Update: Wife’s Job Search
First, thanks to those of you who have e-mailed me directly with job search assistance for my wife. We’ve followed all of those leads.
Yesterday, they gave her a termination date: September 30. She’ll get 20 weeks of severance after that. This assumes that she doesn’t find a job within the company that is remaining in Trenton – there’s a chance of that but she’d have to take a grade-level cut (if not a pay cut) to do so.
Thanks for your help thus far. We could still use more leads if you have them – just e-mail me using the link on the left. If you’re just reading this now for the first time, this post and this post have more information on her situation.
Third Annual “Eat an Animal for PETA” Day
Today is the 3rd Annual International “Eat an Animal for PETA” Day.
The holiday was thought up by Meryl Yourish a few years back, when PETA offended her Jewish sensibilities by likening the slaughter of animals to the slaughter of Jews by the Nazis. (Yes, they really did!)
The PETA folks are just plain nuts. They are hypocrites, and many have no problem exploiting the very animals that they protect. Besides, we’re at the top of the food chain for a reason, right? We are omnivores, not herbivores.
I haven’t taken it as far as others who feel the need to eat as many animals as possible today. I’ve kept it simple. A bologna sandwich for lunch, and we’re having beef burgers for dinner.
We would have had lamb burgers for dinner, based on the idea that we should eat the cutest animal possible. Unfortunately, the lamb patties turned on us in the freezer.
So, get out there and EAT MEAT!
Anthrax – Here We Go Again
Over three years ago, several Anthrax-tainted letters were handled at the Trenton Main Post Office in Hamilton, NJ. That building was closed from October 18, 2001 until yesterday – March 14, 2005. Trenton Times Story My mail was delivered from that building before it was closed (and may be again). The building was fumigated and essentially gutted and rebuilt. I still have mail in special baggies from the irradiation facility that was finally received in January, 2002.
The same day (March 14, 2005), anthrax was again detected at external mail processing facilities for the Pentagon. Fox News Story
It’s time to be afraid of your mail again. What may be scary here is that the mail was already irradiated, but the anthrax organism was found on filters at the plant. Perhaps it was already-killed anthrax (I hope so), but you really don’t know.
My tips for being afraid of your mail:
- Keep all mail outside of your house until opened/discarded.
- Discard any mail that you don’t intend to open (advertising, etc). This probably includes mail that doesn’t have a return address, or mail with a “suspicious” address (misspelled – handwriting doesn’t match return address). Go ahead and recycle it – it’s probably clean.
- Open all mail outside of your house (perhaps on a porch or in the garage).
- If anything untoward falls out of the mail, DON’T GO BACK INSIDE. Get someone to call 911 for you. Try to stay where you stand, to avoid spreading whatever it is. Don’t panic – most powdery substances in mail turn out to be hoaxes. Back in the fall of 2001, my company (a direct mail company) had at least a dozen hoax envelopes containing salt, talcum powder, etc.
- Wash your hands it hot soapy water after opening ALL mail.
Good luck, and let’s hope it’s a false alarm.
Outsourcing Minimum Wage Jobs
McDonald’s is apparently considering outsourcing drive-thru order taking. Reuters Story
That’s right – the person behind the clown’s mouth (though McDonald’s doesn’t really have those anymore) might be several states away. Probably in a cheaper job market. And they won’t have any idea whether or not your McDonald’s is out of Apple Pies or not. I can’t see how they’ll be accountable for mistakes either. (“Sorry, I know you ordered a Big Mac but the girl in Cleveland typed in McNuggets by mistake. If you’ll just pull over here we’ll fix it.”)
How long before they outsource the jobs to India? Not only will we have trouble understanding the Dell tech support folks, but now we won’t be able to order American food from an American restaurant without talking to a foreigner! (OK, to be fair, that’s already true in some parts of the country.)
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