happy belated Thanksgiving and how I am doing

I got myself in a temp assignment that looks like it could last a while.  It’s working for Adapt media (the people who do the electronic taxi ads).  It’s an admin. Assistant job, so I’m filing, mailing out stuff, answering the phone, and helping out with other people’s projects.  For example I was calling potential candidates for a programming position that they have open and setting up appointments.  I have also been updating all the employee’s contact information and making sure everything is set up for the big conference call this Tuesday.  Monday I am supposed to help out the CEO in getting the report ready for the board meeting/conference call.  I was only given a quick run-through as far as what I was going to be doing, but I’m sure the CEO will tell me in detail Monday what is going to happen.  It doesn’t seem too tough, but I have to see Monday.  As long as I don’t have other things put on me, I shouldn’t have a problem.

I have to say that I am still scared as hell with this assignment.  Temping is a real pain in the ass.  You are put in the middle of everything and only given the most minimal information about everything, yet the people around you expect you to know and understand the inner-workings of the company and their policies.  I’ve only been there a couple days, and I have had to adapt and learn quite a bit, and so far they seem to be OK with my work.  I don’t know exactly how pleased they are with me, but I have been acting real nervous around them and making them almost explain things they want done almost twice  (what I have been doing is after they are done telling me what they want, I would go “so basically, you want me to blah, blah, blah…”) I really don’t care what they think, I am of the mindset that if they don’t tell me I suck, then I must be doing everything at least at an acceptable level.  

The holiday was ok, nothing really major to report, other than one aunt having major computer problems and she was asking me how to fix it (which can get annoying since she ALWAYS does this when I go to her house!).  I told her I’d give her a CD with programs that should help.  My other Aunt asked me to help her with MS Word.  She asked me to go to her house in the near future and show her all the things on it.  She doesn’t know much about the program since she used Lotus for a long time (I didn’t know Lotus was even around!!).  It’s no big deal and I have no problem doing that.  

I haven’t even started my shopping yet for the holidays.  I’m waiting for my next paycheck to even think of doing that.  I’m not expecting to get anyone anything too extravagant.  I really have no idea what I’m getting for anyone yet, and I really don’t’ want anything.  I already got an early gift from my parents in the form of a DVD player.  My dad found one dirt-cheap and he was able to pick it up for me.  It works great and I’m happy now.

I don’t know what it is about the holidays, but I get really depressed.  I see all the children’s specials, and all the kid-related stuff and I get really sad, almost to the point of crying.  I can’t explain why, maybe it’s because I was never a really happy child with my problems and all this kids’ stuff brings up those memories.  I also get like this when I see shows that have dogs or puppies as the central character.  It really brings up real sad memories of my dogs, and the thoughts of when I looked at my dog Stache, it hit me that if I was alone and with him, I could have never have afforded the medical help he needed, and I would have been the cruelest person if I did that.  Maybe these thoughts are related to my kid-related thing as well, that if I had one I couldn’t afford to support it and would cause it pain and sadness.  

This also made me realize that I do not want children, just so I am not put in that position.  It sounds selfish, but I can care less what you think.  I don’t want anyone to feel as bad as I did as a kid with the problems I had, and I don’t want to be in the position my parents were in watching me in all that hell (I have had many conversations with my parents about all that, and how they felt).  I can’t handle getting myself in a position where I’m a fully functioning adult, how would I be able to handle a child, or a dog for that matter.  I also told my parents I don’t really want a dog in this house because of how I feel.  I don’t need to feel all those bad feelings all over again.

this is all I got tonight

So what’s new?  Not much in my world.  I am still looking for work, and I have a potential thing Monday afternoon with NY Life.  I am still waiting to hear from my temp agency, but that’s no big deal.  I don’t know why I am writing this tonight, but I thought It would be good to get something out.  I hate this time of year, more for the fact that I’m flat broke and I hate that my gift buying budget is really small.  Hopefully I get another paycheck or two and that will help make things better.

How about Penn State??? BCS bowl big, Big Ten title…things can’t get any better.  Just think, PSU is one second away from being in the National title picture…damn Wolverines!!!  My mom is happy about Notre Dame (they are the Irish and all, and she is Irish).  The Fighting Irish…you know, the team full of blacks and Samoans and ran by a German????

If you’re not watching “Family Guy” and “American Dad”, you’re missing out of some great comedy.  The past couple weeks are really great, especially the “Family Guy” episode about the FCC.  

That’s all I got…sorry it’s not up to my usual high level of craptacular!!!  

also I updated my resume (click on teh link). I think it's right, but if someone wants to check it out and make sure it looks right please do so and let me know thanks

A loss of one and almost loss of another, both of which I admire

It’s been a real odd couple of days for me.  The past couple days has had a loss of a great athlete and performer, and almost a loss of another.

Pro Wrestler Eddie Guerrero passes away over the weekend of an apparent heart attack, brought on possibly form his years of alcohol and drug abuse (he had been clean for about four years at the time of his death).  Now some of you are saying, “well what’s the big deal, wrestlers are almost like carneys.”  Well, Wrestlers are some of the most athletic performers in the world today.  Yes their competition are predetermined like theater, but for these performers to do what they do at a physical level they are required to perform at, it’s mind boggling that someone would want to do that.  Eddie’s story isn’t just about him as a wrestler, but one of a man who has overcome crippling demons that almost cost him his life and family.  He worked in an industry hat required him to be alone and separated form his family for almost 300 days a year, non-stop just to feed his family (he is survived by his wife and two daughters).  He had said that when you are on the road like that, you need drugs and alcohol to cope with that and the everyday pain of performing.  He was finally able to defeat his demons and start over with his family, also finding peace in the Bible.  

It’s sad to hear that all his past indiscretions finally caught up with him, especially at a time where he seemed to be the happiest.  He was also a great ambassador to the Latino community for wrestling, where his family is considered the best family of wrestlers.  He was also one of the fan-friendly wrestlers, in that he always did the promotions the company required and he treated his fans like he wanted to see them.  I always enjoyed watching him perform, not just in his actual performance of wrestling, but in the other parts of it.  He had a character that was charismatic, and comical.  He, along with his nephew Chavo Guerrero Jr., had a gimmick where they would lie, cheat, and steal to win.  At first this was supposed to make them bad guys (or “heels”), but over time the crowd just loved what they did, not because of that they didn’t fairly won their matches, but that they way they did it was in a comical way, and that the Guerreros were honest in their dishonesty.  Eddie will be missed, and it is sad to hear scumbags pass this off like “oh he died due to all the steroids those people do”.

Another major event I heard of was the heart attack of Fez Whatley of the “Ron and Fez” show.  Apparently he had a heart attack Wed. night, but didn’t really know he did.  He actually did his radio show, where afterwards he went to the doctor.  He was rushed to Lennox Hill hospital and had an angiogram and angioplasty.  I’ll say this that was the best hospital for him to go to.  My father has had angioplasty and angiograms done there and they are fantastic in their service.  I remember that last Friday, the show wasn’t a new show, but a “best of”.  I just guessed they took the day off for Veteran’s Day.  

On Monday, Ron came on the air to say what happened.  He also mentioned that Fez has Diabetes, and that Fez is doing well, just out of commission for a while.   For some reason this all hit me hard.  My father has had heart issues that required angioplasty (in fact one time the doctor said that if he didn’t have it done then, my father would have surely had a heart attack due to the blockage he found).  My father is doing well now, but I always worry about him.  On top of that, my mother has Diabetes.  She has to have insulin shots everyday, and if she misses them, there are problems (which are frightening to experience, and sometimes hard to deal with when she is too damn stubborn to be taken to the hospital).  It scares me to think of all the potential problems they can face (more so my mom, due to her smoking), but I try not to dwell on it.  This whole thing with Fez really put all my thoughts in front of me again, and it frightens the hell out of me.  I find myself now being a little more concerned about my parents, asking them more “are you OK?” and “what’s wrong?” if they seem to have a problem.

One other thing that struck me was how Ron kept saying how guilty he felt since Fez apparently had chest pains recently and Ron didn’t do more for him.  This wasn’t a bit or skit, you could hear the sincerity in his voice, something many fans have heard when meeting him in person at events or at the studio.  This also made me seem more concerned with my parents; because I can’t even think of how much guilt I would feel if I was in the same position.  

Like I said, Fez will be ok, just he needs to rest and get adjusted to a new lifestyle.  I hope those out there will keep him, and the other members of the show, in your thoughts and prayers.  Ron and Fez are some of the nicest people I have ever met. I never met more humble people to their fans, and they are people who actually care how the fans feel about them.  There was supposed to be a get together with them and members of the Ronfez.net board members this week at a bar, but that was postponed for now.  Even when the board members would get together, Ron or Fez would show up and hang out, since the read about the event on the message board (the board isn’t ran by them, but fans of the show.  Ron and Fez do read the boards to get an idea how people like what they are doing, and what criticisms they have of the show).  I remember when I went to the XM studios to see them, I mentioned my screen name on the board, and Ron instantly said “oh yeah, I read your work and emails, good stuff.”  That blew me away and I just thought that was cool.  

I really don’t have anything else to say at the moment, but I just wanted to write this and I hope you got something out of it.  

interviews, but nothing more from them

I had my interview this past week in Astoria, and other than the fact that Mapquest SUCKS and almost caused me to be late for my interview, I think it went well.  Mapquest had the building I was supposed to go to on the wrong side of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, and once I got that solved, I was able to park and make it to this office for my interview just in time.  It was for an assistant position to the sales department for an elevator installation/repair firm.  It’s not that bad of a place and it’s a temp-to-perm job, so if I get it I would possible get hired by them assuming I don’t screw up in the probationary period.  I may hear about if I got the job or another interview with them this week.

Monday morning, I have an interview with an investment firm at 666 5th Ave. for a temp assignment.  Nice address huh?  Well it doesn’t seem like a bad assignment, just that it’s 2 weeks.  But hey, it’s money if I get it.  After that interview, I hope to come home to a package I’ve been waiting for all week. (I should have gotten it Friday, but the holiday pushed it back to Monday).  I would be happy to get it.  

Other than that, there’s nothing else much going on here.  I’m just hoping to save up enough money to get people some nice gifts this year.  I got my new checking account all set up and soon I may set up a savings account with ING Direct.   It sucks that I don’t’ have a steady job so I can save up money to buy things for people, but I guess I have to make do with what I got.  

That’s all for tonight.  I got to get up early for this interview.

what's going on with me you ask?? I"m sure you're all dying to know

So what’s new? Not much in my life.  I got an interview in Astoria tomorrow afternoon.  I’m not really feeling the company so far, but I’ll see what happens tomorrow.  I still haven’t heard back for my other temp agency, but I hope to talk to someone there tomorrow when I go get my check (assuming I can get there to get my check, I have no clue how long this interview is going to go).  If I can get my check in time, I hope to get to the bank where I plan on opening a new checking account with it.  It’s one of those free checking accounts, which is better than my current one where they put a bunch of surcharges on my account.

I had another interview this afternoon, but it was with CNBC.  No it’s not a job interview (wish it was though, sort of want to get back into TV).  It was with someone from there about Satellite radio.  They want to do a piece on why so many people are migrating to Satellite radio and not listening to terrestrial radio anymore.  I said I left terrestrial radio due to the politics (bias in the programming), and the editing/censorship of music and talk.  I also mentioned the fact that I don’t’ have to hear 10+ minute blocks of commercials (where a lot of the commercials are shown several times in the same block) is another great bonus (longest break for O&A or R&F is 6 minutes tops).  We talked about my listening habits, and why I chose to pay to listen to radio.  It was a “research phase” interview, and I may be used in the piece, and even on camera!!!!

Anyone happen to notice the college football rankings?  It’s so nice to see Penn State in the top 10; it makes everything feel right in the world.  Speaking of Football, to all the Eagles fans out there…..

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH

I had to laugh to see the mess T.O. caused with your team.  I’m glad you guys finally did something about the whiny little bitch, now if someone could put a muzzle on his ass of a an agent, things would be great.  If I were a client of the agent, I’d drop him; why would I want my name associated with the man representing T.O., and is making his reputation and credibility go down the toilet all for his 10%.

That’s all I got for now, at least that’s what I on my mind right now.

my XM presets-updated

forgot to add this, but I redid my XM presets on my TAO XM2Go (i'm not going to go into the descriptions of each channel, there's another post with them on my blog somewhere):

Preset A:
1 202-High Voltage
2 46-Top Tracks
3 44-Fred
4 47-Ethel
5 48-Squizz
6 53-Fungus
7 54-Lucy
8 41 BoneYard
9 65-Rhyme
10 66-Raw

1 6-60's
2 7-70's
3 8-80's
4 9-90's
5 29-Upop
6 130-MSNBC
7 140-ESPN
8 142-Fox Sports
9 175-Home Plate
10 211-NYC traffic and weather

my new toy

This is my new TAO XM2Go receiver. I got this from MyRadiostore (one of the best places to get your XM stuff, just don’t use a debit card-long story). After waiting for XM to activate it, wasn’t hard to do the swap on my account, just took a bit to get the activation signal to it, I was ready to play around with it. First, the internal antenna STINKS!!!! For the most part, the signal is ok, but the signal is spotty here in Queens, but I hear that in Manhattan with the signal repeaters, dropouts aren’t that bad. I have to get the clip-on antenna to get a better signal when I walk around with it (it works, but if go under a tree or get along a building, the signal goes into hell). On the bright side, I can record XM up to 5 hours (more for the talk stations), so at night I schedule the timer on it to record one channel for 2 ½ hours, and a second channel (you can set up two recording sessions on it) back-to-back for a total of five hours to listen to when I go out and when I’m on the subway. I understand it sounds stupid as that I have a portable receiver that doesn’t work well and is almost a I-Pod, but it’s better than the Roady2 I had, and when I get the other antenna things will be MUCH better.

The new car and home kits with the TAO are great, all the antenna/stereo connectors go into the cradle and not into the TAO, which makes me feel better that there’s less chance of me ripping the connector or wire apart. I also like that the TAO is much more versatile compared to the Roady I had. Like I said, I can take it out and listen to XM, and my Roady’s input connector was screwed up and the sound sucked horribly. If you are still looking into XM, get the Myfi, either the Delphi Myfi, the Tao XM2Go (the one I got), or the Pioneer AirWare. If you get one before New Years, you get 50 bucks back from a mail-in rebate. GO TO MYRADIOSTORE!!! I got my TAO for $199, and I will be getting a $50 rebate back for it.

In other news, I haven’t gotten another assignment yet, but I think next week I should be getting something. My rep told me that the past two clients gave me rave reviews on my work, so I guess things are going well.

Another assignment done, another check coming in

Well I just got done with another temp assignment today.  I was working as a filer/mover for an investment firm in midtown.  I did all my work so well and fast I was done with my assignment one day early.  The only bad ting is that I won’t get paid for this work until next week.  

Speaking of money, Debit cards are nice, but I found that Yahoo Small Business doesn’t like them.  I used my card to purchase something and Yahoo has this thing of looking like it’s drawing twice as much money out of your account, but it’s really not.  It did this to me at this store, and wouldn’t’ let my buy what I wanted.  I had to call my bank and have the store send permission to release my money so I could take it out of my account.  This should all be done with by tomorrow-a week after all this started.  I’m going back to the store to get what I wanted, but this time I’m paying cash!!! (Something everyone should do anyway-credit cards suck!!!).  I still like Debit cards, just don’t use them with anything Yahoo Related!!!!!

ON a note about banks, I’m looking to change banks now, because my bank isn’t huge and my bank still charges me a lot in surcharges.  I’m also looking for the first time into savings accounts as well (I usually only had a checking account).  I’m looking at ING Direct’s online account (they have a nice APY due to low operating costs), but I wouldn’t open it until I get a new checking account.  I’m looking at Washington Mutual, but I’m looking at others as well.

Other than that things are going well for me.  My car’s running fine, and now that I’m getting some more money in (and after paying to get my car I am shocked I have some left!!) I’m treating myself to something nice, which goes back to my debit card thing!!!  I hope to get what I wanted tomorrow, but who knows.  Maybe if I have time, I’ll show it off.

That’s all I got now…sad isn’t it??!?!!?