September 2001 Archives

The days and weeks keep whisking by me. It was just the other day that I was thinking that I was sure I was going to have a job before the end of baseball season. Now, I am not too sure. At least I have been productive with my downtime. It really is true what people have been saying. It brings a sort of inner peace and a re-anchoring of your life. I must admit, I am ready to dive back in and make a difference at some company.


Next weekend is my first day at Disneyland. Though it is just a training day (dubbed "Disney U"), I am nervous and excited all at the same time. Roger mentioned that the whole experience is a test. I am studying hard, and I hope that I pass with flying colors.


Enterprise seems to have delighted the Star Trek fandom. People who were turned off by DS9 and Voyager are excited about Trek again. Hopefully it will hold up.

Tonight, Enterprise premiered on UPN. It is the 5th Star Trek series and marks a departure from the 24th Century of TNG, DS9, and Voyager. I thought the premiere episode was pretty good, but nothing that was a radical departure from the other premieres. Its true staying power will be in the weeks and months to come. I will be interested to see if I can get into the show as much as I have the past shows. I also am debating whether or not to keep taping them. I remember back with DS9 premiered, I did not tape the show. Then Scott gave me two seasons worth and I was hooked. I'll just take it one week at a time.


Oh yes, and our cable TV is back from a brief hiatus. My suspicions were confirmed when the installer told me that more and more channels will disappear off of regular cable and go onto Digital Cable next year. I guess I will eventually have to pony up the dough. Or I can just give up on TV altogether. Yeah, right.

According to the Evolution page, it is the 11th variation of the homepage (although that number is a bit off since I have rotated some pictures in and out without officially logging them - bad me.). One of the format changes is that I will only have the current entry for the Daily Update on the homepage. Fear not, the archives will still be there.


I often get inspirations for things to do to the site at the weirdest times. Today I was thinking about the Doingworld section while I was vacuuming (no snickering, yes I do vacuum on occasion). I think every section of the site has some changes or redesigns floating around inside my head. You would think with all the spare time I have, I would get around to more of them. Don't count on it. Dan is still waiting for some CD reviews (sorry Dan).


Well I hope you like the new home page.

The drive to and from Phoenix was better than expected. It probably had to do with that it was the first time I drove the Xterra there and also that there were more people on the trip. All in all it was a good weekend despite the rather lackluster club scene in Phoenix.


Today after checking my e-mail and reading a few sites, I discovered that the cable is out. It is bad enough that I had to spend the weekend admiring the parents' digital cable complete with the Game Show Network. Now I come home and my regular analog cable doesn't work at all. The good people at Adelphia assure me someone will be out by tomorrow. They better get here before Wednesday if they know what is good for them.

More and more, I am finding it hard to go to sleep at night at a reasonable hour (say before 12 midnight). It's not like before when all I could think about was trying out for WWTBAM. I am not sure what it is. It could be the weather, the current situation, the lack of a job for almost three months, the bed, the constant construction next door during the day, or the fact that they don't play the Charo Sprint PCS commercial enough. I just find myself lying in bed for an hour or so thinking about everything under the sun, before I get frustrated and turn on the computer to tire myself out. I have to admit that I am a bit concerned about the immediate future. I had been considering travel as an industry that I wanted to go into, but with all the airlines and hotels cutting staff and reducing hours it does not seem feasible anymore. I know there are jobs out there, but the competition is fierce. Even temp agencies are overwhelmed by resumes.


Pretty soon, apartment hunting will enter the mix, and I fear it may get worse. I am a pretty upbeat guy, but I have to admit I am starting to delve into areas of my subconscious mind that I have not visited since the long dark winter of 1994-5. I do know that no matter what, things are going to work out. I just hope they work out soon. Otherwise Susie and I are going to end up in Lyon's at 3am again.


In other news, tomorrow I am off out of town again. This time to visit the relatives in Phoenix. I am hoping the change of scenery will boost morale and re-energize me. Also as a bonus, I will have 6 hours of driving time in which to contemplate the universe. Back Monday, I'll let you know how it goes.

Highlights of this year's fair: Grandma's BBQ sauce dumping all over the table after the lid came off (karma payback for the time that she offered me some Orange Juice and I shook it not knowing that she rarely screws the lid on tight - right before we left to go to the family Christmas party) and the Sky Ride - a ride that neither my aunt or grandma particularly enjoyed until we were well into it. Sad to report, but I didn't partake in my usual corn dog, instead choosing an average tri-tip sandwich. It just doesn't compare to Mom's. Even further shocking - no soft serve. Oh well, I was certain that it was not as good as Foster Freeze anyway.


A good time was had by all, though it amazes me that they still sell Ginzu knives, Chamois, ring cleaner, and the Vegamatic that has a motor that can run a lawnmower. I think I still prefer the State Fair in Sacramento, but then again where else but in LA could you have a table setting competition alongside baked goods and quilts?

Life is slowly returning to normal, but what will normal become? It is an interesting time to live. It will be a time when, oh, 5 or 6 years down the road, I will be watching the Frontline episode about the events of the past week and say "I remember that".


My life seems to have lost a week. Tomorrow, I am off to the county fair again. The only difference is that I don't have to race back for a "Weakest Link" tryout. Full report and evaluation of corn dogs will appear tomorrow. Oh yes, word is that the first season of Twin Peaks is going to be released on DVD soon. Hopefully the full director's cut of FWWM (Fire Walk With Me - the Twin Peaks Movie) will be coming soon.

Another day of non-stop coverage. At least some channels are airing commercials. Something I keep thinking about (besides the events of 11 September, is what the heck is going on in the Big Brother 2 house? Are they just gonna stay there until the networks decide to resume normal broadcasts? Imagine being stuck there with just a hint of what has actually happened. I know it is trivial, but it has been on my mind.


Now for something else. I was reading the September 14-20 issue of Entertainment Today (an LA newspaper not to be confused with Entertainment Weekly) and I found a particularly humorous article in their "News of the Weird" section. I'll transcribe it here since they haven't updated their site with the latest articles.


"Two women undergoing C-section births at Evanston (Ill.) Hospital on July 31 received the necrotizing fasciitis ("flesh eating") bacteria when a surgeon passed gas in the operating room. The Chicago Tribune reported only that the bacteria were present in a surgeon's intestines and not in a throat culture, and probably entered the patients through the air, but Chicago's Channel 5 News' experts carried out the logic and named flatus as the culprit. (The two women, their babies, and the surgeon have been treated and are out of danger.)"


Something to ponder indeed.

Must stop watching TV. So far ABC and CNN have the best coverage. I'm so happy I have a TV with picture in picture capability.

I have some new heroes tonight. Besides all the firefighters and search and rescue personnel et. al. working on site in New York, I have a great admiration for Tom Burnett, Jeremy Glick, Mark Bingham, and the other men who voted on Flight 93 to fight back against the hijackers. I am confident if I was in that situation, I would have been right next to them. Who knows how many people they saved by their actions.


It was an eerie feeling walking around a half deserted Disneyland and California Adventure. There were signs at the entrances to both parks saying, "We are sorry for the inconvenience, but please have all your bags ready to be searched". I am not sure why I went today, but I think that both Roger and I wanted to be someplace where we felt safe and secure. Someplace that would give the semblance of normalcy in our lives.


As I think about being unemployed, I cannot help but think of the many thousands of people who not only lost friends or loved ones, but to top it off, have lost their jobs.

The last time I was awoken up to a major news story was in 1994 for the Northridge Earthquake. A strange feeling. Both of my scheduled activities - a visit to the LA County Fair and my tryout for the Weakest Link were cancelled. I actually got a nice phone call from NBC telling me to stay home.


As someone who is constantly fascinated by media coverage of disasters, it was interesting to see how the events unfolded. To emphasize the severity of the events at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in rural Pennsylvania, one only needs to look beyond the news networks. Channels such as VH1, MTV, TLC, and BET were broadcasting footage from their news counterparts. Home Shopping, QVC, Home and Garden, and Food Network among others only aired messages that said due to the tragedy there would be no programming.


The tragedy has really been brought home by a friend of mine, Chris Lanphere. Chris is an EMT technician in Boston who was on duty when the first plane crashed into the first tower. Soon thereafter, he was sent to New York. Moments ago, he called the house and I spoke to him. He described a scene that is much worse than you see on TV. Hundreds of bodies are outside his emergency room entrance. Everyone is covered in soot. When he was going to the hospital from JFK, he could see people fleeing the city. He says part of the city is without power. I tried to comfort him as much as I could, but what kind of solace can you give someone on the front lines. I just told him that we will be thinking of him and that I hoped that it would be able to give him strength.

Have you taken a look at ESPN.com lately? Seems Disney signed a cross promotion deal with MSN. As a result, the top banner and right banner are now promo areas for MSN. On my laptop, you can't even see the right banner and all that the top one does is push content way down on the page. Oh yes, and of course the MSN stuff is visible while the rest of the page struggles to load.


In my frustration, I went over to FoxSports.com to check their site out. While I give them kudos for having a visually appealing site, it just isn't very usable. One must click to see the headlines (something that any good news site has displayed on their homepage). If you click on a story and go back to the homepage, the headlines are gone again. At least they have a link back to the old Fox Sports site which is actually better.


I also checked out CNN/Sports Illustrated's site. It was very usable with easy access to stories and benefits from its ties to one of my favorite news sites, CNN. However, it was plagued by pop-up banners for the magazine and also a massive advertisement header that bumps everything else down on the page. Another interesting note is that most of the stories on all three sites are by AP, and therefore the content is nearly identical on the sites. So in the end I guess I will still end up on ESPN, but mostly because none of the other sites were that much better.


In entertainment news, I enjoyed the movie Rat Race this weekend. It's an over-the-top comedy by David Zucker. Performances were great across the board (though I was a bit surprised his mom didn't make a cameo as she does in most of his films) and the story was good with the exception of the ending. I think it is tough to end movies that are so huge and over the top throughout. No matter what you come up with, it always seems to be short of expectations.

In celebration of my father's birthday, we all went out to All-time family favorite, North Woods. This is a restaurant chain in So Cal that people in my family have been going to since the 1960's. They serve steaks and seafood, but what everyone really comes for is the cheese butter. It is mighty tasty and makes a pretty good laxative as well. Add some of the red cabbage, and your colon is clean for weeks. To top it all off is the complimentary bowl of orange sherbet that gets passed around the table.


My dad is now the second owner of a Club Josh shirt. Why not pop over to the Club Josh store and order one for you and the kids?

Tonight I became hooked on two new shows. They are similar reality shows but with variations on a theme. The first is NBC's Lost. This one is where they dumped people in the middle of Mongolia and told them they need to a) figure out where they are, and b) get themselves to New York as fast as you can. Of all of the reality shows, this one appeals to me the most because I'd be able to use my geo-skills. Maybe I'll apply for the next one. Roger? Susie? Are you game?


The other show was The Amazing Race on CBS. This one pits 11 couples against each other on a race around the globe. This also relies on geo-skills. This show relies on couples competing against each other as opposed to Lost which pairs strangers.


Things are heating up on the job front. I landed a gig at Disneyland starting in October in Attractions. I am not sure where I will be working, but I'll let you know. I hope that some of the other job chances I have in the pipeline come through as well so I can actually afford to eat.


In other news, Tuesday is my audition for NBC's Weakest Link. I didn't embarrass myself in the phone interview, so hopefully things will go well at the audition. I don't really care if I win, but I think it will be cool to be on the show. After being in the pseudo-hot seat at DCA, I think I know what to expect, but I am certain I will be nervous as all get out.

Finally!


No, I didn't get a job, but I managed to make it into the Hot Seat of DCA's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. I was so stoked. I blew the 32,000 point question, but still ended up with a nice hat and some pins. This is probably the last chance I get to play it, especially if I get a job at DCA on Wednesday. It was also nice to be walking around the park and have someone come up to me and say "Hey it's Josh!"


The Non-Labor Day festivities were a blast. here was a core group of 5 of us who were here for the whole weekend and another 5 or so people who wandered in and out of the apartment. Games included Loaded Questions, Cranium, Atmosfear and various card games. The earliest we went to bed was 2am on Saturday night, the latest was 4:30 am on both Friday and Sunday nights. The best part of the weekend was that there we all got to know each other a lot more. Some people were relatively new to the group, but even the old timers got to know each other a bit more.