All I want from tomorrow is to get it better than today

So the other night Rob was curious as to why I've never mentioned going to college for broadcasting. I didn't finish the course and its really a sore spot for me. I was thinking about it all day. So I'm going to vent a bit. Bear with me as i ramble.

So in 1989 i went to Niagara College for broadcasting. The first year was the best. I had an awesome teacher. His name was Mr Johnson,an older gentleman but he was very cool. So everyday our class would run our college radio station in the afternoon. We would take turns doing all the jobs of a radio station-writing the news,reading the news,writing commercials and the big one-getting to be the on air personality. We would get marked out of 100 for the job we did- and i will brag a bit-i got high marks everyday in that class. i loved programming the music. For a little college station that no one heard outside of the college they had an amazing record library. I once spent 3 hours in there to do a play list and i swear they had thousands of singles. They had to have every single made in the 70's and 80's. It was the coolest. Still have some of the playlists i wrote up. Anyhow to sum up,the first year was the best and i did well and it was a great time.

This brings us to the second year. During the summer the guy they had teaching the 2nd year class quit. He was replaced by a guy who actually dj'ed at a station up north. Little did i know he was soon to become my Lex Luthor. His name was Cliff. I remember that because i wanted him to jump off his name. So my first bad encounter with Dj Douche. I arrived 5 minutes late for class one day. So i believe i was writing the news that day. At the end of the class he graded me. He went on to tell me what an awesome job i did but he was giving me a big fat zero for the day. What the hell? He explained i was five minutes late so i deserved a zero. If this was a real radio station i would have been fired. Well it wasnt a real radio station it was a class. He said we agreed that if anyone was late they would get a zero. To this day i don't remember that conversation. I remember we all agreed that if we missed class we should get a zero. Whatever.

A few weeks later i was late again. The teacher was late to and walked in at the same time as me. Ok if he was also late i thought i was in the clear. Not so. I got another zero and the same if this was a real radio station speech. Now i was geting pissed. If he would have told me at the beginning of the class that i was going to get a zero i would have just left and not worked so hard.

So lets talk about how he killed the record library. The asshole got rid of the entire library except for maybe twenty singles. It sucked. He got all kinds of free cd singles from his old radio station that for some reason he also refused to play.

Then came the day that i first got on the air in the second year. I was doing awesome. I was amazed that a Huey Lewis single made it onto the playlist. It was the song Jacobs Ladder which was actually a number one hit for him. Cool i would play that and i talked about hom much i admired his music. So i put the song on and was getting stuff ready for the broadcast. All of a sudden the door bursts open. in storms Cliff who is really angry at this point. I'll never forget the conversation.

"what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"my show?"
"who told you to play this record!!"
"it was in the pile,the guy that made the playlist gave it to me"
"i made this weeks playlist!!!"
"Ok then i was playing what was given to me."
"i wanted you to play the other side of the single!"
"the b side?"
"yes"
"but the a side was a number one song and the b side is a live version of an earlier hit. Why would i play the b side?"
I'm sorry big time dj or not i think i knew more about Huey Lewis than he did.
"you better watch yourself!" with that he left. So i was left really confused. Oh and because i played the "wrong song" i also failed that weeks class.

Next time i was on the air my first year teacher came in and told me what a great job i was doing and that he actually recorded my shows to play to his first year class because they were so funny. Man i missed the guy and wished he would punch Cliff in the balls for me.

So the second year was a horrible experience and the bastard gave me a failing grade. It didnt matter- after that year i didnt want to go back anyhow. Thus ended my short broadcasting carreer. I later found out that cliff had been fired but by that time the damage was done. Screw him. On my last day i swiped 2 Barney Bentall cd singles that he got from his old radio station. That was my experience and i really dont like to talk about it that much. It still makes me mad thinking about it 18 years later. So Rob sorry i didnt tell you about it. Cliff was an ass and maybe if i'm lucky he was hit by a bus. Cheers!

WTF?

So on a more horrible than usual day at work several things came to mind that made me ask wtf? First of a lady called in mad that she didnt get a $9.00 promotion for HBO. I couldnt find that promotion but did find one that was better a $5.00 promo. So thats 4 dollars better right? Problem solved right? Wrong. She was still insisting she get the original 9 dollar promo. As a matter of fact i had to get a supervisor over that. Wtf? Moron.

So last night we watched the mtv movie awards. Twilight won every award. I know it was only the mtv movie awards but really? Twilight was better than The Dark Knight and Iron man? Wtf? And the lead actors from that film just seemed pissed off every time the camera panned over to them. I still don't get what everyone sees in that movie.

Last night Rob and Nicole came over. While it was good to see them,they brought the weirdest video game over. It was like guitar hero but with marracas. Marraca hero? There was all kinds of characters in the back ground. Many of them mexican. Except for 2 leprauchans and a pickle dressed in a thong? Wtf? And the soundrack included the Rocky theme. When i think of mexico i think of Rocky Balboa.

Lastly read something that didnt make sense to me on the inter web. So theres going to be a Tomb Raider 3. Cool enough. I liked the first 2 Tomb Raider movies a lot. Not a huge Angelina Jolie fan but she suited the part and she was really cool in it. Apparently she won't be back in part 3. She was told she was too old. Wtf? Too old? She's younger than me and still in great shape. She was so hot i mean good in those films. Man they'll probably cast someone retarded like Lindsay Lohan.

And that my friends is what is making me wonder wtf on this glorious Monday. Talk to you soon.

The Beautiful Side Of Somewhere

As its the last day of the month figured i'd mention some good and bad things happenning in my life this week. First of all i started a diet on Tuesday. I figured I would give Atkins another chance. It worked for me last year. If my scale isnt lying i lost 5 pounds so far. There was however a side effect i wasnt aware of before i started. I guess for the first five days or so its nothing but feeling tired and having headaches! For some reason i never experienced this last year. This time though is a different story. Until today i was feeling wiped out. Oh and the headaches were a joy. Especially on those days at work when the customers insist on hollering non stop. Oh well. I have a goal. I want to lose twenty pounds by the end of summer. I want to fit into some of my old concert t shirts. Kath is coming up with some kick ass Atkins recipes. I do miss pizza and cake tough. I love you cake.

Saturday at work was horrible as usual. This weeks cartoon was Bugs Bunny. It was a step up from some of the other crappy cartoons that have been played at work. I don't know how old the carttons were but for some reason Elmer Fudd was a fat f--k. Like Boss Hogg fat. The cartoons are still a lame idea. All i want to do when i'm not on calls is read. Oh and seeing my computer so i can do my job would be nice as well. Nothing really stands out in my mind today as far as unusual calls go. Just the usual bs. Just another day at the office.

This week starts the new passport law for crossing the border. I don't have a passport yet. However if i can aquire one by September i might get to attend a concert by the Wallflowers in Buffalo. That would be kind of sweet. My friend Stacey has expressed interest in going. Just checking the cd releases and the Wallflowers actually have a greatest hits coming out in June. Man i used to buy a lot of cd's. This would b only the second one i get this year. Nothing really appeals to me anymore. Theres also a new Cheap Trick cd out this month as well. Maybe it will be a summer of "Jay music" after all.

Had fun with Diana this week. She's getting good at pedalling the bike and catching a ball. The kid has talent. Gotta admit the diet kicked my ass and running around the park with Diana just about wiped me out. Had a proud moment this week. Diana got her own comic book card at the comic book shop. Now the store will save comics fo her in her own bag. My little nerd.

Looking forward to a lazy Sunday. Figured I'd flake out on the couch and watch movies with the fam. Kath wants Diana to see the movie Babe. Yes the talking pig movie. I've never seen it either. Kath loves it. We've seen some pretty cool movies this week. Fanboys, Run Fatboy run and Young People F'ing which funny enough is a comedy not a porno. We've recordede,purchased and downloaded a ton of movies in the last few months. Now that tv is in reruns we can catch up. Hooray!!

Well tomorrow starts another wonderful month. I'm not looking forward to working this week. Theres a big surprise. On Thursday I'm taking Diana to an open house for her new school. Man the fall will be here in no time and my little girl will be starting school. I still can't believe it. Makes me sad in a way. I know, I will quit my job and home school her! Nah i want my kid to actually be smart and not fail math every year. Oh well. Anyhow hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. Talk to you soon, See ya in June.

I love it when we're cruisin together.

Thirty seven years ago today, as far as I'm concerned, God had his finest moment. He made my wife Kathy. If this hadnt occurred I would probably still be a bitter single guy living in a basement appartment. I don't know why i was checking out chat rooms before work on that summers evening in 1999 . If i hadnt who knows how my life would have gone. Kath turned my life around and as sappy as this will sound, made me believe in love again. She also gave me the greatest gift of all-our daughter Diana. We've been through a lot together-good times and bad. I know she still makes me happy on a daily basis. Its amazing that she can still make a grumpy bastard like me smile. So Kath let me just sum things up by saying I love you very much and i hope you have an awesome birthday. You deserve it.

My friends, When I'm down you lift me up again

Hey there and welcome to another miserable Tuesday. Almost said Monday. Having yesterday off has totally messed me up for the week. Just sitting here thinking about friends. On my way out of work today i ran into my friend Trudy. I hadn't seen her since the wonderful new seating arrangements started last week. She's miserable now to. We sat together for about 3 years with our other friend Deb. We're all in different sections now. As horrible as the calls got we always joked around in between calls and it almost made the customers bearable. Deb even said that becaus we werent all together anymore she got bored and dozed off on a call. I miss joking around with friends at work. That was one of the last few things getting me through the day. Now I'm in the wasteland with people who yell and keep dirty desks. I miss my work friends.


While sitting at the computer desk i'm reminded of another friend from work who i havent seen in awhile. My friend Stacey. The reason she came to mind is i'm looking at a toy she gave to Diana. Its a baby version of Robin "of Batman and "fame. It was really sweet of her to give it to Diana. Especially as she told me she had it in her possession since she was a teenager. Diana loves it. Its pretty cute-see above for the pic, As a matter of fact i'm going to give a quick shout out to Stacey. I was just recently thinking about the first conversation we ever had. It was on a Saturday we ended up sitting next to each other. We started talking about bands and concerts and i remember having a Bruce Springsteen conversation. Now what i've never told her is that i went home and told Kath that i met a cool co worker but (here's the horrible part) for the life of me I couldnt remember her name. For the next couple of saturdays after that i was thinking "wow i hope the cool Bruce Springsteen girl is around." I went on parental leave for 6 months after Diana was born. On the day i came back she was the first (and possibly only) person that welcomed me back. Anyhow just wanted to thank her for her friendship over the years. Someday we will make it to a Jakob Dylan concert.

Last but not least I'm sitting here missing my best friend. You might know her better as my wife Kath. We had a really awesome day off yesterday. We got an oil change and Kath renewed her liscence. We came home and watched the movie Fanboys. Its a very funny movie about geeks and yes i can relate. She got her hair cut also. I have to admit i was nervous about seeing her with short hair, In the 10 years I've known her its always been long. It looks really cute. Nervousness gone. Man yesterday was awesome. We both started a diet today. So far so good. She will be home in about 2 hours. Can't wait to snuggle on the couch and watch some tv. Then it'll be back to the old grind tomoorow. Yay me.

The Saturday hell report

Hey kids it was my favorite time of week again-work on a Saturday! Here are the highlights

Weekly cartoon that no one wanted to see:Disneys The Gummi Bear-didnt think anything could be worse than the Gilligans Island fest last week. As a matter of fact this weeks choice made Gilligan seem brilliant by comparrison. Whats next? Rubik and his amazing cube? My manager is in charge of the lovely saturday programing. He asked me if i had any requests. Yes how about leaving the lights on so i can do my work. Or Die Hard.

Funny porn titles of the week: Parisian Slut fest and Asian slut invasion. Guess those sluts have gone international.

Fastest supervisor request for a stupid reason: five minutes into my shift a lady asked for a supervisor. It seemed that she had an 11 day payment extention until May 22nd. It was may 23rd. She admitted to not making the payment even though she had arrangements. She couldnt understand why we shut her service off on the 23rd. Good times.

Best reason to want to cancel service: a guy called in and his credit card kept denying payments. Rather than call the credit card company to see what the problem was he tried to make a payment with me-on the same card. Of course it was declined therefore i had to hear a speach about what a horrible company i work with. He to asked for a supervisor but then hung up.

My day went like that for the whole ten hour shift and it never ceased being busy. Fun wow. After work went for a grocery run with Nicole and Kath and Diana. Not sure when i will get to go back to America as i need a passport so that may have been my last trip for awhile. Had fun though.Went to the cool Burger King over there and got a checkov and old Spock toy. No one has the Kirk toy so my collection may be incomplete. Oh well. I'll just pretend that the toys are after the movie Generations when Kirk died. Sometimes I'm such a nerd i amaze even myself.

Its actually Sunday. Just got back in after helping to clean the complex all day. Did a lot of raking and sweeping and hauling garbage to the bin. It got super hot and im sweating very badly, There was a big Barbeque afterwards. Took Diana and we had hamburgers and chips. I even had a beer. It was that hot. I totally pigged out and now i feel like a big sweaty whale. Oh well. I am starting a diet on Tuesady. Gonna try and Atkins again. I had pretty good luck with it last year. I just have to keep at it when summer is over. Oh also of note one of our idiot neighbors let his son drive his car in the parking lot today. What's wrong with that you may ask? The son is eight years old. John handed Diana his keys and asked if she could park his van.

Just cleaning the kitchen a bit and doing laundry and i think i'm retiring to the couch for the rest odf the afternoon. Luckilly theres a billion shows on the dvr for Diana if i do fall asleep.


I'm happy Kath and I both have tomorrow off. Have a lot to do though. Gonna start the day off with a haircut for Kath and then she is going to renew her drivers liscence. I think were getting an oil change for the van as well. Oh and a bit of grocery shopping. I think in the next few weeks i wanna take Diana back to happy Rolphs. I've always liked it out there and the goats are funny. Ok gonna pass out now. Hope everybody is having an awesome weekend. I may pop back in later for another update. Or i might not. Take care.

The Possum From Hell

So what could be better on my day off then getting rid of vermin in my back yard. So i hear my door bell and its my next door neighbour telling me theres a possum nest in our back yard. On sunday i stretched a wet bar be que cover over a crate in the back yard to dry it off. Well i guess a possum and her babys decided to move in under there. I went to the back yard and first of all saw a dead possum baby. I had my first heart attack there. I guess a cat or something had gotten it. Then my neighbour and i ripped the barbeque cover off and saw the mother. This bigger than a cat creature looked at me an hissed and i just about peed my self. There was a baby holding on to its back. The baby was cute. We shooed it out of here with a broom. Then we trapped it under a crate. The neighbour called the humane society but we were told they couldnt do anything about it so we let it go. On top of all that i realized i pretty much have the yard from Sanford and Son. Theres all kinds of old Diana toys back there we need to get rid of and 3 crates. Also i hate to weed so the weeds are coming in nicely. Yeah i was kind of embarassed having my neighbour back there. Oh well. Oh and when i was out there i also found a dead squirrell. All the fixins of a redneck stew. Yee ha!

Other than that having a fairly descent day. Took Diana to the park to play catch and go down the slide. I feel really tired now, I am getting old. Diana seems to be tired also. She's laying on the couch watching cartoons. I have to go to another stupid maintenance meeting at 7. At least John will be going to this one.


Ok its a few hours later and yes the meeting did in fact suck ass. Our complex clean up is on Sunday morning. That should be fun. At least theres a barbeque afterwards. Took Diana out ion her bike for a few minutes tonight. She`s getting better at the pedals. I got a work out pushing her on the bike. I`m sweatier than Chris Farley on a hot summers day. I think I`ll be taking her to the park tomorrow to try kiting. I have a Darth Vader kite that I`ve never used and Diana likes kites now so we`ll give it a shot. Merlins original owner is coming over for a visit tomorrow nigght. Hope he stops hiding long enough to come see her. I`m happy to not have to work tomorrow and happier to be visiting the comic book store. Green Arrow is out so will have more books to lend Nicole. Speaking of which Nicole will be joining us again for another exciting grocery run on Saturday. Will probably be my last trip to America for awhile. THe new law requiring a passport takes effect June 1st and i dont have a passport yet. I will probably get one after summer. At least Nicole can keep Kath company this summer. Good times. Ok I`ve rambled on long enough. Going to wait for Kath to come home and catch up on some shows. Until next time hope everyone has a possum free day!