meh = a shoulder shrug.

feh = a dismissal.

i’m basically ok with feh.

i do not like meh.

please do not misuse them.

in summary: meh? feh. feh? meh.

I have two la cie hard drives i use as onsite backup for my two computers. the power supply went bad on one, which i verified by switching them out.

emailed la cie technical support at 5:26am pst requesting a replacement.

received a reply at 6:07am pst informing me that my replacement was shipping today.

if that’s not outstanding customer service i don’t know what is.

while we are on the subject of backup:

» you mac people should be using super duper!

» you should have offsite backup as well. we backup to a portable drive that we keep in our safety deposit box. in case of fire or theft, we are ready to restore all those precious memories.

update: new, free power supply arrived in about 1 week. hard drive up and running again. awesome.

with, of course, a bulleted list.

» why no posts? I set aside everything else in my life to concentrate on school. just ask kirk, the man who got our new york apartment sold in the worst recession in fifty years, found us an awesome new house in reading, pa., packed us up and moved us there, and took care of necessary renovations in the new house. i’m the luckiest boy in the world to have him by my side.

» we did indeed sell the old apartment. bittersweet, but oddly enough i very rarely miss new york. i have lots of new friends here, through school and through kirk; reading is a pretty cool town in its way; ten years in new york was really enough in the end; and we had a great buyer. who paid full price for the apartment. in cash. how’s that for being blessed?

» i still stubbornly cling to my prized cell phone number though, the one with the (212) area code. i’ll lose it in september when we redo our phones for local plans. that’s my last tie to the city, and it dies really, really hard with me.

» love the new house. it’s in east reading, a few blocks from the mount penn city line. we looked at dozens of city row homes online, visited a couple of dozen, and picked this one because it had the right combination of good bones (updated electric, good furnace, mostly plastered walls with little of the ’70s paneling that seems requisite here, backyard deck nicely finished) and low price (got a good price in new york, and could pay cash for the house here with the profit + some savings). you read that right — no mortgage. the house is three stories, four bedrooms, one bath, with a full basement. coming from a smallish one bedroom apartment, it seems like acres of space. the cats get lost.

» the house is in the city, and has an urban feel which i like, but there aren’t many businesses within walking distance. so we have a car. that’s huge. it’s a ’99 saturn, another thing that kirk accomplished. although i did negotiate the price over the phone from new york. the city has good buses, though, so hopefully i won’t have to use the car to go to work. but given the way that the city is, you have to use it for most things, like grocery shopping. i do miss the subway, and walking everywhere. a lot.

» school finished up yesterday. i’m now a fully qualified medical office assistant. i can run the front office, process insurance claims, touch type at 45 wpm, administer parental meds (that’s shots in the ass, arm and other places for the laymen), draw blood, and other fun things. not bad for 18 weeks of training. into 18 weeks, they pack most of what most schools do in two years. that’s why i’ve been indisposed. i’ll bet i’ve gone through 2000 note cards studying for tests that came every day. but i got straight a’s, with some a pluses worked in. not bad for an old guy. i have an internship at the reading hospital beginning june 29. hopefully it will lead to a job.

» my complaints about pennsylvania? not many. i like the food, the people are mainly nice, and things are certainly cheaper. incredibly stupid liquor laws, though. at one point last night, i was going to title this post “pennsylvania is the stupidest mother fucking state on the planet”. we’re throwing a graduation party tonight, and i went out last night to buy beer. which, i learn, can only be purchased from “beer stores”. which apparently all close at 8:00. and you can get six-packs from some restaurants, but you pay an arm and a leg. and all wine and spirits are sold only in state-run stores, ensuring that the wine selection truly blows chunks. completely asinine. when we are re-employed, i’m taking a trip to pj’s in inwood and stocking up.

that should do it for now.

any questions? post them in the comments.

i’m starting school on february 16th.

now to be honest that’s a pretty daunting phrase. it’s been a long time since i stretched my brain in such a formal way. of course people learn constantly, but the thought of memorizing vast stretches of whatever gives me pause, a little bit.

i’m going back to be a medical office assistant. i’m not going to get rich doing it, but a career in the medical field is what i’ve always wanted for my last career, so i’m making it happen. all my research — online, talking to people, etc. — tells me that i’ll like it. and if i choose, it can be a springboard for additional training in something else medical. maybe go to night school to be a nurse.

or maybe just stay a medical office assistant.

not sure yet where this path will lead me, but i’m as sure as you can be about these things that i will like what i do, regardless. and that’s the important thing. it’s a good combination of clerical (making appointments, front office tasks) and technical (drawing blood, ekgs, etc.)

i’m buying my books today. that should give me a bit of an idea for what i’ve gotten myself into.

this is a facebook meme that’s currently going around. since i can’t leave well enough alone, i modified it to be “24 true random things about me, and one lie”.

i’m a contrarian. so sue me.

anyway, i’m reposting it here, because i’m lazy and because it was fun to write:

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

Jamie’s Modified Rule: There are 24 true random things about me, and one false one. Can you spot the lie?

1. My first home was in a holler in Kentucky. It was at the top of the holler, which is a good thing when no one has indoor plumbing. Our house was one of the few that had plumbing, though only the toilet was inside. The bathtub, due to space considerations, was on the front porch.

2. My first pet was a dachshund that I named President Nixon.

3. My grandmother was a habitue of Chicago speakeasies, where she gained her lifelong habit of drinking only shots of whiskey. With few women in the speakeasies, many men would buy you mixed drinks that were heavy on the alcohol, and she wanted to carefully control her intake.

4. I French-kissed Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

5. Thinking I was bisexual, I married a woman who later came out as a lesbian. After our divorce she remained one of my best friends. No harm, no foul.

6. My partner Kirk and I were married in the home of Hedwig, the Jane Street Theater, by a Unitarian minister, with the reception hosted by Mistress Formika of Wigstock fame.

7. As a child, I was knocked unconscious when my sixth grade girlfriend hit me over the head with a Pepsi bottle. I had two-timed her.

8. Until my recent break in employment and return to school, I had been continuously employed since age eight.

9. My high school nickname was “Flash”. For various reasons.

10. I have eaten: chitlins, cracklins, rattlesnake, squirrel, andouillette sausage (see: chitlins), tripe, kidneys, liver, octopus, eel, sea anemone, possum, and lots of Peter Luger steak. I have not yet eaten sweetbreads. I was also a vegetarian for ten years, and a vegan for five or so of those.

11. I once picked watermelons, for one day, for very little pay.

12. I got braces on my teeth as a high school graduation present.

13. When younger, I could put both of my feet behind my head and walk on my hands.

14. I advised a high school journalism staff that produced one of the nation’s first desktop-published yearbooks, and the editor of that yearbook got a job after high school making twice what I did as a teacher. I also advised the nation’s first CD-ROM yearbook.

15. I have Morton’s Toe.

16. As a child, I was knocked unconscious when I attempted to take a door off the hinges while standing on a chair. The door’s spring closer, contrary to what I thought, did have some spring remaining.

17. I have owned the domain name “queerspace.com” since 1998.

18. I have been in each of the 48 states of the continental U.S.

19. I shook hands with Bill Clinton.

20. My first car was a 1965 Rambler American 4-door sedan. I paid $200 for it, put nearly 75,000 more miles on it, and sold it for $275.

21. Until I moved to Reading, PA, each time I moved was to successively larger cities.

22. As a child, I was knocked unconscious when diving headfirst into the television. I thought Romper Room was a place I could get to that way.

23. I peed in the bathroom at CBGB’s.

24. I once had a burger and a beer with Anthony Bourdain.

25. I have a lovely one bedroom coop apartment in New York for sale.

i’ve spent the last month getting absolutely nowhere in my job search.

that’s not really true. i put out a limited number of resumes for carefully targeted positions, followed up on nearly every one strenuously, got some valuable feedback that i incorporated into my search, and generally made some limited progress.

still, no interviews.

to be honest, there was a lot remaining that i hadn’t done. i hadn’t contacted the list of recruiters i got from my outplacement guy. and i hadn’t gone to any of the temp-to-perm/employment agency type places. so i decided it was time to fish or cut bait. i took a step back from my desperation to be employed and took stock.

i want to get back to having a more meaningful career. when i taught high school, at the end of the day i could say that my efforts meant something to someone. my previous employer was great to work for, for more than nine years, and i’m eternally thankful that my job elimination was accompanied by a decent severance package and some support in restarting my career. but at the end of the day my successful efforts there meant that someone started or renewed their magazine subscription.

i want that feeling of personal career satisfaction back.

i had been focusing on getting an administrative position in the medical field — i’d always wanted to end up there, a growing career area i thought i’d enjoy. so i investigated going back to school, at reading area community college, or racc. made an appointment with a counselor, and decided that i would either find a program that fit me, or i would redouble my efforts to obtain gainful employment.

am i glad i went. the wonderful counselor quickly assessed my personality, situation, and resources, and recommended their medical office assistant program. it’s a combination of front office skills, and more basic technical skills (drawing blood, giving shots, EKGs, and the like). as the counselor explained, “it’s the guy who calls your name, takes you back, weighs you, and tells you to put the gown on backwards and tie it in the back.” seriously, it’s more than that, but you get the idea.

i’ve made some friends in the medical field here, and i’m told that the training translates well to a variety of positions. the last six weeks of the six month program is an internship, and the placement for the program is 90%+. i ran the numbers, and found that if we hold tight, i can pay for the program and keep us afloat until i graduate in august, using my remaining severance pay + unemployment. it can also be a springboard to other medical careers, if i want to go back to school at night or whatever.

i’m not going to get rich doing it, but i’ll make enough money to live and from what i can tell from my research + talking to people, i’ll be doing something i enjoy.

it’s time to hit the reset button.

sell alaska to the russians for $700 billion.

while we are nationalizing businesses like aig and fannie mae and freddie mac and bear stearns, why don’t we just get it over with and nationalize the health care industry as well?

it’s ironically amusing to me that the bush administration now walks into the sunset having accomplished the most socialist acquisitions in american history. politicians who have screamed for decades about how inefficient it is to have government control and regulation of business are now screaming about the need to take on the financial industry’s bad debt, which was created by the lack of oversight those politicians promoted.

might as well add the entire health care industry to the total weight we assume, since this ship is going to sink anyway. we have spent $816 billion bailing out what we’ve bailed so far. add to that an estimated $1 trillion dollars for assuming the bad debt. add to that the annual deficit of about $500 billion, which does not include the cost of the war in iraq. so add $10 billion a day for that.

add that shit up.

send that shit to china, if we even still can, at who knows what ultimate cost.

and then realize that we’ve done nothing, nothing, nothing to address the financial insolvency of social security, medicare, and medicaid.

it doesn’t matter. no one is going to give you a truly comprehensive look at what’s wrong, so neither candidate is going to give us a truly comprehensive answer. neither obama or mccain. why not? because they can’t be honest about it. and they know it. because there is no fucking answer, that’s why not. actually there’s one answer — america is going to irretrievably sink under the weight of its own accumulated bloat.

how do these all numbers add up?

they add up to rome burning. and everyone has no choice except to fiddle.

time’s take on the controversy surrounding mccain’s comments about prime minister zapatero:

the pain in spain falls mainly on mccain.

classic.

watched her interview with charlie gibson last night. and i can now unequivocally say that charlie gibson is qualified to be vice president.

sarah palin? not so much.

as kirk and i watched, we kept saying that she sounded like she had been given canned answers to give based on keywords in the question. i counted three talking points that she adapts to whatever question is asked:

“that’s basically all about energy. let me talk about that for a while.”
“alaska is near russia. you can see it from the shore.”
“we have to keep america strong and save her from the terrorists.”

andy borowitz thinks she used a magic 8-ball, which may be nearer the truth.

and she wants to go to war with russia, basically.

i hope that the reportage on this eye-opening look into her vapidity doesn’t get lost among the coverage of hurricane ike.

we can’t afford hurricane sarah either.