Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Great Job! I mean, Jorb!

Well, My first day of my second temp job started, and I tell you, I couldn't be happier!

Okay, so I'd probably be happier if I were getting paid to sit at the lake reading or something, but considering the demand for Lake Watching Literature Managers is really low, this job is the next best thing.

I used yahoo maps to find my way from Lewiston Maine to Yarmouth, Maine. It told me to take a road that I SWEAR does not exist. So I got lost, and had to turn back, stop at my sisters house, call Adecco and sheepishly tell them that I would be in by about 9:20. Argh.

So the company is called Apria Healthcare. They are permanently closing, or at least that's what I gathered. So they have to archive their thousands of patient files. So my job is to go through the files, one by one, and create an index for each individual box of files, and the index indicates these bits of (useful/useless?) information: Name, Patient ID number, four digit routing number, Date of birth, date of treatment start, date of treatment termination, social security number, and their balance, if any.

To give you a completely ficticious example, here is what one file's information looks like:

Name Routing ID# Social#
Crapp, John | W555 | 444444 | 555-55-5555 |

Start Date End Date Birthday Balance
| 3/30/05 | 3/29/05 | 3/30/05 | 0 |

So, in simlpe terms, I wrote a CRAPLOAD of numbers. I did about 150 files on my first day, but the best part is, not only do you have to write every number out by hand, but you have to toggle between two data screens and view multiple screens per person. Also, with all those numbers, it's easy to get confused, so you have to be incredibly accurate and still be quick. That's what intimidates me about my job. They are paying me $11/hr. and soon they want me to do at least 300 files a day, because they've scheduled it out to be done by about a certain time. So if I can't keep up, they'll probably replace me. Argh.

Also, Yarmouth is about 25 miles away, in other words, I use about 2-3 gallons of petrol a day in order to get to work, and gas is 1.88, so that's added expense. Oh well, I guess it is worth it to get that good of a wage.

I went and saw a friend for a while this evening, and filled up my gas tank a bit. Hmmm, I guess my life isn't as exciting as it used to be, because I'm finding it harder to say interesting things.

Incidentally, I do like feedback, so if you have suggestions about stuff you want me to note/write about in my blog, just let me know by posting a comment.  You guys are the best. PS! TELL YOUR FRIENDS!

Okay, random thought now: How do they make instant mashed potatoes? I mean, they don't just dehydrate the potatoes and grate them into flakes. I think they have to much starch in them to do that?

Okay, after a little (10 seconds) of research, I found that instant mashed potatoes were invented by Dr. Edward Anton Asselbergs in 1962. Apparently he had to become a doctor before figuring out that you could dry a potato out and use it to make mashed potatoes quickly.

So anyway, I hope you all listen to your mothers, and don't do drugs, because drugs are bad.




M'kay

(Sorry, couldn't resist)

Monday, June 28, 2004

FIRST JOB!

Well, just a quick post tonight, but I have just gotten a call from Adecco, the temp agancy, and they have given me an assignment as a data entry person at a local medical agency for the next two weeks (nine weekdays), and the pay is ELEVEN DOLLARS PER HOUR! YIPPEE! This is wonderful.

Sucks to all you slushin' fast food workers, huh!

Just kidding, I'm not that big of a jerk, and besides, I am still not permanently employed.

Will write more later!

Sunday, June 27, 2004

First Day Of Work

So friday night I come home from a depressing job search, and as I am ranting to my best friend Tanner about how I will probably never get a job, I answer the phone to "Are you still looking for work?" It was Adecco, the temp agency. They wanted to know if I could work Saturday only at an outlet store in Freeport, ME (home of L.L. Bean). I said sure! And so I was in freeport at nine o'clock in the morning to begin my eight hour workday--I was getting paid ten dollars an hour, too.

The company turned out to be The North Face, an invredibly overpriced outfitting store. They were preparing for a big "Sample Sale" they receive all these shoes and clothes that were made as samples, and they sell them at about one fifth the price, sans warranty. AKA, 100.00 Hiking boots were going for 20.00 a pair because they say sample on them.

So my job was to take the shoes out of the shoe boxes, and threw away all the paper around and inside of the shoes. Then, I took a sharpie marker and put an "X" on the tag on the inside of the shoe which said "sample: not for resale", Then, I zip-tied the shoes together, placed them back in the box and stamped "sample" on the box.

I must have done this 200 times.

But, like I said, it paid 10 dollars per hour, and it wasn't particularly strenuous, so I can't really complain.

Plus, there was another guy from Adecco there who talked just like Stephen King!!! Listen to Stephen King's autobiography on audiotape, and you'll hear his very distinct accent. It was awesome!

Well, I'm going to slush out for today, I for some reason to not feel like writing more, even though I have more to say!

Thursday, June 24, 2004

SWISS TIMING!!!

You probably won't understand the title of today's post unless you have seen "True Stories" the movie by David Byrne of the Talking Heads. If you like bizarre and funny movies, I'd recommend watching it.

Anyway, life rolls along here in Maine, (a little too quickly for my liking) and I still do not have a job. I really only filled out applications monday, tuesday and wednesday, so I should start hearing from people any day now. But I still pray that Adecco will come through with a clerical/data entry position for me.

Charles is being a dweeb and hasn't updated his blog at www.539days.com for a long time. Geez, I even sent him an e-mail asking if he wanted me to give him a Gmail account, and he never responded. Ungrateful fool! Seriously though, Charles needs to update his blog, because I can't live long without that kids witicisms.

Speaking of kids I miss, I miss Ryan H. Man, when ever he and I were at the lunch table, the most interesting conversations of all time ensued. He's going to college in Chicago in the fall, and he's going to FALL (pun intended, sorry) off the face of the earth. I did tell him he should make a blog, and he seemed to think it was a good idea, so maybe I'll be able to get my dose of Ryan that way.

Today I went down to Portland, ME and applied for some more jobs. I actually applied to work at Starbucks. The funniest thing about that was that 1.) Anyone who knows me knows that I don't DRINK coffee because it's against my religion and I don't like it, and 2.) My sister wanted me to work there so I could bring her free frappachinos. Well, I must admit, I like the smell of coffee, but I wonder, how I could sell something I don't even like.

I hate job application forms. They all basically ask the same thing, but you have to keep spewing back the information for each potential employer. Why don't they do a common job application, sort of like the common application for colleges. Wouldn't that be awesome if you could fill out one form and apply for dozens/hundreds of jobs? It'd be sweet like honey-buttah. But the thing about the forms I hate the most is that they are so general, so generic. I know for a fact that if I could just sit and talk with the person who does the hiring at each place, I could get hired in no time.

So here are the places to which I have already applied: Denny's, 99 Bar & Grill, J&S Oil (gas station), Pepsi-Cola, Harbor Fish Market, Starbucks, A carwash, Vermont Transit and a temp agency called "Adecco". Tommorow I plan to apply at Dunkin' Donuts.

Well, I'm going to go down to Sam's and hang out with my friend Tanner until he closes at 11:30. See you all later, and have a wicked good night.

Monday, June 21, 2004

The Govenment Needs to Stay OUT of my life!

Okay, so I was going to go to four different Temp agencys today and begin my job search. I was going to visit Manpower, Adecco, Bonney Staffing, and Leddy Group. Well guess what?!?! All but Adecco cannot take people who are under eighteen. Even Adecco, however, cannot place me in anything but clerical or office work--AKA, all high-paying industrial jobs are OUT. Here's my beef with this: I am more mature and better qualified to work now, at my current age then about 30 percent of the work force, and yet I cannot get a job because of my age! I am confused about why this is acceptable when age descrimination is illegal. But I know why--because stupid American citizens, who rely on the government to do everything for them says, "OH NO! Protect my CHILDREN FOR ME!" So a huge beaurocratic government has TAKEN my right to work where I choose. Arrgh. You know, if I'm old enough and responsible enough to drive a ton of metal around at 60 miles per hour, I should damn well be able to work at a BREAD FACTORY.

The thing that also sucks is that I can't get a job that pays well enough now, so I'll probably get a full time and a part time job to come up with the 3,000 dollars I need for college this fall. ARGH.

Anyway, I loooove Maine. It still gets down to about 55 degrees at night, at is about 75-80 during the day, and I love it.

OOOOOOH, I LOVE DENNYS TOO. I've already been there twice. I got their appitizer sampler and the next time I got smothered cheese fries. Let me tell you though, my friend Tanner can put food away! Both times we went he ordered a Chicken Fingers Appitizer and a Chicken fingers meal with double fries. Of course, last year when I was here, he also got a sundae and a side of BACON. That kid has the highest metabolism I've ever seen!

I ran into a guy I used to know working at the Salvation Army. He and I were in a play together freshman year. We were never really close, but he's the first person I've seen besides Tanner and his family who I knew when I lived here.

Well, I'll wrap this up today. Pray/wish me luck (whatever you prefer) that I will be able to get a good paying job as soon as possible.

I've got to go move my car--I have to move it every hour or I get ticketed.

Friday, June 18, 2004

Maine, The Pine Tree State

Well, I made it to Maine safely, and I already miss you all a lot!

Still, though, I am having a great time here in Maine with my brother and my best friend Tanner. After I finish blogging, we are all going to go to Denny's (TM) and have some great diner food. I've not been to Denny's since I visited California back in October.

Well the drive up was pretty successful. We left the 'burg at about eight o'clock and arrived at Tanner's house at 10:30pm Pretty rapid, I'd think. Incedentally, I think because we traveled on Thursday, we missed ALL traffic. We never really went slower than 40-45, except for about 5 minutes around hartford, but even then it was still 25mph. Another great thing that I learned during this trip was the Highway milage of my pickup truck (You guy's know the one--1987 Toyota Xtra Cab, rust holes and John Kerry bumper sticker.) The milage of my truck --even with a HUGE load on it was about 29mpg. That's not bad for a heavily laden 87' truck. God Bless Japanese autos. Actually, another thing I found out about during our trip was that not having A/C completely sucks when driving at highway speeds. In order to keep from suffocating and dying, we had to have the windows down, which made it so loud that we could barely talk to each other, and really couldn't listen to music. Fortunately, we were blessed with light rain and overcast all day, so we were pretty comfortable, although I do have a sunburn on my right arm from hanging it out the window.

When I parked in front of my friends house, I was told I would be fine, that I could park overnight. WRONG. This morning I had a 5.00 ticket for exceeding the parking time limit. So, I'm leaving it on the car, and parking in the exact same space for as long as possible, so I don't get another ticket, and they get screwed. HAHAHA VIGILANTE JUSTICE!

Hey Stewart, I hope you're reading, I told you to read!

Moving on about Maine, though. Maine's roadways are terrible and shabby. The enourmous amounts of snow and the frost heaves (a frost heave is when the ground gets cold and expands, and then warms up and shrinks, causing cracks, dips, bumps, and altogether crappy roads) and the snow plows tearing them up each year. Not only that, but all the streets are narrow. Each intersection is like a small puzzle, a maze that you must navigate. The population is too small to have a lot of smart, well maintained roads, so all the lights are timed (no camera's or sensors) and there are very very few designated left turn lanes. Ahh, what fun the automobile brings into out lives.

Oh, incedentaly, note to my friends in VA--Enjoy the gas prices you have!!! Here in maine they are about 1.97-2.05, where as in VA it's about 1.73--1.80. I can't believe it. Of course, Maine isn't the cheapest state or area either, I know Los Angeles is still like 2.80, but they deserve it for living in that awful place to begin with. (Just kidding)

Well, Thadius Lovejoy (Site: www.stresspool.us) invited me to get a Gmail account with google, (Take that Charles!) so now I have a whole gigabyte to store every e-mail I ever recieve should I so desire. HAHA. I realized how brilliant there plan is. By only allowing users to invite a small number or new users after they have had a n account for a while, the rate at which new accounts are created is relatively slow, allowing them to slowly build the service and maintain quality. Whereas if they just said "COME GET ONE GIG OF FREE WEB MAIL SPACE" They'd be overwhelmed and break down and suck. Google is genius. Got to hand it to those guys, they know what they are doing.

That said, I'm really excited, and I plan to start my job search tommorow. Wish me luck!

Now, forward to Denny's!!!!

Monday, June 14, 2004

Test

This is testing my ability to send e-mails to be posted in my blog.... I
hope it works!

_________________________________________________________________
Watch the online reality show Mixed Messages with a friend and enter to win
a trip to NY
http://www.msnmessenger-download.click-url.com/go/onm00200497ave/direct/01/

July 14th--my first weekday of Summer--without public school looming ahead of me in two and a half months

Ahh, yes, For the first time in my pathetic--er, I mean, amazing life, I can enjoy summer vacation with the knowledge that I will never have to attend public school again.

This morning, I got up around nine am and went to the High School because I needed to pick up a DVD and get some photo's of the faculty. I got one with me and Mrs. Fielding where I am down on one knee to make her look taller. (I will try and post these when I get a chance. I still am using film.)

Well, I'm going to keep it shorter today. Please visit cockeyed.com, it's a riot.

Sunday, June 13, 2004

HURRAH! I'm now a college Freshman! Yes!

Well, as you can guess, I am incredibaly happy that I am out of High School. Right after graduation I went to Applebee's with my grandma, John, Ajenous (spelling?), my sisters Sarah and Katie, my brother David and my Mom. It was great to have all of us in the same place at once, but I sure wish my sister hadn't had to leave so soon afterwards, but I guess that's how it goes.

Anyway, I'm please to say that charles has linked me to his site, so go visit Charles site if you want too www.539days.com It's pretty sweet.

I'm so glad that my brother is here. We've been having a whole lot of fun--yesterday we went geocaching (www.geocaching.com) and I helped David (my brother) find three of the caches. He's the coolest brother because we are very similar, and we get along great--we both have never really lost our inner childhood.

The diploma that HHS gave looks really really nice! I love the fact that it has a sketch of the high school on it. (Those who have attended HHS know that that angle on the high school is the only one with does not show how screwed up our building is.) I received the "President's Acedemic Award" with my diploma, and I realized that it's too bad that Pres. Bush was in office when I graduated. I'd much rather have had a letter from Howard Dean or Jodie Foster. (That's a joke, folks).

Oh, back to Applebee's--that restaurant has some of the best food ever. It's really funny, because whenever some one asks me where I want to go out to eat, and I'm not concerned about money, I want to go to Applebee's. I feel awful sometimes because I feel like I should try some independant/local restuarants once an a while, but I don't. Their Fiesta Lime Chicken and their Santa-Fe Chicken Salad is the BOMB-DIGGITY. I guess this is the food paragraph. You all probably can understand why I am fat--I love food, and I love talking about it. The other unique food experience I had yesterday was at Franco's Pizza at the new Harrisonburg Crossing (next to Qdoba, another great restaurant), and let me tell you, they have the best pizza in town. I got the Baked Ziti pizza and a piece of veggie pizza and I was in heaven. Also, their's the added bonus of having a really nice authentically italian staff--the guy looked me in the eyes as I was leaving and said "You like?" (I said yes, very much) "You tell all of your friends, and I will see you next time okay?" It was like he was hypnotizing me or something, because I nodded and said, yes, I will definately come back, even though I am leaving for Maine in 4 days.

That's something odd about european people, is that they are really really intense, and especially italians--you know "Mancha mancha! eat eat!"

Anyway, if anyone want's to eat at Qdoba with me before Wednesday night, e-mail me or call me, because I need to get two more punches in my card before I can get a free meal--and I need to do that before I leave!

Wow, this is a long post, and I'm not even close to being done. I'm probably not going to post much this week, because I will be intensely chillin' with my bro bro (my affectionate term for my brother David) but I've also got to get packed, tune-up my truck, do craploads of stuff for my mom (you know, complete all those odd jobs she needs me for) before I leave.

So that's what's on my plate this week. Incedentally, I will be having another RISK(TM) Night Wednesday night before I leave for Maine and I have ONE spot left over---e-mail me and tell me if you want to play!

If you are a friend of mine, please please please feel free to tell all of my other friends that you know about this site, because I didn't get a chance to tell everyone before High School ended. (Wahoo, that sounds good to the ears)

To wrap things up, I'll comment on the fact that I have been reading FAR to many alternative media and conspiracy theory sites recently *for example, Ronald Reagan's death was faked because the US gov't had information that there would be a terrorist attack on 6/11 (makes sense, considering 9/11 and 3/11 in Spain) and that they needed an excuse to close down all the federal buildings without disclosing their information--so they said reagan died and closed them for "mourning". Wierd, but oddly enough makes some sense. Secondly, I want to comment that my cat has a BIG flea infestation, and we need to take him to the vet and get a perscription, because there are dozens of fleas on him, even with a flea collar AND giving him flea baths every other day.

Okay guys, that's your daily dose of Ezra Horne. I hope you enjoyed it.

Happy graduation, and God Bless you in your endevors, whatever they may be.

Saturday, June 12, 2004

Graduation is COMING!!! YAY!

It's actually Saturday morning right now, and I'm going to be a High School Graduate in about eleven hours! Then it's on to Maine where I will work my butt off to earn about 3000 dollars. Yeah. Charles, I hope you are reading my site, because I keep coming back to yours and listening in.

I actually shifted from my other site, and I hope that they shut it down after enough inactivity. Oh Well. I was trying to figure out how to put a picture on my profile, but I only could put it as a post.

Moving on, I had a RISK (TM) party tonight, and it was a blast. Ben, and his girlfriend Melloney (spelling?), Cody, John and I played two whole games of RISK (TM) I don't know why I keep puting the (TM) after RISK (TM) But it's kinda fun. The first game was pretty intense--we actually ate tons of junk food, and that always makes events more fun. Ben won but only by SHEER LUCK. I had him in a corner, and he got a set of cards and got about 50 armies and took EVERYTHING. It was aweful. In the second game, we all gained up on Ben and so he was the first one out (actually, Mallory basically commited suicide, cause she had to leave) If you ever want to play RISK (TM) let me know--You wouldn't believe how hard it is sometimes to find people who A.) Want to play RISK (tm) and then B.) Have enough time to play. It took us about 6 hours to play two games. I think only Monopoly matches RISK in length and fun. Oh well--What are your thoughts readers?

Man, I LOVE Sharp Shopper. My mom and my grandmother bought a bag of "Cocoa Chex Mix" and that stuff is like ADDICTIVE. It has marshmallows, chocolate chex and pretzels. It reminded me of Chex "Muddy Buddies." Whatever happened to that stuff? Anyway, it only cost 99 cents. I mean, Sharp Shopper is full of stuff like that.

I guess this post is of sufficient length, and I hope it made some sense. Next time I post I'll be out of high school FOREVER! YES!

Me In Zion National Park Posted by Hello

Friday, June 11, 2004

Hey Guys!

This is the website that I wanted, so abandon rippalush.blogspot.com Okay? I'll probably not post alot, but I'd check back at least weekly.