Originally Posted by RollCNY

So, legally, every HR manager tells every GM, Plant Manager, and Engineering Manager that they are not able to give references, positive or negative. To comply with this, a code has developed by which we can give references to other GMs, Plant Managers, and Engineering Managers. I would share it with you folks, but if you don't already know it, you are most likely not a GM, Plant Manager, or Engineering Manager.

Originally Posted by WhyFi

Yeah, one of the local guys with a roof rack recommends throwing your garage door opener in to the back seat (or really anywhere but the reflexive location) whenever you pop your bike on top of the car.

Originally Posted by LAJ

Kiss your allergies goodbye? In this climate? Who was drinking their bathwater?

Originally Posted by Ramona_W

This is seriously off-topic even for this thread except it does kind of affect the tiny amount of bike riding I do. (Speaking of which, I was driving to work this morning and saw several barely paved streets I'd like to explore further this weekend. The weather is decent today and I probably should have just called in and used one of my personal days. *sigh*) One of the reasons I moved to Wyoming is everyone kept telling me there would be different plants here and I could kiss 75% of my allergies "Goodbye". About six weeks ago, I went to the doctor because I was having a pain in my side by my ribs. She said she thought I might have overstressed something by coughing or sneezing too much or too hard. She also said my allergies seemed to be out of control. She said that it would take about six months for me to be sufficiently exposed to sagebrush and some of the other local plants to become allergic and by then we'd be in snow season again. We did a week of oral steroids combined with ten days of antibiotics because a handful of the seniors and a former officemate of mine all had pneumonia. And she gave me a prescription for Clarinex. I knew from experience that the steroid course would help me smell and taste things again but, surprisingly, when I was done with that and was taking only the Clarinex everything was still good. Then about two weeks ago, the lilacs started to bloom and the cottonwood trees started to bud and I feel like I'm right back where I started. But here's my question: The doctor said if I needed to, I could take Benadryl but then I saw the articles linking Benadryl use, especially by people over 55, to a 54% increase in the chances of developing dementia if they used it for more than three years. I'm not over 55 but I can guarantee that I have ingested a sufficient amount of Benadryl to equal every day for more than three years. I know nobody says "Yippee! It looks like I'll develop dementia" but this has been a major fear of mine pretty much from the time I was a kid. (My mom helpfully pointed out that stress and worry also contribute to an increased risk. Thanks, Mom.) I'm currently losing between 20 and 90 minutes of sleep a night to my nose starting to run like a faucet in the wee hours of the morning, I'm not sleeping very well when I am able to lie back down, and we have yet to start seeing those floaters from the cottonwoods drifting through the air. So, what the heck do I do? Is the Benadryl going to be safe? Are there homeopathic formulas I could/should be taking? The doctor also told me that pollen can travel up to 300 miles so we might as well consider ourselves to be living in a pine forest. Does this mean LoP and I will need to move to Antarctica or Africa after this?

Originally Posted by Doug28450

Believe me, I understand your thought process. The problem is that the salary you claimed you are currently at is deceptive at best. In the work world these days most prospective companies do not call previous employers for references. However, a prospective company will contact past employers to verify employment and salary and that's about it. There may be a bit of a discussion about what your job duties were/are. There will not be a discussion of how well you performed your tasks, your relationship with co-workers, your relationship with outside job related contacts, your ability to show up to work on time, or how many times you came back from lunch drunk. Those discussions open you a whole spaghetti bowl of potential litigation.

The discussion would go something like this:

Good afternoon Mr. Transistor, this is Mr. rpenmanparker and I am the HR director at Cannondale. I'm calling to verify employment of Mr. topslop1.

Good afternoon Mr. rpenmparker, how may I help you.

Mr. topslop1 is applying for a sales position here at Cannondale. His resume indicates that he started at Specialized in May 2012 and is still currently employed there. Is that correct?

Yes Mr. rpenmanparker, that is correct.

During the interview, Mr. topslop1 indicated that his salary is $58k, is that about right?

No Mr. rpenmanparker, that's about 10% too high.

Okay Mr. Transistor, thank you for your time, have a great day.

Thank you Mr. rpenmanparker, you have a great day as well.

Mr. BillyD, this is Mr. repenmanparker from HR. I'm calling about that candidate for the sales position you have open. Remember Mr. topslop1?

Yes...

I just called Specialized and they verified that his employment dates are correct, but, they indicated that the salary he told us he was making is about 10% too high.

Okay, scratch that one off the list.

Originally Posted by Dan333SP

In camera news, I mentioned a week or two ago that I bought a "superzoom" fixed-lens camera to take to the F1 race I attend (Canon SX50, has a 24-1200mm equivalent range).

I took it to a local bike race last night to get some shots. Race is in a densely wooded park at 6 PM so lower light. Not great results at all. Tons of noise, lots of slightly out of focus shots even after playing with all the relevant settings (playing with shutter speed, trying manual focus and the various burst modes, keeping ISO under 800, ect.). I went home and listed it on eBay for $30 more than I paid for it, and it sold by this morning. I won't really net a profit because of eBay fees, but at least it was a harmless experiment.

Moral of the story- there's no replacement for sensor size. You just aren't going to get really nice print-worthy photos from a tiny sensor with a slow lens.

Originally Posted by Dan333SP

In camera news, I mentioned a week or two ago that I bought a "superzoom" fixed-lens camera to take to the F1 race I attend (Canon SX50, has a 24-1200mm equivalent range).

I took it to a local bike race last night to get some shots. Race is in a densely wooded park at 6 PM so lower light. Not great results at all. Tons of noise, lots of slightly out of focus shots even after playing with all the relevant settings (playing with shutter speed, trying manual focus and the various burst modes, keeping ISO under 800, ect.). I went home and listed it on eBay for $30 more than I paid for it, and it sold by this morning. I won't really net a profit because of eBay fees, but at least it was a harmless experiment.

Moral of the story- there's no replacement for sensor size. You just aren't going to get really nice print-worthy photos from a tiny sensor with a slow lens.

Originally Posted by WalksOn2Wheels

That's the conclusion I came to looking at cameras. I wanted a fixed lens with manual functions. The basic king of that segment is the Sony RX100 series, but the sensor is a rather tiny 1 inch sensor. The LX100 I ended up with was bulkier, less focal length, and lower megapixel count, but the sensor is nearly twice as big in area. Big difference when it comes to making nice prints.

Originally Posted by Ramona_W

A guy who had previously lived and worked in Jackson. We were all figuring that different plants would lead to a different result. Also, we were hopeful because I spent almost a week in Phoenix last year and it was amazingly perfect. No Benadryl, no Sudafed, no asthma inhaler despite a three mile hike at a much higher than normal elevation.

Originally Posted by Dan333SP

In camera news, I mentioned a week or two ago that I bought a "superzoom" fixed-lens camera to take to the F1 race I attend (Canon SX50, has a 24-1200mm equivalent range).

I took it to a local bike race last night to get some shots. Race is in a densely wooded park at 6 PM so lower light. Not great results at all. Tons of noise, lots of slightly out of focus shots even after playing with all the relevant settings (playing with shutter speed, trying manual focus and the various burst modes, keeping ISO under 800, ect.). I went home and listed it on eBay for $30 more than I paid for it, and it sold by this morning. I won't really net a profit because of eBay fees, but at least it was a harmless experiment.

Moral of the story- there's no replacement for sensor size. You just aren't going to get really nice print-worthy photos from a tiny sensor with a slow lens.

Originally Posted by WhyFi

Related note: I'm currently editing some flower pics. A few are pretty good for being flower pics.

Originally Posted by Trsnrtr

I like that word, too. I also like 'concubine' and always introduce my wife that way. Makes her mad.

Originally Posted by Dan333SP

@Ramona_W do you and Lester have some sort of air purifier in your bedroom? No idea if that will make a difference or if the allergens are already in your sinuses from a day outside once you come home to sleep, but if not it may be worth trying to at least see if you can get a better night's sleep.

That sounds awful, though. My wife has a lot of allergies but Claritin D seems to keep her in check 90% of the time.

Originally Posted by Ramona_W

This is seriously off-topic even for this thread except it does kind of affect the tiny amount of bike riding I do. (Speaking of which, I was driving to work this morning and saw several barely paved streets I'd like to explore further this weekend. The weather is decent today and I probably should have just called in and used one of my personal days. *sigh*) One of the reasons I moved to Wyoming is everyone kept telling me there would be different plants here and I could kiss 75% of my allergies "Goodbye". About six weeks ago, I went to the doctor because I was having a pain in my side by my ribs. She said she thought I might have overstressed something by coughing or sneezing too much or too hard. She also said my allergies seemed to be out of control. She said that it would take about six months for me to be sufficiently exposed to sagebrush and some of the other local plants to become allergic and by then we'd be in snow season again. We did a week of oral steroids combined with ten days of antibiotics because a handful of the seniors and a former officemate of mine all had pneumonia. And she gave me a prescription for Clarinex. I knew from experience that the steroid course would help me smell and taste things again but, surprisingly, when I was done with that and was taking only the Clarinex everything was still good. Then about two weeks ago, the lilacs started to bloom and the cottonwood trees started to bud and I feel like I'm right back where I started. But here's my question: The doctor said if I needed to, I could take Benadryl but then I saw the articles linking Benadryl use, especially by people over 55, to a 54% increase in the chances of developing dementia if they used it for more than three years. I'm not over 55 but I can guarantee that I have ingested a sufficient amount of Benadryl to equal every day for more than three years. I know nobody says "Yippee! It looks like I'll develop dementia" but this has been a major fear of mine pretty much from the time I was a kid. (My mom helpfully pointed out that stress and worry also contribute to an increased risk. Thanks, Mom.) I'm currently losing between 20 and 90 minutes of sleep a night to my nose starting to run like a faucet in the wee hours of the morning, I'm not sleeping very well when I am able to lie back down, and we have yet to start seeing those floaters from the cottonwoods drifting through the air. So, what the heck do I do? Is the Benadryl going to be safe? Are there homeopathic formulas I could/should be taking? The doctor also told me that pollen can travel up to 300 miles so we might as well consider ourselves to be living in a pine forest. Does this mean LoP and I will need to move to Antarctica or Africa after this?

Originally Posted by patrickgm60

I'm convinced that some folks are paid, by the word, to post here. I need an agent.

P.S. Try Zyrtec and Flonase. I did - now sleep and breathe better, through allergy season.

Originally Posted by Dan333SP

I was surprised too. I honestly thought I'd just throw it up at a price above what I thought it'd sell for so I could justify hanging on to it through the F1 race next month, but apparently someone else really wanted it.

Anyone want to let me borrow an SLR with an 800mm stabilized lens for a weekend? I'll schtupp you some craft ales

Originally Posted by topslop1

Didn't think that their offer would have been so low - I was thinking a swing from $50-60 and then my push of a slightly inflated 58 would've tailored a slightly better initial response on their end.

I did hear 'you'll eclipse 58/yr here' from the folk on the other side of the table, but I don't believe much from anyone.. I know that someone there as an insider (who has been there for 3-4 years) is currently @ $85k and on the initial $40k/yr salary.

I'm in a stupid position where I have til June to re-sign on my lease here for another year, which I refuse to do. Working at my current place of employment for another year in my opinion would be a mistake.

If I can get this thing to cut even at $52-60k and I have reduced spending for housing that is a net gain towards student loan repayment, although it isn't a 'step forward' from a career point.

Thinking my best course of action is try to push, take the 'break even or slightly more after commission' salary, use home-base as unsigned/uncommitted housing, and continue to work on project management jobs in an actual target area that I'd like (Texas).

This skills vs. job market bit just kinda sucks right now I think.. I'm still too early career, bah humbug.

Originally Posted by Ramona_W

I'm sure you realize that while a shtup can be an excellent gift it doesn't actually mean "gift".

Originally Posted by Dan333SP

In camera news, I mentioned a week or two ago that I bought a "superzoom" fixed-lens camera to take to the F1 race I attend (Canon SX50, has a 24-1200mm equivalent range).

I took it to a local bike race last night to get some shots. Race is in a densely wooded park at 6 PM so lower light. Not great results at all. Tons of noise, lots of slightly out of focus shots even after playing with all the relevant settings (playing with shutter speed, trying manual focus and the various burst modes, keeping ISO under 800, ect.). I went home and listed it on eBay for $30 more than I paid for it, and it sold by this morning. I won't really net a profit because of eBay fees, but at least it was a harmless experiment.

Moral of the story- there's no replacement for sensor size. You just aren't going to get really nice print-worthy photos from a tiny sensor with a slow lens.

Originally Posted by WhyFi

Unless things have changed or I'm just talking out of my ass, I don't think that employers are allowed to comment on anything other than confirming employment. I'm sure that it occasionally happens, 'specially with smaller employers, but it's supposed to be verboten (since it's colorful word day in Addiction).

Originally Posted by Ramona_W

I'm sure you realize that while a shtup can be an excellent gift it doesn't actually mean "gift".

Originally Posted by WhyFi

Unless things have changed or I'm just talking out of my ass, I don't think that employers are allowed to comment on anything other than confirming employment. I'm sure that it occasionally happens, 'specially with smaller employers, but it's supposed to be verboten (since it's colorful word day in Addiction).

Originally Posted by topslop1

These are things I don't know, and am learning slowly about. I thought it was the other way around in the sense that performance whatever else was discussed, earnings were not. I'm off on this one. Apologies. Well, these are two small shops and may not go as far as doing that, but I won't be inflating again in the future. Lesson learned.