Check please...

Ever buy anything from a T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods or A.J. Wright store using a credit card in the last 9 months or so? Expect a call from your credit card company telling you that you are getting a new card with a new number.


T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods and A.J. Wright stores are all owned by TJX Companies Inc. which may have stored more customer data than necessary, putting possibly millions of customers at risk for ID theft, according to some in the banking industry. The beef is that they stored your credit card number and name long after the transactions were verified, unencrypted, and then someone stole their data. Does that sound like a problem to you?

So now I have the golden opportunity to inform ALL the places that I use my main credit card for automated payments that they need to use a different number. If I forget any, I'm sure they will stop providing whatever service they provide and probably hit me with a non-payment penalty. That's what they do when the expiration date rolls over and they fail to contact me for the new information. What fun.

Nice work TJX. I hope people do the right thing and punish the shittake mushrooms out out your company by NOT SHOPPING THERE.

Hmmm...

I had fabulous interview today with M², a consulting company. They connect consultants (me) with clients ($) and handle all the unpleasantness like billing and marketing and taxes and scope containment and all that grownup stuff. They have a contract opportunity that looks to be tailor-made for yours truly with a well known company that isn't a ridiculously long drive away.


Let's just say the name rhymes with "Steve-O".

IF the client likes my résumé and IF they like me in the subsequent interview, I'll be on board there as a consultant for at least six months. It would be a great gig on several fronts, and I would gain very marketable Six Sigma skills in an industry that is very different from my background. That in itself would be a plus as I seek to move into the med device industry at some point.

The work surrounds multimedia advertising production, and my decades of experience in theatre coupled with my process excellence skills make me an attractive fit as far as the consulting company sees it. Plus they are a well respected and savvy company so their opinion is meaningful to the client company. Further, they have had no luck in finding just the right consultant for the contract, except ME.

So I have a better than even chance at landing this, and as we all know that would be cool.

Oh yeah, the compensation is >50% more than what I was making when I left GMI, PLUS full health benefits and matched 401k. Natch.

I just don't know

A few months ago, I thought that getting a job would be easier. Now, I don't know.

You see, even if you find the perfect looking job posted on the Acme Inc website, and you tailor your résumé to fit the description, and you write a nice brief yet compelling cover letter, and you follow all the directions on the website about submitting your application... nothing ever happens. OK maybe you get an automated thank you, or MAYBE you get a standard email that says, "No" only in a lot more words.

I've tried this route with 26 companies for about 30 positions. Exactly NONE of these efforts has resulted in me being contacted by the company for an interview or phone screening. You could say I'm underwhelmed. It is an effing black hole.

I HAVE gotten results by actually contacting people within the company directly. As far as I can tell this is the only thing that works. Only problem is that this is that it is lots harder. You have to find these people, convince them to call you back, then get them to take your résumé to the hiring manager. To prove this point, I just told a friend of mine about my job search, she mentioned her daughter works at one of the companies that I am targeting, she called her daughter, and here daughter immediately called me back. All of this happened as I was writing this post. Sheesh.

EDIT: I just realized that I refuted my own assertion in the last paragraph. I need to speak with my editor...

Whatever tarot is, I like the picture

Apparently I am the wheel of fortune. Does that mean that I get to meet Vanna White?

You are The Wheel of Fortune

Good fortune and happiness but sometimes a species of
intoxication with success

The Wheel of Fortune is all about big things, luck, change, fortune. Almost always good fortune. You are lucky in all things that you do and happy with the things that come to you. Be careful that success does not go to your head however. Sometimes luck can change.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

sheets

Many nights I have lain
Abed yet not asleep
Wondering in silence
When, how, why, if only

Then anon life renews
And fallow fields bloom
With gay flowers and sweet perfume
To mine eyes, wonderment and tears

Life is mine to have and hold
From this day forward
For better or worse
Till death do us part

No one told them the 90's are over

So I had the interview with Siemens today. First impression is that the place and the people are a little run down. I'm not gonna pass judgment on the whole thing but I didn't get the "cutting edge" feeling from anything I saw or anyone I met. So we'll see. If hired I would be one of tens of thousands of employees... I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Hmmm.

I'm looking forward to tomorrows

Well after having a wee rockin New Year's Eve party that lasted till 6:52 AM, nice hot tubbing, surprise proposal news from our friends, and watching the whole Gilligan's Island video with everyone laughing along, I got a few hours sleep and did almost exactly nothing today... except for walking dogs, unloading all the remaining fair stuff out of the Suburban and rearranging the garage, making waffles and eggs for the overnight guests, watching a funny movie, and making fresh squeezed orange juice from oranges from my tree so I could make a tequila sunrise. I even got in a nap.

Today I had a wonderful moment as I hugged my sweetie and reflected on 2006 and looked forward to 2007. It's going to be a great year.