Out of Quarantine

There are two groups of you. Some of you are concerned that you have not heard a word from me in a few days more than a month. The rest are surprised to find me still alive.

For those of you in the first group, I am doing fine. Every day I look for a new career. Since going to Ohio to learn more about McKinley I have watched several movies, witnessed a lovely wedding, explored my level of nerd at the Star Trek Experience and spent some time with my siblings for one of their birthdays.

Then there was a week where I “consulted” for a group… Let’s say that there is a television show where people compete to be the best singer in North America. During that show a viable and financially stable company that sells four wheeled motorized transportation products has decided to promote it’s new highly competitive product. They have partnered with a website targeting “domicile celebration dot com.” This website is 99.99% filled with mom’s looking for free things to help celebrate in their domicile.

So the company selling the product hired an advertising agency to run the promotion on this website. That agency passed this project on to a smaller agency. That agency hired a consulting company who turned to me for assistance. So you know that the quality of the program is going to top notch and very smooth (with all the direct communication and streamlined processes already in place.) Once the season finale took place it was interesting to see what all these party mom’s had to say. They all got a big box of goodies. The ones who got the extra product display were very happy while the ones who didn’t were very vocal in their level of… well… bitchiness.

I have been reading a free book from a conference I attended last year called “Predictably Irrational” by Dan Ariely. If you go to iTunes you can watch a series of short videos on the topic. Very interesting to see how accurate he is when pointing out how people are basically irrational and act on an emotional moment of satisfaction. This was true for both the moms and the silly sales people or "dealers" of the product who did not see the prospect of participating in the program.

So for those of you worried about me, concerned about what how I am doing, or are keeping me in your thoughts and prayers as I face uncertain times of steady employment - thank you. I am doing well, keeping busy, and looking for the right fit for my future.

For the rest… WTF? You thought I was dead? Maybe we should “un-friend” you self-centered SOB's!






An old college friend decided to dip his toe at open mic night. It reminded me of just how awful I was 20 (my lord that long?) years ago. He did a fine job.

Al Stand Up April 29, 2009 from psquared on Vimeo.