Deep in the underground, they whisper all men are made equal

What a long and tiring week I've had. This was our weekly "DPS Summit" at Gibson Memphis. Basically all of the other guys that do my job across the US (and the rest of the world) gather together and we have a series of meetings with our bosses and the different divisions, as well as do a factory tour of one of our facilities.

Monday started out with my best Gibson related flying experience yet: managed to find a direct flight, and ended up getting a whole row to myself! Relatively quick flight, no delays. I got to Memphis and picked up my rental car. Last trip I ended up sick for 2 days due to getting car sick, so I didn't want to experience that again! I had intended to drive around that day and explore, but after waiting a bit to pick up one of my coworkers from the airport, I got mentally sucked into waiting around for the others...I mean, I never get to see these guys so I figured I should interact with them as much as I could. (just a shame none of them seem to share my random adventure/exploring spirit!). Ended up eating at "Pig on Beale" with Mark B, Dan, and Chris. I had an amazing smoked turkey sandwich with great fries and onion rings.

Tuesday was the first round of meetings. Mid day we did the factory tour at Gibson Memphis, which I had never seen before. That is where they make all the hollow and semi hollow body guitars. The entire building is this huge cavernous affair, and it lent itself well to the factory. For lunch we went to Dyers, this joint that cooks their hamburgers in 100 year old grease. It was delicious. After that we had more meetings...it was a very long exhaustive day. Didn't get out of there til 7ish. For dinner I went with Aljon, Danny, and Glenn to the Butcher Shop. I got chicken (YES...chicken at the steakhouse) which was actually pretty amazing...I've never had grilled chicken be so juicy and flavorful.

Wednesday was another day full of meetings and more meetings. Lunch was provided by Gibson Memphis, they ordered fried chicken from this place called Gus's. AMAZING...never had fried chicken that delicious. More and more meetings, got out super late again. I ended up going to Texas De Brazil, this all you can eat steakhouse, with a big chunk of the group. Sorta expensive, but I figured what the hell...I got to clear out a good chunk of the price with my expense budget for the day.

Thursday we had a cancellation in the morning, so we ended up having a "roundtable" type brainstorming session. The Gibson Bus showed up around 11:30 and we left for Nashville. I had rented a car not knowing the hotel was 2 blocks from the factory, so I didn't get to use it. I was planning to go to Nashville in it but was told not to due to the expense (even though it had been approved beforehand). I should have just done it and paid for it myself, I ended up getting pretty car sick on the ride. We stopped at Dennys on the way, and I had a burger. It was surprisingly REALLY good...but at this point all this super heavy food was starting to wear on me (and everyone else). I even had to break my semi soda-edge, due to needing to stay awake during those meetings haha. We got to Nashville and met with everyone else at the showroom there, and had a demonstration and dinner. I didn't really eat much that night, like I mentioned the food was starting to wear on me.

Friday morning we had some training from Gibson Pro Audio. They got us box lunches for the bus ride...which, I appreciate and all...but they got nothing but Almond chicken salad sandwiches which were just nasty to me. And they didn't get anything for the vegetarians and even made a stupid snarky remark about it too. I think that lack of consideration really shows someone's true nature and character, and I really dislike it. Anyway, the bus ride back was better since I took some Dramamine before. Took forever, because we caught some of the rain leftover from Tropical Storm Isaac. After checking in I got my car and drove around. Drove over to West Memphis in Arkansas, and around some of downtown Memphis.

Woke up super early today because I needed to drop off two others that were leaving before me. I had 2 hours to kill so I drove down to Mississippi (only 10-15 minutes away) and back. The flight was pretty alright, I had a nice cute girl sit next to me and we chatted for a bit. Now I'm going to unpack all this crap and UNWIND!

Had a really nice conversation today with Ben at Sam Ash, about music. I've said it many times in the last few years, but I REALLY miss having someone to speak to about music. Not just someone that likes music, enjoys hearing music, but someone that - like me - doesn't consider music as something that they really like or love, but rather as just a part of themselves. And important part.

For me, gone are the days of getting in the car with someone and just rocking out to music we both like and singing along like idiots. There are exceptions, to be sure, but when I look to 8-10 years ago the exception was NOT having that happen. I can't remember the last time I was in the car with someone and they actually got excited about me handing them the ipod to pick something to listen to. Now I just get the "oh you can put on whatever, I don't care" reply.

Passivity aside, this underscores a decline in musicblood (the phrase I am using for the rest of this blog entry to describe what I am talking about) that has permeated every facet of my life. When I first started working at Sam Ash I had lots of employees around me that liked similar music to me. Musicians, of course, and sometimes that helps, but sometimes it doesn't at all...point in case, the last few years of working there. Too many diverging musical tastes, all of which ended up being very close minded and unaccommodating. It's one thing to "not mind" listening to new music. It's another to actively seek the new music and embrace it.

Sure, there are many different musical styles and concurrent tastes in those. I'm not even talking about that, I'm talking about musicblood...the energy and spirit BEHIND the love of music, behind the appreciation and excitement of music.

Part of it is moving away from a lot of those people that were like that. Almost all of the newer friends I've made in the last 5-6 years have not really shared the musicblood. Sure, some of them are music fans, and some of them even really love listening to music but...it's just not there.

I miss being able to hang out with people and talk about music. About bands. Share them. Critique them. Go through an album and discuss the finer details. Jump in my car with someone and share a high spirited, belting out lyrics at the top of our voices, rocking out session.

*sigh*

Poop in the mouths of the inconsiderate.

I've had one of the worst, most miserable allergy-ridden days of my life today.

It started with the car rental this morning. He offered me a Jeep but wasn't sure if it had an AUX in (which is a necessity for my long drives and anxiety) so I ended up with the only other car that was ready, a car which had just been returned. Unfortunately, the assholes who had the car before me had dogs in the car, and didn't bother to clean up. I noticed a few pet hairs on the carpet but a quick glance didn't show more (it was dark hair) so I just took it. BIIIIIG mistake.

The car is FULL of pet hair. It's dark. And I didn't notice this until I had a full blown allergy attack halfway across alligator alley. It's not the rental agency's fault because I took the car before he could clean it. But those people...I hope those dogs poop in their mouths while they sleep tonight. INCONSIDERATE ASSHOLES.

Anyway, I tried my best to drive with the windows down, but that wasn't always feasible due to phone calls and meetings. 3+ hours in that car though, did me in. I spent the rest of the day with on and off allergy attacks. When I finally reached my last store visit of the day, I had been recovering from the last attack. Unfortunately though, I guess that store had a really high dust level, because after an hour I started having an attack. It didn't stop for the next 3 hours. My right eye was almost completed closed. My nose would not stop dripping and my eyes would not stop crying. It was terrible. I kept running to the bathroom to wash my face, and it did not help.

This ended up giving me a migraine. When I finally got to the hotel, I took an hour long bath. It didn't entirely help, but it helped a bit. After I decided to take a cold shower....for 20 minutes. That did the most good. The migraine started going away.

I feel MUCH better now...although the allergies are still killing me. I have tissues stuffed in my nose, that's the only way it's somewhat manageable. I've taken allergy pills but they don't seem to be doing much....baaaaaaaah.

ATTN Chick Fil A bandwagon protesters:

A few things for you to note...
1) First off, Chick-Fil-A's gay-unfriendliness is nothing new. They have contributed to their Winshape organization (which has then in turn contributed to some other gay-unfriendly organizations) for many years now. This is nothing new, so cool your angry jets.
2) If you want to take a stand, that is more than fine. Just make sure you do your research before jumping on angry "we are being repressed" bandwagons. By recent interactions, I know a lot of you that are calling for CFA "boycotts" are working under the bare minimum of information on the matter. You are just mad at recent events. READ UP ON THINGS BEFORE YOU START YELLING AT PEOPLE.
3) This "if you like Chick-Fil-A" we can't be friends business, is really dumb, and a poor showing of where your priorities lie...basically, you value over-emotional attachments to causes over rationale, and what real friendships consist of.
4) Most of these protesters lie on the more liberal side of things, so you can understand this: You don't like when a Christian claims you are a bad person for not believing in Christianity, correct? It's ignorant of them, and how dare they try to push their values on us, right? Well, same thing applies to this "if you eat at Chick fil a you are a bad person/not my friend" mentality: you are now forcing someone to accept your views wholeheartedly, or face being rejected by you. Obviously there are more complications in this case, but the core principle remains the same.


Long story short...if you have a problem with Chick fil A and you have thoroughly researched the cause of that and want to boycott them...that's great. You are even entitled to attempt to share your cause.

You are NOT, however, entitled to
shove it down my throat. You are NOT entitled to cast aspersions on my character and imply I am not a good person due to my refusal to boycott said company. You are also not entitled to put my friendship with you into question due to this matter. (i speak not in terms of "free speech" here, but rather in terms of "being a good, rational person" and "being a good REAL friend")

Have some sense. I've said this before, and I will say this again, I am friends with all of you because you are all generally NOT idiots. Don't start now, please. =]


And for the record, I think Dan Cathy is a goddamned (see what I did there?) idiot. Aside from his comments themselves being something I disagree with, he had no business speaking of his family and company's viewpoint on this matter. Not th
at he shouldn't be allowed to speak his mind just because I disagree with it, but rather that I think a fast food restaurant is a business. Any religious/family/etc ideals should be kept internally because at the end of the day, serving someone chicken as a christian is not inherantly different than serving them as an atheist, agnostic, jew, etc.

It should not be "would you like a side of jesus with that sandwich."

That being said, I enjoy their food. I will continue to eat it. Maybe not as much as I used to. Maybe my position will change, and I will feel a stronger need to not support them. For now though, I don't see and issue with it, and you really shouldn't give me shit about it, and imply I'm not a good person or friend because of it.

They got the sirens loose, I ran right outta juice

Went up to Jacksonville this week. Barely spent any time IN Jacksonville though, as out of my 3 days there I spent one day in Daytona, and one in Tallahassee. This was my first time in Tallahassee ever. The drive over from Jax was nice, mostly 2 lanes but in nice tree-laden straights, with a few hills. Being from South Florida, land of flat and medium sized trees, these super tall trees always catch my attention.

This was my first time doing the store visit in Tallahassee, and it was nice. Smaller store, but it's laid out nice and the staff was very excited to have me there. They were all very cool and down to earth. Wish they were closer so I could visit more often!

After the visit I got to spend some time with Dana. I hadn't seen her in quite a while, and I came to realize that I had never actually hung out with her, just her and me. Carolyn was always there. It was nice! We drove around a bit and explored. She showed me Lichgate, this hidden little park with a huge sprawling oak tree and some community gardens. We also did the Museum of Florida History, a free (donations suggested, but not required) museum of natural history related to Florida. It was surprisingly nice! There were some very cool displays, including the inside of a Florida orange house, a 2 floor steamboat, and an upstairs area called "Grandma's Attic" which is full of many things for kids to play with. There's a surveillance camera that shoots a feed to an old style TV downstairs so that parents can watch their kids play without having to go up. After we drove out west a bit, and explored some neighborhoods. It was getting slightly foggy, so it was pretty cool!

Of course, I ended up leaving my Sunpass transponder in the rental car. I do too good a job hiding it behind the rearview mirror so I don't see it while driving, but it makes it so that I keep missing it...second time this happens! Thankfully they have it at Lost and Found and they will be sending me it this week.

Productivity...maybe.

I managed to finish editing the photos I shoot this week, today. And spent an hour organizing my scheduled Flickr uploads with loadlater. The website is cool, but like FlickrQ has some drawbacks. I'm very annoyed by the fact that the description field stops about 3 sentences in and you cannot write anymore. Also the interface has potential but is executed very poorly. It's too hard to see what's going on, especially when you have more than a few photos in the queue.

I might have to end up going with one of the desktop schedulers if they have a better interface that's easier to use. I'm still put off by the fact that the computer HAS to be on for it to work though. It limits me to posting only when my computer is on and online, and there's also the headache of which computer to use...since I won't have my home computer with me when I'm traveling for work, but my work one I dislike working with for photos. Not to mention that now Id have to actively take a step to have the photos upload (namely having to turn the computer on, especially on days I might not be using the computer in question) which sorta defeats the purpose of using the scheduled uploads. We shall see.

Angry cop was angry.

So I just had an interesting encounter with a very angry police officer.

I was driving on 75, when I passed a vehicle. I was not the fastest driver on the road, and frankly I was going about the flow of traffic speed. Said vehicle was following close behind another car. As soon as I pass the vehicle (and this passing was not done close the other car, nor at a fast speed), the car pulls out quickly behind me and turns their police lights on.

Great.

The guy is ON MY FUCKING ASS, driving like an asshole, as I'm pulling over. I can't slow down as fast as I'd like once I'm on the shoulder, because he's ON MY ASS. So I come to a stop, and instead of getting behind me he pulls up next to me. I figured he's gonna yell at me and drive off, or maybe tell me my back light is out. I roll my window down and get greeted with "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING" yell at me in the most unexpectedly abrasive and angry manner. I am very thrown off by this reply, and it takes me a moment to say in my most humble, yet confused, voice "I'm just trying to get home sir."

At my comment, rage explodes on his face and he grabs his radio, and yells at me "I'm on the way to an accident call, but I'm going to call another officer so he can take care of this." He calls but waits and gets no reply. He starts yelling to me again: "I'm on my way to an accident, and your stupid ass decides to blow right by a state trooper car. What the hell is wrong with you." He looks at me and I have nothing to say, because I am truly dumbfounded by this insane amount of animosity this guy is throwing at me. I'm also at a loss for what to do or say, because while I've been able to talk my way out of tickets before, this guy just opened up with hostility and irrationality. So I don't say anything but he immediately responds with "ANSWER ME!" I say "I'm sorry officer" and he doesnt let me finish talking, interjecting with "OH LET ME GUESS YOU DIDNT KNOW HOW FAST YOU WERE GOING." I reply (VERY calmly) that I did not say that. He said something else which I forgot and I reply again with "Officer I'm sorry but I never said that." He flips and screams "I cannot believe your goddamned attitude" and opens his door, slams it and comes over and asks for my ID. He takes it (doesn't take insurance or anything else and gets back to his car). He radios for a check on my license and starts mumbling to himself outloud again about how he cannot believe my attitude and how I'm wasting his time and he has an accident to go to.

At this point I'm starting to realize the internal war being waged in this guys mind...should he continue to fuck with me and make my life hell because I happened to pass his car (even though there were other cars driving the same speed and faster) while he was in the middle of having a titty fit, or get to the accident that he has already responded to. Those 20 seconds or so took forever, and he finally gets out of the car and hands me back my license.

He ask if I've had any tickets in the last 6 months. I say no, and he goes "Well you better damn not be lying, because when I check later if you do I'm going to issue a warrant for your arrest." He slams his door again, and then cuts me off as he gets back on the road.

If I'm going to get a ticket, I'm going to get a ticket. Like I said I've gotten out of them before but it's just inevitable sometimes. This guy has some serious anger issues, and I really hate the fact that people like this are out there enforcing laws. Obviously I caught him at a bad moment...but no police officer should ever allow those emotions to run so wild as to misuse their power. Granted, this wasn't a big deal and he left me alone, but I am just talking in generalities.