June 2005 Archives

So, To follow up on the strangeness that was yesterday. I made it through work, only forgetting one meeting, and managed to meet with a fellow KALX volunteer at lunch and work out some stuff about the production classes that we teach at the station. I left work and headed to KALX for the dreaded PRC (Programmers Review Committee) judgment. This is where I find out if I get the show that I applied for. It was pretty much not in the bag since the DJ who I was going up against has been at the station for 20 years on July 4th. Through a bizarre twist of fate, at the end of the evening the PRC granted me the show and informed me that my first show would start in 9 hours (6AM-9AM Wednesdays). Elated and a little bamboozled I rode home and went to sleep to go to my show this morning.

I did my brand new show this morning (which I now have for a year) and feel like a new man.

So, To sum up. I got the DJ shift that I'd thought I was assured I wouldn't, I got my bag of rain gear I'd left in Hope's car, I'm bringing Shawn lunch today (Philly Cheese steak. Mmmm..) in hopes to thank him for the solid he did me by covering my shift. I've gotten the phone number of the unlucky trainee who covered the first 40 minutes of my show so I can apologize to him. I haven't received or missed any on-call calls in about 18 hours. And it looks like my girl is healing as her back is slowly feeling better.

So For anyone who has been enjoying my show every Tuesday from 6AM-9AM, tune in on Wednesday's now from 6 to 9 on 90.7FM.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled rarely-updated-blog.

I guess I'm somewhat out of sorts. The guy that usually has everything together, writing plans on the calendar, remembering obligations, being responsible... he must've checked out sometime yesterday.

Yesterday my special lady friend hurt her back. She was pretty panicked so I helped her find a doctor to go to, to get checked out. I, thinking she had gone to the doctor and was still there and knowing that my next obligation would be at 8pm, went to grab a drink with the Hoper and Pete after work. She got out of the doctor and called thinking I'd be home or on my way home and was a little hurt that in her time of need I was out having fun (and rightly so). So we finished having our drink and I called her again and offered to pick her up. She was happy to hear this and I was glad to have mended a bit. It was at this point that I realized that to get home, grab her helmet get to her work, pick her up and get home by 8pm when my next obligation was would be impossible. The event that began at 8pm was a site update for my job. I made it home a bit late but nobody seemed to peeved. Christine, Danny and Swiss came over to play Settlers of Catan and I did the update while they played. It went well and I finished around 10pm. As they finished up the game, I fell asleep on the couch. The crew left and Kris woke me to go to bed. Since I'm primary on call this week (again for my job) I grabbed my phone to take to bed so when I got called in the middle of the night I'd be able to get it without waking Kris up to severely. I put it next to my bed and went to sleep.

8:30AM rolls around and Kris comes in and goes "your show". I sit up and in a sleepy haze begin to comprehend what's going on. It's a Tuesday morning at 8:30AM and I'm sitting in bed. I haven't been in bed on a Tuesday morning since the beginning of February when I started my Tuesday morning show at KALX. I grab for my phone and it has 5 missed calls on it. It's set to no ring and no vibrate. It's the setting I use when I'm in a movie. I, with an expression of terror, press the voicemail button and begin to listen to the tragedy. First message from the DJ (trainee mind you) from 3:30AM - 6:00AM asking where I am and in the most irritated (understandably) voice realizing as he's leaving the voicemail that he's going to have to continue DJing past 6AM. Second message from the general manager of the station who's been woken up by the 3:30-6AM DJ telling me I'm supposed to be on the air and it's 6:10AM. Third message from the general manager saying it's 6:20AM and he's going to have to drive to the station and do my show for me.

So, just to make sure that this is in context, allow me to clarify. I make fun of people who miss their shows. It's a cardinal sin around KALX. The reason being, when someone flakes on their show, it directly affects someone else's life in a very bad way. Another interesting point to bring up is that last week Tuesday I applied for a new show, a permanent show at KALX on Wednesday mornings. I turned in recordings of my show, an application, etc. The judges were set to listen to my show this morning to help them decide tonight who to give the show to. So when they tuned in this morning, instead of hearing me trying to do my best show to impress them, they heard Shawn, sounding like he'd just woken up grumbling about what an flake I am (and rightly so).

I get into work and it turns out that the site update I did the night before worked, but the code was screwed up and we have to roll back (undo) the changes we made, thereby invalidating all of my work the previous night.

So, to sum up. I now have a warning at the station and if I miss another show within 6 months I'm suspended. I most definitely won't get the show I applied for at the PRC meeting tonight. I've messed up two peoples mornings through my negligence. My first site update went ok, except that it was then undone the next day. My first night as primary on call passed the one phone call onto the secondary because my phone was silent. I left my bag of gear in Hope's car yesterday after work, so I didn't have my rain gloves when riding to work today. I get to look forward to attending the PRC meeting tonight where I'll get it explained to me how they obviously can't award a show to someone who doesn't even show up for his show. And the button up shirt I grabbed while heading out the door today has food on it.

I have to say, I'm impressed. I think at this point I'm supposed to say something about raining and pouring.

*sigh* this too shall pass

This is Emily's daughter, Allegra Grace McAlpin.

So the Ann Arbor Film Festival is coming again to Foothill Junior College as it does each year next weekend (Saturday/Sunday June 11/12). I've gone many years in the past, with various different people, and each year it is an absolute treat. Saturday is 7PM-11PM and Sunday is 6PM-10PM. Cost is 5-10$ sliding scale. Let me know if you'd like to come along since I imagine we'll be carpooling. It's located at Foothill Junior College, the home of KFJC, in Los Altos Hills. We can go either day since it's two identical showings. The show will be at Appreciation Hall, Room 1500 on the Foothill College Campus. Admission benefits KFJC, one of my favorite radio stations. If you're going on your own don't forget 8 quarters for parking.