Firepower, Firings and New Friends

The word of the week is budget. Do you have one?

June 6 - It's all about smart money...

Now here's a guy after my own heart: Man V.s Debt. His page has a simple premise: Sell your crap. Pay off your debt. Do What You Love. Sounds simple, right? He lists 24 Quick Actions that can change your financial life forever... some of them are good, some not so good.. but all of them get you thinking. Which is what financial stability is about, really: thinking hard about what you want and how to get it with what you have. Or don't have, as the case may be - do you know the difference between Good Debt and Bad Debt? If you don't, then you should find out... before it's ALL Bad Debt. And I can say "I told you so!"

June 7 - Head Office? Not impressed.

Today I wasn't at the branch working; instead, I visited our head office here in Victoria for the first time. It's an impressive modern building with heavy security... and no parking; I had to back out of a poorly-marked private parking garage entry and park three blocks away. Score one for company cheapness by not providing visitor parking. I was there to take part in a group interview, which went very well... until I found out after that we weren't hiring any of the candidates who showed today; the DM had already hired people from another batch. Waste of my day - score another one for company stupidity. The best part of the day? Talking with a long-time co-worker afterwards over coffee about many things we both thought the company was circling the drain about. Score one for friends facing reality with a smile our faces at how crazy it all is!

June 8 - They spent HOW much on that?

Numbers can be a scary thing, especially on Hump Day( which is today, Wednesday ). If you really want to see how humped the world is from overspending on weapons and the military in general, check out GlobalFirepower.com. You'll see how the USA outspends the next closest spender, France, by almost a factor of seven - how crazy is that? I like the site as it breaks down the assets of each country so you can really see how well-armed( or not )the world is in various places. I've always wondered if an army of homeless guys armed with forks could take over a country or two... now I know: it's Nepal!

June 9 - Randomly Amazing

Today was an unexpectedly delightful day off, most of which was spent at the Bean in very good company - laughter sounded often and easily. I wandered in for lunch, to find myself in the company of a lovely woman who had also wandered in( for the first time )to the Bean, while checking out the area. Turns out she's a former model, a ballerina and has a thing for creativity... we ended up talking for many hours well into the late afternoon. She kept up her end of our conversation admirably about quite a few topics, and I ended up sending her a friend request on Facebook - we got along splendidly. I don't know if she'll accept the request, but I do know that it was a great afternoon even if nothing else comes out of it. Weird not needing to exchange phone numbers though...

June 10 - Mutants 101

Earlier in the week( Tuesday, actually )I went to see X-Men: First Class with a friend from the Bean. It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be; in fact, it was fairly engrossing and Kevin Bacon made a really good villain. About the only thing I disliked about it was the makeup for Beast once he'd turned blue; it just looked fake - they tried to do practical makeup for the actor and it didn't move much with his face at all. Other than that, it was an enjoyable romp and I have hopes that the next one will be even better - kind of like Transformers 3, which had better be miles above the mess that Transformers 2 was. Blech...

June 11 - Lion, Tiger and Bear, oh my!

I'm not usually one for a 'cute' animal story, but I found this one rather touching. See for yourself:

June 12 - Overtime, for now.

Today I was feeling weary, as I've 'volunteered' to work an extra day a week for the next three weeks to help out at the downtown store - the one where the new DM recently fired two staff for unknown reasons. I have to say I'll be glad to see her gone in a month or so( hopefully sooner )once our new DM arrives July 1st. She may be good at her job, but that means she's ruthless and rule-bound, with no need to get to know local staff or care about them beyond their ability to do their jobs as she sees fit. Which I use as an example of why I quickly gave up advancing in this company when I arrived in Victoria - I saw what sort of person I'd have to become to do so, and I wanted no part of that shadowed, false-faced world. Not for ten times the money I'd make... for one cannot put a price on your soul, and a sound sleep at night. At least by 'helping' the other store, I've kept her merciless Sauron-like gaze less focused on my store and staff - for a while...

An odd week, really, with both high and low points. Maybe next week will be more fun... see you then, dear reader.