Tuesday, June 22, 2004
The past week has been exhausting, but kinda what I expected. Surprisingly, the songs "Movin' Out", "Movin' out (Anthony's Song)", and "Moving Out" by Aerosmith, Billy Joel, and Amie Comeaux haven't been playing constantly in my head.
Since myh last post, I accepted the position in New Jersey, chose June 21st as the start date, moved into temporary housing in Phildelphia, and started working yesterday. I'm currently making arrangements to move my stuff out here.
I'm current0ly living in a loft in philadelphia (a hotel room with a high ceiling and a kitchenette). I have until mid-july to find a place. But I'm comfortable for now. I have a short commute (about ten minutes in morning rushhour compared to over forty minutes at my last job) and I have a t-1 line. So, while I'm in temp housing, I should be logging in fairly regularly. So far the toughest thing about my new job is getting back into a regularly sleep cycle. The place is more strict than any of the places I've worked before in terms of control of the computers and such. I don't have admin privileges and you have to put a ticket in to put any software on your computer. I'll be doing stuff that is pretty similar to my last job, but having so many more employees on the local site (4 figures as opposed to low 2 figures at my last job) makes them more vigilant over following standards. I should have no problem with it. As long as I can still listen to music and have internet access at home, I can deal.
Here what seems to be my options for where I live:
Pa (Philly): Short commute, easy transition in terms of insurances, car registry, etc. but high, high taxes.
Pa (not in Philly): like Philly with longer commute and lower taxes.
NJ: short commute, more complicated transition and, I'm told, the car insurance situation is one big Clusterfuck. (one guy said the state had to tell companies that if they don't sell auto insurance in NJ, they can't sell any type of insurance.)
So, either way, I'll to pay, whether it's in taxes, higher gas and time costs of a longer commute, or car insurance from hell.
I'll write more later this week about the movies and such I've seen recently. Also, the trip across the state allowed me to finally listen to some cds I'ved been meaning to listen to. I recommend the new cds from my two favorite bands, Aerosmith and the Clarks, as well as the debut albums from Velvet Revolver, Gretchen Wilson, & Julie Roberts.
Since myh last post, I accepted the position in New Jersey, chose June 21st as the start date, moved into temporary housing in Phildelphia, and started working yesterday. I'm currently making arrangements to move my stuff out here.
I'm current0ly living in a loft in philadelphia (a hotel room with a high ceiling and a kitchenette). I have until mid-july to find a place. But I'm comfortable for now. I have a short commute (about ten minutes in morning rushhour compared to over forty minutes at my last job) and I have a t-1 line. So, while I'm in temp housing, I should be logging in fairly regularly. So far the toughest thing about my new job is getting back into a regularly sleep cycle. The place is more strict than any of the places I've worked before in terms of control of the computers and such. I don't have admin privileges and you have to put a ticket in to put any software on your computer. I'll be doing stuff that is pretty similar to my last job, but having so many more employees on the local site (4 figures as opposed to low 2 figures at my last job) makes them more vigilant over following standards. I should have no problem with it. As long as I can still listen to music and have internet access at home, I can deal.
Here what seems to be my options for where I live:
Pa (Philly): Short commute, easy transition in terms of insurances, car registry, etc. but high, high taxes.
Pa (not in Philly): like Philly with longer commute and lower taxes.
NJ: short commute, more complicated transition and, I'm told, the car insurance situation is one big Clusterfuck. (one guy said the state had to tell companies that if they don't sell auto insurance in NJ, they can't sell any type of insurance.)
So, either way, I'll to pay, whether it's in taxes, higher gas and time costs of a longer commute, or car insurance from hell.
I'll write more later this week about the movies and such I've seen recently. Also, the trip across the state allowed me to finally listen to some cds I'ved been meaning to listen to. I recommend the new cds from my two favorite bands, Aerosmith and the Clarks, as well as the debut albums from Velvet Revolver, Gretchen Wilson, & Julie Roberts.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Okay. Well it's been a while since I've posted. Alot has happened since my last posting. I also have a bunch of things I've wanted to comment on.
- Congratulations to Bill & Terri for the arrival of their first son Gage.
- Gage is a cute baby. (No, not all babies are cute.) As for whether he looks like Bill or Terri, well, babies never really look like their parents when they're first born. They look like other babies. They rarely, if ever, "have" their dad's eyes or mom's nose.
- I also never got a chance last month to note the one year anniversary of this blog. One year and I'm still sticking to it with minimal long stretches of inactivity.
- I got a job offer from the company in New Jersey. I don't want to talk about it too much right now since I haven't officially accepted, but I plan on doing so tomorrow. I have til next week to accept, but I wanted to give it a little time to see if a comparable offer would miraculously come in from a local company. The closest to that is a friend whose company recently got some open spots due to company growth. He's been there ten years, so it's ultra stable, but, unfortunately, he said it would take a couple months to go through the hiring process. I'm out of unemployment so I've got to take the job in hand, which isn't a bad thing. This company meets all the things I want for an employer except for me having to move and even part of me feels like the change would be a really good thing. Worse case scenario would be for me to not like it out there, stay there for a year and move back. (hell, if I have a quarter for everyone I know who took that approach when my first company moved...) I don't think I won't like it, so life, right now, seems good.
- That's this for the personal tales right now. Now for some observations.
- I recently got Wonderland from Netflix. It wasn't too bad of a movie. I didn't expect much and got what I expected. A good portion of the movie was two characters telling police what happened. Of course, their two stories don't agree with each others. Each pointed themselves as the hero and the other as one of the worst of the bad guys. Considering both characters were druggies and known criminals, it's doubtful either story is completely true, which makes for an interesting way to do a film about a unsolved crime. The filmmakers can't know for sure what really happen but they can work off of police transcript to make a reasonable work of fictional fact.
One of the characters is John Holmes, a famous porn star, played by Val Kilmer. Kilmer does a really good job of portraying the drugged-out has-been. The other character, who is supposed to be a real badass, is played by Dylan McDermott. I'm sorry. That bit of casting just didn't work out. I think he was going for Waingro from the movie Heat, but he came off as Bobby Donnell from The Practice trying to go undercover in a biker gang. Holmes girlfriend was played by Kate Bosworth who simply acted strung out. I wonder if she had any lines in the script. She was really good at looking sad and on drugs, but I'm not sure if she had even one line of substantial dialogue. Holmes wife was played pretty well by Lisa Kudrow. Usually when a actress is known mostly for one character, such as Kudrow with Pheobe Buffay, you think of that character when you see them other places. I give Kudrow credit in that I rarely thought of Pheobe when she was on the screen. The only time I did was when she made semi-angry outburst at Kilmer and she got that tone of voice that annoys me when Pheobe hits that tone when she suddenly becomes upset.
In the end, I'd say this movie is worth watching if there's nothing else specifically you want to rent from the rental place or if it's on cable and you are in the mood for a dark movie. But, when almost all the action involves only bad guys and the only good guys are women in bad situations and cops in a lose-lose situation, you're NOT looking at the feel good film of the year.
- With their new movie coming out, I've been seeing more and more pictures everywhere on the Olsen twins and I've come up with one startling revelations. They aren't really that attractive. If they weren't twins and already famous and already rich, they'd would probably be struggling in the indie film world right now. When they were starting to look like adults, it would seem like they would be knockouts when they turned eighteen, but at best, they're average. I hope they have acting skills. It's hard to tell cause they've only ever played themselves and, at this point, they seem to be only going through the motions, but when they're fan base hits college, they won't be able to get by on the branding of their names.
- I also saw Shrek 2. It's great, but it's not a masterpiece the first one was. Shrek 2 has alot of originaly things in it, but in the first Shrek, the whole universe and how it played on fairy tales was like nothing we've seen before. But Shrek 2 is still worth paying full price to go see.
- Sometimes I hear a tv show and think, "I've got to watch that". Other times I watch a show just because nothing else is on. That was the case with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. When I first heard about it, I had no interest in watching it. I hated the original Extreme Makeover. I had no ethical problems with it. I just didn't find a tv show where the people are bandaged, swollen, and in pain for most of the episode that entertaining. The doctors are thoroughly professional on that show, which I would want if I were a patient but doesn't help the show from a viewer's standpoint. I originally figured the Home Edition would be a cross between the original and Trading Spaces, another show that is watchable at best. I originally watched the Home Edition simply because there was nothing good on the other channel I get and actually enjoy the show. The designers are unique and entertaining. Preston is more original a character than any fictional character on tv. Michael is hilarious. And it's fun to watch Paige and Tracy swing sledge hammers. Also surprising is the fact that I don't find the product placement, especially of Sears, irritating. Maybe because it's obvious how much money is put into each episode. I guess it doesn't seem as bad when it's major household appliances and tools being contributed and actually used instead of a bottle of coke stuck suspiciously in the background.
- I was watching season 7 of Friends that just hit DVD and noticed that, in one scene where Chandler was watching a Bikini Car Wash Company movie, you could see more of one girl than you could of Janet Jackson at the superbowl. Are nipples allowed to be shown if they're viewed through a wet soapy car window? My guess is that a second or so of that was added as part of the "never before seen scenes". Also, in one scene, Joey is asked if he wants to do something and he replies "Does a bear shit in the woods?". I even turned on close captioning to double check and he did say "shit". My guess is that when it originally aired, it really said "Does a bear crap in the woods?". I have no problems with the changes. Is there really a different between crap and shit in this context? Not really. But someone, most likely someone who never watches the show regularly, would probably find a problem with it and complain.
- Congratulations to Bill & Terri for the arrival of their first son Gage.
- Gage is a cute baby. (No, not all babies are cute.) As for whether he looks like Bill or Terri, well, babies never really look like their parents when they're first born. They look like other babies. They rarely, if ever, "have" their dad's eyes or mom's nose.
- I also never got a chance last month to note the one year anniversary of this blog. One year and I'm still sticking to it with minimal long stretches of inactivity.
- I got a job offer from the company in New Jersey. I don't want to talk about it too much right now since I haven't officially accepted, but I plan on doing so tomorrow. I have til next week to accept, but I wanted to give it a little time to see if a comparable offer would miraculously come in from a local company. The closest to that is a friend whose company recently got some open spots due to company growth. He's been there ten years, so it's ultra stable, but, unfortunately, he said it would take a couple months to go through the hiring process. I'm out of unemployment so I've got to take the job in hand, which isn't a bad thing. This company meets all the things I want for an employer except for me having to move and even part of me feels like the change would be a really good thing. Worse case scenario would be for me to not like it out there, stay there for a year and move back. (hell, if I have a quarter for everyone I know who took that approach when my first company moved...) I don't think I won't like it, so life, right now, seems good.
- That's this for the personal tales right now. Now for some observations.
- I recently got Wonderland from Netflix. It wasn't too bad of a movie. I didn't expect much and got what I expected. A good portion of the movie was two characters telling police what happened. Of course, their two stories don't agree with each others. Each pointed themselves as the hero and the other as one of the worst of the bad guys. Considering both characters were druggies and known criminals, it's doubtful either story is completely true, which makes for an interesting way to do a film about a unsolved crime. The filmmakers can't know for sure what really happen but they can work off of police transcript to make a reasonable work of fictional fact.
One of the characters is John Holmes, a famous porn star, played by Val Kilmer. Kilmer does a really good job of portraying the drugged-out has-been. The other character, who is supposed to be a real badass, is played by Dylan McDermott. I'm sorry. That bit of casting just didn't work out. I think he was going for Waingro from the movie Heat, but he came off as Bobby Donnell from The Practice trying to go undercover in a biker gang. Holmes girlfriend was played by Kate Bosworth who simply acted strung out. I wonder if she had any lines in the script. She was really good at looking sad and on drugs, but I'm not sure if she had even one line of substantial dialogue. Holmes wife was played pretty well by Lisa Kudrow. Usually when a actress is known mostly for one character, such as Kudrow with Pheobe Buffay, you think of that character when you see them other places. I give Kudrow credit in that I rarely thought of Pheobe when she was on the screen. The only time I did was when she made semi-angry outburst at Kilmer and she got that tone of voice that annoys me when Pheobe hits that tone when she suddenly becomes upset.
In the end, I'd say this movie is worth watching if there's nothing else specifically you want to rent from the rental place or if it's on cable and you are in the mood for a dark movie. But, when almost all the action involves only bad guys and the only good guys are women in bad situations and cops in a lose-lose situation, you're NOT looking at the feel good film of the year.
- With their new movie coming out, I've been seeing more and more pictures everywhere on the Olsen twins and I've come up with one startling revelations. They aren't really that attractive. If they weren't twins and already famous and already rich, they'd would probably be struggling in the indie film world right now. When they were starting to look like adults, it would seem like they would be knockouts when they turned eighteen, but at best, they're average. I hope they have acting skills. It's hard to tell cause they've only ever played themselves and, at this point, they seem to be only going through the motions, but when they're fan base hits college, they won't be able to get by on the branding of their names.
- I also saw Shrek 2. It's great, but it's not a masterpiece the first one was. Shrek 2 has alot of originaly things in it, but in the first Shrek, the whole universe and how it played on fairy tales was like nothing we've seen before. But Shrek 2 is still worth paying full price to go see.
- Sometimes I hear a tv show and think, "I've got to watch that". Other times I watch a show just because nothing else is on. That was the case with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. When I first heard about it, I had no interest in watching it. I hated the original Extreme Makeover. I had no ethical problems with it. I just didn't find a tv show where the people are bandaged, swollen, and in pain for most of the episode that entertaining. The doctors are thoroughly professional on that show, which I would want if I were a patient but doesn't help the show from a viewer's standpoint. I originally figured the Home Edition would be a cross between the original and Trading Spaces, another show that is watchable at best. I originally watched the Home Edition simply because there was nothing good on the other channel I get and actually enjoy the show. The designers are unique and entertaining. Preston is more original a character than any fictional character on tv. Michael is hilarious. And it's fun to watch Paige and Tracy swing sledge hammers. Also surprising is the fact that I don't find the product placement, especially of Sears, irritating. Maybe because it's obvious how much money is put into each episode. I guess it doesn't seem as bad when it's major household appliances and tools being contributed and actually used instead of a bottle of coke stuck suspiciously in the background.
- I was watching season 7 of Friends that just hit DVD and noticed that, in one scene where Chandler was watching a Bikini Car Wash Company movie, you could see more of one girl than you could of Janet Jackson at the superbowl. Are nipples allowed to be shown if they're viewed through a wet soapy car window? My guess is that a second or so of that was added as part of the "never before seen scenes". Also, in one scene, Joey is asked if he wants to do something and he replies "Does a bear shit in the woods?". I even turned on close captioning to double check and he did say "shit". My guess is that when it originally aired, it really said "Does a bear crap in the woods?". I have no problems with the changes. Is there really a different between crap and shit in this context? Not really. But someone, most likely someone who never watches the show regularly, would probably find a problem with it and complain.
