Pandora's box

I experienced a fire drill of sorts at my humble abode today. It was about 8:30 am, when the fire alarm went off. It was a buzzing siren in the hallway with an announcement to leave the building, or if I have a disability to follow the procedure for persons with disabilities. I didn't really pay attention to what the announcement said. Something happened in someone's room on the 7th floor and the sprinklers went off. The fire department needed to go up there and check it then we could go back inside. I looked in the hallway and there was no immanent danger. I did sort of smell smoke, so I thought I should get out. But I took my time putting on my shoes, coat and grabbing my wallet. Then I went down 9 flights of stairs. There was a lady in the stairwell carrying her cup of coffee going slowly down the stairs so she wouldn't spill it. I guess it wasn't that much of an emergency! She finally told me to go ahead of her, so I continued down the steps. I probably ended up holding people up a bit. I am not speedy myself. I ended up sleeping this afternoon. I have been pretty tired today and my legs ache a bit after walking down all those steps. Thank God I didn't have to walk back up 9 flights of stairs!

On a different note. I realize that I have not put many pictures on this blog. The picture above is semi-random. I saved it on my computer from the Faith Community Bible Church website. I think it conveys joy in getting to know God the Father! Also I have been sitting here at The Journey coffee house for the past couple of hours listening to a website called Pandora. It is a music player where I input a favorite song or band and then it generates a radio station that plays similar music. My friend Chris H. suggested it to me. I made a Kenny Wayne Shephard station and listened to really good blues music, including Susan Tedeschi, who is awesome! I also made a Maxwell station which played R&B music that wasn't all that interesting. In terms of R&B music, I really only like Maxwell and maybe one or two other artists. I deleted the Maxwell station. Anyway I am glad Chris H. suggested Pandora!

Mighty Not even close

“Hola amigos, I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya…”

I am not sure if anyone noticed that I deleted my previous post about my job with Mitinet ("Mighty-net"). I deleted it after I was laid off that job after about 2 months. I called librarians around the country and tried to get them to download and try out the company’s software for cataloging books. They were giving away the basic version for free in hopes that the schools will buy the full version. The scripts we used to advertise the software weren’t very good. The first one didn’t say enough about what the software does only that it’s really great and it’s free. The second one said too much about what the software does. The third one was not “just right,” but at least it used the tactic of engaging the librarians in helping us out by filling out a survey about the user friendliness of the software.

Apparently librarians are very busy nowadays. They teach classes. They seem to be very brand-loyal to the software and automation systems the already have. Sometimes they oversee several libraries at several schools. Usually the librarians aren’t allowed to download anything to the school or district computer network. They are also quite wary of people calling them to sell something, or even give it to them free. I had one librarian ask me “Will you be sending me a box?” and I said “huh?” because I didn’t know what she meant. She asked if I would send a box of books (from a publisher) to preview and then later on charge her school for them. I said no. I think that maybe she gave me her email address in order to get the email link to download the freeware. Mostly I got told that they didn’t have the time to talk. I had a rather nasty principal of a school tell me that she wouldn’t allow me to talk to the librarian because she would not allow me to sell anything. People can be rude.

I thought it was pretty interesting that I called several one room schoolhouses in South Dakota. When I asked for the librarians, the person who answered the phone seemed to act stunned, like a deer in headlights. Then they said “we don’t have a library” and explained that they were only one room schoolhouses, as if I should already know that. At other schoolhouses I kept on asking for the same librarian who worked at the school “in town.” I guess the one room schoolhouses were in the middle of the country and they were affiliated with one town’s school district.

Last Wednesday I didn’t particularly feel like going to work, so I called in and my boss said “oh you missed the speech.” He told me that the scripts are not working. Even though it receives good reviews, librarians aren’t downloading the freeware or buying the full version. The company doesn’t have enough money to continue paying us “customer care reps” so we are all laid off. I still have my UW Survey center job. I can increase my hours now. I am going to look for another part-time, or maybe a full-time job. All I need is to quit or be laid off about 6-7 more jobs after working only a few months, buy a crappy car, listen to some “cruising music” like REO Speedwagon, and I’ll be just like Jim Anchower. (I quoted him at the beginning of my story. Unfortunately The Onion’s archives of Jim Anchower articles are now subscription based.)