What we're into this week:
- Matt is playing Dungeon Defenders on his pc and reading Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien in his spare time.
- I'm reading two books
- The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John Gottman in an attempt to keep my career-type knowledge and skills from rusting.
- Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World and Their Lost Art of Love by Betsy Prioleau which is mostly an anthology of mini-biographies of interesting women such as Mae West, Veronica Franco, Wallis Simpson and Catherine the Great. Very fun read!
This week I started my first of six days of training to become a server at a nearby restaurant called Olga's. Olga's isn't the establishments true name but that is how I want to refer to my place of employment on this blog in the interest of not getting fired for writing unseemly things about the patrons, my fellow team members, or the company (not that I anticipate doing so).
Olga's is a full service restaurant (not just a bar or buffet) so tipping is the normal 15% - 18% of which I am expected to tip out 3% - 5% to bussers and bartenders. This is all very typical and similar to working in a restaurant in Texas except for the fact that even with the tips I take home, I am paid $8.67 per hour (WA minimum wage) instead of $2.15 per hour (TX minimum wage for servers). I am very pleased by this change in server minimum wage though it comes at the higher cost of living here in WA.
At present, my search for a meaningful job opportunity has halted. I have decided to take a few weeks to adjust and become excellent at the job I do have before I begin searching for a second job. This will also give Matt and I the opportunity to enjoy the downtown Seattle scene more without worrying about our dwindling savings account or the school loans I am obligated to begin repaying in December.
As for Matt, I believe he is enjoying working full time as a geek. He has risen to an unofficial second in command role in his division which increases the stress level of his job, but will hopefully lead to advancement opportunities in the future! Matt and three of his co-workers were selected to attend a series of "Pre-Leadership" meetings with the management team that he has been enjoying and will hopefully give him an extra boost.
In other news, the weather has turned interesting here. Yesterday morning our car windows were covered in a layer of ice and today there was so much fog Matt could hardly see the road. The mornings are chilly (in the 30's) and the afternoons warm up a bit (to the 50's). This morning, we turned on our apartment heater for the first time to warm our Texan fingers and toes. My mother will be so pleased!
That's life!
Glad everything seems to be going well! I'm going to have to update you on my cooking adventures...I have yet to make rice milk...milk of all sorts doesn't seem to be my friend lately...but I have a whole list of fall treats I want to make and share with you! ALSO I dont know if you know...but I MET PAULA DEAN...and purchased her new book, "The Southern Cooking Bible." Since you are no longer in the South, I think the south should enter you kitchen...just saying!
ReplyDeleteGreetings Seattle Earthlings,
ReplyDeleteI see that you have taken to being anonymous in referencing your place of employment on the very public Internet. Wise move. Everything that you put on the internet becomes public property and can be accessed by current or future employers, friends, anti-friends, or even "Big Sister", which is why FB is such a bad idea. Too personal and too public for my Martian opinion. I have dmail (on Mars we use the pre-curser to email, which is dmail) that is literally thousands of years old from a politician that made a joke about another Martian which had five eyes instead of our typical three. He accidently sent it to "All" which means all Martians in the Universe. You can guess it, he was immediately imploded (here we don't impeach, we implode). But I do have to admit it was a very funny joke.
You definitely don't want "Big Sister" (on Mars it's Big Sister not Big Brother) to know what you are saying. They may prosecute you if its not within their "political correctness" rules, etc. On Mars we were able to fight against this by having something of a "sit-in". We called it "Occupy the Tea Party", where we sat at the table with the crazy hatter, the rushed rabbit, and Alice, until they gave us a note that said "Drink this", so we did....but I digest...I mean digress.
What is Matt doing playing video games instead of studying for his CCNA? Focus Matt, focus!
Thanks for the brochure and the nice note and stay warm. It actually turned cold here in Saxet, Mars recently with a little rain.
We miss you....Live long in Prosper!
Alien from Mars
Oooh thanks for the book tips - Seductress sounds like a good read!
ReplyDeleteI recently read Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich which is a journalistic study of working and surviving (or attempting to survive) on the American minimum wage. I think it's horrible that S2.15/h is an acceptable wage in TX - tips or no tips. On my planet (surprise! I too am an alien) the minimum wage is $14.00/h. You're so right - it does drive up the cost of living, and a lot of cafes and shops close down early because it's not economical to keep paying people into the night - but I don't mind not being able to go buy french fries and milkshakes at 10:00pm because I know that the employees are making a livable wage. TX needs to get with the program!! I also just noticed that you live in WA and I live in WA... weird!
Can't wait to see you in a few weeks! Try not to get freezer burn in the mean time!