homesick_american

LS is right, if you're half as good as you say you are, there's no way you'll be without work much longer. Good IT people are in extremely short supply. Good luck!

I don't think I'm all that but apparently I made a good impression.

You'll get it

I'm pretty sure I will; really it just depends on the bennies and salary. I've been having such an incredible response; I only started looking for jobs a week ago last Friday and had my first interview a week ago yesterday. Had one today and I'm having another with a third company tomorrow. Apparently my skill set is way more in demand than I thought.

Does that mean that those of us with "less than perfect credit" are now going to have a hard time getting a loan? I am not sure I understand what the "sub-prime" market encompasses.

This news specifically means if you had invested in these hedge funds, you just lost all or most of your money.

The bigger picture, and this is my opinion only, is this - investors of other securities that have stakes in subprime mortgages will now wonder about the values of their holdings - and create downward pressure on prices of those securities.

That, in turn, will make financial institutions less likely (perhaps much less likely) to actually issue subprime mortgages if they can't securitize those mortgages and sell them.

So yes - in the end, people who can not verify their assets/income and/or have less than perfect credit will be less able to find a mortgage. They will have to become homeowners the old fashioned route - make better money, save enough money for a downpayment and pay your bills on time.

None of which is a bad thing.

This is something that has had me worried. 3 years ago I had a very messy divorce and it forced me into bankruptcy. Since then I have been building my credit back up, getting and paying off on time credit and improving my income. I am hoping that next year I will have put enough distance between me and that bad time that I will be able to get a mortgage. But if they are going to want +10 grand downpayment for a 100G house I would have to wait another year or raid my 401K.

Don't touch your 401k just to get a mortgage. Work and save. With your credit rating you'll need more than a 10% down payment anyway to get a decent interest rate or possibly even a mortgage to begin with. A bankruptcy will stay on your record for 7-10 years depending on the type. Some lenders will require 25-50% down with such a recent bankruptcy.

Does that mean that those of us with "less than perfect credit" are now going to have a hard time getting a loan? I am not sure I understand what the "sub-prime" market encompasses.

Yes, that is pretty much what it means. People with dinged-up credit will have a harder time getting a loan, but they were giving mortgages to almost anybody over the last few years. Conservative lending practices were thrown out the window.

My husband gets on an international flight from Lima in about 5 hours and the LAST thing I want to read about are plane crashes....

Watch a movie on HBO and get some shut-eye after it's done. Don't browse if you're easily upset, never know what you'll read.

Good advice...think I'll take it

Plane crashes are pretty rare anyway; two in one day is even more unusual. Relax.

Congrats H_A! Awesome news!

Thanks to whoever moved this BTW.

I talked to the recruiter right after I got home and apparently the feedback is VERY positive; they've interviewed six people for this position including me and apparently I blew them all out of the water. Hard to believe anything positive about myself right now, but I guess I'm good for something.

I aced the first one; I think they'll offer me the job.

I just don't see why the school had to make such a fuss.

Schools are run by self-important, pompous bureacrats who couldn't get better jobs when they were young. That's why.

It wouldn't even make a ripple here; nobody here would care.

i think they developed rules regarding jewelry and the ring is that...i do not think it is a shot at any religion ...of course, i am not from Britian, so i may be wrong

I'm not from Britain either; I just lived there. It did seem to me that UK society in general had little to no respect for the Christian faith or its followers.

A chastity ring is certainly a lot less disruptive than an openly-displayed 8" kirpan ("ceremonial" dagger, worn by initiated male Sikhs).

Yeah, but a chastity ring isn't required by the Christian faith; I heard Sikh males are required to wear a kirpan. Even though it's not required it's a very unobtrusive piece of jewelry. I just don't see why the school had to make such a fuss.

Purity ring...what a load of tripe. If you're going to be pure, then just be pure, you don't have to bleat on about it.

excellent ...i agree...

Purity ring...what a load of tripe. If you're going to be pure, then just be pure, you don't have to bleat on about it.

True, but it's not like the ring was disruptive or preventing anyone else from learning. It's not required by the Christian faith (which doesn't really have a dress code) but neither is the hijab and those are widely tolerated in UK public schools. There does seem to be an anti-Christian PC bias. I'm not even Christian so it's not like I'm paranoid.

Playfoot's legal challenge was the latest in a series of disputes in British schools in recent years over the right of pupils to wear religious symbols or clothing, such as crucifixes and veils.

Last year, the Law Lords rejected Shabina Begum's appeal for permission to wear a Muslim gown at her school in Luton. That case echoed a debate in France over the banning of Muslim headscarves in state schools.

I lived in the UK for six years; I saw plenty of schoolgirls with head coverings. They're allowed in a lot of schools.

I just don't see the big deal; what's so disruptive about a ring?

I was at Whole Foods yesterday and found Wensleydale with cranberries. They have a really good cheese selection, but it's sure not cheap. That small wedge was $7!

That's Whole Foods for you, a 'king rip-off. I've seen Wensleydale for normal prices at Wegmans and Trader Joes.

I don't think we have either of those chains in DFW.

Purity ring...what a load of tripe. If you're going to be pure, then just be pure, you don't have to bleat on about it.

True, but it's not like the ring was disruptive or preventing anyone else from learning. It's not required by the Christian faith (which doesn't really have a dress code) but neither is the hijab and those are widely tolerated in UK public schools. There does seem to be an anti-Christian PC bias. I'm not even Christian so it's not like I'm paranoid.

Hi HA excuse my ignorance but what is SQL? I presume it might be something to do with speed typing or something? Just as an aside, I will be starting the whole looking for a job thing within a few months down in Fl. Do you have any tips on what interviewers like to see / questions that are popular etc that might be somewhat different to over here in blighty? Do you think the employment agency route is the best way forward or are employers open to 'un-solicited' approaches with resume's etc?

So many questions sorry if it sounds onorous.

Good luck on the interviews

SQL stands for Structured Query Language; it's a database language. ANSI-SQL is the standard but all RDBMs have their own flavor. T-SQL, or Transact-SQL, is the Microsoft SQL Server flavor and that's the flavor I'm most familiar with. PL/SQL is the Oracle flavor, and there's also MySQL and PostgreSQL. In all of these dialects of SQL about 80% of the language is the same and 20% is non-ANSI-SQL.

This is what it looks like (these are objects I wrote):

Query:

SELECT a.Pol_no

, f.RunDate

, a.OM_Available

, a.OM_Complete

, b.Started AS 'PROPNTU_Started'

, a.NTU_Date

, c.Ended AS 'Policy_Issue_Ended'

, a.Plcy_Type_Cd

, a.PLCY_NAPI

, a.SumAssured

, a.EDI

, a.Channel

, a.Section

, a.Agency

, d.Ended AS 'Registration_Ended'

, DATEDIFF(d, a.OM_Available, f.RunDate) AS 'DaysElapsed'

, e.Status AS 'FullStatus'

, CriticalIllness = CASE WHEN a.CI_Ind IS NOT NULL THEN 'Critical Illness' ELSE 'Life Only' END

, QuartersOld = CAST(DATEDIFF(m, a.OM_Available, f.RunDate)/3 AS Int)

FROM dbo.DateRanges f, dbo.PPEKBaseData a

LEFT OUTER JOIN dbo.vwPROPNTU b ON a.Pol_no = b.Pol_no

LEFT OUTER JOIN dbo.vwPIE c ON a.Pol_no = c.Pol_no

LEFT OUTER JOIN dbo.vwReg d ON a.Pol_no = d.Pol_no

INNER JOIN dbo.vwfnStatus e ON a.Pol_no = e.Pol_no

WHERE e.Status IN('Accepted','Registered','Pending Registration')

AND a.OM_Complete IS NULL

This is a user-defined function that returns someone's age:

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fnAgeClient] (@DOB AS smalldatetime, @OM_Available AS smalldatetime)

RETURNS smallint AS

BEGIN

RETURN (CASE WHEN MONTH(@DOB) < MONTH(@OM_Available) THEN

DATEDIFF(yy, @DOB, @OM_Available)

WHEN MONTH(@DOB) > MONTH(@OM_Available) THEN

DATEDIFF(yy, @DOB, @OM_Available) - 1

WHEN MONTH(@DOB) = MONTH(@OM_Available) AND DAY(@DOB) < DAY(@OM_Available) THEN

DATEDIFF(yy, @DOB, @OM_Available)

WHEN MONTH(@DOB) = MONTH(@OM_Available) AND DAY(@DOB) > DAY(@OM_Available) THEN

DATEDIFF(yy, @DOB, @OM_Available) - 1

WHEN MONTH(@DOB) = MONTH(@OM_Available) AND DAY(@DOB) = DAY(@OM_Available) THEN

DATEDIFF(yy, @DOB, @OM_Available)

ELSE NULL END)

END

This is a stored procedure; it sets the value of 'Rundate' to last Friday's date no matter what day of the week it is run:

CREATE PROC [dbo].[spUpdateRunDate] AS

DECLARE @today INT

SELECT @today = (SELECT DATEPART(dw, GETDATE()))

IF @today = 1 -- Sunday

UPDATE dbo.DateRanges

SET RunDate = DATEADD(day, -2, GETDATE())

IF @today = 2 -- Monday

UPDATE dbo.DateRanges

SET RunDate = DATEADD(day, -3, GETDATE())

IF @today = 3 -- Tuesday

UPDATE dbo.DateRanges

SET RunDate = DATEADD(day, -4, GETDATE())

IF @today = 4 -- Wednesday

UPDATE dbo.DateRanges

SET RunDate = DATEADD(day, -5, GETDATE())

IF @today =5 -- Thursday

UPDATE dbo.DateRanges

SET RunDate = DATEADD(day, -6, GETDATE())

IF @today = 6 -- Friday

UPDATE dbo.DateRanges

SET RunDate = DATEADD(day, -7, GETDATE())

IF @today = 7 -- Saturday

UPDATE dbo.DateRanges

SET RunDate = DATEADD(day, -1, GETDATE())

UPDATE dbo.DateRanges

SET Rundate = CONVERT(datetime, (CONVERT(varchar, RunDate, 112)))

Hmm.... the chocolate souffles? Something like that... I forget now. I liked the little chocolate pots (the tiny plastic things about the size of a shot glass that were full of reallllly rich chocolate, erm, gloop), the chocolate & vanilla cheesecakes, and the lemon cheesecakes. Well, I'd have happily eaten any of that stuff, but those were the ones I'd get from Waitrose by the shelful!

I agree with you about the lemon thing.... lemon sorbet, lemon cheesecake (heaven...), lemon mousse, lemon sponge, even.... I'm now racking my brain for other delicious lemony things.

Sainsbury's kept putting Fru on sale for a pound off so it was 1.79 for two of them. Mmmm....I had more than a few of those. Even now, 8 Fru ramekins are on their way to me here in Texas. I kept 8 and gave away the rest. They come in handy for all sorts of things.

I was at Whole Foods yesterday and found Wensleydale with cranberries. They have a really good cheese selection, but it's sure not cheap. That small wedge was $7!

Gosh - that is very scary! Particularly with rabies here in the US.

I HATE skunks. Had one spray UNDER my house a few months after I moved in. Ever since, I laugh with glee when I see one smashed on the side of the road (which is SO unlike me, I'm such a huge animal lover!).

Not all skunks have rabies; it's a concern but you're so unlikely to pick up rabies from a wild animal.

Obviously - but I'd still rather not find out!!!

Rabies sucks, but there are so few human cases per year. If you have close contact with a wild animal you should call a doctor to see if he thinks you should have the rabies series. I hear it's only five shots in the arm now instead of 18 in the abdomen, like my brother had to have when he was bitten by a squirrel. There was a case of a boy dying of rabies in Houston recently; he was bitten by a bat but he didn't even realize he had been bitten until he actually developed rabies, by which point it's usually too late to save someone.

It's so unlikely to happen, though. It's good to be cautious but don't let it keep you from enjoying nature.

As for skunks...once I was bringing groceries into my apartment in Austin and there was a skunk on the path between me and my front door and I couldn't get around it so I put my bags down and threw acorns at it to get it to go away. It just sort of skulked off slowly. Another time there was a raccoon at my front door and those things are pretty aggressive so I went next door to get the neighbor to help me. He suggested shooting it. He actually did point a shotgun at it and it ran off. I guess that wasn't the first time it had seen a gun.

....... Fru lemon cheesecakes.....

Dammmmmnnnnnnn you!!!!!

And now I really really really really want to eat my way through the entire Fru/Gu range of deliciousness. I too had an entire cupboard full of those little ramekins!

Gu had this chocolatey thing that was served warm; can't remember what it was because I'm not a big fan of chocolate but it was pretty damn good. Fru's lemon cheesecakes were the BOMB; they had some blueberry ones too but I wasn't too keen on those since they were too sweet. I like any sweet made with lemons though....that's my sweets weakness.

Gosh - that is very scary! Particularly with rabies here in the US.

I HATE skunks. Had one spray UNDER my house a few months after I moved in. Ever since, I laugh with glee when I see one smashed on the side of the road (which is SO unlike me, I'm such a huge animal lover!).

Not all skunks have rabies; it's a concern but you're so unlikely to pick up rabies from a wild animal.

Ripples are made by Galaxy and are kinda like a flake but they have a chocolate coating over then, and Drifters are made by Nestle and are a wafer bar with caramel and chocolate covered and come in a two bar pack, but they are not like twix.

I like most of Mr Kipling cakes......hmmmmm

Weird; I never heard of either of those! I guess I didn't spend enough time in the candy aisle. I was more of a cake person; I probably had about 50 of those glass ramekins that you get when you buy Fru lemon cheesecakes. Now THOSE were TASTY. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I loved Mr Kipling lemon slices but I wasn't keen on the others; too sweet. They had these battenburg cakes out for Easter that looked so tasty but when I tasted them they were too sweet. My gfn stbx husband polished those off though.

All of these companies that do random drug screens also have a substance abuse policy where an employee can come forward voluntarily for treatment without fear of job loss. If they get busted during a random whiz quiz or if they refuse to submit to testing they are terminated. They have to seek treatment before they get busted...not repent afterward.

So what about people that smoke weed only at home? They know the policy. We are required to read and sign acknowleging that we understand the policy. There are 3 choices: quit doing dope, quit your job, or take your chances.

Life is full of decisions and choices. You can play the game and make a good living...or you can smoke dope and choose a career at a menial job where they seek weak minds and a strong back at low wages.

*applause*

Well said! :thumbs:

I'm supposed to have one today at 1pm though I haven't gotten the details of it yet, and another company wants to interview me tomorrow or Thursday. I've sent out maybe 10 resumes and the response has been MASSIVE.

I took two SQL screening exams at a recruiter's office yesterday and totally blew the curve on them; they'd never seen someone with such brief experience score so high. Early birthday present I guess; I thought I'd done really badly because there were some typos on the test that I ignored that I apparently should not have so I got a few questions wrong, but apparently everyone misses those so I did really well. I guess that's pretty good for taking the tests cold with no warning; I haven't even seen SQL in two months.

Oh I have a craving for a large bag of Minstrals..... or a Ripple.... Going to ask Mum to bring some over next month when she comes to visit..... Now what can I eat to keep my craving at bay until then????

Kez

I saw Ripples at my local Food Basics over the weekend!!! I was almost drooling and couldnt decide between Ripple and Drifter.

What's Ripples? What's Drifter? :blink: I'm still looking for Mr Kipling's lemon slices. I really liked those!

That's nice; Brazil has huge expat communities from around the world. Apparently Sao Paulo has a giant Japanese diaspora community and I hear the south of Brazil was once very popular with Polish immigrants.

Now, what's this Tunnocks Tea Cake? Never ran across them in the UK. Do they sell them in Canada?

Basically the same thing as a Mallomar, but with a bit more marshmallow:

Don't know if they are available in Canada, but I remember seeing something similar being made on "How its Made" that was Canadian and had a different brand name.

I wonder if they're kosher. Marshmallows usually aren't. It's not like I'm Jewish; I just don't dig on gelatin.

when I lived in Michigan I had a raccoon in my house - he had gone in, managed to get a box of graham crackers off the shelf and ate every last one,

LOL; we had one stuck in our chimney once. We had to bring someone in to get the raccoon out. He grabbed it with a catchpole and flung it into a cage and took it away. I saw one just the other night sauntering through our yard.

This doesn't surprise me at all.

When I first started working in the offshore oilfields of the Gulf of Mexico in the early 1980's dope smoking was a huge problem at that time. The oil companies would fly narcotics sniffing dogs out to the production platforms occassionally to root out narcotics use at the facility. They found weed out there often, but it was always stashed in public areas and couldn't be pinned on anyone. None of the dope smokers on my shift ever got busted this way.

The major oil companies got more sophisticated as time went on and eventually started screening people before they got onboard the helicopters or boats through full time narcotics sniffing dogs on location and random bag searches by private security guards. Only the big buck major oil companies have the cash to do this level of screening.

The smaller companies have been relying mostly on the whiz quiz (urine analysis) to nail dope smokers. The smaller companies started doing that back in the middle 1980's and it pretty much has weeded out the dope smokers. We all get periodically tested randomly by lottery. To work in the Federal offshore oil leases it is required by law to submit to drug testing.

Drug testing works. It is the standard in many dangerous and hazardous industries to keep the workplace drug free and safe.

A friend of mine from college is a petroleum engineer; he used to spend 2 weeks on/2 weeks off rigs in the Gulf and he was pee-tested constantly. He griped about it since he doesn't even drink beer but it's definitely necessary to keep things safer on rigs; those are pretty dangerous.

What about people who smoke marijuana at home but not on the job?

They're still breaking the law; pot's illegal. Oh well, too bad.