The other day, I checked out a few fast-food places. I filled out an app at one of them. As I filled it out, I couldn't help thinking how ridiculous it is I have to consider such a thing, even years after obtaining an advanced degree. After talking to a couple of employees, it sounded like that particular place might have the evening hours I'm looking for. I ultimately withheld the application instead of turning it in. Two reasons: It had my SSN on it. I don't like leaving that goddamn number around, not knowing who might see it. The other reason was one of the people I spoke with gave me the manager's first name, but didn't know the last name. That first name just happened to be the same as Walter's real name. (Remember my "Walter and Lulu" rants.) If there's even the slightest chance it's Walter, fuck it to hell.
A few days before that, I called up a plasma bank to see what's involved in that. I'm not afraid of needles and pain. What I am concerned about is who the hell else gets hooked up to those machines and if they really do an adequate job of sanitizing them between uses.
I talked to my career consultant the other day to get some leads on an industry that should remain strong even with the economy all fucked up. (Healthcare... people are still going to get sick and injured recession or no recession. Hospitals and other healthcare entities need I.T. people just like anyone else.) That's for the primary job. If I pull that one off, I can forget about all this business about selling plasma or flipping burgers from dusk till midnight.
There was an all-staff meeting at my 9-to-5 job today. There won't be any layoffs there in the near future, but they did make it clear nobody's getting a raise.
On my own time, I'm looking for ways to cut costs. I've decided to limit my video purchases to one DVD (or HD, BD, whatever) per month. I set the thermostat a bit higher than before on warm days and a bit lower than before on cool days. Of the three air purifiers in my apartment, I'm considering shutting one down and just using the other two. (They're all going to need filters soon, anyway. That won't be cheap. The two that would stay on are the two by the litterboxes.) I'm making it a point to bring my lunch to work as many days as possible, instead of getting lunch at the restaurants near my office. (That saves between $5 and $10 every time. I just made a huge batch of soup, to freeze in food containers and later nuke in the break room... enough to last the next couple of weeks.)