Saturday, March 08, 2003
I made this little cartoon a few weeks ago... But being in the middle of Black Awareness Month, I thought for sure I'd get some flames. At this point, I don't care. We're gonna go to war, I don't like war, I can make fun of war-mongers if I like. So poopoo to you too! >:]
Once again, this will mean war
Just another old, white, republican bitty that I just can not see eye to eye with. Sorry. I guess the US is a generous country because they've helped limbless vets go to school and get an education! Nevermind that if it wasn't for those wars, those kids wouldn't be limbless. Bah... war, what is it good for??
Mikey was being stupid at 10:36 PM ::
The company I work for -- Freedom Communications, Inc. -- is a family owned company. After decades of being in the media business these family members have decided to move ahead of their parents' expectations and do something they really want to do. The company is up for sale now. In about 6 months or when this particular newspaper gets sold (whichever comes first), I'll know whether I will have new bosses or an unemployment check.
It's not like it was a big shock or anything. Actually, it's more incentive to start looking for better paying jobs elsewhere... namely the DFW area. Rocky and Stephen want me to pack my bags already ... I want and out and they want to accomodate... what great friends! :D
........
That was weird..... they just called... on the phone, right now, to discuss me moving up there. Haha... Stephen didn't believe Rocky, so he had to hear it from the source. It's gonna be so cool! Augh, I can't wait!! Okay, so if anyone out there knows of a good graphic arts/web design/media job up in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, drop me a line!!
In other news...
Albert and I discussed the redesign of the current website that we have to update daily here at work. Since they sorta put me as the pseudo-webmaster for this project at our Internet Committee Meeting a couple of weeks ago, I figured I had deciding power in what should be done.
However, as I attempted to discuss it with Albert, he told me not to work on it until they paid up. Well, he pretty much promised me last week that my next paycheck would see a substantial raise, so I figured, I may as well work on it. Afterall, I'm redesigning the site because right now, I'm embaressed to show that outdated piece of poo to anyone. I want our newspaper to look nice, and I want our website to look nice.
The work that I did on it was NOT difficult or time wasting. I drew up a basic layout, worked on ad placement and color schemes... On Friday, we had another meeting. This time, we were going to meet with the director of advertising... But George (the editor) and Albert were both in the daily budget meeting, leaving Shawn and myself to discuss the future of the webproduct with the two tech guys and the ad director.
Shawn knew nothing, but he sure likes to talk. Javier knows nothing, but he sure likes to talk.... and use big words. Doug, on the other hand... I feel sorry for him. He's the webmaster at the sister newspaper, and gets paid nothing for the work he's doing to help us out. I valued what he was saying, but even he made note that perhaps we shouldn't be wasting time talking about the technical aspect when we should be having talks with the ad director.
That's when talks about the ads and ad placement began. Everyone sort of spoke up, Debbie was trying to figure out what everyone was talking about... and I could tell she was wondering what the hell I was doing in there. Like Shawn said once, "People tend to not listen to the kid with the pink hair." Everytime I tried to speak up, someone would interrupt. Mostly talking more bullshit and getting nowhere. Finally, I spoke up about the ad placement, and showed them my printout of my preliminary redesign.... they went crazy over how nice it was. I presented them with ideas on how to place ads effectively on webpages, weirdly shifting all the attention to me.
As Albert walked into the room, Debbie had to leave... But not after doting on the new design some more. Albert was left kind of at a loss... Later on that evening, Steve -- our general manager -- came up to the graphics dept. and asked how the internet stuff was going. Shawn mentioned that I had made a nice preliminary design and so I showed it to him on the browser. He was impressed, offered suggestions and let me know that I had done a great job. I noticed Albert through the corner of my eye.... he was actually staring at me... almost with resentment.
The evening wore on, and when we got a couple of minutes to talk, one of the copyeditors came over to see the redesign. Word travels fast in a newsroom, and when I showed her Albert began......
"The first thing I told you and you didn't listen. I told you not to work on it until they gave us money... You fucked up majorly. Now you're gonna get screwed out of money."
Well, what else is new... I'm always getting screwed out of money. But that wasn't the reason I worked on it. I want at least SOME of the staff to realize that I do quite a bit of work around here. Too often, Albert gets credit for things I've done... Too often, he doesn't correct them on their assumptions. For instance, the previous night I laid out the "Outdoors" page of the paper, as Albert was putting "finishing touches" on it, a reporter walked by and told him that it was a "pretty layout... very colorful." He said nothing... half joking, I batted my eyelashes and said, "Yup... It's all because of me!" She shot back, "Oh cuz it looks like you are putting so much effort into it." .... uhhh .... So, she actually didn't think that I'd done it... well, fine. Everyone had a hearty laugh... but me.
Well, all I know is that by the end of summer at the very latest, I will be on my way up to greener pastures. We'll see whose laughing when certain ex-graphic editors are serving up pizza buffet at CiCi's, and I'm working at a respected publication.
It's not like it was a big shock or anything. Actually, it's more incentive to start looking for better paying jobs elsewhere... namely the DFW area. Rocky and Stephen want me to pack my bags already ... I want and out and they want to accomodate... what great friends! :D
........
That was weird..... they just called... on the phone, right now, to discuss me moving up there. Haha... Stephen didn't believe Rocky, so he had to hear it from the source. It's gonna be so cool! Augh, I can't wait!! Okay, so if anyone out there knows of a good graphic arts/web design/media job up in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, drop me a line!!
In other news...
Albert and I discussed the redesign of the current website that we have to update daily here at work. Since they sorta put me as the pseudo-webmaster for this project at our Internet Committee Meeting a couple of weeks ago, I figured I had deciding power in what should be done.
However, as I attempted to discuss it with Albert, he told me not to work on it until they paid up. Well, he pretty much promised me last week that my next paycheck would see a substantial raise, so I figured, I may as well work on it. Afterall, I'm redesigning the site because right now, I'm embaressed to show that outdated piece of poo to anyone. I want our newspaper to look nice, and I want our website to look nice.
The work that I did on it was NOT difficult or time wasting. I drew up a basic layout, worked on ad placement and color schemes... On Friday, we had another meeting. This time, we were going to meet with the director of advertising... But George (the editor) and Albert were both in the daily budget meeting, leaving Shawn and myself to discuss the future of the webproduct with the two tech guys and the ad director.
Shawn knew nothing, but he sure likes to talk. Javier knows nothing, but he sure likes to talk.... and use big words. Doug, on the other hand... I feel sorry for him. He's the webmaster at the sister newspaper, and gets paid nothing for the work he's doing to help us out. I valued what he was saying, but even he made note that perhaps we shouldn't be wasting time talking about the technical aspect when we should be having talks with the ad director.
That's when talks about the ads and ad placement began. Everyone sort of spoke up, Debbie was trying to figure out what everyone was talking about... and I could tell she was wondering what the hell I was doing in there. Like Shawn said once, "People tend to not listen to the kid with the pink hair." Everytime I tried to speak up, someone would interrupt. Mostly talking more bullshit and getting nowhere. Finally, I spoke up about the ad placement, and showed them my printout of my preliminary redesign.... they went crazy over how nice it was. I presented them with ideas on how to place ads effectively on webpages, weirdly shifting all the attention to me.
As Albert walked into the room, Debbie had to leave... But not after doting on the new design some more. Albert was left kind of at a loss... Later on that evening, Steve -- our general manager -- came up to the graphics dept. and asked how the internet stuff was going. Shawn mentioned that I had made a nice preliminary design and so I showed it to him on the browser. He was impressed, offered suggestions and let me know that I had done a great job. I noticed Albert through the corner of my eye.... he was actually staring at me... almost with resentment.
The evening wore on, and when we got a couple of minutes to talk, one of the copyeditors came over to see the redesign. Word travels fast in a newsroom, and when I showed her Albert began......
"The first thing I told you and you didn't listen. I told you not to work on it until they gave us money... You fucked up majorly. Now you're gonna get screwed out of money."
Well, what else is new... I'm always getting screwed out of money. But that wasn't the reason I worked on it. I want at least SOME of the staff to realize that I do quite a bit of work around here. Too often, Albert gets credit for things I've done... Too often, he doesn't correct them on their assumptions. For instance, the previous night I laid out the "Outdoors" page of the paper, as Albert was putting "finishing touches" on it, a reporter walked by and told him that it was a "pretty layout... very colorful." He said nothing... half joking, I batted my eyelashes and said, "Yup... It's all because of me!" She shot back, "Oh cuz it looks like you are putting so much effort into it." .... uhhh .... So, she actually didn't think that I'd done it... well, fine. Everyone had a hearty laugh... but me.
Well, all I know is that by the end of summer at the very latest, I will be on my way up to greener pastures. We'll see whose laughing when certain ex-graphic editors are serving up pizza buffet at CiCi's, and I'm working at a respected publication.
Mikey was being stupid at 10:26 PM ::
Sunday, March 02, 2003
Just finished turning in my time sheet... After about a year of putting a generic 40 hours a week, I decided to start writing down my REAL hours. About half way through, I realized that the overtime would have raised many a suspicious brow. So I trimmed it down to a compromising 91 hours for the past two weeks.
Team-Leader Albert says that Big-Bossman George told him our pay increase will hopefully kick in by the next paycheck... Roughly two and a half weeks from now. Although, "hopefully" holds very little stock with our Editor. I don't trust that word in this company one little bit.
Well, shitloads have happened since I last posted. Last Tuesday was my sister's birthday. She celebrated by getting a nifty tattoo of Strawberry Shortcake's cat Custard. It came out cute, and only cost $100. I got a quote on what it would cost to re-ink mine, and it'll come out to $70. That's a decent price considering it's a $50 minimum.
Wednesday evening Vanessa and I made plans to go see baby Serena. I was supposed to pick her up at 8:30, but at 9 I was still at Wal-Mart trying to find a cute cuddly Care Bear for the gift bag. I got to Vanessa's Gramma's house at 9:15... ::knock knock:: ::ding dong:: ::knock knock:: ::ding dong:: ::honk honk:: ::knock knock:: ::ding dong:: .... nothing. So I went to the Circle K to call her up... voicemail. So I went to HER house, all the lights were on, but no one ever answered. I went back to her gramma's... again nothing.
So I got to la Casa Sanchez at around 9:45. They welcomed me in, got lots of hugs and kisses, was offered hot chocolate, sweet bread, spaghetti... and I even got to hold the baby. It was great!! Every time I hold a baby, it squirms and wriggles and tries to pop out of my hands. I usually end up getting made fun of by the women because I can't hold an infant.
Well, not this time. Baby Serena held close to me, and actually fell asleep! So Ms. Sanchez broke out the camera and snapped an artistic pose of me holding the child.... I hope it came out good. ;)
So, I spent a good while there. I didn't leave till after 2. I really hope they weren't saying "God, why won't he just go home..." I always feel like that when I stay at someone's house very long. But I enjoy talking to them so much, and I rarely have time to visit. And that's cuz they live about four blocks away from me!
The next day Vanessa called and said that she wasn't around because she went to eat dinner with her Gramma!! Ugh. Ah well... She apologized by making tacos, rice and beans for dinner. And that was good. :D
Today I came to work early to get some stuff done. My sister and her fiance invited my other sister and me to a BBQ dinner, so I had to be able to take my break around 5. Everything was great. The fajitas, ribs, potato salad, rice and beans..... mmm. So much good food all over the place. Vanessa invited me to dinner again tomorrow and she's making spaghetti! Gah.... I need fooood!!
Anyway, work was slow. So I had some time to stew over the latest financial mess I'm in. Thanks to incompetant webhosts (more specifically featureprice.com who hosts this site), my credit card was maxed. A simple $200 subscription renewal and they charged over $1100. It is one hell of a pile of shit, and I'm not going down without a fight. Aparently, you can't get ahold of them via telephone, and the only ways are through fax and chat line. Hell if I'm gonna do chat again, that system is so damn buggy. So, I wrote them an e-mail. Hopefully they'll see it tomorrow and reply.
I'm really getting tired of getting screwed in the ass financially. I'm gonna put up a fight about everything until things start looking better for me. Hopefully that'll be soon.
Team-Leader Albert says that Big-Bossman George told him our pay increase will hopefully kick in by the next paycheck... Roughly two and a half weeks from now. Although, "hopefully" holds very little stock with our Editor. I don't trust that word in this company one little bit.
Well, shitloads have happened since I last posted. Last Tuesday was my sister's birthday. She celebrated by getting a nifty tattoo of Strawberry Shortcake's cat Custard. It came out cute, and only cost $100. I got a quote on what it would cost to re-ink mine, and it'll come out to $70. That's a decent price considering it's a $50 minimum.
Wednesday evening Vanessa and I made plans to go see baby Serena. I was supposed to pick her up at 8:30, but at 9 I was still at Wal-Mart trying to find a cute cuddly Care Bear for the gift bag. I got to Vanessa's Gramma's house at 9:15... ::knock knock:: ::ding dong:: ::knock knock:: ::ding dong:: ::honk honk:: ::knock knock:: ::ding dong:: .... nothing. So I went to the Circle K to call her up... voicemail. So I went to HER house, all the lights were on, but no one ever answered. I went back to her gramma's... again nothing.
So I got to la Casa Sanchez at around 9:45. They welcomed me in, got lots of hugs and kisses, was offered hot chocolate, sweet bread, spaghetti... and I even got to hold the baby. It was great!! Every time I hold a baby, it squirms and wriggles and tries to pop out of my hands. I usually end up getting made fun of by the women because I can't hold an infant.
Well, not this time. Baby Serena held close to me, and actually fell asleep! So Ms. Sanchez broke out the camera and snapped an artistic pose of me holding the child.... I hope it came out good. ;)
So, I spent a good while there. I didn't leave till after 2. I really hope they weren't saying "God, why won't he just go home..." I always feel like that when I stay at someone's house very long. But I enjoy talking to them so much, and I rarely have time to visit. And that's cuz they live about four blocks away from me!
The next day Vanessa called and said that she wasn't around because she went to eat dinner with her Gramma!! Ugh. Ah well... She apologized by making tacos, rice and beans for dinner. And that was good. :D
Today I came to work early to get some stuff done. My sister and her fiance invited my other sister and me to a BBQ dinner, so I had to be able to take my break around 5. Everything was great. The fajitas, ribs, potato salad, rice and beans..... mmm. So much good food all over the place. Vanessa invited me to dinner again tomorrow and she's making spaghetti! Gah.... I need fooood!!
Anyway, work was slow. So I had some time to stew over the latest financial mess I'm in. Thanks to incompetant webhosts (more specifically featureprice.com who hosts this site), my credit card was maxed. A simple $200 subscription renewal and they charged over $1100. It is one hell of a pile of shit, and I'm not going down without a fight. Aparently, you can't get ahold of them via telephone, and the only ways are through fax and chat line. Hell if I'm gonna do chat again, that system is so damn buggy. So, I wrote them an e-mail. Hopefully they'll see it tomorrow and reply.
I'm really getting tired of getting screwed in the ass financially. I'm gonna put up a fight about everything until things start looking better for me. Hopefully that'll be soon.
Mikey was being stupid at 11:17 PM ::