hot poll of the day

Who's the sexiest Nazi man?

thanks to volteface for alerting me to this appalling, yet mysteriously entertaining URL.

as if job-hunting weren't traumatic enough already

Online Job Listing an ID Theft Scam.

a friend pointed me to this just after i got an email from a recruiter about a possible contract position. now i am looking at that email somewhat askance.

1. the email comes from "astrogirl@attbi.com", with the name Kathryn Lippert, but instructs me to email holly.cundiff@lsconsulting.net.
   
2. Lightsource Consulting's address is in Portland, OR, as is their main phone number. however, their fax number has a San Francisco area code, and this Holly Cundiff person's cellphone number has a San Jose area code.
   
3. when i responded to the email saying that i was interested in the position and sending my resume, i got a response saying my resume "looks great" and asking me to answer a few questions by email while she "waits for her cellphone to recharge". (i haven't answered it, nor do i intend to unless i get some kind of proof these people are for real.) she said she'd call in a half-hour. it's been 45 minutes.
   
4. the questions on the email include my date of birth and whether i'm willing to submit to a background check. i've never before been asked to give this information to a recruiter without having even spoken to them yet.
   
5. just yesterday i submitted my resume for a position i saw advertised on some job site or other (i look at so many, i forget which one). the application form on that company's website also asked for a social security number, saying it was optional but would be necessary for a background check. i didn't give them my SSN because it made me suspicious, but i did send my resume with all my contact info.
   
6. then today i got this email out of the blue, from a consulting agency i've never heard of, with no mention of where they found my resume, and i don't recognize the position in the email as one i sent a resume out for.
   

am i being unreasonably paranoid? i don't think so, but it's hard to tell; after all, i suspect everyone's motives, all the time. but this looks really, really fishy to me.

a stalker with a tin star

i was thinking the other day about a guy with whom i was terribly infatuated. we're not talking just a crush here, we're talking the sort of obsessive, all-consuming, full-on desperation that often leads to restraining orders.

( ...and it probably should have. )