Making decisions the right or wrong way

 As some of you know, I recently moved from Vermont where I had been staying with my parents (thanks COVID!) to California for a job that didn't happen.  I had dreamed of living in California for years and only now that I am here, do I realize what those "dreams" are actually based on and it's not facts.

I have a pretty wide variety of music preferences; everything from country (mostly 90s country), pop, 90's r&b, opera, rock, classic and southern rock, etc.. I love listening to bands like Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Eagles, John Denver, America, The Beach Boys and am realizing that it is through their music that I fell in love with the IDEA of living in California. These bands and the songs that they sing are still at the top of my playlist, but now that I'm IN California, things aren't as good as the music makes it out to be and it's not the fault of the artists, their song writers or even California. It is on me for not doing my research first and really digging into WHY I want to move to California and what would be different being here than on the East Coast.

Is the cost of living less than in NYC? Yes, but you still need roommates or to live far away from the city center or in a much less than desirable neighborhood. Are food costs less or more? I find the cost of everything to be more than it was when I lived in Brooklyn and part of that is the taxes (10% in LA County on many things). Are there a lot of jobs here? Sort of. Many of them are through staffing agencies and pay well under $40,000 which is unsustainable and utterly ridiculous. Jobs in DC (even entry level type positions [in the Admin field at least]) pay more and require less plus they actually prefer their employees to use public transportation versus requiring a vehicle, license and proof of insurance to be a receptionist (yes, there are many, many jobs with this requirement out here). Is the weather here better than back east? Depends on who you ask. Yes, the sun shines most of the time, but frankly that is extremely boring. Today, November 21, it is sunny and 78 degrees. It does cool off at night (this week we are in the 50's and even the 40's overnight which makes for chilly rooms when the heat isn't on). I have been here around 6 weeks or so and in that time, we have had MAYBE 4 days of no sunshine in the morning, but by afternoon, the sun is back out. It makes me really miss the changing seasons I always had growing up. Even in Charleston, there are seasons that change. Maybe not to the same extent that they do in Vermont, NYC or DC, but the leaves change, the air gets crisp and cool and it can even snow in the winter (although this is rare).  Do I have beach access here that I didn't elsewhere? Sort of. I can get to many of the beaches in Los Angeles County, but it takes an average of 2.5 hours each way on public transportation. Do I have access to public transportation? Technically yes, but the buses in my city run only every 30 minutes and the transit system itself stops running at 11pm which means that if I wanted to see a movie after work (assuming I didn't work in the same city in which I live), I would likely have to take a taxi home because I couldn't guarantee that I would make the last train or bus. In NYC, the subways and buses run 24/7 and in DC their hours are as follows :Monday through Thursday, 5:00 a.m. until 12:00 a.m.

Friday, 5:00 a.m. until 1:00 a.m.

Saturday: 7:00 a.m. until 1:00 a.m.

Sunday: 7:00 a.m. until 12:00 a.m.

Technically, the weekday hours are the same amount time as LA, but start later and end later. The hours in LA don't change according to the day of the week or whether it is a holiday. Intellectually I knew that Southern California was extremely car centric, but I didn't realize until moving here just HOW focused on automobiles this region was. Yes, I can get places using the transit system and yes, they are working on expanding and improving is (in large part due to the 2028 Olympic Games), but it takes two to three times longer to get places using public transportation than it does driving, even factoring in traffic. 

I have been to some pretty iconic places, yes and they were worth the trip. I'll attach some photos of Long Beach, the Venice Boardwalk and Santa Monica here. There are many more places I'd love to see, but getting there via public transportation is very challenging and frankly almost not worth having to take 2 trains and 2 buses.

I had much more freedom of movement in NYC not only with their public transportation system, but walking. From my apartment, I could walk to at least 3 different parks, lots of independent shops and restaurants and to several bus and subway stops. 

My current city is about the size (population wise) of Saratoga Springs, NY or about 35,000 people. They have no independent police or fire department, only one very small park and most of the shops cater to the very large Asian population and many of the signs on stores and restaurants are in Asian languages and not English making it seem unfriendly to those who may not speak Chinese, Korean or other language.

Venice Boardwalk 

Long Beach and Shoreline Village 

Santa Monica

There is a lot to see and do in LA County, but so much of it requires a vehicle to get there. While I'm glad I made this move, even just for the experience and to say that I gave it a shot, I miss so much of the things that the East Coast has to offer to the point that I don't know that I will stay here.

Big City versus Small City

 I spent close to ten years living in Brooklyn and during that time, I learned a lot about myself, my likes. dislikes. preferences, etc. I left there in August of 2020 and moved back to Upstate NY to a much, much smaller city. I realized that I missed some of the most basic things that a city has. The things that I miss the most are local restaurants, shops close by (within walking distance or a quick bus/subway ride), decent public transportation, sidewalks, movie theaters. In my new city, there weren't sidewalks by my apartment building and there was also no shoulder on the side of the road. When there was snow on the ground, I would have to walk in the middle of the lane just to be semi-safe. There were shops nearby and by shops, I mean a Target, Starbucks (which was closed often during COVID), 2 grocery stores, a CVS and a few others. If you needed a laundromat, you had to take a bus and either walk the rest of the way or take a bus to the local community college and transfer to a northbound bus. The nearest city that was accessible by bus was 20 miles away, but offered many restaurants, shops and other businesses. 

I have since moved further north and east and although my current city has sidewalks, there are fewer businesses that are accessible without a vehicle. The nearest bus stop that takes you to either Wal Mart or Target is over a half mile away and only runs once per hour for each location. What my current city needs are more businesses. There are a few restaurants downtown including at least two breweries, a sporting good store, a consignment store, a jewelry store and about 5 other small businesses. These shops and eateries are centered on just two city blocks with not much outside of that area. 

If this city would expand their public transportation system to run more buses more places, run them past 6pm, run them on Sundays and holidays, allow tax or zoning ordinances to allow companies to bring in new housing (preferably mixed use) and bring in new businesses, it would greatly improve the city as a whole.

So many times I've regretted leaving Brooklyn and moving back Upstate as I feel that it was a huge mistake on my part. I lost the upward mobility I had gained in my career. I lost my freedom of movement, my autonomy. I lost the ability to just hop on a bus or subway at 5pm to go to dinner, a movie or just for a walk in another neighborhood, something I did fairly regularly. I have since moved to a VERY small town (not by choice) and am 2 miles from the nearest main road and 8 miles from the nearest town. I have zero mobility here and am desperately trying to get back to a major city.

Here's to Employers listening

 I'm watching Second Act with Leah Remini and Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer's character has been working for a grocery store for 15 years and has steadily increased sales, brought in new customers and then was passed over for a promotion just because she doesn't have a college degree. When she finds a new job (through not so typical means) and quits, her supervisor (the person who got the job she deserved) said something like "it's not easy finding a new job at your age" as if by a woman being over 30 is a death sentence. Making matters worse, her boyfriend is pushing her to stop working and to start a family and while she does want a family (down the road), she wants to focus on her career more. I'm in a similar situation and although I don't have 15 years at one company, I am over 30 (and over 40 for that matter) and finding a job post-covid is next to impossible. Here are some things that we want employers to know.

1- We are more than a college degree. We have experience and what we don't know, we can learn. College degrees cost tens of thousands of dollars that most of us can't afford without going into massive debt.

2- We will apply for jobs outside of our city knowing that they are not remote. We know that when applying. If you are anxious about us being 3,000 miles away, ask if we are willing to relocate, don't assume that we are too stupid to know that the position is in-office and not remote.

3- If we send an application and you respond asking for our availability for an interview and we respond with said availability RESPOND! Let us know whether or not our availability matches yours and don't just ignore our responses and leave us hanging.

4- If we schedule an interview via Zoom/Teams/Indeed/Google or whatever other platform, SHOW UP. Most of us will log in 5-15 minutes early and if you aren't in the room by 15 minutes past the start time, we will exit the room and assume that you don't feel that our time is valuable. We get annoyed when we are waiting for you and you don't show up nor do we hear from you via phone or email (both of which you would have).

5- Please, please, please DON'T make a prospective go through assessments (including phone interviews before you've even read our resume and application) and DON'T make us go through several rounds of interviews before making a final determination about which candidate you want to hire.

6- If a position is per-diem, part time or other than full time, security clearance is needed, a second language is needed, note this at the BEGINNING of the job posting. Don't bury it in the middle somewhere or at the very end.

7- If I am looking for a job in DC and I get all the way through the application and see that there is a question about relocating to Texarcana (or other location), note this at the beginning of the job description, NOT THE END. We want to find jobs in the area we are looking in, not in another random city and we want to not have to scroll all the way to the very end of the listing to find that information.

8- If you have a long list of duties and requirements and are only offering $15/hour or less, most of us won't bother because that is too much to do for too little money and no one can live on that little in any city in the country.

9- If you are listing a receptionist position and are requiring a driver's license, insurable vehicle and a clean driving record, list the reason why and offer more than $15/hour. Most receptionist positions do not require driving and if they do, they need to compensate the candidate financially for that.

10- If you are posting a job (any job really) in a major city like New York, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Houston please offer a reasonable salary regardless of your state or local minimum wage. 

11- If a person is needing to relocate, allow them the time necessary to relocate, get settled and then start work (approximately 2-4 weeks depending on the location moving to and from). I understand that you need someone immediately, but when you make candidates go through 4 rounds of interviews before choosing a candidate, it's not immediate and likely weeks or months before a decision is made during which time a candidate is on hold and can't find housing and prepare to relocate.

12- Offer benefits. Starting with paid holidays, time off and vacation (and I don't mean a small number of "personal days" to be used for all of the above). People need and want paid time off and if you want to retain good employees, this is one way to do this.

13- Do NOT force a candidate to be on call 24/7. This is no longer acceptable unless you are a nanny, doctor, nurse, etc.. Forcing employees to work more than 10 hours at a time without proper recompense is wrong (even if it is legal depending on the circumstances). Most companies don't need this and those that do need a person to work during unusual times (due to time differentials), they should have time off during other times or days to make up the difference.

14- If you really want happy employees, treat them with the respect they need and deserve. When you hire them, lay out as much of their responsibility as possible, lay out their schedule, time off requirements, supervisor (and their contact information). Don't hire them telling them one thing and then a couple of weeks in, change the duties and responsibilities so completely that they are no longer doing the same thing (such as being forced to work 12 hour days with no notice, going from being a paralegal to a front desk clerk and back day after day).

15- Allow your employees time for professional development and/or volunteer activities. Both will benefit the employee and the company.

These are just a few things that we as job seekers and employees want our employers to know.

Paradise and the Konkow Legend

 Since first hearing about the Camp Fire in 2018, it has both fascinated and disgusted me. The response to the fire, the cause, the end result, the total death and destruction. Most of this could have been avoided had things been done differently not only in the present, but in the past, but they weren't and there is nothing to do about that but to change the way things are done going forward. Lizzie Johnson, a Washington Post reporter wrote a book about the fire, the people of Paradise, their story, the Konkow Legend and the aftermath. The story that I'm sharing today comes from that book, entitled Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire. I'm including a link here to purchase it. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/08/19/paradise-excerpt-california-wildfire-bus-driver/)

https://www.northshire.com/book/9780593136386

From the author's note, "I first learned of the Konkow legend on a chilly spring day in March 2019, as I stood high on a plateau above the town of Concow." "As residents commiserated over their losses, remarking on how hot the Camp Fire had burned and how fast it had moved, a couple from the Konkow tribe, who happened to be on the tour, offered to share a story." "Their ancestors, they said, had once witnessed a wildfire similar to the one Butte County had just experienced. Two young boys had thrown pitch pine sticks onto a campfire, accidentally igniting a conflagration. The outcome was horrible. Most of the tribe died, and the few who survived had been forced to move north. This tale, they said, had been passed down through the generations and later translated into English. Hearing the story that afternoon, I was struck by how the Konkow legend offered a remarkable glimpse into the past-- something never captured in modern statistics and rarely by history textbooks--- of what tribal ancestors had witnessed long before white settlers arrived and displaced them, before housing developments were carved into sacred land." 

There is more, but if I included everything here, you wouldn't need to purchase or borrow the book and read it for yourself. I borrowed it from my local library after reading about her story on the Washington Post's website (https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/an-idyllic-california-town-and-the-wildfire-everyone-should-have-expected/2021/08/19/30c54012-efd0-11eb-81d2-ffae0f931b8f_story.html)

The Konkow Legend

    In the beginning, Wahnonopem, the Great Spirit, made all things. Before he came, everything on the earth and in the skies was hidden in the darkness and gloom, but where he appeared, he was light. From his essence, out of his breath, he made the sun, the moon and the countless stars and pinned them in the blue vault of the heavens. And his spirit came down upon the earth, and there was day; he departed and the darkness of night closed again upon the place where he had stood. He returned, and the light shone upon the Konkows and all the other living creatures upon the earth, in the waters, and in the skies; the wildflowers bloomed in the valleys and on the mountainsides; the song of the birds was heard among the leaves of the madrone and on the boughs of the pines; and the hours of the day and of the night were permanently established.

    This is the story of the Konkow tribe of the Meadow Valley Lands, as brought forward and told in the stillness of the nights, around the campfires, by the old men, the scholars, and the priests. (page 7)

    As the days and nights interchanged in the countless moons of the past, the Konkows and all the other people on the face of the earth became very wicked and bad, until one day the spirit of the Wahnonopem, borne upon the beams of the rising sun, came through the pines and appeared unto some very wise old men, and said to them: "My children, whom I have made out of my breath, shall not bow down and worship the mountains, the waters, the rocks, or the trees, or anything which I have made upon the earth, or in the waters or in all the skies; but go to all my people and say that they shall bow down to me, and me alone; and all who do not believe in and worship me shall be devoured by the wild beasts and the demon birds of the forests, or destroyed by the great fire, Sahm."

    This the Great Spirit said to the teachers of our tribe, and then he passed away into Hepeningkoy, the blue land of the stars. But his words were not heard, and the wickedness increased and went wild and rampant about the whole land, and Wahnonopem caused Yanekanumkala, the White Spirit, to appear in the flesh unto the people, that he might enlighten and turn them from their evil ways. This good man began his teachings and for many years he lived among our people, teaching the young men and the maidens many lessons of love and wisdom, many songs and games and gentle pastimes; and all these years they loved him more and more. But he died, and the lessons were forgotten. The songs died away in the forests, and in their stead came the war whoop, the shrieks of struggling women, and the groans of the wounded and the dying; and the name of Yanekanumkala became a jibe and a mockery all over the land.

    As time went on, the Great Spirit sent two more good men, white spirits from the Yudicna, the unreachable frozen regions at the end of the earth, to explain once more the teachings of wisdom and of love, and the worship of Wahnonopem; and to show them that they came from the Great Spirit. He made the streams issue forth from solid rock, the mountains dissolve into lakes and the waters of the sea. They healed the sick and gave back the spirit of life to the dead, who, as they quickened into life again, bowed down for a time before the Great Spirit and worshiped him. But these good men accomplished no lasting good. Wickedness went about roaring as fiercely as before; and they passed away, carried by the wind to their homes in the frozen seas, amid the floating ice mountains, and the golden auroras of the far-off Yudicna.

    Wahnonopem, after the good men had departed, became wrathful against his children and sent a great drought upon the land. The gentle rain fell no more upon the earth, and it baked and cracked and yielded no more food. The sweet summer grasses and the white clover shrank away and became as wisps; the pine tree bore no more of its nutty cone; the brown balls of the buckeye and the red grape of the manzanita were nowhere to be found; and the flesh of the roebuck, the black bear, and the wild game in the woods was a frothy poison. The people worked hard digging for the socomme, the sweet roots of the swamps, which had become as rocks, and when found they were molded away or wasted into strings. Suffering and hunger were all over the land, and the old men, the young men, the women and the maidens cried in their anguish for the Black Spirit of Death to come to their relief. (page 63-64)

    All those who had heard the teachings of the good men became conscience-stricken and built the kakanecomes, the sweat houses, and bowing down therein invoked the Great Spirit, praying for the mercy of Wahnonopem, and that the fruit of the evergreen and everbearing tree in the land of the stars, near the Great Spirit, might be showered down to them. But Wahnonopem would not hear. He had said that he would send the great fire to destroy his bad children, and his word was the great law upon the earth, in the waters and in all the skies. 

    The good men had told the Konkows that the kakanecomes were sacred, and that no women or children were to go down into them. Only the men who were feeding the holy fire were to bow down before it, with the wickedness in them purified by the fire. But one day when all the people were out on the plain, wringing their hands in their anguish and despair and praying for relief in their suffering, two little boys went down into the kakanecomes and threw some pitch pine sticks upon the fire. The flames flew up to the roof and from there spread everywhere, licking and destroying everything in their way. (page 121)

    Over the fields and valleys, across the dry streams and the mountains, the flames scorched the dry, parched earth, burning the trees and melting the rocks, with the people fleeing in terror before them. But the flames were faster, and everything that was alive--- the game and the wild beasts and even the birds in the forestland and all the Konkows but two--- was destroyed.

Peuchano, so names from his great sufferings, was a kindly pious man, and he and Umwanata, his mate, had always thanked the Great Spirit for his kindness to them, and he remembered them even in the great fire. The flames came roaring toward them like wild beasts, but they rolled away on every side as if pressed back by an invisible hand ---the hand of Wahnonopem, the Great Spirit. (page 193)

    And these two good people ran and wandered for many moons, crying and nearly starving, until one day they halted near Anikato, which the white man calls the Trinity River. Wahnonopem had sent down the rains, the fire died out, the grasses were springing green again all over the land, the birds were singing everywhere, and Anikato was full with the fish shining and swimming in its limpid waters.

    In a sheltered nook upon its banks they made a little home, but they built a kakanecome first. As the moons waned and came again, little children grew around them as plentiful as the grains of sand near the great water; and one day, long, long after, Peuchano and Umwanata, having grown very old, gathered their children and grandchildren around them and told them that the Black Spirit of Death was coming for them soon, but that before they went with him they wanted to sleep in their old welluda, their ancestral home, where they had first seen the wildflowers blooming and heard the glad songs of the birds singing among the pines.

    And the women, the young maidens, and the little children waded into Anikato, and made them selves pure by ablutions, and knelt upon the banks, while the old men and the young men went down into kakanecomes and purified themselves with the holy fire, and they all prayed that Wahnonopem, the Great Spirit, might lead them on their way to far-off welluda. (page 257)

Konkow Legend

The Konkow legend that is scattered through the book is drawn from A. G. Rassin, "The Con-Cow Indians,"  Overland Monthly, vol 4, no. 19 (1884), pp 7-9, quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moajrnl/ahj1472.2-04.019/13

I strongly recommend that anyone who is interested in the fires in California read this book. She wrote a non-biased report of what happened and included reports from PG&E as well as first hand stories from those who were there. It was well researched and is non-partisan.

Baking Day

Today is baking day or rather make the dough to bake on a later day. One of the local churches is having a variety show on Saturday so many of the women are making cookies to share. I made 3 different kinds, all of which will get their own blog so y'all can have each recipe individually. None are my original recipe, so I will mention where I found each of them. The first one I found on the back of a package of Nestle Toll House dark chocolate and mint chips. I will give my opinion at the end along with any changes I would make in the future.

Mint Chocolate Delights

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

⅔ cup Nestle Toll House Baking Cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

⅔ cup granulated sugar

⅔ cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 ⅔ cup (10-oz package) Nestle Toll House Dark Chocolate and Mint morsels

Preheat oven to 325°.

Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by well rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, remove to wire racks to cool completely.

These aren't bad. I was expecting them to spread out while baking, but they retained their shape. I used a combination of butter flavor Crisco and regular vegetable shortening because it is what I had on hand and cheaper than butter. The cookies are nice and moist, but crumble when transferring to a baking rack.

All in all, I would make these again, but would add more chips (morsels).

Trying New Things

 It seems like every single time I try something new, it blows up in my face. Case in point. Tonight I decided to try a new cookie recipe from one of my newer cookbooks that looked and sounded good. I followed the recipe exactly, only substituting preserves for jam because I was unable to find jam. The dough seemed to be right, but when I baked them, the cookies looked and tasted awful.

A few years ago, I attended a happy hour during Pride Month. There were supposed to be drink specials, but when I finally got to the bar, there weren't any and the one drink I did purchase, was in a small plastic cup and cost $14. I also went to try to meet new people, but it seemed that everyone there already knew everyone else thus leaving me in the dust yet again.

A few years before that, I tried meeting new people by joining Meet-up groups for those with similar interests. I tried a photography group and we met in Central Park in the fall. it started out ok, but within a very short span of time, I lost the group and got bored as all of the photographers were taking pictures of the same things over and over and moving on very slowly. I and several others decided to branch out on our own to further explore the park. Mind you that by this time we had lost the rest of the group entirely. We walked around the park and ended back at the 59th Street station where we went our separate ways. When I reviewed the meetup later, I mentioned that we had branched out and did our own tour because we had lost the group and I got kicked out of the group. I was more annoyed than anything, but it still hurt.

Given my disastrous history of trying new things, is it any wonder when I tend to stick to my routine and rarely stray from it? I like routine and patterns and when my routine changes I get anxious and upset.

Have you ever tried something new and it backfired? Let me know in the comments.

Abercromie & Fitch

 I'm watching the Abercrombie & Fitch documentary on Netflix and the ONE thing I remember the most about working in a store next to one was the constant smell of cologne. It was so pervasive that even once the store closed permanently, the entire area still stunk. The other thing that was most noticeable would be the giant photo of a half naked man at the entrance. He would be attractive and white. I didn't really think much about the company as a teenager because I didn't have access to a mall and never really thought about how exclusionary the company was. ALL of their models were attractive and white. You didn't ever see any variety of people. No gays, no blacks, Asians, Hispanics. Just white.

When the company first started in 1892 by David Abercrombie (Ezra Fitch was a frequent customer who bought into the company in 1900), they catered to people like Teddy Roosevelt, Charles Lindbergh, and Ernest Hemingway- rugged, heavy outdoorsmen and carried such items like fishing gear, guns, camping gear. When they moved to a Madison Avenue location, they started to carry sportswear for women. The store filled the entire building and housed a shooting range in the basement, on the mezzanine paraphernalia for lawn games, archery, skiing, and free diving. The second through fifth floors were for clothing for different climates or terrains. On the sixth floor were a picture gallery, a bookstore (focused on sporting themes), a watch repair facility and a golf school (fully equipped with a resident professional). The seventh floor included a gun room with hundreds of shotguns and rifles, decorated with stuffed game heads, as well as a kennel for dogs and cats. The eighth floor contained fishing, camping and boating equipment and included a desk for a fly- and bait casting instructor who gave lessons at the pool which was located on the roof. The fishing section alone was stocked with over 48,000 flies and over 18,000 fishing lures.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Abercrombie_%26_Fitch)

It was founded as an upscale sporting goods store that was completely revamped into what it is today by Mike Jeffries after the company was purchased by Limited Brands in 1988. In 1910, they began selling women's clothing, becoming the first store in New York to sell clothing for both women and men in one store (citation needed).

This is very similar to both Orvis and LL Bean as they both focus on the outdoors, camping, fishing, hunting and spending time in the outdoors.

As a teenager in the 1990's growing up in a very rural area where the nearest shopping mall was an hour away, MTV was only accessible to families who could afford satellite (cable wasn't available in my town and still isn't) or those who subscribed to magazines like Seventeen, Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, etc.. What they did was discriminatory and illegal and while they were sued and settled, they never admitted any guilt nor faced any real consequences for their hiring practices.

I think that documentaries like this one (White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch) are hugely important because they not only show the illegal business practices, but they also show how some of the employees felt about working there and the sexual assault that some faced and the blatant discrimination (hiring employees of other races and then either scheduling them for only night shifts and scut work or not putting them on the schedule at all).