I’ve made a couple of tweaks to my template. This includes the “About” section and the top-of-page ads. They’re all consistent across all page now. I love using the embed tags. I can change the code in one place, and it will be reflected across all the page types now. That rocks.
I talked to my upstairs neighbor tonight. Neither one of us is sure how long we’re going to be staying where we are. I can’t handle the lack of space, plus the heat issues. She’s really upset about the heat. She had a $644 gas bill last month. Not only that, she’s afraid of the neighborhood. I explained that I wasn’t thrilled about the neighborhood, either. It’s a bit intimidating being the only white person on the street. She tells me that there is one other white person on the street. I’m still not thrilled. But she was saying that there is a serious crime and drug problem in this neighborhood. Most of it is on Bowdin street, and I avoid it. I usually come in from the other direction. But still, it’s not a good neighborhood.
When I moved here, I had to get here. Now that I’m here, I can find a better neighborhood. Not only that, I’ve got a sweet deal, even if I have no space. My rent is $50 more than I was paying in Providence and my heat and electric are included. So I’m going to stay here until spring—or I get shot, whichever comes first. I looked at a place on the north shore several months ago. I kind of regret not taking it. It was on the third floor, but the utilities were included and the rent was reasonable. Now that I know the city a little better, I’m getting a few ideas for where I want to live. Part of me wants to be right near a rapid transit line so I don’t have to drive to work everyday. As much as I bitch about the T (the MBTA), it is terribly convenient. I’d love to be in Quincy, Ashmont, or maybe somewhere in Cambridge. JP is another option, right at the end of the orange line. I’d like to avoid living near the green line, though. As one friend put it, the green line is bad, just like Mr. Yuck.
Have you ever had one of those days when you were so busy you didn’t have time to pee? That was today. I had my MRI this morning, and then I had meetings most of the day. I was interviewing a candidate for our tech lead help desk tech position. Our HR recruiter wasn’t really thrilled with him, and I was the first one to interview him. Usually the recruiters have a really good sense about the people we’re interviewing. I had him first, and then Ken had him next. If we both thought he wasn’t a good fit, Ken would show him out. Well, I wasn’t ready to show him the door. Ken kind of liked him. Three other people met with him after that. We kept the schedule as planned. As we all talked this afternoon, none of us were ready to discount him as a potential candidate. There was just something about him we all liked. Long story short, this guy is probably coming back for a second round of interviews.
If you can’t tell, we’re pretty thorough when we interview candidates. My first interview at Shawmut was with the recruiter (a different one), and Kerm, my boss. The second round, however, I met with eight different people from the IT department. That was brutal.
At least this one didn’t confuse RIS with RAS. RIS is the Remote Installation Service, and RAS is the Remote Access Service. They’re very different technologies, and if you confuse the two, I won’t be recommending you for the position. However, if you tell me you don’t know, I’m okay with that. But don’t try to bullshit me with knowing a bunch of acronyms and then getting them mixed up. Bah.
Anyway, it’s been a long day. I need to do some laundry and then get to bed reasonably early tonight.