Not quite sure what happened… or didn’t happen

Background: A couple of months ago as it started to get cold here in Utah, my car battery began to stutter a little bit when starting the engine.  Nothing major, just wasn’t as smooth as it should have been.  Because of that, I decided it was probably wise to go and replace the battery since it was about time anyway.  Before doing so, one day as I tried starting my engine, it was particularly sluggish, and after the engine got going, I noticed that all of my (two) radio channels had reset, along with the clock.  I just figured it was battery related.

Now: So the battery is replaced, and everything is fine and well.  Early this morning I was headed out for work, so I got in my car and started it up, to let it warm up a little bit before taking off.  I went and pushed the radio preset button #1 for 96.3, X96’s Radio from Hell morning show.  #2 is set as NPR.  So in the morning on the way to work I get entertained with the Radio from Hell, on the way home I try to keep up on current news from NPR.  I feel it is a happy balance for me.  If ever there is something I get annoyed with or don’t particularly have interest in, I just turn on a cd… which happens fairly often depending on my mood.  But all of this is irrelevant. I noticed instantly that the radio channels had been reset.  Now, starting up my car this morning, I didn’t have any problems… so was a little puzzled as to why they had reset like that.  Still very early in the morning it was running through my mind as I was pulling away from home, headed down the street for my commute up to Salt Lake.  Then it dawned on me… last night, I had a dream that I was in my car, but having trouble getting it started.  In my dream, I had attempted several times to turn the key and get it started, but it just wouldn’t work.  I don’t know what came of the dream, as that is all that I can recall.  But found it rather odd that my dream would be tied into an incident like this with my radio resetting… or, was it a dream?  Is there more reason for my being tired throughout the day than I am consciously aware of?  Kinda freaks me out a little bit… and I currently live alone, so I would never have anyone around to tell me if I was out and about in my sleep.

guilty pleasures

So I stumbled upon this video today on a friend’s blog… and I instantly fell in love. Not only do I love the lyrics to it, there’s something about the way she let’s the f word roll off her tongue that kinda turns me on.

mmmmmm sexy… is that bad?

That word has never had this impact on me before. I find it rather humorous in many cases in movies and such, but this is a whole different thing here. If anyone else feels the same, don’t hide it… let me know.  It’s Lily Allen’s The Fear

2008, The year of the excrement

That’s right. I’m dubbing 2008 as the year of the excrement. Why? Well… because just about everything in 2008 was or turned to absolute crap… the economy as a whole, consisting of the job market, the housing market, the banking system, etc. I don’t think it’s any exaggeration that I went from the best 8 months of my life working in Japan, to the crappiest year of my life, returning back to Utah only to not be able to find a job. Yeah yeah yeah, I have a temp job that I hate (no health insurance, $8 an hour for every hour I work going to the temp agency), which is only out of obligation for the necessity of money to live, but you get my point. Not only did the joblessness (as in a job I could feel good about) suck, but several steps in the job seeking process can also be forgotten. Passing out while having blood taken by an unskilled phlebotomist (spelling?), receiving, and trusting “help” from what should have been a skilled professional in the career advisement department at UVU in developing a crappy resume, having a 4 1/2 hour long interrogation all to be told “thanks but no thanks”, in the process… completely destroying all confidence and motivation to even find a job, etc.

One thing that did turn out rather decent for 2008 for me was the attended concerts though. NIN (both in SLC and Vegas), Neil Diamond, The Faint, Fair to Midland, Serj Tankian, Stone Temple Pilots, Pendulum, Rachael Yamagata, Lenka, Meiko, Emily Wells, Ray LaMontagne, Chris Cornell, and many others which I can’t recall right now.

And although today feels as though it is a new beginning, being in that one digit in the date changes for the next 365 days, resulting in overrated celebrations that always bring disappointment, I am mildly optimistic for 2009. Why? I have no idea… but I feel like something is finally going to change. Sure the economy will probably still be crap, but I feel like something good has got to happen. I mean, it can’t get any worse… I don’t say this out of “woe is me”… because frankly, I’m doing well. I mean… I can’t lose anything I didn’t have, right? Whether this change brings a job with the federal government, or takes me back to Japan… either one would be welcomed with open arms. So here’s to the things to come in the next year and on… Happy f’n New Year.

lights in the sky over north america

I haven’t been up to much lately… aside from a quick trip this past weekend to Las Vegas anyway.  The following are a couple examples of just how worth the overnight trip was.

Recording from Las Vegas at the bottom of the page.

The making of Lights In The Sky 2008

Lights In The Sky teaser… for those who weren’t able to experience it.

just a little sum’n on the side

I’ve been kind of inactive at posting things as of late… but what can I say?  My life is pretty uneventful at the moment.  I have been involved in a little something on the side however.  If you head on over to IRR, you may be able to check out some new music that you find soothes your soul.  I have been and will continue reviewing albums and concerts, and conducting interviews with bands and artists in the music industry.  Most of the stuff I have been involved in is written under my pen name Lancifer.  Hope you find some music that you love just as much as I have in my reviewing it.

I want a chimp

Nudist cover e’s

There have been a couple lately that I feel are worth mentioning.  New discoveries that is…

Fire Roasted Garlic Tomato soup from Paradise Bakery.  Damn Good!  And it can be enjoyed in this irritably cold season accompanied by free WiFi from the new American Fork location just a short drive from my place of residence.  I’ve only had it once, but it’s one of those things I could easily enjoy on a daily basis.  I may have to rotate my internet usage between the UVU Library and Paradise Bakery during my job hunting.  I should also mention they have damn good cookies too.  I enjoyed a couple Molasses Gingerbread cookies as well.  A wonderful combination that can help me get through the cold winter.

Welch’s Passion Fruit juice from my local grocer.  Also very good.  Damn Good? ummm it’s no Mt Dew, but it may be the next best thing… aside from Vitamin Water’s XXX flavor.

Podcasts (FREE) from Ed Banger Records… an electronic record label out of France.  With artists like Sebastian, Kavinsky, Busy P, Justice, Dj Mehdi, Uffie, there are some damn good beats and grooves.

My discovery that the UVU Career Center’s adviser for the Science Department is absolutely worthless when it comes to getting help on things like writing a resume and career advice in general.  I had made the false assumption several months ago that she knew what she was talking about when I went to her for help on writing my resume.  She seemed to focus more on the design of the bullets used, the font size of my name and information, and what things were bolded rather than giving me decent advice.  So here about 9 months later with no calls back from any of the numerous companies and organizations I have applied with, I ran my resume by a friend, and also sent it to my co-worker’s wife who has taken classes in writing a resume and has experience in that sort of thing with an MBA program, and let’s just say my resume sucked.  Both of these individuals made the same exact comment of “I think your resume is why you haven’t been hearing back from anyone.”  I thought my resume was good.  But then again, I had no idea what a good resume was.  I now know it is not what I have been sending out.  Curses to her and her new age career seeking ways.  I knew I didn’t like her from the first time I met with her, but I figured she at least had a little bit of an idea about what a resume should look like.

It must be the global warming… Or Bush’s fault, right?

Today on my after-work run I came across roadkill of a wide variety. Something that resembled a raccoon, something that resembled a rat, a white cat with long pretty hair that was not lying dead in the road on my way up the hill, and a snake whose insides were now outsides lying dead in my path that was not there on my way down the street on my way out for my run. Being one who almost gets run over about every time I go out running by stupid ass Utah drivers, I can’t say it doesn’t surprise me that the roadkill is increasing on the roads of Pleasant Grove at an increased rate.

Or… do I have it all wrong and the reason they are lying dead in the road is global warming… or somehow related to president Bush?

WiTFi?!

This blog post is brought to the Internet by my iPhone. WordPress just happens to have a trusty little application in which posting to one’s blog becomes rather convenient. I decided to check out the application after returning home from a weekend in California to find my “FreeWiFi” connection no longer available in the neighborhood, that had conveniently been a crappy/slow connection available to me after my roommate moved out and cancelled the Internet. At this point I can’t justify setting up my own account with the local rip-off ISP since I’m only home pretty much just to sleep, and I have no desire to live here any longer than necessary. This has however presented a problem for me since my evenings were mainly spent looking for jobs online, which after successfully landing a job will hopefully get me out of Utah. Thank goodness UVU has finally started to offer free Internet on campus.

good thing it wasn’t my mom

So on the way to work yesterday, I decided to make use of my driving time and hands-free set with my iPhone and figured I’d give AT&T a call to find out why they are charging me for a month ahead.  Yeah…  as a part of the “New AT&T” I guess they started charging a month in advance, since we all know AT&T knows how many texts and minutes one is going to use right?  But anyway, this post isn’t about my hate and absolute disgust with AT&T.  So I talk to the AT&T representative and ask why, for my first bill I’m being charged the prorated charge for August, along with the charge for the full month of September.  She went on to explain that it’s the new billing method, though couldn’t give me any logical reason as to why this started, or when it was put into effect.  So anyway, after all was taken care of she asked if I had all of my questions answered and that sort of bit that they are obligated to ask at the end of each customer service phone call, in which I answered yes.  Both of us exchanged our goodbye’s and I touched the disconnect button disconnecting the call, not bothering to remove the ear piece from my ear even though the call was disconnected… so I thought.

So several minutes go by, and I’m driving down I15 on my way to work, and there are morons on the road as usual and as expected like any other morning.  One of them in particular pissed me off, so I expressed my disgust for him vocally in my car with what may have contained a slew of explitives.  Not 15 seconds later I hear the female AT&T representative  on the phone say “Is there anything else I can assist you with today *Mr Lancifer?”  Oooooh crap.  So I again hit disconnect, and removed my ear piece without a response.  Not quite sure how that happened… but anyway, it’s a good thing it wasn’t someone like my mother on the phone.

*I am refraining from using my name on this blog in an effort to reduce google search results which may bring up things I don’t desire certain individuals or organizations reading.