right on bro!

I traded in like 10 old Playstation 2 games today at Gamestop. Walked away with a copy of “Lethal Skies II” and about a dubski worth of credit, which I’ll probably hold until SOCOM II comes out.

So, let me get this straight. I spend approximately $500 dollars over the past 3 years on video games. At the end of the three years, I can trade them back in for about 13% of their value (approximately $63). In turn, this company marks these games back up and re-sells them, making an additional profit off of what I’ve already spent the first time around.

Well, better I get something new to play instead of having 10 games lying around that I’ll never touch again. I’m too lazy to try to sell these joints on Ebay.

The only games I kept are my copies of SOCOM, PowerSpike Beach Volleyball, ICO, Hot Shots Golf 3, Final Fantasy X. Everything else said c-yuh! including my copies of MLB Slugfest ‘04 and NBA Street Vol.2, between which I probably spent a total of 30 minutes playing time before I decided I didn’t like them.

The reason that ICO and Final Fantasy X were kept - I’ll probably never play them again, but jesus, those were such fantastically engrossing games.

You know, I should probably just shut up and be happy that I have a pretty decent job, because so many people are out of work these days, jobs are being lost at an alarming rate, etc. But I still can’t help but be angry at what I see as mismanagement in this microcosm of the company I work for.

So…approximately fifty people were laid off at my company this week. I was not one of them. I am not sure whether to be happy that I still have a job.

Highlights:

• EVERYONE knew about the layoffs all week long, before they actually happened. As a result, everyone was super jittery the entire week (including me), which made it hard to concentrate. I saw people lose their cool, who I’ve NEVER seen lose their cool.
• At the beginning of the layoff announcement meeting, the person who was doing the layoffs sized up the audience and said, “This is just like theater in the round!” Then someone gave him a look, and he said, “Oh…no…it’s not like theater in the round.” Do you think it’s appropriate to make jokes after you’ve just laid off a bunch of people? I don’t.
• I also heard a rumor that a couple of pregnant women got laid off, 2-3 months before they were due. Well….
• One of the people on my team was laid off. She was a really hard worker, never complained about staying late. I could always depend on her to do some stuff for me when it came down. Nobody asked me my opinion.
• I also heard a rumor that we will be outsourcing some of our stuff, India-style. I have mixed feelings about outsourcing. I’ve always felt that if you could outsource to a better product, then do it. But it just reminds me of the scene in “Good Will Hunting” where Matt Damon goes off on the NSA people about the effects of him breaking a code.

The odd side of things is now that everyone’s been fired, I’ve been asked to take over what is probably a critical piece of the company product. I have not worked on the company product in quite some time. I don’t know whether to be happy about that or not, since I certainly don’t trust the new senior management and wonder if there’s some ulterior motive. I’ll probably end up doing it anyway since it’s an interesting problem to solve. I probably shouldn’t be a dick about it.

As of tomorrow (the 20th), I will have been with this company for four years. It’s a pretty amazingly long time to have been with a dot-com.

Solid jeetering going on this week, much of which I can’t talk about.

I was just asked today to play guitar in a friend’s band, filling in for their recently-departed guitar player until they find a new one. Friend of mine from back when, used to be in a band with him. Five shows, including the Knitting Factory AlterKnit Lounge, which I’ve played at before and know it’s cool; and some places I’ve never been to but wanted to see, like the Joint, and the Hub.

Strapped on my guitar for the first time in ages tonight. Shit, I’ve forgotten how to play. The finger motions are there but the feel isn’t. Better re-learn by next Saturday….nice work!

A couple of quick new music recommended free MP3 downloads:

“The New Year,” Death Cab for Cutie. A band very much in danger of being 2002’s indie rock darlings and 2003’s indie rock has-beens. (Either that, or I personally was just getting tired of them.) If the rest of their album is anything like this song, there’s no fear of that happening.

Crapehanger. Really nice post-rock steez. Make sure to check out “We Fell 97 Times.” WTF is a crapehanger?

Anemic Dreams. This happens to be my cousin’s band, so this recommendation might sound suspicious in nature. But check out the song “Stain” - beautifully crafted lyrics with a great pop sensibility.

I finally finished my resume site. It’s not bad for a day’s worth of work, and I’m actually not super-jeetered-up over the typography like I usually am.

Yes, I’m looking for a new job. No, I still have my current job. Tomorrow may be a different story though.

Check it out if you are looking for a product manager to run your product or streamline your business; an information architect/user interface designer to put together your very complex Website or develop your new product ideas; or a hands-on generalist to rapidly bring your technology start-up to market. Willing to relocate for the right opportunity.

Also you fools can check it out if you want to see exactly what it is that I’ve been doing.

Places Where I Think I’d Like to Work
· Google
· Rockstar Games
· Start-Up Company That Sells Custom PCs
· Independent record label
· Recording studio (but not as runner)
· Thanks City

Experimenting with audio blogs:
http://www.rightonbro.com/voicemonkey/latest.m3u

A cold came out of nowhere today and scored a solid 8.0 on the Jacked Meter. Great, right before the weekend. I’m drinking gallons of water and taking vitamins right now. Hope it’s not too late.

woke up at 3a.m. to the sound of DWP engineers operating a jackhammer in the middle of the street. this went on until about 6a.m.

feeling quite groggy. but i’m glad they fixed whatever water main problem was there. water main problems suck.

Woke up this morning, to the sound of metal hitting concrete. Like, a pipe dropping.

Went to shower, no water. DWP’s outside my window, working on something.

They’re back. They’re still working. Sidewalk’s wet. I still have water. For now, I guess.

Relatively OK day today, I guess.