We have come to that time of year where those of us that aren't beating ourselves senseless preparing for the annual Winter Greed and Hypocrisy Festival (AKA Xmas) start reflecting on the year that just passed. This has been a year of real highs and lows:
LOW: Gas passing $4.25/gallon this summer.
HIGH: Gas dropping to $1.60/gallon this fall.
LOW: Getting laid off after over 17 years with ADT.
HIGH: Getting hired with Comcast in December.
LOW: Being broke all summer.
HIGH: Winning tickets from a local radio station to be able to take my darling Cathy to her first ever honest-to-goodness rock concert!
BONUS HIGH: It was Carlos Santana, the seats were GREAT, and Carlos was on his A+ game!
There were other highs and lows throughout 2008, most of which I have chronicled here. On balance, there was more good than bad this year, the bad was all endurable, and 2009 looks promising. I have friends, a family that loves me, two nifty doggies and most of all the love and support of the lovely and talented Cathy! Life is pretty good.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
What a month!
Well, it's official... My long unemployment is finally over. One week ago today I began working for Comcast here in Sacramento. I am in training to become an Advanced Services Representative, providing technical support for Internet and digital phone customers. I think I'm going to enjoy this. The training is challenging. I haven't had to study this hard since my short college career, and I have a head full of bees by the end of the day, but I think I'm doing well. I had forgotten how bloody short weekends are...
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Music Industry
The music industry really needs to get with the times. A case in point, from my own recent experience: I have recently gotten interested again in the music of AC/DC for the first time since college. Since I am fully in the digital music age, I roll on over to iTunes to buy some tunes. Lo and behold, AC/DC has exactly ZERO songs on iTunes...
Undaunted, I went to the AC/DC website. There you can buy every CD and a lot of LP releases that the band has ever had, but NO digital music. In desperation, I roll over to Dimple Records, my favorite local used CD shop, to see if I can score a "greatest hits" CD. It appears that AC/DC, whether out of some artistic premise or to simply keep selling the ol' catalogue, has NEVER released a greatest hits collection!
This is a story of a person that wants to get his favorite songs by a particular group in his selected format in a legal fashion. The only way for me to get my favorite AC/DC songs legally is to buy most of their albums in their entirety, rather than getting just the good stuff. Not that I would ever do so, but I think I now understand why black market music is so popular. Because I can't afford to buy a dozen or so CD's, there is no way for me to legally have AC/DC on my digital player of choice. Instead of $20 or so, the band will get nothing from me. How does that make sense?
Undaunted, I went to the AC/DC website. There you can buy every CD and a lot of LP releases that the band has ever had, but NO digital music. In desperation, I roll over to Dimple Records, my favorite local used CD shop, to see if I can score a "greatest hits" CD. It appears that AC/DC, whether out of some artistic premise or to simply keep selling the ol' catalogue, has NEVER released a greatest hits collection!
This is a story of a person that wants to get his favorite songs by a particular group in his selected format in a legal fashion. The only way for me to get my favorite AC/DC songs legally is to buy most of their albums in their entirety, rather than getting just the good stuff. Not that I would ever do so, but I think I now understand why black market music is so popular. Because I can't afford to buy a dozen or so CD's, there is no way for me to legally have AC/DC on my digital player of choice. Instead of $20 or so, the band will get nothing from me. How does that make sense?
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