PooBou.com

First off, if any of you play CD’s or DVD’s on your computers, you better make sure that they aren’t produced by Sony. This article is pretty scary. Not surprising, really, but it makes me suddenly grateful that the only CD’s I’ve bought over the past year have been through iTunes.

New topic: I had a very strange phone interview last week. It’s basically almost the exact same job that I interviewed for a couple of months ago, but in a different department. The fact that this job is a different team at the same company is a good thing, because it means that there’s little to no risk that I’ll end up sitting in any meetings with Dave’s ex-wife. Not that that really intimidated me about the last job - I mean, hello, I consider myself to be the big winner of that situation - but it could’ve been awkward. Anyway, this new job is totally unrelated to her little group, so yay. The HR recruiter lady called me, and I had been told that the interview was going to be about 45-50 minutes long, but it was only maybe 10 minutes at the most. She told me that she talked to the recruiter for the other job that I interviewed for, and asked me if there was anything I would’ve done differently in that interview process. I said yes, that I felt like I did pretty well through the first few interviews, but I hadn’t been prepared for how long a day it was going to be, and that by the last couple of interviews, I felt like I was just saying “I don’t know” to a lot of the questions because I was brain-dead. She confirmed that I had done well at the beginning of the day, and that most of the people I interviewed with had recommended that they hire me, but that I “sort of fell apart in the last two interviews.” I was actually grateful to hear that, because that was what I suspected all along, and it’s the most feedback that I’ve gotten yet. And considering that one of those last two interviews that I blew was with the woman who would’ve been my boss, it makes sense that I didn’t get the job. Anyway, she said for me to send her some of my writing samples, and I guess that means that I’m going to get another one of those hellish all-day in-person interviews. I’ll find out soon enough one way or the other. But I suppose I can deal with another Hell Day, since now I know where I went wrong last time. And because this is another full-time job with benefits, which would be absolutely lovely.

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First, a blog note. I’m trying out a few new features to get rid of this one dude who keeps leaving dozens upon dozens of spam comments on my old entries. (And it is one dude, I’ve traced his IP address.) Anyway, since he’s always “anonymous,” one of the things I changed is that you now have to fill out your name and email address to leave a comment. It won’t be displayed and I’m the only one who sees it, but if you’re worried that I’m going to spam you (ha!), you can say that it’s blah@blah.com. I don’t care if it’s a valid email address or not, I’m just hoping it’ll get rid of Mr. Anonymous.

So, a couple of weeks ago there was a discussion on Angie’s blog about a delicacy in Pennsylvania called the whoopie pie. Being the southern-girl-transplanted-to-the-northwest that I am, I had never heard of these or tried them. So Angie, being the sweetheart that she is, mailed a few of them to Dave and me to try. And may I just say how awesome it is to find dessert in your mailbox? I think all bill collectors should start utilizing this tactic immediately, because if they mailed me sugary goodness along with their invoices, I’d be much more inclined to open them promptly. However, if you clicked on Angie’s blog, you probably saw the photo of what whoopie pies are supposed to look like, and by the time we received ours, they were a little bit squashed. Witness:

I know, they look pretty bad (damn you, careless post office employees!), but it really had no affect on their taste whatsoever. They are still all wonderful cakey-and-ultra-gooey-frosting yumminess, as evidenced by the fact that by the time we got the camera out, one of the whoopie pies (the chocolate one) had already disappeared. And Angie, you’re right, they are nothing like moon pies. I’m not sure which one is better - I mean, I do love my moon pies, after all. I think I’ll have to eat a few dozen more of each to be able to properly give an informed opinion.

This is actually not the first out-of-her-way super-nice thing Angie has done for us. She also used this photo that I took (that’s the same mountain in the banner on this page), jazzed up the color and gave us a great 8×10 print of it, which has since been framed and hung up in our front hall. And of course, I am a horrible person and never sent her a thank-you note (much like the several other dozen people who gave us wedding presents who I haven’t mailed thank-you notes to either, and yes, I feel very very guilty about that, and if you’re one of the people who hasn’t gotten one, I swear that you will somewhere before the end of time, it’s just a matter of when I can get off my lazy ass to write them). So this entry is sort of my little Angie shout-out. But really: I will send you something nice in the mail someday, I promise.

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It seems that since the weather has started to get rather nippy lately, the cats have all started looking for warm places to sleep. They like curling up near the heating vents on the floor, fleece blankets, that type of thing. However, Cleo has apparently decided that my laptop keyboard is the perfect warm place to nap. So then, when I come back to my computer, my browser view settings are all weird, there are usually a few help or search windows open, and she often hits my wireless button so I get knocked offline. (The first time that happened, I spent hours trying to figure out how she changed my network authentication key, resetting our wireless router and the satellite modem, and generally tearing my hair out before I finally realized that it was just the one stupid “wireless on/off” button. Duh.) Anyway, today she managed to open a notepad file (no idea how she did that) and this was what she typed:

lNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNnnnnnnnnnnn nnnnnnnn99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999n2gtfr88 88888888888888888888888888888888888igyhdddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd dddddddddddddddddd

That’s exactly what it said, I’ve copied and pasted directly for your viewing pleasure (minus 50 or so rows of d’s, because I think you get the point). I’m guessing this is some kind of kitty morse code, and if anyone out there can translate it for me, I’d be most appreciative. In the meantime, I’m just going to try to remember to close the damn lid on my laptop when I step away from the computer.

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