It is getting cooler here

Of all the fingerless gloves I have made I neglected to make myself a pair. I really like knitting the  Nicholas’s Fingerless Gloves at Knitting Daily http://www.knittingdaily.com/media/p/14001.aspx . I have some more black sport yarn and all I need to do is find it. I bought the yarn for some long forgotten project. I like the Nicholas’s Fingerless Gloves because they only take one skein of yarn. They work up quickly and I like the stitch pattern. The stitch pattern is so flexible they stretch and stretch and then go back to their shape quickly.

You have to be a member at Knitting Daily to download the pattern. If you would like me to send the pattern I have downloaded it and I can send it to you.

Right now I am sitting here and I have as many ’seats’ as I can have for today and for tomorrow. Too bad I don’t have something here to knit or embroider. So I have to try to find the black sport yarn so that the next time I have the time I can just pick it up between calls.

I should be able to find the black sport yarn soon as I am making my way through the boxes at a pretty good clip. I am trying to organize and throw away stuff and put other items together all in one place. If I had to guess I would say that I have done about half my boxes.

I have talked to people in Hawaii, Alaska, Florida, New York, California, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan (yes Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti).

I am still going through boxes. The way back machine is cranked up big time. I have found all kinds of things. Things that tell me just where my head was at and how far I have come. I have found three of my highschool yearbooks. I opened the first one and the only thing I was thinking was OK, which one of you stole my hat. I have a picture of me wearing the hat so that is proof that it was mine first. My future mother-in-law bought it for me for a christmas present. I wore it to school for one week and one day I opened up my locker and it was gone. Someone must have stood so that they could see what my combination was and took it out when I wasn’t looking. Fortunately for me I had a scarf to wear home from school as a hat that day. My mil was not able to find another one to replace the hat. The person that stole it out of my locker could not wear it to school. So they could only wear it when they weren’t at school. In addition everyone saw me wearing it so their friends would know that they had stolen it. So why did they take it? I would like to know.

Work at home jobs really do exist

That statement has made some of you sit up and take notice.

 

Yup I work at home. All I have to do is get up drink my coffee, eat breakfast and turn on the computer. Then I start taking calls. My first paycheck was less than 500$ but my second paycheck is going to be $1287 but that is before taxes. That is for two weeks plus one day of work. After taxes that works out to about $450 per week. I am responsible for paying the taxes as I am an independent contractor. At tax time I now have to fill out extra paperwork. I have to fill out the self-employed paperwork.

 

Work at home job is my backup plan. I am hoping that it will continue to work out for me. I spent very long hours at the beginning to bring my stats up and it has paid off. How many hours? I got up and was ready for work by 5:30 am and stayed on the computer taking calls until it was time for bed. I am allowed a bathroom break 4 minutes and 59 seconds out of every 30 minutes. By now though I meet my daily $ goal by 3:30 pm and sometimes sooner, so of course my daily $ goal has gone up My daily $ goal was to meet all my bills with nothing left over but now that my daily $ goal has gone up, I will be able to start saving $$$$. I am working 7 days a week but that is because I want to get to a point that I can take two weeks off and visit my friends.

 

Enough already, what is it I am doing all day, tell us please, OK I hear you. I take calls all day. You have seen these products in a commercial or an infomercial. Magic Bullet, Back 2 life, Slim in 6, Debt Cures, and so on and so forth. People call the 800 number for the product and order that product. It is my job to sell that product and any other items that go with it (upsells) then at the end are what is known as Affinities. The Affinities are magazines and other club type stuff like a free gift card and free 30 days of using the service then they have to call to cancel or they will be charged.

 

Ok some of these products I will never use but just because I don’t find these items useful does not mean that someone else won’t. Also, if I didn’t sell this product to this person someone else will. The first few calls were pretty scary, but you have a ’script’ to follow and that helps. They told me that the FCC requires me to make all the offers and all the affinities. The only way to get past that is if they threaten to cancel the order then you get to skip all the upsells and all the affinities. Sometimes you don’t get a warning, they just hang up on you. Some stuff you HAVE to read ver batim. You can’t leave out one word.

 

I was doing research on work at home jobs. I applied to one place and I did not hear back from them so I continued to do more research. I applied at a second place but I didn’t type fast enough for that job. So I kept researching. I applied to a third place and bingo!! It paid off.

 

Start the application process. 1 Provide basic contact and background information.  Then you do a voice audition and take a reading comprehension test and (later) possibly a 45 minute skills assessment. 2 You must pass a background check and a credit check. This is a $50 fee that you pay for via a credit card. 3 Then you will be invited for a Virtual Business Presentation. They send you a code and you log on and see the presentation. You have a limited time to do this. They ask you to sign a contract. (I don’t remember the part about the Virtual Business Presentation).

So you are saying to yourself that is a lot of hours. Ok how much time do you spend getting ready for work, then add how much time you spend getting to work, then add how much time you spend at work, then add how much time you spend getting home from work (errands dont count). Now compare that to the time I have spent online. Uh huh not so many hours now ehhh. For me I don’t have a gasoline bill anymore nor do I put wear and tear on my car. I will be able to spend less for car insurance now.

 

So here I sit in my jammies drinking coffee between calls. I thought I would be able to do knitting or crocheting or other needlework between calls but I have to grab a ’seat’. The calls go to the people who have seats first, then they go to the people who have the highest ‘conversion’ rates. So I spend a lot of time grabbing seats. Hopefully I will reach a point that my conversion rates will rise to the point where I can afford to do a little needlework.

I have learned to eat food in little tiny bites so that when a call comes I can finish eating before I pick up the phone.

The equipment required: pc, landline phone with headset jack, corded (not wireless) headset, high-speed internet connection (not wireless). PC must be fairly recent. Remember any $ spent on these items can be applied to taxes on the self-employment tax form when you do your income taxes. This form is schedule C. In addition you have to pay self-employment taxes, these are the social security and medicare taxes. Then you have to pay estimated income taxes.

New computer

Yeah I got a new computer because I was working on my back up plan and that required getting a PC. I got more power added because I was thinking about getting a second monitor. It is an HP, Pavilion I believe. So far the extra power has come in handy and as a matter of fact, I don’t think I will be getting the second monitor after all. I don’t really need it. I thought I might but so far I don’t.  I had a virtual discussion about whether a laptop is a PC or not. But when you talk about a PC you are talking about a cpu, a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse. When you talk about a laptop, all those components are in one unit not four units.

I uploaded all my pictures from my camera to my new computer. It was faster and easier than my laptop. This process usually takes a lot of energy from the batteries in my camera but this time it didn’t. Yippee. The pictures did not load to the software that came with the camera but uploaded to Windows Media. I actually like a Windows product better than a competitor’s product. I transferred my files to my new computer with a 2GB flash drive. Piece of cake. I got a new printer also, it was part of the package deal. I recently bought a router so that I could use my laptop while watching TV. I have not installed the router yet but it should be a piece of cake. I installed one at my last job so this would be no different. My high-speed internet provider allows up to three computers on the access so that is why I got the router. My laptop is wireless and when I install the router I will protect it with a password so that no one near by can pick up the signal and use it and to protect my information. My PC is in my bedroom. I have plenty of room and it is not crowded.

I like my new computer. The monitor is HUGE. I have learned a couple of new computer tricks. Ctrl F helps you find something on a page and ctrl scroll makes the screen BIGGER. Some of you are saying oh I knew those two, but hey a new trick is still a new trick. I bought a desk chair and put that together, piece of cake. I also bought a computer desk.  Now all I have to do is move the equipment from the desk that a former co-worker (here in Tucson) gave me to my new computer desk. The new desk is all put together, I just have to find time to make the switch. I am still rearranging my bedroom.

Monday I get my first paycheck since May of this year. Wish me luck that this paycheck will be the first of many more to come. If I still have this job four weeks from today then I will have passed the dreaded 7 weeks mark that so far indicates whether I will stay at a job or not.

There is one thing that used to bother me when

I was reading a needlework magazine. I would be looking at photos of the projects but not everything in the photo was a project in the magazine even though they could be. I wanted to know how to do that tablecloth or how to do something else in the picture. It got on my nerves. Now I don’t need to know how to do everything in the picture and it doesn’t bother me anymore. I have lots of magazines and books that can at least give me a clue on how to do what they didn’t tell you how to do.

My paternal grandmother had 9 children that survived so I had 18 aunts and uncles on that side. They all had lots of kids around 5 each, some less. So I had about 40 or so cousins. Anyway they had babies and my mom would knit or crochet the baby something. In the early 1960’s she knitted a bunch of baby ponchos in white pink and blue. This is what the poncho looked like.

Baby Poncho

 I hear a bunch of awwws and precious. I don’t have this pattern so I can’t knit one for you :( . I found it on the Internet. If you want to do a search it is a Columbia Minerva pattern from 1963 or in the 60’s anyway and the book/leaflet number is #2523.

  As you can see it had mitts and booties but mom didn’t do those, just the poncho. So, years later at a family reunion I was approached by my Aunt Zippy wanting to know if I could repair her poncho. I asked to look at it as I didn’t know. So she brought it out and I was able to fix it.

I have been very busy applying to jobs and going through boxes and throwing stuff out. Yeah I thought I threw it all out when I packed but I guess not.

Soupy Sales is dead bummer man so sorry to hear that. Local Detroit, Michigan comedian but well-known throughout the US.

I have stopped looking for work. I have been very busy. Earlier this week I got my once a month phone call for a job interview and I accepted it and made an appointment but later decided to call the dude up and cancel. I applied to the job like four weeks ago. Why interview this much later. In this economy surely they would have found someone right away.

I haven’t left the house in like two weeks or so until two days ago. Haven’t gotten dressed either, no need to, doing what I am doing. The only reason I need to leave the house is for groceries, gas and to mail the rent check.

I was so busy I forgot to vote. Ok now that you have all fainted, here is some smelling salts.

The economy was supposed to pick up this summer but so far it doesn’t look like it has. Matter of fact, it still looks like it is still on its way down. I hear rumors of people wanting to vote out all incumbents. People are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it any more.

 

Filet embroidery amongst other things

I have been looking at vintage and antique embroidery, crochet and knitting. I have decided that Filet embroidery started out as embroidery and branched into netting, filet crochet, Irish crochet and hardanger. Filet embroidery was started with a net as a framework you created by using a shuttle and thread, then you used a needle and thread to embroider the net. It ended up looking similar to today’s filet crochet. So now today you crochet your framework as you go along with filet crochet and Irish crochet. Hardanger today starts with some quality fabric like linen for example. You embroider the design and then you cut away the fabric between where you embroidered. Then as a finishing you use a needle and thread to embellish the embroidery. I guess I don’t like most of Irish crochet, it is a little too busy for my taste. Netting is done either with a shuttle or without a shuttle.

I know you Midwesterners are hunkering down and getting ready for the cold to get worse. Here in Tucson, it is yet another beautiful sun filled day so warm that I needed the air conditioner.

Got an email last week for a job that I applied to, three weeks ago. I had to get a credit and background check, which I passed. I used my PDF creator and made a pdf out of it to save for future job interviews. Then I had to fill out some other forms. I had a problem with one of the forms. The issue was not resolved until late Wednesday evening. So now I wait for an email to get results.

I have been busy yesterday and today taking some online courses. I am suffering from information overload. I am just trying to improve my job skills and job marketability. This is a good place to go for some classes  http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm  . There are of course lots of other web sites to find an online course.

I have been going through my boxes and organizing and throwing out stuff. So I have been looking at needlework magazines in my collection. I have found some things I can make in the future. The oldest magazine I found was from 1959. Some of the magazines are in bad shape. When I go through them I find that I made some stuff from that magazine. One project I am still working on as I found the needle still in the ball of thread. If I remember correctly I am working on the last one third. The colors are yellow, green and white. I am working on the green. One magazine fell completely apart as I opened it up. This magazine would be easy to scan for my computer as the glue has come undone.

As I was going through the boxes I found some places I used to buy stuff from and wondered if they had a website. Most of them have a website so I am of course disappointed about the ones that don’t have a website. So anyway I perused the ones that did have a website. I am not through with my list though, so I have plenty to keep me busy.

The Job I applied to week before last

Has been reposted this week. I had an interview last week. The original ad was just a customer service ad. The way it was worded I know a lot of people missed it (because it paid well, for Tucson). Anyway I applied to the ad originally because it said to read the ad carefully before applying and apply correctly. So I needed a challenge. I applied on October 1st and got an email on October 2nd with two attachments. One attachment described the job in more detail. The second attachment had 62 count them questions of the essay kind but not all of them were essay some of them were much shorter to answer. I took my time to answer these questions and sent the Candidate Questionnaire on Saturday afternoon. I had spent most of Friday and Saturday morning in answering the questions. Monday the 5th I got an email asking three more questions which I answered right away. I got a call Monday afternoon asking for an interview which I made an appointment for the very next day. During the phone call he said he liked my answers to the Candidate Questionnaire. I did my usual Internet research about the company before the interview. I saw his Facebook picture and that was scary, then I saw his LinkedIn picture and that was just as scary. The first bad thing to happen was while I was on my way to the interview. They asked me to come in half an hour later. So I did. I had to park somewhere and wait for the time to expire. So I got to the interview and he still wasn’t there yet (why they asked me to come in later). So I waited. The second bad thing to happen was they asked me to sit in a chair that had one wheel broken and the chair made a noise while I was looking in my job folder for some information he asked for. The interview was with the owner and his personal assistant. It did not go well and I knew he wasn’t going to call me to offer me the job. They hadn’t posted the job yet because they had just created the position and the job was more in line with my resume and experience. They said they would post the job soon and they would be in touch. I was hoping that when they posted it I wouldn’t apply to it but they used words that let me know not to apply.  This was Tuesday and Friday I knew that they had hired the person already, so I thought. I just did my daily applying to jobs today and noticed that the job has been reposted. So this means that they didn’t like any candidates they had, so I feel better.

This is the time of year where you need extra channels to watch on TV because of all the football. The TV informs me that we have graupel, not hail here in Tucson. Graupel is soft hail for those of you that are curious.

The big surprise last week was the awarding to Obama the Nobel Peace Prize. They had to have nominated him 12 days after he was in office. What has he done? Jesse Jackson has done more to earn this prize. Jay Leno joked that he got the peace prize because of the beer summit with the police officer and the history professor. Jay also joked that he shouldn’t go to Norway to pick it up because it is just a trick, they will arrest him if he goes.

In the end it is OK that I didn’t get the job last week. Today I got a response from another job I applied to. I had to fill out some paperwork and e send them with an e signature. So now I wait to see if I pass the credit and background check. This usually does not take very long but seeing as how I waited two weeks to get a response this may take a while. Another reason it is OK that I didn’t get the job because I found another place on the Internet for job leads.

The only picture I took on my Road Trip!

 

I was on Route 66 and I was hungry so I started looking for a place to pull off and get something to eat. I couldn’t find anything right away so I started to worry. I finally pulled off between McLean and Jericho. I had to take a picture for proof that NOT everything is bigger in Texas. This is the Alan Reed Jail. You can get lunch, buy stamps,  mail packages, be incarcerated and buy some gewgaws and knick knacks at this store.

With his new ad campaign we discover the secret of Donald Trump’s combover. Yes his combover is made from DoubleStuf Oreos. The Golden flavor of course not the original.

My feedburner is getting full. I have added sites to it. I have added job related sites and a whole bunch of needlework sites, mainly knitting and crocheting sites. I have had some extra time lately, sure wish I could get a job so I don’t have all this extra time.

I took the Fiskars to my hair because it was getting way too long. It looked too short right away but I am used to it by now. The first time I cut my own hair was beginner’s luck. I have done OK since then, no big mistakes and nobody has said anything so it must look OK to others also.

I have discovered that my neighbor has been running into the mailbox with his big ass truck. I started parking in that space to save the mailbox. A couple of days later I have reconsidered. Somebody broke some glass beer bottles in the dirt. I picked up as much glass as I could and every time I go to the mail box I check for more glass. Most of the big pieces I have already picked up. I am still debating whether to park back where I was or not. I don’t want to ask the landlord to have to fix the mailbox again and have him ask me why he has to and me tell him about the neighbor.

I used to look at Magic Crochet and Decorative Crochet, two magazines that came out 6 times a year. They are no longer publishing and I miss looking at the designs. Every now and then I saw one that I just had to have. Maybe I will get lucky and someone new will pick up the slack and publish.

I rescanned my TV because in the back of my mind I remember some blurb suggesting that we do this every now and then. Rescanning paid off because the one channel that I couldn’t get I can now get. So I have added one more TV channel to watch, ABC. So now I can watch Jeopardy and Ellen DeGeneres if I want to, amongst other shows. So be sure to rescan YOUR TV to see what more you can get.

Speaking of TV an interesting phenomena has occurred. In the 1950’s hour long dramas were 52 minutes long with 8 minutes being advertising. Today’s network TV hour long dramas are 42 minutes long with 18 minutes of advertising. Cable shows that are slated for an hour are 56 minutes long. So network shows now have 10 more minutes of advertising. So what is a network to do for more advertising without reducing the show minutes. They are doing subtle advertising. Theater movies have started doing this also. It is called product placement. For example, American Idol judges are seen with a glass that says Coke every time the camera shifts to them. America’s Got Talent has this also. When the camera goes to the Green Room and shows the contestants you see Orville Redenbacher Popcorn Icon show up on the screen and they talk about eating the popcorn and so on and so forth. So sit back and be prepared to see more advertising of this sort.

Another week, still no job in sight

But I am still working on my back up plan. I am creating a blog of my research resulting from my back up plan. I will post it later when I am all done. It may turn out to be more than one blog because I am getting a lot of information.

I have not heard from the interview I had on the September 17th so I guess it is back to the drawing board. They said when they called that they had found my resume on http://careerbuilder.com but I had a feeling that wasn’t true. I looked at the jobs I had applied to and found it. They had posted it to http://craigslist.org and I had applied to it. They must have had me mixed up with someone else.

I have a cookbook from my childhood days. I think it was given to me when I got married many years ago. I made some baking powder biscuits from one of the recipes. The biscuits tasted like saltine crackers only not so crunchy.  So I am going to try another biscuit recipe. I have a folder with some recipes that I got from magazines, newspapers and friends. I looked through the folder but I did not throw any recipes out. Who knows I may use them one day. The cookbook is covered in contact paper. It was not meant for this use I believe it was supposed to be shelf paper. The paper works though because cookbooks get wet or dirty in other ways and the contact paper helps keep it water and soil proof and is easy to clean.

I took some online skill tests. Some I passed and some I did not. They were harder than the tests I have taken at temp agencies. I can retake them so I guess I will. Maybe after I do some studying. There is a BIG list of tests at this site that people can take. It didn’t cost anything but time to do this.

Individual Mandate on the Obama Health Insurance plan. You must buy health insurance or be fined $1900. In addition a year in jail or $25,000. Are they crazy? How many people are out of work right now? How would this affect them? Make me buy health insurance and I will be homeless. Make me go to jail OK. Then I don’t have to worry about rent for a year.  I don’t have to worry about where the money is going to come from for food either. This is clearly unconstitutional because it sure doesn’t fall under ‘the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’. This is supposed to be a free country. Making me buy health care is NOT freedom. It is dictatorial. Seig Hiel Obama because you now join the ranks of people like Hitler, Stalin, Mugabe, Idi Amin, Kim Jong Il, Pol Pot, Ho Chi Minh and so on and so forth, you get the idea. Obama is going to be a one term president because of this.

A cheer rises from the crowd

Another Soap serial bites the dust. Yeah, Guiding Light is going off the air due to low ratings. One more show in the tank. I don’t like soap serials. They are so morally corrupting. All that sex. During the day. When your kids are home. All that hatred, envy, jealousy, thievery, in short all the immoral values being displayed. People being mean and hateful towards one another. What is good about that? I sure wouldn’t want my kids to see that. There is already enough maliciousness and hatefullness and envy in the world. So a little less to me is a good thing. I am sorry that a lot of people are now out of a job. Hopefully they can get on a new team soon, maybe a primetime show, maybe some other show.

I have a flash drive. A San)isk. It is so easy to use and so small. I can load up to 8 GB on it. No software to install, it does it all by itself. It is better than a floppy or a mini disk. It has a small metal bar on the back that I can use to attach it to my key chain.

I got a call for an interview last week. I looked at my cell phone when it rang and it said ‘unknown ID’. I decided to answer it anyway. Good thing I did. They said they found my resume online. They found it at Careerbuilder, http://careerbuilder.com. It is a part-time job and may end up being a full-time job. It is on the other side of town but the road I took to get there has a higher speed limit than most city roads. I thought the interview went well. I agonized afterwards going over the interview trying to decide where I went wrong, what question I goofed up. I couldn’t find a question this time so I wait until I hear from them. It will pay $13 less than my unemployment check but that is before taxes. So if I get this job I will have to get another part-time job to meet all my bills.

Ellen DeGeneres is going to be the fourth judge on American Idol replacing Paula Abdul. Some of you are thinking how is a comedian going to be a good judge? Well I can answer that. Ellen knows ALL the words to all the songs.  She enjoys lots of different types of music. Yeah she knows ALL the words. That is the answer folks. Plus we get some comedy as a bonus.

Good looking Patrick Swayze is dead along with Henry Gibson and Mary Travers. Plus Norman Borlaug who has saved BILLIONS of people from starving. I remember Patrick Swayze in ‘Too Wong Foo, Thanks for everything, Julie Newmar’. Julie Newmar is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. To be sure I haven’t seen her lately but in her prime, yeah beautiful.

What is really mean

is that scammers are posting fake jobs to craigslist.org . Most of these I can spot right away and don’t apply to but yeah, I have applied to a few scam jobs. It is mean, mean, mean to post fake jobs on craigslist.org. Just mean. But this week takes the cake.

One job actually asked for, and I quote:”We looking for a younger attractive female.” unquote. I wrote them saying that if I knew what the name of this company was or the address I would put in a complaint to the Federal Government to file charges of discrimination. They didn’t have to say that. With all the people out of work they would be sure to get what they are looking for. All they had to do was throw away all male candidates. Then throw away older female candidates. Maybe other people responded also in the manner I did because the job has been removed from craigslist.org.

Quite some time ago I had been sent a Jury Summons. This weekend I was to report for jury duty. I was supposed to either call or go to the website. So I chose the website and put in my jury number. I don’t have jury duty this week it has been canceled. I am disappointed. I would have liked to see how far I would have gotten. I would have liked to be asked a bunch of questions and so on and so forth. But maybe because I did not do jury duty I may still be on the list sometime in the future.

I have been reading some books that I have read before to keep busy. I finished the Jason Bourne series by Robert Ludlum. Eric van Lustbader has 5 books in the Jason Bourne series and I only have two of those and not read yet. The Robert Ludlum books have been made into movies and let me tell you the movies are like having three totally new Jason Bourne stories they are no way shape or form like the books. Never have I read books made into movies that were so totally different. Don’t get me wrong the movies are good it is just that they are so different.

I have also been reading the Harry Potter books by J K Rowling. The movies made from these books  adhere to the story line extremely close. Just a few things left out mostly because otherwise the movies would have been much longer. I remember way back when the first one came out and all the buzz, buzz, buzz. I bought the first one just to see what all the fuss was about. I was doing laundry at the laundromat while reading Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone. There was a young girl there and she was looking at me funny, like what was a grown up reading a child’s book for. Now if I were a parent I would of course read what my kids are reading so I can know if there is anything I need to talk to them about or possible questions to be answered. Hopefully the little girl will remember when she is grown up and has children of her own why an adult would read a child’s book. For my part I read them all beyond the first one because they are good to read no matter what your age. Something exciting is happening in EVERY chapter.

I read about half of Obama’s speech to schoolchildren. It was a good speech. I can understand why parents kept their kids out of school that day though. A lot of politicians are liars, cheats and thieves so why should I let my kids listen to one. Parents who are responsible for what their kids are learning and what their kids are doing pay attention. These parents screen as much as they can and decide whether their kids can go see a movie or read a book or go to a concert. Obama should have let the parents read his speech before he gave it to give those responsible parents a chance to screen it. Not so many kids would have been absent that day if he had.