Cup of Coffee

February 22, 2015: Caution to the Wind

33 Comments

I love seeing my LA friends, but they always relentlessly suggest to meto quit my job and then make a plan to do something big. Then I remind them: they don't have kids.

33 thoughts on “February 22, 2015: Caution to the Wind”

  1. I won a lottery or something and my address was randomly selected to be part of the Census Bureau's Employment/Unemployment survey for the first quarter of the year. I checked it out and it is legit (I start from the place of assuming it is a scam), and I talked to a nice census worker a month ago when he stopped by my house to collect the first survey. He asked if I could be reached by phone once a month for the rest of the quarter, and thinking that was better than home visits I agreed.

    Last Sunday I was in church when I got the first call. By the time I got home there were four missed calls, three of which left voicemails. I decided that was excessive and I wasn't going to call back. Three more calls Monday, four Tuesday. All during the work day. All told I have gotten nearly 30 phone calls in the last week.

    I had some time yesterday so I called the original guy who stopped by a month ago. He was nice and acted like he was frustrated by the aggression of the call centers as well. I got myself off the list, but the tactics make me wonder about the validity of the survey.

      1. I'm trying to figure out what survey you were selected for. I'm not aware of a Census Bureau survey that involves panels with monthly re-interviews. The SIPP, for example, used panels, but the panel members are reinterviewed every 4 months. (that survey is being re-designed and I'm not sure whether it is back in the field yet)

        1. I'm told it's called the employment unemployment study. It is interesting that it's not on the list you mention and I have a call in to the regional office asking why.

          Why I'm not worried is that I confirmed the guy I talked to was in fact with the census bureau both by the id he carried and by finding him at the official site (including the phone number I used to contact him) and the questions have all been non-invasive enough (no social security, bank info, etc) - just if I worked last week, how many hours, etc.

  2. I literally had a cup of coffee with Philo in Mkto yesterday. That means I have met with Rhubarb, Spooky, and Philo on their home turf.

  4. so, last night the Mrs and I took my parents to see Kingsman.

    It was, uh, not quite what I was expecting. We were expecting a stylish riff on the Bond films. What we got was very entertaining, but....
    Ginormous body count. LOTS of violence. I mean LOTS. And even more F-bombs than violence.

    Even so, it had plenty humor, and turned the most egregious body-count scene into cartoon violence (almost literally). My dad definitely enjoyed it. My mom, I think, was a bit put off by the pervasive profanity. And the, umm, end scene was a bit risque.

    also, there was some not-so-subtle ripping on our current, sitting president. I was disturbed by a scene in which the president and his cabinet are all killed, partly by the fact that they clearly were referring to a sitting president, but more by the fact that there was audible cheering from parts of our audience. I didn't find that amusing in the least, nor would have found it amusing had they used any other historical president in the same way.

    1. The end scene. I see what you did there.

      As to the prez, yeah I totally get what you're saying. I'm still not sure what to think about that, which is a way of saying that I didn't appreciate it very much.

      1. don't recall, but I can imagine it had a very different feel from how the sitting president was abused in this film. It was distasteful -- rather nasty political commentary behind a very transparent facade.

        Spoiler SelectShow

        2. Yeah, entirely different situation. I forget the disaster, but it involved SoCal territory and it was pretty obvious the newscasters were inferring Reagan and Nixon,

        3. Regarding the spoiler, I agree. I liked the scene, actually, but having the implications present for a sitting president was... Well, it tooke out of the movie and made me feel kinda... Ooky.

          I did quite enjoy the movie is otherwise, though... Even if it was a lot different than I thought it would be.

    3. 'Spoiler' SelectShow

  6. Caucus inquiry:

    I'm gonna be free from about 9-3 this Saturday while she's got school stuff. Watch some soccer or something if anyone is free?

    1. I'm open to suggestions as to location. I'll have, or should have anyway, her car, so I'm mobile.

    2. I have a friend who has a rooting interest in all things Texas. The result of this game makes me very, very happy.

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