~~~SANDBOX 77~~~

No remy, not you.

Those weren't things Remy got stolen though - he was quoting the article about what the people took from others in general.

O

I

C

that probably would have sent me over the edge, tbh.

on the happy side of things, I am getting my car back today – after $1900 of work. damned if i know how i'm gonna pay.

Yay car! Booo having to pay :(

I took my car in the other day for a check-up, since the engine light on my dash had been on for a few weeks. I was hoping they'd take a quick look and say there was nothing to worry about, but I guess you can't take a 12-year-old car into the shop and expect there to be nothing whatsoever wrong with it. Mechanic wanted to do approx. $1100 worth of repairs; I agreed to about half of that, since I can't afford to pay much more and the car drives fine for now.

But jeez, every time I take this car in, it makes me want to try living car-free. I hardly ever drive during the week -- it's mostly just to run errands on weekends -- so I think it's doable.

Today:

*office Glögg party at 3
*post-work happy hour at 5
*FAP with Z_S at 7

Gonna have to pace myself.

i'm in chicago! downtown! just ordered room service like a total fucking jerk, but it's necessary imo because i'm bunkering in my room for the next 2.75 hours to do final preparations for interview.

feeling relatively calm and collected. the cab ride into chicago from o'hare was actually really nice, watching the city draw closer, driving past old neighborhoods, thinking "i'm gonna do this thang"

Z, have you been here b4?

Yep, I lived in Wicker Park from Sept 2006 - Aug 2007, kinda killing time between living in Shanghai and applying/attending grad school.

have been trying to get back ever since tbh

John! Get rid of the car! It is super doable. Just get an I-Go membership for the times when you have to drive somewhere.

Also, glad you made it, Z!

Also good luck in 2.75 hours!

gl indeed!

good luck

i care enough about you ZS that I wrote both words out

ood uck

good luck dude

you lived in wicker park within the same time that i did (was there roughly 2004-2008). were you not on ilx at the time?

please stop preparing for your interview and answer my question

you lived in chicago in the exact window of time that i didn't, weird

He was your ... replacement.

haha

Where is your hotel? Why did you take a cab? Good luck!

John - Did they tell you what was wrong w/ your car? I want to know if it was the CV joint, as I thought. I heard the unmistakable sound of a worn out CV joint when I was in your car.

downtown. hotel allegro, on randolph. took a cab because i had a DEBACLE last night with my flight (it was cancelled after a 3-hour delay, and then rescheduled to 6:30am) and i wanted to get to my room as soon as possible to have extra preparation time. (which i'm now partially spending on ilx, d'oh!)

also, i'm keeping the cab receipt and i'm hoping to get reimbursed if i get the job.

along with the likely $800-1000+ u-haul bill i would incur to move my shit from dc to chicago.

Good luck, Z. I'm glad you're getting your car back, Remy.

16 hours of charging and our car battery still isn't charged enough to use. My husband's charging another battery that we have to see if we can use it to give it a jump.

Jesse - the spark plugs were improperly installed -- which is what I had fixed -- and the sway bar was worn. I'm guessing you heard the latter?

Z S i hope your interview goes super well!

- huge russian lunch w/ friend i haven't seen for six months, then toddling along towards home eating ice cream (it's ten degrees c right now: after the past few weeks, that feels like spring).
- got to go out and buy presents! do not want to leave comfy seat.
- going to go and listen to some radio four comedy being recorded tonight w/ librarian friend, am rocking heavy glasses and argyle cardigan, feeling pretty damn twee right now.

Oh, I guess so. I don't know anything about sway bars really, but according to the internet, a worn out one makes a rumbling like a bad CV joint.

Sometimes it's hard to believe that I used to be able to afford to have a car, even though I make way more money now than I ever did when I had cars.

xp

woke up way early - decided that this was providence telling me to do christmas shopping today before work
regretting waking up early

ZS I am directly across the street from you. When you walk past the giant turquoise, cream-of-tomato-soup, and silver building shaped like an upside down toilet bowl - that is the building where I work.

GUESS WHAT my boss retracted our day off. HAIL SATAN, MOTHERFUCKER.

But then he gave us each a Christmas card with a $50 bill inside.

Today is so fucking confusing.

What?? Why?
xp
This guy. Isn't he stepping into some religious discrimination territory with his mandatory Merry Christmas rhetoric, and other religious Catholic crap he's foisting on you? Not enough to make a good legal claim, but certainly beyond what is appropriate, and probably beyond your workplace's policies.

Probably. But he gave me $50 so whaddya gonna do? ＼（〇_ｏ）／

Praise Jesus?

\(O‡o)/

That's supposed to be an upside down cross on my forehead but I don't think it worked out.

There goes my plan to pursue a new career as an emoticon developer.

Son of a bitch... I ran this cross through 3 upside down text generators † and it didn't change at all.
e.g.:

†˙ǝɹǝɥ ʇxǝʇ ɹnoʎ ǝdʎʇ

I deeply appreciate your efforts on my behalf.

Ha - someone on a black metal (?) forum asked for an ascii inverted cross and got the reply "but if its upside down jesus will slide off!!!!"

\(O┼o)/

F

interview over

PHEW!

how'd it go pls analyse in great depth

well, now i'm coming off the immediate post-interview high and i'm drifting toward second guessing. however, that's what i did after the first round interview and i ended up getting selected to move to this final stage, so whatever.

i will analyse in too much depth, but first, this thread is de-indexed, right?

i think so but

immediate post-interview high thoughts: overall it went really well, i think! it was about 2 hours straight of interview action, and in all that time i think i only really flubbed one thing. and in addition to meeting with the leader of the team (which is in the mayor's office) i also was able to meet with the project leads for the two focus areas that i'd be working on, and also the director of policy for the city of fucking chicago. i wouldn't have had the chance to do that unless i was in town (the nightmare of last night now seems worth it), and the other 3 people they're interviewing for didn't get that opportunity. and i hit it off really well with the project leads, and even better with the director of policy, who mentioned that there are other jobs in the mayor's office that they're looking to fill, just in case i don't get selected for the job i'm applying for, and gave me his card.

- also as a side post-interview high note, while i was waiting to speak with the policy director and was talking to one of the project leads, there was this girl who is a BABE AND A HALF AT LEAST who kept making eye contact, smiling, found a way to interject herself into our conversation, and also i ran into her on the elevator later and uttered the most awkward "hello" of all time. good lord, yet another reason i want this job now.

drifting toward second guessing thoughts: the longer the interviews went, the better i got, and by the time i left the director of policy's office i felt like i could keep going on forever, comfortably. but unfortunately, i was at my worst with the first guy, who also happens to be the overall leader of the team and the guy who makes the hiring decision. he wasn't the most warm and friendly guy, and i don't think he thought my occasional little witty remarks were very witty or interesting.

xpost i think so, too