Bad Staples cashier, TechExpo, Spot what?

Well, that was a thoroughly unpleasant checkout experience. I ran out to Staples because I needed more paper (regular and résumé) before the career fair later today, picked up the paper, headed to check out.. and the cashier a) was sullen, b) looked like she was just waiting to be replaced, c) seemed annoyed that I wanted cash back off my debit card, d) didn't neaten up the bills before handing them to me and e) didn't hand me my bag, when the handles were facing her. If I hadn't been in a hurry, I would've considered speaking to a manager.

TechExpo this morning/afternoon! (Clearance-required career fair.) Current front-runners based on jobs they've posted are Boeing, and The Experts, Inc. (Many, many cleared IT positions. Many. More than 90% of the several hundred, I'd say. Shame I have neither interest nor qualification for them.)

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Amazon search engine fingers G-Spot

TechExpo career fair

Showered and shaved, dressed up nice, printed out extra resumes on nice paper and company info on regular paper, and drove up to Crystal City. Parking really sucked--nothing on the street within blocks of the hotel, the hotel's parking garage Temporarily Full, a public garage around the corner full (or at least, I drove around in it for 15 minutes and found nothing, getting out for free), but I finally found a space in another hotel's garage. (Very, very close quarters--5'6" clearance, tight corners, hit my antenna on overhead pipes repeatedly, and poor signage. At any rate, I parked and found my way out.)

Checked in quickly, as I'd pre-registered, and proceeded to visit the tables of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SAIC, Sippican, and BAE; most accepted my résumé (with varying levels of enthusiasm), a couple referred me to their websites for better handling of my search. While there, I also ran into several of my also-laid-off former RDR/DynCorp coworkers. Garnered a hat, and carabiner keychain from Boeing, a CD wallet and flat calculator from Lockheed, a case of mints from SAIC, and a spiffy light-up-body pen from Booz Allen Hamilton, even though I didn't have anything to offer them. :)

Took me at least 10-15 minutes to find my truck again, cost $12 to get out, and home I went. 86ºF is too hot to be wearing a suit outside, lemme tell you.

Happy anniversary! and Happy birthdays!

Happy 7th anniversary to my sister and brother-in-law, celtarsa and weeping_angel!

Next, the catchup from May 16th through today, happy birthdays (!) to:

May
17th: alacrity (25)
17th: djkangal (36)
24th: arjuno

June
1st: qtrnca (24)
1st: moose8556 (25)
4th: baranoouji (23)
4th: darkestdaz (24)
13th: eideteker (24)

And coming up, to stay ahead of the game, happy birthdays (!) to:

June
20th: elf (24)
20th: rjb5 (39)
21st: sylke (25)
23rd: blistex (23)
29th: subbes (21)
30th: zellto_1971 (33)

(Plus, one birthday mass email to 21 other people, 3 individual family birthday emails, and 7 anniversary emails! Would you believe that June is a slow month?)

Next step..

Her name is Anne, and she now knows my name. :)