Senate The All-New Senate All-New Social Thread

At least the only grains is the booze.

 

Look at the timestamp people. Local time 9:43AM.

 

Pffft. I used to visit the Syracuse Hooter's and start drinking that early.

 

One more.

 

"The hills are alive with the sound of music.....la la la la la"

 

Jabba do the Austrians follow the Dutch and German lead and have insanely salty bacon?

 

Oh and Mr44 - thanks for the heads up re: Strike Back.

 

I thought it was fairly salty, but some of the Austrians I was with added even more salt. They also serve the grease from pork roasts as a spread for bread. And that´s usually very salty.

 

Is that you in the blue shirt?

 

So far, the show has really dialed everything up...and that's kind of an understatement.

It's just a shame that it follows the UK tradition of only being a set series of 10 episodes per season. We in the US like our shows to last 20-30 episodes a season, for Pete's sake!

 

My son.

 

Mr44 - Yeah, ok, so aside from the nice tactical interplay between Scott and Stonebridge, the series has gotten silly. The whole Pegasus/"How high does your clearance go?" interplay is just macho posturing BS and not accurate or realistic at all.

Plus, isn't it funny how the Lebanon, California and Colombia all look like parts of South Africa?

 

Overheard on the train: "Yeah, that call for an investigation was overboard. Too human-rightsy."

 

How the HELL do you translate "human-rightsy" into Dutch? Or was it in English?

 

The sentence was in Dutch, but that word was in English.
It's times like that when I understand French language purism...

 

Eh, but it's always been kind of like that... The first British one with Porter vs his "dark secret" supervisor set the tone for that aspect. But yeah, that was my least favorite scene, and was quite overdone. Knowing the writers though, it's going to have some significance later on. The 2nd episode was much better, still being a fantasy/action show. Scott was in especially fine form. I think it's just the natural progression of such shows from The Unit, to NCIS, to ER, or whatever. The situations have to continue to be entertaining, because strict adherence to reality is boring.

That's called globalization..... seriously though, they filmed the Colombian scenes at the Simangaliso Wetland Park, while in South Africa, is still quite exotic. The later episodes will move back to Budapest as they have.

 

Today was election day here in Norway, and we have a new right-wing coalition. Of course, from an American perspective, even our furthest right party is to the left of your Democratic Party.

 

Speaking of salt ... was introduced to salted caramel this year ... first thought was ... oxymoron?! However, delightfully wonderful!

 

Says the pickle in Elephant Man voice ... "I am not an animal!"

 

Well E_S, if you managed to see the most recent episode of Strike Back, then I hope it redeemed itself in your eyes, as it was quite good...quite good indeed.

And for those who have any idea what this show is, us Yanks finally have the ability to see the original British Sky Channel mini-series without having to invest in a region-free DVD player and the like. In October, Porter's story is being broadcast on cable as a prequel titled "Strike Back: Origins, which is a bit of a marketing ploy, as Porter's series really wasn't a direct prequel per se, unless they add in some as yet unseen story footage. Still, it's about time.

 

My new job is a little overwhelming but I think I'm handling it well so far. I worked at the school from 7:30am-6:00pm today. Then when I came home, I finished writing a mini-speech I'll have to give next Friday, finished the learning objectives and marketing pitch for my first 10-week afterschool program that starts in October (this one on creative writing) that I'm designing and running, compiled a list of research/data objectives for my new role as the school's math coordinator, almost done with who to put on the focus lists for attendance/tardiness and behavior/leadership for my 5th grade classroom, and now I have to go to bed so I can help my team lead our first power greetings and physical training demonstrations from 7:30-8:15 tomorrow morning. So if anyone has noticed that I'm posting less, this is why!

 

Last week, I had the opportunity to fly to Seattle to interview with Amazon Web Services. The job would get me about a $30k raise, a TS clearance, and a 10% discount on everything from Amazon (up to $1000/year). While I didn't get the job, it was a great experience, and I learned a lot from it.

This week, I got an interview with another company. They called me on Monday, I interviewed yesterday and had an informal offer from them sitting in my email when I got home. Their offer basically matches everything I would have gotten from Amazon except the 10% discount. Today, they verified my references (including my current boss, who knew about my job search and supported my reasons for it), and they have said that they will release my final offer letter today.

Tomorrow, I am giving my two weeks' notice. After 7 years in my current job, I am moving on to greener pastures (and a more stable contract). I'm not going to have to worry about health coverage for my pregnant wife (who is due 3 weeks after my current contract ends), and we can definitely use the extra $2500/month with a third kid on the way. Best of all, I will be in a position where I can start stretching my skills again and learning from others around me.

Today is a good day.

 

Cognrats, Kimball! Job searches are so much more fun when the offers roll in.

 

Have fun with the TS clearance-one of my soldiers got his couple of months ago. Not that huge a hassle.

 

About to board my plane, bound for San Francisco. Clam chowder here I come!