Walgreens

on Wednesday I received 5 calls from an 877 number that I didn't recognize. I was at work all day and always leave my cell phone at home or in the car. There were no messages, so I didn't think much of it. Thursday morning, I received two calls from the same number before 7 am. Finally, the eighth time they called, third time that morning, I answered. I was half in bed, half on the floor (I sleep on a mattress).

Me: Hello?

Them: Hi, this is Walgreens. We specialize in...blah, blah, blah... (I listened to them extolling the Walgreens chain for about 30 seconds)

I hung up, turned the ringer off.

When I got up a few hours later, I had 3 more calls from the same number and a new message. I punched the buttons to get into my mailbox and sure enough the message was from Walgreens.

This time, instead of going on and on about how great their store was, they cut to the chase and told me I'd won a $30 gift certificate and they would be mailing it to me.

Well that's great, but I'm still confused.

1. Why couldn't they have just left that message the first time they called?

2. Why didn't the person I spoke to on the phone tell me that immediately?

3. Oddly, the message was left after the 10th call, and followed up by an 11th call. Why did they call again after the message?

New Job

Been doing a shitty job keeping up with my blog. I got a position as a loader at a big bakery. I've been working weird shifts, mostly 3:30am to noon at the moment, which really does a number on you. It doesn't leave me with much energy and sees me under the covers by 8 at the latest. I've got better hours this week, going in at times like 1pm, 2pm, and 4pm. I have Monday off, which will be dedicated to finding a better job. I looked for a job in San Francisco for 6 months without success, so I'm sure I can find a job in the greater Saco area in one day. No problem.

The job isn't good, but at least I'm getting some hours right now. I think I worked overtime this week (6 days out of 7) but I'm guessing there is some type of loophole that will keep me from being paid extra. Numerous employees at the bakery have encouraged me to look elsewhere for work, and not in a threatening way. From several employees I have heard (not that I needed to be told) that the job is a dead end and a bad place to work. The pay has actually decreased in the last 10 years, the benefits are awful, and the hours are inconsistent. In my case, I applied for an "on call" position, though I'm working full-time at the moment, and I'm told that if I wasn't scheduled but then called to come in, saying no is not an option. That's not really what on call means, but, what can you do. About the only good part of the job is that my friend Jesse is a supervisor there so I get to see him occasionally if I work second shift. Regardless of how bad the job is, I'm lucky to have employment. As everyone knows, the economy isn't the strongest right now, and Breanne told me that she has four female co-workers whose husbands are out of work right now. That's rough. But on the other hand, I have quite a few plans coming up in the month of March, and it would be a shame to have to cancel all of them. That's the catch. I know that work is what people do; they work then they die. Well, I don't really care for that. I'll work when I'm dead, or however that saying goes.

On a side note, last night Breanne and I went to a USM hockey game. It was the first time I'd sat through an entire USM game. I saw Ray Jean, a guy I went to high school with, and talked to him during the second period.

Gorham Scrabble Club 2/08/09

The second Sunday of February, and that spells Gorham Scrabble Club. This was my second time attending. The second Sunday of January was snowed out.
It was a much better turnout than my first appearance. 8 people all together, if you don't include an old confused looking man with a deerstalker cap on in the corner. I played my first game against Mary, though she preferred either Mary Lee or Mary Lou- I didn't catch it. She started slow and spent most of the game playing catch-up. I scored a bingo with LIZARDS and ended up beating her 393-302.
My second game was against Kassandra, the club organizer. I'd played her two months ago and beat her badly. It was closer this time around but I still got her by almost 100: 405-314. I played two bingos with HORRIBLY and FANCIES. I also played afronts, not sure if it had two f's, and she challenged it off the board.
My third game was not pretty. I played Sean, a guy in his 50's or 60's, who was clearly my superior. He beat me 477-264, but in fairness, I had the shittiest tiles this game. At one point I had three consecutive draws of only vowels. Sean also drew both blanks, all four S's, and the Z, X, Q, and J early enough in the game to not be stuck with them. I had a bingo with ESTEEMED late in the game, which isn't bad considering my tray was E T M E E E D. He played multiple words I hadn't heard of including LOX, CHEEP, CROZE, and LANAI. He had three bingos against me: MISSION, CROONING, and RAIDING. Had the letters been more evenly distributed, he still would have beaten me. It wouldn't have been such a crushing though. However, you won't always draw the best tiles and you have to make due with what you get. Needless to say, I didn't do that.
My last game was another against Kassandra. I walloped her again, this time 389-319. I had two bingos in this game too, both occurring within my first four turns. ADULATE and DATELINE, the latter landing on a triple word.
I am discovering that there is a gigantic gap between the skill level of players at the Gorham Scrabble Club. Sean, for example, has played against some of the best players in the world, including Matt Graham from the movie Word Wars, who at the moment is ranked 10th in the world. Other players would be considered kitchen table players, rarely scoring above 400 and not looking to expand their vocabularies through study and memorization. I think I'm somewhere in between, though probably a lot closer to the kitchen.

Answering

Got an answering machine. Now I can collect all those automated messages from Sally Mae, looking for Beverly. I'm sort of an answering machine right now. Sounds like something Bukowski would say. Or, "My dick is a white mamba and I'm sort of an answering machine right now." That's better.
I read The Road to Wellville in San Francisco and finally got the movie in the mail today. It was cracked, almost from the hole to the edge. The rating on IMDB is terrible but I was really hoping to watch it tonight.
More importantly, I took the biggest icicle from the eave out back and froze it, point up, on the rail of the back porch. Something Andy Goldsworthy probably did when he was 4. Just took a little snow and tap water. It looks neat. I'm hoping a blue jay will land on it tomorrow.