Shenanigans

wherein I indict comcast

2008-09-02T18:13:00.002-04:00

We moved recently, to a new apartment by the Capitol Building. It's a great location nearby work, Tortilla Coast and the Capitol South Metro stop. We're above ground, which means no more flooding. That was especially important seeing as how our last apartment flooded twice in three months and it's now hurricane season. We also have a great back porch and backyard that the cat can look out on from any one of our 6 windows.

The move went smoothly, our movers and friends got us out of our old apartment in record time.
Now, to the point...

Comcast has a service where you can switch your cable over from one location to another without having to set it all up again. Last week I called and had them schedule the disconnect for Sunday and asked what the earliest they could re-connect us was. They said we could get the first slot on Tuesday morning. Sounds great so far. Saturday evening comes and we lose our cable and internet... after 30 minutes on hold we give up and watch netflix (first problem).

I've taken off Tuesday morning for the connection and wake up for the tech. We're scheduled for 8:00-11:00am. He shows up at 8:30 and starts scoping the situation out. He indicates that we have the HD box in the living room and a modem, but neglects the basic cable setup in the bedroom (second problem). I ask him to just drop the line and I'll call it in while he's working on it and have it added on. He informs me that he doesn't have time to do that and it'll have to be rescheduled for another time. So I call Comcast and they tell me the same thing (third problem). I figure I'll argue it till he leaves at which point I'll escalate it if it's not fixed.

He comes up to me without showing me how anythings working and asks me to sign his paper. I sign it, figuring; "whatever". as he leaves I go out in the living room and look around to find all sorts of wood chips, plastic baggies and the plastic coverings to cable spread all over the room. I look and the cable box is setup incorrectly (an HD box with standard wiring so the HD doesn't even show up) and there's of course no cable in the bedroom. I look down the street to see if I can track him down but he's long gone. I call Comcast back and explain the multiple problems. They put me on hold while they track down the driver through the switchboard. They get my phone number and say they'll call me right back (they don't). The tech does though about half an hour later wondering what he could have left undone. He thinks it's the white box the modem comes in, but it's a whole lot more and as I'm listing off the items he says: "Oh..." and then hangs up on me.

Lunch time comes around and I haven't heard anything else. I call again. Comcast says they'll call me back again... they don't.

Another hour goes by I call again, they say they'll call me back... they don't.

TWO hours go by. I call again they say they'll call me back... THEY DO! Perhaps it had something to do with me saying if the guy didn't show by 5pm I was calling the BBB and DC Regulatory Agency to file complaints. The CSR (Lawrence) explains that the tech had a full day and I was rescheduled for after 5pm, no definite time but definitely after 5. I would say that's a safe bet since it was 4:45pm when he called me back.

So, I get fed up and decide to call corporate offices in Philly. The woman there was obviously very polite and nice and listened to everything noting when I told her how he hung up on me with a: "WOW... what was his name?" Here's another great point, the tech didn't even sign his name so I have no idea who he is.

so it's now 6:30 at night with poorly installed cable and internet... And I have to wonder, what could comcast honestly do to make this right for me? 3 months of free cable? 6 months? free instalation of dish network?

2008-05-22T10:48:00.002-04:00

I know, I know... it's been a while.

I realized recently that when you stop telling everyone the stupid or silly things you see around you each day (such as I am wont to do in Shenanigans) you sort of stop seeing them as stupid or silly or more to the point you create new coping mechanisms for dealing with them when they directly affect you.

For instance, a while back I noticed that when people in DC cut you off during rush hour they do this wave thing. They don't look at you or your car or anything else for that matter, except perhaps their blackberry, but once your horn sounds and you've slammed on the breaks so as not to have to deal with getting their insurance information, a hand flies up in the air and they wave. I call this the: "I don't know how I got my license" Wave. I say it in a funny voice too so as to show their level of intelligence. It's funny, every once in a while, but when I find myself saying: "I don't know how I got my license" not just on a daily basis, but two or three times a day I realize it's not so funny anymore and this coping mechanism has stopped helping.

So it was with the Grocery store, you may remember (imaginary reader that I am talking to) that I would often write about my adventures in grocery land where people bought odd combination of things and then huffed and puffed in line like their pop-tarts and windex would be stale by the time they got home. I don't really have stories like that, perhaps because I'm the one who has to pick up fresh pop tarts and yes, fresh windex. It seems funny to me now thinking about that, but it doesn't make for good reading if I come home from a trip to the grocery store and I say: "I bought windex and pop tarts today and I was impatient in line."

There's other frustrations out there, but they're work related and as such off limits to the blogo-sphere (off limits to even the blogo-tetrahedron or any blog-polygon for that matter). So I'm left with the day to day observances of things that are funny, frustrating or just plain moronic as fodder for my posts. And you know what? There are not that many things out there, hence the delay in posts from moving in to our new place till now. Or it could just be that I don't have time after work to write these things down when I also want to pack in some quality time with M, the Cat, the Xbox, Top Chef and of course; SLEEP.

I've decided that from now on when I see something that the kids would call "bloggable" I will write it down somewhere and keep it till there's 5 or such of these things so that you no longer (once again you imaginary reader) will have to sit through a several paragraph post of dribble.

before I forget: Happy Birthday Matt!

The Jump

2008-01-25T17:48:00.000-05:00

There was a little gap there between posts... we'll see if I keep this up again.

I finally made the jump and now live in Washington D.C., which means that I no longer have to feel guilt when I say: "I live in Washington D.C." when I actually was living in Alexandria, VA. The change hasn't been too drastic, although there have been some nice changes. For instance, I no longer need to commute along the GW Parkway and 395 everyday which should increase my lifespan and lower my blood pressure. We also moved into a place with a washer and dryer, so we no longer have to walk 3 blocks to use our "in-building" laundry room. There's a couple other positives, and of course some negatives. We moved into an english basement style apartment, so my cell phone now only works by the window (notice the lack of plural? that's another negative).

All in all, it was a good move. We hired movers (two of them) and had a plethora of friends who helped out. We started packing up the truck around 9am and were all done around noon. That doesn't mean we don't still have boxes filled with things we still need to unpack, but at least 99% of our stuff is here in D.C. and not sitting in a lonely apartment in Virginia.

The one who took the move hardest was our tiny cat. In the last few weeks we've nicknamed her Princess Fussy Pants, and she was full of fuss this past week. She's starting to get used to the new apartment, meaning she no longer hides under the bed or acts like some unnamed monster is going to pop out from behind the corner at any minute and devour us all. She is, however, still scared of the doors opening and closing, which I'm glad about since she has yet to accept wearing a collar.

Comcast also had a difficult time with the move too. They just couldn't seem to get things right this week, but after three days of aggressive negotiation (for you nerds out there that does not mean I used a lightsaber... nerd), they finally caved in. More on that later.

The Show

2007-03-20T12:07:00.000-04:00

Ze Frank's one year experiment is over. With Frank's last episode coming on Saturday (his first and last Saturday episode), he completed a program that thousands of webgoers made a daily trip to see.

With his irreverant humor and his intelligent sarcasm, Ze was able to bring complex issues, both social and political, to the masses. He also wasn't above making fun of himself or making sure his viewers didn't take him to seriously. The show spawned many other social programs like The ORG and the League of Awesomeness. Ze brought his viewers into his show and made everyone feel like they were part of what he was doing. For those of you who haven't ever seen The Show, check out the last episode here:

http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2007/03/031707.html

And perhaps look around a little and check out some of the other episodes, you won't be dissapointed.

Missing: Hermietta

2007-03-03T20:36:00.000-05:00

The search has been called off for Hermietta. She crawled out of her home on Sunday of last week and has not been seen since. Our searchers have worked tirelessly to find her but we fear that 6 days would be too long for her to survive without some source of fresh water.

Hermie, seen here making missing posters, was inconsolable. "I tried to get your attention when she was climbing out, but I'm just too darn small. I told her, stop trying to get out, stop trying to escape... but you know her, she was a climbing fool."

Authorities say that while the massive search is being called off, there still will be efforts made to find Hermietta. Much faith is being put in the spreading of dishes with water soaked napkins spread around the area she was last seen.

Your thoughts and prayers during these dark days was appreciated.

Memorial services will be held next week for our fallen crustacean.

Snowmeggeddon '07

2007-02-16T12:16:00.000-05:00

The big bad snow storm of '07 left the same way it came in; annoyingly. The snow and rain started falling at the same time. It was quite a sight to wake up to, quite an annoying sight. The snow/rain closed the federal government around 2pm and caused problems all over the metro system. THEN the snow storm had the nerve of leaving ice and snow everywhere! What's worse is that certain cities (I'm looking at you northern Virginia!) have failed, 3 days after the storm, to put down any salt on some roads and sidewalks. What's the deal? Are you waiting for the 'big one'?

At any rate, I have no pictures for the viewing public because this storm doesn't deserve them. Stupid ice, why couldn't we have like 14 feet of snow instead? That would have been cool.

So for those of you who don't want to leave your house and walk on the ice, Prairie Home Companion is there for you. They have finally released part of their show (The News from Lake Wobegon) for podcast. You can subscribe to it here: http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/about/podcast/ for free.

It's feeeeebruuuuuary!

2007-02-09T11:54:00.000-05:00

yes, it's February , the most oddly named month of the year. It's also the shortest month of the year, but I'm not going to get into why it is.

A while back I wrote about how being unemployed led to scheduling my days around television shows. Unfortunately day time TV has changed in my time as a productive member of society. I no longer have the great shows to look forward to anymore. There's no more Ed, Third Watch, etc. etc. Now the closest thing to watchable TV is MSNBC and the random episode of Scrubs.

I'm not complaining too much because I'm hoping to be out of this situation soon.

I haven't posted in a while because I really don't have much to talk about but hopefully I'll be back with some story of how I had to interact with crazy people soon.

Tucker Carlson

2007-01-09T12:40:00.000-05:00

It isn't often that one finds a reason to be truly outraged. By truly I mean actually. On a daily basis we are outraged by the little things, ie getting cut off in traffic. But recently some people both in the MSM and here in the world 'o' blogs, seem to be going after others, using their pseudo-celebrity to hurt others. One fine example is that of Michelle Malkin. She has gone after the AP and a person she can only assume is fake because everything he has said has gone against what she believes in. Who is this person? He's a Iraqi Policeman and is now facing prosecution.

Another example is that of Tucker Carlson who has gone after someone I know simply because he posted about a verbal altercation they had. The altercation came after this person decided to post about how Tucker Carlson had opened an account at the video store he works at. He didn't give out any personal information but he did post about different pranks he would like to play on Tucker Carlson. I don't think he would ever do such things though. Granted it wasn't a great idea to post about such things but at the same time, who hasn't posted about meeting someone almost famous? Especially if you live in the area I do. The Wonkette has practically made a business out of sightings of politicians and such. At any rate. I have used Tucker Carlson's name here a lot in the hopes that he will eventually come across my site and send me a comment or an e-mail, try to get me fired or you know, just be himself.

Jon Stewart was right.

Every Time I go to the Grocery Store

2006-12-18T13:11:00.000-05:00

First things first, I tend to go to the grocery store late at night. This helps cut down on the number of people there but it must also mean I run into annoying, stupid people. At least it always means I'll get a blog post out of it.

Last night while at the grocery store I stood in line behind a woman who was having trouble remembering how much her kielbasa cost. Then she was paranoid about the bonus card that the clerk gave her, worried about giving up her personal information. Now lets stop for a second and think about that. The clerk handed her the card, he didn't ask for any personal information, no phone number, address, etc. etc. So the only thing she must have been nervous about is the store remembering that she likes to buy kielbasa.

Behind me was a woman with headphones on and was waiting in line to buy two boxes of chicken broth and two packs of gum. About 2/3's of the way through the pricing of the kielbasa the woman behind me let out an exasperated sigh and then shouted: "OH COME ON! JESUS!"

Either she wanted Jesus to hurry up or she wanted the kielbasa woman to hurry up. I felt the need to turn around and ask: "Where exactly do you need to be at 11:45pm with two boxes of chicken broth and gum?" But I didn't.

I'm Back

2006-12-13T20:48:00.000-05:00

For now,

I'm done with my old job which do partly to time constraints, as well as an official policy, I wasn't blogging much at all.

Since my job is done I can now do two things, first I can blog again but I also get go job searching again. As some of you know this is my absolute favorite thing in the world. I love searching for jobs. First, where else do you get to put yourself out there on a daily basis hoping for rejection? I don't say hoping because I want to be on welfare or anything, but because about 99 times out of 10 (yes I meant ten) you receive no feedback at all. Take for instance this ratio: 73:1. Those aren't random numbers, 73 is the number of resumes I have sent out, 1 is the number of times I've gotten responses. 1 also happens to be the number of rejections I've received.

Secondly, I get to spend money hand over fist, money that I don't have, just to subject myself to this. I also get to sleep on a couch in my friends apartment and live out of a couple of suitcases.

Thirdly, I have regained this psychotic attachment to my laptop, hoping that at any moment I will receive that email that would be offering me an interview. Which brings me to my next reason for loving job searches...

Fourthly, I get to go to interviews again, where I'm put on display. In the past I have often freaked out in front of people who were putting me on the spot. Thanks to my last job and the number of meetings I had to take with self-important people I have lost most of this nervousness.

I could have a fifth reason coming soon, so keep reading.

It's nice to be back!

Relaxing Evening,

2006-06-21T10:30:00.000-04:00

Last night, on my way home from dinner, I decided to stop off and get some Yoo-hoo! (the best chocolate drink ever made). After picking up my delicious Yoo-hoo! I was on the road again when I was passing a street that entered the main road at an angle. A car started to pull out from the road and he was moving slowly so I figured he saw me and was just pulling out part way to get behind me.

Boy was I wrong. As the car pulled along side me, still at a slow pace I noticed it was a police car. As I pulled to the right to avoid him, he sped up, still clearly not seeing me until the last possible moment before he nosed my car when I applied more pressure to the breaks and he swerved away to the left.

Then he pulled me over. There is nothing like flashing lights and a siren to make a someone who was nearly in an accident completely relaxed. As we pulled to the side of the road, he got out of his car with his flashlight and before he ever made it to my now parked car he shouted:

"Holy $#!T !, are you ok?!"
"Yes, sir... I'm fine."
"I mean... $#!t, I didn't even see you! Are you ok?!"
"yup, I'm good."
"ok, I'm sorry, have a nice night."

At which point I pulled the 10 feet ahead and made the right turn that was my street as he sped off. I went upstairs, watched an episode of scrubs and drank my Yoo-hoo! before going to bed.

Finally, a forbes story I can get behind

2006-05-31T15:45:00.000-04:00

Not much to really post except this URL, so go read and enjoy.

For bonus points take your laptop outside at 3:00pm next monday and read this article.

Painfully Obvious

2006-05-19T13:22:00.000-04:00

Walking out the door yesterday I remarked; "It's windy..." and then suddenly realized how stupid this must sound. In no other part of life would this obvious-ness be an acceptable way to start a conversation;

"oh look, a table..."
"yup, certainly a lot of tables in this room."
"did you see that commercial on TV for tables?"
"No, but I heard that they've got a bunch of them."
"yup."
"yup."

It makes me wonder if one day I'll walk outside on a bright sunny day and utter; "sun bright, hurt eyeballs..."

Hello, My name is 'Shenanigans'....

2006-05-14T16:16:00.000-04:00

And I'm a blogger. It's been about 1 month since my self imposed hiatus, and I just couldn't keep away. I've mentioned in the past that I often get upset when the blogs that I read on a daily basis are not kept up to date. Well, during my SIH (self imposed hiatus), I not only didn't blog, but I also found very little time to keep up with the blogs that I read. I would make sure to check one or two every day, but other than that I was in a complete blackout of info.

Luckily it seemed that most of the blogs that I read had also found little time to update as well. This was the one time that I was glad to see them not updated. It's hard to explain, but you begin reading these stories from another person, a stranger, and then you become invested in what happens next. These peoples lives are fascinatingly dull and realistic. You sit down to watch television every night, and boy that Will and Grace are silly, but you know what's going to happen before it does because of a formula. A tried, tested and true formula that makes all television shows ultimately boring. But blogs, while not seen through the un-imaginative form of a TV set, are real, they are real people.

Bloggers face real problems on a daily basis like Dooce and Blurbomat's recent sewer problems with their house or Opinionistas problems with NY society life or the most dramatic of all, Post Secrets and the countless people who reveal the saddest and most life-affirming secrets. Of course it all comes in a creepy package that makes you wonder if this isn't stepping over some voyeuristic line, which of course it's not because they write this stuff for people to read. But it's these real life, seemingly inconsequential problems that make them interesting and also why I'm glad they waited for me to find time to read again before they updated.

Of course if the Waiter had to join forces with Jason Kottke in order to defeat terrorists who had taken over an airport in Utah (with special guest star, Dooce), that would be interesting as well... perhaps during sweeps month.

______________________________________________________

Happy Mothers Day Mom!!

An Inconvenient Truth

2006-05-11T15:55:00.000-04:00

quick post

2006-04-18T10:17:00.000-04:00

I'll be leaving in a couple of minutes for my new State and I'm not sure about internet access when I get there. So if you don't see posts for a while, or in the unlikely event that someone comments and it doesn't go through, take a deep breath and relax. Shenanigans is only on a minor hiatus until things calm down. See you all soon.

Movin

2006-04-18T01:01:00.000-04:00

It's always weird to leave a place when you don't really want to leave.

When I graduated High School, I think I was the only person in my class who wasn't ready to move on. Of course, after the first few months I started to enjoy my new surroundings in the middle of nowhere, Ohio. Again, when I graduated college, I wasn't entirely ready to move on. Right after college I moved down to South Carolina and lived with my friend Chris (you can find his comments where he's named 'Mongo' but I know him as Jake, short story that I won't fill you in on). It was a short 3 months down in South Carolina but at the end I really didn't want to leave. I had a great group of friends and I had started to adapt to my surroundings, I knew how to get around etc. etc.

I had stopped in Washington D.C. on the way down to South Carolina, on the train, and as I waited for my next train, I decided to walk around Capitol Hill. It was early in the morning in early summer. The trees all had their leaves, the flowers were out. It had rained the night before. It was extremely hot and humid with a haze hanging in the air. I had police cars and joggers to keep me company, but they weren't really doing their job. The bottom line, as I passed the Rayburn House Office building on my left, the Capitol on my right, was that I said out loud to myself; "I'll be back here soon."

And I was. Soon after returning from South Carolina, I moved down to D.C. Everything that had enticed me that morning, the haze and trees, towering Capitol Building, they didn't do it for me anymore. I moved down here and I hated it. I missed South Carolina and the comfort factor. I was staying with friends in Maryland, during the day I would work on a campaign in Virginia or hand out resumes. In my free time, I would sit on a park bench in Dupont Circle and read the Post while drinking some coffee. I was easily confused about where I was at any given point. If you live in D.C. and own a car, you make about 5 u-turns every day, while I didn't own a car I found myself walking three blocks and then backtracking 2 every day.

There was very little I found appealing about this City. In a matter of months I had rented a room in Alexandria and was spending most of my time watching a too-big TV from my bed in a tiny room. I had gotten an internship on the Hill and would spend a lot of time running around the office buildings but it didn't feel like I belonged yet. I still didn't know anyone socially in the area. The amount of money you blow through in a day in D.C. is ridiculous and I was constantly counting pennies. 5-6 days of Campbell’s soup was not an odd thing. Tomato soup for breakfast/lunch was not as gross then as it seems now.

Then it happened, I had a job on the hill. I can remember most of what happened that day. It was a wonderful warm February day when I got the call. When I got that job, things started to change. I started to enjoy my surroundings. When before I had all the time in the world to get out and see things, I now had much less time but found myself catching all the sights. D.C. had been transformed into this wonderful place.

Then my job went away, and while I fell back into old patterns of missing the sights, I still was in love with D.C. and Alexandria. I had found that comfort factor again. Part of the reason I didn't like D.C. at first was that it was supposed to be the end of the line. In the course of 4 months, I had moved 6 times. It was really the lack of stability and roots that I had come to accept and actually cherish.

It's been a little under 3 years and my view of things has changed completely and predictably. I no longer cherish change but rather stability. I no longer hate D.C. but love it. I no longer want to move on, but stay. And while I say all these things, there is a wonderful and temporary opportunity for me in another state that I have taken. I leave tomorrow morning. And, again, while I write that I'm thinking of a completely different post that will never be written about music and time. How there are songs for seasons, songs for different moods, different events etc. Right now, all I can hear playing in my head and frankly on the stereo right now is Wyclef Jean -- Gone Till November.

Deadline

2006-04-17T10:38:00.000-04:00

It's about 10:30 on Monday morning and it's finally starting to set in that I have a little under 24 hours before my car has to be packed and I'm on the road to a new state. So I should be running all over the place getting stuff done right? Well, no... not exactly.

For the past few nights, I've been sitting up in bed thinking of the hundreds of things I need to get done. Just before I pass out, I say to myself; "It's 4 in the morning Jeff, the bank's not even open." So then why am I sitting on the couch watching a show I don't even like (the 'Real' 'World'), typing out my first post in a week? Because it's a little bit easier to think about everything I need to get done than actually getting it done.

I'm sure that in about 20 minutes you would see a flurry of action. Of course, by flurry I mean a slow, meandering walking back and forth that won't accomplish much.

Google-ing

2006-04-11T23:23:00.000-04:00

Going back to something I've talked about before, I'd like to talk about google-ing for a moment. I am constantly amazed that some people ever find anything by way of google. Seriously people, you're not supposed to type in the question you want answered. Let me give you an example.

Recently I was looking for an owners manual for a 2005 Ford Taurus SE. Did I type in; "How or where, could I find a 2005 Ford Taurus SE owners manual aaaaand if I find it will I have to pay for it?" Or did I type in the keywords I wanted the search engine to find in any document I wanted it to return? See, that's the first trick. You type in the answer to the question (sort of) that you're hoping google will answer. You're looking for keywords, so all you have to do is search for those keywords. Lets say you're looking for a website about hotdogs. Would you type in; "I need to know everything google has on HOTDOGS, now!" or would you just type in "hotdogs"?

I bring this up because about once a week I notice one of these questions on my sitetracker. Today it was; "when there going to be a march for imigration [sic] in seattle..." and at the end, I kid you not; "?". That's right, they literally asked google a question.

If I'm really looking for something I will, as Joel says; "you gotta restructure your queries" that is to say, you have to rearrange the words you're using in your search. So if you're really looking for the best type of mustard to put on hotdogs, why not type in "mustard hotdogs" instead of "hotdogs mustard".

That's the end of my google rant. Happy google-ing.

Don't believe everything you read...

2006-04-11T18:51:00.000-04:00

Shot:
http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/004945.html

Chaser:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/41444

I forgot,

2006-04-09T17:47:00.000-04:00

How much I hate moving. I hate the packing up of stuff, I hate the organizing and I hate searching for a new place. It really doesn't work until you get to your destination because you could find a great and cheap apartment, but it's in another state.

One of the things I do like about moving is the chance I get to look through my stuff that I've kept for years but never looked at. Honestly, who needs a 2003 Ikea catalogue? I've gone through 3 garbage bags of junk, papers and just stuff I don't need or use anymore.

Over the years I've done this every time I've moved and I'm constantly surprised at just how much stuff I have. I've never had a large living space, but whenever I go through this culling of things I notice that I could be living somewhere twice the size and I'd still have a lot of stuff. I must, just know how to pack things up and tuck them away really well.

At any rate I've made a lot of headway today and I'm hoping to have the whole packing thing done in a few more short days.

Dreams really do come true...

2006-04-08T09:14:00.000-04:00

This morning I was awoken at 7:00am in the usual way; our neighbors upstairs were pounding back and forth and there was some crashing and whatnot. I've talked about this before. When this happens I scream in my head "JUST LEAVE ALREADY!" Of course by that I mean, get out of your apartment and go wherever it is you were on your way to.

When I went outside at 8am, hoping to move the car into the parking lot I was a little annoyed by a moving van in the back parking lot. It took me a couple of seconds to put things together in my head, but when I did I almost broke into song and dance. Our upstairs neighbors are moving out.

If there ever was a reason to continue wishing upon a star, dreaming the big dream, this is it. There is evidence now that your dreams can come true too and they don't require the intervention of Ed McMahon.

Link-o-rama: Indiana Jones and the Last Links

2006-04-06T23:37:00.000-04:00

That's right, this is the last link-o-rama. I'm doing some bookmark cleaning and getting rid of all the links I've accumulated.

The Museum of Modern Betas, a site dedicated to web 2.o newcomers. MOMB

Megnut wants you to read the numbers on your fruit and apparently it's a good idea if you're like me and enjoy eating organic foods. Megnut

The topic header says it all, "who needs to pirate software with a list like this?" opensource software

I can never keep up with all the new cast members on SNL. A.V. Club

When I was a waiter, the staff would often day dream about what would happen if we all just walked out at the height of the lunch rush. Now we can all see what happens when you have a stupid boss and a job you can easily replace. Mutiny at the Cafe

A great idea for when all you have in the kitchen is ketchup, mustard, pepper, noodles, half an onion and some olive oil. Recipe Ingredient Search

I'm in love with google earth and have been for a while. It is the ultimate in online time wasters. However, I do not waste as much time on it as some people apparently. This is an old story about people finding hovering cars in Australia on google earth. I haven't heard an end to this story yet. Hovering Car

The search for happiness, what's the secret? Finding Happiness in a Harvard Classroom (NPR)

An entire blogger blog about statistics, pretty cool. It is a numeric life

(Slightly long description for this link, be warned). While at work one day, my friend Pam was helping me pass the time. She sent me a link to editorial cartoons on Slate.com. I knew of Slate, I just never visited the site before. The interesting thing about these cartoons, is that a lot of cartoonists have the same idea (or at least similar) at certain times. In order to prove this point, I'll ask you to go to slate.com when a big news story breaks (i.e. VP Cheney shooting his friend in Texas). This site is similar in it's idea, although it takes current news stories and pairs them up with current pictures used for those news stories. 10x10 / 100 words and pictures that define the time

Those are the last of the links, don't spend them all in one place. If you do though, not to worry cause I've got you covered. These three blogs do a much better job than I ever could in bringing links to the masses. Enjoy.
Jason Kottke
Clicked
Wired: Table of Malcontents

Happy Blog-day

2006-04-05T00:08:00.000-04:00

Happy 1 year blog-day to me. A longer post will follow after I've gotten some rest and my brain has stopped spinning.

Stay Tuned

2006-04-03T19:59:00.000-04:00

It's coming up on my 1 year blog-day, but I'll talk about that on the actual blog-day. In the mean time I will try to keep this post from discussing that topic too much, but it will be difficult.

One year ago I started Shenanigans with the intent of writing about my job search. At that point I had been out of work for about 4 months. The year followed my immense boredom at times and some of the non-specifics of my odd jobs. Mostly though, it followed my daily doings and thoughts.

On friday I had a phone interview, one that I thought didn't go so well. I have said before that I'm not the greatest interviewee and it held true. The entire interview lasted about 15 minutes. It was the second interview I had had in as many days. I can't talk about the second interview, but the first one went really, really well and it would have meant me leaving for Montana for a couple months.

I got a call today around 2:00 asking me if I would like a job. A JOB. Let me say that again, I got a call today around 2:00 asking me if I would like a JOB. Without going into too much detail, I was given aboud 3 hours to make my decision. Why would I need this absurd amount of time to make a decision? Because it would mean that I would have to move to another state. After about 14 different phone conversations, about 30 pacing sessions, 5 banging my head against the proverbial wall sessions, I made my decision.

The day started out with me looking forward to the Red Sox/ Rangers game at 2:00pm. I had been looking forward to this for about 2 days. This one call made sure that I was not allowed to watch Curt Schilling for the rest of the day, I should have Tivo-d it.

So after a lot of support from my friends and parents, especially my parents who have been great for so many reasons, I made my decision. I took the job. I have a job! After countless interviews that I got my hopes up for, after hundreds of my resume floating around, I finally did it. I've burned a bridge on the way out of town, I won't mention who because of the first rule of blogging. Let me just say they take a moment to realize what happened and they don't hold it against me that I have a JOB! A JOB!

So what does this mean for Shenanigans? I'm not sure. It won't be going away, but I doubt I'll be posting 1-3 times a day anymore. So stay tuned for the future of Shenanigans.

Thanks to everyone who sent words of encouragement and especially to my parents. Before I drift into an over the top Oscar speach I'll end it there. Thanks again

What Day is it Today? part deux

2006-04-01T22:47:00.000-05:00

Wow, that's all I have to say to this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_1,_2006

That has to be the most comprehensive list of online april fools day jokes I've ever seen... granted I only looked for one today for the first time.

Learning Disabilities and Standardized Tests

2006-04-01T15:21:00.000-05:00

When I was in middle school I was diagnosed with a form of ADD, now also known as ADHD. Being diagnosed with a learning disability allows you to recieve several "advantages" that students who haven't been diagnosed miss out on. I put advantages in quotes because looking back on the entirety of my education I am able to say that our current education system is set up for those who don't have learning disabilities. Everyone has a specific learning style be it listening, participating or watching. If you add ontop of these specific learning styles a learning disability you would have difficulties in learning no matter how many styles a teacher employs.

So these "advantages" included a special resource room which was like a study hall with a teacher who could help you out on any subject and keep you on task. Also there was some help with exams, this included the use of a laptop for essays and extra time if I needed it.

I went to resource room every day until my senior year when I would use that time period occaisionaly to sneak down to the library for research or to work on my internship I had at the time. I also took full advantage of the laptop. What could be better for writing an essay than making sure that someone else could understand it instead of righting evreething without a spel chekker?

The one thing I didn't ever use, however, was the extra time. I was already the one kid in a crowded room pounding away at a laptop I didn't want to be the one kid sitting there an hour later in an empty room pounding away at a laptop.

Today, while flipping channels I saw a report on ABC News that students w/out learning disabilities were getting doctors to say they did, all so that they could have extra time on the SATs and get a better score. As someone who has an actual learning disability, who has learned to overcome it and never really wanted a lot of extra help, I find this beyond disgusting. It's not as bad as having a cheat sheet hidden under the test, but it is an abuse of a system that is in place to help those who need it, not those who are capable of getting into a good college and want to get into an Ivy League school.

ABC News: Does Loophole Give Rich Kids More Time On SAT?

What Day is it Today?

2006-04-01T14:47:00.000-05:00

I guess you could technically say that this post is part of my continuing series of link-o-rama's, but I'm not going to call it link-o-rama. (just a disclaimer, I doubt these sites will all look the same after today or at least this weekend, so take a look and make it fast!)

(via Kottke.org) "TeeVeePedia. I administer the machine that TeeVee runs on, and my one job this year was to roll over to the April Fool's site at midnight. The rest of the staff wrote over 300 articles and my one job was to just throw a switch at a particular time. And so, of course, I fell asleep at about 10pm. I suck. -- GK"

Think Geek has a list of some awesome new products for the geek in your life. Think Geek

Overheard in NYC has done some re-formatting. Overheard in NYC

Lifehacker has an excellent array of death posts: DEATH Hacker

Government Accountability Accountability Office

2006-04-01T13:11:00.000-05:00

There are several offices within the Congress that are supposed to be non-partisan and impartial. These offices are meant to provide information on a wide range of topics and to provide certain services. The Barber shop for instance shouldn't give stupid haircuts to the minority party.

Some of the other offices include CRS (Congressional Research Service, I've mentioned this before) which is a branch of the Library of Congress, itself a nonpartisan office. The GAO (Government Accountability Office formerly known as the General Accounting Office) is also meant to be a nonpartisan impartial provider of information. The GAO is basically the investigative wing of the Congress.

There are those cynical few of you who would say we should have seen this coming since it has the word "government" in the title but it turns out the GAO is not very good at holding itself accountable on such topics as missile defense.

(NYT): Accountability Office Finds Itself Accused

Flickr RSShenanigans

2006-03-31T12:05:00.000-05:00

A little while back I was looking for some stock photos of Washington D.C. while at the same time I read an article on lifehacker about setting up an Flickr RSS. Let me pause for a second to explain Flickr and RSS. Flickr is a website where users store photos online for all to see and RSS means Really Simple Syndication, basically a subscription to websites.

The lifehacker post was about seeing your city through new eyes. This sounded like a great idea to me. I walk past or metro past some of the best looking buildings and monuments in the world and every once in a while I realize I haven't "seen" them in a while. So I set up the subscription and now every hour or so I get about 10-20 new pictures downloaded straight to my e-mail program (thunderbird).

It was great, at first. I suggest everyone do this because you really do get some great pictures. But after a while I found myself deleting pictures before I ever got to view them. Why? Because there are only so many pictures of the Washington Monument you can take. I think in the last week I've seen something over 200 pictures of the cherry blossoms. It got me thinking about a new way to do this.

Everyone wants their own pictures from their trips and everyone thinks their pictures are unique. As someone who has seen those pictures I can honestly tell you, they're not unique.

So here is what I propose. Every city gets one pool photographer who takes pictures throughout the year and uploads them to Flickr, where you can then download them and call your own. Now of course you will still want pictures of yourself, friends and family on vacation so those will still be allowed.

Washington monument: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Cherry Blossoms: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (There were more obviously, I just got bored...)

And the coup de grace, I give you cherry blossoms WITH the washington monument: 1, 2, 3

Immigration, continued...

2006-03-31T03:31:00.000-05:00

"Over the past decade, economists such as Borjas have examined the impact of a surge of illegal immigration on wages and the economy at large. Most agree that the influx has had a small but positive impact on the national economy, holding down consumer prices, improving the productivity of the workforce and increasing demand for goods and services.

Upper-middle-class consumers can dine at restaurants, stay at hotels, and have their cars hand-washed and their house windows cleaned for far less than they would without illegal immigration. An abundant supply of low-wage workers may have spurred more investment in labor-intensive businesses. Giovanni Peri, an economist at the University of California at Davis, estimates that immigration in the 1990s actually boosted the average wage of native workers by 1.1 percent." - (WP)

WP: Guest-worker plan divides allies

Lies I should have told while giving tours of the Capitol Building

2006-03-30T00:03:00.000-05:00

While talking to a friend tonight, we were talking about giving tours of the Capitol Building to 8th graders and how they never pay attention anyway...

"If you come this way I'll show you where the nukes are kept..."

"Did you know that if you whisper on this square right here, they can hear you in Russia? Try it out..."

"This is where John Adams signed the famous treaty with the space aliens, allowing our cattle to be abducted... 10 years later they broke the treaty by abducting Arron Burr and replacing him with a robot."

"Little known fact, at night, Abraham Lincoln would sleep in the rafters over there..."

"This is the Senate Rotunda, originally used for cage fighting. It is also where Henry Clay met his untimely demise."

"The Senators play freeze tag on wednesdays, if you see one make sure you tag them before they get you or you'll have to stand there the rest of the day."

"This is the hall of columns, this is the dome of... height, this is the room of marble, this is the room of curtains and that's the soda pool."

"It is tradition that when entering Statuary Hall you must remove your shoes so as not to offend the statue of King Kamehameha, and your socks..."

"Some people say there's ghosts that still haunt the Capitol building. That of course is just a bunch of baloney, it's really just kids who were left behind because they asked too many questions, I'm looking at you bobby."

Spelling-Bee

2006-03-28T16:39:00.000-05:00

A while back I added a site tracker to my blog. I didn't really care about how much traffic I was getting, I just wanted to use it for fun. Boy has it been fun. One of the cool features of this software is that I can see what people are searching for, what they're typing into google that leads them to me. Sometimes my blog is exactly what they're looking for and sometimes it's the exact opposite... I won't go into details on that.

Today while looking through some of my traffic I let out an audible groan as I was faced with pure irony. It seems that someone from the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools was doing a google search for... "iMigration protests". Now, I am no spelling-bee (or grammar-bee) champ and am constantly confused by the easiest of words. I often find myself trying to spell things 3-4 different ways. I do expect people who work for school systems to be able to spell most things... say like, immigration?

Nintendo 64 on Christmas morning

2006-03-28T14:10:00.000-05:00

This video is hilarious. The slow-mo growling from the little kids is what really sells it.

French Protests

2006-03-28T12:12:00.000-05:00

As I've mentioned before, when I was in college I spent a great deal of time studying protests. I also spent hours watching footage from the Seattle WTO protests and studying the police response. As I'm watching the protests currently underway in France I am struck by the similarities between these two protests. The police response is hardly adequate in this mass of humanity. Police are surrounded on all sides as they push against a group of protesters, their backs are literally unprotected.

In Seattle, plain-clothes policemen had to travel through the rioting crowds with duffel bags filled with more tear gas. Those bags of tear gas were, minutes before, delivered to Seattle by way of private aircraft from other jurisdictions. While watching these small groups of policemen (5-6) standing in the middle of a crowd, kicking their shields I can't help but wonder when we'll see plain-clothes policemen carrying duffel bags through the crowd.

Also, whoever said that violent protest doesn't get your issue out, obviously was not watching the coverage of Seattle back in '99 or Paris in '06. I have never seen as much coverage of a protest on live television, nor have I heard so many anchors and analysts talk about the issue that they are protesting against. They have done a better job describing the issues in Paris then they have in discussing the issue with immigration here in the United States.

Last note, I was surprised to see how many of the protesters were carrying cameras. I would expect that pretty soon we'll be seeing these pictures up on flickr.

Immigration Pt. 4

2006-03-27T23:03:00.000-05:00

(Check out Pt. 1 HERE, Pt. 2 HERE, and Pt. 3 HERE)

Illegal immigration to the United States will not be solved by any easy solutions such as a wall. The topic needs to be looked at from a different angle. Instead of asking how to stop people from illegally crossing the boarders, we need to step back and ask ‘why’ people illegally immigrate to the United States. The short answer is of course economic reasons. People emigrate to this country every day, legally and illegally, in order to start a better life and to make better money.

So then what can we do? Lower the quality of life in this country or help to raise the quality of life in other countries? In this age of globalization, many countries in South and Central America are floating in debt from both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Now, don’t worry I’m not going to launch into an unhinged anti-globalization argument. I am however going to question the efficiency of the programs run by these new economy global organizations. While their intentions are good, the outcome is harming our neighbors.

First things first, we need to rethink our economic interests in the southern hemisphere. Instead of sending factories south of the border in search of low-cost labor, we should ensure that CAFTA is implemented fully. That’s right, I’m coming out in favor of a trade agreement. The reason I’m doing so is because CAFTA actually has an entire section on labor standards. We as a country, with labor laws and the freedom to create unions, need to ensure that those countries we do business with follow our example. By raising safety standards, by raising the living wage in these countries we will be able to slow the illegal immigration into the United States. The downside to this, obviously, is that in return we will have to pay more that $8 for a garbage can. Are Americans willing to pay more at the big box stores in order to solve the problem of illegal immigration? I’m not sure.

In the mean time, if we as a society are unwilling to spend more on products, we need to protect those immigrants that are already living and working in the United States. One of the basic arguments against illegal immigration is the loss of jobs. As I stated before the reason these jobs go to illegal immigrants is the low wages. Instead of fining employers who employ illegal immigrants, we should be fining employers who are paying below an industry standard. This will be hard to prosecute, I understand, but some of the proposals on the table right now would be just as hard, if not harder to investigate and prosecute (See the WP article in my Immigration In The News post). Raising the wages for jobs traditionally taken by illegal immigrants will accomplish two things. First, higher wages will raise the amount of money that immigrants are paid, thereby eliminating the need for them to have 2-3 jobs. Second, it will make these jobs more attractive to people who would usually not take them.

Finally, I have a question. Does anyone have a real example (something that has happened to them, or a documented case) where illegal immigration has harmed the country or yourself? Since 2 people visit this site daily, I don’t expect an answer, but it’s something to think about.

A quick note...

2006-03-27T15:56:00.000-05:00

On commenting. First, please do. I enjoy reading what people have to say. Second, please leave out any profanity or course language. As I've mentioned in the past my own rules on commenting are pretty lax, I've had to up the security recently though due to spam. Please don't let this deter you. That's all, don't spam and don't swear. Easy rules.

Immigration (in the news)

2006-03-27T01:34:00.000-05:00

After reading this Washington Post article, I almost feel like I don't have to finish up with Part 4 even though it touchs on nothing that I wanted to say.

Help Wanted as Immigration Faces Overhaul (WP)
How Proposals Would Affect Business (WP)

Immigration Pt. 3

2006-03-26T14:28:00.000-05:00

(Check out Pt. 1 HERE and Pt. 2 HERE)

In national politics now, we have weekend warriors patrolling the boarders with weapons calling themselves Minutemen. These guys are viewed as heroes on shows such as Lou Dobbs while the religious leaders who are out to make sure those who do make it across the boarder are safe and well cared for, are derided as lawbreakers. My views on politics aside, letting loose a group of guys with guns on the border with absolutely no mandate is a dangerous situation.

On the more sanctioned side of things, people are also proposing building a large wall along the entire boarder of Mexico and the United States. To use sarcasm for a minute, this is a great idea. I believe that at this time we have better things to be spending our money on than trying to keep out immigrants from Latin and Central America. Some argue that if not to keep out illegal immigrants than to protect America from terrorists. They have a point, the hijackers on 9/11 did in fact enter America through an unsecured boarder where they were able to move freely once inside the United States. So I propose that instead of building a wall along the Mexican boarder, we build that wall along the unprotected boarder that terrorists have tried to get through and done so successfully, the Canadian-American Boarder.

I’m not saying that it will never happen, that possible terrorists will eventually try to enter through Mexico, but with the lax restrictions on immigration into Canada makes it a more convenient option. This is especially true as long as Terrorists want to be able to move around without raising suspicions. Just to make things a little clearer, I am not in fact advocating building a wall along the Canadian boarder either.

Along with the minuteman project and the possibilities of building a wall, there are several legislative solutions as well. The first of these is what has caused recent protests. It is H.R. 4437 the title is rather long and obtuse but the part of the bill that is causing contention is making illegal immigration a felony. The summary can be found HERE (CRS, Congressional Research Service is a non-partisan division of the Library of Congress.) The second option is to enforce current immigration laws and to create a guest worker program. This program is advocated by the President.

I have several problems with the wall and the immigration as a felony legislation and they come down to one real reason. Whatever your stance on immigration is right now, understand this fact; there are currently hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants living and working within the United States right now. As I stated in earlier posts it is not uncommon for them to have upwards of 3 jobs each. If we are to expel all these immigrants the American economy would crumble, food would not be prepared, hotels would not be cleaned and these are just the generalized examples.

Creating a hostile environment for illegal immigrants in this country will not solve the problem of illegal immigration, it will only serve to harm those carrying the American economy on their backs. The reason that these jobs go to immigrants is because they are in the underground and therefore it is not necessary to pay them a decent wage. To create a more hostile situation would only decrease the amount that employers would be willing to pay, not the number of immigrants.

Stay tuned for pt. 4 (HERE)

Immigration Pt. 2

2006-03-26T12:23:00.000-05:00

(Check out Pt. 1 HERE)

The next argument will involve Josh and John. Illegal immigrants are lazy and jobless. It has been my experience and the experience of many others I know, that they are in fact not lazy nor jobless at all. Take Josh for example. Josh lives in a 3 bedroom house with the rest of his family and friends. How large is his family? Let’s just say he shares his bedroom with his wife, mother and father.

In order to pay for living like this Josh has 3 jobs. He once told me about all the places he’s lived and worked. Josh had traveled from El Salvador to Florida. In Florida he spent several years working on a citrus farm where he told me the pay was very much. Later he moved up to South Carolina working in the service industry, again he felt the need to move because the pay wasn’t enough to live on. After South Carolina, Josh moved up to New York City where he again worked in the service industry but left soon after for the same reason. He told me it was fun, but he wasn’t making enough. That is what brought him down to metro-D.C. Josh moved 4 times over the course of 5 years just to make enough money to live.

How many people can say they are willing to relocate so they can afford their bedroom? How many people are willing to relocate to another country in order to afford their bedroom?

John had a similar story but an easier time. John had two jobs working as cooks in different restaurants. During the day he would work at my restaurant and at 5:00 he would run, literally run, down the street to his next job located about 15 blocks away. John, because of his status as a cook makes more money than Josh but is still fighting to make ends meet.

I haven’t seen the three of them since the restaurant closed down so I’m not sure how their stories are going now. I do know that before the restaurant closed Jane was in the process of being deported back to El Salvador. Her Husband was going to be staying in The United States, while Jane traveled back with her daughter. Josh, obviously had to find a new 3^rd job as did John. Now these were only three stories, but I assure you that they are not the outliers but the average.

Stay tuned for pt. 3 (HERE)

physical liquidation

2006-03-26T03:01:00.000-05:00

What exactly do they mean when they say "physical liquidation"?

Immigration Pt. 1

2006-03-26T01:51:00.000-05:00

The topic du jour seems to be immigration, so I feel like I too should jump into the void and discuss it here.

Immigration is not just a current topic, but has been a sore subject to Americans for many, many years. This recent incarnation of immigration uproar seems to be focusing on those people coming from Latin and Central America. First let me start by saying that when I worked in Congress, I disagreed with the people I was working with and for. They believed that to allow amnesty for illegal aliens would undermine the traditional means for legal immigration.

While I respected their opinion on this I still felt it unfair to those who had fought so hard to make it into our country. I’ve heard people say things such as “If those people marching loved America so much they’d be carrying American flags, not their own countries,”(emphasis mine). This of course was in reference to the recent marches held across the country. Perhaps they were striving more to show how the people in the march came from such a variety of different countries and how wonderful that was? Besides the fact that, that argument is so very weak. Ask any person on the street where they’re from and you will get all sorts of answers that do not involve the words United States of America.

I have also heard arguments about the economics of large scale immigration. Many people are operating under the belief that illegal immigrants are a major drain on our economy. This belief stems from the fact that most illegal immigrants do not pay federal or state income tax. This is true to a certain extent. They of course do not have social security numbers or the right to work in the United States so they do not, in fact pay traditional taxes. They are, however, consumers and as such pay sales taxes. They drive, and as such pay road tolls. Also small businesses who employee illegal immigrants earn more money because they do not pay immigrants as much, that money is again taxed and usually at a higher rate. Immigrants are not a drain on the economy, in fact they are the exact opposite.

Throughout these posts I will mention three friends of mine, I’ve changed their names for obvious reasons; John, Jane and Josh. These three friends are illegal immigrants and used to work in the same restaurant that I did. I’m going to mention Jane first because of the next argument. Illegal immigrants receive free health care and “we” end up paying for it.

The second week I was working at the restaurant Jane hurt her foot while grocery shopping. Another shopper had run over her foot with a fully loaded cart and broken her toe along with some other damage. Jane ended up spending all night in the emergency room only to have them bandage up her foot when she really needed stitches, her toe was not set. Did Jane walk out free of charge? Nope, she was charged over $300 for some gauze and the advice to “stay off her foot.” I heard this story the next morning when I walked into the kitchen and she was standing at the stoves cleaning them with one shoe and one sandal. Jane did not receive free health care and we are not paying for it.

stay tuned for pt. 2 (here)

Sleepiness

2006-03-26T00:39:00.000-05:00

You know you're sleepy when you see the abbreviation for Tennessee and in your head you say Tennsylvania...

Busy day

2006-03-24T14:23:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy day in the shenanoblogosphere... I just came up with that. Yes, 3 posts is a busy day.

Recently the Washington Post added a conservative blogger to their roll, titled Red America. Many others in the blogs have written extensively about this and I'll try to link to them at the bottom. What most people were talking about was how Red America's writer, Ben Domenech, already had a blog and it was called Red State. Some questioned why the Washington Post would go with this blogger who already has a foundation and site, when D.C. is literally filled with conservatives who are articulate. Some of these people came from within the Washington Post itself. Jim Brady, the executive editor of the Washington Post, stated that Red America was meant to balance out the paper, although he also said it wasn't meant to balance out anyone in particular.

So here is my question. Shouldn't a newspaper be objective, not subjective? I understand that blogs have a certain editorial board feeling to them but when they're aligned with a news organization shouldn't they differentiate in statements concerning balance? Some other bloggers have questioned why the Washington Post didn't roll out a Blue America at the same time as Red America.

Well all these questions are moot now. It turns out that Ben Demenech is a plagarist. GASP, a blogger accused of plagarism? Should bloggers really be held to the same standards of journalistic integrity as newspapers if they won't be held to the same standards of objectivity? Since this news has come out Mr. Demenech has resigned from Red America and this little experiment at the Post has come to an end. Perhaps next time around they'll be a little smarter about who they choose and how they set it up.

Red America(WP)

FishbowlDC

Michelle Malkin

Howard Kurtz (WP)

Social Networking

2006-03-24T13:56:00.000-05:00

On MSNBC just now, a woman said this: "Teenagers are in as much danger on social network sites as they are walking around the streets of NYC." (paraphrased)

Ok... so can you get mugged on MySpace? What about the thousands of teenagers walking the streets of NYC right now? Are they in horrible danger? It's stories like that, that make me enraged. They have no facts to back up their outrageous claims but they decide to do it anyway because they're completely ignorant on the subject. We all know what Yoda says about ignorance. You don't know what Yoda says about that? Perhaps I have just revealed a bit of my dorkiness.

In Defense of Spring Time

2006-03-24T13:22:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week I mentioned that it is in fact not supposed to snow in March, in Virginia, this is true.  We are currently about 20 degrees below the average temperature for this time of year.

This part will seem like a digression, but get used to it, this post will be filled with them.  I come from a list-making family.  My mother makes several lists a day and my father has been known to make lists regarding his workday.  My mother relies upon lists so heavily that (this is a warning to my brother, I’m about to sell you out) my brother, Matt, once said; “if you took her lists away, she wouldn’t know what to do for the rest of the day.”  I myself have never been a list person; I rely upon a complicated post-it notes and legal pad arrangement that is sometimes supplemented by index cards.  To the untrained eye, it would look like chaos but it makes perfect sense to me.  I do however make lists, usually in my head, about things I like, dislike, want or don’t want.  For instance, I have a list of things I like about warm weather (light bulb, now it all makes sense…)

First, my favorite part about warm weather is waking up early in the morning, going outside where it’s already 90 or so degrees out, and taking in the convection like qualities.  Secondly, I enjoy two different tasks that can only really happen with warm weather, at least to their full extent.  When I was staying with friends in Maryland, I would metro down to Dupont Circle, grabbing a coffee and newspaper along the way.  I conducted my (first) job and apartment searches from a park bench in Dupont Circle.  Now when it’s warm out I grab a coffee and newspaper and head down to one of the many parks located along the Potomac in Old Town.  Why do I travel so far away just to sip some coffee and read the paper?

I have found that the distance in a trip is what makes a trip fun.  If it weren’t for the distance, it wouldn’t be an adventure.  I’m sure my friend Erica would beg to differ.  Most of our trips home involve my attempts to get her to snort diet Dr. Pepper from her nose.  To this day she still dislikes diet Dr. Pepper.  Also a side note to the makers of diet Dr. Pepper, it doesn’t in fact taste like regular Dr. Pepper, but I’m sure Erica would tell you that it does feel the same as regular Dr. Pepper when being snorted out of a nose at mach 2.

Back to the list, the second task that I enjoy on a warm day is grabbing a cheeseburger and a root beer.  This, of course, can be done on a cold day just as easily but it wouldn’t be the same.  A hot off the grill cheeseburger and a large root beer just taste better when it’s warm out.  Yesterday was the day that I was able to grab these two things.  For those of you who live in the metro-D.C. area and haven’t had a Five Guys burger, then you’re missing out.  It’s obviously not as good as any one of the Rochester area diners burgers.  But it will do and it did.

Here’s hoping to more warm weather.

The Constant Gardener

2006-03-23T19:25:00.000-05:00

On my way back from Christmas this year my Mom put several books in my bag because I was in a desperate search for new reading material. One of these books was The Constant Gardener. I quickly went through this book and also ordered the movie through netflix. This was a great story, and memorable as well.

So when I came across this article this afternoon I was shocked by the parallels (right down to the same locations). For those of you who have not read or seen the movie, The Constant Gardener revolves around a story about a flawed drug used to treat drug-resistant TB.

Just in case you missed it in the post: Alarming Rise in Drug-Resistant TB

Software

2006-03-23T00:36:00.000-05:00

I recently downloaded and installed something called Konfabulator. I have to admit that I am a PC person, but I am envious of one thing about Mac's. I love their desktop appearance. The very empty desktop and the zoom bar located at the bottom. On the one hand I'm of the mind that everything you use should be easily accessible at all times, on the other it drives me nuts to have to search through 15+ icons just to find a web browser or Microsoft Word. When I got my new laptop, the first thing I did was remove everything from the desktop except for the recycling bin and the My Computer icon.

Konfabulator, in theory, is a good thing. It is basically just a program that allows you to download "widgets" which are basically applets that perform different tasks. Once I had downloaded it, I realized that there are not that many widgets that I would want on my computer. So far, I have only downloaded 2 and used 1.

The first widget I downloaded is an alarm clock that uses your iTunes playlist as the alarm (haven't tried it yet but I'm looking forward to be awoken by my favorite songs). The second widget I downloaded was of course a zoom bar that looks very much like Mac zoom bar. After some tweaking I was able to put the programs on there that I use the most.

After those two widgets I realized that there was nothing else good about this program. There are many RSS readers, but I already use Thunderbird for that, so why bother with another program? There are about 200 different widgets so you can listen to individual online radio stations. Hey, I've got an idea, why not make one widget so you can listen to all the radio stations? Oh yeah, I forgot I use iTunes for that. Then there were about 1,000 different clock widgets. Anyone who's reading this blog, owns a computer so therefore knows that there's already a clock function available and absolutely no point to creating a new program for this.

All in all, not worth it for that one widget I now use. Kinda disappointing and I'm hoping they come out with some widgets that are actually helpful.

High Speed Chase

2006-03-22T20:21:00.000-05:00

There are only a couple of reasons that I will sit down to watch Fox News (GASP).  First, is after a major political story breaks, I tend to watch to see what the right is saying about it.  Second, if there’s a car chase in southern California.  That’s right, I’m one of those people.  When I worked on the hill, staffers would alert e-mail lists of car chases so that those of us who didn’t have our office sets tuned to Fox, could join in on the fun.

Tonight was one of those times when my television was taking in the action on the freeways of LA.  For 45 minutes, I watched an SUV weave back and forth through heavy traffic, ducking into McDonald’s parking lots and swerving around parked cars.  This is “good” tv.  I say good in quotes, because while it’s not the type of highbrow (Daily Show, Family Guy, Scrubs) television that I normally watch, it is something I just can’t turn off.

This made me think about just how smart car chases actually are. This guy was accused of grand theft auto and to be fair that’s all I knew, he could very well have also murdered 30 people before he stole the car.  But is it worth it, the risk to the public both driving alongside and walking on the streets to have these high speed chases?  I know that police departments are constantly reviewing and questioning their practices in order to answer this question, but it seems to me that unless someone has committed a violent crime, there is absolutely no reason to conduct a high-speed chase.

Except of course, if there’s nothing better on tv.

Things it's not supposed to do in March:

2006-03-21T23:35:00.000-05:00

1.) SNOW

"Overheard" in D.C.

2006-03-21T21:46:00.000-05:00

I don't go into the city very often anymore, so when I do go in I am quickly reminded of the crazy things that people say to each other within earshot of many, many others. So in the best traditions of Overheard in New York, I give you the few quotes I walked away with over the past two days:

"BOO!"
Context: Guy leaning out the window of a truck, driving past me on my way to the bank

"Well put the goddamn sign where I can goddamn see it!"
Context: Guy yelling at a garage attendant about not being able to see the 'lot is full' sign hanging over the garage entrance, I was across the street and saw it while he was pulling in.

"It's spring man, it's spring! Don't I look spring-full!"
Context: Homeless guy on the bridge as I walked into Georgetown.

"I told him to get out of my apartment, no one watches 'American Idol' on my tv."
"Seriously?"
"No, but I threw the remote at him."
Context: Riding the elevator in Longworth House Office Building.

"Where are you guys going?"
"To the Congressman's house."
"He in trouble again?"
Sidelong glance at me..."NO."
Context: Again, riding the elevator in Cannon House Office Building.

"F*** You Cheney!"
Context: Guy yelling at a limo that was not carrying Vice President Cheney through foggy bottom.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

2006-03-20T00:00:00.000-05:00

If you see a certain father o' mine in upstate New York today, make sure you say 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!'

Happy Birthday Dad.

Dems V. GOP '06

2006-03-19T21:40:00.000-05:00

So after my tirade the other day of the problems the Dems are facing in '06 I read two seperate articles today about how the Republicans are having the same difficulties with keeping things together. Although, I would assume not to the same extent as the Democrats are, see: Russ Feingold and censurship.

At the same time that these articles are coming out, new polls are showing some interesting numbers about where Democrats are headed in the coming months.

Newsweek: Repbulican Party: United No More?

WP: GOP Struggles To Define Its Platform for 2006 Elections

Up to no bueno (vol.1 issue.8)

2006-03-19T02:48:00.000-05:00

The other day while waiting in line at the grocery store, I was flanked by a woman talking on her hands-free set. She was speaking rather loudly and I was wearing headphones, so you can't really call this eaves dropping ( I was in fact not dropping any eaves). She was in line to buy about 18 lightbulbs, three bottles of flavored water and a steak. In between wondering what in the world she was planning on making with those ingredients I caught little bits of her conversation. She was complaining about her current assistant and how sloppy she is;

"She comes into work without her shirt tucked in, who does that? I told her she has 36 days to get it together or else. What? No, she's great and she loves working for me but she dresses so unprofessionally."

I couldn't help but think about this poor assistant and what awaited her at the end of her 36 day probationary period. Isn't 36 days kind of a random amount of time to begin with? I mean who needs 36 days to learn to tuck in their shirt? I personally don't remember learning specifically to tuck in my shirt but I know it must have happened along the way at some point and I'm fairly certain it didn't take me 36 days to do it. I also know that on occasion it happens on it's own when I'm getting dressed and then I am forced to un-tuck my shirt if I'm going for a more casual look. Secondly, if your assistant likes what they're doing for you and they, presumably, are doing a good job, what does it matter if their shirt is untucked?

I have had numerous jobs throughout my life, 14 to be nearly exact and I haven't been fired from a single one. I have however quit 1 of them, which means that I've had 13 happy campers. This woman who has yet to learn how to tuck in her shirt may soon be fired over something that has nothing to do with her job performance. Why have I had 13 happy campers? Because I am constantly afraid that a poor job performance will lead to me being fired and in my paranoid mind all employers have a hive mind and will immediately know that I did bad at one job. So when I thought about this woman being fired over her less-than-stellar appearance, did I think I should turn around and say; "don't fire her if she's doing a good job!" or did I think; "I tuck my shirt in!"

Hey, alls fair in job searches.

Political Movements

2006-03-17T00:46:00.000-05:00

When I was in college, I was required to write a thesis or an Independent Study. My major throughout college was political science with a focus on political movements, so when it came time to pick my topic for my thesis it was a no brainer. I chose to write about political movements. Why such an extreme focus you ask?

Tonight I went to go see V for Vendetta and it shed some light on the topic. In the movie, there is a scene in which tens of thousands of London-ites rise up against the oppressive dystopia that has ruled over them for years. That scene which showed a movement taking action was powerful. For those of you who have witnessed large-scale protests in person you will know what I am talking about. Seeing a mass sea of humanity passionately (if only for a day) expressing their opinion is again, a powerful thing. I realize that football and baseball games also have tens of thousands of people, but the feeling is completely different.

Over the years, there have been several key points in political movements. Today, when people are asked what words they would associate with protests, my guess is that they would say; Seattle, Vietnam, Iraq, Cooks, etc. etc. These may be the most obvious and televised answers but they are not what immediately come to mind for me.

When I was in college, Yugoslavia disbanded creating the several states that we now know as Albania, Serbia, etc. etc. While this may have started as a couple of wars prompted by then dictator Slobodan Milosevic (recently deceased), it ended with a mass political movement the likes of which had not been seen in eastern Europe since the fall of the Soviet Union. The most hearkening part of this movement, the best part of this story, is when the army which was sent to thwart the citizens, stood down. They stepped aside and in some cases joined with, the protesters. Before Yugoslavia came China and Tiananmen Square. The starting of that movement is complicated and I suggest you read as much about it as you can, but again the most powerful moment was captured and broadcasted around the world instantly. You may remember it as well. The last moment I will mention occurred recently and you may remember this as well. Again, it took place in Eastern Europe, this time in the Ukraine. The "Orange Revolution", where people slept in a tent city for weeks waiting for democracy to take hold.

I mention these things not for any ulterior reasons but because I've been watching a lot of movies lately that seem to focus on dystopias (V for Vendetta, Ultraviolet, etc. etc.) and it makes me feel better to know that if things ever get that bad, people (of any nationality) will fight back. I also mention these movements because this is my blog, and I find it fascinating.

"Citizens shouldn't be afraid of their government, government should be afraid of its citizens" - V for Vendetta.

Link-o-rama: The Vanishing Link

2006-03-15T11:29:00.000-05:00

I was looking for a part IV movie title for this weeks link-o-rama, but I found this instead; hence the vanishing link. I thought about it last week and said to myself: "Self, no more link-o-rama's, it's a cheap way to fill up blog space" but then I just kept finding more and more links I wanted to share, in fact I have so many links this week I can't even use them all. So here are the winners.

A great editorial on how much time Congress will be in session this year: The Part-Time Congress (WP)

Breaking news: Barry Bonds Does Steroids!

Pretty cool, and nerdy, idea. What if one of Odysseus' soldiers had a blog? (of course he would have used Blogger): Under Odysseus

Every summer Washington-ites complain about the tourist mob that threatens the stability of our sanity on the Metro. Now these would be tourists can learn a subway system before they get to their desitnation or figure it out once they get there: Subway Navigator

South by Southwest just took place and there were several panels on bloggery. Luckily for those of us who couldn't get down to Austin for the fun, they have podcasts... of the panels, not the music. Check out the Jason Kottke / Heather Armstrong keynote panel: SXSW

Some people may have heard about this story, but for those of you who haven't, check out the strain on US - Canadian relations this digital camera caused: Lost Camera

Lazy Sunday

2006-03-15T00:26:00.000-05:00

Saw this on Kottke.org, listen for what the guy in the van says at the end. For those of you who can't tell what it is he's saying: "Those things can't be that good..." At any rate this line is ridiculous and I fully agree with the van-guy, no cupcake is worth that.

Exceedingly Eloquent Concession Speeches

2006-03-14T23:16:00.000-05:00

While watching Boston Legal tonight the character Alan Shore gave one of his speeches that made me stop and think for a minute or two. He talked about how when the missing WMD's happened, he thought the American people would rise up and then when Abu Ghraib and renditions and warrantless wiretapping. He talked about how he was continuously frustrated by the lack of interest by the American people in these seemingly scandalous events. Now, the purpose of this post isn't to make my father immediately close his browser, it's to vent my own frustrations.

To move from David E. Kelly to Aaron Sorkin for a minute;

"People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand." (The American President)

I know what you're going to say, both of these guys are liberal. Perhaps they are, so what. They're both right... to a certain extent. The Democrats (myself included) have been sitting on the collective couch for years, grouching about any number of things and waiting, I'm gonna say that again cause it's important, waiting for people to agree with them. Now, to a certain extent this plan is working. I mean if President Bush has a 36% approval rating and that's 2x as much as the Vice President how can you mess that up? How about by sitting on the couch?

Democrats need to understand that leadership isn't just waiting for a chance to lead, it's leading when no one is looking. Right now the approval ratings for everyone are down, not just the Executive branch. The last couple of election cycles the senior Democrats have stood outside the Capitol building, trying to sell a variation on the Contract With America. The problems with this idea are so numerous I can't even use a variation on two-fold or even ten-fold. But I will shrink the list down in the hopes of making this a readable post.

The Democrats Contract(s) with America tend to be vague ideas on what they may do when they attain control of the Congress. The Contract(s) also usually come out about one or two weeks before the election, way to late to even make a difference. Lastly, and this goes hand in hand with the last reason, the Democratic party is a "big tent" party. By "big tent" we are referring to a party that is made up of many different viewpoints and ideologies.

For instance in the Democratic party it is O.K. to be against abortion in any form, just ask the Governor of South Dakota. While this sounds good in theory, it doesn't work very well in reality. The Dem's have several leaders; Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Howard Dean, Chuck Schumer, Joseph Biden, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, I could in fact list every member of the Democratic party at this point. When Howard Dean says something that Harry Reid disagrees with he comes out and says it and the same is true about everyone else. Again, while good in theory, it only makes the party look like what it is; fractured and incapable of action.

So now, to the point. Democrats need to get off the couch. Instead of trying to capture what Newt Gingrich and the Republicans did in the '94 election, try something different. I agree that it's important to have a common voice and a party platform, but if it's too little too late then why bother? Come out now, or better yet 4 months ago, with a coherent and policy laden plan. Make that plan easy to understand yet comprehensive. Make sure that those who are running in primaries get word of this plan and agree with it. Better yet make sure that Democrats agree with it, and I'm not speaking of party activists but mainstream Democrats. One of the main arguments that Dem's like to pull when they're being criticized is their lack of a bully pulpit. They argue this as if Tim Russert, George Stephanopolous, etc. etc. would turn down requests to appear on the Sunday morning talk shows to unveil a new policy strategy.

Lastly, I know that those in control of the party now believe that it is "their turn" to run things. How very, very wrong they are. Not only should this not be a turn based system, it shouldn't even be close to an aristocracy. Their are tens of thousands of active Democrats out there. Everytime the Dem's lose an election they're not only squandering money donated, they are letting down their supporters. What exactly is the point of a party that is only good at two things; soul searching after a loss and as Sarah Vowell put it: "writing exceedingly eloquent concession speeches".

Takin a Break

2006-03-10T14:09:00.000-05:00

Goin home for the weekend. Check out Weather.com for what I'm leaving behind and what I'm getting in return. It's like 74 degrees here today and in New York it's about -20 degrees with a chance of penguins.

Reviews N' Stuff

2006-03-09T19:25:00.000-05:00

What's that you say? You haven't been to Reviews N' Stuff yet? Well guess what, there's reviews of Mini-Wheats, Domino, Running Scared, two reviews of Ultraviolet. What are you waiting for that's good stuff.

And seriously, let us know what you'd like to see a review of. This stuff isn't going to review itself you know.

Back to the point

2006-03-09T14:27:00.000-05:00

Last week I had a second interview that went, well let’s just say it didn’t go how I would have liked, because it didn’t. It wasn’t what I said or what they said, it seems to me now that it perhaps wasn’t a great fit. When people are interviewing prospective employees they aren’t just looking for someone who is competent, if you’ve made it to the second interview they already have screened you for that. What they are looking for is someone who would be a good fit with the rest of the employees. Anyone who has ever hired me knows full well that the person they interviewed (professional, nervous me) is not the necessarily the person who comes into work on the first day (professional yet sarcastic and laid back me).

While the second interview didn’t go great, it also wasn’t horrible. At the end of the interview they informed me that they would be making their decision sometime early this week. That brings you up to speed to today. I haven’t heard back, which raises an interesting question for me. I’m not good about writing thank you notes, in fact I hate it. It takes me about 2-3 hours to figure out what I want to say, to write it out once or twice to check handwriting and what not and then once more as a final copy. One paragraph of about 4 sentences can take me about 30-40 minutes to write out longhand. But here’s the thing, I do it. I always write thank you notes after an interview, informational interview etc. So why then, is it that I never get a call back if they haven’t chosen me?

I understand that it’s not a fun thing to do, to call someone and give them bad news. I have in the past, been forced to call them back and ask, “I was just checking in because I hadn’t heard back…” Every time I’ve had to do this, I’ve been disappointed. Why force me to wait around only to make what turns out to be an embarrassing and morale busting call? It only seems like the polite and professional thing to call someone when you’ve told them you will. Now, just in case there’s any confusion, I haven’t in fact heard one way or another whether I actually got this job but I’m guessing since it’s the end of the week and not the beginning, that I haven’t. Also, I don’t hold this against them. In the long run I understand that people are busy and if there’s a list of things that needs to get done and this unpleasant task is on them I wouldn’t want to do it either. But once again, I would, even if I didn’t want to.

You asked for it, I've got it...

2006-03-08T13:56:00.000-05:00

A lot of traffic lately is looking for Jon Stewart. Well I've got the next best thing.

1st Amendment Rights

2006-03-07T20:33:00.000-05:00

There was an awesome protest at the Capitol today. When I worked on the hill I would see a protest of some sort almost every oher day. I loved seeing these protests, whether I agreed with them or not, the amount of energy coming from a group of people passionate about an issue is awesome.

Todays protest was anti-anti-immigration or you know, pro-immigration.

Link-o-rama: Return of the Link

2006-03-06T22:42:00.000-05:00

Early in the week links, they were just starting to pile up.

30 Second Bunny Theater, a troupe of bunnies parodies movies in 30 seconds: Angry Alien

Hoth for the 2014 Winter Olympics: Hoth2014

Short post on the utility of blogs: "Because you can't live in a hammer"

How backwards is Virginia?: Living With Outhouses in 2006 (MSNBC)

A whole site dedicated to better photography: Just Show Me How To

If you click on this link and stand in front of your computer you'll look like Bush when he went to the NSA, no joke: Talisker Computer Network Defense Operational Picture

LEGOS!!!: Top 10 Strangest Lego Creations

And last, but certainly not least, I give you... the new X-men 3 trailer: X3: The Last Stand

Live Blogging-ish: The Oscars

2006-03-05T23:33:00.000-05:00

(scroll down for updates)

By all accounts people will probably say that Jon Stewart bombed in the opening of the Oscars. There were few laughs from the audience. I find this a little annoying and amazing, considering the fact that most of the people in the audience have at one point sat across the desk from Jon Stewart and laughed hysterically at his jokes.

Nonetheless, I know I was laughing at Stewart's jokes and not out of pity.

Ben Stiller, Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, Whoopi Goldberg, David Letterman, Billy Crystal and Chris Rock all helped out with the same quirky style of humor. We'll see how the rest of the show goes. All I'm sayin is that if I have to miss out on another week of the West Wing and an episode of Gray's Anatomy then they better start laughing at the jokes.

8:45pm Update: I'm a fan of Zach Braff... but seriously, how many years in a row are they going to have animated presenters? Does the Academy really expect us to be awed by this still?

8:55pm: Will Ferrell and Steve Carell are taking the stage soon. I'm expecting Stephen Colbert to come running out at any moment. This has to be some indication of the entertainment value of the Daily Show. I read somewhere that they only reach about 1.5 million viewers yet both Jon Stewart and Steve Carell are appearing in the superbowl of the entertainment industry.

9:01pm: wow, did they really have to cut the mic on that woman who won the oscar for the chronic-WHAT-les of narnia.

9:13pm: Lauren Bacall had some trouble reading off the prompter, perhaps she needed her glasses? Kinda cringe-worthy.

9:15pm: Jon Stewart has brought his daily show humor to the Oscars, FINALLY. Some awesome fake Oscar campaign commercials for best actress. (i.e. Dames for Truth: anti-Judy Dench, Kiera Knightly: Acting despite being beautiful).

9:26pm: Best song performance -Crash- why do I feel like I'm watching a mid-90's MTV video? FYI the woman who was singing and who also composed the song is Congresswoman Andrea Wyatt from the West Wing (Toby's ex-wife).

9:55pm: Jon Stewart is right, how many montages can they really put in one show?

10:05pm: Lily Tomlin rocks.

10:20pm: I read earlier in the week that they weren't going to edit out the song from Hustle and Flow but they did. I think I heard "Witch" about 25-30 times.

10:27pm: Sweet! more campaign commercials!

10:44pm: Oscar Winner Hillary Swank -- Didn't she win for The Core?

10:48pm: PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN!! Hometown boy done good. Phil and I ( I call him that cause we're close) went to the same high school... like 15 years apart. Still we're from the same town. Look for Fairport High School to appear in People magazine next week.

11:01pm: Every actor out there who thinks you can't go from poorly written/ directed popcorn movie (Legally Blonde 1 & 2, Sweet Home Alabama) to oscar winner need only check out Reese Witherspoon, not to mention Jamie Fox (Stealth) and Hillary Swank (The Core). Did they let her talk for like 20 minutes or what?

11:04pm: Best picture is up next, guess it's time to go to bed.

11:11pm: Best screenplay speech: I guess when you're a winner you can wear whatever you want. I don't think you're allowed to say something that deep when standing next to someone who looks that dufus-y. Oh and Larry, next time "Wear an undershirt, dude."

11:20pm: Ang Lee: "I wish I could quit you." He doesn't get to say that, I don't care if he won the oscar or not, he has subjected all of us to years of "I wish I could quit you." Not cool Ang, not cool... but you know, congrats on the whole oscar winning thing.

11:22pm: Best picture winner is...

11:23pm: Crash, honestly though who didn't see that one coming? Plus, how many people are goin up on stage? That's like 1/4 of the audience standing up.

11:28pm: I guess they felt the need to cut Paul Haggis off from giving his speech so that they could end for the nightly news... and so that Jon Stewart could go on Jimmy Kimmel live. Like they couldn't run over by 3-5 minutes.

11:30pm: This ends my first and likely only live-blogging experience. Funny how the boredom of watching the oscars brought it out. I figured my first live-blog would come from something like the State of the Union or something. Oh well, hope the few who read it enjoyed.

footnote: for those of you who want to see what actual liveblogging is like check out Gothamist.

Up to no good (vol. 1 issue. 7)

2006-03-04T02:19:00.000-05:00

A lot to go through in this post I'll try to do it quickly. First, as you may have noticed above I have gotten around to changing the header. It only took many hours and many "Hey Joel... how do you...?" before it was accomplished. Let me know what you think.

Also I posted a picture (off my trusty cell phone "celly") of the view from my soon to be ex-office. Jealous?

Thirdly, about a month ago I started an experiment on this blog. The experiment involved Google Ads not-so-strategically placed along the top and side of the posts. As of yesterday I have to say that while these ads aren't paying the rent, they are making some $$$. So thank you to everyone who has been clicking away. Perhaps some day these ads will pay for actual server space so that this blog won't be hidden away in the blogger basement. Not that anyone's really going out of their way to find it.

Lastly, in my previous post about wonkette's new commenting policy I neglected to mention how I have no policy. Except that is to say I don't approve spam in my comments. I'm glad I didn't talk about my own low standards. Some of you may have noticed that the newest addition to the Supreme Court stopped by for a quick visit and left a nice little comment. Thank you to Justice Alito and I hope he becomes a regular reader, perhaps from time to time he can send a note over explaining his reasoning behind decisions and whatnot.

link-o-rama: The Links Strike Back

2006-03-02T23:24:00.000-05:00

This is where I post all the cool links I have found while searching the far reaches of the internet... or you know, the stuff I find while I'm supposed to be doing other... stuff.

Everybody loves a Wiki and I love Halo, it's only natural that I would like: Halopedia

Courtesy of Osaka Steve, this RV-style car is awesome: The GMC Pad

The stuff you hear people say in a city is quite remarkable. Luckily someone's been keepin track: Overheard in New York

Courtesy of Kottke.org, trailer mash-up of Toy Story 2 and Requiem for a Dream: Requiem for a Toy

Yet another @work website for lollygaggiers, get back to work! Office Pirates

And a shameless, shameless plug... shameless: Reviews N' Stuff

I'm cool now...

2006-03-02T19:55:00.000-05:00

Recently the Wonkette, and other Gawker sites rolled out commenting on their posts. The catch, though, was that you had to be invited by the individual sites in order to be allowed to comment. At first I thought this was just Wonkette being exclusionary and snobbish. Then they sent me an invite today and I realized just how low their standards really are.

Now, I have been heard saying: "I want to get a commenting pass so that I can talk about how much the new editors suck and how Ana Marie Cox was way better." Now that I actually have a pass, I won't do that, cause I'm cool and you're not. I will, however, up the ante. Since I have nothing to really add to the snark 99% of the time, you can send me your comments and I will be your wonkette, gawker proxy. Anything you send me I will post on their sites. good deal?

Holy Cr@p

2006-03-01T20:20:00.000-05:00

Those of you who know me, know that I can be pretty partisan. Lately though, I've been looking at things through a lens called "how would I react if this was a democrat?" Tonight I was watching Lou Dobbs, there was nothin else on leave me alone. They broke in with a developing story about a video showing Bush getting briefed ahead of Katrina. Let me just say when I saw this, I didn't even need to pick up my new lens. This is ridiculous, this is outrageous and I have a feeling that no one is going to care and that makes me more mad. If you haven't seen this you should.

Bush warned before Katrina

Up to no good (vol. 1 issue. 6)

2006-03-01T19:48:00.000-05:00

For those of you who were wondering how my interview went with the DCCC, it went really well/ meh. You see, I had two interviews. The first one obviously went really well and the second one went alright but I have no idea how they felt. I should hear back sometime next week as to whether I got the gig or not, so I'm sure I'll write something about that later.

In other news, I lament my decision not to write about work on this blog. So many funny things happen at work and I can't talk about them. Oh well.

One thing I can talk about is my neighbors. I'm talking about the neighbors who walk around wearing wooden clogs. Now, I've never seen them wearing said clogs but I can only assume that they consider them their 'house shoes'. You see every morning I am awakened by the sound of someone walking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth for 30-45 minutes. It's not a plodding walk but a "Oops I forgot something I'm gonna pound over to my dresser to get my keys." You know what though? no one forgets their keys 20 times in a row. It's just impossible! So then why do they feel the need to walk so much? Who knows. Joel has hypothesized that they're not walking so much as rolling a giant rolling pin with pegs on the floor. When they're not rolling things on the floor they're discovering which pieces of furniture can fall over in the middle of the night. Let me tell you, all of their furniture can apparently fall over in the middle of the night. It's like they went to Ikea, stopped in at the bargain room and found every piece of 3 legged furniture they could find. I'm sure if I was in their apartment I would see 3 legged chairs, 3 legged coffee tables, 3 legged beds... well you get the idea.

Walking in NOVA

2006-02-27T19:46:00.000-05:00

I, like many residents of Northern Virginia, feel left out. You see in 2003 the Commonwealth of Virginia had 86 pedestrian fatalities in automobile accidents. Of those 86, 10 occurred in Northern Virginia. When I say Northern Virginia I mean Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax. I also feel left out because the politicians in the Commonwealth of Virginia often talk about the horrible traffic conditions in Northern Virginia. Our current Governor, Tim Kaine (D), whom I voted for recently has made traffic the centerpiece in his legislative agenda.

The reason I feel left out of these things if because I don't own a car. Sure I could count myself amongst those statistics in pedestrian fatalities and I'm sure the way drivers move around here I will be some day. While Tim Kaine believes that traffic congestion is purely the result of poorly planned roads (which it mostly is) and the exploding population, I think it also has to do with the idiocy of the drivers in Northern Virginia.

I said that 11 out of 86 pedestrian fatalities occurred in Northern Virginia but those numbers obviously don't include injuries, near misses, etc. or the car on car accidents. Every morning I listen to NPR where they have a traffic report for the area. Every morning there are at least 3-4 accidents being cleaned up somewhere in the area, be it the beltway, Virginia, Maryland or D.C. 3-4 accidents a day seems like nothing, but I'm only talking about the morning. that's 1,095-1460 accidents a year, all taking place in the morning.

Perhaps before we start restructuring our horrible roads and freeways, before we create more hotlanes and HOV's, we should get rid of all the stupid drivers. That way I can walk in the middle of the beltway and never see a car or at least not worry about getting broadsided while coming back from chipotle.

Darren McGavin 1922-2006

2006-02-26T17:16:00.000-05:00

Best known as the cranky, turkey loving father from A christmas story, Darren McGavin has entertained my family every year around the holidays. He passed away yesterday at the age of 84.

Brilliant

2006-02-24T19:16:00.000-05:00

Or as the hipsters say: "Brill!"

Ban on GOP adoption in Ohio

Right on Sen. Hagan, I am a fan of your sarcastic style of arguing.

Dan Abrams

2006-02-24T19:08:00.000-05:00

Has anyone else ever noticed that Dan Abrams, on MSNBC, can't seem to find the right words for a sign off? It's always like: "Ok, we're out of time...um...have a nice weekend..."

You all called me crazy!

2006-02-24T18:13:00.000-05:00

You did, you know you did. You said, he's paranoid or he's just paranoid. Then after a while you said "he's crazy". Of course you didn't say it to me personally, cause who wants to talk to a crazy person? But there's more evidence that I'm not. I said before that I cynically believed that this whole dubai blow-up was just a strategy to bring more business to some lobbying firms in the wake of Abramoff-gate. Well guess what the UAE did after this whole thing started to take on a life of its own? They started pouring money into K-Street. Here's the Washington Post article.

You don't really think I'm crazy... right?

Things that will get you punched in the face. Pt. 2

2006-02-24T00:57:00.000-05:00

weaving back and forth while walking in front of me on the sidewalk. Pick a side, stick with it.

Reviews N' Stuff 2

2006-02-23T20:44:00.000-05:00

Ever wondered what that new type of Mini-Wheats tasted like? You're in luck, check out Reviews N' Stuff for my review of this new cereal. I'll give you a preview: it's strawberry-licious.

Daniel Lyons

2006-02-23T20:12:00.000-05:00

You may wonder why I used a random name in the title of this blog post. This name is not so random however. Daniel Lyons happens to be the name of a reporter for Forbes magazine. So then why still did I put his name in the title? Because Mr. Lyons seems like the type of guy who googles his own name on a daily basis so he can read stuff about himself. You see Mr. Lyons isn't a fan of blogs. He's so not a fan that he doesn't even bother to research what the etymology of the term blog is. Here's a helping hand to Mr. Lyons, it's not Web Log, the correct term is weblog as pointed out by the esteemed Mr. Kottke.

Mr. Lyons writes in his article (Forbes November 14th 2005 issue) that blogs are bloodthirsty, vitriolic lynchmobs only out to destroy small businesses.

"Web logs [sic] are the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective. Their potent allies in this pursuite include Google and Yahoo." (p. 129)

I think this is an unfair assertion on Mr. Lyons part. First off I've only ever used my blog to destroy one business but come on, the stab-o-matic was a dangerous product and the company should have known better than to market it to kids 2+. Funny? Perhaps, but my point is that just because some bloggers are only preoccupied with so-called flame wars, we are not all that way. It would be like me saying that all Forbes magazine reporters don't fact check (see Web Log).

Mr. Lyons argues that bloggers aren't held accountable by anyone. Now I've touched on this before but I feel the need to go further on this point. This is just ridiculous in the age of Heather Armstrong (Dooce.com), Melissa Lafsky (Opinionistas.com), Jessica Cutler (the Washingtonienne) and even the Waiter (Waiterrant.com). Dooce, Opinionistas and Washingtonienne all caused the loss of these womens jobs. Waiter blogs anonymously so that he doesn't (1) insult anyone and (2) lose his job.

Mr. Lyons also argues (as seen in that paragraph quote) that Yahoo and Google are complicit in this horrible online hate speech. Let me refer Mr. Lyons to a document he himself should, but apparently isn't, aware of. I'm a big fan of this document, I spent some time working on behalf of this document and I read it on a regular basis. This will sound cliched, but it's important to note, that there is such a thing as the Constitution and in this "Constitution" is something called the First Amendment. Let me quote that for you here just in case you don't have it handy:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the rights of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
(Amendment I)

I'm not coming out and saying that I am a member of the press, I am however coming out and saying that I am a person who is protected from having my freedom of speech abridged. That is why Google, whose motto is "Don't be evil" can be seen as complicit. Google understands that while they offer a service for us to post to a blog, they do not have the right to censor what we choose to write about.

I'd like to end by saying 3 things. First, I hold no ill will towards Mr. Lyons because of number two. Second, he's obviously making broad generalizations based upon individual examples, in an effort to hide his lack of research on this topic. Third, I am terribly, horribly sorry for this incredibly long post.

Reviews n' Stuff

2006-02-22T23:27:00.000-05:00

Joel has gotten his reviews n' stuff up and running again. While there are not that many reviews yet, one happens to be mine. So go check out my review of the new Domino DVD.

While you're there think about stuff you'd like us to review aaaaand if possible, send us free stuff so we can review it for you. Isn't that the point of creating a review site?

Ports, continued

2006-02-22T19:56:00.000-05:00

So the deal with the UAE is still going on, should we or shouldn't we allow a middle eastern country control several of our ports. It comes down to this and I worded that very carefully. The argument that it's a state run company and not an independent, doesn't hold any water as I talked about already. The real reason comes down to this, do we trust middle eastern countries with important commercial assets? Security is run by the US government, the ports are still owned by the states so there's really no security risk. I also doubt that when this company gets transfered over to the UAE everyone will be fired and the company will be shipping arab longshoremen over here.

But here's what it comes down to: Appearances. Do you want to be (republican or democrat) on the wrong side of this issue? I don't mean do you want your veto overruled or do you want to come out against this only to change your mind. I mean, do you want to allow this deal to go through only for a terrorist attack to come through the ports. Even if it comes through a port run by an American company the appearance will remain the same. Secondly, security is such an important issue for republicans that they don't want the appearance of being lax. Similarly dem's see a great opportunity here and they're shooting for it.

Here's what I wish would happen, in a perfect world. First we could look past the fact that the company running several ports happens to have middle eastern board members. Second, if there is a terrorist attack we are smart enough to realize that it might not be connected to this decision. Why do I wish these things? Because right now I view this political play as a racist one and I'm not a fan of that no matter which party it's coming from.

Just in case you missed it,

2006-02-22T08:30:00.000-05:00

And I know y'all did. Here is a good story from the Baltimore Sun kinda confirming what I was saying yesterday about letting Dubai run ports in the US. I had a feeling that this wasn't the first time that a foreign government had operated ports within the U.S. and I was right. Guess which other governmennt owned company runs ports all over the U.S.? China. I think that people have a misunderstanding about what exactly is happening. NPR also had a great story this morning, echoing the Baltimore sun and adding information on exactly what an operating company does. Here's a hint: they do not own the port, the states own the ports.

I think I'm actually in agreement with President Bush on this one. How crazy is that?!

Elder Wisdom Circle

2006-02-21T19:47:00.000-05:00

This morning when I was getting ready for work I heard a story on NPR about the Elder Wisdom Circle or EWC. This is a group of seniors who field e-mails asking important and not so important questions. Using their combined knowledge and wisdom they seek to answer these questions.

I have to say thank you to Jason Kottke for acknowledging my email, about this program, to him this morning. For those of you who have never been to Kottke.org, go and go frequently. This is a great site that combs the internet for great stories and sites and puts them in one place.

Up to no good (vol. 1 issue. 5)

2006-02-21T19:05:00.000-05:00

The big news today (even though this has been going on for a while) is the transferring of several ports over to a Dubai (UAE) based company. Actually it's a state run company. Back in my nerd days I was the VP of the Model United Nations in college. On one trip to NYC we met with the UAE mission. This was just 8 months after 9/11 and let me say, the UAE mission officers were great. They were all very nice very open and very gracious. The information that I walked away with was that this country and specifically the men and women I met there, is that they loved our country.

My feeling on what is going on with all this is quite cynical. My cynical feeling comes more from the post-abramoff era than the post-9/11 era. Lobbyists, communications firms and government relations firms (really all the same thing) are paid millions each year to make other countries look good. I just can't shake the feeling that Dem's and Repub's are pushing business their way. It feels like a knee-jerk reaction that the second this company is transferred to a middle eastern country we have a problem with it.

Link-o-rama (vol.1 issue. 1)

2006-02-21T00:59:00.000-05:00

Stories and links I had no posts to go with, so I just stuck them altogether here. Perhaps this will become a regular post.

Another "worst-buy" story: Best Buy receipt check

Profile of Virginia's new Gov. Tim Kaine: Why Kaine Is Different (WP)

Target's helpful advice: How to fold a fitted sheet

Share the happy and sad times: The Remembering Site

Ultra-cool postage: "Video" Stamp (Gizmodo)

Transformers meets My Little Pony, what's not to love?: My Little Transformers

Long FT story on Gawker media and the "blogosphere": Time for the last post

China's struggling to control it's citizens and is losing due in part to the internet: The Click that Broke a Government's Grip (WP)

Up to no good (vol. 1 issue. 4)

2006-02-20T22:52:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I have an interview at the DCCC. For those of you not in the know, the DCCC stands for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In preparation for this interview I have taken several important steps. First, I went back and checked to see who the challengers were for the 2 congressman I campaigned for. I'd like to take this moment to brag about how both of these congressman won their campaigns. At any rate, I researched that and it took about 5 minutes. The other important step I took was... wait I didn't take any other steps.

I realized that I've been getting so stressed out before interviews that the best thing I can do is to just forget about it. That's right I have continuously forgotten about this interview throughout the weekend, only remembering when someone brings it up or I'm prompted. It's worked out well so far. In case you're worried, don't be. I have several alarms set to remind me throughout the day tomorrow. In the meantime though I'm just going to continue to forget.

Conversational Terrorism

2006-02-18T19:33:00.000-05:00

This is a great page about tactics used in conversational debate. I myself have even been guilty of using some of these. The only downside to this page is that they don't give you ideas for getting around the responses, only a heads up on what they're trying to pull.

See if you can't pick out some of the tactics in these op-eds. (in the interest of fairness I've selected some op-eds from both sides. If you need to register to see the articles than just place a visit to www.bugmenot.com).

David Brooks -- "Places, Everyone. Action!" (Hint: it comes in the 6th paragraph)

Paul Krugman -- "Debt and Denial" (Hint: 8th paragraph)

Michelle Malkin -- "Clown journalism 101" (Hint: Every single sentence...)

Better late than never

2006-02-16T23:18:00.000-05:00

So just 9 months after I asked for these pictures, Erica finally sent them to me. I now have a flickr site fiiiiilled with pictures of me from myrtle beach.

That's it, that's the post.

Oh, but I have that informational interview tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.

Way too much time spent online

2006-02-16T01:14:00.000-05:00

I realized tonight after I found this; Cute Overload, and after Joel described a picture that he had found online of a guy dressed up as a transformer, that we spend WAY too much time online. After thinking about that for a split second I counted how many devices we currently have hooked up to the internet. We have an X-box with an Xbox Live account, 3 laptops and a Tivo. That's right we have 5 devices that are hooked up to the internet in our house. We are bandwidth junkies.

Right when I was going to bed tonight my wireless adaptor turned off. Even though I was about to close my eyes and enter dreamland, I couldn't take it that my laptop might not be able to get new mail, or receive an IM. I tried the usual lo-tech fixes (turning my laptop off and on, clicking furiously, then saying "hmmm...") but none of those worked. So I did the next logical thing, I went out into the living room to see what the deal was. Turns out the Tivo was being a network hog and now all is swell in the land of laptops. But that's what really got me thinking. What if I took a day off from the internet? Is that really possible anymore?

pipeline

2006-02-15T19:39:00.000-05:00

I was perusing CNN.com today and was trying to read some of the stories, but this isn't entirely possible anymore. That's because CNN has seen to it that some of their stories are only watchable and not readable. I got to thinking about them, specifically the headlines.

You know what would make them better? if they weren't the reporter's stories, just video taken of the event. Take for example these videos:

-doctor defends putting screwdriver in man's neck

-woman stabbed after turning down marriage proposal

-kids help rodents tie knot

-a wedding high in the sky

How awesome would it be to watch any of those things happen? "Look the guy said he wanted a screwdriver in his neck... that's all I'm gonna say about that." And why do rodents need to be tying knots... they'll take over the world someday because of the information provided by those meddling kids .

Valentines Day

2006-02-15T00:17:00.000-05:00

After work today I got a call from my good friend Merzy. After complaining about how hard a time she is having with boys (just for the record she had 3 dates last weekend... not exactly grounds for sympathy in my book), she asked for some advice. Now, seeing as how she had 3 dates in one weekend and I haven't had 1 date in 1 year I figured she should be giving me advice. At any rate I offered my perspective on things: "Are you crazy? You better pray to whatever voodoo doll you got hidden under your bed and never speak of this again!" Actually my advice was much more complicated than that, but you get the picture. Then because she didn't seem to have any plans for the night I asked her to be my valentine. Her response was so sweet: "What does this entail?" I'm still looking up the definitions of all these words but I have a feeling it means some sort of emphatic 'yes'. I told her then that she had to hop the next flight cause I had dinner reservations at midnight, she laughed and it is now 12:22am and I had to call the restaurant and cancel.

My night was divided up into two sections, going to the grocery store and sitting on the couch. I hate going to the grocery store on friday or saturday nights for the same reason I hated going tonight. On the way there I joked to myself (not aloud) that at least there wouldn't be anyone there to witness me buying cinnamon toast crunch on the most romantic night of the year. And then I turned the corner and saw the parking lot for Giant. It was PACKED. There had to be at least 50-60 people in the store, and guess which section they had all congregated in? That's right, me and kellog, post, general mills and the good cap'n crunch had the aisle to ourselves. Earnest and Julio (Gallo) however, had quite the party going on. I was the only one there NOT buying overpriced, low quality wine. Not being a wine snob, I just prefer hangin with Tony the Tiger.

How odd?

2006-02-13T21:46:00.000-05:00

The news today was dominated, and I do mean dominated, by the news that Cheney had gone on a murderous rampage... without the murder or rampage part. The Wonkette, 2, was ready to name him Veep for life till they realized that Arron Burr was cooler (for his attempted takeover of the US.) The White House Press corps was up in arms and at one point David Gregory even called Scott McClellan a...(drumroll)..."jerk". So why is this odd? Because the whole event, as I'm sure everyone knows by now, took place on saturday. The news didn't get wind of this however until sunday night. Why wait 20 hours to release something that can could be so incredibly damaging? My immediate reaction was likely the same as many people, that this was just another example of the secretiveness of this white house. I wonder if they release when birthdays are? What if a staffer asks how someones day is going, do they say that there is an investigation underway and when it's completed we'll have all the answers?

Anyway back to purpose. I have an informational interview this week which I'm looking forward to. It's always nice to get out and do something different even if you've already been doing something different. This meeting was arranged by my uncle Peter who has been kind in helping me in my ongoing job search. As for the interview that I did a while back I still haven't heard if it's been published but I've been keeping track so I'll be sure to link or post it when it's finished.

Snowmeggeddon: final update

2006-02-12T22:21:00.000-05:00

My rant yesterday about the snow storm was apparently half right. We didn't get anywhere near the amount of snow that they said we were going to get, but we did get snow. They were saying we got about 8 inches, that's a lie. We actually got about 3 inches.

These are my observations on snow storms in D.C.:

1. People don't know how to use salt and shovels. they either: throw salt down, then shovel; shovel but don't throw salt down or; they throw salt down but don't shovel.

2. Milk and bread are indespensable items when frozen water droplets are falling from the sky.

3. It is unsafe to walk on the sidewalk during or after a snowstorm, it's best to walk in the middle of the road.

4. If other people are getting more snow then us, cut to the reporter in the field who is showing how much snow we could have gotten!

5. Always make sure to brag to other people who are in the storms path about how much snow you've gotten.

On a final note, the snow has started to melt and in its place ice is forming. This is great cause it makes it impossible to walk anywhere without almost killing yourself and the orange juice carton you're carrying.

Snowmeggedon: Update

2006-02-12T00:51:00.000-05:00

The snow has finally started to stick to the ground. Snowmeggeddon has started. Unfortunately I don't have the photo taking ability (ie lack of digital camera) to give y'all a good idea of what it looks like out there.

I took this picture with my cell phone about 30 minutes ago and have been touching it up ever since so that you can actually see what's in the picture. The parts that weren't completely black were filled up with the light of the street lamp.

It's kind of a shame really because Alexandria always looks nice when it's covered in snow, I like it better when it's covered with leaves and 100 degree weather, but beggars can't be choosers. So, snowmeggedon has begun after hours of dissapointment. Every year weathermen make predictions that it will snow 15 feet and we'll all die of snow-exposure. It never happens, we always get about 1/2 an inch of snow and they'll make some lame excuse to explain it away. Today, the heaviest snow was supposed to come between 3-5pm, I'll spare you the details but lets just say as of 2 hours ago they were saying the heaviest snow will fall between 3-5...am.

I think weathermen (and of course women) have side deals with grocery stores and home depot. It's just a theory... but I'm sure I can get enough proof.

You know what would be cool?

2006-02-11T20:35:00.000-05:00

If Google bought Stellarium and the Hubble Space Telescope. Kind of like what they did with Keyhole. That way this stellarium program would be ultra cool.

If you're looking for an update on snowmeggeddon, hold on, it'll be coming later. I'm choosing not to write about it until, you know, there's snow...

The one about how I got arrested at the grocery store...

2006-02-10T23:08:00.000-05:00

But don't worry I can plead temporary insanity. I can understand when people want to save a little money at the store, and they try to only buy things that are on sale. What I can't understand is packing a shopping cart, getting to the checkout and then asking if things are on sale AFTER THEY'VE ALREADY BEEN SWIPED. Look lady, you have 45 things on the checkout belt, how about you decide 20 minutes ago what you want to keep and what you're gonna leave behind. Making the kid search for that ground turkey in all the bags because you grabbed the wrong one and don't want to spend the 45 cents extra is NOT COOL.

Combine that with the fact that tomorrow is Snowmeggeddon. That's right, we're all going to die from snow exposure. The great thing about snow storms in D.C. is that people think they need several gallons of milk. What's milk going to do? Does milk have some sort of magical snow removal properties that I don't know about? Do people think that when it snows cows stop producing milk for several months? I honestly saw a guy at checkout with three gallons of milk. He beat out the next person in line by one full gallon. Seriously, won't the milk go bad before they get a chance to use it?

Prohibition

2006-02-10T18:17:00.000-05:00

4 days with no posting! oh my god!

Anyway... I was thinking the other day about my prohibition on blogging about work and I'm not changing my mind on this policy, it's a good policy. The latest hill "scandal" involving a staffer with a blog on the now controversial MySpace got me thinking about it. I started to think about what's the difference between me sending an email, instant message, calling someone or even telling someone in person what happened at work on any given day and blogging about it. The only real difference is this: it's saved online. I admit that putting something online about the negatives of a job, or the people you work with is embarrassing for them and for the company and more to the point, it's rude. But what recourse does a business really have? I know they have the power of the paycheck so to speak, but do they have the right to use it? Can a business fire you for saying something negative to another person? The conversation is, assumedly, done on your own time with your own resources.

And what about the "scandals" that have hit the hill in recent years? I put scandal in quotes because I don't think either of them was all that important when compared with actual scandals. Neither of these women discussed their jobs, neither of them said anything bad about their co-workers and while one of them did use a hill computer, the other didn't. Yet both were reprimanded (one was fired) and both received an overabundance of press (and a book deal). So then, what's to stop an employer from firing someone for saying or writing anything that they disagree with? Apparently nothing.

I think this stems from peoples misunderstanding, or at the very least a lack of information, on what blogs are. TV news is filled with how horrible MySpace is and how it will steal your children, Blogs are criticized in the "mainstream media" on a daily basis and parents are scrambling to catch up with technology so they can investigate whether their children are suicidal or not. Does this seem a little ridiculous to anyone else? First, MySpace is a tool, much like the benevolent titled site friendster. It will not perform evil tasks and the only danger in it is the same that goes for everything online, i.e. moderate the information you give out. Second, Blogs were not edited for a couple of years so the information wasn't necessarily truthful. Many of the "mainstream" blogs are now held accountable for the news they produce. Who are they held accountable by? The readers. The other blogs that aren't considered news outlets should be viewed as just that... non-news blogs. Lastly, parents should stop fretting so much about technology and playing detective on their children’s computers, and start parenting (which I will admit involves playing detective sometimes). If a kid writes about how he/she wants to hurt themselves online and you're not seeing signs of depression in their REAL LIFE BODY standing in front of you, then you don't need to take an IT course you need something completely different.

So let us review: Internet = not evil, Technology = not evil, MySpace = not going to abduct your children, Blog Scandals = aren't there better things to be reporting?

I've got dreams, dreams to remember

2006-02-06T12:29:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while I wake up to one of those recurring dreams, I won't say nightmare because most of the time it's harmless. The dream is me back in high school. I didn't have a bad time in high school, I actually rather enjoyed my last few years in the public school system. But when you've been out of school for 7 years and you're suddenly dreaming about being back in high school, you get nervous about certain things. For one thing, I had totally forgotten to do my reading for that day and for some reason I had chosen a seat at the front of the room. What was with that? I never sat in the very front. The other thing was they kept saying that there was a big math test tomorrow. I guess it didn't matter that I happened to be in English class at the time. I've had this dream, or dreams quite like it several times over the years and I gotta say, I hate them. Who wants to relive being unprepared for class, especially when they're asleep? Seriously?

I've also been watching the hearings in the Senate judiciary committtee on the NSA wiretaps. AG Gonzalez got grilled by Sen. Feinstein. Sen. Jeff Sessions put it best when he complained that Sen. Feinstein was combining the patriot act with the NSA wiretaps: "It's not fair!..." Such an eloquent argument will no doubt leave the Dems dumbfounded.

Euology for HAL 9000

2006-02-04T14:25:00.000-05:00

Recently my old computer was put to rest. I had had it through college and we spent a lot of good times together. When I first got it I named it HAL 9000 because it was so great. It could be networked, it had speakers, I could play CD's on it and after a couple of upgrades (that I did myself) it could also burn CD's. In recent years it could no longer burn CD's, the original CD-rom drive wouldn't open, the floppy disk no longer worked and the list goes on. I wrote my junior thesis, my senior thesis and countless papers on that machine. The tower was plastered with bumperstickers, and regular stickers, that I had collected over the years. Some of the stickers were political (a Re-Elect Hillary bumper sticker I recieved in the mail) to a sticker for a local radio station (indie), WBER 90.5. HAL traveled with me from New York to Ohio, Ohio to New York and New York to D.C.

Then two weeks ago I bought a new laptop. HAL just wasn't cutting it anymore. Once my new laptop arrived (Spanky- for spankin new) I packaged up HAL in garbage bags and put him in the storage closet.

The upside to this is that I can now work on a computer for longer than 15 minutes at a time and I do... and how.

It works?

2006-02-03T16:00:00.000-05:00

Apparently there has been talk that my recent posts haven't been all that happy. So at my fathers request this one is a melancholy free zone. As my previous post reported, I was interviewed by a reporter about the difficulties in finding a job in D.C. Apparently going public with my story, even though the story hasn't been published yet, works. Starting Tuesday I have a temporary job for a month. Per one of my earlier posts and at the advice of Dooce's Heather Armstrong, I will not be talking about the job. Nothing, not where it is, what it is, who works there, nothing at all. So you'll just have to be content knowing that for a month I will be gainfully employed.

Irony?

2006-02-03T00:11:00.000-05:00

I'm being (have been?) interviewed for a news story about the difficulties in finding a job in D.C. I asked the reporter to remain anonymous which she was glad to do. I'll see if I can't find the article when it comes out and put it up here. In the mean time I'll post my portion of the interview here.

"So here's the basic storyline so far:

I moved down to D.C. a couple of months after I graduated in 2003. I ended up doing what my friends call "the hollywood thing", sleeping on the floor of my friends apartment while I got an internship in a congressional office. After several months of sleeping on their floor, my friends understandably became annoyed. My job search continued on Tuesdays and Thursdays while my internship was on Monday, Wednesday and Thursdays. I was helped out by having family already working in the government. My cousin in-law worked for a congressman and my uncle worked for the state dept. Informational interviews were abundant, however real interviews were in short supply.

My internship ended in Dec. of 2003 and by February 2004 I had a job. I worked in a congressional office as a staff assistant for a departing member. This position had its positives and negatives. Upward movement in the office was a given, people would be jumping ship and positions and responsibilities would be opening up. The downside was that come January 3rd 2005, I would again be out of work. But after a little over a year of not having a real job post graduation, I was thrilled by the opportunity. In that first job search period a couple of things became clear. First, agencies were almost impossible to break into. This was made more difficult by the fact that I am a registered democrat. At several interviews I had people tell me that they would pass my resume along to the appropriate person and then lean in and say: "but they'll probably just throw it away because of the people you've worked for." Secondly, getting an interview was almost impossible. It required patience, persistence and LOTS of resumes.

My job search started again in 2005. I figured it would be much easier this time around because of my acquired experience and the contacts I had made. I also had done some campaign work in my off time and figured that this would also help in both networking and making me look good. It's been about a year and 3 months now and I have had roughly 5 interviews. I have been working through politemps, working as a waiter and even collected unemployment for what seemed like the most frustrating part of my life. The amount of work that has gone into getting those 5 interviews is ridiculous. I have mailed out at least 3-5 resumes a day, applying to everything from federal agencies to marketing and law firms. As an added kick in the side the restaurant that I had been working at, closed on the 1st of January.

One thing that I think is frustrating is that 3/4's of the job listings I look at require you to have either a masters degree or some huge amount of experience and a lot of those are entry level! The other 1/4 of the jobs are clerical, or secretary work that makes me scared about the prospect of being stuck in that position forever. On the federal agency side of things, just going about applying to them is ridiculous. Anyone who has ever gone to USAJobs.com knows what I'm talking about.

I think many employers don't know how difficult it is just to get your foot in the door. So many people are applying for every position out there that it's nearly impossible just to get noticed. Out of the hundreds of resumes that I've sent out, I would guess that maybe 20 or so of the intended recipients have looked at it. This also adds to the stress and frustration in a job search because 90% of the time you get no feedback whatsoever. The times when I have gotten feedback it's always weeks or even months later when I've forgotten I ever applied to a position in that office."

Luckily this first (last?) interview was conducted via email so I had it saved.