Two Hundred Fifty-Third Entry

To say that I have been busy and tired the past week is a huge understatement. I have been working a lot at Albertson's in my inaugural week. It is a very tiring job, but very fun.

The people I work with are great...a sarcastic and cynical Tulare City Council candidate, a very nice woman from the Azores, a perverted ex-con, a woman who can "suck a golf ball through a hose", a very happy and helpful girl who reminds me a lot of Delia(it's a compliment Del), a hardworking Forrest Gump and a lazy son-of-a' that takes 20 minute breaks and does no work. Of course there are the managers, and I haven't met one I didn't like.

My favorite task at Albertson's is doing go-backs. Those are the things that people decide they don't want when they get up to the Cashier. Go-backs are a chance to get away from the front end for a while and learn stuff in the store. I get to help the customers that are out on the floor, which is kind of fun. Even more fun is what I like to call, cart skiing. I run as fast as I can down the aisle with the go-back cart in front of me and then lean forward onto the cart and "ski" on my tip-toes. Great fun. I'll probably get hurt doing that someday.

I learned how to water the produce yesterday. That is pretty fun. Playing with water indoors has always been something I couldn't do, but now I get to do it. Hahahaha.

The compliments have been coming fast and furious. The checkers say that I'm one of the three best Courtesy Clerks in the store. Even the managers give me compliments. Someday I aspire to be an Albertson's manager.

One thing that does suck is that there are a lot of flakes that call in sick all the time. Who gets called when that happens? Me, the new guy. Oh yeah, by the way, there was another new guy that started the same day that I did and he already quit. Interesting...

Tonight, I am closing for the third night in a row. Since I've started, I've only had one day off, and that was Monday. I took the day off from the County too to make it a real day off.

So yeah, I'm busy and tired, I don't get to see or talk to my girlfriend as often as I would like, I am losing track of my TV shows and I'm never home except to sleep, but it is all worth it. I'm makin' BANK!

Two Hundred Fifty-Second Entry

I peed in a cup today....I had an interview at Albertson's today. It went well. Looks like the job is flexible enough to form itself around my County job. I just have to call back on Friday to talk with the manager again. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to working at Albertson's.

I got my promotion. Yay! $120 more bucks a month!

I'm tired.

GO IVAN!!!

Two Hundred Fifty-First Entry

Since my last entry, I have gone through a lot. If anyone has noticed me acting a little odd or distant recently, I apologize.

I am almost 100% certain that by this time next year I will be somewhere else. I really don't care where it is. I can't live and work here past that. I have been seriously reevaluating my career path and continue to be disappointed with it. I can no longer say that I enjoy doing a single thing at work. For some reason, I have become the research bitch at work. First it was ADA, then it was Bikeways and now its fed and state standards. How the hell is any of this going to look good on my resume? It isn't!

If it wasn't for the fact that I have absolutely no other option, I would leave. But I can't. So I'll just have to cope.

The past week my brains been working overtime trying to figure out my escape plan. I need to have a plan to fulfill all of my commitments and minimize my responsibilities. Then I can truly escape. Live a life with minimal financial or professional commitments or responsibilities.

The only thing holding me back is passing the PE. If I never work another day as a Civil Engineer after I get my PE, I won't care. I'll have that piece of paper that tells me that the last eight years of my life weren't a complete fucking waste. It's like closure.

I had a vision this week while driving to Paula's house. I'm checking my mail one day in July. In it there is an envelope from the California Department of Consumer Affairs with the results of my exam. I open it and find that I passed all four sections. After crying for an hour about just what it means to be a Professional Engineer and how long it took me to complete the journey that started eight years ago, I go to the liquor store. I spend over $500 on liquor and drink for a week straight(I'll have enough vacation by then). Random people come over and congratulate me, drink and after a while don't even remember what we were drinking for. The following week I go to work, hand in my two week notice and begin my escape.

You're all invited, of course.

Two Hundred Fiftieth Entry

I have mixed feelings about this past weekend. I'm glad I got to spend a lot of down time with my family. I'm glad I got to spend some alone time with Amy. I'm not glad I didn't get to see Louis and Jen. I'm not glad I had to pay my car insurance.

See, mixed feelings.

A big shout out to my peeps in the HI! Aloha wahines!!

Another big shout out to my peeps on the red planet! Zera mitels!!

Two Hundred Forty-Ninth Entry

I am making quite a bit of headway on my website. Uploading photos that is.

Just got back from watching "The Bourne Supremacy" with Paula and Calvin. Awesome movie! Xlent and plentiful car chases! It makes me want to go back to Berlin. And learn German.

I hope they make "The Bourne Ultimatum".

Must read them all.

Two Hundred Forty-Eighth Entry

This past weekend was fun. Amy was here. We did a lot of stuff. We watched TV, watched "The Shining" and "The Others", watched some more TV, nearly got arrested for eating Cold Stone out by the airport, went to my Grandma's house a lot, went to a bullfight on Monday night, ate tons of food(not literally, figuratively), slept very little, and talked. It had been a long time since I'd seen her. It was good.

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On Tuesday I got my PAF(Performance Appraisal Form). I got a 7 out of 10, which is the highest you can get without the supervisor having to write a special essay explaining the reason for the 8, 9 or 10. Nobody likes that. Nobody ever gets above a 7. Anyway, with this stellar PAF, I was given a promotion! I was excited. My super told me that I deserved it and asked me if I had anything to say. I told him that I didn't really care about all the pats on the back and just wanted the money. He laughed. I told him I was serious. It's either a 5 or 10% raise. I really need this.

Fast forward to Thursday. Phil tells me that the county has place a freeze on hiring and on promotions due to budget issues. I almost started crying. I told him, in no uncertain terms, that I was going to start looking for another job. He told me not to start looking yet. Him and Marcia put in a freeze exemption paperwork thingy and once it goes through, I should have my promotion. Good lookin' out, but I was still shocked. I've had to put up with this bullshit for 2 years only to get frozen.

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My aunt came back from Portugal on Monday. I was over there on Thursday night and got the download about the trip and I downloaded to her about my trip....all three of them. Then we had dinner. Mmmmm. I am off the hook now for my Grandma's meds. It's gonna suck not going there every day. I've gotten used to it. I guess I could still go, but now that I don't have to I probably won't. I'll go back to the once or twice a week visits.

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Last night I finally constructed my coffee table. It is massive. And moving it requires major strength. But......it.......looks.........good? I like it. I even have materials left over. I love my new power tool!

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Me going to Palm Desert delayed a long overdue project from being delivered. I have been working on this project for about a year, and it's crunch time. The four days I was gone to Palm Desert were four days that I could have completed a lot on the project. I should have trusted my gut and not gone to the conference. But I can't say no, especially when it's the boss asking.

I'm sure I've talked about this project before. It is a sidewalk installation project in the poorest community in the county. It is a good project for a place that really needs it.

My deliverable for this project is to produce a complete set of construction plans to send to CalTrans for review. I have never done this before. I have no idea what needs to be done to complete the drawings. I've been trudging a long, with very little direction from my supervisor. I ask him about what I need to do, and he either evades the question or tells me just one thing that needs to be done. What I need is a list of things to do to complete the drawings and not piecemeal guidance. That way I can at least have a reliable schedule to tell people. I can't think of how many times I have told them that I could have it done in a week only to have something else come up that needs to be done.

I've brought three sets of the current drawings home this weekend with the intention of staring at them forever and waiting for more work to come to me. I don't have AutoCAD at home anymore, so I can't make the changes directly onto the CAD file, hence the three copies.

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That is all I have to report.

Two Hundred Forty-Seventh Entry

I am back in Tulare from my luxurious conference in Palm Desert. It was fun hanging out with folks from work outside of work. I don't want to go to work tomorrow, but it is only half a day.

Amy is coming tomorrow and is going to make it all better. Awwwww....

Two Hundred Forty-Sixth Entry

I am in Palm Desert, California and having a good time.

I was informed yesterday at 8am that I needed to go home right away and pack for a three day conference that my boss, Marcia couldn't go to at the last minute. I was scrambling all over the place. I needed to: go to the bank, pay bills, take care of my grandma's meds, find someone to take care of my grandma's meds while I was out of town, pack, buy some last minute supplies for the three night stay and.....that's it.

We are staying at the Desert Springs Marriott in Palm Desert. It is sooooo nice. And cheap! Apparently summertime is the off-season and my awesome room costs $99 a night. I have a view of Palm Springs, the mountains behind it, the fake lake around the resort and the swimming pool. If only I had binoculars....hahaha.

About the conference...

It's called StormCon and it's all about storm water. Treatment, storage...you name it about storm water, it's here. Today was broken up into three lectures. The only one I didn't sleep a little in was the last one about "Bioretention for Stormwater Treatment". It was actually very interesting. We are thinking about doing a few bioretention basins in the county.

There are tons of vendors here with lots of cool toys. I got a squirt gun, mini beachball, golf tees and a tons of other stuff.

Tomorrow I only have two lectures because one of them got cancelled. I'm fine with that. The one that got cancelled was the last one of the day. I'm even finer with that.

The one sucky thing about it all is that it is frickin' 180 degrees outside. Blechh.

Two Hundred Forty-Fifth Entry

I'm off to Palm Desert for three days.

More on Thursday.

Two Hundred Forty-Fourth Entry

This weekend was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed having Hernani stay at my house. We visited a lot of family, and that's always fun. What I enjoyed the most was talking with him. He really is a very interesting person with even more interesting ideas. We were up until 5am yesterday sitting outside drinking Jager and Port just talking. I've never done that before. It was very fun.

It's unfortunate that only now I realize just how much I enjoy his company, as he prepares to leave the US to live in Portugal for one year.

Two Hundred Forty-Third Entry

Hernani is here in Tulare visiting. When he got here last night, we went to A&W for dinner. Well, he went for dinner and I went for my second dinner. There's always room for a Double Bacon Cheeseburger, fries and root beer float.

We watched "The Shining" last night. Very good, but very scary. Damn that Stanley Kubrick for making the best films ever.

Today, we are visiting family.

Cell phone odds:

- Verizon EVEN
- Nextel 2:1
- T-Mobile 6:1
- Sprint 60:1

Catherine Zeta-Jones is ruthless!

Two Hundred Forty-Second Entry

I forgot how much I enjoyed watching "Scrubs". There's a mini-marathon on NBC tonight. Very good.

Newbie's new movie, "Garden State", looks pretty interesting.

My quest for a new cell phone service has taken an interesting twist. Originally I was leaning towards Verizon, but Fred told me that if I get a Nextel, he can get me a major deal on a cell phone through his work. I may be bloop-blooping.

Current Odds:

- Verizon EVEN (Can you hear me now?)
- Nextel 3:2 (bloop-bloop)
- T-Mobile 9:1 (It's all Zeta-Jones' fault)
- Sprint 60:1 (It sucks, but it rounds out the top four possibilities)

It's getting interesting. The odds could change daily.

Two Hundred Forty-First Entry

Just so you all know, I no longer have a cell phone.

Ok, well, I actually have 3 cell phones, but I can't use any of them.

Stop calling my cell phone. It won't work.

But like I said, I am looking for new service and would like any input you are willing to offer.

Two Hundred Fortieth Entry

July 20, 2004



AT&T Wireless
P.O. Box 68055
Anaheim Hills, CA 92817-8055

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter to express my extreme dissatisfaction with AT&T Wireless.

I used to be an AT&T Wireless customer. In fact, until yesterday, I was a satisfied AT&T Wireless customer. But, as a result of a serious miscommunication by one of your Customer Care Representatives, I decided to cancel my wireless account with AT&T Wireless.

About a month and a half ago, I called you to learn about international calling rates. I was going to Portugal and wanted to know how much it would cost to use my cell phone over there. I was (mis)informed that if I paid an additional $3.99 a month, it would only cost $0.99 a minute to place calls on my AT&T Wireless cell phone. Knowing that I would be using my cell phone a lot in Portugal, I signed up for the $0.99 a minute/$3.99 a month international plan.

A couple of weeks ago, I received my statement and noticed that I was charged $1.29 a minute for calls I thought would cost $0.99 a minute. I called Customer Care yesterday to discuss the apparent overcharging and was frustrated that the representative couldn’t and wouldn’t do anything. She explained and insisted that the offer I had agreed to reduced the per minute charge to $1.29, and not to $0.99. I could not understand how one Customer Care Representative, a month and a half ago, could quote me one rate and another Customer Care Representative tell me that the rate was, in fact, higher. I thought, “if AT&T Wireless Customer Care Representatives don’t even quote the same rates, how can I expect to be treated well and fairly as a customer?” I decided, on the spot, to cancel my wireless service.

I am not asking that you credit my account the $84.60 that I was overcharged. I can’t ask for that because my mistake in all this was failing to get the $0.99 a minute/$3.99 a month deal in writing. What I am asking is that a lot more care is taken when Customer Care Representatives are talking to customers about “Special Offers” and “Good Deals”. It can’t benefit me now, but it would most certainly help you satisfy your millions of customers.

Sincerely,



Phillip Toste
Former Wireless #: **********
Former Account #: **********

Let me know what you think. Too harsh? Not harsh enough? Say Something!

Two Hundred Thirty-Ninth Entry
 
Any suggestions for wireless service? Use the comments link below.
 
I found some killer phones on the net yesterday, but you have to live in Europe or Asia to get them. Some of them "will be offered in the USA later this year." Yeah, I won't hold my breath. Check out the Nokia 7600 and 7610. They are pretty cool. So is the SonyEricsson P900.

Two Hundred Thirty-Eighth Entry

Today officially begins my "War on AT&T Wireless".

Rewind

Before I left for Portugal, I called AT&T Wireless and asked them for the discounted international calling plan. They promised me $.99 a minute for calls placed while in Portugal, for $3.99 a month. Fine.

Fast-Forward

Well, $440 later, I find out that I was charged $1.29 a minute for all the calls I placed in Portugal. Goddammit!

I called Customer Care earlier and told them of the discrepancy on the bill. It quickly became a matter of he said/she said, with me saying I was promised $.99 a minute and the lady saying that I was promised $1.29 a minute. She "checked the computer" and "found out" that the "regular rate" for calls from Portugal on an AT&T Wireless phone is $2.91. Obviously a lie. There is no way it could cost that much.

Accepting defeat really sucks, but after being on the phone for 15 minutes, it gets easier. Realizing that I was having smoke blown up my ass, I angrily requested to cancel my cell service with AT&T.

Oooo, it's on.

Two Hundred Thirty-Seventh Entry

The one thing I've been most worried about concerning my blog happened to Jen this weekend. Her blog was found by someone who wasn't privy to it. Her thoughts that were meant for only a few close friends to read, were read by someone who doesn't understand the circumstances under which some blogs are written.

Blog entries tend to be thoughts and feelings that are occuring at the moment they are written, but not necessarily thoughts and feelings that are permanent or lasting.

It is an unfortunate situation.

Two Hundred Thirty-Sixth Entry

Half the year has come and gone, and I have only done a few of the dozen things I said I would do this year. Ref 12/31/2003 Blog.

I did do a few extra things though, like go to Vegas and Portugal.

I need to get on the ball. Sheesh!

Two Hundred Thirty-Fifth Entry

I am free.

I can go back to my normal life.

After this coming weekend, I have no plans to visit the Bay Area for at least the next four weeks.

It's hotter than hell here, but at least I have air-con and won't have to suffer the heat in my truck driving back and forth to the Bay Area.

-----

The last month was extremely busy, extremely nerve-wracking, but extremely fun. Would I ever let myself get this busy again? Never.

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First was Las Vegas.

Louis and I stayed at the Paris Resort and Casino. I recommend it to everyone. It is a bit pricey(aren't they all?) but the decor and ambiance of the hotel is absolutely, hands down the best in Vegas. The buffet is awesome too. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

We hit most of the casinos on the strip. After Paris, my favorites were Bellagio and Venetian.

We watched the Wayne Brady show at the Mirage. It was hilarious!! It was just like watching "Who's Line" but just Wayne Brady. Very funny.

McDonalds was had by all at least 3 times that I can remember. We also developed a technique for getting free drinks at the casinos. We would sit at the nickel slots, wait for a DSB(Drink Service Bitch) to show up, start throwing nickels in, and order our free drinks. When our drinks came, we would throw another nickel in and then take off to another part of the casino or another casino altogether.

It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of interesting conversations between Louis and I, some of which I am not at liberty to discuss. Just Kidding.

-----

Then there was Portugal.

That was tons and tons of fun. I didn't want to leave. I want to go back next year. And then the year after that. My family is the same as ever which is good to see. It was just really great to see everything and watch my parents get really excited about showing us everything.

The festival was also great, even though the locals said it was one of the worst ones in recent memory. It didn't help that it rained and was cold most of the time I was there. But, I did get to see Simple Minds play(Breakfast Club song), and The Wailers(Bob Marley's band). There was also a DJ on the first night of the festival and my cousins took full advantage of the cheap beer and good music and got up on stage and did some very "interesting" dancing. It was awesome.

One night after the festival we went to "Wolf". A very cool night club where there's a DJ and lots of interesting liquor, including Absinthe(no, I did not partake.)

I ate so much good food throughout the vacation. I didn't eat anything I didn't like...except for octopus. Blechh.

My culture is something that I was never really too proud of. It's kind of just always there. But after this trip, I realized just how proud I am that I come from such a different culture and way of living.

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And then there was the Bachelor Party.

I got back from Portugal and had to be back at work the following day. Then I had to come back that weekend for the Bachelor Party.

In keeping with Louis' requirements, I had no stripper at the party. Noone seemed to mind. Every once in a while Rouja, Jesse or Bernice would walk through and that was about enough. Tons of food. Way too much alcohol. A lot of fun. Louis won $21.

We were attacked by the Bachelorette Party that night too.

Lamar had an idea that we play "Truth of Dare". I must admit, at first I was skeptical, but I enjoyed it. Anyway, just as we were about to end the game and go back inside, the girls drove by and threw TP and condoms and a bra and panties at us. They were planning to TP the house. I don't know why, but they were. Although they were unsuccessful, Louis spearheaded an effort to get back at the girls. He was really wanting to go, but the ideas were getting a little out of control so I had to stifle the revenge talk.

We got ours though. I placed a phone call to Jen warning her of what was to come. Apparently they spent a long time camped out in front of the windows waiting for our attack. Hahaha.

-----

Yesterday was the wedding of the century.

All the planning, stressing, worrying that went into the wedding paid off. The wedding went off without a hitch. It was emotional, beautiful and fun. I'm honored to have been a part of it. 'Nuff said.

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Future plans are fairly normal, sort of. By August I really want to start studying for my PE exam. I am only going to take the fucker once. At least I hope I only have to take it once.

Then there are plans for a second job perhaps. We'll see how my August promotion goes.

Also, by the end of September, I hope to be a Dual Citizen(USA and Portugal). An EU passport is a very good thing to have. So might as well.

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Going to bed now, good night.

Two Hundred Thirty-Fourth Entry

Being pigeonholed at work is not necessarily a bad thing. You do become the go to guy, but it also opens the door to learn about other things and how your expertise and these other things are inter-related. That might not hold true in all fields, but it certainly does at my job.

Example: The other day at work, Dan, the transit guy (think buses), came to me because he knew that I was the unofficial ADA expert at work. He wanted to know what the ADA requirements for bus shelters were. That interaction with Dan also gave me the opportunity to find out more about the transit field of things (something that I would like to know more about).

But, there are the people(like my boss, Marcia) who say that if you have only one person in the office that is the only expert on a certain topic, you might as well get rid of that person because once they leave, there isn't anyone that knows anything about that topic. But nobody's getting fired. It's the government.

In any case, it's good to be needed. And when you need something from someone, they kind of owe you. Sweet.

There you go.

*****

I got a package today in the mail. Don't know why, I never expected it. I don't know how to take it.