What About Bing?

I have seen the commercial for the "discovery" engine Bing, by Microsoft.

I think they over exaggerate the concept of the search engine. The average search will return some pretty oddball stuff. To truly get something out of a search engine, you need to have a nuanced query.

In my project work, I have had to root out some pretty arcane knowledge. In doing so, I've had to wade through a bunch of information that wouldn't normally come up.

I doubt Bing can really offer you a search result that is more nuanced than Google. But I am sure time will tell.

Tips For Phone Interviews

I have my second interview with a company in Virginia tomorrow that I am hoping to go to work for. It's a phone interview so I have the ability to roll out of bed twenty minutes before hand and not really put much effort into my appearance.

While this seems like a good idea, it probably isn't the best thing that you could do for a phone interview. For anyone taking on a phone interview, here's a few tips to remember.

• Remember, the phone interview is usually used as a screening interview. Usually you get the HR person who is doing the leg work for the busier hiring manager who may not really want to interview you. I'm honestly surprised that my second interview is going to be with the hiring manager.
• Make sure you have everything that you may have sent with the application. A copy of your resume, maybe a work sample. You don't want to have them seeing something that you sent them on purpose thrown back at you because you failed to remember it.
• Do your research on the company and possibly, if you know who you are speaking with, research on the interviewer. It's becoming common practice for companies to root out the people who know the company as opposed to someone who just goes through and applies to a butt load of job. Two hours of solid research now will eliminate ten seconds of awkward silence on the phone.
• Silence isn't always a bad thing, though. It's helpful to pause for a moment and collect your words. Unlike a face to face interview, the interviewer can't see the awkward face you may make at one of their questions. So, stop. Think. Then answer.
  
• Dress up. I know that this may seem like a preposterous idea but think about how good you feel in that suit or that skirt. That same feeling will translate over the phone into a higher level of confidence. I don't think many of us would be comfortable going to an interview in our pajamas in real life, why risk it now?
• Make sure you are alone and will not be bothered. Kick the family out of the house if need be. Also, depending on how strong your cell phone service area is, you may want to consider using a home phone if you have it. The last thing you want is a dropped call.

This is just an overview of the things you may want to consider before you step up to the phone and interview for that perfect job. Remember: be confident, be nice, and don't interrupt the interviewer at any time (short of the walls around your house falling down).

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A Quick and Simple Way to Make Noodles Without Water

My roommates have all but moved out, save Karl, and I am down to a teapot, and two frying pans.

So as I was deciding what I was going to do with the pork that my roommate had left me, I got a novel idea.

I took my two pounds of boneless pork loins and cut them like you would for stir-fry and put them into some Ziplock bags that had teriyaki marinade in it. Normally I would have let the meat marinade for a few hours but since it was almost 7:30, I decided to let it sit for roughly twenty minutes.

After twenty minutes, I pulled the pork out and put it into a screaming hot frying pan that I had let gradually come to temperature. Using my wood spatula, I started to fry the meat, moving it around quickly in the pan.

I had also been thawing some stir fry veggies while the meat was being prepared so they would cook faster. I dumped them into the pan with the pork and as I started to rummage through the cabinets, I came across a half a pack of Asian style egg noodles.

But without a pot to boil them in, what was I to do? I took the hunk of noodles and tossed them into the pan.

As the juice from the pork seeped into the noodles, they essentially cooked in the liquid of the meat and veggies. In all, it took roughly ten to fifteen minutes for all of the noodles to come loose and cook.

I plated it up and tossed a bit more of the marinade on top for good measure. T'was delicious.

Because we all have done something like this

This is a VW commercial that I was reintroduced to by a guy that lived on my couch for a month last year. When we would go out out with my roommate, Couch Guy would sit in the backseat and just sing this song over and over again.

I have also been riding around with one of my other roommates and passed a piece of furniture and we stopped and actually looked at it and decided if we wanted to pick it up or not. Fun times.