yesterday evening after talking to an old friend i decided to look at my old live journal. it was my first attempt at "blogging", i have come to the realization that i am a shell of my former self. the blogs contained a great deal of what i thought was love, happiness, and unhappiness. looking back on it now, i realize why i stopped writing it. i wanted to change. wanted my life to be more private than what it was before. it was a great blog to read from 4-5 years ago. my last blog was in 2005 or 2006. i may still not be happy in the life i live now, but i believe i am on my way.

today brought a bittersweet moment. i found out that my last day for seasonal work is dec 26. what this means is that i have a possiblity of a permanent position, however it is not a 100%. it will suck to have to leave that place. in just a few short months i have met alot of cool people that i would have never otherwise met. i met a different sector of customers from all over, instead of dealing with the same asshole customers from ccity everyday. sure there were assholes, but i could kind of be a smart ass at cabelas and get away with it.

im anxiously awaiting the return of my ps3. it is very weird without school. i should read or workout or something but i just don't have any motivation to do such a thing. it sucks to look at old pictures when i was in shape. and although most of me wishes i was looking like that still, i am too lazy to start that back up again.

i am anxiously awaiting my grades for the semester. i am about a year to year and a half done at this point. i want to get out of college, but on the other hand have no idea what i want to be when i grow up. there's many things that interest me but it would be hard to get into. one would be to trade stocks. i don't know why but i feel like it would be an interesting thing to do. i love selling stuff on ebay so why would this be any different? i want to brew beer. and brew good beer. but again don't know the proper avenues to do it.

im looking forward to the new year. a big change will happen, i can feel it. i just have no idea what that change will be.

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another year passes by

as another year passes by, it still doesn't get easier.
many people say time heals all wounds and although certain phases of my life have passed, there's not a day that goes by that i don't wonder what my life would have been like. it has been a few years since the angry phase finally left me. maybe it was moving out my house, or a change of sceanery. whatever it is it has helped me come to grips with anger that i've always felt. i still have the times when i gt angry but no longer do i blame them on things that have happened beyond my control. i still don't go see him because it's hard and i still have a hard time thinking about that day. and my aunts scream's and the ambulence lights are still clear as day. i think it is so hard for me to go home because i always see that, and it's just memories that always come back up. i don't typically talk about what happened with my family and very few friends know the full details of it. i did not think it was a coincidence that i found the death certificate on Wednesday when i was home. i do not think that it was a coincidence today when i didn't see a car coming but stopped anyways. i never see things as simple coincidence's just a voice telling me not to turn right or to stop. i always think back to two times where it seemed most evident that he was there. the first was an incident where i was crying and i felt a hand on my shoulder while sitting at my computer desk. a second was when i used 2 go on my late night drives to detroit. i would usually take jefferson all the way there, then take woodward down a ways. there was a man on the passenger side of me while at a red light walking down the street, he looked at me and nodded. i feel like that was a sign to keep going on that i would always be safe. i have been known to say i do not believe in god, or necessarily one god. but i do believe that there are people that watch out for u. i have never once felt that he wasn't there and that he wasn't proud of me despite what i may have done or how i have treated others. he has never judged me, and i have never felt like he was angry at me. i love my father, and although i never say it or how the word's father or dad seem foreign or out of my language, it is still odd to say it. once in a while i will say my dad's name, and it is always interesting to find out new stories from my godfather or from my brother. it reminds me of episodes of six feet under, where nate finds out his dad had a somewhat secret life. i feel like i relate to that because i was so young when he left, and now finding out stories or looking at photos makes me feel like i know him. my only regret is not knowing him enough and since i was only 6 it is hard to know someone like that when you have no idea something was wrong. i only wish i could be half the father my dad was, how despite having heart problems or thinking of me as a little shit while in hessel, he stayed with me, i wish he could know how that is my favorite memory of him. every year twice a year, i put up the photo taken with him. as i write this the photo is to my right never out of reach. i stayed in the cabin in the background of the photo this summer and everytime i walked back past where the photo was taken i remembered and smiled about what he did for me that day. i see my father in my brother alot, having patience even when his step son is being a little shit. i am so thankful that he did not suffer the way some people do, he may have suffered from the inside but you never would have known it by the way he presented himself. i love my father and no matter if i show it or not, i miss him dearly.

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'Obama

so i have been watching this election stuff since probably 6. i also have been updating facebook ever since. anyways i have come to these conclusions on people's disdain for him they are as follows:

people think he will make the country more socialist by bringing in universal healthcare. their response: i am moving to canada. are they serious? canada has universal healthcare and is way more liberal and socialist than we will ever be.

people think he will raise taxes. let's face it raising taxes sucks...but consider this: we are on the lower end of taxes being taken out, some countries have tax rates as high as 40%

people don't want a "terrorist" being our leader. could u be any more ignorant? enough said.

people think their guns will be taken away. no they won't, it will be tougher for people to get guns like ooozies or machine guns. i'm sorry but when was a machine gun needed to hunt or for safety?


anyways i am extremely happy for this win and feel like saying neener neener neener to all the republicans out there.

funerals....

many people hate funerals whether it be because they don't want to see loved ones dead or the smell or things like that. no matter what kind of funeral it is whether it be a personal funeral of someone i knew or a television funeral i still start to almost weep. for example just now, a character of a television show i have watched extremely close for the past 5 years CSI a lead character Warrick Brown dies. i hated Warrick throughout the past 8 seasons. however when his funeral came about on tonights season premiere i almost started crying. not because he was dead but because Grissom started to almost cry. i have a weakness for this shit i really do. i avoid funerals at all costs, unless it is someone i truly know. i often don't even go to family funerals if i havent really interacted with those people in the past. to be completely honest i don't ever even go up to the casket. i sit comfortably in the last row and observe the people crying their hearts out. i hate funerals. and i want my funeral someday to be something of enjoyment. maybe a keg or two. i know that it probably won't happen but a boy can dream.


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something of change.

my name is bob. and i am a recovering racist.

it couldn't be more bluntly put then that. i have come to the realization today that my racial marks and constant prejudgements need to stop. i try not to blame my past surroundings with this but i can't help it. for one common example i look to my former place of business. about 60-75% of all people that came in there were of foreign descent. i came to this predisposed notion that all arabs, or asians were the same. to be completely honest i was for the most part right. but what i always fail to realize is that this is just a small portion of the full foreign population. most asians that came in there were wanting better deals and not wanting to listen to things said. most arabic people came in smelling badly and not really buying much. i feel that my constanst disdain for them was because of my environment. now working at cabela's i feel sympathetic to people who cannot speak my language. an example will follow now, today i dealt with a customer who was spanish speaking only he did not no one word of english. he wanted to try on a shoe in a size 8.5 i did my best to help him out by pointing to the product but that did not help. so what i did next was attempt to speak the spanish language. i am a horrible spanish speaker and only remember dirty phrases which i will not texplain now. however i did my best to explain to him. and i helped him out. i got him the shoe he wanted.

after he left i began thinking of this blog post and what i wanted to say. i now have become sympathetic for foreigners whether it was people new to the country or who have been here for years. it's hard to explain the epiphany that i had at this moment. i feel now more than ever american's need to be bilingual. i know the common argument which i used to flat out say. they are in our country have them learn our language. now i am flipping it, i am saying we need to help ourselves learn these languages whether it is spanish being taught in our schools or simple arabic phrases i think it should happen. as time goes by the need for a second language will become imminent. most people that i know who came from other countries (manly bosnian) are bilingual or even trilingual. why can't we adjust to them? i used to say they need to adjust to us but i cannot say that any longer because well i need to adjust. for far to long this melting pot has shown that it is not working everyone has their cliques just like high school was except it's races that are not together.

i used to think i was a liberal when i was younger, by younger i mean only a few years ago. but i truly was not. i didn't think that all races should be together infact i was kind of for them being more separate then together but now i see myself wanting this melting pot to be as one.

secondly, affirmative action. now this may be contradictory to my last statement but i do not think race or quotas should deal with any form of application whether it be school or for jobs. i did research on this last year and found that there were added points on an application if from foreign descent. i understand we need to make an education possible for all, however i don't think it is correct to put one's race on an application and because of this have it be one of the deciding factors of getting into a college or getting a job or not. i am also not for having to put one's gender down either it does the same in colleges, however i do know that with jobs there has to be some sort of quota with women and non-american dissents because many are racist or sexist which truly needs to stop happening.

third, as the election gets nearer and nearer i feel that obama needs to be president. he is just what we need to help with the melting pot. how could you not help, he is of many different dissents and can teach us a thing or two about tolerance.


!2:10

death cab and a political rant.

one band i can never get enough of is death cab for cutie ben gibbard's voice is simply amazing. i love that for their cd narrow stairs they made a documentary playing right now with the background music all songs from their new album. this man is brilliant. if u have never listened to his stuff i would say listen to a few songs. i will offer some recommendations right now.

we looked like giants - amazing song but long and off their cd transatlanticism easily their best cd to date.

your new twin sized bed - off of their newest cd narrow stairs. this song has recently become my new favorite one.

cath - also off their new cd the video captures the song very well.

the new year - off of transatlanticism it is the first song on the album and sets the tone for the rest of the cd.

those are my top four songs. there are some great new cds coming out in the next few weeks those include the new senses fail and jack's mannequin. jack's mannequin is composed of the former lead singer of something corporate. something corporate was easily my favorite band in high school with such songs as drunk girl, konstantine, and ben franklin's kite. they unfortunatly broke up and jack's first album was a somewhat disappointment. no onto senses fail i have heard about 5 songs from this cd and although their last cd was horrible this cd seems very promising and sounds great.

now i must give amazing ups to city and colour. they to me wow me away with everytime i listen to them. i can't stop listening to them and wanna see them so bad in concert.




so the election is getting super close. who do i think should get it? obama. i feel that obama although not necessarily ready to take office, is better equipped then mccain. why do i think this? because mccain lost me when he took palin as his vp canididate. she is not experienced either but obama is well equipped then she is. ever since she has been sighted as his running mate nothing good has come out of it. she looks like an idiot everytime she opens her mouth and it seems like mccain has been in the backseat as well. mccain should not hault his campaign to help with the bailout. he needs to campaign and get his message out there. i feel like obama needs to win because we need something different we need a dem in office and i was a mccain supporter in the beginning but now i feel like obama is best for us.


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Sept. 11 almost a week late.

i should have wrote my thoughts and posted them sooner on this blog about 9/11 however for my plsc 222 class i was told to write a paper on my thoughts of the consequences and causes of this disaster. the following is the paper i just finished writing. i would like to know the thoughts of this and your own thoughts on this subject

When September 11, 2001 is brought up to most people they can recall the whereabouts of themselves pretty easily. That day will go down in history as being one of the most memorable days in my generation. Although I think highly of America and the rights we have, I feel that this tragedy was dealt with the wrong way. In the following paragraphs I will explain the reasons why America was attacked and the consequences it has brought us since the attacks.
The attacks happened for a few reasons that I will explain in this portion. First they happened due to a breakdown off communication. To me before the attacks the United States were too cocky to take threats seriously. There were plenty of threats and intelligence known of that there was going to be an attack on America. The plot started in the many years leading up to the attacks, with the training of Al Qaeda in the Middle East. Days before the attacks the president was briefed with the possibility of an attack coming in the form of Airplanes. He simply set this aside and went about his day. The second reason was the lack of security in the airports. In earlier years a man put a bomb underneath his seat to detonate it at a later time. He was successful and the man who put the bomb on the plane later trained some of the hijackers. If the security people would have done their jobs it would have been avoided because only a few hijackers had legitimate visas. Third, is the hatred for the U.S. it is hard to avoid this with how the media portrays the U.S. being the powerhouse. If it is thought through correctly, America really is not that big of a powerhouse. We just act like we could hurt you even though at first maybe we will win and everyone will be behind the war but eventually that dies out when neighbors and friends are killed for a “War of Terror” those three things were the main causes of the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedies. This attack could have been avoided if instead of shooting orders off to kill this and to not only look at personal gain. The war that followed may have started off as a meaningful war with many people behind it and feeling patriotic but quickly it shifted from Osama to Saddam. Granted the only meaningful thing that has come out of this war has been the capture of Saddam. That I will give Bush credit for but for anything else he has been horrible.
Next I want to explain my thoughts on the consequences since the attacks. The most obvious reason is the horrendous loss of life. Not only from the trade center itself but from the war that soon followed. Also, in my opinion our rights have been infringed upon. Now I do not notice it that much because I am a harmless person, but phone tapping and the FBI looking through everything because of a sense of terror now that to me is not right. The Patriot Act allows the government so much more control and our freedoms have not come back since. The fake patriotism is also a consequence because yes the world needed to be united after the attacks, but what always has bothered me was the fact that it took so many people dieing to bring a country together. I don’t feel that death should unite a country and create hysteria that follows it. Of course the pointless war that followed. Earlier I said that the war started out as a war that was justifiable. I feel like the reason why it was started so quickly was because the president felt why not do it when approval is extremely high. Since then thousands have died and it has switched from the war of terror to the war of oil. They found Saddam which was nice, but still have not found the man who ordered the attacks on 9/11. Sure they have killed out so called “leaders” of Al Qaeda or held them hostage in Guantanamo but this war could go on forever. A war on terror can’t and won’t ever be ended because you can’t stop the thoughts of terror. I say cut our losses and move on, because we really aren’t getting any closer to killing off terrorism. The best offense for this type of thing is to stay alert and not repeat mistakes like not listening to intelligence. Another consequence that I feel everyday is that of higher gas prices. When this happened, I was not yet old enough to drive but when I started gas prices were about $1.30. Now it is typically $4.00 a gallon. I feel as if this war has brought on this because the rest of the world is not happy with our war anymore. To me this war was like a new toy, it is a lot of fun for a little but it gets old quick, and when it gets old just get rid of it and move on. To me the U.S. is so stubborn that they have to prove something. The UK has started to pull out troops why can’t we follow their lead and stop the war. The economy has since gone sour as well. Just recently housing firms are going under and although this may not be a direct consequence it still is a high one.
Another consequence has to be that of a hysteria or stereotype towards the race of the hijackers. Long before the days after 9/11 Arabic people just blended in with the rest of the people. Now instinctively anytime one is at an airport and sees an Arabic person certain thoughts cross their mind. It is to me the equivalent to the Communist scare from the 1950’s. it is almost like a witch hunt of sorts. This could all have been avoided if we would have not been so dumb about it.
September 11, 2001 will always be a day that I remember thoroughly. The days and years after this event have made me want to become a political scientist to study the ramifications of this day and the days before it. One word comes to mind when I think of this day: avoidance. This day could have been avoided and it was not. People could have been smarter about it and they weren’t. Now, thousands are dead people are without fathers, sisters, brothers, mothers, friends and for what reason, other than people hating America. I love America yet I find myself seeing the views of the outsiders and thinking although horrible and completely unjustified I could see why they hate America so much. Terrorism will never stop, no matter how many people are killed or “leaders” are detained it won’t end. Why not stop trying to prove that the U.S. is this big powerhouse and just admitting we were wrong, admit that and the world would definitely be a better place to live in.


although this may be hard for one to watch, this image is still in my head to this day here is the footage from the attacks according to youtube:



!2:10

indiana jones....

who watches every indiana jones movie on a rainy saturday? bob and anna do. so we set out at about 10am eastern to watch the first indie movie. we watched and said eh why not continute so we watched the second followed by the third. then came what to do about the fourth. we decided to go to the dollar* movies. now i put that asterisk because it is only a dollar if you go before 5. what a sham! anyways we watched the fourth one which i thought completely blew. it was horrible the plot was too futuristic for a 1950's movie. the alien portion of it was just pointless and so many different things could have been done instead of putting an alien in it. plus the clip of niagra falls in a jungle area was kind of stupid and the three falls drop as well.


that is all and relatively pointless i know.

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school + work

so as many have noticed i got the job at cabela's i do not make much but i seem to have alot of hours and a pleasant work environment. this could all change as most jobs start out nicely but begin to be boring and dull after a while. however, one main difference from the beginnings of this job than from circuit city is that most people say you will like this job and they definitely did not do so at circuit city.

last weekend i went up north to secord lake. it is near west branch about 2 1/2 hours away. it was a lot of fun that included a lot of water time and jet skiing. i would love to go back if i have the opportunity to in the future.

school has begun and as i write this i am in my second class. this class is a repeat of one of my first semester classes as a result of my horrible a.d.d. however i am optimistic this time around because instead of a giant lecture hall it is a smaller class room making it easier to pay attention and listen to the professor.

i am dreading working and going to school on the same day. i have class from 11-330 and then usually work 530-close. it will take a little to get used to but whatever i will get through it.

that is all for now
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a week and a half of craziness

so in the last week and a half my life has kind of picked up a lot. i applied for a large number of jobs at cabela's and had two interviews in different departments. i seemed to have got the job in footwear selling shoes. i figure eh what the hell why not. so i went to that place after never being there before to going there 4 times in 3 days (1 was with my brother and godfather. anyways i drove to the upper peninsula this weekend for a family vacation with family and extended family. i drove home to pick up my mom then we followed my brother 6 hours away. if you have ever heard of such places as Cederville, Sault STE. Marie or even Hessel which was where we stayed i would strongly suggest going there. there are about 9 cabins there and my family and others occupied 7 of those cabins. i used to go there every year on this week from the age of six to 14 when i stopped going due to football. we finally made it back this year and it was exactly how we left it. i never thought about it until just now, but my favorite memory of my father and I occurred maybe 10 feet from where i slept the whole 5 days. we had so much fun with monday being a 16 person euchure tournament. my brother and i set our goals high to get very drunk. i drank about a mini keg of oberon which equates to about 15 beers of oberon. he drank a fifth of captains. i was still coherent while he was not. he ended up feeding the fish with his dinner. we talked and shared stores on the dock although i may not remember much of what was said. it ended with me taking care of him while he threw up all over the side of the dock. he then proceeded to pass out and fall asleep on the dock with his little pug of a dog laying right next to him protecting him. i finally convinced him to go back to the cabin where he slept outside for most of the night with the dog. the next day was somewhat horrible we drove the 30 miles or so north to sault ste. marie to visit the restaurant known as "the antlers" most yoopers will know about that place with lots of dead stuffed animals all over the place. we came back that night and just hung out a little. the next night which was last night we headed to the smallest casino that i have ever seen, my first american casino! drinks were 1.75 for a pint and we stayed for a few hours. then since it was my last night we went to the bar with my cousin his girlfriend rickets and brandy. it was a decent time and we were able to drink some oberon. today my mother and i were leaving hessel, so i was luckily able to go tubing on my uncles boat, my arms are very sore and my pride is a little broken due to my shorts falling off while flying through the air. i was able to stop at mackinac city to eat and get some taffy then headed back home.

that right there kids is the week and a half in review. i came home to a pleasant surprise of free lions tickets for the preseason game against the browns should be afun time since anna has never been to ford field. then the tigers game on monday and the counting crows on friday. i look forward to the week ahead.

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sia - breathe me

have you ever had a song that could describe a period of time in your life? i feel like i have found that song for the period of 2005-2007. this song is called breathe me by sia. i will post the video of the song, but if you watch intervention it was on the previews for the new season, or the final song in the last scene of six feet under, i have also found it in a new coca cola commercial promoting the olympics. this song is special to me because of lyrics such as " Ouch I have lost myself again Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found,Yeah I think that I might break I've lost myself again and I feel unsafe" this seems to describe me as a senior in high school and i honestly cannot get enough of this song here is the video:



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six feet under

so anna and i set out almost 2 months ago to watch the series known as "six feet under" it was broadcast from 2001-2005. upon watching the first two episodes while in Ohio, we felt we should move forward with watching the series. it was 5 seasons of about 12 episodes per season with them being an hour long each. now for those unfamiliar with the show, each episode starts with a death followed by a funeral which the fisher family organizes. the last two weeks saw us watch the final 12 episodes. the final three were extremely sad and i found myself starting to cry. the final episode showed a somewhat closure to the whole series, i felt that because of the last episode it closed the show very well and although extremely sad i am very glad that i saw the whole series. i would suggest this to anyone who wishes to watch a well written sometimes funny and never boring show.


in other news, i got a job at home depot. i find myself not really wanting to work there because i will no longer have weekends off and will be thrust into the world of retail once again. we will see how this pans out but i would prefer not to work there for 9 an hour and be forced to give up things like vacations planned and concerts that i have already committed to. but i don't; know it is a job for now however i will keep looking and hoping for a part time 9-5 job and although i hate working weekends would be willing to work at least on day over the weekend. whatever.


!2:10

Clean Air Concepts Inc,

so i was looking for jobs on mlive.com not long ago and came across a job for Clean Air Concepts although this is not the exact description of the job, it is however the current posting:
~ATTENTION~
Local co. seeking
motivated, reliable
individuals for
pollution control dept.
$15.00/start
No experience nec-essary, we will train. Paid field training and incentive bonuses. Limited positions, so don't delay.
Call Monday and Tuesday for
Interview!
(810) 844-2502

this looked appealing. i mean 15.00 to start?!?! well i called the number set up an interview and went to that interview on tuesday. i thought it was just me and that was it. little to my knowledge it was actually about 15-20 of livingston county's finest. and when i mean finest i mean people with missing teeth a harsh smell and others over the age of 40. so the man explains what the company is about doesnt tell us the job discription pretty much then says he wants to talk to us as we leave. i was the 2nd person to leave and i said some shit to him and he told us to call from 210-240 later that day. i called at 211 and was told i was hired and to come for the unpaid training on wednesday and to dress nice.

note: the posting said 15.00 per hour, but during the interview, it was told we would make 15.00 plus 5.00 gas allowance.

so i came in wednesday dressed nicely to the 5 hr unpaid training where i learned about how all other vacuum's suck and their's is amazing. now dont get me wrong the product looks appealing and built nicely....but he would not tell us the price.

to make this story short. we were told at the end of the day that we would need our license, registration and $30.00 to "join" the company by friday....after this i said fuck it im not coming back.

upon further review i figured out that there are many of these companies across the u.s. selling the same product and although it is not door to door, i would still have to go to the customer's house to sell them my product. basically i was uncle rico from napoleon dynamite...not my cup of tea.

the job search continues

!2:10

Madness fills my heart and soul as if the great divide could swallow me whole...

so although my birthday is on tuesday, i thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to sum up my last year.
well last july if you are smart i turned the big 21. i celebrated it in style with my brother, his now wife, my cousin and his girlfriend. let me tell you it is a little hazy and i got thrown out of a few bars. that whole week was so much fun. after that i came back up to ann arbor to what is now my 1st apartment. i got to watch live earth on 7-7-07 which was really cool to see. i remember watching roger waters in the wee hours of the night and not to mention jack johnson and others. after that week i tended to become a functional alcoholic. i sought to broaden my beer horizons by drink beers by the name of bell's oberon, woodchuck hard cider and others for 2.95 at the glorious sidetracks of depot town. in early august i went to bud bash which is like a jobbie nooner although its not on an island. it was great fun. although i made the mistake of not putting sun screen on my back and shoulders. redness and several peelings later it finally stopped. it was a blast but i do not think i would go again. i love beer dont get me wrong but being on a lake for 8 hours walking and drinking was not the coolest thing ever. later in august about the time i stopped peeling was my brother's wedding. soon after a baby was made.

in september i spent most of my time in anna bonanna's garage drinking and playing darts while shooting the shit with susie q and others who occassionally stopped by. there is not much to really report in september.

halloween was a great time. i dressed as a peeping tom. i had the blinds and a fake mustache and everything. i have many pictures taht are viewable via myspace.com/meltedbutter.

november came and went quickly.

december was not a bad month. i was off academic probation within that semester so that was good. christmas was not bad, however i did get wasted x-mas eve and yelled at my wonderful mother for getting lost after i made her get off at michigan ave in detroit so i could pee. new years was also a fun time as anna bonana stole my shots of jager and i partied with my now former pft sup. needless to say bonana did not make it to midnite..karma's a bitch.

january was not bad, it marked my return to snowboarding and a failed attempt to teach anna bonana how to snowboard. she gave a valient effort but it's not for everyone. i did get to hang out in brighton for awhile which is not bad.

february came and went quickly.

so did march
and april
may brought a new experience for me i traveled to Toronto for the first time ever, and it was expensive for beer and gas. i did travel again to Niagra falls. its weird everytime i go, i fall in love with the place words can't explain how beautiful the falls really are. i moved into a new apartment with bonana and out of the hell hole that was pheasant run. it has been a learning experience thus far but only good things have come out of it.

and now we are up to june....june has been an awkward month for me thus far. i have lost my job as a pft associate at circuit city, i have traveled to Cleavland, Ohio for the first time, i am technically now an apprentice for a personal mechanic making alright money.

now randomness of the year: ever since i turned 21 i have wanted to try many different beers. i love beer, not for the drunkenness although fun, but for the pure taste of the barley and hops. i have probably tried at least 50 different beers and have found that i do not like non microbrewery beers unless i have to drink them.
my current favorites are:
magic hat - not so quite pale ale
Wolverine Beer
bell's Oberon
Detroit lager


music wise i have not found that many new bands i like except for city and colour. i love them right now and its so soothing with dallas green's voice.

lastly are my reflections of my 21 year. i feel this year may have been the best. a wedding a new baby, a new life. i don't know what could really top it. i am so incredibly happy now that i live up here away from all the bullshit back home. i have become content with this life. even after getting fired i did not even think of moving back home, well i couldnt kus i have a year lease but thats besides the point. i love this place i love the people i hang out with i love my new friends and old friends and friends i will meet. i hope year 22 will be amazing too.


12:!0

life after circuit city day 3.5

so my life after 3.5 days of non circuit city, is well relatively painless. i feel my stress content has greatly diminished. i have yet to really look for a new job, however thanks to a ginger friend of mine i am now helping out as a mechanic's aid if you will rebuilding a 67 mustang from the ground up. now if u know me, i am not your typical car guy i do not know much about cars. but in two days i have learned the joys of sanding at a 45 degree angle. i get paid fairly well and i enjoy it. i have never really had a labor job so it is a new experience for me. and its amazing to know that when the product is complete i can say u see that wheel well? i sanded it.

in other news u all will say " wanna know how i know bob/rob is gay"...yes i enjoy the new coldplay cd alot. i think it is a great cd with many great tracks and rhythm.

anyways. that is all for now

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the end of an era.

i am unsure how many if any, read this blog. but i would like to announce that i was fired from circuit city today. i have been working there for over 2 years and feel as though i was wrongfully terminated or made an example of. first i will tell my story as to why i got fired.
so about 2 months ago there was a discrepancy in a cycle count (inventory count) of one xbox 360. this 360 was supposed to be in the entertainment department. me being semi lazy, did not physically count it. but put it in without seeing it. now i was not the only one who did this, and admitting that i did ultimately got me partially fired. they gave me a corrective stepping over a coaching. now today i was called into the head honcho's office, and was told that there was another discrepancy this time witha laptop. this is how the story goes as they told me. there were two separate sales. all 3 of them had the same laptop on them. one had 2. so what i did was grabbed two of them and went to release them. it just so happened that i scanned the same barcode twice because one laptop was missing the upc. i then scanned both individually for the serial number. on one of the laptops i scanned by accident the shipping label instead of the serial number. and it turned out that i gave the person the wrong laptop. they brought that laptop back at a later date. secondly, with the other laptop i scanned it as usual but again scanned the shipping label instead of the serial number. they said that when the person brought the laptop back, that we were missing a laptop. they said we had done a cycle count that morning and everything was there so between like 10-1 we lost a laptop. now they did not say who did the cycle count, and thinking back the person may have falsified the count that day. that may be an odd coincidence. they then said that because i had been talked about this previously that they called human resources or loss prevention and they "recommended" termination. i feel that a recommendation is just that and not what has to happen, however after the fact talking to my operations manager about this, he said a recommendation from HR is not really that, but something that had to be done.

now it just so happened that another associate got fired too. she was a horrible worker and what not and it took them months to fire her. but way less to fire me.

what really bothers me is a few different things that i will now explain;
1. other associates do not get fired for things like lateness, professionalism, or shady transactions such as raising or lowering prices to obtain a sale, stealing pop and candy, and other things as well.
2. my ops manager has saved a fellow associate several times from being fired. at least two that i know of. and i want to know why i was not granted this as well.
3. was i made an example of? did they fire me just to show that people can get fired for not doing their job correctly?
4. was it deeper than just that? i am in no way a model associate. i often would rebel against management if something was not right or supervisors as well. however, almost always showed up on time, if not on time than before the management would be there. i would do as i was asked most of the time unless it was something i didn't feel was right. i feel i went above and beyond my work at times, and that i was a better associate than most people would think. a sub heading of things i felt were wrong with the store and or the way it was run.
-management and supervisors were not held accountable for the same things as regular associates. what i mean by this is if we were late we got talked to, but if management was late nothing would happen.
-processes were not consistent. they implemented the headset rule so that everyone would wear headsets, however rarely if ever do i remember anyone wearing one consistently unless u were a pft member or csa.
-anything to get the sale done. no matter how shady it was most people would do anything to get a sale. some examples include, dropping prices on firedog or software to be able to sell to the costumer, lying to the costumer saying this would be done but it would not be. other things like that as well like moving things from netsale to open box in order to sell it. lastly, also releasing stuff early so that numbers would look better.

i also have another example of something along the lines of what i did, and the manager still works there....
recently i was going on a delivery with a fellow associate. we had a staging area in the front of the warehouse where televisions and deliveries were released. one tv was already released along with a home theatre system. things never should be released before they go out as to avoid giving the wrong tv and other things. the receipt was tapped to the tv and the home theatre on top. i pulled up the ticket to realize that it was previously released on sunday and it was now monday. i then manually opened the door, we loaded everything in the truck and went to the house about 40 minutes away. we unloaded the tv and put it on the stand, hooked everything up then realized it was the wrong tv. it was about an $800 difference in tvs. now i blame myself for not looking over the tv before we left, however a broken process took place in which the person grabbed the wrong tv then released it. now i have no idea if anyone was blamed for this because the store manager was on vacation and doubtfully was notified of this.

now my personal opinion: circuit city is a shit hole. very few managers are good, and or respected. my only manager that i liked was the operations manager. he refused to stagger away from s.o.p. unlike others. supervisors were not always horrible, however some were incompetent and had no idea how to actually manage people. the associates were often lazy and my fellow associates in pft were blamed for almost everything regardless of what it was. we were the bitches of the store asked to do everything and anything. associates would show up late out of uniform and refusing to help customers. i was often there before sun up to get the store ready for work. and for what? to be bitched at consistently for not doing my job correctly, even though it was correct. we in pft were never able to get the appreciation that we deserved. everyone would bust their ass off and for what? a horrible paying job? i didnt get paid horribly because i was in sales previously. even supervisor's got paid horribly. my direct supervisor made less than one of his associates. this tends to baffle me because a supervisor should be paid decent especially if he is part of pft.
my final words for this job are: i will miss the people i worked with, i will miss the fun i occassionally had and i will miss the family environment that i had encountered over the years i worked there. however, i will not miss the bitching the horribly run store that is ann arbor, the incompetence of associates and the non credit i would get for a job well done. finally circuit city, i wish u the worst i hope u go under and are forced to close as long as the associates find other jobs. fuck off, and i hope u go bankrupt.

-12:10

newly an uncle.

so my brother and his wife finally gave birth to a healthy baby girl on thursday. i am not much for babies and did not hold her while i saw her. but my brother seemed happy so that is all that matters. i have been working more often than not lately and today was my first day off that i did nothing. i did not feel like going to any bbq's today but i believe i am going to one tomorrow night. i need to start finding more beers' that i like or to try. i wish i could just buy single beers to try and then purchase a ton if i wanted to. i have been watching the food network all day and i wish i could bbq like them, i also want to brew beer for a living i feel like that would be such a kick ass job. circuit city has been blowing more than normal lately. i feel like i do most of the work and rarely get credit. but whatever.

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bored on a tuesday

well this week has not been all that great. i have been relatively bored all day everyday. i should do something productive like read or pack my stuff. but i don't feel like it. yesterday was cinco de mayo aka a drunk day with drinking starting at 12ish. it was pretty fun, but the labbats gave me a large headache even before i went to sleep at 12. whatever. im bored.

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no longer all political.

i have decided although i am a political science major that this blog need not to be strictly political but should reflect my thoughts at the time. i went to toronto to visit casey (anna's sister) this week and i spent 5 days there. i went to niagra falls for the third time and it gets better every single time. i love how beautiful the falls are and how peaceful the rushing water always is. i had very little money so not many things were done that i wanted to do. i have never been to the American side of the falls although the view from the Canadian side is simply breath taking. i also tried to make myself like a local trying different Canadian beers and different food. i will tell you this though, i hate that i can only get beer at two places. however, i loved the selection at L.C.B.O. i found a beer that i had been wanting for a few months called buzz beer, which was brewed with hemp. it was very delicious but i tasted no hemp in the beer and it did not give a smell of it either. i also had buzz beer's sister beer the cool beer. was not horrible tasting but nothing out of the ordinary for me. i also had 2 other Canadian beers but the name of these beers escapes me. i also tried Newcastle for the first time. i loved it i found it delicious and in a good correlation with the Detroit Lager. i am also out of school and had my best semester by far. i had a 3.17 which without my c- in a stupid class lead by a stupid cunt, i would have had an amazing semester. i am unsure if i want to take a summer class. i have thought about it thoroughly yet am still indecisive because of the monetary situation. that is all for now. but i hope to update more soon.

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into the wild

on my trip to toronto this past week i did not do much. mostly because i had no money and it was a spur of the moment type of trip. however, i did watch an amazing movie called into the wild. at first glance this movie seemed as though it could be dull and boring as the first few minutes passed i found myself thinking could this be like castaway? does Alex need a wilson? however, to my amazement i found that this movie was not so much like a movie that a man talked to himself but a journey through life. although his past seemed trouble this boy became a man in a journey to release himself from the world his parents had created. i found that this movie was simply amazing. it kept my attention the entire time and i felt that the soundtrack composed by eddie vedder was simply astonishing. this movie was an extremely sad movie in that the ending almost brought tears to my eyes. i felt that sean penn although not my favorite actor by far directed a great movie with great acting. i hope to be able to read the book very soon and wish i could mold my life like this man.

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