National Cemetery dug up:



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Confidential to The Angel:

Thoroughly enjoyed your account of digging for treasure at the junk yard.

When I first saw your photograph (with the image of the lizard on your arm) I thought you might be telling about how you have just become a Kung Fu master after years (or at least months) of secret training at a Shoalin Temple.

So after 2 months of being off of work, submitting my resume lazily from home online through jobs.com, craigslist, etc, I finally decided to go down to the local unemployment center.

Previously I'd had a negative review of the unemployment, or rather Employment, center. I pictured a bunch of unemployed losers standing in line in a crowded office that has notice boards with undesirable jobs posted on them.

This week, Monday I had my appointment for orientation, and as we all filed in as a group for the presentation, I caught sight of myself and the others in the reflection of an office window. We all fit in together. So that meant that either (1) I too am an "unemployed loser", or (2) We're all very employable winners, who made the wise decision to visit the Employment Center!

The orientation in the morning taught me a couple things: One, companies who post job openings on Jobs.com and Craiglist get 100's even 1000's of replies! Two, companies who contact the ECCC (East County Employment Center) of often do not advertise, so as a free member of the center now, I've got a certain edge!

That very Monday afternoon I attended day one of a free weekly CCW (Career Change Workshop). This was great in two ways: One, the lesser, is that now I'm an official Grossmont College Adults School student with a laminated ID card, which means I can get a student discount now!!! Two, the greater reason, is that through three or four tests, I now have a better idea of what kind of jobs I'm suited for, given my experience and personality. The Personality Part is the most interesting... we took the Kiersey-Bates (sp?) personality test, and I learned that I'm an INTJ or an INTP.

That CCW took two afternoons, and today I attended a program called Business Connection, where they invite local businesses to come in and speak and tell about what it takes to get a job with them.

I was there mainly for UCSD Medical Center, but was surprised when I showed interest in Access, a company who provides caregiving. Though my personality profile testing shows that "Caregiving" would be a good choice for me, I don't wanna change no elderly adult diapers! In the past I helped my grandmother use the toilet when she had had a stroke and a fall. So I have some idea of what's involved.

However today I learned that there's a need for "companion" caregiving. Just sitting and watching TV with them might be a required task. I can do that! And it dawned on me... I love old people! I love engaging old people in conversation, and listening to them talk about what it was like to young in the 1920's, 30's and 40's. So this might be a good match for me!

Of course it would only be parttime, but when I told her my neighborhood, she said "Oh we have a lot in that area". So if I can walk a block or two to work, I'll be happy, even at a low wage!

I am so getting one of these! Just as soon as it hits Best Buy! What a brilliant idea! Especially if it's an emergency, you just don't have time to sit there and type a tweet into your phone. Would love to be an early investor in this thing!

"Commode App" for Twitter

(Mountain View, California) September 8, 2009

Black Apps announced today the release of a new Twitter application: Commode App.

The software utilizes a tiny wireless device, mounted discreetly beneath the toilet seat, which automatically posts a tweet when the user uses the restroom, even detailing the official "number" of the event.

Twitter users applauded the release.

"There's been too many times when I'm in a hurry and just don't have time to tweet what I'm doing," says singer King Kooper, frontman for Pennsylvania-based alt rock band Kooper Shard, "and it kills me that I've let my fans down".

Critics decried the product, calling it "prone to error", and basically useless for anyone who's not a single male living by himself.

Makers of Commode App respond by saying "some training is involved to ensure that the CA functions properly for its intended use."

The transmitter has a two-stage light sensor. When the bathroom light is turned on, an automatic tweet is sent announcing something such as "King is using the toilet". The secondary sensor can determine if the seat has been lifted or not. "King's number is #1".

Despite the product still days away from hitting shelves, pre-sales have already hit record numbers, and Black Apps is planning an immediate ramp-up of production.

It's been a long, long rock and roll weekend. Slightly metallic.

On Friday September 6, 2009 my woman and I went up to Viejas for a free show at the Dreamcatcher Lounge. Two tribute bands played, Paperback Writer (Beatles), and Rolling the Stones (Stones) played. Quite nice! Rolling the Stones have some eerily similar-looking band members, such as lead singer Mick Jagged and drumming Bill Why-Man.

Saturday September 7th saw us visit 4th & B for three bands: Uncle Junkie, Gilby Clark, and Souls of We.

Uncle Junkie's lead singer pointed out his 87-year-old Aunt in the audience, who vigorously danced to all his tunes, complete with vertical arm thrusts, even to his lyrics of MF'er etc.

Gilby Clark who was once with Guns & Roses put on a nice show, too.

We were there to see George Lynch (ex of Dokken and of Lynch Mob) play his guitar. Kind of cool! Dang he's looking old and battered. His face, at least. His body is pretty buff, since he's into bodybuilding now. Everyone gets old and dies! Can someone stop this? When we got home we finished watching Dokken's movie (video collection) Unchain the Night, and enjoyed seeing young George again.

Sunday September 8th we drove into the parking lot of the iPayOne Center (formerly the Sports Arena) and noticed some religious protestors there with huge signs, such as "Jesus Saves You From Hell". Well, they're not protesting, they're there to save souls. Unfortunately, I don't think they really "get" ACDC. That album cover with the horns, and the use of the word "hell" in a few song titles. This is not a "satanic" band. Well, not overtly, at least, not by the world's standards in general.

So Monday we continued the "Rock and Roll Weekend" by watching Dave Mustaine's Megadeth in his "That One Night [in Argentina]" video.

While standing in line on Sunday night someone handed us orange vouchers to get into Def Leppard at the Cricket Communications Ampitheatre (formerly Coors Ampitheatre) for "free" (just pay $6.00 facilities fee).

So our "weekend" ended up continuing through Wednesday (last night) when we went down clutching chairs and blankets, fully expecting to get in to General Admission on the lawn. We were taken aback when we were given pretty good seats in Section 304... Just in front of the lawn, but none-the-less, still very sweet!

Poison opened. Those boys had a number of hits, didn't they? Brett Michaels is just a cowboy at heart, and a nice guy, the way he kept thanking the fans and thanking Def Leppard. "Thanks for 22 years of allowing us to do what we love to do".

Def Leppard rocked !!!! The lead singer's voice wasn't really all that good. But Phil Collins the lead guitar was shirtless and pretty danged buff, which was cool. (At least that's what my wife indicated several times!!!! She had a blast, a total blast).

During the evening there were several dressed in 80's "hair band" getups... kind of funny, but also a touching tribute to the era.

One shapely "Betty Page" type in a short leather dress caught my eye. No visible tattoos which I thought was kind of unusual. I pointed her out to my wife, who then playfully but vigorously attacked me with kicks, punches and choke holds. I had to tell her to get off me otherwise we might get kicked out for fighting!

OH HOW COULD I FORGET... I forgot to talk about AC/DC. Pretty amazing show! The effects were pretty awesome, and I love trains, so opening with a video train wreck culminating with explosions, the emergence of the band, and a huge mockup of a wrecked steam locomotive was pretty cool. Later, during "Whole Lotta Rosie", a GIANT inflatable Rosie mounted the loco and tapped her foot to the beat, rocking back and forth.

I missed it because I was out getting more beer, but my woman said that Angus Young did a strip tease to shed himself of most of his schoolboy uniform, ending in his typical "shorts only" outfit. His legs looked pretty good for such an elderly gentleman! (He's only 54, I guess, but that's fifty-four years of hard rock livin'... more like 78 to us who are not rock stars).

The crowd for AC/DC was of course mixed... middle-aged original fans and plenty of their offspring mixed among them.

A chilling noir tale by John R Platt:

http://www.johnrplatt.com/freebie.html

There's a new nightclub in San Diego. It's a secret location, with a password required for entry.

I had never before realized what those black "Invisible Children" vans running around were all about until I stumbled upon the public demonstration described in the story and video in the link behind the picture above.

Very interesting...

Little upstart beer & pizza place in San Diego:

Perusing this San Diego website www.sandiegoreader.com I found a review about this new little pub, the Blind Lady Ale House.

I like the name and logo!

This might not be totally acceptable, because, really, was he even a "robot"?

I'm going to go with HAL from the film 2009: A Space Oddyssey.

And yes he was a robot... you could say his body was the entire spaceship Discovery One!

Why did I choose HAL?

Because he was such a nice robot to begin with. And his choice to kill the entire human crew because he thought they were going to jeopardize the mission... who wouldn't make the same choice given the same confused circumstances?

Quite beautiful... reminds me of 2001: A Space Odyssey a bit... glad to see more of that kind of stuff.


Rendezvous with Rama from Aaron Ross on Vimeo.