Life

[N1njaSquirrel]

Sorry! We should meet up again before I leave though!

 

The new job is called 'Support Development', which is pretty much what I'm doing now (Internal Support), but with development work thrown in, as well as a more clear route to go into development.

 

On top of the job being more suited to what I want, there is less and less work to do at the company I'm working at now, and after the project that I'm doing up until I leave, there really isn't a need for 3 people in Internal Support. Also the employees are dropping like flies, either due to redundancies or finding other (better) places to work.

 

On top of that, I really miss Leeds, as most of my uni friends are still living there.

 

Getting a new job is weird, because I'm really happy to move on and stuff, yet all my work colleagues are genuinely shocked and sad to see me go. Which is the opposite reaction as to what I feel. This is also the first time I've ever changed jobs, so maybe this is natural.

 

 

I need to find a new job, but I'm super depressed and finding it difficult to get motivated.

 

I know how you feel. It's really hard to get motivated to send out CV's when they're just going to be ignored. It's even worse when the current job is making you so depressed. In my case, my unhappiness lead me to find a new job. I hope you find something soon Teg!

[Merus]

I want to state, for the record: don't fuck with my mum.

 

She is a licensee of three post offices - it's how Australia Post manages to maintain a network of post offices in every town without going broke, they have licensees who do the smaller ones - and was unhappy with the way the relationship with Australia Post had soured (as, it turned out, it was being set up for privatisation. This will become important later) and with how the payment structure hadn't really changed over the years and was becoming an increasingly terrible deal.

 

She decided that she needed to do something about it. Negotiating with Australia Post didn't work, so she joined the Licensee Advisory Council, who were supposedly consulted on Australia Post's decision-making. Long story short, they kind of weren't. She made an enemy of one of the executives of Australia Post, who decided the best way to get rid of her was to try and get her charged with fraud on a technicality, which is when she was raided by the local police on Australia Post's orders. Mum did get access to the executives of her representative group, who are called POAAL, and was basically told that this was how it was, they weren't going to rock the boat and if she didn't like it she could start her own organisation (but good luck getting Australia Post to take them seriously, it's not the first time someone had).

 

So she did.

 

As they were preparing to sue Australia Post, two things happened: they managed to contact a few senators who seemed interested, and my brother, as he charmingly puts it, headbutted a fist and then the pavement. One of the senators is the independent wildcard, Nick Xenophon, who is one of Australia's most famous/infamous senators. He asked for more information, and got a meeting with a room full of licensees going broke, some of whom had flown in from across the country. He set up a Senate inquiry into what had been going on.

 

The result was handed out last week, a consensus report (that is, politicians from the major parties agreed with each other, so, that doesn't ever happen). They were alarmed at how Australia Post conducts its affairs. They were aghast at the incompetency of POAAL, who turned up to the Senate inquiry and were dismissive of the Senators and couldn't remember who was on their executive board. (Other than the nepotism appointments, of course.) And several senators, in their prepared remarks, noted the assistance and professionalism of Mum, her 2IC, Andrew, and their organisation. The privatisation of Australia Post is off the table almost entirely because Mum gathered too much dirt on how they'd tried to ruin the network to prepare the sale. (Interestingly, it was the left-wing party that was pushing for it.) In the meantime she'd gotten a reputation for knowing her way around Parliament House better than the senators who worked there.

 

At some point, she became part of a political action group, involving the unions, pensioner advocacy groups, and rural advocacy groups, to try and right Australia Post. The unions want Mum elected to the board, which she finds hilarious because she's always hated unions. She's become friends with what appears to be one of the most powerful lawyers in Sydney, who is delighted that Mum has given him a perfect test case for reforming franchise law in Australia, and in return he's willing to provide access to the Minister responsible for Australia Post and his favourite auditors as well as copious legal advice for a reasonable fee. She has the personal number of one of the most powerful and popular politicians in Australia.

 

Because she wanted her small business to have a contract that better fitted the work she actually does, she had to become a top-tier political operative and get the Senate to strongly recommend that Australia Post do what she wants. So she did.

 

(This supplants my previous favourite story about why not to fuck with my mum - while i was in high school, she uncovered an honest-to-god conspiracy in the education department while part of the P&C (Australian PTA). She didn't dismantle it but she sure as shit made sure the statewide P&C knew about it, which kind of defeated the purpose of having it.)

 

Do not fuck with my mum. She's very nice but she will end you if she has to.

[Nachimir]

I wondered what your tweets were in reference to this morning. She sounds amazing.

[dibs]

I wondered what your tweets were in reference to this morning. She sounds amazing.

 

We have to fucking say that, she will end us!

 

*hides

 

 

 

Congrats Mrs. Merus

[Bjorn]

That's incredible!

[tegan]

Finally got Fibreop!

 

 

I have TV service now too. The phone stopped working. but the guy's coming back to fix that.

[SuperBiasedMan]

My internet finally appears to be stable!

 

...I'm getting a tenth of tegan's speed but it's ten times better than I was getting before so now I can actually stream, play online games and download stuff... basically all the things I use the internet for (aside from visiting here).

 

Also Merus's mother sounds like a crazy badass.

[Badfinger]

Merus you should tell your mom to like unions.

 

 

Please don't have me killed, awesome lady

[tegan]

My phone is fixed, I am the Media Queen.

[Nachimir]

My one regret about moving to the sticks

 

 

I really miss optical fibre, and Youtube5 with a short wait is the only thing that makes most video playable in HD.

[Twig]

I was hoping to get fiber at my new apartment in Dallas. But then I called Verizon and they said "we can't but AT&T can" and now I'm getting 10 up/down instead of the much-higher-at-reasonable-rates Verizon offered, but at least it's not cable shared with the whole apartment. And also I was supposed to get it this Friday, but then they changed it to Monday via email. Argh...

 

Also AT&T forced a phone on me for free even though I said very specifically I only wanted internet. Awkward. I'll never use the phone.

[syntheticgerbil]

Merus, that was a completely interesting read and it's awesome your mom cares so much and keeps trying even after scare tactics of getting her home raided. I absolutely hate that shit. I had no idea any country had trouble with their postal service going broke besides the United States. I have no idea why such a thing is a private entity, and it looks like your country was trying to make it the same. I think it should be against the law to even allow the post to not be a government entity anyway but that's that damned commie in me. Can your mom come take on the U.S.?

 

And wow, I'm getting the 50 mbps speed tegan has now for $35 a month, just because Google Fiber is about to unveil itself in Austin. Time Warner had to step it up and replace all of the cable all over the city to stay competitive. What I have is the basic speed. Since they failed to tell me they changed, I was getting a spotty connection with 120 Mbps for a few months but realized I could save $10 and go to 50 and still be happy. I would totally switch to Google Fiber if they weren't charging $70/month though. I remember when I was getting 750 kbps through AT&T at my first apartment. Gah.

[aeolist]

I was hoping to get fiber at my new apartment in Dallas. But then I called Verizon and they said "we can't but AT&T can" and now I'm getting 10 up/down instead of the much-higher-at-reasonable-rates Verizon offered, but at least it's not cable shared with the whole apartment. And also I was supposed to get it this Friday, but then they changed it to Monday via email. Argh...

 

Also AT&T forced a phone on me for free even though I said very specifically I only wanted internet. Awkward. I'll never use the phone.

Honestly Time Warner (as much as they suck) tends to have more consistent service than DSL or Uverse. I live in a big apartment complex and my speeds are generally around what I pay for with very little downtime, whereas the phone companies are much less reliable in terms of speed and uptime. Fios is good but so limited in the areas they've rolled out.

[Twig]

OH HEY SOMEONE ALREADY IN DALLAS!

Maybe you can tell me!

I don't have a car right now (though will be getting one eventually, despite hoping never to need one again after living in SF for over a year where it was completely unnecessary). ):

 

Anyway, it's probably going to be a couple months before I do. I'd rather not have to walk to the nearest grocery store in the heat I'm already hating after a little over half a week. Is there a good grocery delivery service? I live in what I believe is referred to as "Uptown".

[syntheticgerbil]

Why don't you want to be like one of those poor people and keep a shopping cart near your front door for trips like that?

[aeolist]

OH HEY SOMEONE ALREADY IN DALLAS!

Maybe you can tell me!

I don't have a car right now (though will be getting one eventually, despite hoping never to need one again after living in SF for over a year where it was completely unnecessary). ):

 

Anyway, it's probably going to be a couple months before I do. I'd rather not have to walk to the nearest grocery store in the heat I'm already hating after a little over half a week. Is there a good grocery delivery service? I live in what I believe is referred to as "Uptown".

I don't know about delivery services but a really good grocery chain in town is called Central Market. It's a little like Whole Foods but cheaper and with a better selection, without the hyper-focus on NON-GMO ORGANIC. If you're in the uptown area the one at Lovers and Greenville is probably the closest. The DART rail runs right next to it.

 

And if you're hating the heat now just wait till next summer and we have 30 consecutive days hitting temps above 100F

[Twig]

Fair enough, I will keep that in mind, thanks.

 

And yeah I'm glad I didn't move in the middle of that season, at least. Also glad I have AC. Nowhere I've lived for the past five years (besides my parents' house!) has had AC. Heat yes, but no AC. Of course they didn't get anywhere near as hot, or consistently hot, as Dallas does.

[syntheticgerbil]

You can also just go to H.E.B. and just buy some Central Market crap from there for slightly cheaper, they are both owned by Howard Butt, who I think is dead.

 

Dr. B is Doctor Butt cola! Also H.E.Buddy is an awful paper sack with a big toothless gum of a mouth!

 

I used to think H.E.B. and subsidiaries was cool when I lived in Houston where they were less prominent, especially because the one near my apartment at the time was tiny and you never see tiny grocery stores anymore in Texas (tiny as in 1980 normal), but they will probably become the next Wal-mart. They are appearing everywhere and there's no need for them to be that big and contain a shitty clinic and whatever else inside.

[aeolist]

You can also just go to H.E.B. and just buy some Central Market crap from there for slightly cheaper, they are both owned by Howard Butt, who I think is dead.

 

Dr. B is Doctor Butt cola! Also H.E.Buddy is an awful paper sack with a big toothless gum of a mouth!

 

I used to think H.E.B. and subsidiaries was cool when I lived in Houston where they were less prominent, especially because the one near my apartment at the time was tiny and you never see tiny grocery stores anymore in Texas (tiny as in 1980 normal), but they will probably become the next Wal-mart. They are appearing everywhere and there's no need for them to be that big and contain a shitty clinic and whatever else inside.

HEB doesn't exist in Dallas-Ft Worth, it's only Central Market here.

[syntheticgerbil]

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

Oh right, don't you have Safeway as well? Randall's to everyone else (in Texas). Randall's is great because you can buy the same shit as everywhere else but for $2-3 more! Hooray!

[aeolist]

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

Oh right, don't you have Safeway as well? Randall's to everyone else (in Texas). Randall's is great because you can buy the same shit as everywhere else but for $2-3 more! Hooray!

We don't have Safeway, but I think they own Tom Thumb and those are everywhere.

[Gormongous]

That's so cool that you live in Dallas now, Twig. When I come home for the holidays, maybe we can have a metroplex Thumbs hangout.

[Nachimir]

At EGX last week, a group of Assassin's Creed cosplayers annoyed me by obliviously jabbing everyone around them with their scabbards while queuing for lunch. A few minutes later, one of them went to sit down with a pizza and accidentally fired some spring loaded wrist blades through it

[Dewar]

At PAX that would be grounds for confiscation of scabbards or removal from the show entirely.

[SecretAsianMan]

I doubt PAX would even let you in with any kind of spring loaded thing.  I once had an idea for a Full Metal Alchemist cosplay that involved a fake arm with a spring loaded blade that I could unleash by clapping my hands together, but I realized I'd never make it into a convention.