The Worst Is Over: I can finally move on at work...the "new" Assistant General Manager started yesterday, something I was subconsciously hoping wouldn't happen, but the day went off without a hitch, as once again I swallowed my pride and decided its easier to take the high road and deal with it in a positive manner. Makes me feel better anyway, and who really needs that stress?
A New Direction: Going to the show at Forward Hall the other night has inspired me to take a new direction for the CD I've been working on. I think I'm going to do it 'live' with as little overdubs as possible (overdubs are edits after its originally recorded, track by track recording like is done in a big studio) to make it more as you'd hear it if you went to see me at a show.
I'm spending too much time and stress going over a bass line or a harmony vocal, and when you'd go see me, you'd either see me playing alone or possibly having Amanda singing right next to me, so the most you'll probably hear is her singing and maybe playing another guitar. The only overdubs would more than likely be a few parts that I feel are important to the sanctity of the song, like Eric's banjo or maybe a sweep-you-off-your-chair lead guitar solo by yours truly. As of yesterday, I'm starting to do things with the harmonica too as much as possible.
Course, unless I change my mind in two weeks. Who knows.
Lack of The Typical Third Subject Leads To Rambling: Fell asleep "mom style" last night on the couch around 8:30 pm; my body is still trying to get used to the new schedule. I haven't woke up to an alarm more than a couple times in almost nine months!...If you happen to get a chance, check out the Discovery Channel's "Planet Earth"; watched it last night with Amanda and I'm happy I did. Its amazing stuff. Thats the sort of thing that should be on high definition TV, not a soap opera football game...The Pirates fired their pitching coach yesterday. I read somewhere that it was the first time since 1890 (!!) that the team didn't have a pitcher win at least ten games. I think thats a pretty good reason to lose your job, considering an average pitcher has at least 35 chances in a season to win a game..."I can live in a recession, I've been preparing for it. Hope these other people can." - Mike Sebald. Had a great time Friday, by the way!
September 30, 2008
September 28, 2008
An Alright Saturday Night
Forward: Well, the big Saturday night I was looking forward to ended up going alright. Only made it to one out of the four -- the big jam show at Forward Hall. Almost was a bust too -- we ended up late because we took Townsend home and took our time getting back.
First act on stage was this guy named Matt. I immediately recognized him from open mic nights at Clancys. He does the singer/songwriter thing but plays alot of old obscure blues stuff. Played about eight songs, some electric and some acoustic.
During his act he mentioned something about a CD he had if anyone was interested. To get in to this show, there was a $7 cover. Amanda and I took our friend Lori (who is a DJ at the club we go to) and she really didn't seem to enjoy it all that much. After Matt mentioned his CD, she joked, "For this price and for this show, I better get it for free!"
Second act was Gypsy Dave and The Stumpjumpers. A lot different than what I pictured them as. I listened to a online radio program from Knoxville last week and heard them and the band seemed pretty good. Anyway, they played for about forty minutes and it was good! They weren't anything floor rattling, definitely mood music. Have a very core audience. I can't imagine them getting big and selling out a stadium. But what band does anymore?
Third act was Rachel Eddy. She's a fiddle player from Nashville. Think Kathleen Edwards without the Sheryl Crow side of her. Pretty cool. She played with Fred Parker and Billy Smith, both pretty big bluegrass people out in the "sticks". I was impressed...although Amanda seemed to have a problem with the fact Rachel was wearing Crocs. *shrug*
Last band on was Shotgun Jubilee which featured an old high school mate of ours, Ryan Bartosek, on bass. He was as good as he was back then, probably better...the band was decent but we left early cuz it was getting late and I had to work pretty early.
Definitely worth the $7.
By the way, the Otters lost in Guelph on Friday night (5-1) and beat Kitchener 4-0 last night. Their record stands at 2-2. Not bad.
An Interesting Five Minutes: Yesterday one of our long term guests, I'm gonna call him , called 911. He's an elderly guy that has stayed here for a long time, and in recent months has had some bouts with his health.
I ran down to his room (after calling the boss for split second advice) and got in there. He was coughing alot and having trouble breathing. I didn't panic (it doesn't help anyway) and sat with him until the paramedics got there. Had to calm him down because he was seriously freaking out over the fact he couldn't stop shaking. The paramedics were there in about ten minutes and they took him to the hospital.
Found out later in the evening that he has pneumonia and that he should pull out of it with some treatment...he's had a couple episodes this year and hopefully everything turns out fine.
New Developments: Possible new career move on horizon...I am looking forward to another chance that has come up in the last few days. I'll keep you posted as much as I can with that...you can email me if you want to know more, not much I can say publicly.
First act on stage was this guy named Matt. I immediately recognized him from open mic nights at Clancys. He does the singer/songwriter thing but plays alot of old obscure blues stuff. Played about eight songs, some electric and some acoustic.
During his act he mentioned something about a CD he had if anyone was interested. To get in to this show, there was a $7 cover. Amanda and I took our friend Lori (who is a DJ at the club we go to) and she really didn't seem to enjoy it all that much. After Matt mentioned his CD, she joked, "For this price and for this show, I better get it for free!"
Second act was Gypsy Dave and The Stumpjumpers. A lot different than what I pictured them as. I listened to a online radio program from Knoxville last week and heard them and the band seemed pretty good. Anyway, they played for about forty minutes and it was good! They weren't anything floor rattling, definitely mood music. Have a very core audience. I can't imagine them getting big and selling out a stadium. But what band does anymore?
Third act was Rachel Eddy. She's a fiddle player from Nashville. Think Kathleen Edwards without the Sheryl Crow side of her. Pretty cool. She played with Fred Parker and Billy Smith, both pretty big bluegrass people out in the "sticks". I was impressed...although Amanda seemed to have a problem with the fact Rachel was wearing Crocs. *shrug*
Last band on was Shotgun Jubilee which featured an old high school mate of ours, Ryan Bartosek, on bass. He was as good as he was back then, probably better...the band was decent but we left early cuz it was getting late and I had to work pretty early.
Definitely worth the $7.
By the way, the Otters lost in Guelph on Friday night (5-1) and beat Kitchener 4-0 last night. Their record stands at 2-2. Not bad.
An Interesting Five Minutes: Yesterday one of our long term guests, I'm gonna call him , called 911. He's an elderly guy that has stayed here for a long time, and in recent months has had some bouts with his health.
I ran down to his room (after calling the boss for split second advice) and got in there. He was coughing alot and having trouble breathing. I didn't panic (it doesn't help anyway) and sat with him until the paramedics got there. Had to calm him down because he was seriously freaking out over the fact he couldn't stop shaking. The paramedics were there in about ten minutes and they took him to the hospital.
Found out later in the evening that he has pneumonia and that he should pull out of it with some treatment...he's had a couple episodes this year and hopefully everything turns out fine.
New Developments: Possible new career move on horizon...I am looking forward to another chance that has come up in the last few days. I'll keep you posted as much as I can with that...you can email me if you want to know more, not much I can say publicly.
September 24, 2008
Its War!
You Forgot To Put In The Crystals: Last night around 5 pm, I started getting phone calls from guests saying that their internet wasn't working. So I jabbed with the technical support help desk for about a half hour, and they said everything seemed to be in order from our end.
Unfortunately the guests were still having problems. I gave them the number I call and most of them were actually able to get fixed and work. But some of them didn't. When they didn't, they came down to the business center to use the internet down here that is hardwired into the wall.
And...that wasn't working either. I called up the company who runs the computer and they said we have some sort of virus blocking the internet from coming in to the hotel. Great! So today they were supposed to call back to get all these things fixed, and apparently the technical support still hasn't fixed these problems.
Its a great day to be a front desk agent...but even better knowing you have the next two days off. Yay!
V Is For Vonnegut: Tomorrow morning I'm having a overdue visit from Mike Sebald, one of my buddies from Sears. I really miss having him around. When I mentioned all those "good guys" in my blog a week ago, he was one of them. I haven't seen him since I had lunch with him and Chris Brown about two months ago. We are all busy people, I guess.
I've Got People: Came into work tonight and the boss tells me that he received the order for new name tags (since I lost mine a few weeks ago) and forgot to order mine. He then asked, "Who do you know at the engraving company?" I was pretty much clueless unless he gets them from the Trophy Shop Engravers in Edinboro.
"Someone wrote 'Hi Tony' on the box."
AH HA! I let him know that its most likely my mom...she's a sorter at UPS and did that when I worked at Sears. Always got teased for it, but its nice to know she's watching out for me. :)
And Finally, ITS WAR: A month or so ago, one of the front desk people left here and went to the new Hilton Garden Inn on upper Peach Street. When he left, I told him that I was in the running for Assistant General Manager and that I wanted to see if he'd let them know that since they're a Hilton property, like ours, that we could make amends and share information. He said that he'd see what he could do because he does understand expanding the company base.
Fast forward to this past week...I'd been talking with this front desk girl there who's been giving me the amount of rooms they have left to sell, and I felt okay with that. I'd just look up their rates, is all. Tonight, our former desker answered the phone and flat out refused, even pushed back at me, when I asked him for the number of rooms remaining. I told him that the girl had been giving me this info, and he said "management wouldn't be happy to know that".
Now the story here is that Scott Enterprises owns alot of the properties in that area. Hotels such as the Courtyard by Marriott, the Comfort Inn Peach, the Holiday Inn Express, the Residence Inn by Marriott, and now the Hilton Garden Inn. They also own the Applebees, Steak and Shake, Boston Pizza, Bob Evans, and the Splash Lagoon waterpark.
Great, right? WRONG. Why can't they understand that we are trying to build the company's name? You're never going to be anything but a property management company. People don't go to your properties because you're owned by Scott Enterprises....they go because they like the Marriott's no smoking policy...they like the prices that Comfort Inn has...they go because they're attached to Splash Lagoon.
Whats with the strongarming? Why push everyone away? I need to understand this badly, because it now makes me pissed off at that desker who is "following orders" ... they make the same amount of money I do. Its not as if they're all making twenty bucks an hour waiting tables.
Why does this crap go on?
Unfortunately the guests were still having problems. I gave them the number I call and most of them were actually able to get fixed and work. But some of them didn't. When they didn't, they came down to the business center to use the internet down here that is hardwired into the wall.
And...that wasn't working either. I called up the company who runs the computer and they said we have some sort of virus blocking the internet from coming in to the hotel. Great! So today they were supposed to call back to get all these things fixed, and apparently the technical support still hasn't fixed these problems.
Its a great day to be a front desk agent...but even better knowing you have the next two days off. Yay!
V Is For Vonnegut: Tomorrow morning I'm having a overdue visit from Mike Sebald, one of my buddies from Sears. I really miss having him around. When I mentioned all those "good guys" in my blog a week ago, he was one of them. I haven't seen him since I had lunch with him and Chris Brown about two months ago. We are all busy people, I guess.
I've Got People: Came into work tonight and the boss tells me that he received the order for new name tags (since I lost mine a few weeks ago) and forgot to order mine. He then asked, "Who do you know at the engraving company?" I was pretty much clueless unless he gets them from the Trophy Shop Engravers in Edinboro.
"Someone wrote 'Hi Tony' on the box."
AH HA! I let him know that its most likely my mom...she's a sorter at UPS and did that when I worked at Sears. Always got teased for it, but its nice to know she's watching out for me. :)
And Finally, ITS WAR: A month or so ago, one of the front desk people left here and went to the new Hilton Garden Inn on upper Peach Street. When he left, I told him that I was in the running for Assistant General Manager and that I wanted to see if he'd let them know that since they're a Hilton property, like ours, that we could make amends and share information. He said that he'd see what he could do because he does understand expanding the company base.
Fast forward to this past week...I'd been talking with this front desk girl there who's been giving me the amount of rooms they have left to sell, and I felt okay with that. I'd just look up their rates, is all. Tonight, our former desker answered the phone and flat out refused, even pushed back at me, when I asked him for the number of rooms remaining. I told him that the girl had been giving me this info, and he said "management wouldn't be happy to know that".
Now the story here is that Scott Enterprises owns alot of the properties in that area. Hotels such as the Courtyard by Marriott, the Comfort Inn Peach, the Holiday Inn Express, the Residence Inn by Marriott, and now the Hilton Garden Inn. They also own the Applebees, Steak and Shake, Boston Pizza, Bob Evans, and the Splash Lagoon waterpark.
Great, right? WRONG. Why can't they understand that we are trying to build the company's name? You're never going to be anything but a property management company. People don't go to your properties because you're owned by Scott Enterprises....they go because they like the Marriott's no smoking policy...they like the prices that Comfort Inn has...they go because they're attached to Splash Lagoon.
Whats with the strongarming? Why push everyone away? I need to understand this badly, because it now makes me pissed off at that desker who is "following orders" ... they make the same amount of money I do. Its not as if they're all making twenty bucks an hour waiting tables.
Why does this crap go on?
September 23, 2008
Embracing My Stripes
I know most of you get this blog directly in your email; occasionally I'll post a little poll that only two of you actually visit but this time I really want you to go to my main internet page.
Go ahead, click here to visit what I really wish everyone could see.
I stumbled across some really kick ass cartoons of Tony the Tiger the way he used to be, not the way he's been basically my entire life. I don't know what it is or why, but I really truly prefer the younger Tiger. I sorta edited the original drawing from this guy named Johnny Yanok (really awesome artist)
Not much else goin' on here in my corner of the world. Had a talk with the boss yesterday that let him know how I feel about everything but that I was ready to move on and leave it all behind. He seemed pretty happy about that. Nothing wrong with letting folks know how you feel.
Been laying around doing nothing the last few days here, haven't really been in the mood to record any music (probably because I feel weird not being able to do anything loud before Robert gets up at 1:30 in the afternoon every day, but thats another story, another day).
Anyway, I hope everyone's doing well and enjoying the first full day of autumn!!!
Go ahead, click here to visit what I really wish everyone could see.
I stumbled across some really kick ass cartoons of Tony the Tiger the way he used to be, not the way he's been basically my entire life. I don't know what it is or why, but I really truly prefer the younger Tiger. I sorta edited the original drawing from this guy named Johnny Yanok (really awesome artist)
Not much else goin' on here in my corner of the world. Had a talk with the boss yesterday that let him know how I feel about everything but that I was ready to move on and leave it all behind. He seemed pretty happy about that. Nothing wrong with letting folks know how you feel.
Been laying around doing nothing the last few days here, haven't really been in the mood to record any music (probably because I feel weird not being able to do anything loud before Robert gets up at 1:30 in the afternoon every day, but thats another story, another day).
Anyway, I hope everyone's doing well and enjoying the first full day of autumn!!!
September 22, 2008
Stumpjumping
Things I Wish I Hadn't Done: Well it appears that I didn't need any emails from anyone giving me the third degree about missing Kori's birthday because I was "trying to get promoted". I feel bad enough. I swear I'll never sacrifice anything anymore when it comes to work. Unless its something that cannot possibly be done because I'm going to be meeting with heads of state, I'm taking time off when I SHOULD and not when I am ABLE.
Sorry, Kori. :(
I'll Be 28 Soon: Went out to dinner with Dad on Thursday and he asked me what I wanted for my birthday. It was the day after I found out the crappiest news of them all and I was still recovering (was? still am now!) from it. So he took Amanda and I out to Lorie's Wildridge (very underrated restaurant on West Ridge Road) and had a nice dinner. Even got a piece of awesome blackberry pie!!
Afterwards, he suggested we go to World Of Music to check out some acoustic-electric guitars. I had mentioned about getting "better tools" for my musical reconstruction. So I went and picked up alot of really nice (and some very expensive) acoustic guitars...and mostly picked apart their bad sides the entire time. I liked this small bodied Yamaha guitar, and a pretty nice Alvarez that was a knockout to look at. But we left empty handed.
As well we should have.
Last thing I really need is ANOTHER guitar. Maybe trade in a couple for a nice one, but I shouldn't have this many of them as it is. Most of the time I'm playing my red Stratocaster or my Ibanez acoustic electric, and the rest of them sit in the closet. When I'm feeling spry I pull out the 12-string (because its still an awesome sound!!) and play. I'm doing better.
But I've got four other ones! My dobro I touch only when I'm in my slide phase, the red Washburn electric is good for recording (prefer that one recently), my wine Telecaster sits in the case in the closet, and the bass only gets played when I'm recording.
Anyway, one of things I was telling Amanda I wanted to buy the day I got promoted was a set of matching white letter tires for my car. I had a set on my old Cavalier and they looked so impressive...but now that I'm still just a desk guy (for now, *rubs hands together real fast*) I was just going to make sure my bills are paid.
Dad called me up on Friday and asked me if I wanted new tires for my car for my birthday! How ironic is that?! I can't imagine how he would have known that...unless my stupid short term memory forgot or something, who knows. We're going to check that out soon enough, and get me some nice all-weathers.
Exciting Saturday Ahead: This Saturday is a busy one! For the first time in a while, I'm going to have a lot of things to possibly do....
1.) A bluegrass show featuring some awesome local bands is at Forward Hall at 7:30 pm. Gypsy Dave and The Stumpjumpers, Shotgun Jubilee, and Claire Stuczynski are set to play. Amanda's saw them all before with Eric a couple months ago but I had to work. Not this time!!!!!
2.) Birthday party for Kimmy, a front desk clerk from the property next door at the Plymouth Tavern at 6 pm. Will at least show our faces!
3.) DJ J-Roc show at the Metropolitan that we (as well as apparently everyone at the hotel) were invited to because our laundry guy Ray is doing security. Not entirely sure if thats going to happen.
4.) If all else fails (which I don't plan on it) the Erie Otters home opener is at 7:30 at the Civic Center. The Otters split their opening weekend, losing 4-0 to the London Knights on Saturday, then winning in Plymouth 6-1 against the Whalers. Yes, so everyone understands, now that the Pirates are in their last few games of the season, my focus has shifted and will now be square on hockey for the next few months (football really doesn't interest me, sorry).
Sorry, Kori. :(
I'll Be 28 Soon: Went out to dinner with Dad on Thursday and he asked me what I wanted for my birthday. It was the day after I found out the crappiest news of them all and I was still recovering (was? still am now!) from it. So he took Amanda and I out to Lorie's Wildridge (very underrated restaurant on West Ridge Road) and had a nice dinner. Even got a piece of awesome blackberry pie!!
Afterwards, he suggested we go to World Of Music to check out some acoustic-electric guitars. I had mentioned about getting "better tools" for my musical reconstruction. So I went and picked up alot of really nice (and some very expensive) acoustic guitars...and mostly picked apart their bad sides the entire time. I liked this small bodied Yamaha guitar, and a pretty nice Alvarez that was a knockout to look at. But we left empty handed.
As well we should have.
Last thing I really need is ANOTHER guitar. Maybe trade in a couple for a nice one, but I shouldn't have this many of them as it is. Most of the time I'm playing my red Stratocaster or my Ibanez acoustic electric, and the rest of them sit in the closet. When I'm feeling spry I pull out the 12-string (because its still an awesome sound!!) and play. I'm doing better.
But I've got four other ones! My dobro I touch only when I'm in my slide phase, the red Washburn electric is good for recording (prefer that one recently), my wine Telecaster sits in the case in the closet, and the bass only gets played when I'm recording.
Anyway, one of things I was telling Amanda I wanted to buy the day I got promoted was a set of matching white letter tires for my car. I had a set on my old Cavalier and they looked so impressive...but now that I'm still just a desk guy (for now, *rubs hands together real fast*) I was just going to make sure my bills are paid.
Dad called me up on Friday and asked me if I wanted new tires for my car for my birthday! How ironic is that?! I can't imagine how he would have known that...unless my stupid short term memory forgot or something, who knows. We're going to check that out soon enough, and get me some nice all-weathers.
Exciting Saturday Ahead: This Saturday is a busy one! For the first time in a while, I'm going to have a lot of things to possibly do....
1.) A bluegrass show featuring some awesome local bands is at Forward Hall at 7:30 pm. Gypsy Dave and The Stumpjumpers, Shotgun Jubilee, and Claire Stuczynski are set to play. Amanda's saw them all before with Eric a couple months ago but I had to work. Not this time!!!!!
2.) Birthday party for Kimmy, a front desk clerk from the property next door at the Plymouth Tavern at 6 pm. Will at least show our faces!
3.) DJ J-Roc show at the Metropolitan that we (as well as apparently everyone at the hotel) were invited to because our laundry guy Ray is doing security. Not entirely sure if thats going to happen.
4.) If all else fails (which I don't plan on it) the Erie Otters home opener is at 7:30 at the Civic Center. The Otters split their opening weekend, losing 4-0 to the London Knights on Saturday, then winning in Plymouth 6-1 against the Whalers. Yes, so everyone understands, now that the Pirates are in their last few games of the season, my focus has shifted and will now be square on hockey for the next few months (football really doesn't interest me, sorry).
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