Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.

I do have a lot to write about, but I haven't had the time nor energy to do it, my dad came to visit. I love my dad, don't get me wrong. He's generous and funny and smart and pleasant. He is high-maintenance, however... but I will get to that.

First, I need to admit to a couple problems I have. One is that I will pretty much sign up for anything, and the other is that when I am bored I browse Craigslist looking for good deals and interesting things. Last week, I got bored.

I signed up to be a soup taster for the Oregon State University sensory research lab. A soup taster is basically a consumer panelist. I can go in and tase soup (or other foods), give my opinion, and be compensated with gift certificates for local businesses. I got my first test notification, it is for ice cream and sorbet, but I can't do it because of work.

I read an announcement in the newspaper that a new agency had taken over management of the coffee service at Albany's I5 rest areas, and they were looking for organizations to serve coffee. I went to the meeting to get more information for the ESA ladies. I was saddened that there were about 4 people there who thought they could be hired as some sort of rest area barista, I guess, and another handful who came thinking that they could bring their own coffee trailer and sell coffee- they were looking at this as a business opportunity.

I answered another ad on Craiglsist. The US Census is hiring enumerators- the people who go door-to-door and get answers from people who don't return their census forms in the mail. They pay $15.25 per hour, plus mileage, for 5 to 10 weeks, 20 to 40 hours per week.
This could help pay for braces, so I signed up and took the test today. I think I did well on the test, but there were at least three veterans in the group of 10 test-takers, and they get preference, I think. So we will see.

I also bought a sectional, (found a deal on Craigslist!) (I didn't act completely on impulse, I have been in the market) which smells slightly of marijuana, and I don't find it all that unpleasant. I mean I do a lot of napping and eating Doritos on the couch already.

Oh, yeah, my dad.
He arrived on Saturday, and we headed to Costco to buy dinner. We stopped by the cell phone kiosk, and the salesgirl talked him into upgrading to a Samsung EnV, which is web enabled. He bought the phone, got it activated, and then started asking questions about how to use the mobile web. Since I knew that I was going to be his personal tech support, I put the brakes on that teeny, tiny phone with its miniature qwerty keyboard and miniature screen. I told him that if he wanted a web-enabled phone, he should get a smartphone. He agreed, and returned the EnV and bought an android phone, but not a Droid. I forget what the model name was, so we'll call it the droid. We got that phone home before he decided it wasn't quite right- too complicated. So the next day, back to Costco we go, he returned the droid and bought a run of the mill phone and a netbook, which he figures he can use for email and whatnot. He thinks he can save the monthly data plan charges by using the free wifi at Starbucks, which is true.
So we take the netbook to Starbucks... but. You can't just sit down at Starbucks and hook up to the wifi. You have to have a Starbucks card. Guess what? He has one! It has to be registered. Guess what? His is. Oh, and you need to know your password. Well, there's the stumper. No worries, we will call customer service. When they open on Monday.