Author: Joel

Holier Than Thou (or at least Holier Than Me)

Well, the Elder Extroverted Holy One just got a little holier. Back in August(?) she took ordination exams that are required by the PC(USA) to be called and ordained as a minister. After taking those things she had to sit around for a couple of months while Presbyterian monks locked in caves somewhere in Scotland read what she wrote. Apparently, they like what she wrote because she passed!

Now, she just needs to make it through this semester carrying a child (on the inside) and then make it through next semester carrying a child (on the outside) to graduate. Then some awesome church will want to call her to be their minister and by default I’ll end up being the churches a/v geek.

Blogged with Flock

Survivor Queen?!? HUH?

I had to revert back to looking through my moleskine to get some writing mojo. I just came across a little entry I wrote while I was up in Schaumburg, IL for some sales training.

It must have been my second night in my hotel room because I got to the hotel way too late on the first night and I just passed out. But, it was 11:00PM and I was channel surfing through the small amount of channels this hotel had and came across Oprah. I have no idea why Oprah was on at 11 o’clock at night. Maybe they have a 24-hour Oprah channel in the Chicago-land area? I really don’t remember why I stopped on this channel but Oprah gave a little tease of what was up next after the commercials.

She was talking about survival and what you would do in certain situations to survive. I thought to myself, “Self? This should be pretty cool.” Considering I like surviving in all situations and the guest is probably someone cool like Les Stroud. Do you know who it was? LEEZA GIBBONS?!?!? WTF? Did she recently become the ‘survival queen’ and I didn’t get the memo? Needless to say, I was too aghast to continue watching. So, I ended up watching something else as I fell asleep dreaming of being stuck on the roof of a high rise inferno as Leeza swooped down to save me. Good times. . .

Death Throes of the Predators

Let me start by saying I am a hockey fan.  While I have some favorite teams (Predators, Hurricanes, Maple Leafs) I really do love the sport.  At the same time I understand a little bit about the business world.

I went to the Predators vs. Flames game on Saturday night with my buddy, Stuart.  There were many empty seats in the building.  Heck, there were empty sections!   We could have moved down to sit on the glass if we wanted to.  If Nashville (and by Nashville I mean regular fans and most of all local business owners) can’t fill an arena on a Saturday night against a team that has regularly gone to the Stanley Cup playoffs then we don’t deserve to have a hockey team.  And if they move I might have to uproot the Extrovert/Introvert family and head north!

Okay, I feel a little better now. I needed to get that off of my chest.

Yet Another Quiz

A quiz that tells me who I should vote for based on only 11 questions. That’s cool. I never thought that I would vote for this guy but I like what he stands for. Would it be a case of throwing away a vote if I voted for him?

h/t: my bro

Dennis Kucinich
Score: 40		 Agree
Immigration
Taxes
Stem-Cell Research
Health Care
Abortion
Energy
Marriage
Death Penalty		 Disagree
Iraq
Social Security
Line-Item Veto

— Take the Quiz! —

Writing Goals Thwarted

I had planned to write something everyday here.  I missed one. That’s what I get for not stating my goals in writing.  But, also, I’ve been working a lot at the job I may not have much longer.

I made it known to my boss that I would much prefer to be back in the rigging department instead of a technician under a new guy as the director. Is that a bit of pride? I’m not really sure.  I just figured that it would really be best for all involved.  I can be helpful in the rigging department and the technician here now won’t have to go anywhere else.

While I’m busy rigging I can more prepare to be a director of event technology elsewhere should the need arise.  Which means more time in training spent up in Schaumburg, IL.  I have always felt unprepared in this position.  I can do all the operational/logistical/technical aspects of this job.  I don’t know a whole lot about profit and loss statments or business plan reports, blah, blah, blah.

The Tale of Employment Woes Continues . . .

Which has nothing to do with ‘The Man’ keeping me down.

But it seems that the hotel and PSAV higher-ups have interviewed a candidate for the position of which I am in right now. Thankfully, I knew about this ahead of time and was fully prepped by my boss that it was happening. Well, the hotel, apparently, liked this guy but I was told that they like me too. What is that saying about cake and stuff?

If they hire this guy and I stay he would be the director of a/v and I would go back to being a technician. I’m not quite sure what would happen to the current technician, maybe they would put him at the Gaylord Opryland. Which, if you are a floor technician, is not that cool of a job.

At the same time, though, I am hearing the Opryland PSAV rigging department is struggling and has been since I left to take the job I now have. I’ve been seriously considering going back to rigging to take care of that mess and wait for another director job to open up. My problem is that I feel that I need to be paid around what the other two guys are getting paid. Especially the rigging supervisor, who got a significant raise since I left. Which now doesn’t make sense if this guy doesn’t have the skills to keep the ship running. If I go back and straighten things out I should get a significant raise, too. Right?

It’s just that I’m a big wuss when it comes to confrontation and money. Deep down inside I know that I deserve it. The department ran well when I was there doing inventory, scheduling labor, along with some actual rigging. When I’m gone it falls apart. I need to do my own math I guess and point that out to my boss. But, also, on the surface we (the extrovert/introvert family) need an increase in my pay. There’s a parasite just waiting to stop feasting on it’s host (the Elder Extroverted Holy One), enter the world and eat my money (and that will cut into my beer money and as the Young Extroverted One knows, daddy doesn’t share beer)(I do, really, share beer. I can prove it 🙂 )! Which, as soon as EEHO graduates and gets a job won’t be that big of a problem. For now, though, we need me to get a more significant raise.