The Herb Files: Far from the tree?

When I was growing up I really did not get along with my father. In fact, neither of my brothers did either. It explains in part why I chose to leave home my senior year and study abroad in Belgium. Now, as I have been getting older it has begun to hit me long after it hit both of my older brothers. We all turn in to our parents at some point. It is a tough cookie (or in our case maybe matzah ball) to swallow but acknowledging it no matter how far you've fallen from the tree is important. I'm not saying that it is all necessarily a bad thing; certainly my dad has many admirable characteristics. But I'd like to think that I will fix the mistakes when I raise my kids that my dad made with me but everyone probably thinks that and then makes the same mistakes. I will say though that I must have gotten some of my goofiness from Herb. We both some times ask ridiculous questions and dress poorly among other things...

Last weekend at a larger family gathering at my brothers in Boston he needed to change his pants so he just took them off right there in front of everybody to my mother's dismay. Everyone burst out laughing and while I thought it was pretty funny too, my former college roomates would be quick to notice I've done the same thing. I would like to think my slightly less hairy legs and boxers (as opposed to tight underwear) make it more acceptable.

There's one the thing though that I can't relate to with Herb. Any one who's ever been to a restaurant with him will never forget the experience. Some times I can be picky with food but he is just over the top. In the past I've heard him ask questions like: "how does the fish compare with the soup?" or his favorite joke question: "do you accept cash?" On our recent trip to Boston we stopped at a Chinese place in New Hampshire where Herb spent probably 4 minutes with the incomprehensible waiter trying to determine whether the coke, since they did not have bottles or cans, had chlorine in it. After not determining anything there was another 3 minute conversation about whether they had fountain drinks or a soda machine and whether these two were different. When they didn't have Sam Peligrino (which he usually gets) he got the fountain soda and then exclaimed, after performing his usual smell test, (as if the chlorine is the expected taste): "I'm not tasting a lot of chlorine, this is unusual." Later on in the meal: "It's funny, this lobster doesn't taste like lobster." So baring that my taste buds don't change too much and I become paranoid about chlorine...

Traveling and New Baby

So I am now an uncle: again. Born yesterday at 9.4 pounds in the early morning, I have a new niece: Sara-Havah (http://esther.rosi-kessel.org/). I did not get to see my first niece until months after she was born. This was a weird experience and kind of scary because it made me think of having my own baby.

I haven't had the chance to blog in awhile because I've been traveling quite a bit. Coincidentally, I was probably not too far from Jacobs field when the Sox were there last weekend and last night two hours before the game visiting the hospital we actually drove right by Fenway. Pretty frustrating considering I couldn't go see any of the games. Only at the lovely Metrodome are the tickets cheap enough that I have been able to see some play off games.

Last weekend I drove to NYC to visit some friends and to pick up a friend to drive to Pittsburgh with me. Every time I go to New York I have mixed feelings. Coming from a small place like Vermont, I'm always impressed that the big lights and huge skyscrapers are only 5-6 hours away. But then again, I'm driving, which is nice until you get anywhere near New York and then it's brutal. I still don't understand why I sat in 2 hours of traffic at 10 on Thursday night. I also hate how every one is trying to scam you and get your money there (making any less than 500,000 and you are considered lower-class). I had a real New York day there while waiting for my friend at the New School. I got a free shave and a massage from some nice girls who directed me in to their shaving van (they were on Segways...Dave Arbit and I once proposed we take a Segway tour of the Twin Cities), I then listened to a lunch-time Bach cathedral performance, saw some people modeling on the street, listened to an author talk at Barnes & Noble, and met up and had lunch with a different friend. That type of day makes me want to move there and I might if I find a job there (although I would probably not survive very long in that city).

I then went to Pittsburgh, another 6 hour drive and met up with our friends the University there. It was my first time at Pitt. It's actually a pretty cool town even though it seems everyone is just paying their dues until they can leave the place. Just as would be suggested geographically, it's kind of a mix of St. Paul and an East Cost city. I could see how Pitt. would be a fun kind of grimy city to live in. Check out the "Cathedral of Learning" at the University, it's really crazy and strange that I had never heard of it.
http://www.getting-to-the-point.com/graphics/photos/economy_4.jpg
Anyways, I'm back home now and pretty excited that the Sox are going to the World Series. Time to resume looking for work and being bored...stay posted

Sports Fever and the Job Search

I hope I'm not posting too often for any one who reads this but I've got a lot of free time on my hands and some things I've been meaning to write. Scooping ice cream at Ben & Jerry's has been possibly been one of the worst and most degrading jobs I've ever done in my life. I think I might quit even though it is just temp. work. I almost lost it yesterday when one of my scoops I was making fell off and landed on my shoe in front of the customer.

But today's a new day and I'm really gonna sit down and look for real work since it appears no other jobs are coming through. On as side note, Herb had a hamburger for breakfast at 9 this morning, which he reasons is normal because it was already cooked. I never can quite understand how you can eat hamburgers and hot dogs with cokes at 9 in the morning (maybe if I was really hung over and not in my own house). Lots of times I ask my dad for advice about the job's I'm applying to and he'll tell me things like: "You're not gonna get that job. They're looking for a black man," or "yeah, I think they're really looking for a woman." The no experience thing I can understand but the rest?

The good thing about having time right now is that I can watch all of the post-season games which is really exciting because I normally had too much work at MAC. I some times think of needing a fix as I wait to watch the next Red Sox game. My friend Benjy told me: "when you're a sports fan, you're joining the ranks of a lot of illogical people." I definitely think this is true. I've been a sports fan my whole life and even though I've never really understood why. I have no allegiance to Boston except that I live 4 hours away and most of my family is from there. But looking back, my family is really from the former Soviet Block, so why not root for Lietuvos Rytas? It's not like any of the players from Boston are even from there (or any other team for the most part). But the BoSox also spend a shit load of money on players who don't come through their system, many of their fans are Massholes, and they also have more support than any other team in the country. I usually root for the underdog and the Twins could definitely use more fans than the Red Sox. And yet I'm still more of a Red Sox fan. It's probably because childhood sports memories reign much more important than recent allegiances and whether I'd like to admit it or not, I'm susceptible to the usual fan based success that the Red Sox have had. Anyone who say's they like being a fan of some shitty team like the Devil Rays is full of it. In fact, at any given Red Sox-Devil Rays duel in Tampa there are probably Red Sox fans than Tampa fans.

Minus all of the money and annoying fans, even in college I never really felt that much of an allegiance to Macalester sports and I played four years of tennis and 2 and a half years of diving. But that's probably just because the sport's programs at MAC are terrible. Some times I feel bad for old people who have been fan's of teams like the Cubs who haven't won in so long and they are so faithful to their clubs. After 60 years or what ever of treating baseball as religion these people wither away and die without so much even a thank you note or any thing recognizing their support except the occasional player thanking the larger general mass of fans. But that's what being a fan is, you can't take it too seriously. You just gotta have fun and enjoy it for what it's worth because in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter.

Lastly, I know this entry is already too long, but a quick related story. I played golf with my dad's friend's son against our dads the other day in a tight competition. It starting raining, we played through (as gold addicts do). Then it started lightening outside (is that a verb?) and we were on top of a hill so we decided to go inside in the middle of the hole. We all got to the club house except my dad. Finally, 10 minutes later and soaking wet my dad comes in and says: "I got a bogey."

Child Pornography

I've been wondering for quite some time about what my stance is on online privacy. On the one hand, it's nice to be able to be who you are on things like face book and in your blogs without having to block people with passwords and constantly watch what you write on friend's profiles. Isn't that the point of an online diary? On the other hand, the recent developments of social networks on the internet may have created more problems than they have solved. Employers regularly go behind potential employee's backs to decide whether they want to hire a person who has a picture on face book in which they are holding a bear. It's easy to say that I just wouldn't work for snakes like that who judge my potential performance (whether it be in an academic context or job context) because of what I write on people's walls or what I look like in a picture. On the other hand, even before the internet promoted such openness employers found other ways to do this. If I really wanted to write all of the crazy shit that goes on and what I really think about things I would have an anonymous web log like many people do. I'm writing about this right now because a recent event involving web openness has really had me thinking more critically about this.

So a few days ago I received a recent letter from my former camp employer telling me that she had found a picture of a naked male on my face book page and that, as she noticed, I had recently become friends with a 12 year-old camper. Thus, I may have inadvertently violated some serious federal laws by distributing child pornography to a minor. Now I can see how this was incredibly offensive to her as well as people reading this blog but let me explain what really happened. I have a ridiculous friend who does stupid things when he is drunk (more so than most drunk people). In this case, a friend of his took a picture of him doing the "mangina" (see http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=man-gina) and I commented on the picture stating that it was disgusting. Even though neither my friend nor I posted the picture, because I commented on it, it came on to my recent activity page that every one sees on face book. Because I have my profile on limited access to campers and other young people I don't think any one saw this but I just can't believe how things like this can happen. Some how I get mixed up in allegations of gay child pornography when not trying. Guess I better straighten up and be more careful from now on.

How many blue cars?

Today I went to Chicago for a job interview. Between waking up at the crack of ass and arriving when the plane was boarding (it was direct flight), waiting for the pickup, having the interview, and coming back, I probably had about 10 minutes of extra time where I just sat around. I'm sure for professionals who travel all the time this is nothing but it's crazy for me that I could leave my house this morning and be back in the afternoon all the way from Chicago. They also picked me up in a stretch limo, although only on the way there. On the way back I had a "limo" but it's funny how that can just mean a nice car nowadays.

The job is an newspaper auditing job with 100% travel in the North East. I think the interview went well but you never know. The last question the guy asked me was how many blue cars there are in the nation. I felt like I was at an interview for Google trying to come up with some creative response but all I could say frozen on the spot was, I don't know, you'd have to do some research. Anyways, it's all just a game of both sides trying to figure each other out. I never would have pictured myself even thinking about a decision like this 3 or 4 months ago. Funny how people end up where they do...gotta pay the bills (living at home and being fed nice meals every day can be expensive).