Now you might be wondering, Hooray, just what are you doing with yourself while you're unemployed yet again (for those keeping track, this will be unemployment #4). Well, in unemployment #1, I watched a lot of Read World marathons. In unemployment #2 I watched a lot of Buffy. And in unemployment #3, I watched a lot of Charmed.

So what am I doing right now? Veronica Mars.

Now you might be seeing a recurring theme here, mainly that it's three shows involving women with some sort of secret identity/power who uses their power to help save the world. Or there High School reputation as there's no supernatural aspect to VMars at all. That, of course, would be true.

So why VMars?

Well, when it was on, everyone praised it as the new Buffy, including Joss himself. The show was so trying to be the new Buffy that at various points Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) and Allyson Hannigan (Willow) were characters on the show. And Joss himself had a cameo. The show also received plaudits from Kevin Smith who also had a cameo. So, in other words, it had good rep. And it's true-- the show features snappy dialogue and a kick-ass heroine. In fact, the show is a combination of things that make Hooray applaud, a combination of John Hughes and Buffy with a little Twin Peaks thrown in for good measure (the first season involved a season-long story arc about the death of Veronica's best friend and High School Princess). Plus, there's a not so subtle subtext of class issues throughout the show and we like shows that point out that rich people get away with a lot more crap than the poor and minorities.

Good VMars.

I could also make a statement about how I prefer female heroes to mail because in being female heroines, it makes them seem even more of an underdog than a male hero (males are supposed to kick ass, after all) but I won't. Instead, I'll just point something else out.

There's a video game I used to play with friends called Soul Caliber. In the game, you get to choose a character and your opponent chooses another character and you battle to the death. Love the game. Anyways, most of the guys I played with took male characters. Because they're males. I always choose the female characters. Why? Because I'd much rather watch a cartoon woman than a cartoon male.

I was just reading through my old blog posts, especially the Unemployment Years and remembering the good old days. Since I'm only in Month 1 of unemployment, I don't have that feeling of my soul being crushed on a daily basis and the bile spewing from deep down in the belly but it's early. Anyways, just to kick it old school, here's a whine about a job...

I interviewed at some big-ass agency last week (see previous post). It was last Wednesday, the one right before July 4th meaning there was only one day left before the holiday weekend started. Now, according to the dude I met with, he was going to report back to HR, interview a few more people, then start interviewing other people in a week or so. Today I got an email from my connection letting me know that they already hired somebody. Which means said timeline was totally BS. And that either they went through that entire process weeks earlier and were about to hire somebody already or they just met somebody in those few days who so blew them away that they said "screw process, let's just hire SOB." Of course, all that stuff the guy told me could have been BS because he didn't want to hire me (remember what he said about the HR person being called into a meeting?) so nevermind. Still....

Here's why politics suck in this country, or at least the coverage on it. CNN had a brief segment on the economic polices of Obama vs. McCain. Yay, actual substantive news stories. It lasted about a minute.

Afterwards, they turned to their panel of experts and instead of debating the merits of each proposal, they instead debated about which candidate is doing a better job of conveying their economic policies to the public. So instead of a substantive debate on the issues, one which should hopefully show that McCain has no friggin clue, they had a debate about stage managing and polls and who connects better with blue collar rednecks. In other words, about nothing in particularly useful.

And I'm sure people at CNN were really proud of themselves for the coverage.

Jesus, it's harder to log onto blogger these days than Bank of America.

Anyhoo, I have Blue Cross. I don't like Blue Cross mainly because they send me a lot of paperwork, most of which I don't understand. Apparently, anytime I see a doctor, they have to send me about three notices to let me know that the visit will be paid, is going to be paid and has been paid. All in confusing manner.

For one doctor, they've decided to send me the check instead of sending it to the doctor. The problem is that the paperwork is so confusing it's hard to tell it's an actual check and I'm pretty sure I've thrown out a check or two by accident. The problem is that the thing looks like a check and even has "Pay to" followed by name next to it but on the right-side of the "check", next to the amount of money the check is, it says "PAY THIS AMOUNT." Now shouldn't they not put "Pay to blah blah blah " And "Pay this Amount" on the same slip of paper? couldn't they just write on it "here's the check to pay for doctor visits to...."? Or does that make too much sense?

Here's one of the things that I had forgotten about unemployment, the level of paranoia that comes with it. Take a job I suddenly threw my hat into the ring for at Super Mondo. In just a matter of a few days I went from the manager saying "give me a call and let's discuss the position" to phone tag to "we're going to offer the job to somebody else-- it's been in the pipeline for awhile, actually."

Now, what happened over those past few days (four in total). Did they really offer the job before I talked to the manager about it? Did it take so long for us to reach each other that he decided in those four days to just offer the other person? Or was there something going on at Super Mondo that I didn't know about. Like people not backing me up or did he not like me or did he not think I did a good on his projects?

Could be nothing, could be something.

Then there was a job interview I had yesterday. At the end of the interview, which I thought went well, the guy I met with said "I was supposed to send you down to the HR person but she got called into a meeting and can't meet with you." Did that mean "the HR person but she got called into a meeting and can't meet with you" or did it mean "no, I'm not going to hire you at all and it's not even worth me sending you to the HR person."

Then there's the fact an ex-coworker works there, one who I sometimes didn't have a good relationship with. Some of it was due to personal issues I won't get into and some others because she kinda sucked and took it out on me and blamed me for her occasional bouts of suckitude. Also, she even took me to lunch and told me that I should be on my toes because they were using a recent bout of layoffs to get rid of people who aren't that good and, well, I should worry.

But that could be water under the bridge, right? By the end of her stint, we were in pretty good terms and the last time I saw her, she was really nice to me. So she could help me, right? Except for the fact she didn't respond to my LinkedIn invitation. Or a mutual friend didn't email me back about getting her email address.

Again, could be nothing, could be something.

And if it's something, what does it mean for my chances at the place? I'm sure the guy I met with thought to himself and said "hey, blah blah worked at Super Mondo too, I should go ask her about Hooray." And if he did, did she say nice things that helped me out or did she say not very nice things out that doomed me. Or maybe he didn't even ask? Maybe just the fact I was brought in and there was a connection there was a sign she helped me out. Or maybe nobody thought of it?

Just thinking about it makes me want to drink some more wine.

Jesus, I swear it's harder to log into Blogger these days than Bank of America.

anyways, you know how I was complaining about that lady who was supposed to interview me, got the date wrong, then never called me back? I got a call from the company yesterday and was told that the person in question "is no longer with the company" which, as we all know, is a euphemism for "fired."

Heh.

Alright, so I heard from a company about an interview I can't really do, but whatever. We first schedule an appt for Friday but I ask if we can move it to Monday because the in-law was in town. The person at the company agreed and said no problem. Except she called on Friday anyways and naturally I couldn't do the interview because I was friggin doing something else, like I said I would. So I called her later that afternoon, she said "whoops, my bad" (which it was-- I have the email saying we'd do it on Monday) and we made plans to call at an earlier time that Monday than initially said. Remember, I had family in town so it's not like I could just peel off and do a phone interview, especially when the time the phone interview was supposed to be was when we'd be at the airport.

Naturally, she didn't call. Not at the earlier time we had agreed upon, nor at the first time we had agreed to. She just didn't call at all.

Naturally, I decided to play this all the way through and emailed the person asking what was up. No response. The job, however, has been posted on Craigslist. So, either they somehow decided between that Friday and Monday that I wasn't qualified or I was deemed unreliable because I wasn't around to take a call I wasn't supposed to take. Or because I was too busy dealing with family to do the phone interview.

Whatever-- that person in question just flat out sucks as does the stupid company she works for.

So I got this email in response to my resume posting on Craigslist. Yes, some recruiter actually sent me an email trying to recruit me to join the army.

This, of course, is funny for oh so many reasons. Among other things, me, in the army? And then there's the fact that the army is so desperate that somebody is trolling Craigslist to recruit people. Now, obviously they aren't doing that much research in looking at resumes because they would notice that I am now 40 and probably not exactly of the age that the army would be looking for. Unless they have really lowered their standards and are now taking 40 year olds.

And, you know, I would even consider it. Or, would if it would be a desk job-- the army has to be full of people who do nothing but work at a desk. And I'd do it if I wouldn't have to go anywhere and didn't have to go through basic training. I'd even wear the uniform and get the haircut. Hell, the army is a recession proof gig and I'm sure it comes with good benefits.


>
> My name is SSG George Heath and I am a U.S. Army Solider. I was
> looking at your resume and wondered if you have ever thought about being
> a soldier. As I read your resume, I can see you have the skills
> necessary to be a successful soldier. Motivated, Intelligent, Hard
> Worker, Dependable and Responsible these are all very important skill
> sets.
>
> Now I know your first reaction is going to be Heck no, but
> really have you considered it, ever?
> We have 156 jobs available depending on your scores, but only 19% of
> those are combat related like you might think from the movies. What that
> means to you is that 126 of our jobs are support and customer service
> related.
>
> Plus, we have enlistment bounses as well as full healthcare
> benefits from the day you start. If none of this sounds like it might
> work for you then, I must have been wrong when I read your resume. Have
> a good day.
>

Okay, back by popular demand, it's Hooray for Anything. And, why, praytell are we going again? Because I'm unemployed again!

Hooray for me.

Why am I unemployed again? Long story, suffice it to say typical Hooray for Anything luck in that it involved at least four or five things to go wrong simultaneously to create this situation.

And to start us off, here's my unemployed pet peeve: companies that make you fill out several online forms to apply for a jobs.

Here's how it works, you get a link to the site and the first thing you have to do is to log in and if you aren't already logged in, you have to open up an account. I do not want to open up a new account. I have hundreds of accounts out there and I do not want more. Plus, all I want is to send over my fucking resume, not join a big social-networking group of said company.

So after going through the rigamorale of signing up, you have to go through field after field to enter all the corresponding information. Again, all information that could be determined if one could just send a resume (most places actually want you to fill all the crap out, and then ask for the resume). So I have to go through page after page, filling out information and there's always one field I miss so I have to go back and redo things or get stuck on one page and in the case of one place, got stuck in such a loop I gave up because I had already wasted fifteen minutes trying to log in.

Then there's the case of a place I applied to today in which I apparently had already set up an account despite the fact I had no idea I set up an account there because I had never heard of the place. So I had to first guess my account name, then my password, for which I could not, of course remember despite the fact I usually only three and just rotate them all over the place, and so had to request a password. Finally, I got in. In this site, I had to first upload my resume, and then a page later cut and paste my resume into a box. Now, why the fuck would I have to do both?

Gack.

With American Idol in full force, I have to say I hate this time of year-- Idol season. I call it the Tyranny of American Idol, mainly in that despite all my attempts at not caring at all (I have never watched it nor had any inclination too as I see it as one big karoake show full of middling talents) but since everyone thinks everyone cares, I have to constantly hear about it. In the blogs. In EW. Even on PTI.

At this point, we're almost on the cusp of the "Tyranny of the Hills." I do not care one whit about Heidi and Lauren and Spencer yet I am supposed to care because everybody is supposed to care. The fact I even know who Heidi and Lauren is upsets me. What have these people done to merit such attention, even grabbing covers of gossip magazines as if the state of the Heidi and Lauren feud is equal to our relationship with Iran. Jesus Christ, America.

Harlan and I like to watch VH-1's "Best Week Ever" which for those of you who don't know is a show in which the week's pop-cultural moments are shown and a crew of talking heads snark on it. It's like "I love Last Week." Lately, however, the show is depressing me. For me, part of it is the fact that the whole irony/snark thing has turned to snarking on something as infetisemal as something on the Tyra Banks show. But mainly because the crap that is out there in the vast wasteland is almost offensive in it's awfulness. It's people out there celebrating the lowest of low brow without any sense that what they're watching is insulting.

Thing is, though, is that there was a point where I kinda hopped aboard all of this. In the mighty words of Elvis Costello "I used to be disgusted and now I try to be amused." But now, I'm back to disgusted

I walk around the office a lot. It's part of my job. And as I walk around, I invariably see the same or so people time after time during the day. So the question is, how many times does one have to smile to be socially acceptable? Is one the first time they see them enough? Do you have to smile everytime you see them?

Just curious

Few things from today at work:

Flowers were delivered to the front desk and when I came in from a break, I heard the person with whom the flowers were intended tell the security guard "I don't like these flowers. They're from my ex-husband and we got divorced eight years ago."

Second, I was wondering why can't every voice mail system standardize their codes? One VM system uses 3 as their way to listen to messages. Another 1. And another 7. And to delete, one is 3 and another 6 and so on and so forth. As a result, it's impossible to remember which code goes with which phone and I'm sure I'm not the only one to get impatient and press in the number they remember most and accidently delete their voice mail message. And why is it that some services make you have to listen to the whole message before being able to delete it? I got a phone call this morning from somebody calling in on a Sunday to wish their tennis partner good luck in their doubles match. I did not play in a doubles match. In fact, I don't play tennis and had no idea who called. Yet, I still had to listen to the message despite the fact I knew within seconds it wasn't for me.

So I got a bad feeling about tomorrow's PA debate. From what I hear, Obama is looking pretty tired, peeved, and flustered, something for which I don't blame him considering that he's still got the Muslim rumors going on but in the past month has been called a communist, elitist, unpatriotic at best and an America Hater at worst, anti-white, and an angry black radical. And all that from somebody from his own party. You'd be flustered too. Since he comes off still as a somewhat normal person with an intense understanding of what's wrong with the country and an understanding of just how absurd the political process is, he's gotta be flustered. Wouldn't you? You're sitting around trying to debate health care and they're asking you about wearing a stupid lapel (something for which, btw, his opponents don't wear nor members of the press wear either). In fact, he's showing exactly why I've been kind of dubious about his chances from the get-go, mainly that when it comes down to it, good, intelligent, sophisticated, multi-cultural, honest people will never be elected president because you have to be a cynical, egotist, mainly black-hearted person to win the Presidential election.

And the whole political process works in the same way that those old medevil witch tests go. Ignore comments that you're unpatriotic and the rumor spreads. Take it on and everybody thinks that if he's defending himself, he could very possibly be unpatriotic. Even worse, he's gotta take it from the press, all of it, or he'll get called a whiner or somebody who can't handle the pressure (which he's being accused of now).


Which brings up one of my political fantasies, that finally somebody, whether it be the candidate or the candidate's spokesman to throw shit back at the pundits/reports.

Like if asked about how an inability to bowl well won't help with the blue collar vote-
"interesting question, Chris. When was the last time you ever stepped in a bowling alley"

or asked about whether somebody is too elitist, usually by some rich dude who thinks he speaks for the lower class:
"and how is your million dollar house in Nantucket, Tim?"

or even
"what the fuck do you know, you went to Yale too."

And if asked, again, about whether Rev Wright loves America:
"What the fuck kind of question is that? Seriously. That's the fucking most pathetic question I've ever been asked. Do you know why everybody hates the press? Because you ask fucking ridiculous questions like that. This country is in the fucking shitter and you're asking me questions like this. Stop hurting America."

And the lapel question
"Nice question. When you get home, do you look in the mirror and hate yourself?"

Which brings up my last point. Mainly that everytime there's an election, we always hear about how people want health care and good jobs and all that stuff yet everytime they get a chance to actually vote for somebody who'll do something like that, people always vote for the person who does wear a lap and isn't caught looking away during the Pledge of Allegiance.

So, I'm also waiting for a losing Presidential Candidate to go to one of those places where they stumped and meet up with all those people who whined about health care or about jobs and say to them "how you like your health care, now, bitch"

Yes, I'm back. At least for now.

Here's an email that actually went out at my new job (which I'll get into later)

To All Occupants:

Due to recent incidences, please be reminded not to flush newspapers down the toilet. All newspapers should be disposed of in recycle bins located throughout the building. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact 'Property Management, SFO.'

Thank you,

Sorry for the lack of posting, but in the past few weeks, I have

-Started a new job
-got a new apartment
-got my wallet stolen from the gym.

All in the same week.

In fact, I got news about the apartment on the very-same day I started my new job and I got robbed at the end of that week. In other words, that was one long-ass, crazy-ass week. I feel like my whole life turned upside down and then somebody came by and shook me just enough all my change fell out of my pockets.

On top of that, it's my first new job in four years and my first new apartment in seven years. It'll also be the first time I've lived with someone in 7 years. It'll also be the first time I left the city proper and have moved to the outskirts, mainly the Richmond which means I have bought a fast pass for the first time in about five years.

And all of this means other life-shaking things. Like actually buying a couch and kitchen table. And real art. Or looking at having to get up early for a 45 ride on the 38 Geary L. Or having to call every place for which I have an account with and switch my account information to reflect my new checking account number.

I am exhausted with a mixture of freaked out thrown in for good measure.

And speaking of new jobs, today I remembered another fun part of new jobs, the fact that you're still kind of new and nobody knows you. When you're busy, it's fine because you're running around, being a part of things. But when you're not, you just sit at your desk, bored out of your mind, and contemplate the fact that you're kinda alone. There's no coffee klatch to go get coffee with or people to gossip with or even say hi to in the hallways or ask about their weekends.

It's like being the new kid in school and it's kinda lonely.

So here's my reaction to Obama's brilliant, amazing, thoughtful speech yesterday, a speech so good it'll definately doom him in the election as it once again is proving that he's just too good to be elected. It's basically about a viral video meant to attack Obama as a way to scare whitey:

"The co-founder of Laura Ingraham's radio show who now helps run Hugh Hewitt's 'Salem Radio Network' has mixed an Obama video interweaving Obama with Malcolm X, the Black Power salute at the Mexico City Olympics and Public Enemy's 'Fight the Power'."

And I'm thinking, that's a bad thing?

God, I forgot how God awful the first week of a new job is. It SUCKS. All I'm doing is everyone else's busy work which means I'm doing a lot of photocopying and filing and turning things in for people who are too busy to walk to someone's desk. To say I'm bored shitless would be an understatement. Throw in the fact I can't check email at work (!) and how you can't surf the web when you're new and I'm dying. D-Y-I-N-G.

It's so bad I'm having trouble sleeping because it's hard to look forward to waking up way earlier than your used to and then be horrendously bored for 8 hours.

Lord, help me make it through these first few weeks.

So tomorrow I start a new job, my first new job since August of '04 (imagine that). And I'm kinda nervous and kinda scared and kinda anxiety ridden mainly because all new jobs are hellish and suck. On the one hand, I kinda want to put myself down and go to sleep so that I'll get plenty of rest before the big day. On the other hand, I kinda want to stay up as late as I can just to enjoy all this time in which I'm not dealing with the first day of work.

As we all know (and as I've probably written here before), first weeks suck. There's nothing for you to do, they're not really prepared for you, and so they just sit you at a desk that hasn't really been set up for you, give you a bunch of papers to fill out and a bunch of manuals to read and then you have to spend eight hours pretending that it's the most exciting thing ever and you're so excited to be there. When you're not. Or at least, you're not because you're bored out of your frickin' skull. Plus, you have to pretend that you are a hard worker so you can't spend all that free time doing what most people at work do with free time-- surf the internet.

The other thing is that everything is new so you don't know anybody, don't know where anything is, and don't even really know who to ask. So you have to ask where the bathroom is or where the lunch room is or if there's coffee and snacks there and if not, where do people go and so on and so forth.

Oh, for various reasons, I can't check email at my new job which is GOING TO BE HELL.

One more interview story before I hopefully don't have to post one of these for awhile....

The older I've gotten, the worse my fear of heights has become. Actually, it's not a fear of heights as much as it is a fear of being in a high place when the Big One hits. Anyways, the issue has become big enough that working on the 30th floor of a high rise, something that could happen if I were to get offered the job, would put the job in the negative column. So is the fact that it's prime real estate, huge office, and lots of empty seats. But that's a whole other thing entirely.

Two other things about the interview-

Due to some yummy mexican food the night before and way too many cracker-type substances, I woke up the next morning with a rumble in the tummy. Which had me worried. So worried I spent much of the ride over to the job and before the job wondering just how one extricates themselves from the middle of an interview to run to the commode.

The other thing is that I was really exhausted that day, for various assorted reasons. I got to the interview on time and was just wired enough from coffee, but first they had me fill out a form. That took fifteen minutes, ten of which I spent twiddling my thumbs. Then the first person I was supposed to interview was fifteen minutes late. Now, the thing is that when you start with the interviewin' you're kinda pumped, kinda primed, kinda raring to go. Except for when their late and it's early and your tired and after awhile, you start feeling sleepy. Very sleepy. But the thing is is that you can't look sleepy at all. You can't slump down on your chair, can't put your head on the table, can't even give any impression of doing anything but sitting at the chair in a completely attentive way so that you look eager and gung-ho.

This is not as easy as it looks. Trust me. It's hard to sit there in a prime position when you're mind is thinking three things

-I'm friggin bored
-When the hell are they going to get here? This is driving me crazy
-God, I really have to take a shit.

And so, yes, Barrack Obama Superstar got crushed last night. Maybe the black guy won't win. Of course, I should have known it was meant to be because of what I always expected. Mainly that:

-Inspiring and idealistic always (always) loses to cold, cynical and ruthless
-Celebrity trumps everything so that one person with a famous name will always beat somebody without a famous name
-Never underestimate how much whitey (especially poor, rural whitey) is scared of people who aren't whitey
-Never misunderestimate the intelligence in the American people in terms of believing every random email they get sent to them by their aunt's sister in law


I guess I will vote for Hillary in the election but I have to say that I actually like John McCain better. I at least respect him way more than I do Hillary. All that kitchen sink throwing they've been doing at Obama just gets me under the skin, the misrepresentations, the vague allusions to race, the contorted logic in their arguements. But, as always, it gets to me in that for the most part, people (well, some of them) seem to be voting for her because well they loved Bill and they had a good run when BIll was president so let's vote for his wife! Except for NAFTA. That was on him.

The thing that really sticks in my craw is the whole thing about "experience" in foreign policy. She was the freakin' First Lady. It's not like she was conducting negotiations with the Serbs or the Palestinians yet they make it seem like she did. And then, if you read through things, you discover that she didn't even read the friggin' National Intelligence Report when congress decided to vote on the war, yet she's the one who has more experience in foreign policy. If you look at her record, actually, she has the same votes as McCain and we're guessing a lot of them were cynical votes so she didn't have to be accused as a wuss.

Eh, I'm just bitter this morning.

Got nothing other than two random thoughts--

It appears that one of everyone's favorite smells is the smell of bacon in the morning. Even people who don't eat meat. All of which got me thinking that maybe somebody needs to make some sort of air-freshner thingy which smells like bacon being cooked.

Yum

And the other thing....

After reading way too many stories about this election, it appears to me that there should be a test on whether you are able to vote or not-- if you really do believe Obama is a muslim (based on some random email that they got over the internet) than you should not be able to vote. Because not only do you prove you really haven't paid enough attention to what's going on to deserve to vote, but you are also a fucking idiot.

Oh, here's another work-related story.

I had an interview with some big gaming company, a place I actually interviewed with years ago (something, actually, which is happening quite a lot as I've been interviewing with places I interviewed with years and years ago). Anyways, the place has a huge, huge campus and the recruiter who set up the interview gave me the wrong building. So not only did I get incorrect instructions from Yahoo Maps (the building was way in back, away from the front of entrance and any sign that it was part of said company) but I went to the wrong building. Unfortunately, the campus of the place I was to interview with was huge (HUGE) and as a result, I got lost on the friggin campus and couldn't find the correct building.

Fifteen minutes later and drenched in sweat from frantically running around trying not to be late, I made it to the correct building.

So one of the things about Lost that amazes me is how come none of the castaways have said something like "Jesus Frickin' Christ, out of all the islands we could have landed on, why did we have to land on some crazy-ass island with a smoke monster, some weird science group that is trying to kill us, weird laboratories, and a polar bear on it?"

Anyways, before an interview I actually cut myself shaving. On my lip. First of all, how does one do that? Second of all, OUCH. And naturally, it bled like a mofo so I had to somehow dress all the while trying to keep blood from getting everywhere.

Which I managed to do, thank you very much.

Holy friggin shit, the black guy just might do it. Go, Obama, go!

I would say "yes, we can" right here but I don't want to be that cheesy.

Alright, one job related post, just for the heck of it:

That agency that didn't prepare for me when I went in for an interview? Well, they never returned my emails about the status so I had to hound the person over the phone. Sometimes I'm like that-- if they ain't going to take the trouble of returning calls, then I'm going to make them. Anyways, I got an email from the main person there saying that they decided to go in another direction and so they weren't going to hire for the position.

All things considering, I can see that so I don't think they were BS'ing. Plus, the women sent me an email on saturday night telling me this and I figure if she's emailing me on a work-related issue on a Saturday, there's something seriously going on there.

I actually almost felt like sending her a thank you note just because she took the trouble to email me on a Saturday night.

Since I've heard that this blog has been a bit too depressing lately (and for those who care, the job situation is all good. Also, I haven't felt like writing too much so there's good stuff going on too), here's something I wrote on SFist:

ng the number of beards per customer, multiplying it by the size of the crowd, and then dividing it again by the square footage). The HBQ was not quite Boogaloos high but high nevertheless. We also noticed that there were also a high variety of beards seen, meaning that the beard craze has gone from it's "classic" phase to "gothic" phase.

Like all things hipster, we wondered just how this beard thing works and the meaning of it all. Like, the guy checking IDs at the bar had a very scruffy, mountain man beard that made him look like Zach Galifianakis. Does this make him "hipper" than some dude with just a normal beard just because it was thicker? Is that worth, say, five hipster points on the hipster/coolness scale? And what about the dude we saw riding a bike down 16th street who had some sort of Hasidic Rabbi/Matisyahu thing going? Is that considered the high end of hipsterdom, like fifteen points or twenty, because his beard was way longer than most beards? Would this, then, make him hipper than the guy checking IDs? Then there was another guy at the bar who had a normal looking beard, but topped it off with a Rollie-Fingers style handlebar moustache. How hip would he be considered? Would he be somewhere between the Zach dude and the Matisyahu dude because his beard was normal length or would he be considered hipper because while it is easy to just grow out a beard, doing the handlebar thing takes work and effort?

We could be wrong about all this but our guess was that the handle bar dude was higher on the hipster scale because he was able to attract his faux-mullet wearing, sort of 70's swept-do, girlfriend, Together, they gave off such an aura of hipness that we wanted to stand by them and bask in their hipster, halo-like, aura. We felt cooler just being in the same bar with them. Were these two the offical King and Queen of Hipsterdom? Were they the Patient Zero of hipsterdom, you know the two hipsters in the Mission from which all hipness emanates? Either way, to them we say, well played, hipster couple, well played.

It took us years to figure out how the trucker hat trend worked but unfortunately, we figured it out way after it was trendy. Now that the beard thing is still happening, we'd like to understand it now before it becomes so 2008. Among other things, we want to know if we'd be cooler just by growing a beard. Anyways, can anyone explain all of this to us?

So you know how earlier I said I had a problem with sports shows that had some over-the-top finale by the underdog team that is won with an over-the-top play? That actually kinda described the Superbowl. That play where Eli almost got sacked, then slunk away, then threw that what-the-hell pass that the receiver inexplicably caught was pretty much something you'd only see in those sports movies but never actually see in an actual game.

Except for today.

And as for Tom Petty, he looked a little overwhelmed by performing, which makes some sense as he's not the kind of performer who plays to those kind of big crowds. On the other hand, he's one of the few performers out there anywhere who is in some way pretty much liked by everyone. Not like-like (well, there are a few) but I can't think of many people who don't like him in some way, a pretty rare feat for any musician who's been around for thirty-odd years.

But one thing, though, he played three songs from his one certifiable masterpiece, Full Moon Fever, a disc he actually recorded as a solo artist without the Heartbreakers so I always kind of wondered what the rest of the band felt knowing that he wrote his best stuff without him. The thing about that album, though, is that it doesn't really hold up that well because it was produced by Geoff Lynne who is without a doubt the worst producer to ever set foot in a recording studio- all that cheesy overdubs and fake background singing all edge being whithered away by whimsical cuteness. Listen to that album now-- it doesn't sound right. Which is why I much prefer "Wildflowers" which I think is a brilliant album, albeit a little too long.

Oy, yes, it's twelve and I'm rambling but today got me all riled up.

So Super Tuesday is next Tuesday and for the most part, Tuesday is Go time in the election. Whoever does better between Hillary and Obama gets the bead on the candidacy. Obviously, this is of great interest because I've drank the Obama kool-aid and then drank it again.

Despite my affection for Bill, Hillary has kind of bugged me. I don't doubt she'd be a decent President (the bar is mighty low these days) but it's the dynastic portion of her candidacy, the fact that she comes off like she's owed this election that kind of grates. Not to mention that despite the supposed Girl Power symbolism her election would mean, the reality is that she wouldn't be even near where she is if she wasn't married to somebody famous. If her name was Hillary Jones, nobody would care.

But whatever, I'd still vote for her in a general election without worrying about it.

Like a lot of people, however, the past few weeks has grated on me and I don't really like her anymore. I don't even really like her husband anymore. It's like the week before and after South Carolina, the facade was stripped off the both of them, revealing the cynical, calculating, sense of entitlement that lurks beneath them. It also brought back what somebody in the New Yorker referred to as "the circus" those two bring with them.

If you read the press, there's a lot of Obama-mania out there. Republicans breaking down in tears during his speeches, young people getting off of Facebook long enough to go vote for him, lepers being cured just at the sound of his voice. At this particular moment it actually looks like somebody who does represent major change and hope, a candidacy based primarily on idealism than anything else might actually win.

But, of course, he won't win. Because cynical and calculating always beat idealistic. Because our election system is severerly twisted and beaten and is geared towards the lowest common denominator winning. And because the mass of voters out there still think "Oh, it's a Clinton-- I've heard of her. I've heard a little about Obama but I've been too busy watching American Gladiator to pay attention to the election."

Just you wait and see.

So today I had that interview with that place that kind of forgot to let me know that they wanted to bring me back for another interview. When I got there, they didn't really have a record of me coming in for the interview. Something which I kind of expected, actually.

Luckily, some dude appeared out of nowhere, said he was the guy who had an interview, asked me if I was him and then off to the interview. Thing is, though, the HR person didn't really tell him who I was. Or what I was interviewing for. Or pretty much anything-- he just got some email saying he had an interview at 5. He hadn't even seen my resume. So, with all that, he just basically said "well, whadda ya got for me?" and I went on to do usual shpiel, trying to say whatever I thought I needed to say from what I had figured out about what they were looking for. At the end, he said "I'm good," ran off to check in with the HR person to see if there was anything else they needed, and with that, the interview was over.

Again, none of this was that much of a surprise.

Yeah, I know, companies are never as desperate to hire somebody as much as the interviewee is desperate to be hired. Still, if you're going to make somebody leave work early, rush home from work while driving in a nasty rainstorm, and drag their ass over there for an interview, the least they can do is make some sort of effort. It's kind of, well, kind of disrespectful. It might not that important to them but it is to the person who is doing all that. Which, of course, matters not to anyone who sets these things up. I'm pretty sure an HR person has never said "Gosh, we didn't quite treat that person that well, maybe we should apologize or go out of our way to help him if we bring them in for another interview?"

All of which is another reason why HR people roast like pigs on a spit in hell when they die.

Okay, so you're Luke Skywalker. As we all know, at the very last second and with the fate of the rebel alliance on his shoulders, he let's the force be with him and switches off his radar as he fires the torpedo down the shaft of the Death Star. A pretty ballsy move if you ask me, if only because if he missed, the planet would have been destroyed, the Death Star would still be in operation and only a rag-tag fleet of planes would be able to assemble somewhere else to continue on with the rebellion, their forces depleted. And if that all happened, Luke would then have to explain that the reason why he turned off the radar, or whatever that was, was because he heard the voice of a half-senile old man in his head telling him to trust his feelings.

I'm guessing that wouldn't go over very well.

So I'm watching the tv coverage of Obama beating Hillary in SC and everyone seems mystified that Obama won such a majority of black voters. And again, you just want to shout at the tv "that's because he's black you motherfucking idiots. Why wouldn't he get all of their votes."

And also, the spin seems to be that Barack only won because he got the black vote and and just chalk it off to him just being a black candidate in a predominately black dominated state, despite the fact they never say something like "well, Hillary won New Hampshire because it's a predominately white state."

Or something like that. Either way, I hate the fucking campaign pundits.

So today is the South Carolina primary and I love how they've been conducting all these polls that show that while Obama is doing very well with blacks, he's not doing very well with whites. So all the pundits and media are trying to figure out what it all means when it's just obvious that the reason why he's not doing well with white people in South Carolina is because, hello-- it's South Carolina.

And, yes, I might be stereotyping a bit, but if you're going to keep the stars and bars and your state flag, you gotta accept everyone calling you a bunch of knuckle-dragging hillbilly rednecks.

And, so, hey, I called that place yesterday, the agency that had me interview for two different jobs at once. I actually got the HR person, which is a little surprising but also presents itself a problem-- I don't think they remember who the hell I am, but what am I supposed to say? So I just say "hi, this is Hooray for Anything..." and left it at that.

She didn't remember me. After a few seconds, she did the "oh...hi...how are you?" with that tone of voice that suggests she still has no idea who I am. So I tell her what I was calling about and what the job title is. A bell sort of went off and she told me they decided to put that position on hold. Oops. But then she rallied and said that one of the jobs (the one I didn't want that much) was on hold but that the job I wanted wasn't on hold and that, essentially, she wanted to bring me back for a second interview but kinda forgot to let me know. Now I have an interview next week.

Here's the thing, though, the fact she completely forgot about me and the job and setting it up could be either bad or good. Here's the breakdown:

Good: she's so flustered that she can't even remember to interview anyone else or invite anybody else, thus clearing a path for me
Bad: She's so flustered that she can't even remember to interview anyone so it'll be months before she puts anything together in hiring anyone.

You know what makes you feel really good when you're about to get laid off? News all over the place that the economy is about to go in the toilet.

Yay?

Anyways, just to keep everyone abreast of the sitch, in the past week, I

-Got an email from a place that blew me off saying they have another position opening up and whether or not I'd like to come in this time.
-Did a phone interview with somebody who came off right quick as crazy. The type of person who asks me about where I grew up and why I came to California before even asking me about my skills on the job. I knew something was up when in an email she asked me if I read Hebrew. Turns out the printing company she works for does a lot of work for synagogues. Now, nothing against synagogues, but I don't see them paying very well. Or being that exciting. Regardless, I don't know why she'd think I'd go from four years doing direct marketing at Super Mondo Corp to direct marketing for Temple Beth Siduit
-Got another email from a company in Santa Cruz. Bad, right? Except they said I can telecommute. Good, right? In all honesty, I dunno. I kinda like the idea of working from home but it's too easy to think you're at home and start doing things you'd normally do when you're home. Like watch tv. Or surf the web. Or go see bargain matinees.

And finally...

Last week I had an interview at an agency. A really good agency. After the interview, I had fallen in love with the place and agency. I thought I did really well in the interview too, with somebody even telling me she'd like to bring me back to meet with her boss. Haven't heard back from them, of course, and I didn't get an email giving me the standard "position is closed" or the line that's really popular these days: we have an internal candidate.

The thing is that I was supposed to go in the interview for an online job, the kind of job I'm looking for. But they threw me a loop and had my first interview be with somebody who does mainly print. Okay, I can do that. I kinda like doing that, but wha? I kept on thinking in my head if I got this job mixed up with another job. Plus, I was all prepared to say one thing but found myself desperately scrambling to say what I needed in this particular interview.

So they leave and in comes somebody to talk to me about an online job. So I switch gears again and talk online, still massively confused as to what the hell is going on and why is it that two different people gave me two different descriptions of the job. It kinda reminded me of the dot.com days when you'd interview for a job nobody quite knew what the job exactly was so you'd hear three or four descriptions of the job while interviewing with people.

Anyways, then the HR person comes in and I actually tell her I'm kinda confused as to what's going on and that two people gave me two different descriptions of the job. You know, to let her know that people are confused out there. Turns out another job opened up and they decided to throw me in there just to see how I'd do.

And how'd I do? Well, naturally, confused.

The pisser of it is that if I knew I was up for the first job, I would have said what I needed to say and probably had a better shot getting that job then the job I interviewed for. Mainly because my interview with the dude was one of the best one's I've had.

C'est la vie.

So I've spent a lot of time over the years looking for work. I've also spent a lot of time being rejected while looking for work. And just when I thought I had heard everything in terms of rejections, from the place that kinda sorta wanted to hire me and kinda sorta wanted to give me another change at the end of January, there comes this:

Hi Jon -- Thanks for checking in. Turns out I am leaving Screwy Ad Agency. Back to freelancing for me! Since we did not make a hiring decision while I am still here, I don't think one is going to get made. I think you'll have to consider this opportunity closed. Good luck to you!

Alright, I'm all better now and back to the ole blogging.

So I haven't been writing much about the job search. Part of it is denial that I'm doing it. And part of it is because I've done it before. Writing about looking for work on "Hooray" is like Ben Stiller deciding to do another movie in which he plays a neurotic Jewish guy with a hair-trigger temper. Or U2 doing another album full of semi-heart lifting anthems meant to inspire everyone to end war and feed everyone in Africa personally.

So I'm not. At least for now.

But for those looking for some job-hunting goodness, here's what I got for you:

-The crazy place I interviewed for, the one with the guy who rambled on for 45 minutes without really letting me speak didn't even bring me back for the second round of interviews. For whatever reason, I did something in those few sentences that I was able to speak to let them know I wasn't the right fit for the job.

-Some design agency left a message for me to call them back for an interview so I did. Never heard back from them. A recruiter then tried to get me into that agency for an interview but wasn't able to. Then another person at said agency saw my resume posted and called me for a phone interview. They never called me back. The job, however, keeps on being posted and reposted again.

-An agency I spoke to today had on their web site a picture of employees playing foozball in their office. The job listing also mentioned that people at the agency work hard but are also experts at "Guitar Hero."

-And finally, the agency that kinda sorta wanted to hire me and kinda sorta wanted to check in with me if things fall apart with the person they kinda sorta hired instead kinda sorta has the position open again. So I sent them a "hey, what's going on?" email. So far, they haven't responded.

You'd figure if they need somebody, they like me, and I want to work for them, they'd say hell to the ya. But......

Sorry for the lack of posting, but I've had a busy week or so. I've:
-rewatched season 4 of the Wire
-started watching Friday Night Lights
-recorded every episode of Everest: Beyond Limits from the previous season, to which I am catching up on
-started watching and recording both Ghost Hunting and Paranormal State.

I can't recommend Paranormal State, btw, because despite it's kinda cool concept- college students go out investigating cases of hauntings and/or demons, it's really kind of too slickly produced to make it that believable. On the other hand, how many shows feature a demon haunting a trailer in a trailer park home in which the demon possesses some 250 pound guy named Tiny with a god-awful moustache, leading to an actual excorcism. In the trailer, mind you.

Two things about that show I'd like to add:
1)In every single episode, the members of the group try and rid something of evil spirits and it always involves some sort of Catholic ritual/saying/excorcism technique. Considering all that, what the hell is someone supposed to do if they get chased by a demon and are Jewish? That whole "the power of Christ compels" you thing probably might be a little awkward. Or maybe Jews don't get chased by demons unless Jewish mothers count.

2)If I knew of some sort of paranormal investigating group in college, or right after post-college, I'd be totally into joining. I love that stuff and some part of me thinks there's something to it. However, I would definately be the type of ghost hunter who upon hearing the slightest sound, would run out of a house as fast as I possibly could.

So, yeah, Barrack Hussein Obama just won Iowa. I know I've been on board the Obama train for the past month or so (I gave him money) but even if you don't support him, you have to admit that the fact that a black person just won an election in a white, rural state is pretty darn cool.

To paraphrase a blogger out there-- "thank you George W. Bush for screwing the country up so much that people are actually considering having a black guy be President."

I watched the scariest, most horrific, terrifying movie ever made tonight. Something way scarier than Hitchcock or Halloween or "The Shining"-- Jesus Camp. I made it only fifteen minutes through, when the ten year old boy with a bad, rat tail of a mullet and a friend sat there watching a video making fun of evolution before I decided I couldn't watch anymore and switched to something much cheerier- the second to last episode of last season's "the Wire" (otherwise known as the second most depressing episode of tv ever put on the air (the final episode of that season being the most depressing, of course). I'm going to finish watching it, though, but I'm probably going to need some wine to make it through.

Scariest damn zombie movie I've ever seen and I thought "28 Weeks Later" was fantastic.

Notes on a quicky trip to Montana-

-I got stuck in the Denver airport for five hours as my flight was delayed several hours due to snow. Long story, but suffice to say, I'm one of those lucky people who can now say they've spent about two hours on the tarmac waiting to take off.

-While all of this was going on, I noticed that pretty much the moment it started snowing in Denver and things were looking rather dicey, every United official disappeared. There was absolutely nobody with a United uniform to be seen anywhere. It's like the moment they realized the shit was about to hit the fan, they got a call from command central telling them to get the fuck out of there. Where they were, I have no idea (lounge room? bar? at home?) but it wasn't until flights started up again that you started seeing a few at gates.

-United has this new thing where for an extra $30, you can upgrade to "Economy Plus" and get an extra five inches of legroom. I cannot understate just what a great deal this is and just how nicer flying is with actual legroom. Highly recommended.

And now onto the fun stuff

On my way to Montana, I got my shaving cream and toothpaste confiscated. They were both normal size and, yes, I should know that technically neither are allowed, but I still thought it would be okay. I haven't had them confiscated on some flights I've been on and they are toothpaste and shaving cream. Ålso, I'm testing them in a little way, seeing if the people behind the scanner also realize how idiotic all of this is and let it slide because it's only a fucking thing of shaving cream and toothpaste (in reading about security rules, several people point out that all security does when confiscating something is put them in a giant basket, meaning that if one of those things were a bomb, there's not a damn thing done to make sure that bomb goes off)..

As a result, I had to buy those little traveling kits, making me think that most security rules are merely done as a result of the lobbying from airport confectionaries

On my way back out of Billings, security stopped my bag while going through the x-ray machine, met for a few minutes, and then my bag was taken off to be searched. They went through everything to see what the offending item was and pulled out my traveling bag to examine what was in it, mainly the regulation size toothpaste and shaving cream. Upon discovering this, the security person told me that this was an issue because I needed to put this into a plastic bag. So I said that, no, it's not in a plastic bag but that it's in a bag, albeit a black traveling bag. I was then told I needed to put it into a plastic bag anyways and so I argued that not only is it in a bag, but the items in it are all regulation. I was then told again that it doesn't matter because it needs to be put into a plastic bag to which I once again argued that it's in a bag and that it's all small enough to be allowed by security. Once again, I was told that this was all a security problem because they are not put into a plastic bag. Finally, after the third or fourth go round, the security person actually grabbed a plastic bag and put my shaving cream and toothpaste into a plastic bag, put it into my carry on luggage, and let me go, secure in knowing that I could possibly not commit any sort of heinous Al Qeda like hijacking because my tiny case of shaving cream and toothpaste were in a plastic bag.

For a few seconds, I thought it was finally going to be who leads the revolution, the "this is all retarded" revolution, the one that finally frees us plane travelers from the yoke of ridiculous security measures dreamed up by a bunch of mindless bureaucrats and chicken-shit politicians to pacify a largely ignorant mass who doesn't care what ridiculous security measures are implemented just as long as some official tells them that it'll keep everyone safe and secure from the one in a billion chance that some middle-eastern dude will hijack their plane and try and fly it into a large skyscraper. Someday, somebody is going to start the revolution it and maybe it'll be me.

Or maybe not.

The scary thing is that there's a good chance these measures will be the norm for now and forever on. Everybody (well most people who know what's going on) knows these measures are bullshit but what chances are there that somebody will have enough guts to say "you know, this whole shoe thing is ridiculous. From now on, you can leave your shoes on?" If you say almost zero or no way in hell, you're probably right because if they did, there's enough jackasses (who all know better) who'll scream and shout and the vast array of masses will start screaming about how they'll no longer feel safe.

But what happens next? What happens if some terrorist tries to blow something up using a hairbrush? Does that mean hairbrushes will be banned? Or, god forbid, an iPod. Will they be banned too and if so, will that finally be the moment people say "fuck this?"

But then, on one of my flights, I was thinking: you know how before you take off, they run through all those things that airplanes come equipped with in case of an accident? You know, like life preservers and rafts and what not? Are all of those things really necessary? For the life of me, I can't actually remember an incident in which an airliner went down in some ocean and everybody survived by grabbing their seat to stay afloat and hop onto one of those life rafts they always tell you about. On my flight from Billings to Denver, the flight attendants told several people with babies who were sitting on their laps that in case there was a "water landing," they have extra life preservers for the babies. This for a flight between Montana and Colorado, two places in which the chances of having a "water landing" is nearly impossible.

But you know what? I feel safer knowing that if, God forbid, the plane lands over the Pacific Ocean or someplace, I'll be able to use my seat as a life preserver and be able to survive on a raft. Even though I know this is pretty ridiculous.

So maybe just as all that bullshit about floating seats and slides makes me feel better about flying, all that stuff about taking off shoes makes other people feel safe and isn't that what it's all about?

Still, those security measures are fucking bullshit.

It's weird working on Christmas Eve, especially when it's a Monday. And you also happen to live in a place that doesn't look that much different today than any other day, except less crowded. I rode into work this morning, hearing all the Christmas tunes being played-- not the usual stuff, but the serious, never played stuff-- and I wondered why until I realized it was Christmas Eve. In fact, if you didn't listen to the radio and just stayed inside the apartment, you'd never know it's the birthday of little Baby Jesus.

Kinda a strange day. Anyways, off to Montana

I don't want to be in the business of posting my Sfist stuff on here, but I thought this was relevant in light of this week's big news:

Man, that Jamie Lynn Spears story is tremendous. Just stupendously tremendous. It's like the movie "Idiocracy" (which, yes, CJ I've seen)-- It's pretty bad, but it's central premise is that civilization is not "evolving" but "devolving." The reason is because while all the well-educated, intelligent folks aren't having lots of kids because they're too busy with their careers and self-actualizing, all the dumb-ass redneck hillbillies are. In other words, the Spears family.

Today, it's..... Fear and Loathing on the Job Hunt!!!!!!!!!!

-There was this agency for which I interviewed maybe a month ago. Things went really well and I really liked the place but I never got that oh so awesome "we want to hire you" phone call. When I checked in, I was told that they really wanted to give me a job offer, but they wanted to hire someone as a freelancer at first and they couldn’t offer me the job because I only wanted to go full-time. That was, apparently, a hitch. They even told me that they’ll look around for a few weeks and and if they can’t find anybody, they’ll let me know and they’ll bring me in again, the job hunting equivalent of “I really want to date you but I can’t commit to anyone right now so let me go on a few more dates and if I don’t find anybody else, we can totally go out.”

After a week or so, I decided to screw it (partly out of panic, partly because I had a really good feeling about the place) and sent an email essentially saying "Let's Make a Deal." A few days later, I got an email from my contact saying she was going away for a few days but will give me a call to figure something out when she gets back.

Anyways, one thing leads to another and I don't hear back from them when they said they would. Today, I finally heard back from them . Apparently, they found somebody in the past week who they wanted to bring in for five weeks. If it works out, they’ll hire them full time. If it doesn’t, hey, wanna job?

All of which means I am now essentially rooting for somebody to fuck up so I can get their job.

-I have an interview with some agency this week but I forgot when exactly it is. I know-- boneheaded, but they did call me to reschedule the interview around 6 while I was on 101 and didn't have anything to write it down. I was also too busy concentrating on not getting into an accident. So now I have to figure out a way of finding out what time the interview is while not letting them I couldn't remember when the interview is.

-And finally...

Had an interview last Friday morning. Due to various reasons , I went into the interview a little tired, a little hungover and seriously deficient in both coffee and breakfast.

The interview was one of those types where I'm supposed to meet with three different people over a two and a half session, one of those long, grueling type situations. The first interview was pretty good-- she was actually a fan of mine from SFist (one of my few) and everything went well.

The second interview, however, was not so good. The guy I met with basically babbled on for over half-an-hour, telling me everything from his work experience to what he's done at the company to his philosophy on life to what a great place to work this company is. Over this entire thing, he basically asked one question and let me get in about ten words.

It was HELL.

This being an interview, of course, I had to pretend I was totally into it and that it was the most fascinating thing I had ever heard. All of which meant that over the entire thing, I had to exert a whole lot of energy:
1)Ttrying to pay attention
2)Trying not to fall asleep

Towards the end, the only thing I could think of (other than how much I wanted coffee and a burrito) was, essentially "Jesus Christ, get me out of here."

Luckily, the dude went too long, way past his allotted half-an-hour and so when it was over, my scheduled interview time was over. When I was asked if I wanted to stick around and finish up, I told them I had to get back to my job, gave everyone a hand-shake, and ran to the first coffee shop I could find.

Yes, I finally got comments working again so comment away. I need all the comfort I can get. The thing about comments is that I had it all set up but a certain company that is planning on world domination bought blogger and has made it infinitely harder to use primarily because they are making it so only people who use that company for purposes of sending emails can safely navigate the seas of blogger. If you happen to use, say, another company's email account, obstacles are thrown in your way so as to punish you for not using the Overlords of Blogger's email address.

Lest you think I've gotten too serious lately...

I rewatched all the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy for like the tenth time (thank you TNT) and now I'm wondering about how, if Gandalf is such a great, kick-ass, wizard, he doesn't do much actual wizarding. Oh, he occasionally makes some light come out of his staff, knows his shit, and pretty good with a sword but he doesn't actually do much in the way of magic. During all the travails that make up the books/movies, couldn't he do something like affect the weather? Like create a super-powerful wind to knock things over? Or maybe come up with some magic covering to fend off the snow? Or knock people over with some sort of magic spell or curse somebody or just do a little bit of something that actually help more than he's already helping. Couldn't he magically "beam" them out of some tough scrap or make them invisible? After all, you'd think that with him being a wizard, they could have gotten out of some of the scrapes they were in if he actually did some magic.

Althought I haven't seen much in the way of a debate online, but I'm pretty sure Gandalf would beat Dumbledore. Some guy named Gandalf will always beat somebody named Albud Dumbledore. But Dumbledore (and all the other wizards, actually) did things. Like curse people or stun people or change people from animal to human or vice versa or do spells and potions and maniuplate time. The wizards in "Harry Potter" even fly on brooms, appariate, and even shoot things out of their wands. Any number of things that actually helps people when they're stuck in a bit of a spot.

Why couldn't Gandalf do any of that?

Okay, so the answer to the question of why I'm reading the "Left Behind" books-

Because it's cheesy fun?

Definately, yes.

But there's something else to it. These books, despite it all, are hugely popular in the US. Millions and millions of people buy these things. Now, it's hard to tell whether people actually belive half the stuff or whether they're like Harry Potter for Jesus Freaks. Just as people who read Harry Potter do so because who doesn't want to be a wizard, hang out at Hogwarts, and learn all sorts of cool spells that help you defeat bad people, maybe the Left Behind folks read the books because they all want to be Super-Christians, have their paranoid fantasies come true, and fight to help bring back the return of Jesus.

Or maybe they believe it all.

One of the guys who wrote the books, Tim LaHaye is a big figure in Republican politics. He just endorsed Mike Huckabee (who apparently is a big fan) in fact. He is also some big figure in some super shadowy religious cabal with major influence within the Republican Party, especially the Bush administration. Bush himself gave a speech to LaHaye's organization in 1999 that the White House refuses to release as it's expected it's full of crazy. LaHaye, himself, has said that the book is somewhat true, or, at least, possibly about to be true.

So I'm reading it partially because it's important to read because it gives you an understanding of how the Red Staters think.

And what can we see about the people who are into the book: to read the subtext is to give you an understanding of just what lurks beneath all of that. Jews are seen as kind of nice, affable, people who are tragically doomed because they backed the wrong Messiah. They're kind of like those nice, kind of loser friends who you know will be stuck to being losers unless they change their ways (in the books, meaning convert). And then there's all the fear about anything "One World"-like, meaning anything that unites the world. The U.N., after all, is extremely powerful in the book and the Anti-Christ (who is European) achieves his power through the U.N and brings people together for awhile until he starts nuking people). I'm not quite sure why all the one-world paranoia and whether it's just a function of xenophobia or because that's what the prophecies say so things like the U.N. or any sort of agreement that brings countires and people together is seen as evil and wrong because it's a manifestion of the Anti-Christ. All those whacky militias that ran loose in the '90s are seen as heroes in the book.

The group that really takes it on the chin are the Catholics. It is first said that not many Catholics are raptured. The Pope, however, is but it's said that before he got Raptured, instituted a bunch of reforms to Catholocism that made it more Protestant-like. When the Anti-Christ unites all the religions to create one giant religion (somethat that is very, very bad), it is the new Pope who runs it all. And, finally, once the evil bad guy takes over, he is referred to in the same ways that the Pope is referred to.

In other words, these books maybe dumb and maybe stupid, but there's a lot to learn from them.

They still kind of suck, though

Ever since the campaign started in earnest, I've been sitting on the fence, trying to decide what to do and which horse to back. All I knew is that in no way, shape, or form did I want Hillary even near the candidacy. There are many main reasons for this, but the biggest one is that the only reason why she's even in position to do what she's doing is because she was the wife of a very popular and good President. So-- who to vote, then?

I like Edwards vim and vigor and his proposals seem sharper than the others. And when it comes down to it, I don't see a black man or a woman actually winning the Presidency and this makes Edwards the obvious choice.

Still, I can't but help gravitate towards Barack Obama Superstar. I think if I were to come up with a perfect candidate, in terms of integrity and intelligence, it would be him. But mainly it's because I think the idea of electing a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, deep thinking black might just be the best thing for the country. A way of redeeming us for the past eight years as he really represents the best of what America is. Still, I don't think that a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, deep thinking black man will EVER be elected President, or at least now. I just like the idea that we might actually elect one.

And that's reason enough to support him, isn't it?

Had an interview today with what would have been a perfect job. Have been because it was one of those interviews where they obviously don't have any time to talk to you and the one person who meets with you has no idea how to conduct an interview.

Goody.

Anyways, we were talking away and the person I was talking to said "I gotta cut this short because I have a conference call in a few minutes that I have to get ready for. I thought that was normal until I started to wonder if that is sort of the job searching equivelant of "I have to get up early next morning..."

One more thing, I was wearing a suit, although affecting a "business casual" look as befitting talking to an ad agency (I once went in wearing a full suit and was told by everyone in the interview that I didn't need to dress up). Anyways, the HR person who I first met with took me to the lunch room to get me some water and before we went in, she turned around, looked me up and down, and said "oh, I should have told you, no jeans."

What?

As much as I hate to admit, I'm having a lot of problems getting into the second of the "Left Behind" books. The main reason is the just absolutely atrocious writing, but that's only one of a few things.

One of the crazier things I'm having trouble wrapping my head arouns is the logic in all of this. I know this is considered somewhat fantasy/sci-fi, but I think a lot of people kinda believe that this is all possible or could happen or God knows what (pun intended). So, too read it, you have to believe that the UN is actually a powerful force in the world. And that the leader of the UN is actually a really, really powerful person. Also, according to all the End of Days speculation, the Anti-Christ will build his new kingdom in New Babylon, which is pretty much Iraq. Therefore, the reader has to believe that it's a perfectly reasonable thing for the new head of the UN (aka, the Anti-Christ) to decide to move the UN to, yes, Iraq. And not only that, the Anti-Christ is going around making all of the countries in the world to disarm and has decided that he is going to take all the discarded weapons to the HQ of the UN to New Babylon. Which means that to all of the people reading it and actually enjoying the book and even buying into some of it, the idea of some guy taking up all the arms in the world and stashing them in Iraq is no big deal.

Also, you have to believe that Cameron "Buck" Williams, noted bon vivant, rebel journalist, world-famous celebrity, and infamous rebel is, in fact, a 30 year old virgin.

One of the other problems I'm having is that there is now a romance going on between Buck and Rayford Steele's 21 year old daughter (who attends Stanford where there is apparently an airport). The romance is handled so well it makes the romance in "Attack of the Clones" seem like "Casablanca."

And finally, there's the fact that the first book dealt mainly with people who weren't big on Jesus and how they discovered the error of their ways. So now that all the heroes are really religious, I'm finding that the "Left Behind" books now have entirely too much Jesus in them.

And your masturbatory wank-off of the week is from this story on Slate.com about how "Stairway to Heaven" ruined Zeppelin:

Page had developed a new approach to rock, based on a multilayered "guitar army" (his words), ragalike uses of sevens and fives in meter, insistent drones drawn from folk music, and hypnotic, shifting cycles that swirled around you (during the elongated endings to "Celebration Day" and "Out On the Tiles" on Led Zeppelin III), and which sometimes sucked you right under (the sublime closing minutes of "When the Levee Breaks")... Does "Stairway to Heaven" possess these qualities? Absolutely not. The guitar army, yes, that is there. But this song is not just atypical of Zeppelin's music, it is unique among their epic tracks in that it privileges melodic/lyrical development at the expense of rhythmic exploration and timbral/psychoacoustic experimentation."

And all this about a song about a bustle in the hedgerow

It appears that Super Mondo has decided to go Green and as a result, they are now using recycled toilet paper. Now, I don't know about you but that stuff is kind of rough. So, let's just say you're having issues with your stomach, and, well, it can be kind of a painful day.

I'll just leave it at that.

At work, they've added a new snack to the vending machine-- fries & ketchup potato chips. And it's exactly what it says it is-- snack food item that tastes kind of potato-y (like potato sticks and a little like fritos) with the definite, walloping taste of ketchup. It is, as one would expect, just God-awful. Hideous even. The best part? It's a product apparently made by "Burger King" which, I guess, is now trying to break into the vending machine business. What's next? Whopper chips?

Oh, the chips have no "trans fats" so they're healthy!

And speaking of crazy, amazing products, Harlan and I saw some woman on BART reading a book called "Mandingo Love" The cover of the book consisted of a a picture inside a heart of the backside of a big, black guy with what is definately a woman in front of him, in a much lower position, with her hands reaching up his backside. You can see the picture here.

All you need to know about the book is the description given on Amazon: "African natives Martzu and De'shawntu Poitier are proud to have raised such a fine son. Ambitious and levelheaded, De'marco Poitier is on the right track straight out of high school. He and his sweetheart Jennifer are making wise decisions for their future. De'marco has what all the ladies want. After receiving hands-on love making lessons from Connie he is laying it down in between the sheets and loving every minute of it. ...After an unlikely admirer gets a piece of De'marco and sees firsthand that De'marco is packing the notorious Mandingo love-piece, a plot is devised to make De'marco their own."

Now you would think such a book would be from the '70s when things were a bit looser and books looked like that. But you would be wrong-- the book was written a few years ago. And you would also think that this little piece of erotica would be from like Playboy or Penthouse. But once again, you would be wrong: it's by "Penhouse Publishing."

So today at work, this guy walked in at the same time I did. Now this guy is a talker, one of those guys who likes to chat away while at the urinals. But today, he went not to the urinal but to the stall and started doing that business one does when one goes to a stall. The thing was, he did it while also simultaneously having a conversation with me. Now I'm not a talker when it comes to the bathroom. I'm one of those "get in, do your business, and get out" types. But a chat is okay. But not while someone is taking a shit. Among other things, do you have to sit there the entire time carrying on the conversation? How do you end it? And when does his business on a toilet, one tends to make noise so for all intents and purposes, you're conversing with somebody who is farting merilly as he goes.

And the thing is he did it twice today.

So thanks to my purchasing all those "Left Behind" books, Amazon keeps on sending me recommendations for all these Christian books. Like "How to Surive the Rapture." Or "Jesus: Will He Return Tomorrow or in a Week." So now I'm a little worried that Amazon has me pegged as some sort of Jesus freak. So, what should I do? Maybe order that Christopher Hitchin's book about how God is bad? Or maybe the "Golden Compass" which apparently has as it's denoument God being killed?

As those deal with religion, maybe they won't work as they all deal with God in one way or the other. So, maybe I should order some book with lots and lots of sex. Maybe that'll confuse them?

I'm waiting to hear about a job in which last week I was told that I would hear back from them "late" this week. Meaning now. Having been through this thing, I know "late this week" usually means Wednesday or Thursday and Friday means you didn't get it only because they like having an answer wrapped up before the weekend comes. Of course, that could mean they haven't decided but if they said "late next week" that means there's a hitch. And all this despite things going what I thought was relatively well (see posting about hour and a half interviews). I mean, they brought me back to the boss's office to talk about when I could leave Oracle and full time vs trial period.

And then...then... I sent the usual "thank you" notice and since it was Thanksgiving, I added a "happy thanksgiving" to my thank you notice and one of the people I interviewed with sent me a note back saying "thanks, Jon. I hope you have a happy thanksgiving too." Now, they wouldn't respond to a thank you email if they weren't serious about hiring you, right? That's totally leading you on.

But now that I'm in the waiting stage, it's torture. Just torture and I forgot how awful it is. Hell, it's so tortourus (yeah, I know I spelled it wrong-- get over it) that even Dick Cheney would think it's too much. I'm clicking on my email account every minute to see if I got an email and doing the "ring, damnit, ring" thing to my phone.

Today, while going off to the gym, I got a phone call around the time the company usually does their official stuff (after 5). So I nearly swerved my car trying to get the phone out of my pocket and naturally, I missed it but I did get a voicemail. I furiously tried to get the voicemail message but after running into somebody, realized I could wait the two minutes before I made it into the gym's garage.

The voicemail message? A recorded message about carpet cleaning.

So, yes, I finished the first "Left Behind" book, but right now I'm reading a book about life as a pickup artist and the debacherous lives they live. Up next will be the second in the "Left Behind" series. Yes, two books about Jesus sandwhiched between a book about tons and tons of sex.

What can I say, I'm pretty cultured.

Anyways, my latest favorite thing is that show "Everest" on Discovery channel about a group of people trying to summit of Everest. It's pretty great, not the least of which is that it looks awesome on my 27" HDTV. Of course, the drama of the whole thing speaks for itself, picture "Survivor" or "Real World/Road Rules Challenge" except with the very serious possibility of death. Like how many shows actually show real, live, dead bodies on them? Or frost bitten toes that will very probably be cut off when they get off the mountain.

The thing is so good, I'm nervous watching it. And when they show one of those wide shots of the mountain, I can feel my fear of heights hitting me and my palms get sweaty.

Last week, I finished the very first of the "Left Behind" books and, as completely suspected, it's just awful. I mean, just horribly, horribly written. All you need to know about the quality of the writing is the names: the two main characters are Rayford Steele and Cameron "Buck" Williams, and Hattie Williams. "Buck," by the way is called "Buck" because he's a famous journalist who "bucks" the system and when was the last time you heard that word actually used? But besides just the usual signs of bad writing, it's also horribly paced and without one whit of suspense. Like millions of people have just vanished out of thin air and "Buck" and his editors are consumed about some sort of international financial goings ons. You'd figure something like that would be a big deal.

But you know what? It actually was a bit of a page turner and I finished it in about a day. Even crazier, I wanted to finish it and I couldn't put it down. Say what you want about the complete ridiculousness of the rapture (apparently, when somebody gets raptured, their clothes are left behind in a neat, pile, as if God is OCD) and the dicey relationship about the Jews (we help the Rapture get started than are mainly left behind to either be slaughtered as non-believers or have to convert, kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't proposition), it's a fun story, full of mysteries, death, destruction, wars. Just as long as you don't really pay attention to all the Jesus stuff, it's kind of fun.

So I actually ordered the next two. I know, kinda crazy but you can get it off Amazon, used, for a penny. Throw in shipping, and the whole cost is about four bucks. Plus, how can you not get into a plot that is described as "In this best seller, Apollyon the Destroyer, leads the plague of demon locusts as they torture the unsaved."

Awesome.

Two notes form the weekend-

-I was walking down 16th street wearing my baggy Giants sweatshirt. I like baggy things. Harlan and I pass a homeless guy and the guy actually said "I like your sweatshirt. It looks good on someone as big as you."

Yes, some homeless guy just called me fat.

-Walking down 17th street (or was it 18th street?), Harlan say a sign that said, and I quote: Put Your Trust in "Jesus"-- just like that, with the quotes around "Jesus." As she pointed out, doesn't putting something in quotation marks make it ironic? Like they're saying Jesus with air quotes around it. So, was it just a weird sign put up by somebody not clued in the ways of irony or was the irony intended? It's so hard to tell in the Mission.

I had one of those hour and a half long interviews today. I hate those-- they're an ordeal. By the end, I couldn't speak, my throat hurt, and I had long since passed the point of going from being on-topic and sharp to a blabbering, incoherent idiot.

Ick

You know you're in a weird mood when you hear "Where the Streets Have No Name" on the radio and the line "blown by the wind" makes you giggle


Being at the corner of 22nd of Valencia, we have determined that Boogaloos is the Official Brunch Place of Hipsters. In fact, I think it could be deteremined that it has one of the highest HPSF in the Mission (that is, of course, Hipsters Per Square Foot), something that we noticed the last time we were there and what looked like a 70's rock band, with groupies, showed up for breakfast.

Today's brunch was no exception. In fact, it was pretty hipsterific-- so much so we had a contest (well, kind of) about which Hipster was the most tragic of the bunch.

So let's meet our three candidates-
1)The bus boy with expensive and well pressed black jeans, dangling key chain out of the back pocket (natch), and some sort of comic strip panel sewed onto one of his back pockets. His shirt? Lumberjack, red and black checkered flannel shirt. To top it off, he not only had a trucker hat, but the tip of the hat was pulled upwards. We also couldn't tell, but we think he had a mullet burried underneath the oh-so-2002 trucker hat.

2)The guy in a sideways baseball hat (can't remember if it was trucker or not), cut off jeans, an Iron Maiden t-shirt, and a handlebar moustache. But what made him especially awesome was that he was covered everywhere in tattoos, even going so far as to having a tear drop tattoo under his left eye. For those who don't know, that's the gangsta symbol for doing time in prison. This despite the fact that it was pretty apparent, that in the words of Beavis to Butthead, "you've never been to Compton." We wanted to kidnap the dude and drop him off in the Bayview.

3)Early thirtysomething girl waiting outside with a Shelley Duvall-like body. She wore platform sneakers that were at least six inches high, white knicker pants that went down to her knees and white stockings that met up with the bottom of her knicker pants. She sported a maroon vest sweater and as a topper, a tie. Naturally, she also wore big sunglasses.

And our winner?

The Bus Boy! Why? Because the dude was so committed to his hipsterness that he wore his hipster costume to work. I mean, he was walking around filling people's coffee mugs while still looking like he had just been picked up from the bus station, such was his commitment to coolness.

Bravo, dude, bravo and well played.

Jesus frickin' Christ, Led Zeppelin showing up on iTunes might just be the best thing ever.

Last night, Super Mondo Corp had their big trade show party. And by big, I mean big. Like Cow Palace and parking lot big. Playing that night as entertainment was Lenny Kravitz, Steve Nicks, and Billy Joel, who headlined.

Now, at one point, Prince was going to play. While he was supposed to play, some sort of fight broke out between somebody and one week Prince would headline, the next week Joel. Now this seemed kind of crazy to me because while Joel is deserving of some respect, we're talking about Prince. I guess it was a generational thing with the older execs thinking Joel is their cup of tea while anyone young enough to see "Purple Rain" thinking that nobody, but nobody gets higher billing then the Purple One. And seriously, would you rather watch Joel tinkling on a piano or Prince doing some sort of thirty minute funk jam. I'm not sure, but I wondered if they would both play the main stage and I'm thinking does Joel really think Prince should open for him? And I'm not talking about in terms of who is a bigger star, but I'm talking about the fact nobody can really top prince.

But whatevs-- Prince did not play anyways.

Billy Joel did get the headline and played the Palace central. While I think playing the corporate party circuit is probably a humiliating venture, Joel did manage to fill the place so I'm thinking it's in a way, the biggest audience he's played in front of years. While I'm not a fan (I'm kind of apathetic-- I don't hate him but don't really like him but think he's kind of talented anyways), he did put on a good show, except....

To play with the whole idea of playing in San Francisco, he did a few minutes of "Somebody to Love" and, then, God help us "Purple Haze."

I left the arena immediately in protest.

You know how the old saying was that there's a little Elvis in everyone. Well, you could say the same about Hendrix and there is no Hendrix at all in Billy Joel. Not even close. I heard from someone that they played a few snippets of "Highway to Hell" and, dear God, there is no AC/DC is Billy Joel at all. Ever and never.

So Harlan and I checked out some Stevie. She was actually pretty good-- her voice was phenomenal. She played all the big Fleetwood Mac songs (with Mick Fleetwood on the drums), Dave Mathews' "Crash" (?) and a few solo hits. Towards the end, there was a miny drum solo, then a beat kicked in, the guitarist started wailing, and then out came the recognizable groove to "Edge of Seventeen."

Yes, I was about to hear Ms. Nicks herself sing about the White Dove who sings a song sings a song ...and Sounds like she's singing... whoo...whoo...whoo. She wailed too.

Now I've seen a lot of bands. I've seen a lot of great bands playing a lot of great songs. I've also seen a lot of completely random bands doing randomm songs (the Hooters anyone? Madness?) but that had to be one of the most random moments of my musical life, the fact that I can say I have now seen Steve Nicks sing "Edge of Seventeen."

Top that.

See, the thing is that when I first started listening to rock radio, Steve was HUGE. Her first solo album had come out and every half an hour, the station (WYSP, represent) would either play "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (an underrated gem if ever there was), "Leather and Lace," and, yes, "Seventeen." All I needed was Tom Petty himself to hop onstage to sing "Stop Draggin" and my inner twelve year old would have been happy.

And all thanks to Super Mondo Corporation.

In the past week/week and a half

-My DVR went kablooie and I went from being at around 40% capacity to 98%, thus losing all of my recordings and the thrill of spending at least in hour total of time dealing with Comcast

-I've been eagerly awaiting a book from Amazon, the first in the Left Behind series (so stoked) and got it, only to discover that they sent me the wrong book-- a book about Windows Office '97.

-Had my work email go down on one of the busiest days I've had in months

-Lost my ATM card

-The hot water in my apartment went bye-bye late Thursday night and continued that way until today

-Lost power sometime around 5:30 Saturday and was out of power until, again, God knows when as I camped out elsewhere. All of which means, I was without power and hot water for most of the weekend, full on primitive as it were. It also means that tonight, I am spending my time resetting clocks and throwing food out of the fridge.

Oh, and what does one do when there's no power and it's starting to get dark and the person you can camp out with isn't home yet? Watch downloaded shows on your laptop. Thank God for Apple.

Finally, I lost both of my fantasy football games this weekend, thus eliminating me from the playoffs in both of my leagues. In other words, this was one sucky week.

Lately, I've been discovering that I'm moving away from listening to Live 105 and switching more and more to KFOG. This concerns me.

For years, I've always thought of KFOG as the radio station listened to by either white-bred Yuppies or old, aging baby boomers still holding onto the rock. I did not want to be in either category so while I respected the station for it's enormously huge catalogue and variety of songs, I didn't want to be a Foghead. Also, they tend to play either Bonnie Rait or Robert Cray like every hour and I cannot abide by either of them.

But now, I'm starting to creep more and more to KFOG on my radio dial. Now some of it is because I once again find myself hating Live 105's playlist. They tend to play over and over "classic alt-rock" from the previous decade that I've heard already over and over again because I was actually around in the previous decade and all those just craptastic "emo" bands that are out there. Thankfully, they tend to go light on Fall Out Boy, but there's still way too many of those simliar, carbon copy bands out there. So while I like the fact they tend to play music that I might love (like the mighty Wolfmother), those moments come few and far between.

The main thing, however, is that I'm starting to move farther and farther away from wanting, for lack of a better word, "to rock." I'm starting to dig mid-tempo songs more than fast songs, acoustic treatmens rather than overfed electric guitars and kinda digging pretty over raw.

In other words, after years and years of trying to hold true to some sort of edge, I am slowly losing my edge. Is it almost being 40? The girlfriend? My hatred of emo bands? I don't know. All I can say is I'm getting a little concerned here.

Oh, KFOG may have a wide variety of songs and almost impecable taste, but they still, occasionally, bust out 4 Non-Blonde's "What Goes On" and this is absolutely INEXCUSABLE. There is no reason to ever, ever, every play this song. Ever. It's so awful it doesn't stand up as ironically fun due to it's pure suckiness and the yodeling over-and over again of the chorus.

Why is it that when you call a lot of utility companies or any type of service (credit cards, insurance, etc) they ask you to entire all your information over the phone and then, as soon as somebody gets on the line, asks you all the information you just entered?

I have an interview on Thursday and the thing is I've done so many job interviews and the marketing biz here in SF is so incestuous, I'm pretty sure I've already interviewed with this person, I'm just not sure where. I'm not sure that's a good thing-- I've already made my first impression.

The other thing is the job listing is like two page longs and details a whole lot of work that the job requires and as I read it, I couldn't help but think that the job involves a lot of work.

I'm still not sure whether or not that's a good thing.

Today, at brunch, we sat down next to a couple who were obviously either on a first date or an early date. Not sure how it went. This reminds me, however, of a couple who were obviously on a first date that we sat next two a few months ago. Since we were sitting pretty much within a few feet of them, Harlan and I couldn't do anything but listen to the conservation. How could you not?

Anyways, they both worked in some capacity at a hospital, so they had that in common, but it was pretty obvious that it was a mismatch. While the girl looked obviously like a smart, intelligent, capable professional, you could tell she had a bit of a fun, party girl buried down underneath. The guy, however, was one of those bearded, horn-rimmed wearing glasses hipsters who took himself way too seriously. At one point, she started talking about reading US Weekly and his response was "well, we all have our guilty pleasures."

I'm pretty sure that at that point, if it didn't happen then, but the girl pretty much decided in her head that there was no way in hell that anything was going to come out of it.

What a ponce.

And speaking of over-hearing things, we were at Blondies a week ago (don't laugh, when it's mellow and you get a seat outside, it's quite a nice little bar with yummy and incredibly toxic drinks) some girl dressed like Wonder Woman (it was Halloween weekend, and no, she didn't quite fit into the costume) was loudly gabbing on a cell phone to a friend when we swear we heard her say about a friend "that was before she Britney Spearsed her life."

Awesome. She, however, was not as she gabbed and gabbed loudly nearby. In response, Harlan's cousin made sure to blow his cigarette smoke in her direction to chase her way.

Here's a sign I want to make for the next peace march: "What do we want? Apathy! When do we want it? Eh...whenever."