Endless Monkeys - Latest Comments

Re: Back to Woohhh… uhm.. yeah.

Endless Monkeys — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 01:01:19 -0000

Thanks.

And I do understand the pursuit of a solid career over a paycheck, no two ways about it. Additionally, I am lucky in that I have few expenses (car payment, cat, and under $10k in miscellaneous debt.. in fact, I think it's even under $5k at this point), so now is the best time for me to say "eff it" and try.

Thing is, the fear still speaks rather loudly. It says I can't do it, I'll fail, yadda yadda. I know I'm going to screw up, but I just can't seem to nudge myself to say "ok. let's screw up and then get back up again and fail harder next time." I dunno. I guess when I'm truly ready I'll do it.. hopefully I can work hard and make it soon. I'm fairly serious about this October deadline.

Re: Back to Woohhh… uhm.. yeah.

Brian Driggs — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:01:34 -0000

Kick ass. Not so much that you're under the weather or coming to the conclusion that you're not destined to be with the same company for very much longer, but that you're excited to be back in the saddle, you're not depressed, and you're identifying things that cause you the sort of stress that leads to the slippery slope of suck.

My advice, if it means anything, use this time before you jump ship to consider what it is you like to do. Don't focus so much on job titles like most of us were conditioned to consider all this time, but look at the things you like to do. What is it about them that excites you?

This is where I make a joke about how writing might pay more than whips and chains and frosting. :D

Think about it for a second. Writing pays NOTHING, but we (you and I) keep coming back to it. Why? I know it's related to the cliche talking about doing what you love over chasing the paycheck, but what I'm getting at is hard to put into words in any kind of actionable fashion. Let me use myself as an example...

I was (am) into cars. I spend countless hours online reading and talking about cars. Yet for the longest time, I worked in the tech sector or construction or mortgages or even human resources. (I wasn't always fortunate to get out of those markets in time, either.) I was chasing the paycheck.

I thought, "Hey. I'm into cars. I should do something car-related."

Enterprise Rent-A-Car was car-related, and they had a well-known management development track to boot. Unfortunately, that turned into Enterprise Wreck-A-Life. It was absolutely the worst work environment and experience in my life. I was ghost in three months.

From there, I got into online sales in the automotive aftermarket. This was more my style. Hanging out with proper gearheads every day, talking to gearheads on the phone, making industry contacts. Hell yes. Sadly, the company was behind the 8-ball long before I was hired. Cash was spent on overhead and we-think-we're-Amazon infrastructure instead of supplier invoices. Merch didn't ship, customers grew increasingly irate, I felt like I was participating in wire fraud, I bailed.

It struck me that, while I enjoyed cars, I also enjoyed networking and helping others online. I stumbled upon a social media gig with an established firm in Scottsdale. Things were looking up. Sadly, this was not to be either, as a rash of new managers were soon hired whose sole interest in social media seemed to be having the ability to talk about it with their friends. Let's build an online community, but let's not participate in that community and let's focus on selling leads to our advertisers! We didn't see eye-to-eye and I was shown the door.

Whatever.

I did a summer helping a friend out with organizing his workshop, cleaning up some of his old cars for sale, and doing a little electro-mechanical assembly. It felt good to hold a soldering iron again after almost a decade. In the end, though, I ended up interviewing for a job in the education industry on my front porch one night over beers and cigarettes without even knowing it.

Turns out, I love cars and I love writing, but I deeply enjoy helping others to learn new ways to live better lives. Your car is sweet, but here's step by step how to do ABC so you don't have to endure the BS I went through when I was in your position. The theories of adult learning, the ADDIE model, general pedagogy is incredibly exciting.

Today I am basically a curriculum developer for a private university with nearly half a million students. I create and modify the materials used to train finance counselors to provide the best possible service to those students. I love my job and work with great people who share my passion for improving the lives of others.

This is a ways off from gearhead mortgage processor for the pool construction company just three years ago. The path I took was rough and my wife and I are only now starting to dig out of the financial mire that my job hopping caused, but I share this in the hopes that the concept I'm trying to share with you, Greg, clicks.

Look at what you like to do in the simplest terms possible. Translate those terms into potential career paths. Pursue those. Good luck.

Re: Sugar (My Art Spark 8 entry)

Endless Monkeys — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:18:57 -0000

Thanks for the compliment. A novel? Well, I am debating NaNoWriMo...........

Anywho. Art Spark is a competition of sorts, but it's not Portland-based. It's over at getsparked.org and it currently happens 4 times a year (next one is in August). The basic groove is that it pairs artists (and other visual media folks) and writers together. I create an inspiration piece for my partner (who, in turn, photographs or paints off of it) and they create one for me and I do the same. :) It's a LOT of fun and was my first one. I'm already excitedly looking forward to August.

Re: Sugar (My Art Spark 8 entry)

Brian Driggs — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:27:07 -0000

Thought process:
1. Art Spark is some kind of art fair/contest in the Portland area akin to Ignite.
2. Greg entered a cupcake, possibly in a baking category.
3. Ironic, given his recent divorce from the girl who made the cupcakes.
4. Oh. This is the story of how they met.
5. Why is Greg looking back so fondly on how it all began, now that it's ended?
6. Greg married a lesbian?
7. Wait. Greg *is* a lesibian?
8. No! Wait! Greg is married to a dude?!
9. WTF IS GOING ON HERE?!?!?
10. Oh snap. This is probably a work of fiction loosely based upon real events which is why it pulled me in so tightly from the start. I totally dig this. It reminds me of my own such writing adventures a couple years back with 'ADITL' on my own site.

Greg, this is exceptional as always. As a singular entry in what I assume might be a creative writing/short story category, it's powerful and moving. Not only do you convey the initial tingles and andrenaline of a budding new relationship, but you lay a foundation of optimism upon which you place basic framework for drama and tension before walking away. I could see this turning into a novel (you *are* working on a novel, right?) or simply standing alone as it embodies the hope and worry of the human condition.

Kudos. Art imitates life.

Re: Sugar (My Art Spark 8 entry)

Kim Vanderwal — Sat, 29 May 2010 13:15:07 -0000

You really have a way with words. Ever thought about writing a book?

Re: Portland Food: Laurelhurst Market

Kim Vanderwal — Sat, 29 May 2010 04:00:25 -0000

This sounds suspicously like my crab legs and lobster story today. If I have to be "mindful" and concentrate on the butter dripping off the piece of crab/lobster in my hand (or fork. whatever) and putting it in my mouth and sucking/tasting the sweetness of said shellfish and the saltiness of the butter...almost better than an orgasm.

Re: So I’m getting divorced.

Endless Monkeys — Tue, 25 May 2010 09:15:59 -0000

Hey Kim.

Thanks for the compliment! And trust me, everyone has something that's worth blogging about. Even if your daily life involves doing the same 4 things every day, there's something that goes on that makes it interesting... it's just all in how you present it :)

Re: So I’m getting divorced.

Endless Monkeys — Tue, 25 May 2010 09:14:37 -0000

This has taken some time to get to this point. Earlier on, I was pretty bad and highly emotional. It took some time to really come to terms with the whole thing. Granted, I'm not exactly proud of how I've acted... but I'm just not all that ashamed either. It's a process, just like most anything else.

Re: So I’m getting divorced.

Kim Vanderwal — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:53:14 -0000

Hey Greg,
It's Kim Vanderwal from the nuthouse. :-) You are a good writer. Wish I had a life that would be worthy of a blog. See you tomorrow.

Re: So I’m getting divorced.

Brian Driggs — Wed, 19 May 2010 11:30:29 -0000

Bummer dude. I kinda picked up on that vibe, but figured you'd throw it on out there if it were true. All the same, I think it's very cool that you're facing what more than half the people in this country go through and what most consider to be one of the most stressful situations they encounter with such a cool hand.

Brass tacks: Your marriage failed.

Aside from those ignorant and clueless types who marry for money or power and view divorce as a sort of blissful lottery winning experience, the majority of us must wade through varying depths of insecurity. As the Nada Surf song says, "Even if you've gone together for only a short time, and haven't been too serious, there's still a feeling of rejection when someone says she prefers the company of others to your exclusive company."

And here you are, calm, collected, and almost nonchalant about the whole thing. If that isn't progress, I don't know what is.

Good luck man.

Re: Canto I – Courage

Brian Driggs — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:42:40 -0000

Dude. I like where you're headed with this.

Seems to me that the little organizational bits are there to calm the seas and give you a more balanced foundation to work from. Life seldom lets us set up our ladders on a level, conrete floor and, if we're perfectly honest, is that really what we want in life? The rock is a cold, grey slab; unchanging, yes, but also unyielding and inflexible. As crazy as THIS sounds, I like the idea of setting my ladders up on rafts floating in an ocean of possibilities.

Hot damn. When I write a book, that's going to be like the sub-title or something. I can see it now...

FRIED CHICKEN
Setting up ladders on rafts floating on an ocean of possibilities.

Either that or Holy Socks: We Are All Dieties. I digress.

Supersize with you on the depression front, Greg, as it runs in my family. I refuse to accept that I might "have it" on the grounds that accepting something like that gives it influence in future decision making and I fear unneccessarily slipping into a flat spin, the likes of which killed Goose in Top Gun. That said, I consider the notion on a semi regular basis. Is this denial or just another mirage?

Stay with me, Goose.

I guess what I'm trying to suggest is that, whatever percentage of this thing is learned behavior, it can be changed. The neurochemical part can be treated, fuck anyone who would clown you for taking medication in the pursuit of a more rewarding life. Better to be on Prozac and be pro-actively addressing your issues, than being an unoriginal dbag, throwing around sophomoric cheap shots in failed attempts to distract from his own shortcomings.

Stick with the plan. It's easy to sink to the bottom. Gravity makes that effortless, but we overcome gravity every day we choose to get out of bed, stand up straight, and gain elevation. The further from the Earth's core you wish to go, the more effort it takes. You might not consider stairs a challenge, but view them from a wheelchair. How much more effort does it take to climb the mountain? And once you reach the summit, how much more effort does it require to get the plane flying overhead in the air? And even then (I'm wrapping up, promise), how much more effort, still, to get that lonley Russian dude to the ISS in orbit?

In each of these cases, someone had to start by simply organizing little things like vitamins, food, sleep and training schedules. Well, that and not being Justine Beiber (whoever that is).

Re: Oklahoma House Bill 2656: NOT ANTI ABORTION

Endless Monkeys — Tue, 04 May 2010 20:59:58 -0000

This legislation seems to specifically target disclosing of genetic/development impairments that are viewable via testing. That said, I'll spend some more time looking at the legislation from the standpoint of your comment and see how it goes.

Re: Oklahoma House Bill 2656: NOT ANTI ABORTION

Catina — Mon, 03 May 2010 01:58:31 -0000

Have a child who disability may or may not be the fault of the doctor and then tell me what you think of this. Some things are just not black and white.

Re: By the time I get to Arizona…

Brian Driggs — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:26:28 -0000

Ah ha! No sir. If you're standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona (such a fine sight to see), or even in a Home Depot parking lot for that matter, the 5-0 isn't going to saunter over and demand papers. Despite what those hanging from the ledge over there on the left might be trying to sell you, the police have better things to do. I suggest you don't buy into it, sir.

The law is not written any more strict than the federal law addressing the same matter. The only differences being to ensure that no other Arizona organization enacts legislation which might usurp it. All this law does is give Arizona law enforcement officers the same powers as immigration officers (to the extent that they turn over suspected illegals to ICE for further processing).

If the border patrol/ICE guys (green stripers, if you've seen their vehicles) can do all this, why are all these people so outraged that Arizona - which has been trying for years to get the Federal government to actually DO something amidst escalating narco violence in our backyard - all of the sudden so up in arms?

Re: By the time I get to Arizona…

Endless Monkeys — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:08:50 -0000

Again, my understanding is that they can now stop you just to check and see if you're legal. To the best of my knowledge, police can't currently stop you and ask for ID unless there's probable cause. Now, if you're driving, that's a whole other issue that isn't protected by the Fourth Amendment, so that's of no concern to me. Again, my understanding of the law seems to imply that if I'm walking down the street, an officer can just ask for ID or papers. I really really do need to read the actual letter of said law to get a better understanding of it.

Re: By the time I get to Arizona…

Brian Driggs — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:18:22 -0000

Exactly, Greg.

When you think about it, the police have the authority - RIGHT NOW - stop anyone, demand identification, issue citations for any number of minor offenses, drag people off to jail, and even use deadly force. Does this mean that the police are just cruising around looking for people to hassle? Not at all.

If you feel uncomfortable around the police, it's likely that know you're breaking the law. You're doing something you know you shouldn't be doing and the thought of being caught in the act and facing the consequences is never comfortable. I realize that not all cops are righteous, though. I would offer, however, that if the police in your area are vile and corrupt, the issue is not enforcement of immigration law, rather reform of the local police.

That's one of the biggest problems with our society today. Where we used to rise to challenges in order to improve ourselves, we've degenerated into a society wherein the challenges must be made easier to better suit our lax efforts.

The police aren't going to be out cruising for brown people. This isn't Jim Crow. If we're not going to secure our border or provide amnesty for people who truly want to be American citizens, then we need to take steps to ensure that everyone in this country - legal or not - abides by the same rules.

The police have more important things to do.

Re: By the time I get to Arizona…

Endless Monkeys — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 02:29:48 -0000

Ok. So my understanding of the law -DISCLAIMER: I have not read the actual legislation- is that it gave AZ police the ability to detain people almost at their own discretion. Not that they can just start busting into home or anything zany like that, but they can stop people in public.

The thing is, immigration NEEDS to be reformed in this country and Arizona's method to help this problem out is slightly misguided. I think.. no, I hope this will create a slight storm of controversy in Arizona that gets more people looking into better ways to reform immigration. As far as racism goes, I do think that will be a problem, but in probably only 1% of the cases.. but those 1% will surely be noisy.

Re: By the time I get to Arizona…

Brian Driggs — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:17:42 -0000

OMG. Not you too, Greg!

Nothing like a little controversy to bring the media out in full force. Stir the pot, spread the propaganda, and rile up the uninformed to rash action where no real issue exists. (sigh)

The police are not going to be rolling around looking for brown people to deport. All this law does is allow the police to demand proof of citizenship where there is probable cause. When dude rear-ends you, doesn't speak much English, doesn't have a drivers license or insurance, and can't prove that he actually owns the car he was driving, the officer can investigate citizenship.

Without this law, the officer has to assume the person is a citizen, write them a rash of tickets, and let them go. Big surprise when they don't pay the fines, don't show for court, the phone number is no good, and the police try to serve the arrest warrant at an empty lot where they're building a preschool. Meanwhile, dude is back out on the street in a car.

Here's another one. You hire ABC Contracting to put a new roof on your house. ABC is licensed, bonded, and insured. They're solid. On the first day of the project, a single truck with six guys in plain clothes show up, don't speak any English, and climb up onto your roof. One of them falls, breaks his arm, and then sues you. For starters, there are any number of attorneys in this state willing to take this case against you, the courts actually hear these cases, and they actually award damages to the illegal alien who shouldn't have been in the country in the first place! Think this is BS? The contractor is licensed, bonded, and insured. His company would be the one sued. Not so. Said protections are not afforded to non-citizens who are not on the books.

I've got friends in California who have been trying for over two years to find a contractor who will guarantee the workers sent to the job site will be US citizens. They haven't found a one. Not even after they started offering to pay DOUBLE the quoted rate if the contractors can do so.

And let's not get started on human smuggling, home invasions, kidnappings, and los narcos. People being herded through Arizona like cattle. Packed into trucks and vans at gunpoint and held for ransom. 40 and 50 people living in foreclosed homes, stripping them of anything left of value. Citizen homes being invaded at the barrel of fully automatic assault rifles in broad daylight. All the while, the narcos will state publically that they don't dare let the violence erupt into the US for fear of massive, swift retaliation by the US.

I have nothing against anyone willing to do whatever it takes to put food on the table and provide a better life for his family, but the fact of the matter is, these people are fully aware that they are entering the country against the sovereign laws of the United States of the America. This is the legal system under which every citizen is bound and they are trying to preserve a double standard. Planning to willfully break the law is the difference between murder and manslaughter. They know the law, they choose to break the law, and now everyone is up in arms because the state of Arizona is empowering the police to hold them to the law.

You have to pay state and federal income tax. They don't?
You have to pay for your health insurance. They don't?
You don't pay your speeding ticket, you go to jail. They don't?

People want to talk about racism. Which is racism? A state government trying to protect its citizenry against the burdens of non-citizens abusing the system? An attempt to show those who pursue citizenship the legal way that they did the right thing? Or a liberal media that's been as yet silent and ineffective at bringing about real immigration reform while perpetuating a sort of North American caste system, where non-citizens must continue to hide in the shadows and swim in lies and deceit?

Re: By the time I get to Arizona…

Endless Monkeys — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 03:09:03 -0000

And that's the problem. There's no real way to enforce this as it's written because of numerous issues, the least of which is the manpower it'd take to achieve the aims of this law. So I respect the hell out of AZ for trying to put some legislation with teeth out there, I just with those teeth weren't all turned inward.

Re: By the time I get to Arizona…

Bryan Williams — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 03:02:41 -0000

Well I know that Arizona is not on my vacation list. Hell, a beige brother like me might find myself deported if I happen to be swimming at the hotel pool and don't have my wallet on me. But the bigger problem is will they really go into the fields where the cotton is and start verify who's legal and who isn't. How many cops are going to really walk in the back of the restaurant and verify the id's they have. This law is destined to fail, meaning theres no way it can be enforced fairly.

Re: Simple

c****** — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:51:49 -0000

that is probably the best post I have read of yours.

I am sorry.

Re: Pulp..

Brian Driggs — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 02:11:38 -0000

Dude. I'd be very interested to see some of your work. Seriously. You should snap some pics and post 'em up. When you were talking about how you would fold, color, then unfold to see how those colors actually fell on the page, that was just something that really jumped out at me as something I'd like to see. Even if it's just pencil sketches or something. Reminds me of the sort of thing you see in art shows - a flat square of paper with some creases in it, random lines drawn on it here and there, and it's titled "Oragami Swan" or something.

Do eet.

Re: The adventure begins…

Me — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:54:38 -0000

Yay!! We did it! We got hitched. How exciting.

Love you,
Me

Re: The adventure begins…

Quotes — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 02:09:15 -0000

congratulations! and best wishes to you!

Re: The adventure begins…

Brian Driggs — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:30:46 -0000

Congratulations, Greg, and best wishes for a wonderful future together.

Go you.

PS - That is an amazing Daft Punk track. :thumbsup