to do.  Sounds good, and I hope it works out.  It's in Ann Arbor.  Not a bad place to live, and I'm not too far from home.  What I'm looking forward to is paying off my car.  Probably that's what my first thing I'll "buy" if I get the job. I'd love to get that taken care of so I don't have to deal with it and worry about it. So, wish me luck.  I hope something happens with this.

"If it looks too good to be true, it probably is." Whether you are searching for a new job through Monster or other websites, keep in mind that the same technological innovations that help in your job search may be used by cyber-criminals looking to lure job seekers into questionable job "opportunities." Monster, the worldwide leader in the online recruitment industry, makes protecting job seekers a top priority. While Monster continually monitors its network and database to detect and terminate fraudulent access or job postings, keep in mind that Monster's primary purpose is to serve as an open forum for employers to advertise open positions and a service for job seekers to broadcast their qualifications to interested employers. We work hard to ensure that only appropriate parties (such as employers) have access, but neither we nor any other online recruitment company can guarantee that inappropriate parties will not gain access to a posted resume. Accordingly, we'd like to remind you of what you can do to help keep yourself safe during a job search. Know What to Avoid Some employment scams appear as job postings or classifieds while others may target victims with an offer through an unsolicited email. Below are the most common scams you may see: Money-Laundering Scams Money launderers often create job descriptions that offer commissions or pay as high as $2000 per day to process checks on behalf of foreign nationals. They are recruiting local citizens to "process payments" or "transfer funds," because as foreign nationals, they can't do it themselves. The image below is an example of a money laundering scam hidden behind what appears to be an offer of employment. Reshipping Scams Reshipping, or postal forwarding, scams typically require job seekers to receive stolen goods in their own homes-- frequently consumer electronics -- and then forward the packages, often outside the United States. Those who fall for reshipping scams may be liable for shipping charges and even the cost of goods purchased online with stolen credit cards. Pre-pay/Work at Home Scams Although there are genuine jobs working at home, many "offers" are not valid forms of employment and may have the simple goal of obtaining an initial monetary investment from the victim. Using claims such as 'be your own boss' and 'make money quickly', Work at Home scams will not guarantee regular salaried employment and almost always require an "up-front" investment of money for products or instructions before explaining how the plan works. Protect Yourself What seems like a lucrative job offer could cost you your savings and more. Learn to identify the signals of an employment scam to protect yourself. When conducting a job search:

1. Look for signals in a job posting or email offer, which could serve as an indicator that what is being presented as employment is not legitimate. Don't get involved with an employer that can't make its business model perfectly clear to you or one that's willing to hire you without even a phone interview. Do your own research on any employer that makes you feel at all uneasy.
2. Never put your social security or national ID number, credit card number, bank account number or any type of sensitive personal identification data in your resume. You should never share any personal information with a prospective employer, even if they suggest that it is for a "routine background check", until you are confident that the employer and employment opportunity is legitimate. Use Monster's resume visibility options to 'Be Safe'.
3. Do not engage in any transaction in which you are requested to transfer or exchange currency or funds to a prospective employer. Remain alert for the Work at Home employers who require you to make an up-front investment.
4. Be cautious when dealing with individuals/companies from outside your own country.
5. If you see a questionable job posting or suspect misuse of the Monster website or its brand, please report the suspected fraud to Monster.

If you think you have been a victim of fraud, immediately report the fraud to your local police and contact Monster, so steps can be taken to ensure your safety. We also recommend that you file an online report with The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). For more information on how to conduct a safe job search, visit Monster's Security Center. You can also check out LooksTooGoodToBeTrue.com. Best regards, The Monster Team I got this from Monster.com and in these shitty economic times, it's worth taking a look at.

(Note for people who aren't from Michigan or the USA: the UP stands for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.) On October 27th, I'm going to the UP. I was due to go up on the 28th, but I managed to get an interview/meeting with a company up there (Ironwood Plastics), so I'm going up a day early. This will be the longest car trip I have ever been on with me driving. Let me start from the beginning... I'm a member of Daughters of the Nile, and we have "ceremonials"; meetings where we perform the initiatory work and get new members into the group.  This meeting is usually in addition to our regular meeting every month.  Every year, we have a visit by the Supreme Queen of the Supreme Temple (the governing body of the whole organization worldwide).  We usually go to the other temples (Grand Rapids and Detroit) but this year, we've decided to go up North to the Temple in Marquette. I also try to go to the SAE World Congress in April of every year.  Now, this past year, I went and was wandering about the expo floor and came across Ironwood Plastics.  I chatted up the young man at the booth and asked about jobs.  I didn't get much of an answer (which is fine, he was an engineer or something) but I did make a note to check out their website when I got home. I got home from the SAE Congress and hit the web.  I had marked up my expo book and started checking out companies I had seen... I hit up the Ironwood Plastics website and emailed the "jobs" email address about potential jobs.  This is not new to me; I often do it to companies I'm interested in, but the difference was that this time I got a response.\ Back to my trip to the UP... I'm going up there for the ceremonial AND an interview with Ironwood Plastics.  This is going to be a massively busy week (last week in October), but I hope it's a productive one. If I get a job out of this meeting, I will be ecstatic.

Job searching is a pain.  I shouldn't really think of it as such, but would it kill someone to call me back?  I don't want to be perceived as desperate, but the whole thing drives me nuts. What I don't like are the double standards.  I MUST respond right away to a posting, phone call, or email; while the employers don't have to.  They seem to ignore me most of the time, even though I've called and emailed them. There is no sense of urgency. I understand that it's an employer's market out there, but would it kill the employers to have some common decency and call when the candidate is not wanted?  Even one of those "Your skills don't match with the job requirements, but we are keeping your information on hand for the next 90 days" emails would be preferred to being left out in the dark. I'm just frustrated. Oh well.  I've applied for another 10 or so jobs today. Ah, and an aside to what I've been talking about...  If you follow me on twitter/identica/plurk you will already know this, but I found a new site: JobFox. You fill out a profile with your resume information and your skills (some are a little buzz-word like) and then start applying for jobs.  Companies post requirements up there and all you have to do is click on the "Apply" button.  Makes things much easier than going to individual companies sites and creating yet. another. profile.  I have so many profiles out there, I don't even know what ones are active, dead or still coming up in searches. Anyway, complete the touchy-feely "work type" quiz and your profile will be complete.  Apparently, I'm an Individualist-Transactor.  Kind of meaningless, but it gets your profile to 100%.  *shrug*