can't put it down...

started reading a really cool book today, Cafe Berlin. it's an autobiographical account of a Syrian Jew...who spoke seven languages...grew up in the spice trade...moved to Germany in 1929 (at the age of 18)...bought a cabaret the next year...transformed it into the place to be seen...ended up going into hiding (a la Anne Frank) in December '41...and survived the war.

it really is a captivating book. the writing is superb; the transition, flawless. this is one of those books that you read from cover to cover, neglecting everything else until the last period. i literally had to tear myself away so i could actually get something to eat. dogs were lookin' pretty pissed; they hadn't eaten either.

the neatest thing about the book is that it was a personal diary that the protagonist, Daniel Saporta, had started 23 months after going into seclusion. he effectively recounts the last 15-20 years of his life in great detail - outstanding imagery.

ironically, the diary wasn't known to the public until the early '90s, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. you see, after being liberated by the Allies in April 1945, Saporta left his diary in the attic. it wasn't recovered until German demolition crews came upon it (intact) while they were razing old abandoned buildings in East Berlin...in 1991. luckily, Mr. Saporta was still alive and residing in Los Angeles, when the German gov't returned his war diary.

think our blogs will survive almost 50 years online? exactly.

huh?

been looking at nicer places to stay for a couple days while we're in Spain. ha, fat chance. in this month's Conde Nast Traveler, they list the World's Best 700 Places to Stay - nine of them are in Spain.

the hotels on this massive list are rated on a scale of 1-100; the majority of 'em rate higher than 80. it's like getting a 'B' in school... anyway, the price designation is from one to four dollar signs.

well, the two places we thought would be somewhat affordable to splurge and spend a couple nights...really aren't. our choices had two dollar signs, which would fall in the moderate range if they were restaurants, right? big...fat...ha!

hotels on this list that have two dollar signs fall into the $200-$299 a night class. geez! we've never even spent that on a hotel in the USA! and the most we ever spent in Latin America was $70/night to stay at the Novo Mar in Veracruz, Mexico. and only because all of the affordable places were booked!

looks like it's back to researching budget places in our Spain guidebooks. man, for people who are accustomed to spending $10-$30 a night for accomodations in the 'other' Spanish speaking countries, the shellshock (sticker shock?) of the Euro is going to be a challenge.

sigh

could be worse...

i could be mincing an habanero chile with a bunch o' cuts on my fingers. now, THAT would be true revenge for that wittle piggy losing his ear.

you know, i don't get it. why do people insist on using half of a bottle of hot sauce when they can simply chop up a quarter (or even half) of an habanero and get the same, if not more evil, burn? just think how many habaneros you could buy for the price of a bottle of Tabasco? sure, habaneros are usually $5.99/lb., but you can get one chile for five cents...one penny if they ring it up as a jalapeño. so, a half lb. would probably yield 60 habaneros...WAY hotter than that wimpy $3.00 bottle of hot sauce.

men, don't touch your you-know-what when you pee...yowtch! and ladies, go ahead and take out yer contacts!

did you complete your Scoville Units assignment?

bachelor night...

lois went to Divide to visit her goddaughters and their parents, who were once neighbors. so...i've got more time to blog and generally stay glued to the screen.

funny, there's a top sirloin in the fridge, but i have no ambition to cook it. so far, dinner has been a huge braunschweiger sammich...cherry licorice nibs...and a massive handful of shelled peanuts that we bought at Sunflower a couple days ago.

the peanuts, although not salted, were still roasted and quite tasty. kinda itty bitty though. they reminded me of spanish peanuts...about the size of yer pinky nail or a pencil eraser. are they just young peanuts?

had the liverwurst sandwich when i had to dole out the dog pills. Coco, the yorkie, has to take three pills 2x a day. one is for hepatic function...another is for incontinence...and the third is Cosequin, good for arthritis. Annie (silkie terrier) has to take Cosequin as well. at 13 and 11, their old bones need it...

re-venge \ri-venj\ vt 1: to inflict injury in return for (~an insult) 2:to avenge for a wrong done (~oneself)

what am i talking about? well, to distract the girls long enough for me to eat my sandwich, i got the bright idea of letting them split a pig ear; usually buying a half an hour of quiet eating. it works like a charm and usually without fail.

however, this time i nicked my thumb on a rough edge of the pig ear. strange, it's a tiny cut, just below my left thumbnail...but itches like hell. even after washing it twice and applying the Ne*sporin, the nick still stings. guess it's revenge of the pig ear - take that, you joik!

remember 'A Fish Called Wanda'? the vengeful pig ear reminds me of the scene when Ken (Michael Palin) is about to steamroll Otto (Kevin Kline) into the tar:

Otto: Oh look, it's K-K-K-Ken, c-c-c-coming to k-k-k-kill me!
Ken: RE-VENGE!

and Ken rolls right over Otto...like he had some pig ear to pick with him.

as you can see...

i'm taking a cue from my fellow bloggers. with the new year, i think some change was imminent, if not downright inevitable. while everyone is changing digs, i tend to stay on one until it's done heh. however, i thought i would change the title of my blog to Diggin' Travel. it's simply the easiest way to explain who i really am. ever since i was eight years old, i've had wanderlust...always wanting to see faraway places. sure, i still love digging...but i dig travel more.

of course, all of this odd thinking out loud may just stem from listening to Black Sabbath at 11:40 on a wednesday night, too... the bumbling, drugged out, Ozzy Osbourne that is so sadly (but accurately) depicted on his reality show was once a long haired, pot smoking, heavy drinking, heroin addict - the typical 70's rock god;) it's just not cool to emulate that behavior now.

at least i won't change my name...

lifted from cindi's blog


You are blessed with FAERY wings. Beauty,
laughter, life, magic...that's what you are all
about. You are refreshingly innocent and happy
with your life of purity and play. Life's a
game and it's a good one. In your eyes there's
no way to lose! You can be very mischeivous and
have been known to cause trouble, but it's all
in the name of fun and not meant to really harm
anyone. You like to play tricks on people who
aren't quite as bright or clever as you - which
is almost everyone. Nature is the setting you
prefer to be in - Always. Barefoot and wild you
can't be tamed. You're probably a restless
spirit who loves to travel, and quite a
dreamer. Your creativity is astounding and your
art (of whatever media - from writing to
painting to drama) is like something from
another world - ethereal and often very
fantasy-oriented. You can either be a social
butterfly or a loner with their head in the
clouds - but rarely inbetween. You stubbornly
refuse to accept responsibility or to give in
to the wishes of others - unless you feel like
it. You have a strong passion for music and
can't imagine life without it. You'll grow up
someday, but you'll always be a child at heart.
You are adventurous and love to take risks, and
feel a deep connection with the weather,
plants, and animals. You prefer sunshine to
thunder or snow, the warmth of summer to
autumn's chill, and quiet forests to suburban
backyards. Magic through and through, you are
far more powerful than you seem, and are
capable of being extremely passionate. Though
you can be childish, naive, stubborn, and self-
absorbed, one thing is certain - life with you
will never be boring!


*~*~*Claim Your Wings - Pics and Long Answers*~*~*
brought to you by Quizilla

pretty accurate...but my 'art' is far from ethereal or fantasy-oriented. btw, the title is a tribute to someone whom i used to work (with). i don't remember her real name, but she came in one day and declared to be called 'Fairy Angel' - no exceptions. i had a hard time keeping a straight face, but i would have preferred to have called her Dumbf*ck Numbsk*ll instead. of course, like most nutcases, she lasted less than two weeks...

out with the old...

in with the new.

wow! where is everyone? Denny has started a new blog...Laura and Dy's blogs aren't available right now...Nelle is driving her new wheels to another url...Rach is spoiling her kids and making her dad foot the Crab Palace bill ;)...Derbs is wanting to pull guns...and i'm finally blogging. just wanting to put a few words down while lois is in the shower.

her shoulder has been acting up lately. she doesn't know what she did to it, but it hasn't been cooperating. a visit to the chiropractor/kinesiologist helped, but she's needing acupuncture. and, of course, our acupuncturist just left for a three week visit with her mom in china. so, looks like lois is stuck with pain killers, rubs, and hot showers until then.

btw, thanks to Katie for making me one of her fellow diners...awww, she's a good kid! now, if we could just do something about that shady charlie fellow ;)

just staying in tonight. we probably should have gone to sunflower market for some fresh veggies; they have goo-ood prices. we went to W*ld Oats a couple of weeks ago and it was virtually a morgue. even though people still want good produce, i think they're steering clear of the more expensive places while the economy crawls.

ah well. guess we'll have to eat our mercury laden salmon with canned (gasp) vegetables tomorrow night. ooh, i'm gonna make a pot o' rice too! since lois has basically sworn off carbs for awhile, i've cut down on my consumption too. it's been good for her though - 20 lbs. down since november. and she doesn't even stand in the way when my grubby little hands snatched that box of chock'lit truffles from her. god bless her!

gonna go downstairs and watch a movie...brb...i promise!

very nice...

thanks for all the comments about my travel stories...i take pride in all the weird stuff that has occurred while on my trips. seems like nothing ever exciting happens to me here ;) worse, maybe that's all i have in my life - goofy travel tidbits.

that trip in '96 was more than just seeing John Schoenwalter at that hotel in Oaxaca though. over the next couple of days, i may go back to that trip and write some more (if you guys want to hear it). i'll need a couple hours though :D

fifty? fifty?!? it is only forty-six!

it appears that fifty words is now the norm for a bare bones post...just ask Nelle. so that last post of fourteen words was woefully short, eh? call it a 'low word diet'...Atkins would be so proud. they say that on the low word diet, you should avoid word fillers...like monosyllabic. words such as this one don't curb your appetite for semantic consumption. you'll just be hungry for a dictionary or thesaurus later...

looks like the above paragraph is barely sufficient. geez, 75 words. that's only enough for 1.5 postings...shriek! now, listen in yer best whiny voice: but i don't have anything to say. (actually, i do. you know me...getting me to post is not the hard part, it's getting me to do it on a daily basis that's like pulling teeth sans anesthesia).

let's call this portion (although a bit cliché-ish) 'a blast from the past.' my friend, whom i'll call 'PS', just e-mailed me. i hadn't heard from her since last may, when she was going through some really trying times.

we went to school together...she graduated a year ahead of me. a journalism major (a phenomenal photographer too), she was the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper who just happened to track in the same spanish classes. on two occasions, we traveled to mexico, belize, guatemala, and honduras. she even hung out with me and lois for about a week in january '96, through mexico city and oaxaca.

that was a memorable trip. we had met in mexico city because she had just procured a 6-month position with 'The News,' the largest English language newspaper published in Mexico. the weather was great. i don't recall much rainy weather at all until we left Oaxaca and headed for Chiapas.

it was in Oaxaca that things got interesting. the hotel that we had originally planned to stay was full and sent us to their sister hotel...which was more expensive. hmmm.

well, instead of waiting around for them to clean a room for us, we found a huge triple at the Hotel Virreyes for less than $11/night. it was a big corner room...with a wraparound balcony (that was about the same height as the power lines, not good)...and the solitary rainstorm that we encountered in our Oaxaca visit, seeped into our room (yikes, extra towels!). still, hot water, okay beds, and basically clean - well worth the price.

the first morning of our stay, i remember finding a story in the newspaper about an american man in seattle who had requested a refund for some item with which he was not satisfied. you know, something less than five bucks. well, turns out that a glitch in that company's accounting system inadvertently sent him a check for the amount of his ZIP CODE, not the actual amount of the item. my zip code is 80224...that would make a very lucrative refund for any 'store-bought' item.

well, after receiving a refund for something like $96000, this quiet, Mitty-ish man vacated his apartment and simply disappeared. did i mention smart? that man did the right thing.

anyway, we were about to head out the door when i read them this story, setting us back a couple minutes. don't worry, this is not another maya man and his japanese earthquake prognostication story ;)

we had a little chuckle over the story and finally left the room. when we reached the dimly lit stairway, there was a man who greeted us, upon hearing us speak english. he asked us where we were from. PS said she was from Boulder originally and lois and i said, "Denver."

and we didn't make it but a few stairs when the man, whose facial features i couldn't see, said, "Spencer?" my god, it was John Schoenwalter! he's a photographer friend of my brother, Steve. i hadn't seen him in a couple years. in fact, prior to seeing him in the Hotel Virreyes in Oaxaca (City), the last time was in Cancún. lois and i were going out for a bite to eat, waiting to cross the street, when John ambled past us. turns out that he had just arrived in town and was looking for a cheap place to crash. crazy thing is, the two times we saw each other in Mexico, neither of us had any knowledge of trip plans. we had no idea that john was gonna be there, nor did he of us. what are the odds of seeing someone you never see at home, in a place 2000 miles away, two years apart? fate or coincidence? and what about the refund story? had i not read it, we would have left a minute or two earlier, probably missing the encounter with John.

back to PS...in the past eight years, i think i've only seen her once, when she was pregnant with her first child. since then, she has added a daughter.

so it looks like she has resurfaced and is finally ready to continue that May conversation...i'm glad. moreover, i'm sure itching to see her kids in person ;)

thanks for emailing me, PS, it made my week!

well, did i fulfill the fifty word minimum? anyone crazy enough to count the words (manually)?

ah...

the vids can wait. why not blog a little more?

okay...that's enough.

g'nite.

and what am i still doing up at this time...

i dunno. you tell me.

well, the only reasonable answer is...snackin.' yes, i've spent the last hour shelling roasted peanuts...shoveling handfuls of popcorn down my gullet...and finishing that all off with a few glasses of water and a banana applesauce.

still need to return those vids. i guess that's the real reason why i'm still up. and looking outside...wow. talk about humid! the fog is pretty fierce out there. when i looked out the window a few minutes ago, i had a double take because i initially thought it was snow!

so, it's off to the Blockbust*r drop box i go...as long as the fog doesn't have John Carpenter written all over it. didn't Stephen King also write a kooky story about a killer fog too. correct me if i'm wrong, but i think it was the first story in Skeleton Crew.

fun news before i go...taking my niece (Elizabeth) bowling after i get off work later today. 3-hr unlimited bowling at Elitch Lanes - for $7!!! now, if you ask me (or even care), that's some MAJOR whee! then again, it could be the peanuts and popcorn talkin' ;)

what to watch...

rented two movies last sunday that are due tomorrow, Man on the Train and Dead Man Walking. lois had already watched Dead Man earlier this week, so i guess i'll have to stay up after we finish the other - gotta get yer money's worth ;)

lately, i've been bidding on movies (eBay). got a copy of Russia House (i dunno why...it's as confusing and boring as the book), Shawshank Redemption (as good as the original story), and The Golden Child (not that great of a movie but mebbe i have fond memories of the year it came out...1986).

staying in...cooking...watching movies. sound like a plan?

lazy...lazy...

nothing much accomplished today...bathrooms are cleaner...car is washed...oh boy.

been perusing a new cookbook, Four Ingredient Cooking that we got at Barnes & Noble. the title is a paperback version of the hardbound at the Amazon link.

i found the book last year but hesitated to buy it until last week, when things were getting a bit boring in the kitchen. the recipes really do consist of four ingredients; a nice change from more complicated cooking and preparations. you know, some days we just wanna eat...forget the exotics or beautiful presentations...company ain't coming over.

anyway, there are over 200 recipes, from fruit drinks, to basic sauces/homemade broths, to warm and cold desserts. maybe it's the pictures...but the author does a fantastic job with the preparations and simple instructions. much of the dishes in this book are Mediterranean influenced...phyllo dough...feta...tomatoes...cumin... eggplant...etc. it should spice up our diet for awhile ;)

btw, you can only find it in the bargain book section of Barnes & Noble; they don't offer it through their website. it's a nice deal for $7.98.

speaking of finding deals at B&N, i usually haunt their bargain section in mid-January for holiday cards. yep. whatever they have left at this time usually goes for $1/box. even if they're $12.95...$14.95...becomes a bargain that you can't ignore. i know that many of us don't even want to think about stocking up on xmas cards at this time, but why pay full price in November? just doesn't make sense. 'course, the selection isn't massive...but you can bank on a virtually untouched stock of Hannukah or Kwanzaa cards ;) still, i found three or four boxes last year...

so, guess where i'm going tonight? too bad most Barnes & Noble stores close at 11PM because my store has a 24-hour *$$...i think it's the only one in the state.

all this talk...

in other people's blogs about indian food at Taj Mahal is making me crazy. sure, it has only been two weeks since we were at Little India; reading about the meals has made me crazy ;)

i think i have mentioned it before, but we usually order saag paneer (creamed spinach with cubes of cheese), chicken vindaloo (or madras, since they're equally hot), and kabli (or kabuli) naan (naan made with cherries, nuts, and raisins)...which can double as a dessert.

we like jalfrazie, masalas, tandoori, and bhunas too. as for biryani...let's just say i'm picky about fried rice, whether it's Indian style, Thai, or Japanese. and once in a while, we'll stray and order onion bhaji or some samosas....mmmm.

for the last three nights, we've gone out to eat. tuesday, we went to Taki's (Colfax and Logan). food is always good and VERY affordable. they have combos that have meat, veggies (both fresh and pickled...edamame too), a bowl of rice, and a bowl of ginger miso soup (great for fighting the flu)...all for $5.58! you can substitute brown rice for 50 cents more or yakisoba for 75 cents. definitely one of the best deals in town!

last night, we headed out to Aurora...to a Thai restaurant that we had only tried once before (with mixed results). well, this time we were armed with a BOGO coupon! btw, the restaurant is Thai Flavor, near Peoria and Mississippi. we ordered jungle curry w/ beef (usually a spicy curry w/ green beans, thai eggplant, lotsa ginger, onions, carrots, peppers) and pad kra prow w/ chicken. and in typical lois fashion, she ordered it hot!

kinda funny because the waitress said, 'you sure? it's gonna be really hot! on a scale of one to five, you want a five?' yep...she was right. even a bit too hot for lois, someone who can eat pure fire ;) funnier was the fact that the cook nonchalantly came out from the kitchen to see who was crazy enough to eat a five! i don't think it was 'Thai' hot though. i once was mistakenly given Thai hot in Florida once. gawd, i could NOT finish that dish. the sweat was hanging off my...glasses ;)

i ordered my jungle curry medium heat, just so we wouldn't be crying the whole time. i was lucky because she ate very little rice (probably compounding her suffering), which allowed me to chow down and kill some of the heat from her dish.

it was a better experience than the last time, when i think we ordered chicken panang (thick red curry w/ ground peanuts but no veggies), pad thai (which needed improvement) and beef salad (not much better). but hey, they hadn't been open for long and were probably working out the kinks.

ooh, our splurge was an order of fried bananas! they flash fried those babies in a good batter (slightly pink in color) and drizzled honey and powdered sugah on top! mmmmm...the six pieces were hot, gloriously crunchy and slightly sweet. in fact, it was only the last piece that was a bit mushy inside.

afterwards, we wandered on over to the neighboring business, a Mexican butchershop with a few aisles of groceries. really nice people. the butcher was a young kid from the state of Sinaloa (where Mazatlan is located). he was super enthusiastic about his products. he was going on and on, raving and gesticulating wildly with every display of meat. the quality looked real high though...he even gave us a free sample of their chorizo - good and spicy.

so we just got some limes, Goya adobo seasoning, some Gansitos (my weakness when it comes to Mexican junk food...it's basically a Chocodile with cream and strawberry jam filling...with a touch of coconut flavor), and a bottle of Sidral (apple soda sold by Mundet - the BEST apple pop you'll ever taste!).

tonight, we were bad and went to Gyros Place (Colfax and Detroit). they have awesome Greek Veggie omelets and Gyros w/ eggs...think we were in the mood for breakfast? if there's one thing that Greek diners (not the eaters but the buildings) are notorious, is cheap breakfast...with massive portions ;)

stuffed, we passed by the Queen Soopers on 9th & Corona (which i'm sure brings back some vivid memories with Lowa, Denny, and Dy). recently, we found this Soopers to have some killer deals on natural ground beef and had been exploiting their supply for the last couple months.

i don't know what it is, but they don't sell that much of it and are forced to reduce the price by half after 6PM...a great deal considering this meat is $6.19/lb. i guess the demographics of the area aren't very conducive to selling a lot of natural ground beef (save the mad cow comments...). i think the higher percentage of vegetarians and the more marginal incomes add up to savings for us ;)

some bad news though. they must have caught on to our meat-buying escapades; the packages were just $2 off tonight :( not all was for naught though. we scored on some just reduced beef tenderloin, ribeyes, and even oxtails (which are NEVER on sale).

soooo, our carnivorous catch and fridge o' veggies mean we'll be cooking for the next week and dreaming of Indian cuisine...sigh. when is Apu gonna make Homer some naan? 'Mmmm...vindaloo.'

one big one...

and one little one. yes, i'm talking about spiders here, folks. there's a teeny spider that has scaled the wall in front of the computer. it's moving pretty slowly - must be cold. and there's a big, really ugly one on the far wall. i am in such a mood to kill it, but too lazy to go over there and whack it. i'm just hoping that both are looking for the door; i'll even help them find it.

well, must go out to the airport for some auditing. i'm back at PCL this week helping out with certified payroll again. seems that the gal who quit just before xmas didn't finish everything...yeah. just going through some of her stuff on friday and yesterday, i found payrolls that hadn't been dealt with for more than two months. some were even from May(!). bet those people are thrilled. i'm surprised that some of the companies haven't called up, pissed beyond belief.

so, i get to fight the sun on my drive east. hope it's high enough by now...see ya!

more on the movie topic...

last weekend, we caught 'School of Rock' at the cheapies. that Jack Black is too crazy! i became a fan of his after seeing 'High Fidelity'...

went to Internet Movie Database and found out that the three kids who played guitar, drums, and bass, had all started training in musical instruments at the ripe ol' age of three!!! it's kids like that make me sick...way too much talent in their little pinkies! i hope they make it big though!

i know that a lot of you played an instrument in your youth, some even played marching band in college. that's cool.

i think i already blogged about some of my siblings and their musical talent. i have two brothers (tenor and baritone...not their names tho' ;) who sang for many years in the Colorado Choir. in fact, the tenor still sings and has traveled to Europe at least six times to sing. he and his group, the Musicians of Saint Clare, have sung at the Vatican during Papal mass during xmas 2000 and '02.

my eldest sister, played violin and is the most right brained of this family. i remember when i used to pester her when she was trying to practice. i guess i should consider myself lucky because she could've easily jabbed me in the eye with that rosin laden bow. she later went on to play in college and semi-professionally as a concert violinist. however, she's given up performing for now, concentrating on getting into dental hygienist's school.

funny, i have two siblings who had enough musical talent to go out and make it big. truly, they were that good. unfortunately, neither was brave enough to take the chance and go for the gusto, instead settling for a step below world class. the rest of us musically challenged kids always regard them as the ones who should have kept it up (you know, the stereotypical asian, take no prisoners, nose to the grindstone way). i think if i picked up an instrument now, they would regard me as the one who should've never even started and would set out to kill the music teacher who unleashed non-music wrath in me.

is that a kazoo in yer pocket? or are you just happy...(you know the rest)!

is it too late...

to pick up an instrument and learn to play? i know that some people pick up the guitar or piano later in their lives, but what about the trumpet, trombone, or drums? after listening to the Love, American Style theme and its bright horns and seamless drumming, it got me thinking about it...

you know, a lotta people say that i have perfect fingers for the piano...an instrument that was never very appealing to me. i know, though, the one instrument that i will never consider playing is the kazoo. in fact, is it even considered to be a 'real' instrument? or is it just a good substitute for the mosquito love call? i tell ya...

raise yer hand...

if you watched these shows as kids...

Love, American Style, Mary Tyler Moore, Rocky & Bullwinkle, That Girl, Bewitched, Hogan's Heroes, Daktari, My Favorite Martian, The Avengers...

well, the theme songs of all of these shows and 56 others are on this CD that i got a couple years ago for xmas. once in a while, i just gotta pop it in and reminisce a bit heh. looks like i gotta get volume 3, which has the themes from 70's and 80's shows...oooh. the song selections on this one are even better than the one i have!

and it doesn't end there either. this series has seven volumes! i think the second and third about cover it for me though.

Love American Style...that's me and youuu

well, Dy and Nelle...

you didn't miss anything at the Job Fair. of the forty or so exhibitors, i only visited eight of them. and of those, i feel only good about one of them (Denver Health). i wouldn't mind working as an enrollment specialist; my Spanish and customer service may just be my ticket in. the job seems a bit more challenging than a ward or clinic clerk position and it pays more too ;)

anyway, here are the other seven...and my initial feelings about them:

R*se M*dical and Sp*lding R*hab...only hiring for medical positions. nice people tho'.
Sofa M*rt...nothing special. a generic application...but a four day workweek! my favorite digs have been either eight days on and six days off or ten and four...
H*rtz...maybe. i forgot to find out if they offer free bus passes. driving 50+ miles round trip just to go to work is not very appealing to me, especially in bad weather.
Schw*n...they were only hiring Route Sales Managers. guess not.
Kac*y Fine F*rniture...only hiring salesmen with interior design background. feh.
CU H*alth Sci*nces...just wanted you to apply online. WHY THE HELL EXHIBIT THEN?
M*ttress K*ng...guys weren't even interested in being there. i don't think so.

yeah, pickins were slim. the only other place i might have considered (in another lifetime) was Walgr**n's. however, i won't even set foot into one unless absolutely necessary...so why work for them?

i did see one of my drinking acquaintances, Al. he had taken a sabbatical from being a CNA and thought it might be time to go back. god, the need for health care professionals is still so great. i heard on TV that some hospitals (probably in other states) are offering $60K starting salaries to RNs. obviously, i went to school for the wrong thing, eh? nah. i get too attached to people. it's nice to watch people get better, but i don't know how oncological or hospice nurses aren't driven to drink; those patients already have one or two strikes against them.

maybe Denver Health'll call...Rach, i may need some prayers from you and yer friends ;)

oh yeah, one funny thing did happen while i was at the fair. Panda Express, the california based, fast-food mall restaurant, had a table and was recruiting probably for management. well, the couple times i walked past them, the two asian gals who were the exhibitors kept smiling at me. oh no...none o' that! i think they were trying to get me to go over there! BAD! stay away! spending fifteen years in my parents' restaurant cured me from ever running a restaurant, let alone a chinese one! 'course, i could help overhaul their poor seasoning skills - they have no clue. and it doesn't help to go there and see a young Mexican man at the cook's helm ;) ah well, he's probably thinking, "What the hell is that guy doing...trying to speak my language! humph!"

pay it forward...

after reading Nelle's short little post about paying the tab for the hungry coffee guy at Denny's, it put a smile on my face. sure, to us, it's only coffee and hashbrowns...but to him, it was breakfast or even his only meal of the day.

you know, that's just so cool. ever since i started blogging in july, it's been really nice to read about all you guys and some of the selfless things that you do.

maybe i just don't have enough faith in humans; there are so many ugly, greedy nincompoops out there. however, i know that there are lots of giving people out there as well. most often, it seems like those who have had it tough before are more compassionate when it comes to others with less. and Nelle's action personified it. although she's not working and things might be tight when car and book sales are slow, but she has enough heart to help out a guy when he's down on his luck. i'll say it again...that's so cool.

and where was i going with this? well, after getting my resume retooled, i asked John what i owed him. he said, "Nothing. You know, that's okay because you're not working. Just pass it along." Thanks, John. i will. gotta keep the goodwill rolling. even though he wouldn't accept money, i wonder if they'd like a couple bottles of wine. or maybe a couple photos of Maya pyramids for their house. they seem like kinda spiritual (read: airy fairy) people who would appreciate something from my slides. what good are 4000 slides of Latin America if they just sit there ;) glad i don't have the collection that one of my mentors has...he's got over 80,000. good thing he has gond digital ;)

speaking of goodwill, i did pass by the one after lunch. it's not the cleanest or cheapest goodwill, but they do have some nice finds. for a couple bucks, i came back with a small stuffed bear (for the dog), a pepper mill, and two retro Arby's glasses...whoo hoo! i was pretty excited about finding the mill since i had been tracking prices on eBay; they were cheap, but the shipping was steep. and the glasses? god, i wish i had a digital camera...maybe i can find a pic and post the link. they're from the seventies and remind me of stained glass. do you remember the decor of Shakey's Pizza? that's what i think of when i look at them. they also totally remind me of some cool Jack in the Box Coke glasses we had when i was a kid.

well, we're gonna go out for a bite and a movie. talk to you soon...