Whenever I have a job interview and they ask me if I have ever been fired from a job, I can’t help but laugh.  I can’t lie, but I can’t really say “yes” without giving the story.  The truth is, I’ve been fired from the same job twice.

During the summer of 2001, I had a job doing tech support for iOmega products at a big call center called CallTech.  It was a great job, it had great pay, and I learned a lot about technology and customer service.  I was taking summer classes to finish up my associate’s degree before I started at Pitt for my bachelor’s degree.  I enjoyed my job so much that I wanted to keep working their over the weekends when I moved to Pitt.  Towards the end of July, I put in a request to change my work hours, and it was approved.  I also either used some time off in August to finish up my degree, get all my stuff packed up and and moved to Pitt, and get a little acquainted with life on campus.  I think I had planned to start working on the weekends again sometime in early September.

Fast forward a few weeks, I’m at Pitt, and my mom calls to tell me that there were some voicemails for me at home from Calltech.  As luck would have it, just as I getting started at Pitt, CallTech put an abrupt end to their weekend support hours.  They sent an internal email employees that they would be scheduled for weekday hours and that employees were to make necessary changes to meet those new hours.  I had no clue.  The first voicemail on the machine was a supervisor [note: I had no 1 direct supervisor] asking if I was alright since I didn’t show up for work that day.  The second voicemail was the same thing, only with a warning that a third occurrence would result in a termination.  The third voicemail was that supervisor calling me that third day saying I had been terminated.

I mean, I can’t blame my mom for not being my secretary, certainly when the root of the problem exists with the company and the internal communications.  I ended up going in on a day I didn’t have class and asked what the heck happened.  Only then did I find out they stopped weekend hours.  After they admitted it was their fault, but that I couldn’t work for them during their hours, I did tell them I wanted to come back the following summer, so they simply changed my employee status to “on hold” or something.

Fast forward a few months, I’m back home for the summer and want to go back to CallTech.  I go in, talk to an old boss, and he is happy to get me back, but they’re just rearranging schedules so he’s not sure when I’ll work.  I forget whether I said I had a weird availability, or if it was just him wanting to get me started, but the verbal agreement we had was that I’d just come in when I wanted.  I’m sure there was something more official, like Tuesday and Thursday from 10 until 6 or something, but, there was definitely a level of uncertainty as well.  It was basically, come in when you can.  so anyway, I did.  Sometimes I put in 4 hours.  Sometimes I put in 8, and sometimes, I didn’t come in at all.  I mean, I needed money, so it wasn’t like I was just blowing it off, but no one was really giving me any direction other than we’re glad to have you.  This went on for a month or more.  FINALLY, the boss said, “hey, we’re going to go ahead and put you on this team, and your hours will be blah blah blah.”  I was happy to have a schedule.  So, I show up for my first officially scheduled shift, and I think I’m there for like an hour or more, when a supervisor pulls me aside.  He asks why I’m there.  I figured he just didn’t know that I had been given a new set schedule.  He told me I was fired.  …dead air…what?  Why?  Apparently, when they “put me into the group” that had a scheduled shift, it made it a retro-active shift.  All those “custom” work hours that didn’t fall into my new schedule flagged me as a no call no show.  I was sent home.

By this time, I had a 2 week vacation planned, then a week before having to go back to Pitt.  I couldn’t live with being fired again though, so I had to go back to CallTech, explain the situation to them, have them admit their faulty ways, and change my employee status from terminated to quit.  It really makes me wonder if any of the places I’ve applied for a job have ever called CallTech and asked them if I was employed there and if they had any issues with me.  I guess Calltech never really had to change anything in “my file” if they just wanted to get rid of me anyway.  I should call them and see what they have on file for me someday…

http://blog.kidrobot.com/pencil-tip-micro-sculptures-by-dalton-ghetti/

This is nuts.  This guy can carve the tips of pencils into just about anything.  I can’t imagine how many times he’s had to start over after breaking off a tip.

Here’s an example of one of my peers in my masters degree program.  We have our first group assignment, and groups were chosen by the professor.  Granted, there was some confusion on how to use the online system and communicate to multiple people, but this is the email she sends out…

hello all I have made this list for us as I have so many email address’s coming I’m not sure no more who they belong too.

please only use my Comcast  email as I am getting double emails and this is already to confusing .
also please tell me in one email what you need me to do as I have so many emails right now I don’t know which one to use to do the assignment. or what I need to do within the assignment project

That was a big WTF for me.  Even bigger though, was the (seemingly random) image that was attached to it:

WTF indeed.

Well, some of you already knew, but now that it didn’t pan out, we’re allowed to talk about it.  Back in April, Chemistry.com (where Kallie and I met) contacted us and wanted us to be interviewed by a “national magazine” about our story.  Turns out it was People Magazine.  So they called Kallie, asked her a bunch of questions and asked for “our story” and I guess they interviewed a bunch of other people as well.  After a long waiting period, we were told we weren’t selected for the article, but it is cool just to be able to say we were interviewed by People Magazine.

I’ve also been selected by Pittsburgh City Living to be the Ambassador to the Hill District!  Not sure what that means exactly yet, but it’s a city program to showcase all the individual neighborhoods of the city.  Hopefully I’ll be able to contribute to the growth of the Hill!

This summer has been a whirlwind of activity.  We’ve been to California and back twice in July, a couple weddings around the state, heading to Canada/Yankanuck next week, went camping in Ohio and went to Cedar Point, back to Bedford for our 1 year anniversary, and just a bunch of other stuff that filled our calendars and put smiles on our faces.  I think next year we’re going to really protect our weekends and time together.  We had fun this year, but it was way too chaotic, and we even cut out a lot things as it was.

Back to real life, Kallie’s down to part-time work and full time student to get her NP license.  Since she’s doing that, I am also heading back to RMU for my masters in organizational studies.  We’re looking at 2-3 years for us to finish those up.  Work is reimbursing me as long as I get above a C, and I need above a 3.00 GPA to graduate, so I should have some motivation there.

I’m training for the urbanathlon again in October.  Probably doing a 5k in Charleroi and the Great Race 10k before then in preparation.  I’m going to try to fund-raise for the L.i.v.i.n.g. Ministry again this year too.  A lot going on with the ministry, and they could surely use the support!

I think after the race, I’m going to focus on music, playing out, writing songs, etc to carry me through the winter.  Hopefully I’ll be able to follow through on that one…I’ll keep you posted

Here’s an update on some Hill District projects:

YMCA: This is going in 2 blocks from my house on Centre Avenue. It is currently slated for an early 2012 completion. Should be awesome to have an indoor basketball court and pool so close! Also, it’ll be one of the city’s largest green certified buildings. Post-Gazette

Grocery Store: Shop ‘n Save has committed to putting in a full service store (FINALLY!). It is scheduled to be completed in November of 2011. This is going to be 3 blocks from my house. Post-Gazette

Consol Energy Center: The new home of the Pens will be opening with Paul McCartney on August 15th. On my walk to work, it’s looking just about done from the outside. still some paint, shrubs, and lights to finish though. It’s on its way to being the highest LEED certified sports center in the nation. http://www.consolenergycenter.com/

Connelley School: At the upper corner of the Mellon Arena’s top parking lot, there’s this old school that has been closed due to asbestos. Now, there’s money to convert it into a place for green start ups and research facility for Pittsburgh Green Innovators. Seems like a pretty cool thing.Post-Gazette

Pharmacy: Duquesne has announced they’d open a pharmacy in the Hill. I’m not sure exactly which store front it’s going in, perhaps the old Carnegie Library Space? That might be too large though. It is slated for later this year. >Post-Gazette

Cambria suites Hotel: The hotel in between the Washington Plaza apartments and Consol Energy Center is close to being structurally done. It has all the blocks in place, now just time to brick it up and put some windows in and finish the interior. Looks like it will open in December 2010. More & pictures

Kaufmann Auditorium: Right next to the Hill House, they’re making a bunch of modernizations and upgrades to this auditorium. Plans also include an outdoor amphitheater. link

Dinwiddie Street: Not sure what all is included here, but they are tearing down a bunch of abandoned houses and blight. I think they plan to build new houses, but maybe it will be apartments. I’m watching the HDCG for updates.

When I bought my house in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, my roommate, Jordan, and I noticed that there were always people huddled around this building at the corner of Wylie Ave and Erin Street.  We were unsettled, but also a little curious as to what was really going on there.  Jordan asked my neighbor, Sonny, what the deal was.  Sonny simply answered, "That’s a jitney station."  That didn’t help us much, and I think he could tell by the look on our faces. 

He went on to explain, if you don’t have a car, you walk to the jitney station and someone there will give you a ride.  It’s like an open market taxi service.  People use their own cars to delivery people where they want to go.  So some of the people that congregate there are people that want a ride, and some are people waiting to give people rides somewhere, and the rest are probably people that just like to be around other people.  If you have spent any time in the Hill, you know how much truth there is to the latter.

That’s part of the culture of the Hill District; The people.  Even the jitney by essence exemplifies the focus of people interacting with people on their own accord.  It’s funny how…let me phrase this properly…whites…caucasions…suburbanites?….sheltered people…people who are scared of the Hill are scared of the unknown…but that they’d probably end up being more afraid of how congenial and engaging people are.  It’s crazy to witness how far out of the way someone will go just to make sure the person they went to high school with 20 years ago hears them say "Hi!" to them.  Everyone knows everyone in the Hill.

August Wilson wrote about the culture of the Hill District in his plays.  That’s probably where the term "jitney" has gained most of it’s popularity.  August’s childhood home is a couple blocks from me, in a state of much disrepair. (here’s a pano from Steve Mellon – http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08105/872496-429.stm )

It’s sad to see how much importance social interaction is in the Hill District and how much culture is valued, but how little is actually being done to preserve it.  It’s almost a paradox way of life.  How can you value both the present day person as they grow into the future, when they identify so strongly with staying connected to the past.  Certainly a deeper question than what I wanted to cover in this post, but it’s there.

More on August Wilson and his plays – http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10127/1056192-325.stm?cmpid=newspanel0

It’s been a while since I posted a personal update.  Things in married life go well.  New job goes well.  Thinking about going back to school in the fall.  That might be the level of detail you get in the updates going forward…not really sure.  I don’t really want to write about my life with Kallie without her involvement.  What you might see this category turn into would be a opening of the way I think or the way I act, or who I am despite my surroundings.  We’ll see how that works.

One thing that bothers me sometimes is that Kallie will get bunches of people reply to facebook status updates for her.  Sometimes, it’s people that she’s connected through me, but I don’t even talk to on facebook.  It’s not that I want the attention, it’s that I don’t understand why people are compelled to post to her messages in such volumes and so quickly too.  It lead me to believe it’s her.  Some how, people are connecting with her through her update.  She’s reaching them in a way that I’m not.

So we give science a try.  I put the blinking cursor in my status update field and told Kallie to post something as me.  Post something that she would say, if she were me in that moment.  She wasn’t allowed to reveal it was her.  We’d test if it was the content of the status updates or Kallie’s "aura" that people were drawn to.  Within seconds, we had a reply to "mmm, my house smells like freshly baked bread.  I love my wife."  Then another.  Then another from a person I barely know.  I think we found our answer.

It’s me.  I don’t know how to connect with people, or I don’t give them a clear path to understanding me to be more precise.  I wrap things in metaphor, vague allusions, or esoteric references.  Recently, my mom replied to one of my facebook status updates saying she didn’t understand my messages, and she wanted to know if it was her or even her age.  I’m fairly certain it’s actually me.  With this post though, perhaps I can shed some light on to how my mind works and even give some examples to help you better understand what I mean when I say or do something.

We’ll take it back to the days when I first started to post away messages on AIM.  I constantly got asked what they meant.  Well, I’ll tell you now and perhaps it will help you to predict my behavior.

Most of my messages were drawn from lyrics –

"I dream that she aims to be the bloom upon my misery." – This comes from a Soul Coughing song called "I Miss the Girl".  That’s basically what I was saying.

"I feel as if i’m looking at the world from the bottom of a well." – This comes from a Mike Doughty song.  It just meant that I was sad, or I felt trapped, away from the world.

"Getting lost in the fall, glimmer, sparkle, and fade." – This came from Everclear’s album, Sparkle and Fade.   I thought it was a pretty sentiment to describe moods where I felt like a life of a star; people were lucky to catch a glimpse of a falling star, marveled at it’s glimmer and sparkle, and then it fades away.  I used it to express that I had just done something I enjoyed but probably won’t do again.

  "True dreams of Wichita." – More Soul Coughing.  Meant I wanted to travel or that I had a weird dream.

"I’ll be your best kept secret and your biggest mistake." – lines that follow "can I lay in your bed all day?" by Fallout Boy.  Usually meant I liked a new girl.

"Need more friends with wings, all the angels I know put concrete in my veins." – Billy Talent lyrics.  Means I missed people or felt crappy without friends.

"Looking at the man in the mirror and telling him to change his ways." – Michael Jackson, but taken quite literally when used.

"the world through a windshield is callous and cheap.  i toss and i turn but i can’t get to sleep.  counting the hours the days that turn into weeks" – The New Amsterdams lyrics.  Usually meant that I felt like I was just waiting for life to happen.

"Some times, it causes me to tremble."  – My favorite hymn, "Were You There?".  Usually an Easter away message.

"I’m shoulder high in crap and my water wings are flat." – President of the United States of America lyrics.  Usually meant I was stressed about something.

"I remind myself of some body else’s song." – Lifehouse lyrics.  Tongue and cheek mostly.

"Awake and dreaming." – Finger Eleven lyrics.  I was being reflective.

"This is the part where we start to feel better." – Gratitude lyrics.  something was making me sad.

A lot of my messages were my own creation –

"I’m allergic to the sun.  It makes my skin change color."  – This message was usually used when I didn’t want to go outside.

"I’m a pretty shallow guy deep down."  - It’s true.

"Warning:  This aoler may be potentially unstable.  Proceed to message with caution." – I was probably livid about something.  "Livid" was also used as an away message.

"projectiling a bee of fris across a botanical plane in attempts to approach and ultimately arrive at the X axis’ limits, while not offending the Y axis’ limits, at which point those efforts are reciprocated by an opposing force." –   I was playing ultimate frisbee.

"Let’s go get stoned.  Just like how they did in the Bible." – Just thought it was funny.

Some were direct quotes from movies or literature–

"The moments we shared are lost in time, like tears in a rain storm."  -This comes from the movie "Blade Runner".  I found it profound and quite beautiful.  It’s deep, thinking that there’s no use to cry when it’s raining.

"Closing my eyes and opening my mind in the clarity of passion."  – I’m not certain which source this came from, but it may have been from the movie "Atonement".  I usually used this one when I was falling asleep content to ponder life’s questions.

"Cheyne Stoking." – This comes from an excellent movie called "Dead Man Shoes".  At one point in the movie, the main character paints those words on an apartment wall of some "bad guys" while they’re not there.  It’s a medical term to describe periods of irregular breathing; most commonly the last grasps for breath.  I liked the phrase, so i put it up.  Possibly meant that I thought I was going to die sometime/eventually/inevitably.

"In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo." – This is from T.S. Elliot’s poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.  I just used it to say I was talking to my smart wiminz.  Another away message I used, partly inspired from Keren’s song and the poem, was "Measuring out my life with a coffee spoon."

When I’m with you, %n, we stay up all night, and when you’re gone, I can’t get to sleep.  Thank God for these insomnias, and the differences between them."  – Remember, %n was replaced with the viewer’s screen name.  That was fun.  Anyway, I saw a performance at Heinz Hall of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and in between pieces, they would have readings and this was one of them.  I have no idea of the origin, and can’t seem to find anything through google.  It means I was in love or at least infatuated.

"James 4:8 " – The verse is "Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."  This was my personal motto.  Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.  Life is that simple.  When I was searching for why I felt so disconnected from Christ, I simply have to [go to church, volunteer, call a friend to talk, pray] etc.  I needed this scripture during that time of my life.

"Super perfundo on the early eve of your day." – This comes from my favorite movie, Waking Life.  It’s a phrase that one of the characters has said to him in one of his dreams, but even he doesn’t know what it means.  It’s basically used as just a greeting/farewell.

"Perhaps I am a man of exceptional moods.  I do not know how far my experience is common.  At times I suffer from the strangest sense of detachment from myself and the world about me; I seem to watch it all from the outside, from somewhere inconceivably remote, out of time, out of space, out of the stress and tragedy of it all.  – H. G. Wells" – Pretty much the only good line from War of the Worlds.  I resonated with this deeply.

The rest were either weird, boring, or a mix of the above categories –

"He’s a maniac, maniac, on the floor, and he’s cleaning like he’s never cleaned before." – This meant I was cleaning.  Taken from the Flash Dance theme song.

"This away message is fleeting human contact.  both of us lost, but for a moment we’re lost together.  I wonder who you are." – I believe this to be an internet meme, but I can’t nail the true source.  It may have been that simply substituted "away message" in for grafitti.  see XKCD.

"Falto Algo." – Spanish for "Something is missing".  My boss used to say this. 

"Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s house I go." – I was visiting my grandmother.

"Home again, home again, jiggity jig." – I went home.

Ofcourse, there are the ones that meant I was sleeping…

"Dead.  At least to the untrained eye."

"Sleep with all the lights on." – Dashboard Confessional lyrics.  Most appropriately used when sleeping during the day  ie: night shift.

"some where between the sacred silence and sleep." – System of a Down lyrics.  Usually meant it was really late and I was still up for some reason.

"Under the Tahitian moon." – Porno for Pyros lyrics. 

"Stress Level Elimination Exercise Plan" (SLEEP)" – own of my originals.  Paired with:

"Stress Induced Narcoleptic Seizures (S.I.N.S.)" – another original that I still use.

So, I hope this provides you with a little bit of a road map on being able to predict what I may be trying to convey in my own mysterious way.  Default to it being lyrics for something.  Then think that I just saw/read something that imbued me.  I’m not all that hard to figure out or predict.  I think.  Did this help?

It’s been a while since I’ve put up a post in the "memories" category.  I was thinking about times I’ve almost died.  There aren’t many, I think, but still something worth sharing.

When I was in high school, I dug up my Uncle Jay’s 250 watt 15" Pevey bass amp from my dad’s barn.  The funny thing about this amp was that it didn’t have a ground wire in it.  It just had a 2 prong plug.  I ended up cutting off the plug since it was damaged and put a new grounded plug on the end, which at least gave me a sense of security that it wasn’t going to come out of the wall.

Later on, my Uncle Kenny gave me my first 4 string base.  IT was a black "series 10" bass.  Nothing special about it, but it did the job.  I had gotten it in my head that I’d like a natural wood finish instead of the black matte, so I got some sand paper and started to go to town on the bass.  This was a lot of work.  When it got time to get around the pickups and bridge, I had to undue the strings.  I had the bass plugged into the amp, and the amp on, just so I could hear the awesome tones as I detuned.

So there’s me, in a damp basement, sitting in a metal chair, next to a 250 watt bass amp, that’s plugged into a surge protector on the floor next to me with a bunch of other devices, and 4 nickel wound, 1/8-1/4 inch diameter bass strings flopping around in my lap.  As luck would have it, something like the alarm clock was barely plugged in to the surge protector, and one of the strings found it way in the gap.  You want to know how I was sure something was wrong?  Because one of the base string starting glowing bright orange.  I jumped out of my seat, which was enough to move the bass string, but after some damage to the surge protector, which I still use today.  Here it is:

I think that counts as almost dying. 

This post is classified under "memories" for those facebook readers that don’t see categories.  I wanted to write down my memory of the day I found out my brother had passed.  Mom – be warned.

Caleb and I slept in what would be called "Uncle Jay’s" room together when we lived at my Grandma’s house.  He slept in the queen bed and I slept on the cot right next to it.  I remember that when I woke up, I used to wake Caleb up, talking to him, or checking to see if he was awake.  I got in trouble once or twice for it.  I don’t remember what day of the week it was, but I remember waking up, and going downstairs, thinking not to wake up Caleb.  As I sat and watched TV at the table and ate breakfast, my mom went upstairs to get Caleb.  Moments later, My mom was yelling, "Mom!"  I saw her carry Caleb down into the living room and put him down on the couch.  A large EMT lady showed up with ambulance a while later.  I’m 8.  I don’t remember any other siblings being home but me.  I remember my dad coming to the back door and telling me to get Pap-pap.  I think there was a little bit of tension with letting my dad into the house, but ultimately, he ended up to being able to come into the kitchen at least.  That’s where I remember holding a 2×3 photo of Caleb and crying in the arms of my dad, saying things like, "Caleb is gone", but I can also remember not really understanding what that meant.  I just felt like that is what I should be doing, as if I was just doing it because that’s what they do on TV or something.

It was Friday, January 26th, 1990.  Caleb was turning 10 on February 9th.  I assume we had the funeral shortly after.  I remember school at Bentleyville Wesleyan was canceled for the funeral.  I saw a lot of people at the funeral.  I remember Uncle Kenny playing a song he wrote and leaving a casette tape in Caleb’s casket.  I want to say I even put in one of his wood cars.  The weird memory is that I remember Jim Henson dying around the same time, and images of all the Sesame street characters showing up at his funeral, and thinking about those same characters showing up at Caleb’s.  Jim Henson didn’t die until May 16th, but I guess the memories were still fresh enough in my head to make that imprint, or it’s been so long that they just seem to overlap.  I remember Jesse and Uncle Tom coming up.  Honestly, I’ve had quite a few funerals, most at the same exact place, so a lot of the memories I have in my head right now, are bluring together, so I’ll stick to the ones I’m sure of…at least, as sure as my memory let’s me believe.

This is another one of those ideas that came to me in a dream.  There was a popular guy that ran this coffee shop hang out place, and I went to him all excited about an idea to help his business.  He had all this wall space that he liked to hang paintings and photos from local artists.  My idea to him was to have people be able to take digital pictures they’ve taken of the city, and print them out in his place.  The idea would be, if the photo was really good, he would offer them the opportunity to have their photo featured on a postcard and sold in the store.  So you’d have these racks on postcards all from local people basically on consignment.  It’d be a great starting place for art school students or even indie photographers to get started and make a few bucks.  It wouldn’t have to be limited to postcards, but I would think it would be the most marketable item (and the store was downtown by point state park).