I know this is a quite pointed post to those out there hold the Piotter name.
Having previously mentioned the availability of Google hosted (thru Gmail) email addresses ending in either Piotter.us or Piotter.org, I guess now is the appropriate time to also mention I’ve thrown in Piotter.info into the mix as well.
So if you’re looking for a cool name related email address that Gmail hosts and I could never hack into, give me a shout out.
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21. June 2006 | Category Work
Wow, wow, wow.
Who’d thunk that 365 ago I would have started an endeavor that would one of the longer lasting things in my life? For my age, I’m not sure if it’s stupendously awesome and depressing mudane.
I have been gainfully employed by the same employer for the previous 365 days, supposedly. I say supposedly, because it’s all kinda relavent on what is considered employment anniversaries. I guess it was this time last year I started working again for Michael Foods. I accepted a part-time position as a Maintenance Dept. Intern for lack of better overall description. In this capacity, I got to wonder the whole of Michael Foods Gaylord Production Plant. Quite a feat in itself really. I got to catalog and recatalog almost every piece of machinery that is used in this production facility and then input into the computer system. For joy.
I whole-heartedly suggest standing on a black roof on a sunny day in the middle of August, trying to write down serial numbers of a giant intake fan, while trying to keep a bumch of papers from slipping from your grasps. Fun indeed.
From thence, I bounced around the internship gauntlet to HR, where I got to be the voice of the plant ~ “Good Afternoon, Michael Foods…. Michael speaking”. Although I think I only got a chuckle outta the one person who maybe actually asked who was answering the phones. If only I could’ve told them, yes I own the company and for fun, I occassionly run the phones. Ah, what a dream. Anywho, all these endeavors led to me applying and being hired full-time as a Microbiology Lab Technician for the Quality Assuarance Dept. some 7+ months ago.
So, I’m not really sure which dates anniversaries I should celebrate,
June 20th: my first day of employment with them
November 7th: my first day of full-time employment
or
Novermber 1st: supposedly the day they backdated my employment to.
Not sure. I guess the only importance is that I’ve made it this long which is kind of an odd feeling. But now I should be able to fully vest myself in a 401(k), which is very tantilizing in itself. Oh and the cantor for coffee/liquids and almost fancy certificate sure make me wanna keep charging forward.
Bring It On!
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It’s been a while since I’ve registered some really cool TLD domains, namely Piotter.org and Piotter.us. While I am still struggling to find something compelling and exciting to put up on these pages, I did do something neat which I’d like to offer to the masses or at least those people out there they be named ‘Piotter’ and have a strong desire to be: awesomename@piotter.org or awesomename@piotter.us.
That’s right, I’m opening up email registration on the two Piotter domains to any individual with the last name Piotter. Clever huh? How’s it work you ask. Well, since Google is nice and gracious with their Gmail account service, they’ve also offered to start hosting email from domain names like my two for FREE !! So you get your name @piotter.org or @piotter.us which is hosted through Google’s Gmail Service.
You don’t have to worry me administering your email either. Accounts are setup with desired user name and a random password that can be changed at anytime. All I do is set them up and bask in the glory of being such a nice guy 🙂
So if you like Gmail and/or want a cool,new email address, check this offer out. To sign up, just email me!
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23. April 2006 | Category Money
Well, well. I’ve finally made it in life.
Having been keen on the blogging scene and having more than a passing interest in personal finance, I’ve been an avid reader of the back page of the Business Section in the daily Startribune. There is a younger reporter that actually writes about young adults and their finances, so this is always a very interesting section to peruse. Being the hip, young reporter she is, she has set up a Blog (Ka-Blog!) to go along with her articles.
So lo and behold, when she asked for opinions about tax refunds for this past filing season, I emailed her to tell her that I didn’t think giving the government a 1 year interest free loan was all that awesome. My little conversation was reduced to this blurb:
In the past, Michael Piotter, 26 of Gaylord, Minn., put refunds into Roth IRAs, but the microbiology technician does not look forward to getting money back. He’d rather owe a little than receive a refund, although he prefers that his tax bill be as close to zero as possible.
The rest can be read online at the StarTribune.
Not all that exciting of paragraph, but it seems like I’m one of few people that doesn’t trully appreciate a huge refund. But then again, wouldn’t you think that getting 15,000 back a year is a tad excessive as the lead individual gave out for his situation? And the guy helps others out at tax time? OUCH!
I can see the points if people don’t have money to pay their respective tax bills each spring, but they should feel guilty for consistantly recieving huge refunds. They must be the most loyal Americans, wiling to loan the US government their money for a year at a time. Not me.
Update: Scanned pages of said article:
Main Page
Inner Page
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5. April 2006 | Category Work
It’s funny how the company culture in America is changing. They say no one will stay at the same job for their career. Workers will average 6-7 different companies throughout their carrer as a result.
I guess that would be no suprise if one would be doing it for personal reasons; such as moving away, etc. But it seems that companies really are starting to not care about their most important assest ~ their people. They hire and fire so willynilly that who is to know whim or the why. Sure, they state some obscure reason like the world economy is in a downturn for your product or some other glossy excuse, but none of the execs take pay cuts or feels the pinch.
They also word their employee handbooks so loosely that if they really want to fire you, they will do their darndest to find something you are not doing correctly and out you for it. Yet in the next breath they’ll state they don’t have a good pool of people to choose from for replacements. Who would want to work for an entity that is willing to cut you loose for pretty much anything?
It seems kinda of cold and robotic the way managers and execs make these decisions. There must be a confidence that anyone can and will be replaced with someone of equal or greater value within a short turnaround. It just seems cold and heartless to do away with people that you deal with on a daily basis like that.
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