A call to go national?

 

It is Sunday morning, I am sitting here waiting for the NFL games to kick off in about an hour or so and figured I might as well blog while I am here.

I should note that I am also waiting for the phone to ring. Some of you may remember that I thought I might have a radio job offer a while back, one that I wasn't sure I wanted to take because it would have involved me taking the place of Laurence Gaines, who had a stroke, and I didn't want to get a job that way, especially since I have a boatload of respect for the work that he has done previously. Well, the good news is that Laurence is out of the hospital, recovering and rehabbing at home, so the worst case scenario thankfully never came to pass. And the worry I had over being asked to replace him was in fact misplaced, the network just needed someone to fill in for a few days on Bev Smith's show, as she was going to be on a remote. The position had been filled however, so it really was a a non issue sort of thing.

Well Friday I am putzing around on Facebook after a particularly strenuous week at work (more on that later hopefully) and there is a note in my inbox from Laurence that I am needed on Bev's show this coming week. Again it looks like they need someone to fill in for a few days, Bev is going to be in Washington DC later in the week and they need someone to keep the home fires burning. I told Laurence that I could do it, and now I am just sitting here waiting by the phone for Bev to call me back and let me know if she needs me or not. Laurence told me to assume I was hired. I wish I had that kind of authority, but there are issues that have to be worked out. First I would need access to the building, as they work on key cards, so no card, no access. What makes the situation even more problematic is that the studios are located well within the G 20 secure zone that will be in place for this week's summit, so I might have problems just getting to the studios, let alone getting in them. My other job doesn't look like it will be affected by the G 20, at least not yet, save for whatever protesting nonsense takes place, but actually getting to and from work seems to be a non issue at this point. Unless we are ordered to close it should be a normal week for us. But back to our original story, this would be a very short term gig for me, literally just a week long and most of the programming I would be working with will be prerecorded, so anyone thinking that this will be like my previous gigs with me screening calls, doing research, talking on air and what not our going to be sorely disappointed. This is going to be more of a babysitting venture, just making sure all of the stuff runs smoothly, with little to no live interaction with anyone. That being said, Bev's show is syndicated nationally, so while I will not be doing all of the stuff I normally do, I will be doing it on a much larger scale. That can't hurt the resume. But before I go putting any carts before horses here, I would like to hear from Bev to make sure all is clear on that front.

That being said, this is the week that the G 20 does come to town. Truth be told, I wish they would just stay away. Not that I have anything against them (or for them for that matter) but all of the nonsense that comes with it is just bullshit that I can live without. Half of downtown will basically be closed off, bus routes are either being cancelled or diverted, businesses are being told not to even bother opening those days and some people are being forced to use use their own personal vacation time for it, and of course there is always the possibility of some of the more radicalized protestors using the opportunity to wreak havoc and damage property. While I hope the latter doesn't happen, if it does put me on the list of hoping that the cops beat the holy living hell out of the stupid motherfuckers that do it. I have no sympathy for them whatsoever. For instance, there are some websites that have places targets of opportunity on Google maps places they believe should in fact be damaged, such as Starbucks, Victoria's Secret, recruitment centers, McDonald's, etc. I am all for waterboarding, then tasering anyone that would attempt to throw a brick through a window, spray paint buildings or cars, throw objects at pedestrians and people in the street, etc. Any asskicking such an individual would get is one that would be justly deserved.

Okay, while I am here, I might as well get some updates out of the way. First, as if you didn't already notice, I had my fantasy hockey draft yesterday. Unlike last year, I opted not to run a league this time around, but just join a public league instead. I just picked a day and time that fit within my schedule and hopped in a league that drafted then. Since this is my first of hopefully many weekends off, Saturday seemed like as good a day as any to go about drafting a hockey team. As luck would have it, there were three guys that I would have jumped at the opportunity to draft, Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. Instead I was selected to draft 11^th out of 12 teams, meaning all of those guys would easily be off most draft boards by the time my first pick came around. Needless to say, I am not overly happy with my team. Mind you I think I only made one glaring mistake (drafting Nikolai Zherdev who opted to play in Russia this year and is thus unavailable in NHL drafts) but beyond that it was just taking a bunch of guys who I thin are talented, but not anyone that I am all like “wow, I have this guy on my roster”. Mind you I had a guy like that last year in goal tender Martin Brodeur and all he did was get hurt a couple of weeks in and miss most of the season. So maybe it is a good thing that I am not enamored with my team, though I hope the flier I took in the last round on Nikita Filatov ends up being a good move. It is a bit of a reach, but if I was going to do that, no better time than the last round.

My fantasy football team got off to a bad start, a 107-73 loss where sadly the best player I had out there was the Green Bay defense. Not that I have anything against Green Bay, but when you offensive players fail to score touchdowns (only Ryan Grant (1 TD) and Larry Fitzgerald (1 TD)) managed to find the end zone, it is going to be a long week most weeks. Not that I should feel too bad, our esteemed mayor lost his first game in the Yahoo mayor's league as well, and I did start last year 1-2, so a single loss is far from and end of the world (or season) moment for me.

Week #2 is mere moments away, and I think I am going to take a break here and watch some football. Unlike last week, I have no glog planned, which should save you some scrolling on this entry. Not that I couldn't glog, I just don't have the desire to.

Okay, I am back. Decided to try and take care of a few things and in my absense my fantasy football team has already scored more touchdowns this week after 30 minutes than they scored all of last week, with Matt Schaub hitting Andre Johnson (good for 2 TD for me) and Ryan Grant rushing for one. Not saying I will win this week, but at least I am off to a much better start.

I should note that I am blogging from the brand new, refurbished desktop. In auto lingo they would call this certified pre owned. Anyway, I had delayed taking it out of the box until last weekend when the laptop starting going all kinds of Blue Screen of Death on me. It wouldn't even boot, no matter how I wanted to start up (Safe, Last Good Configuration, Normal, etc.) the Windows screen would start like it was loading then boom, BSOD. I found a copy of XP lying around that I am trying to reformat the laptop with while I type this, but I don't know how well it will or will not work. I am very much a novice in such matters, but so far all seems to be working, I actually didn't get the BSOD, but rather it is formatting a partition on the C drive, so we shall see.

Also of note on the update front, I added another $6.46 to the change meter since it was last mentioned on these pages. That means the total is now $119.27. Hard to believe that after how much this thing didn't move during it's first few years, now I have logged almost $80 in just 9 months and change. I also found some more Coke points which I have since redeemed and picked up another free month of Pogo. I think I have half of next year now paid for and I didn't spend a dime. To make matters even better, I hopped over mysurvey.com and found that I was credited with another .50 for a mail in survey, plus I did two more that picked up another $2.35. I am over $27 dollars there now, and within 8 or 9 of getting the coffee pot I so desperately desire.

The health care debate continues to eat up much of the political airtime. I am still unsure where I fall on this issue. On one hand I get that any program on such a scale could be a bitch to pay for. On the other hand, I watch some of the politicos talk about the evils of government run healthcare and I can't seem to think they are anything but hypocrites. After all, if government health care were that bad, then why do they have it. Why aren't they out there shopping for their own plan, rather than letting the government paid for their care and if government is so bad and can't do anything, then don't you as a member of it, share in that blame? Saying that Washington and government is bad, while at the same time being a member of such a body would seem to me to be speaking directly to one's own ineptitude. If that is the case, then just what the hell are they doing there, besides being an overpaid placeholder.

Just checked on the fantasy team while typing this. I don't want to ruin what seems to be good fortune at this point by posting a score, after all, there is plenty of football left, but Matt Schaub already has three TD passes. Woohoo!

I will admit that I have no idea how long it should take for Windows XP to format on a computer, but so far the laptop is still only at 14%. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Luckily I have distractions such as this to keep me occupied.

Last week was the run up to the G 20 for the news stand. I imagine last week will be more busy than the actual G 20 will be, what with everyone being asked to take off work and many of the local schools closing down,. a large chunk of our clientele will either be unavailable or unable to come in. The best we can hope for (besides being ignored by vandalizing protestors) would be for our business to break even with the people that are coming into town to replace the ones we are losing. Ed seems to think this will be a big opportunity for us, I am not in that same boat. But he is willing to pay us extra to work those days, because many of our people will be unable to make it into town as well, so those that do show up will be rewarded somewhat. I'll take the extra cash, thank you very much. Still, it meant plenty of work last week, because a lot of our deliveries were doubled, since many suppliers will not be coming into town this week, another added bonus from having the G 20 assclowns in our metropolis. Remember a few weeks back when I said that we had our biggest delivery of Pepsi ever? Well that was crushed this Friday when they sent us 257 cases of product. Wednesday's grocery order, which I placed, and Ed said he wanted me to make sure I was overstocked on lots of goodies? Only 86 totes, usually we get maybe 30 on a big order.

Not to get all fantasy football-y on you, but my defense returned an interception for a TD. I might want to save a few of these points for a rainy day.

Still no word from Bev, I may have to try calling her again. If she doesn't get in touch with me then I am going to assume that I am not needed. And given I work all day tomorrow, if this doesn't happen today, then it just doesn't happen. Don't get me wrong,. I would love to do it, and Laurence asking me makes me want to do it more, but I already have 40 hours on the book next week, adding another 25 with a second gig and the potential problems involved with it aren't a mandatory thing on my plate.

Something that has been bothering me of recent that I haven't mentioned much here is that I am wondering if there is something wrong with my hands. I guess the problems started shortly after I went from cashier to stock person at the news stand, and there may have been a warning sign that I completely ignored. While in the basement one day, I felt a slight pop on the back of my right hand, almost like a knuckle cracking except it was located in an area where there are no joints, squarely in the middle of the back of my hand. Because nothing felt out of place, I continued to do that which it is I do, which is work. The thing is now, my hand is prone to a numbing sort of sensation, sort of like your leg gets when it falls asleep, though not quite as bad, as I can still use it, but if I spend too much time doing something, like typing for instance, it tends to act up. Now it may just be that the amount of lifting at work I do, has something to do with it, as my left hand sometimes gets the same way and I never had a popping sensation in it, and in a week, where you catch almost 500 cases of product between all of our deliveries, it just be my hand's way of saying they are sore and nothing more.

By the way,. The laptop is up to 16%, hopefully slow and steady does win the race. The other option would be slow and steady just fucks things up even more, which wouldn't be all that cool. At least I was smart enough to plug the laptop in, as this most certainly would have killed the battery.

Just saw a promo for Hell's Kitchen and in it Chef Ramsey leaves the restaurant. Hell I could have told him the group of fuck ups he has this season wouldn't be worthy of running a McDonald's, let alone a five star place. After seeing them struggle with garlic bread a few weeks back I know I wouldn't want them making me anything.

Well I went ahead and called Bev again, her number seems to go directly to voicemail. I left a message that she needed to call me back tonight, since I will be working tomorrow morning and if I don't hear anything, I really don't know if I am to show up or not. I know I am not the only back up name they have, obviously they found someone the last time someone was needed, and I don't know how much Laurence is doing with the show from home, versus what the network (AURN) people are doing in the building.

While I wait for things to develop might as well make something to eat. I am half tempted to order in, but I have blown way too much cash doing that recently. Instead I am going to go the mac and cheese route and throw some tuna in it for good measure. I still have lots to do tonight, I have been putting off laundry for way too long, I need to seriously run the vacuum and to be honest, washing a few dishes would be a good idea as well. It's either wash a few dishes or I am relegated to plastic Jeremy Mayfield cups I got from work. Not exactly fine china to be sure.

I stand by a previous assessment I once had. I know that I live in a city, a small one to be sure but a city nonetheless and that I am very close to a hospital that has a helipad, but for the number of helicopters coming in and out on a daily basis only one of two things are possible. Either everyone in this area is literally on death's door, or the hospital uses the Lifeflight helicopters simply to pad their billing.

Well the Steeler game has started, so I guess I can wrap this up. Still no phone call, so who knows what is going to happen tomorrow. The laptop is up to a whopping 18% now, leading me to believe this will be a failed endeavor on my part. I hope not, but am not encouraged at this point. Anyway, take care all.