Staple removing

Our office uses applications that have two staples in the top to hold them together. Since we're switching to a paperless system, I have to pull the staples out of these applications and cut the tops off.

Today was a very busy day, so I decided to do an experiment. After cutting the tops off, I set them aside to destaple at home. I came home with a pile of them.

After pulling out the staples, it amazes me that it took me a half hour. That's a half hour each day just to remove the staples from these document tops, and I'm just one worker!

Of course, it occurred to me that once we go paperless, we won't be doing this anymore. I wonder what I'll do with that extra half hour a day?

Paperless = time savings. A lesson well learned.

Reactivating my blog

I'm going to try to write something every day. I'll take bets as to how long this lasts.

I guess I feel like I have a lot to say. I don't always know what.

Also, I'm a big fan of Star Trek, and I'm going to use this as my Captain's Log. :)

So today, I'm going to try to talk to the world. Hello all!

So, my first album just went CC (which means you can download it for free)

Here's the link/box:

Free music for professional licensing

Anywho, I've been floored by the flood of comments on my release of this old album for free. I'm contemplating doing another free release soon. Hey, when it's free, it means that people spread it, right? And maybe come to a show? Let's hope!

Tooth brushing

I noticed something about myself the other day. I want to ensure that I'm not crazy, so I'm posting, for the world to see, my observation, in the hopes that some of you have dealt with this, too.

So I've noticed that, when other people are around me while I'm brushing my teeth, I become very concious of how long it takes for me to brush them.

Now, I brush them well, with or without someone in earshot. Don't get me wrong. It's just that it seems like if someone else is there, I feel the need to show off, and brush for a lot longer.

I notice it most of all when my girlfriend and I are brushing our teeth at the same time. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't watching her to make sure that I didn't finish way before her.

I think that it's one of those little ways in which we all are a little insecure. The last thing I want to do is appear as though I don't care as much as they do, right?

One of those little things...

First post back.

I'm a busy bee.

The last few months, I've been training at my new position with Anoka County's Human Services department. I'm also working with my brand new band, The Crucial Step.

Anywho, things are going well. Expect more posts as I come up with things to talk about. Until then, check out some of these cool fun facts:

"Wiki" is a hawaiian word.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has more french speakers than France has.

and The Cardigans are one of the top 5 best selling Swedish bands of all time.

I'll be back for more later on!

Our Generation

Background:

This week, I found out that at least three, and likely six, of my guitar students are quitting in two weeks. This is difficult, as that represents a significant chunk of my income. And because I no longer work for a music store (GuitarZone being another victim of the recession) I have little ability to quickly fill the lost time slots.

Furthermore, I was hoping that I would get a position at another company that I applied for, and I found out this morning that I'm not getting it.

So here I am, reduced to under twenty hours of work per week starting in September, and I'm hitting the pavement everyday looking for new employment. Unfortunately, like so many of you, it just isn't happening.

Here's where I have a problem with this, and here's where we all should have a problem with this: I did everything right.

I ran my own enterprise, so that I could work thirty hours a week while going to school. I worked hard, and have a degree now. When I graduated from high school, I was told that going to college would ensure my future.

Look at that future now. Here we are, after four hard years, and I know more college graduates waiting tables than I know who have jobs. Our entire generation, pushed to the brink, while the greed-mongers of the prior generations still maintain control.

No, I'm not picking on everybody over the age of thirty here. I'm picking on the ones who, for the last twenty years, saw risk as surmountable by duping the poor into thinking they could afford more. I'm picking on the ones who, for the last twenty years, lived a lifestyle of decadent opulence. I'm picking on the ones who, for the last twenty years, saw outsourcing as a solution, and as a result, forced the value of a college education down, while telling us all, "you can't get anywhere without a college degree."

Well, because that generation sent all those great jobs that you "didn't need a degree to do" overseas, now I'm competing in a tight job market with hordes of good students. It used to be that the schooling would set you apart. Not anymore.

I truly believe that once we, our generation, gets into power, after having worked ourselves to bone during this recession, we are going to push things in a different direction. And yes, it will be a scary direction for those who let this happen.

If I were a middle aged politician right now, here is what I would be thinking (or should be thinking): here we have a bunch of constituents (18-30 year olds) who did everything as we told them. They went to school in bigger numbers, and now they have huge student loan debts that they can't afford, because of the recession that we accidentally helped create. If we don't help them, they are going to turn on us.

Funny, didn't the party in power push the youth vote? How are those same youth going to react to their situation stagnating, or getting worse? Think that same party will get as many youth voters next time?

You see, I'm mad because I did everything right. My generation did everything right. And here's the point: if we don't see some help from politicians, if not some outright concessions, our generation isn't going to like them anymore. Our generation won't want to play nice when we are in power, and they become the aging population. And honestly, THAT should scare every person in this country.

Tie

Today I learned how to tie a tie.

Interesting, no? Put it around your neck. Loop once, twice, up through the neck hole than down through the last loop you made. Tighten.

I guess I never learned before, any time I needed a tie I was a small child, so my mom would do it, or it was a clip on.

There was something strangely unfamiliar about the feeling. The fabric around the neck. The tightness at the collar. It's been five years since my last prom, which I think is the last time I needed to wear one.

I guess what was weirdest about it was that I was actually enjoying it. For me, I think it represents a chance to start something new. Also, it represents a chance to crack my way into a new population that I've never been a part of: the urban professional.

It isn't hard. Two loops and pull it up, then down. I could have done this as a kid.

I really could have done this as a kid.

It always seemed like it would be so hard. You go through the motions as a child, and it seems so far away. Yet, here I am, looking at that image in the mirror.

And, I'll admit it. I'm afraid because it wasn't so hard.

I could have done this as a kid. Really.