Unexpected Visitors

"Hello?" John called into his dark living room from his bedroom. "Who's there?"

A voice called back to him, though not one that he knew. "We don't mean to startle you, my good man. We are simply a pair of weary travelers that unfortunately wound up in your domicile."

Great, thought John, some crazy hobo's broken in and now he's lost. Should I call the cops? Do the cops even deal with crazy hobos? While he was trying to decide what to do next, he stepped out far enough to turn on the lights.

"Ah, splendid! You have electric lamps!" said a different voice, with what sounded like a Russian accent. John's eyes were adjusting to the light, but he could see that there were two men in the living room with him, but they didn't look like any homeless person he'd ever seen before. One man was very tall and thin with a dark mustache and was wearing a very old-looking suit. The other man looked like, well, he looked like Mark Twain.

John tried to raise the baseball bat he was carrying menacingly, but his expression was far too confused to intimidate anyone. "What's going on here? Did you guys come from a play or something? Why are you dressed like Mark Twain?"

The Mark Twain doppelganger smiled broadly. "You recognize me! That is quite nice to know. Tell me what year is it?"

John was thoroughly confused now. "Is this like a gag or something? Are you guys, like, making a video for YouTube or something?" he asked as he lowered the bat to his side.

"What my friend means," said the Russian-sounding guy, "is that we have recently traveled and are no longer aware of the date. Would you be so kind as to inform us?"

Completely at a loss for what was happening, John told them.

Mark Twain laughed "Ha ha! Over one hundred years later and my name is still well known!"

"Your pen name is well known," corrected the Russian-sounding man.

"Very well, but he recognized my face as well. I would say that's even more remarkable!"

"Just a second," John said, gathering back some determination. "What is going on? Why are you in my apartment?"

"Our sincere apologies," replied the tall man who's accent wasn't quite Russian, John decided. "My name is Nikola Tesla. You appear to already know of my companion. We were conducting an experiment in my lab in New York City in the year 1896 and we were transported through space and time."

John rolled his eyes. "You expect me to believe that you time-traveled here?"

"The choice to believe our tale or not is entirely yours," said Mark Twain, "but your rejection of our explanation will not change the facts."

John thought for a moment. He decided that if he had to deal with crazy people, he might as well have some fun. "Out of all of history, why'd you come to my apartment at 1 in the morning?"

Nikola explained: "In truth, this is not our first journey through time. We were attempting to arrive back to our starting time, but we appear to have missed our target, but by only about one hundred years this time. I am confident that the next attempt will be successful."

John smiled a little. "It's starting to make sense now. You guys are high, right? You guys on mushrooms or somethi--" John was interrupted by the sound of glass breaking in the bathroom. "There's more of you?" he asked as he walked quickly towards the bathroom. As he walked, Nikola called behind him, "If there's another traveler, it is purely by accident!"

John opened the bathroom door and saw a guy in his late teens or early twenties, wearing a dress. All around him on the floor were shards of glass that used to be the bathroom mirror. The man looked up, clearly shocked. Nikola and Mark appeared behind John, peering over his shoulders. Without turning around, John addressed the two men to his rear. "A friend of yours?"

"Not quite," Mark said. "That is a young man we recruited to help us when we were last stranded in ancient Greece. He can become very distracted by his own reflection. For this reason, I believe that he is the one that the myth of Narcissus was based on."

"Okay," John said. "Let's get him out of here before he cuts himself trying to make out with a shard of broken glass."

~~~

Wide awake, John was pacing back and forth across the living room floor. "So let me get this straight. Nik, you worked for Thomas Edison and he stole a bunch of your ideas. Later, you started you own lab and became friends with Mark - sorry, Sam. You two were hanging out and tried an experiment when you were transported to sixteenth century England. You tried to duplicate the experiment, but ended up somewhere in France during the Crusades. You tried again and wound up in ancient Greece where you picked up this guy by mistake. And now you think you can make it back to where you started if you try one more time?"

"Yes, very good summary," said Sam from his seat on the sofa.

"Why will this time work when the other times just sent you off all over the place?"

"With each attempt," answered Nik, who was sitting next to Sam, "we obtain better control over the place and date of our destination. For example, we finally made it back to the United States, though Philadelphia is clearly not New York. Also, this was our first successful forward leap in time rather than go backwards again. Even if we don't make it exactly to where and when we are attempting, we will surely be much closer than now."

John nodded his head, thinking. "And the equipment you build to make these time jumps gets destroyed every time?"

"Correct. However, with your materials and appliances in this, our future, we should be ready much faster this time."

John looked over to Narss (as he had started calling him), who was sitting on an ottoman and was occupied taking selfies with John's cell phone. "And what about him? Are you going to take him back to his time first?"

"As much as I hate to say it," Sam said, "we can't risk getting lost again. We'll have to take him with us to our time. I'm certain that his family will miss him, but they surely won't miss all the time he took watching his reflection. That aside, we can provide him a good life in our time, one much better than he would have lived in his own."

"I can probably convince my sister to adopt him," offered Nik. "She is very caring, even to strangers."

John stopped pacing and looked at Sam and Nik. "Let's pretend that I believe what you're saying. Why should I help you?"

Sam stood up and looked John squarely in the eye while placing a hand firmly on his shoulder. "Why, for the adventure! Just think, no one in your time will have ever met a time-traveler. Not only have you already met three, but you can now help us get back to our own time. No other man in history will be able to say that!"

"Except for Narcissus," pointed out Nik.

Sam shot an annoyed glare at his friend. "Well, no other man will be able to say that and won't also be stranded in another time."

"How much time do you need to build your equipment again?" asked John.

"I expect that it should take only about one or two days," answered Nik.

~~~

Nearly three weeks later and the three men were finally ready to leave. Nik's estimation had been based on what technologies he assumed would be available in the year 2014. Even so, John was impressed with what they had accomplished. A couple of old TVs and a microwave from a thrift store, along with various odd bits of wire and parts from a few calculators, and Nik and Sam had supposedly built a time machine. Now, here in the parking lot behind the closed-down movie theater, it was time for the moment of truth.

"Thank you again for your kindness, John," said Sam. "This has been our best trip as of yet."

"Agreed," Nik said while still making some final adjustments to the machine.

"I still don't know why you two didn't want to look anything up on the internet," said John, "to see how things worked out for you."

"Knowing the future won't stop me from dying one day," Sam said, "but it would make me fret over each moment until the final day. I'd rather enjoy the time I have, however long that may be."

"And I," Nik said, turning to face John, "do not wish to lose out on the experience of discovering new ideas and concepts on my own."

"Beside that," Sam said, "Narcissus has been using your machine to view this inter-net the whole time, so we'd hardly have a chance ourselves even if we'd wanted it."

"I meant to ask about that," John said, looking over at Narss. "What's he been looking at?"

Nik called Narss over and said a few words in another language to him. After a reply, Nik translated. "He said that he very much enjoys something called the 'Book of Faces' and how anyone can take photographs of himself to share with others. He is especially impressed with some young woman named Paris. He has learned a lot from her about loving one's own self. Also, he says that he very much enjoys moving pictures of cats."

John nodded his head. "It looks like he really understands the internet. Did he see anything he didn't like?"

Nik said a few more words to Narss, whose reply was much shorter than the previous one. "He said that a man named Khan-yay West needs to get over himself."

With that, the three men each took turns shaking John's hand before grasping the coiled-wire handles that allowed them to interface with the machine. John stepped back to what Nik had assured him was a safe distance and waved good-bye. The other men waved back as Nik pressed the initiation button. Suddenly, there was a flash of light and John had to shield his eyes with his hands to keep from being blinded. After a few seconds, the light faded and John lowered his hands.

He had to admit, he was impressed. The three men were gone, along with about half of the machine. What remained of the machine was partially on fire. Everything looked about how Nik and Sam had predicted.

After such witnessing the operation of a legitimate time machine, and spending nearly a month with legendary historical figures, John summed up his feelings: "Man, that was weird."

Easy-Peasy

Remember that temp job that I had to interview for?  I interviewed for it on Friday.  As soon as I was done, I drove to the temp agency's office to drop off a form that they needed to have on file.  The drive took less than ten minutes and by the time I got there, the office I had interviewed had already called to say that they wanted me for the job.

There is one downside: I wasn't allowed to say that I had found a permanent job and I'd only be doing data-entry for them for three weeks.  While I'll be doing work for this company, I technically count as a service provided by the temp agency, which is my real employer.  I mention this because I was advised by my case-handler to not mention when I'll have to be out of there.  The reasoning is that it's better for the client-company to get an over-qualified worker for a few weeks than be stuck with someone mediocre the entire time.  That is not my preference for handling things, but it wasn't my call.

Ultimately, I see the temp job as a great blessing during this last leg of unemployment. Hopefully I'll live up to the hype.

Busy Weekend

After my exciting news that I have a job starting in December, I decided that it made sense to occupy myself in the meantime.  Starting today, I've got quite a bit planned out.

Today, I have a couple of big things scheduled.  Firstly, I have to visit the testing center to deliver a sample for the required drug test.  I've been to this particular facility before and they're usually pretty quick, though they can get backed up.  Secondly, I'll be going to another job interview, this time for a temp job.  The temp agency I'm using is the one that I've worked with in the past and they really like me and the work that I've done and they told me that the interview is just a formality and that I should start on Monday.

Saturday morning, I'm attending the temple for Ward Temple Day.  I made plans with some friends from the ward before I even knew that I had the job with Danfoss, but it seems like pretty good timing for me to offer my thanks.  Afterwards, as soon as I can get home and changed, I'll be going back to the Simciks to help with (what should be) the final steps to close their pool for the winter.

Finally on Sunday, I have my Sunday School lesson to deliver and choir practice to attend.  Those are both things that I would normally do on Sunday, but they seemed worth mentioning considering how busy the prior two days will be.

All told, that's a fairly full weekend, but one that I'm looking forward to.

Here's wishing you an enjoyable weekend!

A Job Well Earned

I got a job!

I'll be working as a technical writer for Danfoss, a Danish-based manufacturer of HVAC components.  I'll be working mostly in the marketing department, but there will be other areas where my skills will be employed as well.

One thing about this job is that it really feels earned.  Not that all of my past work experiences have prepared me for this position, but that I had to go through a lot to get hired.  Let me explain.

About two weeks ago, I was contacted by the head of HR about the job after seeing my resume posted on a job board.  She interviewed me over the phone, and while it went okay, I felt like I've done a better job of selling myself in the past.  Even so, the next week she contacted me to set up another phone interview, this time a conference call with the marketing manager and the product manager. That interview went much better.  While the marketing manager seemed to be happy with my responses, the product manager was much more enthusiastic: on multiple occasions he told me that he really liked what I said or how I described my approach to problem-solving.  Later that week, I was called in for an actual in-person interview, which is where things really start to get weird.

At the interview, I met with the head of HR again.  She had a few more questions for me that seemed like pretty standard stuff and she seemed happy with what I had to say (she was really hard to read just based on her voice, which is why I didn't think our first phone interview had been that great).  When we finished up, the marketing manager came in.  Similarly, she had a few more questions, but most of the big stuff had already been covered over the phone.  However, I was able to ask some questions to get a better feel on what was expected of me.  Once she left, I had another interview, this time the accounts manager - finally, someone new.  He asked me the most in-depth questions about my ability as a writer, even showing me a current brochure the company was using and asking me what I would change and why.  Understandably, I spent the most time with him.  Finally, I met with (surprise!) the product manager, who basically just gave me a pep talk about how he believed in me and how he was planning on recommending me for the job.  Well, knowing that I was getting one vote out of four was pretty nice.  In the end, I was interviewing for a little over three-and-a-half hours.

When I was driving home, I felt really good about the interviews.  I certainly had been "on" during the interviews, but it was more than that: it was a prompting from the Spirit.  It wasn't anything as solid as "you got the job" so much as an acknowledgement that I had done well and I hadn't been alone.  Even before recognizing the Spirit, I said a prayer thanking the Lord for doing well.

When I got home, I emailed the accounts manager some writing samples that he asked for.  I used a couple of documents that I had worked on at CAS Severn (and had received permission to use).  He emailed me back that night saying that what I had provided was exactly the kind of style that he wanted to see.  Then he asked for some creative writing samples.  This is literally the first time that has ever happened - good thing I've been writing so much this past year!  I wanted to show off different styles, so I sent him "Eloise and Thaddeus" (which has no dialogue), "Contact" (which is a radio transcript), and "Full Moon" (which is horror-themed).  I was told that I would probably hear back by Monday or Tuesday of this week.

Monday came and I had another interview with another company (the one that I had the webcam interview with).  There was just something off about the whole experience.  The answers that had gone over so well with the Danfoss people didn't really work with these folks.  Maybe all of the phone interviews had prepared me better?  Whatever the reason, I was dissatisfied with the experience.

The rest of the day passed with no contact from Danfoss.  I started worrying that maybe the short stories I had submitted were taken to be offensive - in the satirical "Eloise and Thaddeus," it's mentioned that Eloise is no longer attractive now that she has a tan and in "Contact," one of the characters uses the word "Jap," which is a slur.  I know that I wasn't being racist, but would they?

Finally, yesterday morning, I got a call from the head of HR, offering me the job.  I was super-excited, but I asked for some time to make my decision.  She gave me until Thursday to think about it.  In my excitement, I called or texted a lot of friends and family (if I didn't contact you, I apologize).  Once I was done receiving congratulations, I decided to get to the reason I asked for extra time: prayer.  Even before I could ask the question, I could feel the answer.  This was a good job, a job that I was supposed to have and not just an "in-between" job.  I called back and delivered my acceptance (I also contacted the other company and told them that I should not be considered since I had accepted a job elsewhere).

And while this whole experience is pretty exciting, there is one downside: I don't start until December 1st.  The problem is just preliminary stuff: I have to receive the paperwork in the mail, I have to have a drug test, they have to set up my desk and order my computer, etc.  And about the time all of that is done, it's the week of Thanksgiving.  I understand that the timing for me starting is lousy and why they wanted to push it back, but it still sucks.  Even so, the worry of where I'll be working has been solved and I can look forward to bright future with Danfoss.

And thank you to everyone who has been providing prayers and words of encouragement during this difficult time.  It was wonderful to know that I had people on my side.

Trick or Treat

For Halloween, I headed south to the Larsen home.  I stayed at home to pass out candy while Ian and the kids went out to collect more.

Henry and Clara as Spider-Man and Queen Elsa, respectively.

Henry was especially excited to go out trick-or-treating, though Clara was enthusiastic, too.

Their neighborhood only allowed trick-or-treating for a couple of hours, so I expected a steady stream of kiddies from 6 o'clock on, but we only had a handful of visitors for the whole first hour.  That said, once we got to 7 o'clock, things really picked up.

I was surprised at how old a lot of the groups were.  I think there were about three or four groups that were made up of thirteen to fourteen year old girls, which is really pushing it for free candy collecting.

There weren't that many repeats as far as costumes go.  I saw one other Elsa (Clara being the first), but that's it.  I did see a lot of superheroes - though whether that was because I pay attention to that sort of thing or because they were the most prevalent, I can't say.  I will say that the older kids seemed to be more creative with their costumes, which I appreciate.  One girl had her face intricately painted in a Día de los Muertos style.  The creepiest costumes, from my perspective, was a teen couple (probably about fifteen or sixteen) dressed as Little Red Ridding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf - it's creepy because it's a couple's costume and they're too young for that nonsense.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention that a lot of visitors complimented me on the pumpkins out front:

 

Batman and his nemesis, Queen Elsa.

Ian really knocked it out of the park on these pumpkins.  While it's been years since I last attempted to carve a pumpkin, I do remember that they aren't the easiest medium to work in, so his accomplishments are even more impressive.

The kids each had a single piece of candy and then got ready for bed.  Ian and I stayed up and hung out.  I wasn't planning on staying over, but after I let my eyes rest (my contacts were bothering me), Ian woke me up at around 2 in the morning and told me to crash in the guest room.  I was happy to oblige.

In the morning, Henry came into my room to wake me up.  He was excited that I stayed over and wanted to hang out.  I was not ready to get out of bed, so I had him climb in next to me.  A little bit later, Clara came and joined us.  I had the kids take turns playing games on my tablet while I tried to go back to sleep, but that was futile since all children everywhere are incapable for staying quiet for long.  Eventually one of the cats hoped in bed, so I gave up and decided it was time for breakfast.

I led the kids into the dinning room and served up a fancy breakfast of cold cereal.  There were requests for waffles, but I thought that making a mess in someone else's kitchen uninvited was a bad idea, even if I did clean up afterwards.  I played It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown for the kids while I got my own food ready.  After everyone was finished eating and the video ended, I told the kids to go get dressed for the day while I cleaned up from breakfast.

It was around this time that Ian wandered out of his room.  I told him that I had fed the kids and the animals (two cats and a dog) and that the kids were getting dressed.  He was impressed that everything had already been taken care of.  I told him that I figured that he probably didn't get too many opportunities to sleep in, so I wanted to give him the chance this once.  He agreed that he rarely gets to sleep in and expressed his gratitude that I allowed him to once again by taking care of the kids.  It wasn't too much later that I said my good-byes and headed home.

All around, it was a fun Halloween and I'm happy that I helped out in more ways than one.

Cookie O'Lantern

When I added the chocolate chips to the pumpkin cookies, I wanted them to look like tiny pumpkins with faces carved into them, but because all the other ingredients dulled the bright orange of the pumpkin mash, they ended up looking more like disembodied snowman heads made out of human skin.

Happy Halloween!

Rate of Exchange

I was talking to Samuel the other day and he told me that he's been having trouble convincing his wife that life has been hard for him since he moved to the US.

For example, he recently sent her nearly his whole paycheck from his job as a dishwasher, which was around four hundred dollars.  While that amount of money will go further in different places in this country, it's still not a lot for two weeks worth of work.  However, due to the exchange rate, his wife received nearly sixty thousand naira.  According to Samuel, ₦60,000 is enough to live very comfortably for a month in Nigeria.  From his wife's perspective, he's making enough as a dishwasher to pay for himself and his family back home, so life in America must be easy.

I do appreciate his frustration, but I told him that since the goal is to reunite him with his family, perhaps the best response is to simply wait for his wife to experience life in the US to gain the necessary perspective.  Still, I understand that it hurts when your efforts aren't appreciated.

Hankering for Some Baker-ing

Ian and I had made plans to meet up on Friday evening.  Since I'm still not working, I told him that he shouldn't expect me to bring any treats like I often do.  Then Friday morning rolled around and I just felt like baking something.  But I still wanted to avoid shopping for the baking project so I had to figure out something from what I had on hand.  I found a can of peaches in the cupboard and decided to make a peach pie with it.  There was just one problem: I don't own a pie pan.  I knew that I could buy a cheap pie tin for about a buck if I had to but I really wanted to avoid that, so I looked through what I had on had that could be used in place of a pie pan.

This could work.  I searched for some recipes to see if this was even feasible and it totally is!  I used this recipe for the filling (though I added 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon) and this one for crust.  Even with following the recipes, everything took a lot long than I expected, which was annoying.  Eventually, I was ready to bake.

You may notice two lattice topped pies at the top right while all of the others are completely covered.  I was planning to do all of them with a lattice top, but I quickly grew tired of the trying to manipulate the dough so much; since the the pies are all much smaller than usual, that means the crust should be thinner, too.  I ended up just punching out circles, cutting an X in the center, and placing them on top.

It looks like I over-filled some of the pies, but otherwise they looked nice enough.  After letting them cool, I pried them out of the pan and I was impressed with how well everything was holding together.  They were to pies as cupcakes are to regular cakes.

I packed them up and took them to the Larsens.  The kids didn't get to have any while I was there, but they were super excited that I brought a treat.  Ian and I did sample them, however, and they turned out all right.  I think if I do this again, I'll try to get the crust on the bottom thinner, but overall, I'm pleased with the results.

Sometimes having the added challenge of only using ingredients that you have on hand can lead to some pretty cool outcomes.  While they may not be the prettiest things I've made, I'm certainly happy I gave it a try.

The Future is Now

Earlier this week I had a job interview using a format that was new to me for that purpose: web video.  While I think the interview went well enough, the experience did offer some new perks and challenges that traditional interviews do not.

Perks

• Simply throw on a dress shirt and tie over your t-shirt and you're dressed for the interview.
• No commute.
• No office chair will ever be as comfortable as a sofa.

Challenges

• You're now responsible for adequately lighting your home so that you look as good as possible.
• Audio and video checks take a surprising long amount of time.
• The host site can crash a few time during set-up (but thankfully never did during the real thing).
• It's a good idea to sit in front of a blank wall to eliminate background distractions.
• If you use a laptop on your lap, you'll probably have to position your knees in an unnatural way to ensure that you don't accidentally employ the use of Dutch angles.

Overall, the experience was mostly just weird because it was unfamiliar.  I don't know if web video interviews will be used more and more in the future, but if they are, at least I've had one to get me started.

State of Frustration

On Monday evening, I was sitting at home when a knock came at the front door.  I wasn't expecting anyone, so I was surprised to have a visitor.  As I headed for the door, Samuel, who had been on the phone in his room, told me that the missionaries had come by for a visit.  I immediately became furious at him.

I should probably explain that I was in my pajamas and was in no way dressed to have anyone over.  Additionally, I had made it very to clear to Samuel that while he was certainly allowed to have visitors over, he simply needed to give me fair warning so I knew what to expect.  Too mad and underdressed to deal with the situation, I went to my room for the duration of the visit.

After the missionaries left, I came out of my room, still angry.  Samuel apologized, but I was in no mood for something so simple.  To me, it seemed that Samuel was once again being a terrible roommate: it's his responsibility to request his share of the rent from the Bishop, but I always end up doing it; I've pointed out the need for a clean kitchen, but I almost always have something to clean up before I can start cooking; and he doesn't always remember to flush.  All of these things were annoyances, but now that I'm looking for work again, my stress levels are much higher and his failings as a roommate are much harder to ignore.

As it turned out, the Elders came by because one of them is being transferred and wanted to say good-bye.  Samuel had only found out that they were headed over a few minutes before, but, once again, he failed to live up to his end of things.  He was on the phone with someone else and, rather than end the call so that he could give me a heads-up, he continued to talk.  When the knock came, he was surprised that they wanted to come in since he was planning to meet them in the parking lot - and why would I need to know if no one was coming inside?

The problem with his line of thinking is that he made a lot of assumptions: he assumed that the Elders would call rather than knock on our door (one of our neighbors must have been coming in and held open the building door for them), he assumed that one of the Elders wouldn't ask to use the restroom, and he assumed that his phone call would wrap up before the Elders arrived.  We all make assumptions, but Samuel is still learning his way around American culture, so he's applying Nigerian assumptions to American behavior and that's a recipe for disaster, like the one we had Monday evening.

Once the Elders left, I tried talking to Samuel about what happened.  I accepted the fact that he didn't intend for things to go the way that they did, but I was still angry.  While intentions do matter, they don't outweigh actual consequences to our actions.  I told him that all I really wanted was communication and even if he only knew the missionaries were coming by five minutes before they arrived, that's still five more minutes of prep time than I got.  I could have gone on for several more minutes, but even though my anger was justified, the level of anger I felt was not.  I was in an agitated state because of other factors and Samuel didn't deserve all of that.  I cut myself from chewing him our and went back to my room where I was too riled up to be able fall asleep for several more hours.

The next day, I apologized for how I reacted, but reiterated that he needs to warn me when guest are coming by.  He apologized again and said he would try to do better.

If I'm being perfectly honest, I'm really looking forward to the time when Samuel's family is able to make it to the US and they can be reunited.  And while I want him to be with his family again, I'm at least equally anticipating the fact that he'll be out of my apartment.  Sometimes friendship do better with a little more distance between the parties and I think that will be true for the two of us.