More Magical Music from the Decemberists

There is a city by the sea
A gentle company
I don’t suppose you want to
And as it tells its sorry tale
In harrowing detail
Its hollowness will haunt you
Its streets and boulevards
Orphans and oligarchs it hears
A plaintive melody
Truncated symphony
An ocean’s garbled vomit on the shore,
Los Angeles, I’m yours

Oh ladies, pleasant and demure
Sallow-cheeked and sure
I can see your undies
And all the boys you drag about
An empty fallow fount
From Saturdays to Mondays
You hill and valley crowd
Hanging your trousers down at heel
This is the realest thing
As ancient choirs sing
A dozen blushing cherubs wheel above
Los Angeles my love

Oh what a rush of ripe élan
Languor on divans
Dalliant and dainty
But oh, the smell of burnt cocaine
The dolor and decay
It only makes me cranky
Oh great calamity,
Ditch of iniquity and tears
How I abhor this place
Its sweet and bitter taste
Has left me wretched, retching on all fours
Los Angeles, I’m yours

The Apartment

Put an application in for an apartment in Cleveland Heights today with Hannah. 900 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, big kitchen. And the rent's not bad either.

I really love the area, and certain things about the apartment (the lighting, the wood floors, the gas stove). It's really worth the cost.

I'm so excited to be moving up to that area - most of my friends here in Cleveland live there as is, so it'll be good to have the group of them right around the corner for the most part. Coventry, the area we'll be in, is also incredible. Lots of great shops, bars, restaurants, parks, and such - very good place.

Think we're going to go a bit more "minimalist" as compared to the last couple places I've lived. No need for rampant decor and furniture. As far as that goes, personally I own a chair, a bed, a night stand, and a couch. Less is more... right?

We move in October 1 - there will likely be a party shortly after that... so if you're local (or hey, even if you're not!) stay tuned.

New job - oh so Bond

So, the level of awesome that my new position reaches is best summed up in the following fact: I log in to my laptop there by scanning my fingerprint.

Now the great things could just end there - but they don't. Above and beyond all my co-workers being as friendly as can be, and incredibly intelligent and helpful there are a number of things that make it really fun.

I have my own little cube, while being a cubicle, is still very spacious. A VoIP phone that I still have yet to completely figure out. Full health and dental coverage for $50 a month. A 401(k) with 25% company match that for the past two years has also been given a discretionary additional 25% match, because the company has grown so much. Training like no body's business. The ability to call any of our global offices via my computer in little as four numbers. Oh, and a guide to everything I'll ever need to do in my position.

Basically this is one of the best jobs I've ever had. I've never gotten the amount of training and attention from my superiors as I got in just the first day there. I'm going to really enjoy working with such a great company.

That's about all for now - just wanted to let everyone know that the day went marvelously. More to come.

A long overdue update

So I've been ultra busy this week - sorry for not updating sooner.

Last weekend (after my last post) I started my new job at Grand River Cellars. I worked 22 hours over Friday and Saturday and pretty decent tips. It's a great place to work, and I really love the environment and my co-workers. I don't think I could have asked for a better weekend job.

After work on Saturday evening, I went over to my friend Draque's and hung out there with some people from Case Western. Watched re-runs of old shows that used to be on Nickelodeon. It seems they have a special channel devoted to games and sports - amusingly called Nickelodeon GaS. I wonder where the hosts of those shows are today? What fun. We had a blast making snide (surely not me or my crowd I hear you say) commentary. Richard Simmons was on one episode of Figure it Out - it seems the host, Summer Sanders, is an Olympic gold medalist swimmer, and has a daughter named Skye (my sister's name) - and his only reason for being there was to get "slimed." Honestly - the "secret slime action" was "Sweats to the Oldies." Who else do you know that does that?

Earlier this past week Danielle came out to Cleveland and helped me look at apartments in the Cleveland Heights/Shaker area. I've got it narrowed down to a few of them. It all depends on whether or not I'll have Hannah as a roommate. In that case we'll have a 2-bedroom flat, otherwise I'm just going to get something with 1-bedroom for myself. I'm hoping to move as of October 1, but may push that back to November 1 depending on how things work out. I'm really excited about moving up to that area of Cleveland. It's amazingly nice, and near to my friends who are out in this part of Ohio.

Thursday I drove out to my grandparents' house and then up "North" with my grandpa to the cabin he and my grandma own near Big Rapids. We've been going up there for as long as I can remember as a family, though in the past 5-6 years have not - because of this the place is in need of some repairs, and I went with him to help him start replacing the roof. We didn't get much done, but got started at least, and it was better yet to be able to spend some time with him. I'm looking forward to when everything is ready with the place, then as Joey (the nephew) gets older we can take him up there, and perhaps someday my grandparents will give in to my pestering and let me have some of my friends up for a long weekend!

An aunt and uncle have their own cabin two lots over - the center lot was owned by an older couple, Morris and Iown, who both passed away a number of years ago, their cabin was purchased by cousins and has since been taken down and the lot is still empty. It's one of those pre-made homes, and is very nice. They replaced their old cabin a few years ago with the newer one, and now that both of them are retired they spend quite a bit of time there. Lindsay, Danielle, and I went up last year and stayed with them over Labor Day weekend I think. We had a great time.

Speaking of Labor Day, that's coming up next weekend I believe. That means it'll be a short week for my first week of work at CTPartners - I start tomorrow morning. I am incredibly excited and can't wait to go. It's kind of like going to the first day of school when you were a kid. I'm really looking forward to having a job that I can enjoy - presumably, since as of right now I've not had any experience doing whatever it is I'll be doing, though I'm sure it'll be better than recruiting nurses!

That about covers things for the time being. I'll make an entry tomorrow to detail my first day as a Search Desk Administrator! ^^

Pour. Swirl. Sniff. Taste. Enjoy.

So not only do I now have a full time day job, but as of today I am the Sommelier/Bartender for Grand River Cellars in Madison, OH.

I spoke with a friend of mine, my wine teacher from Kent, and he knew the owner there was looking for some extra help. He put in a good word for me, and after meeting with her this afternoon I'll be starting on Friday.

It'll be a lot of fun, and a great way to start getting experience in the wine business, and most certainly further my knowledge of wine and perhaps give me some more insight on viticulture and oenology (the agricultural and scientific sides to making wine).

The location is out past Painesville, so those of you who are in Ohio or the Cleveland area know that's a bit of a drive. Once I've moved closer to Cleveland though it'll only be about 30-45 minutes to get there. And for a weekend job it'll be excellent in terms of earning spending money, which means more of my "real" job paycheck can stay put in the bank! Yay.

Here's their website: http://www.grandrivercellars.com/

Please check out their selection, and if you can come visit. I tasted the wines available today, and can say they are some of the best Ohio-grown and produced wines I've had so far. If you want to come out while I'm working, I should be there most Friday evenings, and Saturday afternoons/evenings. They have a full menu as well as wine, so come hungry, and also live music every Friday and Saturday nights.

Cheers!

America the great

I'm currently grooving on this song by The Decemberists. I hope you all enjoy it as much.



Sixteen military wives
Thirty-two softly focused brightly colored eyes
Staring at the natural tan
of thirty-two gently clenching wrinkled little hands
Seventeen company men
Out of which only twelve will make it back again
Sergeant sends a letter to five
Military wives, whose tears drip down through ten little eyes

Cheer them on to their rivals
Cause America can, and America can't say no
And America does, if America says it's so
It's so!

And the anchorperson on TV goes...
La de da de da

Fifteen celebrity mimes
Leading their fifteen sordid wretched checkered lives
Will they find the solution in time
Using their fifteen pristine moderate liberal minds?

Eighteen academy chairs
Out of which only seven really even care
Doling out the garland to five
Celebrity minds, they're humbly taken by surprise

Cheer them on to their rivals
Cause America can, and America can't say no
And America does, if America says it's so
It's so!

And the anchorperson on TV goes...
La de da de da de-dadedade-da
La de da de da de-dadedade-da

Fourteen cannibal kings
Wondering blithely what the dinner bell will bring
Fifteen celebrity mimes
Served on a leafy bed OF sixteen military wives

Cheer them on to their rivals
Cause America can, and America can't say no
And America does, if America says it's so
It's so!

And the anchorperson on TV goes...
La de da de da de-dadedade-da
La de da de da de-dadedade-da

The Virtues of Photoshop CS3

I just have to say, the high point of my day today has been playing with Photoshop CS3.

It's really an amazing program, and despite the fact that it might not be hugely different than PS7 or even CS2, it has two important options that I really like. Auto-layer, and Auto-blend.

In short, these two things allowed me to take 13 pictures and create this:


You'll have to click the image to actually see what the BIG deal is all about.

Otherwise, I'm just doing a preliminary apartment search today. Even though I'm not planning on moving for at least a couple months, I'd like to check places out to 1) see what they're like in general, and more importantly 2) get an idea as to what they're like when it's nice out. I really don't want to live anywhere that there are going to be swarms and swarms of children.

Finally, Rufus Wainwright's new album, Release the Stars, is pretty good. I always like new music from him. I think he's coming through Ohio/Michigan on tour in a few months. I'll have to see if I can get tickets.

Wine Touring in Sandusky

Came back to Cleveland today, though on the way the girls and I enjoyed one of our favorite past times - wine tasting in Sandusky.

Now, Sandusky is really only known in Ohio - let alone anywhere else - for it's monstrous roller-coaster centric theme park, Cedar Point. And to a lesser extent a lot of people go there to boat and do things on Lake Erie. Put-n-Bay is a popular location, as well as Port Clinton and the few islands around the coast.

For me and my friends however, Sandusky means wine. There are a number of wineries in this area of Ohio, located almost dead in the center of the state's north line. Our favorites include Mon Ami, Firelands, and Matus Winery. We visited the former two today, and had some excellent samples along the way.

A lot of people are surprised when they find out there are grape growing and wine making regions in Ohio. The two major ones to my knowledge are the areas along Lake Erie, including Sandusky, and Ashtabula and Lake counties farther east - home to an excellent winery/restaurant called Ferrante - and then the region of southern Ohio closer to Cincinnanti, where their warm weather provides a pretty good crop. Here in the north it gets colder, but because of the lake the grape growing areas are provided with a type of buffer that other places in the state don't get.

The grapes and wines in northern Ohio are very similar to those found in New York. Common varietals include Concord, Catawba, and Niagra. Most of the wines are on the sweeter side, however you will find some Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnay here as well. The wineries also make wine from imported juice from California, or other regions that are more suitable to growing varietals such as Pinot Noir and Pinot Grigio for example.

Ferrante, mentioned earlier, has an amazing Cabernet Franc Icewine, and even at $35 for a bottle half the size of a standard wine bottle, it is worth every penny. L&D and I are planning to go back there sometime in the next couple months to have a nice dinner once I've got an income again.

Other going ons: We had a nice lunch at Ruby Tuesday's, and then my mom picked me up from Sandusky and we drove back to Medina. I received my first book, This Book Will Change Your Life Again, from SwapTree, and need tog et to the post office in the morning to send out the one I'm trading for it. The book I received is filled with daily tasks and projects, mostly humorous though some are downright intelligent, that the authors claim if completed will change your life. I certainly think so - for example, Day 2 is "Claim you are Jesus Day." That might get someone's attention.

I got the job!

Just a fast update for today... I heard from Jill this morning and the company I've been interviewing with has offered me the position. I'm extremely excited about working there, and should be starting either the 20th or 27th.

They've hired me an another candidate they were considering. Originally they wanted to create a Jr. and Sr. role for the position, but have decided to bring us both in at the same level, and then after so long they'll probably promote one or the other to the Sr. role. Basically the major difference is just a bit more responsibility in communications as far as I can tell.

Base salary is good, and there is a bonus - not sure what it's based on though, as this is more of an operations position than a production position - and potential overtime. I'll more than gladly spend extra time for the OT, especially now that I don't have to worry about school anymore!

We went to Applebee's for lunch today, and I was really pleased with their new lunch combos. For $8 I had half a sandwich and a lunch portion of shrimp salad with a yummy avocado vinaigrette. After having lunch we stopped over at The Anderson's so I could pick up a steak for dinner. At lunch Danielle tactfully said, "Well, we're having steak for dinner... so you're going to want to get one of those." They do menu planning and shopping a week in advance, so of course they had no idea I'd be here tonight - she was just being silly. $3.99 for a nice 8oz cut though, not bad at all.

"Farby's: Back Home" and My Phone Interview

Today I had a phone interview with the VP of Finance with the company I'm applying to. It went rather well, and we had a friendly conversation focused around my travels, my language skills, my career interests, and his background. Remarkably he seems to have been in the same position as I am now. I'm really excited about the prospect of working with this company, especially because they are international - global better term that he used - and the position will include interaction with their other branches.

I'm supposed to hear from Jill, the recruiter I'm working with, by the end of the week regarding whether or not they're going to make me an offer.

L&D are secret shoppers for Arby's, so we had to go there for lunch so they could check that the fries were hot, the sandwich alignment was good, and the bathrooms were clean. We were super secret spies. They told me there's an Arby's in Van Wert - where Danielle works - and I guess it's surrounded by corn, and from a certain angle looks as though a nearby silo is attached to it. Therefore it was dubbed a "Farby's."

We watched 28 Weeks Later this afternoon - pretty good, though much gorier and action packed than 28 Days Later. I think the first movie was a little more thought provoking as opposed to "Zombies are everywhere, killing everyone!" theme this one had.

We also watched Babel, which I wasn't overly impressed with. I'd compare it to Crash or Magnolia, and Danielle and I decided both those were more interesting and had better actors. From a preview that ran right before the DVD started though, we made a little trip to the local Family Video - home of the creepy tower of light - to get a newer release called Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, a film following a post-revolution Frenchman who has an uncanny sense of smell, and "accidentally" becomes a serial killer in a quest to preserve the essence of beautiful women he encounters, trying to make the perfect perfume. I thought it was very good, though it did take a dive into absurdity toward the end. In a write up I read on Wikipedia about it, Stanley Kubrick, of all people, is quoted as saying that the book the film is based on was "unfilmable."

There seems to be quite a lot of rain going on back home in Cleveland - I guess some parts of the East side got up to 5 inches in just a short period of time. It rained here in Toledo too this morning, though I seem to have slept through it.

Bread pudding does not taste like bread pudding

Alton Brown's Feasting on Asphalt premiered it's second season over the weekend, and so we watched the premiere on the TiVo this evening. They were in Louisianna, eating all kinds of Southern specialties from crayfish to gumbo and head cheese to bread pudding. According to to one crew member who claimed to not enjoy bread pudding - my feelings as well - the stuff they had was so good, "it didn't even taste like bread pudding!" I'm not really sure if that's a good thing or not, but on a much more entertaining level, Alton was taught to "suck heads" by some crazy old man who was wandering through the camera shot while he and a guest were enjoying their crayfish.

Earlier I drove up to see my grandparetns, and we went to lunch at a Chinese buffet restaurant in Monroe. It was decent food as far as Chinese buffets are concerned, and my grandpa loves Chinese food. It was good to see them, and we had a nice time together. I helped my grandpa with some computer related things, and they let me borrow their copy of Babel which I've been wanting to see. Hopefully I'll be seeing them again next weekend as it is my grandpa's birthday. I hope they're going to come out to Cleveland.

After I left there, and headed back to L&D's place, I talked with my mom and decided to meet her in Sandusky. The girls wanted me to stay a couple extra days since Lindsay is on vacation from work - she's a manager at UPS here in Toledo - and she adores me! So since I had my mom's car, and she and Jimmy were in Sandusky - Jimmy has a boat and they go out on it when we have nice weather over the weekend - Lindsay just followed me out there and then whisked me back to Toledo after dropping the car off. We got some tasty Starbucks on the way back - one of our favorite things to do together.

So now I'm being "held hostage" here, as I jokingly put it to them. I think if L could she'd pretty much keep me around as a cute little pet all the time. Can't say I'd complain though either! ha ha

I made dinner for the three of us - lemon butter rosemary garlic chicken, again, thanks be to Hannah for her mad cooking skills - and we watched Feasting on Asphalt and Superstar on the TiVo. They have a digital wonderland as far as entertainment is concerned, so there's always something to watch or do here.

Again, I'm delighted to be home and have my friends and family back around me. It's good to be here.

Hannah's Socks Picnic and the sweet sound of Bacon

I spent the day volunteering at the Hannah's Socks Charity Picnic that was held in Perrysburg today. Hannah's mother is my friend Lindsay's aunt, so I went along with she and Danielle. The event was being held from 2p-8p and involved music, craft activities, games, raffles, and food. I was part of the "Games Committee" and started the day off by running The Color Wheel game.

Libby showed up early in the afternoon, and was really the only one to have any success at guessing which colors the wheel would land on. While she couldn't have any "awesome" prizes for herself, she did use her (evil, er, good) powers to help a few children take home some plastic stuff.

Tickets were sold for all the games, food, and drawings and dozens of people cycled through the area throughout the afternoon. I think some people were suspecting a much larger turn out but I think at the end of the day everyone involved was pleased with the outcome.

Obviously as a charity event the purpose was to raise money for a good cause. There were certain details - prizes for games, food and beverage costs, and quality control - that could have been better attended to, but with better management I would suspect next year's event to be even more successful. I think later Lindsay will probably hear at some point whether the organization came out ahead. All in all it's a good cause, and I hope that regardless of the few stressful situations had by people here and here that the effort by all was well worth it.

The girls were able to get Chipotle to donate food for the volunteers that worked throughout the day. They gave us two huge boxes of corn chips and 200 half-portioned burritos: 80 steak, 80 chicken, and 40 vegetarian. That's a LOT of burritos.

Danielle's brother, Aloysius (really his name is Peter), was visiting Toledo from Chicago. So he got dropped off at the picnic by one of his friends and spent the remainder of the afternoon looking "morose" and following Danielle around not unlike a lost puppy.

After the picnic ended and we helped to clean everything up and deliver things back to Lindsay's parents' house, we came back to L&D's new apartment and had a couple drinks - and a few burritos, seeing as there were over half of them left over and we smuggled them into the Katamari) and played Pop-5. As the night progressed Peter was far more entertaining, giving clues for the song "Bette Davis Eyes" in the form of "Crocker" and "vision." I made a poor E.T. sculpture out of purple clay, and Lindsay and I were astonished at the Krivas Telepathy Gene, helping the brother-and-sister team win the game. Seriously, "ba-con" does have a musical equivalent.

My Interview

So I got up at about 5:45 this morning. I was ultra nervous that I'd run into all kinds of awful construction and traffic and other things meant to make me late. This is summer in Cleveland after all, and basically what could be better than a 5 lane pile up and construction on the sub-layer of asphalt, and 19,000 miles of orange cones and barrels? Yea - I can't think of much else either.

So I showered, shaved, and suited up and was out the door by 7:15am. The traffic wasn't bad at all, and I only slowed down - not even coming to a full stop - at one tiny bit along the expressway. In short I arrived in Beachwood in about 45 minutes, leaving me with approximately an hour to wait before my interview. I found a McDonald's and got a large Diet Coke ("What? Oh... we don't have diet.... $1.50 at the next window." Me: "Huh?") to ingest a little caffeine. I walked in 10 minutes early to Christian & Timbers (CTPartners) on Science Park Drive. The first person I met was a man in a bike uniform, pushing a mountain bike, blaring some awful music. Then there was Amanda.

Glitter eye shadow and a faux fur lined jacket. Amanda is the front desk person for C&T and has been with the firm for about a month and a half. She's attending CSU, major unknown. We chatted for a few minutes about the company, Casual Fridays, and how uncomfortable I must feel in a suit when everyone else was in jeans. I don't mind - I love my suit.

My interviewer, and hopefully soon-to-be-boss, Phil, met me in the lobby just a few minutes before 9am. We retired to his office, walking through several doors, and into different parts of the building's first floor. I think C&T uses the entire ground floor of the office building. Phil was very friendly, and much more open and joking than I'd aniticipated - he's a controller, so I had my preconceived notions, but he dispelled them pretty quickly. We talked about my experience, books I've read, traveling, and wine. We both have the same favorite wine - red Zinfandel.

He'll be making a decision next week, and I thin things went really well, so I'm excited about the opportunity. It's a Data Analyst position, which would be something fairly new to me, but I think would be a great way to broaden my skill set. SQL database maintenance, accounting, finance, etc. If I get the job it'll be a really great experience.

After the interview I headed home to spend a few hours with Joey - we took a nap together, and he did some general baby things. Then I decided to head out to Toledo to visit Lindsay and Danielle. I'd planned on going out Saturday, but decided since I wasn't doing anything tonight I might as well drive out a day early. Tomorrow I'm going to be helping them work at the Hannah Socks Charity Picnic. It seems Lindsay is actually the Hannah of note's cousin.

The girls and I met Libby for dinner at a local Max & Erma's and I had a tasty half salad along with half of a brie and roast beef sammich. Lindsay headed to work, and Danielle and I are back at the new apartment - they have a kick ass townhouse now, not far from where they'd lived before - and are having some drinks while watching TiVo. Honestly, what did anyone ever do before all this technology existed? Good grief.

The Decemberists are a new favorite band - Danielle's previewing some music for me, which I'll hijack to my iPod before I go.

Stay tuned for news on how the job search turns out.

No, we're sorry - you can't talk to the GSK reps today

So today I went to a "Sales Career Job Forum," which was basically a huge waste of time. I wanted to speak with someone from Eli Lilly as well as GlaxoSmithKline, but the company organizing the event had special requirements for speaking with them. To weed out candidates obviously. The problem on my part is that I've not had a single job where I've pounded the street for sales - and the more I think about it, the less I think I would ever want one. I guess pharmaceutical sales was sheerly attractive based on the prospective income opportunity.

I met some people at this event that seemed to be "stereotypical" job seekers. After reading Barabara Ehrenreich's Bait and Switch, I have this horrific mental image of the Job Hunt. I was just glad to leave the hotel where the event was being held, and listened to some Mozart on the way back home.

On my way home though I did get some good news. One of the recruiters working on job searching with me called and had an interview scheduled for me in the morning. The company is a retained search firm located in Beachwood, Ohio. The office is their corporate office, and I would be working as a Data Analyst, reporting directly to the Comptroller (or Controller, depending on which spelling you prefer). It's a change from what I've done in the past, but I've certainly got the skill set to qualify, and it would move me out of the health care industry, which is a primary goal. The interview is at 9am - I'm very excited.

We had grilled chicken gyro creations for dinner, and I made some cucumber yogurt sauce which tasted very nice. The Giant Eagle here in town has Tahini, so I'd like to try making hummus at some point in the future.

More news on my interview tomorrow!

Interview, Sorting & Swapping, and My Nephew

Had my interview this morning. It went well, though I'm not really sure if it's my dream position. The more and more I consider it I'd rather live near Cleveland or Cleveland Heights, where as this position would require me to move to, if not nearer, Sandusky. If I were a Cedar Point fanatic, that would be a big draw... alas, I am not a roller coaster fan. Nonetheless, we'll see what comes of it in a few days I suppose.

Tomorrow I have an event that I'm attending to interview with a couple pharmaceutical firms for sales rep positions here in Cleveland. That could be a more exciting position, and allow me to live closer to Cleveland. My suit fits better than it did, though I think it could be taken in a bit more. Perhaps it's just that I need to get a smaller suit later on. This one is okay for interviewing in at least.

I'm going through my things that I brought home from Europe. I seem to have just collected ticket stubs and train tickets as souvenirs. That's alright by me. I need to take the journal I was using and start pasting things in to it as a way of keeping everything in one place. That or I need a shoe box to toss things in to.

Unpacked a couple boxes this afternoon and now my bedroom floor is littered with books. I have to divide them into separate piles. Those that I'll keep and those that I'll take to the Half Price Book Store and sell for store credit. Before doing that though I may consider listing them on SwapTree, as I'd like to start trading things with other users.

I found a list of yummy recipes that I need to subject all my friends to as well. These are things I picked up and learned how to make wandering around Europe. I'd like to plan a party some time in the near future where everyone contributes to the grocery bill and I provide tasty food for all.

I need to get to the new Whole Foods up in University Heights. Perhaps I can convince one of my friends from Case to let me take over their kitchen sometime soon, and then I'll pick things up there and cook.

Joey, my nephew, is amazing. He's going to be seven months old this weekend, and he's so entertaining. He's moving around - almost crawling! - and babbling. I can't wait for him to start talking. I swear he's the happiest baby in the world. Smiles from morning until bed time... unless of course he needs a nap or some mushed up sweet potato baby food. Otherwise he's grinning and laughing and making general baby noises. He's awesome in short. And to my sister's credit, she is an amazing mother.

I'm subscribing to The New Yorker.

OK. I need to do something with all these books.