Mrs.J

So something happened this week that I need to put in writing I am so mad. So the oldest Ms. J is in her last semester. And is looking everyday and applying for jobs in this shitty market. Fast forward this week, Monday to be exact. She finally gets an interview for an internship. But on the same day she got contacted for another job that would be exactly what she would like to have. Local DC communications company, would be remote and good benefits and pay. With all the jobs she has replied to lately she did not remember applying to this one. An interview is set up over Microsoft Teams. It is one of those interviews where you are sent questions and then you have to record yourself with a 1 minute answer. Weird but I have seen interviews like these used to narrow down candidates. She is told that she would hear something back the following day. She gets contacted again through Microsoft Teams and asked if she is available to talk over the phone at a certain time on Tuesday. Let me just say here that Mr. J was already kind of surprised that someone who would be fresh out of school would even be considered for this job but we are all kind of caught up in the excitement. Anyways she lets us know she is offered the job and with an after graduation start date. Perfect right?? Well that is where the red flags started to pop up. She had class into the night and then one of her club meetings after so we had not had the time to talk with her. She asked should she cancel the interview for the internship and Mr. J said until you have a signed contract no. So we asked her about the contract. 2 pages, only 2 pages and what was on those 2 pages made the Spidy sense of Mr. J go off. He started digging. Mind you Ms. J had already checked into the name of the person who originally sent the first contact. He was an employee. But the person who called her was someone calling from an AZ phone number and had a thick accent. And his email to send the “contract” to ended not with a .com. In said “contract” it listed the job posting again and all the benefits, which mind you was what was exactly on the companies website. The second page was asking for proof of rent, ID, SS, passport and bank info for “direct deposit” At the bottom was a line for the start date and it was left blank even though she had given a start date. She was to fill out the paperwork and send it back by the end of business on Wednesday. We told her to send us what she had gotten and started to try to connect the dots. Told her to hold off sending anything until we dug a bit more. As a victim of ID theft back in the day I started to get that sick feeling in my gut. She was contacted one more time Tuesday evening saying that she can send the info that night. She did not even have anything printed out and replied she would the next day. Between that and the digging that Mr. J was doing we told her to not send anything at all. That is was looking more and more like a phishing scheme that we had never seen before. What set off his concern was the salary that was being given to someone with her qualifications. Mr. J immediately found an email to the company that was being spoofed asking if in fact she had been given a job offer. We have yet to hear back from them but were 100% sure that she should not send off any sensitive information. You guys… this world sucks! This kid has been busting her ass to not only finish college but has been stressing over not being a burden on us. Which she will never be and was told as such. She is working 2 jobs and making contacts. And wants a job she wants to be self sufficient. I feel absolutely gutted for her. She still has her interview for the internship but after what just happened she went back in to check if she even applied for this. And cross reference the contact with the actual company. This one checks out and will actually be a face to face interview. She will now be keeping a spread sheet of what she applies for on top of the email trail. We are glad that she still feels close enough to us to keep us in the loop. Because had she not this could have ended very badly. Sorry for this being so long but I needed to put my thoughts out in words with people not connected directly. Everyone enjoy this sunny day.

40 deg and sun. The solar panels finally warmed up enough to let loose. Went out to clear the drive with my ears on the rest of the other half. It did go while I was clearing. But heard it and went down into the street.

We were looking at Puerto Rico or the USVI. But then the reality of us wanting to do new flooring made us put the hold on.

I have been looking at warm weather trips the past couple of days. We want to put in some new flooring in our lower level but with this cold we are not exactly wanting to rip up carpet.

Have started to see some of that up here. Went out for the first time today. While I knew our neighborhood would be sub par to get out of I was surprised at the interesting plowing conditions on the main roads. Lanes just going into the middle of the roads and some just stopping all together making you veer off into the shoulder or median. And the amount of street parked cars in my neighborhood when everyone has a driveway. The streets that are the extra wide ones are reduced to single lane due to the plowed in cars. The combination of the sleet and cold temps have turned the snow into an almost glacial pack. Even getting that blue hew from chunks that I broke up on our deck to get to the bird feeder.

Ok so what is up with this. Mr.J is headed into the office this morning. Looks like I need to alert him.

Low was 9.3 at 7:30 am. Up to 14 currently. Going to go out and chip out some left over snow at the end of the drive in the street that the plow ran over. The older Ms. J in DC got another day of campus closed and zoom classes. The younger Ms. J in PA will be trucking across campus for classes as campus is open today. Told her welcome to school in the North. Told her my memory of walking to class at my school in NW Ohio and got into the building with my eye lashes frozen together due to the wind chill.

I live on a Square. Farthest point back in our neighborhood. As it is all townhouses we are HOA maintained. They came in several times during the storm. Some areas you can see pavement but it is mostly snow packed down. As of the rest of the neighborhood have no idea. Being single family homes it is County maintained. Mr.J works from home on Mondays so we have not checked the status of roads. Will have to though as he drives a MX 5. He may just be taking my EV6 to work tomorrow if the neighborhood is packed down snow. We got the AWD dual motor and it has a snow mode vs his RWD manual.

Upon seeing the back edge on radar we went out for what we hope is our last driveway clear. Totals are 6” snow and 4” sleet. The sleet was the worst to clear off of the driveway. Was like shoveling sand.

Family spread out and we are all experiencing a different type of precipitation. Kid in DC said it just started raining, presumably freezing rain. I am getting sleet here. Kid up in PA is getting dumped on with snow.

I do not know what is harder. 12” of snow pack off a downward sloped driveway. Or the 2” of sleet we just cleared. Had to be careful walking as we were sliding all over while shoveling. That was brutal.

The older Ms. J down in DC just texted me that AU campus is officially closed tomorrow. Waiting to hear about the younger Ms. J’s campus up in PA.

Back to a mix of snow and sleet just in the last 20 min. Winds are blowing more. And was surprised when our shoveling. While the temp says 12 it did not feel like 12.

Just got in from clearing the drive. Started and was still snowing but quickly switched to sleet. Stopped when we realized we were loosing it to the accumulation of sleet. Solid 6” measured.

Pretty out. While the flakes look tiny when I actually go to the window to look it is snowing pretty decent. Looking at the tops of cars guessing about 5” out there. A lot of it is blowing around. Temp is 12 and the dew point is out of the negatives and currently is 10.6.

I have one. The Wind model. Recognized the distinct rear end and roof of the hatch. And as for snow it has started here. Had to go to the main level and look out front.

Is that an EV6… As for snow for me radar shows something but am not seeing anything yet. Sky definitely has that snow bright look though.

Can see on radar snow dotted around me. Nothing to report here as of yet.

16.3 here in my corner of Frederick Co. Still have a negative dew at -5.4 whole house humidifier has been working all day.

Dinner tonight. Adult grilled ham and cheese. With maple balsamic slaw.

Congratulations!!

A photo from back on Jan 24th 2016 just after clearing our driveway.

That makes sense. Sounds can be suggestive. The fire would be a nice sound. Have put that on before on YouTube and fallen asleep on the couch. I find the thunderstorms help my brain to focus on just falling asleep.

Listening to a nice rumbling thunderstorm currently.

15.8 here. Feels like 8.9 -4.4 dew point.