Weekend plans plus Lego fun

Tonight Carlton and Trish are coming over to hang. It's been a while since I've seen them so some good quality catching will be fun. Because of their boy Ryan, they probably won't stay late enough to see David and meet Serena as David won't get done working until 9:30 or so. There is also the possibility that Andrew and Kayo will stop by too. So, tonight will be a revolving door of friends.

Tomorrow is of course the GA/Fla game in Jax. I won't be there as Funkle Ester has a gig tomorrow night in Athens. So the band is getting together at a house to cheer on the dogs and enjoy mugs of frothy beverages.

Me as a lego, to see yourself as a lego go to http://www.reasonablyclever.com/mini/index.html

Count this

If I vote next Tuesday, does it really matter?

Georgia is not a swing state and will be heavily for Bush. So no matter who I am for, does it matter?

I recently have gone from being a decide voter to an undecided voter. I do not align myself with any political party, in fact I hate political parties, all of them.
I think political parties have dragged down our government to the point where I think we should vote out all the politicians and start over.
Note to the Secret Service, FBI, and ATF; I am not planning on overthrowing or undermining the United States Government in anyway, I just think it would be good to get rid of all the politicians.

I am very worried about the state of our airline industry. Delta pilots agreed today to a 32.5% paycut. That is HUGE. Imagine your salary........now take away a third of that number and what you have left is your new salary. Now granted they make a ton of money but even if they are a low end pilot making $100,000 a year, all of a sudden he is now making $66,000. Ouch

And in entertainment news, Elton John said today that he is ready to apologize to Madonna. All is finally right with the world.

Headhunter

Rest assured that this entry will not be funny, insightful, or provocative.

I met with a headhunter this morning for about an hour and a half. It went so well that this headhunter will be presenting me to a specific company next week for an Event Planner position.

But the headhunter in mention made me feel like a rock star, scratch that, she made me feel like a ROCK GOD!!!

Have you ever seen the movie The Late Shift? It is a movie based on the book of the same name. It chronicles the story of David Letterman and Jay Leno in their battle for The Tonight Show. In this movie, Letterman sits down with agent Michael Ovitz and is courted. Ovitz's speech to Dave was this, "

"I know Dave's circumstances, and so I know why you're here. Dave is a star of such compelling stature that frankly it makes me personally angry he finds himself disabused. We pride ourselves here at CAA in developing a career plan for our clients that protects them as much as it enriches them. David has such incredibly high professional standards that his going disturbingly unrewarded, that just doesn't make any sense, it's simply bad business practice. Obviously, we have an interest in establishing a business relationship with you Dave, and you Peter. Frankly, we have worked out a career plan for David, and it includes securing for Dave what he wants, EVERYTHING. Of course that means an 11:30 television show. Dave will be offered an 11:30 show, and he will be offered it by every network. Geometry of the deal will be far larger, the studios will be in, the syndicators, the full range of the entertainment industry. We shall frame a deal that will make you one of the giants. And if you give us the privilege of working with you, CAA will take care of everything your talents deserve, and your spirit desires."

Ok read that again and replace the name "Dave" with my name and read it again. This woman made me feel THAT good about finding a job. I haven't been this excited about my job search in a long time.

Keep fingers crossed.

Automatic

On the job front, I got a call from a headhunter today. I'm not going to get my hopes up, but it sounds promising.

Tonight was a great night.

I picked David up after he got off work and we went to Athens for band rehearsal. Dave and I are two thirds of a horn section of a 70s cover band. We are still breaking in our guitar player thus the rehearsal. But if one gets the opportunity to go Athens, then one should set aside some time for some fun as well. So we got to Athens at 7, had dinner and then off to The Village Idiot for drinks.

Now, I should tell you that I spent most of my college years in the location known to the USPS as 400 East Clayton Street. Known to me and others as either Rumrunners or the Village Idiot. Because of it's great location to The Classic Center, which is where I use to work, it made for a great "after work", "after gig", "after 8:00 AM on game day" bar.

Brett joined us in the pounding of drinks. Dave and I were drinking quickly as to get a buzz to make it through rehearsal. In fact I ordered an extra just to pour it in my Styrofoam cup from dinner, to take to rehearsal. To each his own.

The clock struck 9 and I was not happy, I did not want to leave, but it was time to experience the fun that is Funkle Ester rehearsal and truth be told, it was fine and I needed the mid week practice.



Job interview early tomorrow, think happy thoughts.

Not feeling confident

In an earlier post I said I wasn't happy about the timing of Ron Zook's firing. I thought that this might get the Gator players a little fired up.

Well, it's already started.

The following was on ESPN.com by way of the Assocated Press

""McDonald said one thing was certain -- the unranked Gators will be ready for the Bulldogs on Saturday in Jacksonville.

"Everything is wrong with this whole situation. Everything is wrong," he said. "This should've never happened. Everybody is a little mad right now, but we will come out to play for our coaches. We just have to play for our coaches now and show them that this was the wrong decision.

"We have got to prove a lot of things Saturday," he said. ""


I don't want to be right about this, but I really don't like the road down which we are traveling.

Zooky go bye-bye

I loved hearing about UF's defeat at the hands of a totally pitiful Mississippi State team.

Croom really needed the win, because let's face it, he was the first African-American coach hired in the SEC. Do we, as a conference, really want to see him become the first African-American coach fired from the SEC?

But with this loss, everyone saw the firing of Zook coming clear as a bell. Although, I had hoped that they wouldn't fire Zook until the end of the season. Before Saturday, I liked our chances of beating Florida this year, but now................I dunno. I can clearly see the Gators being all fired up to "win one for the gipper". The line is UGA by 7, but the odds makers don't add the "gipper" effect into the line.

So if you're not busy, flip over to ESPN News at 4:00 for the fun-filled press conference.

Everyone's GA/FLA plans are starting to take shape. Brett, Tim, and Trey will be in Florida. Keith, Rob and folks are going to Tony's for a chili competition. It would be really funny if Tony's chili beat Rob's chili by a point. (see this for an explanation of that last line see here, http://www.tonysimon.org/mt/archives/000342.html )

We are heading to Athens to watch the game. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense with everyone leaving Athens. But it's what I do.

We have returned

Home safe and sound.

The highlights of Saturday

David Greene threw for 382 yards, a career best for him.
David Pollack is the new all-time sack leader at UGA.
Our bus driver got in a wreck taking us back to the hotel after the game.


The highlights of Sunday

Only took 13 hours to get home as opposed to the 18 it took to get there
No wrecks
No breakdowns
Lots of drinking

Overall, good times with some old friends and way too many stories to write or stories that we decided stay in Arkansas................or Oklahoma. Because what happens in Oklahoma, blah, blah, blah, blah...............

Tomorrow starts my last week of unemployed bliss before rejoining the workforce. Truth be told, I'm not looking forward to it. It's a part time retail gig and to avoid any libel or slander lawsuits, I will avoid naming the company here.

Hopefully something will come along that is better.

Reasons to Drink

The Sox won, but more importantly, the Yankees lost.

So today was my second interview with an Advertising Firm.

To recap the first interview, It was this past Monday, it started 35 minutes late, and lasted a sum of 15 minutes..........uhhmmmmm.......ok...............

At the end of this brief meeting, the interviewer asked if I could come back on Wednesday (today) for a second interview. Woo-Hoo!!! or in terms by Chris Farley, "Good, great, grand, wonderful, NO YELLING ON THE BUS"

Then he explains that for this second interview, I would be following an account manager around for the day seeing their day to day responsibilities. This gives another manager a chance to meet and interview me.

I was to report at 11:00 AM and that I would be done around 8:30 PM. Ok, a little odd for me, but my wife assures me that an all day interview isn't that out of place.

The interviewer called me Tuesday night to confirm Wednesday's meeting and then his secretary called me back this morning to re-confirm. Needless to say I'm feeling pretty good about this.

I show up this morning in a suit, complete with stylish tie, teeth right from the bleaching tray, and freshly shined shoes (shining the shoes would turn out to be as useful as wiping before you poop).

I meet Duane, the manager that I will be following around and then it's off................to McDonough. We got into a standard pick-up truck. Very similar to my old one complete with NO A/C. This manager hopes in the back so I can ride in the front (I offered to get in the back, but he wouldn't hear of it). The driver is James who turned 24 today. Happy Birthday James. James cranks the volume of the radio and flips between 99x and V103...........every five minutes. Meanwhile during the entire ride to McDonough, Duane is trying to tell me all about the company.

Ok, it's about right now I think I'm on the MTV show "Boiling Point" so I trying to stay calm so I can score some free money. WRONG

We pull into a subdivision in McDonough, where Duane and I get out of the truck and James drives off to another subdivision.

It is right now, that I should tell you a few facts. During a phone screen that happened prior o the first interview, I asked, "Is there any selling with this position?" The answer, "No" Ok.............. During my first live interview, I was asked, "What kind of work would you never want to do?" My answer, cold calling sales. This includes telemarketing, inbound or outbound, and door to door solicitation.

With that in mind.........

Back to present day.
Guess what happens next......................That's right, Duane whips out a coupon book........ a Coupon Book............... a EFFIN' COUPON BOOK!!!! and explains to me that we will be going door to door selling these coupon books.

Ok, Now I'm sure that I'm on a hidden camera TV show. A really good TV show that is going to give me a lot of money to rip this guy's head off and piss down his throat.

So off we go, from 12:30 - 2:00 knocking on door after door, sweating in my suit, trashing my dress shoes, and selling coupon books. James was told to pick us up at 2:00. This is the only thing keeping me sane. I'm thinking, hoping, and praying that at 2:00 we are going back to the office.

2:00 - Here's James!!! Do we go home? Nope, lunch time. Now, if you are courting a potential employee, where would you take him to lunch? The Applebees you passed?....... Perhaps...........How about the Longhorn right across the street?..........Maybe..............But if you said the Golden Arches you would be correct!!! McDonald's!!! Fan-damn-tastic!!! I'll have the Caesar salad with the grilled chicken. Also, what is your soup of the day?

2:00 - 2:30 We eat lunch and Duane gets a newspaper after bumming a quarter off of me to pay for one. And he reads the paper. No conversation, no talk of the job or company. James, plays with his Monopoly Game board and the pieces that he just got and has the nerve, THE NERVE, to ask if he can have my game pieces. Insult to injury.

2:30 Duane has finished his paper and decided it is time to talk business. Fine, whatever, I have written this whole thing off hours ago but I'll listen. Part of me is praying for Ashton Kutcher to jump out screaming "You got Punk'd!!!!"

I listen quietly as he explains the company corporate ladder and how long I'll spend in each phase. I politely tell him that A) this job is not for me B)I would not be a good fit for his company and C) Neither of us would benefit from me being employed by his company

He said that he appreciated me being straight forward about this, but that they had to spend the rest of the day in McDonough finishing up these two subdivisions and that they couldn't get me back to my car in Smyrna until 8:30 PM. Insert your choice words of profanity here _______________________

Now, with all of this said, Duane is actually a very nice guy, in fact he reminds me of my friend Dimitri. Same mannerisms and all. Add to that fact that I can be a very nice guy from time to time. Guess what I did from 3:00 until 7:30................That's right, I watched Duane sell coupon books.

Bright spot of the day, I got home and a different company had sent me a letter and a form asking for consent to do a background check so they could invite me in for an interview.

And the cycle starts anew.

"Good, great, grand, wonderful, NO YELLING ON THE BUS"

Day One

Ok, this is my blog. And to start, my life is not that interesting but we'll deal with this on a day by day basis.

But for now, onto the blogging.

This blog is brought to you and basically created every night by Jack Daniels.

First, does anyone knows what "blog" means or stands for? This has been bugging me for a while.

I am starting this blog for a few reasons. One and probably the most important is for a creative outlet. I play in a band but it is a "cover" band. I know that gives a lot of you shivers, but for me it is a ton of fun, but not a creative outlet. I've never been the creative type, so this is kind of like jump starting an 18 wheeler with a VW Bug. Damn it, I will be creative.

Another reason is to give others something to do read at the office and thus another reason to waste time at work. You are welcome.

Ok that is the overview. Here is the real time blog.

I have a second interview for a job tomorrow. I am spending the day with an advertising manager. And I do mean the whole day. 11AM until 8:30 PM. I don't know if I or they are going to survive an all day interview but here's hoping......I'm going into it as a day on "The Apprentice".

I did get a job offer from a company this past week, with a probable start date of Nov 1, it is not an exciting job, but it is a job none the less. So regardless I will be rejoining society as a functional member again very soon.

Boston won, not that I care about the Redsox, but I hate the effin' Yankees.