How To Overpower Monotony

That Sound You Hear? » I Play Chicken With The Train by Cowboy Troy
Next DVD I'm Buying » The West Wing: Season 4
Big News » CNN says Canadians have named a wayward whale that's been frolicking in the Delaware River near Trenton, NJ. They call him Helis, which somehow translates to boat propellor. Don't ask. I'm not sure I want to know either.

Now, today's story...

A few weeks ago, I was in the office on photo day. Every couple of weeks our photographer comes in and kids who have written stories drop by and smile for their mug shot. We always put their pictures next to their stories in the paper.

Well I happened to mention to my boss that I was looking for a second job over the summer since my internship got bumped to the fall (more on that another day). Sue, the photographer, told me about a job with the post office her daughter was looking into. Well as you may or may not know, the USPS (linking everywhere is my new thing) pays extremely well. So naturally I was interested.

She didn't give me much information, just suffice it to say that it's basic data entry — typing, which clearly I have no quarrel with. So anyhow, she gave me the number of a guy, who gave me a web site to go to in order to read about the job.

Well, reading up on it, there were some things that I found pretty funny. In essence, the job is to read illegible address labels on mail and type it into the computer. And by illegible, I mean the machines they have are unable to read it. So it sounds pretty monotonous until I saw the salary: $12.43 per hour. It's $13.45 if you work between 6 P.M. and 6 A.M. I think I can handle the monotony.

Now getting the job is another story. First, you have to fill out a basic application online, at which point, I assume, they ship you a packet of information about taking the exam. This is a written test, as I understand it, quizzing your knowledge on simple math and grammar skills. Basic.

Once you pass that test, you move on to the typing test. You have to type 35 lines of postal information within five minutes. Also not difficult. Only after you've done well on those things do you get an interview. Good way to weed out the losers in the early stages.

Anyway, I'll keep you "posted" on any news I get regarding the job. There's an apartment I'd like to move into in the fall and it isn't going to pay for itself. Well it might. No, probably not.

Oh come on, the "posted" pun. How could I avoid it? I lack the necessary will power.

Come back and visit tomorrow. That and please leave me a message. I'm a guy desperate to know his audience. I know you're out there. I feel you. Talk back. This is your time.

Hick-Hop Radio: I'd like to say that the song choice today was more out of convenience than anything else. What is Cowboy Troy? Country? Rap? He says Hick-Hop. Apparently people can invent genres now. Which I don't have a problem with, it's just I'm pretty sure it's weird. And what the hell, right? Strange music is good every once in a while.