The Trip Which Never Was

I had been looking towards taking this trip of mine since I last booked it in May 2005. What better way to spend the beginning of autumn than biking you way across the state of Rhode Island, crisp mornings, warm afternoons, and beautiful scenery just about everywhere you go. A storm named Rita changed all this, so instead of being up in Rhode Island now I am remain in Texas.

I was tracking the progress of Rita since I first heard that it was going to enter The Gulf of Mexico, knowing that it could potentially affect my plans. I was going to be taking this biking trip with my sister who lives in the greater Houston area. As Rita made its way across the Florida Keys, there was wide speculation as to where it would hit. Would it hit the ravished city of New Orleans again, or head to land whose last major storm caused billions of dollars worth of damage?

The worst case scenario started to form, and my sister decided to evacuate her house Thursday morning doing her best to preserve the possibility of still making the trip. She moved her reservation from a Saturday departure to a Friday departure, however the airport became over run with people trying their best to get out of Houston before Rita hit causing huge wait times and severe parking problems at George Bush Intercontinental airport. Rita in the meantime mutated in to a gargantuan category five hurricane spinning its way towards the Texas coast line. The projected path at the time was a direct hit on Galveston, making its way towards Houston.

I received a message on Thursday evening from my sister informing me she was not going to be able to make the trip. I had to make a decision as to what I was going to do, go on the trip or forfeit the money I invested. There are a lot of things I don’t mind doing on my own, but the trip was to spend time with my sister, not specifically to bike across Rhode Island. So I decided to stay in Texas in preparation to help her out in any way possible, be it a place to stay or going to help her clean up her house.

Friday came, and I started making phone calls to find out if I could get a refund on my airline ticket. I now have a ticket with US Airways until May 2006 for a small rescheduling charge, which doesn’t bother me because I am sure I will be able to use it before that time comes. I also received a call / email combination from a shady sounding recruiter. Her email does not state her affiliation, and it was sent from a Yahoo account, which made we weary of even talking to this woman. I spoke with her none the less, and informed her that I was not an individual with eight years professional experience; I would have been in high school that long ago. I hang up with her, and continue to read about the congestion and evacuation problems of people fleeing the Houston area.

I ran out to return an item which I had purchased for the trip, and to make a copy of my offer letter for the new apartment complex I was going to be moving into. Once I was threw with the errands, and was back home I started to read the information packet about my new position. After reading through the “Intellectual Property Agreement” I sat the papers down and my phone rang.

It was an HR representative from a company which I had hoped to go to work for. I had a friend pass along my resume in the company about a month ago, but found that I did not meet their GPA requirements. I figured at that point the issue was dead, and I wrote them off, however here I was talking with them on the phone. They said they saw my profile on their webpage and wanted to set up an interview sometime next week. What freaking luck, a light was clicked off, and another one clicked on.

I was so confused and excited about this I called my friend who had originally passed along my resume to see if he slid it under some one else’s door there. Apparently he was as surprised as I was, and on Monday September 26 I am going to arrange travel plans to go speak with them about a possible position. This is coming on the heels of me signing an acceptance letter from another company who extended an offer to me, which I am scheduled to start on October 10.

Although I managed to lose my trip, I landed a new job, and have an interview with another company, and Rita did not make a direct hit on Houston. I will speak to these people about the position, while continuing my preparation for the position which I already have in the bag.

What a wild and crazy couple of weeks it has been.

Clear Desperation

A Clear Channel’s clear desperation for an audience for its fast fading morning show, may the country duo and station in general in whole just fizzle away. What tactics am I talking about you ask? This morning I received a telephone call which I managed to sleep though, if I would have answered it I would have been a bit upset as to what I heard. It was a pre-recorded message promoting their morning show and how they are going to be “helping out with high energy bills”.

What the hell is this? They are promoting the assistance of paying my electric bill in a desperate attempt to recruit listeners via a telemarketing scheme. Look, if I am going to be listening to the radio, and actually trying to win something from them the last thing I want is something as lame as bill assistance. How about offering something people can’t typically just purchase, like front row concert ticket packages to various shows, back stage passes, or trips to see concerts (not the national variety either). If this is the best you can come up with, you deserve the future failure and ultimate demise.

Oh, Mistreated

My pursuit landed me at a house party this weekend; I haven’t been to a house party since this acquaintance named Candice invited me and my friend to her graduation party. I figured this was all but the last of the house parties for me, but wait – what was that glimmer on the horizon? That’s right – a nice house party, this one was of the “house warming” variety. I am unfamiliar with housewarming etiquette, so all we ended up bringing was a refreshment contribution, of the party variety. I digress…

So yes, when I hear about this house party I am happy to attend because the individual who is throwing it is a kickboxing / ex-spinning instructor at the gym I go to. He was handing out flyers to people who attend his class, and of course I have seen this particular chica attend his class on several occasions, and of course I have an ulterior motive for attending. Yes indeed, the blind wishful thinking that some of these select women will be at the party.

You may ask yourself Why haven’t you just struck up conversation at the gym if you were interested? The reason for that is because doing so is always a long shot, gyms aren’t intended to be meet-markets, and I don’t want to invade their space when they feel unattractive (in their minds), IE sweaty, and just want to get their work in, and then get the hell outta there before another neanderthal tries to chat ‘em up. After all, the last one I chatted up never came to the spinning class again. Again I digress…

So I see the chica at the party, escorted by another woman, and no not in the lesbian sense either (yes, I broached the topic gingerly). Anyhow, me and my friend mingle a bit with some of the other attendees, while I keep watch over whats-her-name to make sure she doesn’t leave before I at the very least open my mouth to say “hi”. Next thing I know I am speaking to her friend, I find out that she is a kickboxing instructor who took over one of Mario’s classes (Mario is the home owner).

As the night progressed I was biding my time, waiting for the iron to be hot – at long last the iron was hot and I struck. So got to chat up Rafie, a nurse by day and kickboxing instructor on select nights, things went well – so well in fact I asked an received her number. So the trick again is getting the return phone call…

Apparently meeting women and job hunting are very similar, and yes very different. There is an incredible amount of time spent looking at each prospect, does she or the position offer what I am looking for? If so, you gather up their information and do your best to contact them, the common goal in both is to get a reply. If a reply is received then an interview may not be all that far fetched, and the “razzle-dazzle” can begin. After that they begin to fork in different directions.

So all in all – I’d say this was a foul. I watched the pitch, saw it was one I liked, swung the bat, and even made contact. However, it will still be a strike because of my current situation. Its all good practice though.

el Scorcho

Oh my, has the concert scene changed…ok the scene is probably dependant on the band(s) which are playing that evening. For instance when I saw the Nine Inch Nails concert in New York with The Dresden Dolls as the opener the crowd was predominately in their early to mid twenties Oh my how the crowd was different at the Weezer / Foo Fighters concert Wednesday September 14, 2005 at Austin’s Frank Erwin Center.

The last time I saw the Foo Fighters was back in ’97 on their Colour and the Shape tour, at the time I was 17. However the Foo Fighters aren’t making top 40 radio stations play lists, with the rare exception of Big Me or Everlong, both of which are from past albums. Weezer is the guilty party for this young crowd, and their current pop hit Beverly Hills.

Let me see if I can explain myself here, the young crowd was comprised what looked like high school kiddos, or I suppose they could have been UT freshman looking for something to do on a Wednesday night now that Mommy and Daddy aren’t there to tell them they aren’t allowed to go out on a school night (yea I know, insert old man / getting old joke here). Never the less, I was amazed at the number which they showed up – even if one of them showed up with their mother and could not make up which over priced t-shirt they wanted.

“Number 5, no number 2, no number 8. Can I get the wallet?” Mother replies “No – what t-shirt do you want?” Son continues “what about the jacket? I want the jacket.” Mother again says “no, so what shirt, number 5? Five is cool.”

This charade continued on until my partner in crime got the t-shirt for his girl friend in hand and we escaped the t-shirt stand madness.

So the show was mediocre in the end. The opening band, Mae, had their guitars turned up really loud, and the vocals were difficult to try and decipher what he was saying. The bass player stood there like a statue, while the lead guitarist did a little side step body sway number which would have to be displayed to understand fully. I cant say I liked them or not because they left such a bland after effect on me.

Weezer was on next, and despite being responsible for bringing out the young crowd they put on the best performance of the evening. Rivers Cuomo and company did a nice job of playing songs from their entire catalogue, including songs from the album Rivers once detested, Pinkerton. Such crowd pleasers included Beverly Hills, Buddy Holly, and Hash Pipe. Rivers performed Island in the Sun as a solo on an acoustic guitar on the far side of the arena configuration. For Undone (The Sweater Song) They invited up a member of the audience to play guitar – which was interesting to say the least. Mike actually knew how to play apparently.

The Foo Fighters hit the stage shortly after Weezers confetti landed, blaring In Your Honor from the album of the same name. Dave Grohl seemed to be more interested in shouting, and talking about the “blonde slut from the Real World: Austin”. His once melodic voice has taken a beating from the cigarettes and crown he is known to consume, so the only bright part of their performance were the improves they did during the songs. For instance the song Stacked Actors mutated its way into some sort of twelve minute beast of a song. They worked in flawlessly, and all came crashing back into the song in unison, I never thought of the Foos as a jam band, but they did a swell job. Unfortunately they neglected to play any of their acoustic material from the new album, and the set was filled with songs I didn’t really want to hear again anyhow. Dave Grohl took the sticks for one song which I didn’t recognize, but he showed he could still beat the skins.

So all in all, the show was entertaining, and the price was right, free. The seats weren’t very good, but hey it was a free ticket from a San Antonio radio station so, once can’t expect too much.

A Proclamation if I were President

Outlaw and ban all full sized trucks and sport utility vehicles. There is nothing more wasteful of energy resources than a GMC Yukon or Ford Excursion rumbling down the road with dubs or mud tires on each one respectively, with its only cargo: the driver. By severing these frivolous items we will display several things which would be respected across the world.

First off, we could relax our ties with the whabi-islamic fundamentalists AKA the Saudi Royal family, who choose to follow, enforce, and teach this flavor of religion. Furthermore if we reduce our dependence on this source for sweet light crude, we could stop the exponential growth of the Royal Family’s bank accounts.

Second, we could shake the global image of Americans being arrogant snots consuming up the largest percentage of the worlds oil for our Hummers. Surely this is one of the reasons which prompts people to carry out attacks on our great nation, and not because they hate the idea that “they hate freedom” as W’s clan would like you to believe.

Third, it would open a new business model for those individuals who decide to provide a service to all the people who claim to need these vehicles for their boats, recreational vehicles, and farm/ranch equipment. These businesses can provide the transportation of these goods at a cost, and reduce the amount of waste which is produced as a by-product of owing one of these vehicles for the specific case of transporting something other than people, and it becoming an everyday driver because of the small fortune they invested in it.

Which moves me into the last portion of this proclamation, these vehicles which provide services such as: trucking companies, service/repair companies, and other miscellaneous items would be able to apply for a license to own and operate one of these vehicles. That license would be issued by the federal government which would need to be renewed yearly at an expense.

I know, what I just provided is considered “completely un-American”, where it is our great right to choose to drive what we want regardless of what it is used for. However, if these cuts were enabled and thus lowered the costs of energy, slowed our consumption rate, and boosted our supplies, we use in other aspects of our life, it would help out the many rather than the few.

Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibilities to erase the narrow confines of most men’s reality. Weird heroes and mold-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of “the rat race” is not yet final. --Hunter S. Thompson