Evangeline, Take One: Woke up today with the gumption to record, like I said I would weeks ago, but today is for real. I set up my guitar pedal to record and went to work. I put down the building blocks for "Evangeline" by The Band...3/4 time click track, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, and the bass part. Took me around an hour or so to complete.
I listen back and realize two things that are bad: One - its too slow. I forgot to set the correct tempo. Beautiful. Two -- and worst -- I screwed up the timing on the right chords in one of the verses.
So I have to go back and do it alllll over again. Great.
But I'm making progress, everyone!!
September 14, 2008
September 13, 2008
Driving In The Rain
Crazy Drivers: Went to Mudville to pick up Townsend for the night like normal on Friday. It'd been raining most of the day, and we headed down there around 3:30-4:00 pm. We pick him up, everything's like normal. On the way back, a purple S-10 started tailgating me.
Now if anyone's ever driven with me, they know that I can't stand tailgaters. Can't stand it. I thought I alleviated the problem years ago by thinking that maybe they need to get home and get to the bathroom, or maybe their wife is in labor but eventually, like sicknesses to vaccines, I grew too accustomed to these excuses.
So I'm going around 45-50 mph through the twisty windy roads of northern Crawford County and this guy is right on my bumper. I got to a passing zone, and sped up to the speed limit. He must have realized his mistake because he fell back quite a bit. But soon enough, he was right there parked on my cars behind once again. Finally, after speeding up to 70 mph and Amanda chastized me for speeding in the rain with her son in the car, I slowed down. The guy was right on my tail for another mile or so then finally I got tired of it and pulled the car over.
Townsend says, "Why did you pull over and let all those cars pass you?" I told him that the guy must have had to get to the bathroom. But I understood the tone in the boy's voice.
Later on, we're heading back on 99 through Edinboro, and we got stopped in traffic. Sure enough, a car had crossed the center line and smashed head on into another car, causing a pretty nasty looking accident.
Just makes you wonder, thats all.
Oh, and neither of the cars were S-10's.
Work Update: Just in case any of you are curious, I had my interview at work and it went pretty well. At this point I'm just playing the waiting game just like everyone else. He has a really tough decision to make, and I sure wouldn't want to be in his shoes. Apparently every single front desk associate applied for the position (something I didn't forsee) as well as an old employee who was here in the past. Who knows. All I know is I interviewed very well (I always do) and I'm fine with it now if I don't get it. Its gonna suck, but it won't suck as much as it did at Sears last year.
Course, unless they pick a person who was the produce manager at Giant Eagle over any one of us. Then I might be upset. :)
My Team Are Losers: So since I blogged last, the Pirates officially lost game #82, ensuring themselves of tying the record for most consecutive losing seasons in professional sports history, matching the 1933-1948 Philadelphia Phillies. And what do I have to say for it?
I'm not looking forward much to next year.
Yeah, there's some bright spots. The management is finally coming through on positive notes. Some of the players we received in trades are working out better than expected.
But in reality, the Pirates team we fielded this year, 90% of them couldn't even be starters on most major league teams. The pitchers all stink this year. Paul Maholm, the "ace" of the staff, still is a 50-50 chance on winning games...this is our ace? No - "ace" is Cliff Lee of the Indians (22 wins) Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks (20 wins). Hell even Francisco Rodriguez of the Angels (57 saves) would be a better starting pitcher than anyone we've got.
The position guys --- the LaRoche brothers (strikeout machines), Freddy Sanchez (NL batting champ in '06 but hasn't hit for shit the last two years), Jack Wilson (spent too much time on the DL), Ryan Doumit (makes Jason Kendall look consistent).
I'm just tired of these guys getting playing time. Don't we have ANYONE who can be a solid performer??!?! Its so damn frustrating!!
Now if anyone's ever driven with me, they know that I can't stand tailgaters. Can't stand it. I thought I alleviated the problem years ago by thinking that maybe they need to get home and get to the bathroom, or maybe their wife is in labor but eventually, like sicknesses to vaccines, I grew too accustomed to these excuses.
So I'm going around 45-50 mph through the twisty windy roads of northern Crawford County and this guy is right on my bumper. I got to a passing zone, and sped up to the speed limit. He must have realized his mistake because he fell back quite a bit. But soon enough, he was right there parked on my cars behind once again. Finally, after speeding up to 70 mph and Amanda chastized me for speeding in the rain with her son in the car, I slowed down. The guy was right on my tail for another mile or so then finally I got tired of it and pulled the car over.
Townsend says, "Why did you pull over and let all those cars pass you?" I told him that the guy must have had to get to the bathroom. But I understood the tone in the boy's voice.
Later on, we're heading back on 99 through Edinboro, and we got stopped in traffic. Sure enough, a car had crossed the center line and smashed head on into another car, causing a pretty nasty looking accident.
Just makes you wonder, thats all.
Oh, and neither of the cars were S-10's.
Work Update: Just in case any of you are curious, I had my interview at work and it went pretty well. At this point I'm just playing the waiting game just like everyone else. He has a really tough decision to make, and I sure wouldn't want to be in his shoes. Apparently every single front desk associate applied for the position (something I didn't forsee) as well as an old employee who was here in the past. Who knows. All I know is I interviewed very well (I always do) and I'm fine with it now if I don't get it. Its gonna suck, but it won't suck as much as it did at Sears last year.
Course, unless they pick a person who was the produce manager at Giant Eagle over any one of us. Then I might be upset. :)
My Team Are Losers: So since I blogged last, the Pirates officially lost game #82, ensuring themselves of tying the record for most consecutive losing seasons in professional sports history, matching the 1933-1948 Philadelphia Phillies. And what do I have to say for it?
I'm not looking forward much to next year.
Yeah, there's some bright spots. The management is finally coming through on positive notes. Some of the players we received in trades are working out better than expected.
But in reality, the Pirates team we fielded this year, 90% of them couldn't even be starters on most major league teams. The pitchers all stink this year. Paul Maholm, the "ace" of the staff, still is a 50-50 chance on winning games...this is our ace? No - "ace" is Cliff Lee of the Indians (22 wins) Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks (20 wins). Hell even Francisco Rodriguez of the Angels (57 saves) would be a better starting pitcher than anyone we've got.
The position guys --- the LaRoche brothers (strikeout machines), Freddy Sanchez (NL batting champ in '06 but hasn't hit for shit the last two years), Jack Wilson (spent too much time on the DL), Ryan Doumit (makes Jason Kendall look consistent).
I'm just tired of these guys getting playing time. Don't we have ANYONE who can be a solid performer??!?! Its so damn frustrating!!
September 07, 2008
How Do YOU Save Money?
So I've seen alot of websites and television shows lately about being "green" and/or saving money, and I started thinking of a few ways to start yourself off saving money.
1. Don't buy Hot Dog Buns or Hamburger Buns : What's the point, actually? We all had that relative when we were younger who put our hamburgers on to plain white bread...so whats the difference? I'll tell you ---- NOTHING. Not a thing, except our vanity.
2. Whats the big deal about wine glasses? : Anyone that doesn't already have enough wine glasses to last them forever probably doesn't have to worry about it --- but --- we should melt every store's inventory of wine glasses and make something worthwhile out of it. Why do you have to drink wine out of a glass with a stem on it? Vanity.
3. Is bottled water really necessary? : I never really had much bottled water around until Amanda came around; not saying that I wouldn't have it if we weren't together, but seriously...whats so wrong with tap water?
And the list continues on...any input would be awesome! I'd love to make a good list!
1. Don't buy Hot Dog Buns or Hamburger Buns : What's the point, actually? We all had that relative when we were younger who put our hamburgers on to plain white bread...so whats the difference? I'll tell you ---- NOTHING. Not a thing, except our vanity.
2. Whats the big deal about wine glasses? : Anyone that doesn't already have enough wine glasses to last them forever probably doesn't have to worry about it --- but --- we should melt every store's inventory of wine glasses and make something worthwhile out of it. Why do you have to drink wine out of a glass with a stem on it? Vanity.
3. Is bottled water really necessary? : I never really had much bottled water around until Amanda came around; not saying that I wouldn't have it if we weren't together, but seriously...whats so wrong with tap water?
And the list continues on...any input would be awesome! I'd love to make a good list!
September 04, 2008
Glenn Frey Said It Best
The Heat Is On: Today is the first official day that the job for Assistant General Manager has been posted. It has to be legally posted for at least seven days, and I'll be having my interview sometime in the next...uh...seven days. Wish me luck. :)
Make Sure You Vote On The Weekly Poll: This weeks topic, Sarah Palin. Visit the main blog for the poll.
Football Predictions: A few weeks ago, I made a friendly bet with our friend Lori that the Browns were going to finish with a better record than the Steelers. Lets hope so, for my sake.
Haircuts and Hand Grenades: I've got this friend, Cheryl. Now Cheryl and I met about four or five years ago at Sears in the hair studio. She was working at the studio and I went to her to get my hair cut for a long time. Long story short, we dated for a few months a couple years back but we knew we were way better off as just friends.
Over the winter, Cheryl got tossed from her job at Best Cuts over by Tops Supermarket, and then her mom died. So it was a rough season for her, to say the least. Found herself a job working at Spencers in the mall and got promoted semi-quickly. This entire time she's cut my hair every three to four weeks or so.
Lately, she's been either really busy or very forgetful -- I can't figure it out, but she doesn't contact me at all inbetween cuts. I feel bad, like I shouldn't be using her for just haircuts.
Any opinions?
Album Progress: Uh, none. Not a bit. But I did get a phone call from my old friend Vicki the other day. She's putting together a slideshow for her daughters first birthday and wants a slow, fingerpicking instrumental for the slideshow music. I suggested one, and I'm sort of working on something to write for her. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm guessing something "Dust In The Wind"-ish without any vocals is the main idea for this.
Make Sure You Vote On The Weekly Poll: This weeks topic, Sarah Palin. Visit the main blog for the poll.
Football Predictions: A few weeks ago, I made a friendly bet with our friend Lori that the Browns were going to finish with a better record than the Steelers. Lets hope so, for my sake.
Haircuts and Hand Grenades: I've got this friend, Cheryl. Now Cheryl and I met about four or five years ago at Sears in the hair studio. She was working at the studio and I went to her to get my hair cut for a long time. Long story short, we dated for a few months a couple years back but we knew we were way better off as just friends.
Over the winter, Cheryl got tossed from her job at Best Cuts over by Tops Supermarket, and then her mom died. So it was a rough season for her, to say the least. Found herself a job working at Spencers in the mall and got promoted semi-quickly. This entire time she's cut my hair every three to four weeks or so.
Lately, she's been either really busy or very forgetful -- I can't figure it out, but she doesn't contact me at all inbetween cuts. I feel bad, like I shouldn't be using her for just haircuts.
Any opinions?
Album Progress: Uh, none. Not a bit. But I did get a phone call from my old friend Vicki the other day. She's putting together a slideshow for her daughters first birthday and wants a slow, fingerpicking instrumental for the slideshow music. I suggested one, and I'm sort of working on something to write for her. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm guessing something "Dust In The Wind"-ish without any vocals is the main idea for this.
September 03, 2008
41st Post! Lets Celebrate!!
Lazy Bones: So in the last week and a half I've officially only written one blog. Outside of todays, anyway. Basically I've been taking some mental time off, or at least thats my excuse this time. I've spent alot of time lounging around the house doing basically nothing unless I either (a) am asked to or (b) can't stand to look at it anymore.
Today was a pretty good example of my laziness...Amanda got up around 8 to get ready for work and I woke up pretty alert. Instead of getting up and having a nice breakfast, however, I laid back down and fell asleep again. She came in after her shower to get dressed...I woke up, and fell asleep again. She left for work around 9 am, I fell asleep AGAIN for another half hour to an hour.
I got up, finally, and spent about an hour online, searching through stories about The Next (alleged) Hero Of The World, Sarah Palin. Mrs. Governor, who's only been in major political office (if you count Alaska as major) for twenty months. Yeah, this woman could be president in a few years. Yeah. She's a super conservative but (allegedly) has more in common with women than Hillary does...or at least thats what the Repub's what you to believe. I'm sorry, anyone who wants to inflict governmental control on women's bodies, I have a problem with, red or blue.
ANYWAY, I went back onto the couch and tried to call my dental insurance about "selecting a primary care dentist" because I apparently can't get my teeth cleaned without having a certain somebody...and I was told after waiting on hold for ten minutes that I had to go online to do it.
And what'd I do after that? I fell asleep on the couch for an hour and a half!!!!
But I woke up feeling pretty refreshed and stable, unlike I've felt the last few days. Been sort of up and down with the stress of the (possible) job opportunity and money pinches and lack of a good nights sleep lately.
Hello, I'm Mr. Hotel: I had a pretty awesome guest experience over the weekend, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep it away from you folks for too long. So here goes:
Saturday, I worked 11 am to 7 pm. At 3 pm, another desk guy, Craig, came in to work 3 pm to 11 pm. Around 3:30, these guests came in that had a problem - they had pre-arranged for a room for the NEXT weekend. Unfortunately when you pre-arrange, you have to pre-pay and you can't change the reservation at all, otherwise you lose your money. Nothing we can do about it because its done over the internet and through a third party company. When I informed her of this, she got all red in the face and mad. Craig tried to figure out if he could help her and I printed out the exact text from the online site, because she was starting to attack us personally.
After a little while, she found out from our company's corporate line that her money could not be refunded. Craig and I decided to give them a cheaper rate for the room because their "vacation had been ruined". When we informed the husband of the rate change, he waxed philosophical to Craig that it "isn't anything personal, I know its not you guys fault" and all that, although upset with our company and used quite a few curse words in front of his (now crying) children.
So the wife came up to the desk and said they'd stay and she thanked us through tears for giving her the $99 rate. I printed out the registration card for her and said, "Here, just so you can see, I did change that rate to $99." She immediately got redfaced and said "I don't appreciate your sarcasm. I know that you've changed the rate, you don't have to SHOW me that you did so." Her husband used a few curse words in my direction, saying "You're not Mr. (company) so you shouldn't talk to us like we're ****ing animals. Talk to us like we're people, sir; we're people!"
Pissed me off so badly I was angry for the rest of my shift. I couldn't shake it, I just wanted to scream. I've been swore at before (plenty of times at the Sears service window) but never in a situation where there were small children around. If anything I was more upset that they had acted like such asses in front of their kids. I couldn't help it.
I found out today that the woman has filed a direct complaint saying that our hotel rooms "have roaches" (never ever been a complaint about that) and that she was "thoroughly unsatisfied with the hotel's performance" and should have their (albeit) TWO NIGHT STAY for free.
If it was so bad that first night, why did you stay?
Lisa, what would you have done? Apparently they're getting what they want now after all, and will be given a free upcoming stay as well. Sometimes I guess you just can't win.
Today was a pretty good example of my laziness...Amanda got up around 8 to get ready for work and I woke up pretty alert. Instead of getting up and having a nice breakfast, however, I laid back down and fell asleep again. She came in after her shower to get dressed...I woke up, and fell asleep again. She left for work around 9 am, I fell asleep AGAIN for another half hour to an hour.
I got up, finally, and spent about an hour online, searching through stories about The Next (alleged) Hero Of The World, Sarah Palin. Mrs. Governor, who's only been in major political office (if you count Alaska as major) for twenty months. Yeah, this woman could be president in a few years. Yeah. She's a super conservative but (allegedly) has more in common with women than Hillary does...or at least thats what the Repub's what you to believe. I'm sorry, anyone who wants to inflict governmental control on women's bodies, I have a problem with, red or blue.
ANYWAY, I went back onto the couch and tried to call my dental insurance about "selecting a primary care dentist" because I apparently can't get my teeth cleaned without having a certain somebody...and I was told after waiting on hold for ten minutes that I had to go online to do it.
And what'd I do after that? I fell asleep on the couch for an hour and a half!!!!
But I woke up feeling pretty refreshed and stable, unlike I've felt the last few days. Been sort of up and down with the stress of the (possible) job opportunity and money pinches and lack of a good nights sleep lately.
Hello, I'm Mr. Hotel: I had a pretty awesome guest experience over the weekend, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep it away from you folks for too long. So here goes:
Saturday, I worked 11 am to 7 pm. At 3 pm, another desk guy, Craig, came in to work 3 pm to 11 pm. Around 3:30, these guests came in that had a problem - they had pre-arranged for a room for the NEXT weekend. Unfortunately when you pre-arrange, you have to pre-pay and you can't change the reservation at all, otherwise you lose your money. Nothing we can do about it because its done over the internet and through a third party company. When I informed her of this, she got all red in the face and mad. Craig tried to figure out if he could help her and I printed out the exact text from the online site, because she was starting to attack us personally.
After a little while, she found out from our company's corporate line that her money could not be refunded. Craig and I decided to give them a cheaper rate for the room because their "vacation had been ruined". When we informed the husband of the rate change, he waxed philosophical to Craig that it "isn't anything personal, I know its not you guys fault" and all that, although upset with our company and used quite a few curse words in front of his (now crying) children.
So the wife came up to the desk and said they'd stay and she thanked us through tears for giving her the $99 rate. I printed out the registration card for her and said, "Here, just so you can see, I did change that rate to $99." She immediately got redfaced and said "I don't appreciate your sarcasm. I know that you've changed the rate, you don't have to SHOW me that you did so." Her husband used a few curse words in my direction, saying "You're not Mr. (company) so you shouldn't talk to us like we're ****ing animals. Talk to us like we're people, sir; we're people!"
Pissed me off so badly I was angry for the rest of my shift. I couldn't shake it, I just wanted to scream. I've been swore at before (plenty of times at the Sears service window) but never in a situation where there were small children around. If anything I was more upset that they had acted like such asses in front of their kids. I couldn't help it.
I found out today that the woman has filed a direct complaint saying that our hotel rooms "have roaches" (never ever been a complaint about that) and that she was "thoroughly unsatisfied with the hotel's performance" and should have their (albeit) TWO NIGHT STAY for free.
If it was so bad that first night, why did you stay?
Lisa, what would you have done? Apparently they're getting what they want now after all, and will be given a free upcoming stay as well. Sometimes I guess you just can't win.
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