Technical and Non-technical Difficulties

I've been hoping to report that I'm employed gainfully in Colorado Springs. The trick is to wait for them all to be at the office on the same day, find all the rubber stamps, and the extra-long roll of red tape required to get me hired. I understand that my low GPA means that they have to fill out "due diligence" paperwork, but that shouldn't slow them down much. I have an unofficial verbal offer from them, for what that's worth.

I'm also interviewing with Goldman Sachs in New York, for the position of Mortgage Analyst. This is yet another subject I may be qualified to be an analyst for that I know next to nothing about. Just goes to show you, I guess. These blue chip Wall Street guys like to have a room full of well-paid eggheads to tell them when they should buy and sell what. I can sound convincing, and that seems to be the most important thing. Sure, there are spreadsheets involved, and some occasional legitimate math, but for the most part I'd be a professional gambler. It's interesting that they ask for a background in "stochastic calculus," which sounded hard until I realized I'd already taken it under the heading "random variable calculus." That's the best display of mathematical marketing I've seen since they started calling imaginary numbers complex numbers, to try to dispel the growing belief that imaginary mathematicians were using actual money to do imaginary work. It's sad that the least sophisticated mathematicians are the best paid, but, at this point, I'll take it.

Just to keep my options open, I interviewed for a programmer/analyst position for a concrete manufacturer. That's right, you need a computer to mix concrete now. Apparently it's a pretty technical company, with 80% of the staff being involved with the programming. Naturally they use one of those sissy business/web-based/4GL languages, but at least it's local.

So basically, by this time next year, I could either be a Wall Street (ok, technically Broad Street) bond expert, a missile defense/hydrocode secret-cleared engineer/scientist/analyst guy, or a concrete-mixotronic engineer. The only people who like my resume are the ones who can't write a job description for what they need; they enjoy finding a candidate as confused as they are.

I'm still waiting on Charter to get their wires uncrossed. They gave me a new, cuter-than-cute cable modem yesterday, but the little lights on the front aren't blinking right, so they're coming out to fix it. That and the cable TV is out as well, but since we still got the All-star game, G-diddy hasn't suffered any permanent damage yet.

More pictures are forthcoming, including a few I plan to take at the Harry Pottery Convention Friday night. If you're not a Potter fan, what's wrong with you?