Kirklebum’s blog

Yesterday I went into Mountain View for BFD08 and saw the Flobots, Atreyu, MGMT, Anti-Flag, Everlast, The Action Design, DJ AM, Alkaline Trio, Flogging Molly, Pennywise and Cypress Hill. There were a bunch of other bands there, but with three stages I couldn't see them all. I wanted to see The Phenomenauts, but they were playing at the same time as Flogging Molly so I had to miss them. We left before Santogold and Moby played at the techno stage, but I don't really listen to either of them.

Flogging Molly put on an amazing show even though the bassist had two broken bones in his left hand. Pennywise was pretty cool, there were a bunch of fights that broke out during that show.  Anti-Flag and Alkaline Trio kind of sucked. The Action Design was really good, the singer is the girl from Tsunami Bomb. Everlast was really good. I actually kind of liked Atreyu live even though I can't listen to them. But the group that probably stole the show for me was the first one we saw when we got there - the Flobots.

12 Rise

Flobots

We were able to talk our bosses into letting us get a multimedia intern this summer - we're the only department in the whole newspaper to get an intern. So this week our two finalists came for interviews, which was a little interesting since we are going through a long sale process. Our two finalists were masters students in UC Berkeley's journalism program and both are well qualified for the job. It's kind of funny, the three people in our department are all 23-years-old and both the intern candidates are older than us.

So we find out this week that our publisher put a hiring freeze into effect this week. Since interns aren't actual employees, we still get to have ours. Only, to get past the hiring freeze, they want us to hire two. So both our finalists will be offered a position at the paper for the summer. This works out well, but it's going to suck having to train two new people.

I don't remember if I posted it here, but a while back I read this awesome story in the Washington Post about how closed off people are to the world around them.

Anyway, it won a Pulitzer for feature writing.

Normally I park in metered parking right next to the guard shack at the newspaper, but this week was my first week working the day shift at the newspaper after shifting to a multimedia reporting position. I don't have my parking permit for the lot across the street and I didn't have enough quarters for a full day at the meters, so I parked around the corner where parking is free. I figured it would be safe because a bunch of other employees work there, it's two blocks from the police station and it's a busy intersection. So when I got off work at 6 p.m. I was in a really good mood because I could actually go out and do something fun in the evening for once.

No sooner had I turned the key in my ignition I knew I'd had too much faith in man. An explosive sound came from under my car like a Harley Davidson revving its engine.  Immediately I knew my catalytic converter had been stolen because my brother had his stolen down in San Diego a few months ago. I drive a 1991 Toyota 4Runner, which, because if it's high ground clearance and location of the part, is one of the easiest to steal. All a thief has to do is roll under the driver side of the car, right underneath the driver's seat, and undo four bolts and they have the part. People steal catalytic converters because ghetto-ass muffler shops will buy them for $10-50 depending on the model, refurbish them, and sell them for $100-300. Some people also recycle them because they have valuable metals.

So, I file a police report and call up my insurance company. Now, this is where shit starts really sucking. I find out that my insurance was canceled in December because my bill was "paid two days too late." But I never knew this because 1) I never got the bill 2) I paid online in December and the $300 was taken out of my account and 3) I never got the $300 refund check the supposedly sent me. So through some digging I find out that they were sending the stuff to my old address, where my little brother still lives. So I call him and he says he hasn't seen anything from All-State, but oh by the way, the DMV sent something in early January. Turns out the DMV suspended my registration since I was uninsured. So, for the last two months I've been driving uninsured and unregistered. I've spent the last two days trying to straighten all this out, meanwhile dropping a bunch of money on new insurance, a new catalytic converter ($130) and Monday before work I have to hit the DMV and try to get my registration taken care of.

They said they'd resent the $300 refund to my new address, but when I got the e-mail confirmation I notice that the heavily accented guy who I was talking to put my address down as Ralphwood not Rockwood. So I called back and they put a note on my account to change it. I just hope I caught it in time to actually get the damn thing this time.

It's funny how my emotions cycled during this period. I went from anger, to frustration to helplessness to anger again and now I just find the whole thing humorous. I realize that I should have just changed my addresses instead of filing a change of address at the post office because lord knows where all my stuff ended up.

A few days ago a homeless man stole an old lady's purse and ran. Unfortunately for him he did it on a rather busy street and was promptly chased down by three men.

A day or two later, a man brought a baseball bat to a gun fight. Long story short, he got his two friends shot and then hit over the head with his own baseball bat.

Day before yesterday a man on parole called the cops to report a burglary - one that never happened - and forgot to hide his coke and weapons in his living room while he led the cops through his house.

Yesterday a man called the cops because somebody stole his meth.

You know, sometimes I get a little depressed that I work late and don't have much opportunity for a social life and then there are times when I'm just kind of glad I don't get to deal with these people on a regular basis.

But this is the most touching photo I've ever seen.

Kellyfuneral01

I was eating my lunch today and the Sacramento Kings versus Houston Rockets basketball game was on television and there was a touching moment where a fan was out on the court and asked his girlfriend to marry him. Aw, how cute you might say but you'd be quite wrong.

The announcers make a joke about how embarrassing it would be if she said no, and as soon as they say this, the woman looks at the man like he's nuts, leans down, and says something to him and walks off the court quickly. The dude is left just sitting there with a dumb look on his face holding the ring. So the announcers start backtracking and trying to change the subject and the Rockets mascot comes over and starts patting the guy on the back. As they walk off the court and pass near the crowd, somebody hands the guy a beer. My guess is he'll be needing a lot more of those after he sees that he got rejected on national television and NBA All-Star Tracy McGrady was laughing his ass off on the other side of the court.

Now, I'd feel bad for the guy, but come on. Proposing to somebody on a basketball court is about as romantic as scratching your balls - or, if you're a woman, picking your thong-wedgie - I can understand it if you're both basketball players, that might be OK, but if you're just a regular guy, proposing at a sporting event is pretty damn douchebaggy. Never mind that it's overdone and not romantic at all, you'd better be 150 percent sure she'll say yes and that she's not the kind of person that would panic and do something embarrassing or run away.

But hey, who am I to criticize, it takes guts to do something like that. I don't know if I'll ever decide to get married, but if I do, the proposal is going to be something between the two of us, not something that seems like a practical joke or sophomoric trap so that she'll have to say yes if she doesn't want to make me look like a fool in front of thousands of people.

Due to my work schedule, it's rare that I get in bed before 2 a.m., so waking up a 6 a.m. to go snowboarding reeeeaaaally sucks. I'm really glad I'm not driving, I'd definitely fall asleep and crash into a snowbank. Now if only my friends would hurry up and get here - I'm going to be pissed if I woke up earlier than I had to.