this background check dude really makes his rounds quickly. he visited carter like two days ago, and last night he apparently called christina as well as me. though i don’t think he actually works for the cia, i think he is just a contractor to the department of defense. meaning all he does is background checks. still, i bet that is a pretty interesting job, especially when you come across someone with a shady past.
anyway, the phone rang and he had trouble saying my name, so when he spit it out, i said “i’m sorry, she’s not here, can i take a message?” see, that is my typical response to telemarketers, and i thought he was a telemarketer because of the mispronounciation!
so he started on his message, like “i’m a contractor for the dod, etc” and then i realized he wasn’t a telemarketer and had to say “oh oh oh, wait. i am sarah graybeal, i’m sorry!” and he goes “what?” so i had to explain the whole thing. so then he says “oh. well, ok, i’m calling to ask some questions about kent,” at which point i’m relieved that he just told me because i actually have two friends in the process of getting security clearances these days and i really didn’t want to make myself look even dumber by going “now who are you calling about?”
anyway. he asked his questions, i answered them, and hopefully convinced him that kent is not going to hatch a plot to overthrow the government or anything, you know, basically that kent’s not a total wacko (though he now thinks that kent has a total wacko like me for a friend). at the end of the conversation i apologized again for confusing him at the beginning of the conversation, and he laughed and said he understood.
he sounded nice. i can see why carter wanted to talk to him longer. though i guess i am not cool enough (or close enough) to warrant an in-person visit. 
last night i was at work until 6:30 and had to back out of going to the hockey game because becca and i had to finish our extended abstract that is due today. it’s for a paper we want to present at a conference in august.
every time i stay late at work and comment on it, i get reminded that my other friends who are consultants always had to work like 12 hours days all the time, blah blah blah. it’s like they’re implying that my working 10 hours isn’t as notable as their working 12, and last night it annoyed me. normally it doesn’t, but i was tired and thus more prone to being annoyed last night. i just felt like saying “fine, ok, you win, you had it worse, happy?”
but it doesn’t really bother me, although in general i don’t think people who work long hours have much right to complain. most people know what they are getting into when they take a job; if you go to work as a consultant, you know that you will be working long days. it’s a well-known fact of the job. it doesn’t give you permission to repeatedly imply that you are a harder worker than someone who feels a 10 hour day is a long one.
i sound like i’m upset, but really, it just got me thinking about a conversation irwin and becca and i had a week ago, about salaried jobs versus hourly jobs. though i make a set yearly salary, nasa still keeps track of every single hour i work every week. i have to charge every hour to a time code, and they have to add up to at least 40 each week. it’s annoying, and seems nit-picky to me. i am a much bigger fan of the salaried employee concept: you are given a yearly salary, and you work whatever hours you need to get the job done. if you have a lot to do one week, you work 60 hours…but then the next week when you have a break, you can work 25 hours and not be punished. hmm. i think i just like things that are more like school, where i can work somewhat on my own time and pace.
