So I’m sitting here at work, it is Christmas day, and I am:

No!! I am not a multi-ethnic group of “employers” who are labelled “all who want to earn cash” by google image search. But the underlying theme IS me! I AM EXCITED! I HAVE A WII!

I’ve spent the last year just dreaming about a Wii but unfortunately my piloting career has rendered me

And I have been feeling like I am living in

I can’t wait until I get home from work (only 8 more hours to go!) so I can play with my new toy… EDIT: Went home on my lunch break and had a round of Wii tennis…

hehe WII

(bonus hardly worksafe nerdcore pic)

Last I flapped my gums about my employment, I was just back from my swell job teaching Air Cadets how to fly over the summer. They were nice enough to pay me less than minimum wage but skirted around it with my contractor status.

I’ve since found new work! No, I have not been a homeless bum since summer ended; indeed I am a corporate hero, looking forward into the future!

There is a picture of me doing just that! (not actually me)

I just passed my one-month mark doing over-the-phone tech support for a local company. It pays quite well and they focus a lot of praise on me which makes me feel great. Not used to a nurturing, productive environment - it’s weird!

This company I work for takes tech support calls for many different companies, a lot of corporate stuff (walking them through connecting printers to networks, etc.) as well as some end-user stuff (for dial-up users, of all things). I’m also working on some documentation for the company but after a mass-illness sweeping the office I’ve had little time to deal with it in the last few weeks.

This new work has surely produced some interesting stories of fabulous end users I’d love to share as I come across them.

First up will be a password-hoarding lady I will call Auntie Enigma. She was elderly and very very nice, and seemed somewhat up on her dial-up skills, though she was a little slow.

She was having trouble with a password prompt and after tech-supporting the heck out of her I determined it must be the ever-common “User Error.” User Error can typically be resolved physically violently but since I was a telephone call I decided to try more basic measures.

Are you sure you typed your password correctly?

I’ve never changed it!

Well Ma’am what password are you using? ((I was asking because I was going to try to recreate the problem on my end, see if it was a typo))

I’m not telling you!

W.. What? no, Ma’am I need to know your password to help resolve your issue.

I’ve read about people stealing passwords! I’m not giving my password to anybody!

*sighs* Could you re-type it for me then? See if it works, perhaps you had typed it incorrectly?

well… OK… *noise of phone clattering, typing, and picking back up again* done!

And did it work this time?

No! I don’t understand why! Oh wait now, wait now, when I type my password should I be typing my actual password or should I be typing those little dots?

No… Ma’am… those little dots show up automatically so that nobody can see your password over your shoulder. Type your actual password.

oooh! OK. *more very slow hunt-and-pecks later* Done! It still doesn’t work and I’m getting cross!

*sighs* Well Ma’am let me take a look into your account perhaps I’ll find something there.

This particular account does not have encrypted passwords and I can look them up, it’s just a pain in the neck I’ve been trying to avoid. So I call up the web interface, and lo-and-behold, her password is: “…….” . Minus the quotes of course. It’s just a bunch of dots, just like she said.

Turns out this little old lady thought up a brilliant password - a 6-character unbreakable code that she has never given.. to anybody, ever. I have to say her password is fairly secure but now I’m only that much more tempted to figure it out! AUUGH but no amount of computer hacking will get it. It’s all in her head! ALL IN HER HEAD!!

WHAT IS HER PASSWORD?!?!?

Hi diddley ho, blitzerinoes!

Weasel said he’d let me sub in and write an article to make up for all you slackers. Ooh, the power!

So here I am at home with a weekend all to myself to write my thesis. Naturally this means that I took a break from eating cookies and watching The Simpsons to read today’s Globe and Mail, which just happened to be delivered to my very door. No, this isn’t about Margaret Wente’s insightful take on Transgenderedism, but I assure you, she remains on top of her game.*

I hit the “Focus” section, and found myself reading an article about whether or not adolescence is obsolete. It seems last week this was Ms. Wente’s topic of choice. It seems she’s been reading (A dangerous passtime! I know!) this dude called Robert Epstein, who argues that in fact age is not a good measure of maturity, and we should treat all people equally once they hit puberty, making anyone above the age of 11ish pass a test to work, drive, drink, have abortions, or consent to sexual relations. Part of his argument is that there are apparently no fundamental differences between teenage and adult brains, that “teenagerhood” was invented during the industrial revolution because grownups were tired of kids taking their jobs so they decided to throw them in school, and basically that there are a bunch of old people who are pretty darn immature.

All this is very interesting (and strikes me as somewhat suspect, but then I don’t have a PhD in Phychology like Dr Epstein, so what do I know?) but what struck me as SUPERfun was that the G’n'M included a sample of Dr. Epstein’s “How adult are you?” test, that apparently tests one’s maturity in the areas of problem solving, love, handling responsibility, managing high-risk behaviours, and citizenship.

Now, let’s leave aside for a moment the question of whether or not a truly “mature” person would think one could answer complex questions about love/democracy/basic math with a simple “yes” or “no.”

I decided to check out the full version of the “Epstein-Dumas Test of Adultness” (seriously), available online at:

The first question that struck me was #3: “Some people say that true love lasts forever. Is this true?”

“Why, yes!” thought I, “Some people DO say that!” And I clicked the “yes” button. And on I went, until #72: “Some people say that we all have a “true love.” Do you agree?” Again, I was shocked at how easy the question was.

Then, THEN the test had the audacity to tell me that I have immature ideas about love! And all because of poorly worded questions! I thought Mature people were supposed to have good communication skills and a superior grasp of grammar, Dr. E! Naturally, I decided that this was just not right, so I wrote a little note to my favourite Dr., suggesting that he correct his vague pronouns, and informing him that I have some friends with Masters degrees who work at Blockbuster who would disagree with his statement that getting “more education” is going to get you a better job.

While I was waiting for a response, I let Dr. Epstein’s fine site tell me where I fall on the hetero/homosexuality spectrum, and inform me that all my relationships are doomed because I don’t know how to invest money and I don’t deal well with conflict. After this ordeal, I opted not to take the mental health test, for my own sanity.

Well, my friends, it seems Dr. Epstein is writing his thesis as well, because he responded to my email within mere hours! His response:

“Hi RandomGirl - I agree with your first 2 corrections, and I’ll make appropriate changes. Thanks very much for taking the time to write. Cordially, /re”

I’m not even very annoyed that he chose to ignore my deeper probing into the (potentially flawed) assumptions he makes with this test! He thinks my corrections are valid, AND he MUST be smart because he uses words like “Cordially.”

Not only that, his website taught me how to embed links to his site in my very own web page. Or Weasel’s very own web page. Check this out:

Or

Or even

Until next time. And watch out for overachieving teenagers. They’re going to screw us all over.

*Can you feel the irony dripping from this statement?

I haven’t been around much lately, but it is due to crazy work-related happenings!

For those not in-the-know I worked for an IT company as a consultant. I did fairly well there, getting a lot of stuff done; however there was one little problem:

The management style had me pretty stressed out. Though this isn’t the main drive of my story, so if you want full details on this story you’ll have to subscribe to my newsletter. (thanks to iStockPhoto for the picture)

I quit that job, and March 30th was my last day there. A few days later I got a random phonecall. This was awesome news for me as I never get phonecalls, and was thusly suprised.

The caller was a flight training operation in a far-off city (still on the island), who was impressed/desperate enough to take the recommendation of some stranger and offer me an interview.

I was all like,

I have fairly good luck keeping myself employed, but this was amazing. A few days after I quit my job I get this call? Out of the blue? I wouldn’t have been able to take the job, either, if it hadn’t been for my grandparents giving me a second car just a week previous (Erin needs one for her job).

The caller was so impressed he drove down to Victoria to interview me (!), and I drove up yesterday to check out their facilities and secure myself lodging. So here’s the deal.

I’ll be doing hopefully this:

But probably more accurately this:

Turns out this air school gets to train all the cute little air cadets, and they are so loaded with flying instructors that they can’t find anyone willing to teach the all-important ground lessons (and theory of flight, etc… the textbook stuff). It turns out I don’t need an instructor’s rating to do that (or even a Commercial license!), but I’ll be working on it while I’m there.

My schedule:

Friday, April 13th 7pm: Leave Victoria

Tuesday, April 17th: Begin teaching ground school to regular students

Late May/June: Begin teaching ground school to Air Cadets

July/August: Come back home

Hopefully I’ll turn the cadets from this:

Into this:

Maribars is pretty sad to see me go for so long (lonely!), but I think I’ll be able to make time to visit quite often. My Aunt and Uncle were gracious enough to give me free lodging right across the street from my target airport so that works out real well.

I will also have quite a bit of spare time on my hands while I’m up there, so I’m going to take a camcorder and try to make a daily log of what I’ve done. Should be good times!

I’m just glad to finally have a job within my target career path (flying) instead of my hobby (computer/sales).