I love Dell. I know I've said it before, but seriously, they're fantastic. Sure they're only this great so I will retain brand loyalty to them for the rest of my computing needs in life, but you know what? It worked. I will remain loyal to them because as I said before, they're AWESOME.
They sent me a free new computer after Microsoft screwed up my old one with Service Pack 3. I was expecting the same basic computer, but a little shinier. What I got instead was the next generation up. I'm running Windows Vista, I now have a webcam and microphone built in, I have a number-pad on the keyboard.....there's just tons of stuff to love.
I can't wait to get home from work so I can finish putting my old music and movie files on it and play with it some more.
The moral of the story is to always purchase the warranty on your computers. It may have cost me an extra couple hundred, but I just got a new laptop worth over $3K for free out of it.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Starting the new year off with some righteous anger
New Year's Eve was fun. I'm staying with friends I haven't seen in a while in New York and will be returning to LA on Sunday, but sadly not all is right with the world in the dawn of '09.
I started my current job in February of '08. When I was hired, I signed an employment agreement which stated that I was to receive a "year end performance based bonus." This bonus is meant range from about 1-3 month's salary in amount. When you're a broke Hollywood assistant, this is huge. The agreement also stated that I was to receive this bonus no later that December 20th.
Well, it's been two weeks since December 20th, and I haven't seen a dime. I emailed my bosses about it days ago, but haven't heard jack shit from them. I don't want to pester them about it, because that would just make them arbitrarily decide that my "job performance" wasn't as good and that they could give me the minimum amount the agreement stated.
So I'm owed a chuck of money. And to top it all off I checked my bank account this morning and saw that the direct deposit regular salary I have coming to me has not yet arrived either, but that's probably just the payroll company being a day late because of the holidays (but if I don't get that soon I'll be really pissed).
The bonus is what's getting me really mad though. This isn't like I'm whining about not getting an extra christmas bonus from my bosses out of the kindness of their hearts. This is about me being denied money that was promised to me. This bonus was the reason I stayed with this job so long and never looked for another one despite the fact that I don't have any health insurance.
There were plenty of jobs I could have applied to this past year. I know because I took the postings and sent them to friends of mine. I even had someone offer me a job flat out when they connected with me through my college alumni network. I'm starting to think that maybe I should have taken it. I would have been working for more established people and gotten paid better.
So basically, no matter what my job search is going to kick into high gear now. I'm not going to quit my current job until I have a new one, but you can bet that I'm not going to be going the extra mile at the office until I get paid. In fact, I'll probably be doing things like posting on this blog and searching for jobs while I'm there.
In a way it's good. I've been looking to move on anyway, and this gives me the perfect excuse to leave. And if they're dicks about paying me what I'm owed, I can also let some people in the assistant grapevine know what my bosses are actually like, and that they don't pay their employees. They're two guys trying to get credibility around town, and you can bet that a rep for not being able to pay people will make you look pretty stupid pretty quickly.
I started my current job in February of '08. When I was hired, I signed an employment agreement which stated that I was to receive a "year end performance based bonus." This bonus is meant range from about 1-3 month's salary in amount. When you're a broke Hollywood assistant, this is huge. The agreement also stated that I was to receive this bonus no later that December 20th.
Well, it's been two weeks since December 20th, and I haven't seen a dime. I emailed my bosses about it days ago, but haven't heard jack shit from them. I don't want to pester them about it, because that would just make them arbitrarily decide that my "job performance" wasn't as good and that they could give me the minimum amount the agreement stated.
So I'm owed a chuck of money. And to top it all off I checked my bank account this morning and saw that the direct deposit regular salary I have coming to me has not yet arrived either, but that's probably just the payroll company being a day late because of the holidays (but if I don't get that soon I'll be really pissed).
The bonus is what's getting me really mad though. This isn't like I'm whining about not getting an extra christmas bonus from my bosses out of the kindness of their hearts. This is about me being denied money that was promised to me. This bonus was the reason I stayed with this job so long and never looked for another one despite the fact that I don't have any health insurance.
There were plenty of jobs I could have applied to this past year. I know because I took the postings and sent them to friends of mine. I even had someone offer me a job flat out when they connected with me through my college alumni network. I'm starting to think that maybe I should have taken it. I would have been working for more established people and gotten paid better.
So basically, no matter what my job search is going to kick into high gear now. I'm not going to quit my current job until I have a new one, but you can bet that I'm not going to be going the extra mile at the office until I get paid. In fact, I'll probably be doing things like posting on this blog and searching for jobs while I'm there.
In a way it's good. I've been looking to move on anyway, and this gives me the perfect excuse to leave. And if they're dicks about paying me what I'm owed, I can also let some people in the assistant grapevine know what my bosses are actually like, and that they don't pay their employees. They're two guys trying to get credibility around town, and you can bet that a rep for not being able to pay people will make you look pretty stupid pretty quickly.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
I just woke up and was told that it's tomorrow
I just woke up at 10am in New York on New Years Eve and got a message from a friend in Sydney Australia. It's after 2am on Jan 1st there. I just woke up, don't even know what I'm doing for party stuff tonight, and for some the party is already over.
Freaking weird...
Freaking weird...
Monday, December 29, 2008
So, some stuff has happened
Here's what's happened since I last posted.
Flying out Friday night my flight was delayed a couple hours due to weather (though none of it was in LA), nearly making me miss my connecting flight at JFK, I really didn't want to miss this flight. It was Christmastime, in the snow, with tons of people flying, and I knew that if I didn't make my connection I'd be stuck at an airport for hours if not days.
We land at JFK, and luckily I get out just in time to see that my connecting flight has been delayed half an hour. I get to the gate just as they should be letting us board. There were about 5 different flights all leaving from the same gate, so there was nowhere to sit, barely room to stand. Of course this meant that some airport jackass had to drive through us with an empty oversized golf cart.
They delayed the flight half an hour again. And again. And again. Every time they said that we should not leave the boarding area. I was running on no sleep, and kinda pissed. Two and a half hours after we were supposed to take off we finally got on the plane. I was ecstatic. We learned that part of why we were delayed was that some asshole had ripped up some of the emergency track lighting on the plane's previous flight, and they had to fix that with shorthanded staff.
But I was ok, because I knew we were finally leaving for my 40 minute flight to Burlington, VT. Or so I thought. We then had to wait two hours on the plane for the de-icer. Then another two hours for the runway to take off. I was beginning to consider what life would be like living on that plane on that runway, how the view would change as the seasons passed. Finally we took off, landing 40 minutes later in a city with 3 feet of snow. 15 hours earlier I had been in Los Angeles. This was an adjustment.
I had worn my winter hiking boots for the first time in two years, noticing a crack across the soles of each of them when I put them on. They were old boots, but I figured they could last the trip. They did not. By the time my brother met me at the airport the heel of one of them had cracked open like the San Andreas fault and all the rubber had fallen out from the inside. In all my years of living in New England I had never seen boots do something like that. It was pretty fucking weird.
Burlington was fun. I hung out with all my brother's hippie friends, even played wingman for some of them a few nights, getting them some play. I felt good about myself.
On Christmas Eve my brother and I set out for the 5 hour drive from VT to my parents' place on Cape Cod. We learned after we had been on the road for an hour that we were going to a fancy dinner at 5pm with our whole family. We tried to haul ass to get there in time, but got stuck in more traffic, and ended up getting there an hour late, unshaven, and having not showered. Not sure how I smelled, but I'm sure it wasn't great.
Christmas was nice, although my brother gave me some kind of crazy feverish Burlington cold he had, so I've been sick on my parents' couch the past few days. Now I'm recovering enough to go to New York in a couple days for some new year's eve fun.
Flying out Friday night my flight was delayed a couple hours due to weather (though none of it was in LA), nearly making me miss my connecting flight at JFK, I really didn't want to miss this flight. It was Christmastime, in the snow, with tons of people flying, and I knew that if I didn't make my connection I'd be stuck at an airport for hours if not days.
We land at JFK, and luckily I get out just in time to see that my connecting flight has been delayed half an hour. I get to the gate just as they should be letting us board. There were about 5 different flights all leaving from the same gate, so there was nowhere to sit, barely room to stand. Of course this meant that some airport jackass had to drive through us with an empty oversized golf cart.
They delayed the flight half an hour again. And again. And again. Every time they said that we should not leave the boarding area. I was running on no sleep, and kinda pissed. Two and a half hours after we were supposed to take off we finally got on the plane. I was ecstatic. We learned that part of why we were delayed was that some asshole had ripped up some of the emergency track lighting on the plane's previous flight, and they had to fix that with shorthanded staff.
But I was ok, because I knew we were finally leaving for my 40 minute flight to Burlington, VT. Or so I thought. We then had to wait two hours on the plane for the de-icer. Then another two hours for the runway to take off. I was beginning to consider what life would be like living on that plane on that runway, how the view would change as the seasons passed. Finally we took off, landing 40 minutes later in a city with 3 feet of snow. 15 hours earlier I had been in Los Angeles. This was an adjustment.
I had worn my winter hiking boots for the first time in two years, noticing a crack across the soles of each of them when I put them on. They were old boots, but I figured they could last the trip. They did not. By the time my brother met me at the airport the heel of one of them had cracked open like the San Andreas fault and all the rubber had fallen out from the inside. In all my years of living in New England I had never seen boots do something like that. It was pretty fucking weird.
Burlington was fun. I hung out with all my brother's hippie friends, even played wingman for some of them a few nights, getting them some play. I felt good about myself.
On Christmas Eve my brother and I set out for the 5 hour drive from VT to my parents' place on Cape Cod. We learned after we had been on the road for an hour that we were going to a fancy dinner at 5pm with our whole family. We tried to haul ass to get there in time, but got stuck in more traffic, and ended up getting there an hour late, unshaven, and having not showered. Not sure how I smelled, but I'm sure it wasn't great.
Christmas was nice, although my brother gave me some kind of crazy feverish Burlington cold he had, so I've been sick on my parents' couch the past few days. Now I'm recovering enough to go to New York in a couple days for some new year's eve fun.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Redeye flights and packing like a champion
I'm about to leave LA on the redeye flight tonight to go to the Northeast for two weeks. The reason I'm being nonspecific and saying "Northeast" is that I'm not just going to Boston. I'm flying to NYC, then right on to Burlington VT, driving through Boston to Cape Cod, going back to Boston, then going to New York for New Year's Eve and then finally flying back to LA.
I hate dealing with checked baggage, and since I'm going to be running around all over the place having a big suitcase would really be a pain in the ass, so I'm just going carry-on. Not even packing liquids so I can get through security super-fast (although being as nerdy and caucasian as I am I rarely get stopped, and when I do it's just for about 3 seconds).
I have not packed. Plus, I have to do some laundry before I can pack, otherwise I'll be packing dirty clothes with the intention of washing them when I get back east. I am at work today, which usually goes until 7pm but I'm going to try to get out early, that way I can actually get laundry done, pack for two weeks of very cold weather, and get to the airport in time to have a couple drinks at the Delta terminal bar before getting on the redye.
I like redeyes because you don't lose a whole day of your vacation to the traveling. Plus it's fun to hang out at the bar before the flight and get on the plane a bit buzzed. And almost nobody brings little kids on redeyes. Don't get me wrong, I love kids, but not when they're screaming on flights, or when they decide to share the cold they got in Miss Flickenberger's 1st Grade class with the rest of a Boeing 737. People don't bring kids on redeyes unless they're really strapped for time or if they really don't like their kids.
Sure, I'll be kind of a zombie tomorrow probably and want to take a nap, but I'll be in my brother's place in VT, so that won't really be a problem. A good nap will help me rally before we head out into the frigid north to get a few drinks around Burlington, which I hear is a pretty fun town.
I hate dealing with checked baggage, and since I'm going to be running around all over the place having a big suitcase would really be a pain in the ass, so I'm just going carry-on. Not even packing liquids so I can get through security super-fast (although being as nerdy and caucasian as I am I rarely get stopped, and when I do it's just for about 3 seconds).
I have not packed. Plus, I have to do some laundry before I can pack, otherwise I'll be packing dirty clothes with the intention of washing them when I get back east. I am at work today, which usually goes until 7pm but I'm going to try to get out early, that way I can actually get laundry done, pack for two weeks of very cold weather, and get to the airport in time to have a couple drinks at the Delta terminal bar before getting on the redye.
I like redeyes because you don't lose a whole day of your vacation to the traveling. Plus it's fun to hang out at the bar before the flight and get on the plane a bit buzzed. And almost nobody brings little kids on redeyes. Don't get me wrong, I love kids, but not when they're screaming on flights, or when they decide to share the cold they got in Miss Flickenberger's 1st Grade class with the rest of a Boeing 737. People don't bring kids on redeyes unless they're really strapped for time or if they really don't like their kids.
Sure, I'll be kind of a zombie tomorrow probably and want to take a nap, but I'll be in my brother's place in VT, so that won't really be a problem. A good nap will help me rally before we head out into the frigid north to get a few drinks around Burlington, which I hear is a pretty fun town.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
I miss Firefly
I have a little "quote of the day" gadget on my Google homepage, and one of the ones on there today was from Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog. This inspired me to look up Joss Whedon quotes in general (including one of my favorites: "Always be yourself. Unless you suck"). I then started reading quotes from the short-lived series Firefly.
I haven't watched any of these episodes in a while, but reading these quotes makes me remember why I loved it so much. I wish it were still on.
I'm excited to see what Dollhouse will be like, and I'm sure I'll be a fan of the show, but it's no Firefly I'm sure. Firefly is the show that made me first get on the Joss Whedon bandwagon, made me really want to write for television, specifically one of his shows. I learned the ins and outs of the 4 act TV structure by watching those episodes so many times that I started noticing the details of the structure.
Every single episode of Firefly can be described on a scale from "very good" to "amazing". Had the series continued, I doubt that every episode would have been good. Every show has it's ups and downs. But I do believe that the series as a whole would have continued to be excellent. It's a show I wish I had been able to write for, and even though never saw it on the air (I like many others discovered it on DVD), I miss it.
I haven't watched any of these episodes in a while, but reading these quotes makes me remember why I loved it so much. I wish it were still on.
I'm excited to see what Dollhouse will be like, and I'm sure I'll be a fan of the show, but it's no Firefly I'm sure. Firefly is the show that made me first get on the Joss Whedon bandwagon, made me really want to write for television, specifically one of his shows. I learned the ins and outs of the 4 act TV structure by watching those episodes so many times that I started noticing the details of the structure.
Every single episode of Firefly can be described on a scale from "very good" to "amazing". Had the series continued, I doubt that every episode would have been good. Every show has it's ups and downs. But I do believe that the series as a whole would have continued to be excellent. It's a show I wish I had been able to write for, and even though never saw it on the air (I like many others discovered it on DVD), I miss it.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Total bummer
Remember my rage a couple months back that Microsoft had killed my computer until Dell came in to fix it? Well it's happened again.
Microsoft autoupdates installed Service Pack 3, and my computer could no longer boot windows normally. It was pretty similar to what happened last time, so I'm fairly certain that the video card was fried, just like last time. But this time it was a brand new video card, not an older one.
I learned my lesson and called Dell right away instead of trying to deal with Microsoft tech support guys in Mumbai, but he wasn't able to fix it. Instead, they're sending me a new computer, which is cool of them.
It'll be a pain in the ass to get my old files off my old computer (especially music and stuff like that) but it'll be a newer machine, which is nice. Another downside though is that they may only have the red casing for the laptop, not the black. So in the future I may be writing on a computer that looks like it was built to launch nuclear missiles from the Kremlin.
Microsoft autoupdates installed Service Pack 3, and my computer could no longer boot windows normally. It was pretty similar to what happened last time, so I'm fairly certain that the video card was fried, just like last time. But this time it was a brand new video card, not an older one.
I learned my lesson and called Dell right away instead of trying to deal with Microsoft tech support guys in Mumbai, but he wasn't able to fix it. Instead, they're sending me a new computer, which is cool of them.
It'll be a pain in the ass to get my old files off my old computer (especially music and stuff like that) but it'll be a newer machine, which is nice. Another downside though is that they may only have the red casing for the laptop, not the black. So in the future I may be writing on a computer that looks like it was built to launch nuclear missiles from the Kremlin.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)