fbpx

Browsing category: Uncategorized

  • April 1, 2009

    Is this kosher?

    Sat down and went through all the big job sites (and the small ones too!) and applied for a few positions.

    Remember me saying CHH called BF up in response to a role they advertised at the start of the month, but he had to turn it down having just accepted another role? Well since he’s been looking again, they’re still advertising it. As well as another similar role, which is more junior and further away. I applied for that one. But would it be okay to apply again for the first job? Seeing as they saw fit to ring him then, would they do so again? Or just bin his app. because he withdrew from the first round?

    Would they understand?

    BTW, it’s the same HR woman in charge of both positions…

  • March 31, 2009

    So this morning I went to a special morning tea to meet with my ‘scholarship support person’, along with a bunch of other scholarship recipients.

    It wasn’t much use to me and the other third years, as we’ve been through it all, don’t have any questions or concerns to raise and frankly are about to graduate. We don’t need to worry about grade averages. We’re in our last year and won’t be back next year, or if we are, our scholarship will be over anyway! This would have been much more helpful earlier on, however. I’m sure the younger students will appreciate it.

    Mainly, we went for the promise of a free morning tea.

    I was envisioning something like this…

    tea1

    or this….

    tea2or …

    tea3

    or even this…

    tea4

    NO SUCH LUCK.

    What a waste of time.

    Apparently nobody came to the first session yesterday, for which she had gone out and bought a ton of food. So today, all we got was a three litre of Just Juice (and plastic cups) and two plates of plain choc chip cookies. They weren’t even very good. They were OKAY, but nothing spectacular.

    We did get to talking about summer school and going on exchange, though. Summer school’s a tricky one. A friend got burned by the office – she took a compulsory third year paper in summer school to get ahead. She would have had to do it anyway in first semester, she just took it over the summer instead. Scholarship staff didn’t care. They flat out refused to pay for that paper for her.

    Apparently they continue to pay your fees if you go on exchange, though. Here the policy is you generally go second semester of your second year. I’ve missed out, obviously.

    But do I regret it? No.

    Why didn’t I go overseas? Honestly, none of the universities on offer really appealed to me. But I’ll go through my main reasons here.

    1. The financial aspect. Sure your fees are paid, but living costs are not cheap anywhere, really. I just don’t have that kind of money saved to support me through an entire semester abroad. Yes there are other scholarships and grants, and the enterprising girl who spoke today wangled sponsorship from House of Travel, but realistically you’re going to need to cover some, if not most or all of your expenses yourself. Food, board, insurance, passports and visas, souvenirs, and of course travelling around wherever it is you are. I’m not ready for that.

    2. I’m not super keen to leave BF. Plus, breaking my lease would be a bitch. Wouldn’t want to leave him paying for two. It’s not that I doubt our relationship; after all he spent six months in the army and we’d only had two months together before that. It’s just not something I would choose to do. I do want to travel, but I’d rather do it while working (not studying) and I’d like to do it with him.

    3. My job. I have a good job, and it’s in the field I want to work in. Why would I give that up?

    If I happened to be single, I might have given the matter more thought. I still don’t think I would have made a different choice, though. I think my decision to stay in NZ was good. I don’t feel quite ready to travel and although I’m getting the itch I think postponing it and travelling later will pay off.. I’ll get much more out of the experience.

    And to think I once planned to go on my OE straight out of school! What a colossal mistake that woulda been! I’m mature, but not that mature. I know my way around Auckland. But put me somewhere else and I don’t know if I could stand on my own two feet. I’d probably even have struggled if I went to uni in a different city….but I wouldn’t have, because nowhere else does this degree like they do here.

  • March 31, 2009

    Things you know but just don’t do.

    You know what I mean. Things you know you should do, but don’t. Like recycling everything that’s recyclable, composting food scraps, using your bank’s ATMs only and turning things off at the wall.

    I’m terrible at all those kinds of things (although I am fanatic about never using other bank machines or taking cash advances; the fees are just outrageous!). I’m also thinking specifically about two big things: job hunting and budgeting.

    Job hunting

    It’s one of those mantras you hear over and over. Tailor your resume. Tailor your resume. Tailor your resume. And for God’s sake, tailor your cover letter.

    I haven’t had to jobhunt for myself for a VERY long time. But I sure do remember those days. Mass CV drops and more or less stock covering letter with each. I read all the relevant advice. I saw it, and registered it in my brain, and thought “yeah, sure that’s what I’m already doing”. But I wasn’t! I was maybe changing a verb or two here, a couple of words there, maybe adding an extra line – something generic like “happy to work weekends and evenings”. KWIM? Somehow, I thought that was being clever and tailoring a cover letter.

    When lo and behold, one day it really sunk into me that each letter really had to be THOUGHT about and made really individual, I totally reaped the benefits. I was getting replies from most jobs. I was maybe applying to slightly fewer as applications took longer, but I was getting interview offers. I never used to get responses before that – it was really amazing.

    Instead of taking my generic cover letter template, I was starting afresh every time. This made sure no two were the same and I really had to think about every single sentence. I really read job descriptions and looked out for key words, and tried to address every single skill and quality mentioned in my letters.

    I’ve been doing the same with BF. That’s why each application takes so long. I’m starting with more or less a blank sheet every time. And with him, I’m also tailoring CVs according the jobs. He’s applying for ALL KINDS of jobs, so it’s vital. Jobs in which he has experience in, I’m playing up every single relevant skill he’s got. Entry level job? Reduce his work experience and only briefly mention his duties. Add in his education details. Random jobs, well we take those one at a time and bring any relevant experience or strengths to the front. Me, I’d only ever applied for retail/customer service/hospo type jobs so my resumes were pretty much all the same. My first admin job I emailed in and don’t believe I even sent a resume, nor was one even asked for. That was a lucky break indeed.

    Budgeting

    I was thinking of a budget as a set thing. Heaps of people and books reinforce this mindset with big huge spreadsheets, with monthly or even ANNUAL budgets. That’s too big for me. We’re just beginners. I need to look at the smaller picture – get the day to day stuff under control before worrying about irregulars like insurance or car crap. Our payments are weekly and we get paid weekly, so that’s how I now do it.

    I used to think, but our income varies CONSTANTLY! This is impossible! I tried to make it work. I went off of what  a normal 40 hour week would bring in. I drew up a beautiful plan with amounts for groceries and bills and whatnot. But it just never worked out. I gave up.

    One day it sort of came to me. Budgets need to be flexible. Why hadn’t it worked for me? Why the hell didn’t I just tweak the budget EVERY TIME we got paid, to the exact amount that we had in our account? Instead of moaning about the fact that BF had had one half day and we were short by however much and this screwed up everything?

    Earth shattering stuff I know. But it’s what made all the difference. One of those things I just don’t know why I didn’t figure out/ do before.

  • March 30, 2009

    Convenience foods

    I know they’re bad for you. But really, is there anything better than being able to pop some wedges in the oven and half an hour later having a nice crispy side to your meal? Or whipping up instant mashed potato to top off your shepherd’s pie?

    mashgarlic2_lr

    Cuz if there’s one food that I love but hate making, it’s mashed potatoes. Laborious, time consuming and somehow there’s never enough to satisfy you! (OK, maybe that’s just me). Instant stuff does the job just as well for some things. Nothing beats creamy mashed potato and gravy alongside some meat, but who wants to peel, chop, boil and mash up potatoes just to go into a dish like shepherd’s pie or my strange cornbeef fritter recipe? NOT me!

  • March 29, 2009

    Spotted a few new flavours in the cake mix aisle. I’m excited to try them! Just have to wait for a special….the prices are a little steep.

    car

    dev

    Yeah I know….I could find a homestyle recipe but the pictures were just sooo pretty and tempting…and I’m both a lousy and hopeless baker. I once tried to make a marble cake. Never again. It did not in any way resemble food. As much as I tried, it was totally inedible.

    van

    The vanilla package looked heaps better instore…it was a different box, but this is all I could find.

  • March 29, 2009

    SCAM!

    Pity, really.

    It seemed like a good job. A legit job. Proofreading copy for a small website from home.

    So BF applied for it. They emailed back, asking a few questions – questions you’d expect, like about experience, internet access, availability, why you want the job.

    They also ignored the fact that he applied for the PROOFREADING position and not the simultaneously advertised COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR role. They acted as if he’d applied for the latter.

    We decided to keep going, explaining it was not what he originally applied for but was happy to proceed with this one for now, as this role including coordinating payments and liaising with clients.

    Strangely, after he replied, they immediately sent back “congratulations, you’ve got the job! Now, give us your bank account number. You will be processing payments. Clients will pay you and then you will transfer payments to us.” Obviously not in those exact words, but that’s a pretty close approximation.

    How disappointing was that? It actually had sounded like a real job. The company appeared to be real; the website was real.

    But, obviously not. At least we weren’t desperate enough to fall for it.

  • March 29, 2009

    Windfall

    I finished paying off my bed last month. It was paid by direct debit, so you would think they would stop taking money once the full amount was settled.

    Apparently not!

    Got a letter from the company informing me my account was $60 something in credit.

    Now, is that a bit dodgy or what? They know exactly how much I owed and should not have taken any more than that. It’s not like I was facilitating payments and made an extra couple by mistake.

    In fact, $60 is almost an extra month of payments.

    It doesn’t make sense. According to my payment schedule, payments would finish in February. This is the amortised schedule which shows exactly how much in principal and how much in interest you’re paying every week.

    It sounds scammy to me. I reckon I’ll go to all the effort of going out to Henderson to give them my account details for the refund and they’ll tell me there was some loophole or mistake and I’m actually not getting that money back after all.

    Because looking over the letter totally disgusted me. If there was ever a company trying to trick people out of theiy money and locking them into a cycle of payments, it’s these guys.

    They make it look so tempting to roll the credit over into a new hire purchase. Like an LG plasma tv. Or any other offer. Because, they’ll match you dollar for dollar! So instead of a $60 down payment you’ll now have a $120 credit!

    It goes on and on in this vein. I was beginning to think they actually had no intention of giving me back MY MONEY as I couldn’t see a plain vanilla option for, you know, just REFUNDING me the cash.

    It was buried right down the bottom. If you’re not interested in this wonderful offer, bladibla, come instore with a deposit slip.

    Easier said than done, as they are all the way out west and not open late. I figured we would go on a Saturday morning and do some shopping at the PaknSave out there.

    Let’s be honest, a lot of people just don’t read everything. Most would just give up and think it was their best/only option to use the money towards a new purchase.

    I think I’ll go in with my payment schedule and ask just why the hell they managed to put my account “in credit”, ie, stole from me.

  • March 27, 2009

    Currently at home at 7.30 on a Friday evening, tired, but preparing to go out.

    I’m in a good mood. Here’s why:

    I just had some delicious marinated pork chops and super tasty WEDGES!

    I had my second story printed in the paper. And a huge photo. It’s running a little late but I’m grateful it got published, full stop.

    I also wrote a little piece today at work, no byline, but it was fun, and it was definitely a good thing to do.

    I was a little stressed recently about passing on some of the duties I had over the summer, but that seems to have worked itself out for now.

    LL just informed me his sister and mum are moving to the city. So it’ll be back to normal, relatively. Seeing as he no longer has his job, and may have (I’m not sure) broken up with his gf, he may be spending most of his time at home, but it still means we’ll feel a lot more comfortable living here. He’s spending his time doing up things around the place, tidying the yard, etc.

    He also told us he doesn’t want any of our friends going down the back yard. Which is a bit rich. However, he’s more or less taken over, with his duck cages and his landscaping crap, so we don’t really want to anyway. Unfortunately, despite not really having the use of the yard, our rent is still the same. The upside I guess is he’s now doing all the maintenance, taking care of lawnmowing etc, so it sort of evens out.

  • March 25, 2009

    Finicky food habits

    Although I loooove food and I like tons of different kinds of food, I’m also really picky about certain things.

    I like cauliflower, but not broccoli.

    I LOVE potatoes but could live without kumara.

    I like corn, but don’t really like peas.

    I like ice cream, but it has to be properly cold and not starting to melt.

    I cannot drink flat fizzy drinks.

    I don’t like carrots, except in coleslaw or with other roast vegetables.

    I won’t eat meat if it has the slightest bit of gristle/fat or anything that deters me from chomping it down.

    I don’t like tofu or jelly, just because of the texture. Something that wobbly just isn’t meant to be consumed.

    I’m sure there are more, many many more, but that’s all I can think of right now.

    Anyone else have similarly strange eating quirks?

  • March 24, 2009

    Just looked over an old Excel spreadsheet today.

    If things had gone according to plan, BF would be pretty close to having his Visa debt gone. Like, down to about $300.

    But that’s not how things are today; they’re pretty much as far off track as possible. The layoff kinda derailed that entire plan. There were probably two repayments made over the summer. Plus another $400 odd added on last month.

    Guess we just have to soldier on.

    • Previous
    Next