My plans for having fun this weekend were altered because Adale & I got sick, and I actually was worse off than her. God damn germs. Didn't go see Wayne Hancock Sat night, no world record zombie walk Sunday. I did get to catch up on the third season of The O.C. (yeah Netflix!). I won't be done by the season 4 opener this Thursday and have not decided whether to start watching the season or not. Fortunately I have a few days to mull over the pros and cons. I just can't imagine how Marissa died.....car crash, jumping in front of a bullet to protect Ryan, overdose, who knows.
I did find out some pretty depressing information yesterday. While at a Barnes & Noble waiting to get a coffee I picked up a book on the counter. It was one of those dime-a-dozen business books, Success the Starbucks Way or something like that. I picked it up just pass the few minutes in line. The inside cover promotional text started off with a line about the success of Starbucks and how the stock had risen 5000% since 1992. I worked for Starbucks from 1990-1992, and right before I quit they were just beginning to give employees stock options. There was a three or five year vesting period where you had to work there before you could actually buy the stock. I did actually think about staying in order to get the stock but finally decided that I couldn't deal with working there for another 5 years in order to take advantage of the options. If I had stayed long enough to pick the options and still had them today I would be a multi-millionaire. Just $1000 in stock in 1992 would be worth $5,000,000 today. Instead I went to Indonesia for four months, and then moved to Dallas. Over the following two years I worked two different coffee jobs (one running an espresso cart, the other at the coffee shop at a Borders Books), so it's not like I turned my back on the service industry. I very easily could have worked for Starbucks (and would have if they were in Dallas). I very easily could be totally fucking rich right now. I used to think "I wish I had worked at Microsoft for a few years back in the day" only because I grew up close to where they started & it would awesome to have made millions in stock options, but that daydream was never realistic because I never wanted to have anything to do with computers. This is different, because I not only did I work at a place where I could have struck it rich, I enjoyed doing the job (more often than not). Things are going well for me right now, and I have tons of advantages because of my family, but it kind of sucks thinking that I could have been very rich.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
The Few, The Proud, The Dead
As a kid, maybe between the ages of 10 and 13, I was constantly trying to figure out a way to get into the Guinness Book of World Records but always fell short. I couldn’t eat 3 ½ gallons of ice cream in half an hour (I never even made it through a half gallon of chocolate chip), I knew my mom wouldn’t let me sit in a rocking chair for 78 days straight, and I was far too lazy to try something like jumping rope for weeks on end or setting up millions of dominos. Today I understand that I was not alone in this dream, and if I wanted to be clever I could dust off my copy of Bourdieu’s Distinction to talk about this seemingly organic desire being a product of the social position of certain groups of children. That said, knowing that my tastes and interests are the product of larger structures of power does not change the fact that I still think it would be totally cool to be listed along side the world’s biggest twins riding their mini-bikes and the world’s smallest book, and this Sunday I have a chance to live the dream as part of The Monroeville Mall World Record Attempt Zombie Walk. What’s a zombie walk? From the zombie walk attempt website:
“A zombie walk is an organized public gathering of two or more people who dress up in zombie costumes and make up. Usually taking place in an urban centre, the participants make their way around the city streets and through shopping malls in a somewhat orderly fashion and often limping and gnawing their way towards a local cemetery (or movie theater).
During the event participants are encouraged to remain in character as zombies and to communicate only in a manner consistent with zombies (such as grunts, groans and slurred moans calling for “brains”.)”
The video is from a zombie on Pittsburgh’s South Side in September of this year. It looks like it’ll be fun because while the mall knows that the zombies are coming, the regular shoppers won’t have any idea. It’s also kind of exciting because the mall is where the mall scenes from the first Dawn of the Dead were filmed and I’m all about visiting historical places.
I don’t really have any zombie outfit planned out and will have to go to the CVS to get make-up, but I think the biggest barrier will be not wanting to leave the house Sunday morning when it’s cold out. I feel like I should motivate myself to go, especially since my goal for the next few weeks (I’m off work until Nov. 13) is do something other than stay in the house. And it would be fun to be part of a big zombie mob. I’ll post pictures if I go.
As a kid, maybe between the ages of 10 and 13, I was constantly trying to figure out a way to get into the Guinness Book of World Records but always fell short. I couldn’t eat 3 ½ gallons of ice cream in half an hour (I never even made it through a half gallon of chocolate chip), I knew my mom wouldn’t let me sit in a rocking chair for 78 days straight, and I was far too lazy to try something like jumping rope for weeks on end or setting up millions of dominos. Today I understand that I was not alone in this dream, and if I wanted to be clever I could dust off my copy of Bourdieu’s Distinction to talk about this seemingly organic desire being a product of the social position of certain groups of children. That said, knowing that my tastes and interests are the product of larger structures of power does not change the fact that I still think it would be totally cool to be listed along side the world’s biggest twins riding their mini-bikes and the world’s smallest book, and this Sunday I have a chance to live the dream as part of The Monroeville Mall World Record Attempt Zombie Walk. What’s a zombie walk? From the zombie walk attempt website:
“A zombie walk is an organized public gathering of two or more people who dress up in zombie costumes and make up. Usually taking place in an urban centre, the participants make their way around the city streets and through shopping malls in a somewhat orderly fashion and often limping and gnawing their way towards a local cemetery (or movie theater).
During the event participants are encouraged to remain in character as zombies and to communicate only in a manner consistent with zombies (such as grunts, groans and slurred moans calling for “brains”.)”
The video is from a zombie on Pittsburgh’s South Side in September of this year. It looks like it’ll be fun because while the mall knows that the zombies are coming, the regular shoppers won’t have any idea. It’s also kind of exciting because the mall is where the mall scenes from the first Dawn of the Dead were filmed and I’m all about visiting historical places.
I don’t really have any zombie outfit planned out and will have to go to the CVS to get make-up, but I think the biggest barrier will be not wanting to leave the house Sunday morning when it’s cold out. I feel like I should motivate myself to go, especially since my goal for the next few weeks (I’m off work until Nov. 13) is do something other than stay in the house. And it would be fun to be part of a big zombie mob. I’ll post pictures if I go.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Since I'm home for a few weeks (my next trip is to Nashville on Nov. 13) I have some time to give a few observations about my first few weeks on the job:
- If possible, avoid the Texas Stadium Restaurant at DFW airport (see roast beef sandwich in photo). The sweet tea was fine, the fries serviceable, but the sandwich was dry and tough. The best thing I can say about it is that I wasn't hungry after I ate it.
- When the airport security people say no liquid, that includes the water in which your pet goldfish is swimming. At the Pittsburgh airport I saw this guy trying unsuccessfully to bring his pet goldfish through the security line. He seemed genuinely surprised that they wouldn't allow his actual fishbowl through even though there were big signs stating "No Liquids". I made it through the line without seeing the resolution to the situation. From look in the dude's eyes I think he expected to eventually fly with the fish, but I suspect otherwise.
- I will never clip my phone, pda or anything else to my belt, regardless of how practical it is to do so. All the business traveler guys I saw at the Hampton Inn breakfast buffet belt-clipped their accessories onto their tan, pleated Dockers. I just can't do it. Belt-clipped accessories are the fanny packs of the 21st century.
Hey everybody,
What's up? Y'all may know that I recently began a new job. The acceptance of this position marks my re-entrance into the full-time working population after more than 13 years (other than an 8 month period in 1998 waiting tables and renting cars at the airport). I know some of you are thinking, Greg, how can you do this? Won't your skin chafe when you finally remove your pajamas and put on a suit? Can you deal with being away from your couch all day? Did you think about how this will affect Mr. Droolface? These are serious issues, and I plan to address them and other pressing concerns here at Business N'At. I hop you join me on this wondrous journey.
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