Ted Asregadoo

It’s Friday, we’ve got crappy weather outside, and I really want to take a bike ride.  But where here in the Bay Area gets to enjoy the, um, smokey freshness of the wildfires burning in the hills of CA.  Yep, because of the way the wind is blowing (or not, at times) it’s like our own version of Beijing here with an amazing amount of nature’s own pollution. It’s tough to breath, you can’t go outside much, and, well, it generally sucks.

Just to let you know how bad the smoke is, here’s a shot from NASA that was taken yesterday:

The titles on the image are blurry but San Francisco is just below the midway point of the photo.  At the top is Crescent City — which is near the California/Oregon border. Because of all the PM (Particulate Matter) in the air, the incidents of asthma are going up.  So yeah, we’re in Hell right now.

Okay, enough boo hoo for now.  Let’s get on with the tunes, shall we?

“Tennessee,” The Mimsies (Listen) They had a 10 year run (1994-2004), and made some really good music that would have been just so-so if it weren’t for the vocal talents of Casey Castille. Someone put up a tribute page on My Space where you can check out some of their other songs, but I was introduced to this song by a former co-worker who thought The Mimsies were the cat’s meow.  This gem came up on my iPod the other day, and I forgot how great it is.  Now you can check out how great it is, too.

“Great DJ,” Ting Tings (Listen) Just look at that CD cover. Doesn’t it say “1982″ all over it?  If you couldn’t figure it out, the Ting Tings are bringing the early ’80s back with their new wave pop.  The album is a pleasant in a retro way, but be warned:  repeated listens to the earworm that is “Great DJ,” will result in spontaneous eruptions of “Ahs” and “Eeees” at inappropriate moments.

“Big Love,” Fleetwood Mac (Listen) Jefito featured an acoustic version of this song on his old blog a long time ago, and yes, it came up on my iTunes player the other day.  But I’ve heard this acoustic version so many times, that I sort of forgot the album version. So…here ’tis in all it’s overproduced glory. And here’s the acoustic version (Listen).

–Eric Blair/George Orwell

Since I’m in full job hunt mode, I have to look at my resume almost everyday.  And while a resume is supposed to be a highlight of experience, accomplishments, and education as it relates to a job, it really is a selective reading of one’s work history; one that only highlights the good things you’ve done. What if we were to include the not-so-good things? I mean, if we were to follow George Orwell’s advice above, what would our resumes look like?

Life as a series of defeats is a harsh way to look at life, but there are many times in my own life where I’ve felt that a “series of defeats” is the keynote.  However, other times, I have to say that things have worked out okay.

Sure, when I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut because my imagination was taken with both science fiction TV shows and the NASA space program.  Did I ever become one? Uh, no.  But I think my desire to become an astronaut came at the same time I wanted to drive a truck because of the movie White Line Fever. How long did my 18 wheeler career dreams last?  Hmm…I think about a month.  Oh, and then I also wanted to be a firefighter because the fire department came to our elementary school to talk about fire safety, shoot off the big fire hose, and let us all wear the fire helmet. And how long did that desire last? Probably until I realized the TV show Emergency was stupid and had nothing to do with the work real firefighters do. Just ask any EMT what a “D5W I.V. drip” is and they’ll look at you like you’re retarded.

What about failures?  I came in 5th place on the 50 yard dash in 4th grade.  The first and only F I got in college was actually an “NC” (which stands for “No Credit”). It was a chemistry class and, well, I probably showed up 1/4 of the time for class, so what did I expect?  I lost a lawsuit when I was 18 because I incorrectly answered a technical question from the judge. The fine was only $75.00, and if I really listened to what he was asking, I wouldn’t have had to pay it ’cause I was in the right. No, really I was!   I didn’t get into the UCLA film school when I was 20, and at the time, it seemed like a big failure.  After getting my B.A. in 1990, I wanted to get a PhD, and every grad program I sent an application to turned me down (I applied to 20 of them).

They always say that you learn valuable lessons from your failures, and I suppose there are lessons to be learned in the ones I’ve listed.  Lessons about accepting defeat, being serious about my studies, being prepared to defend your position, not putting all your eggs into one basket, and perseverance. 

So, if you’re in an interview situation, and you’re asked about failures, make sure you have at least one story to tell since it’ll show your potential employers that, well, you’re human and you’ve learned from some of life’s defeats.  Be happy, however, that you’ll never have to explain this failure over and over:

Slowly, but surely I’m getting back to blogging.  To say that last week was a tough week would be a huge understatement, but we’ve been very fortunate to have family and friends lending emotional support during this tough time. Life does indeed go on, and one of the things that’s important is laughter.  Seeing a funny movie, or reading something that’s just downright funny is something is a rare commodity in our household these days. However, it’s kind of interesting when you’re going through personal things to see how much humor was/is important in our lives.

Let me get to the point:  After Julie’s mom passed away, we inherited some of her personal items — one of which was a new laptop. I was going through her iTunes library and there’s a lot of comedy recordings (Bill Cosby, Lewis Black, George Carlin, Monty Python, and the like).  On her web browser, there are also quite a few bookmarked sites that are comedic in nature. But there was one that caught my eye because of my love of music:  a site that listed misheard lyrics.  I checked a few artists whose lyrics I was certain said one thing, only to say another. The first was the Go Go’s, “Our Lips Are Sealed.”  Okay, I know what the title of the song is, and know that they are actually singing “our lips are sealed,” but I’ve always heard “Honest, I see you.”  Some of the other misheard lyrics of the song are as follows:

1.  “I lick the seal…”

2.  “Alex the seal…”

3.  “Amish casino…”

4.  “Hot as I feel…”

After that, I had to check out some Rush songs — specifically “Tom Sawyer.”  For the longest time Maya used to think the opening lyric was, “A Monday warrior/Mean mean stride/Today’s Tom Sawyer/Mean mean pride.”  Have a listen HERE.

The actual lyric is: “A modern day warrior…”

Then there are these gems: And what you say about his company/Is what you say about the Sawyer team.” Once again, have a listen HERE.

The actual lyric is: “Is what you say about society.”

And finally:  “Catch the wits/Catch the wins/Catch the spirit/Catch the Smints.”  And yes, you can hear it HERE

Actual lyric: “Catch the witness/Catch the wit/Catch the spirit/Catch the spit.”

The website where these misheard lyrics came from is kissthisguy.com

This morning, Julie and I were awaken by something you know is bad news: a 2:00am phone call. Her mom suffered congestive heart failure in February, had quintuple bypass surgery a couple of weeks after that and then, after a brief period of recovery, she moved to California from Alaska with the intention of living in Stockton and basically retiring. When she came to California, one of her best friends from high school said she could come and stay with her before going to Stockton (she wasn’t all that well, but strong enough to live outside of the hospital). That lasted just a little over a week. Julie’s mom, stopped taking some of her meds, lost her appetite, and started to weaken very fast. One night she took a very bad fall at her friend’s house, and was taken away to the hospital. Too weak and injured to return to her friend’s home, she was admitted to a care facility located north of Sacramento. Sadly, even though she had a full crew of people at the facility to help with her recovery, she deteriorated even further. She wouldn’t get out of bed, she lost all interest in reading (by far, her favorite activity), wouldn’t eat, was in pain (a few more falls exacerbating a back injury she had been living with since the early ’90s), and didn’t want to do anything, really. In short, it seemed that she was shutting down.

Well, this morning at around 3:00am she passed away. She went into cardiac arrest at around 2am, the EMT’s were able to get a pulse at 2:15am and transported her to the hospital where she died.

Julie is just devastated.

Julie has posted her recollections of a dream she recently had, and you can read it HERE. It’s also cross posted on her mom’s blog (Maya’s Granny).

This morning, Julie was talking to her uncle about a memorial service, and he suggested a very low key, “family and a few friends only” get together where we tell funny stories about Julie’s mom. The idea being that we remember all the funny/joyous times and celebrate her life rather than her death.

So here’s my story:

When Julie and I were getting married, we wanted to have a Hindu ceremony — mostly for cultural reasons. Julie’s mom, not being a Hindu, and trying to be culturally sensitive (but also playful) wanted to know what the bride’s parents give the groom prior to a wedding in the Hindu tradition. She was reading about dowries, and it seems that some families give the groom cattle. Taken with the thought that she had to buy my a cow, she wondered how she was going to pull off giving this traditional gift to me. While shopping at a store, she found the perfect cow for a groom who lived in a city; one that needed almost no care (save perhaps for the occasional washing):

It’s a cow shaped cookie jar, and we’ve had it every since.

Rest peacefully, Joycelyn. Your playful spirit will be missed.

Well, it’s week two of my unemployment saga, and I gotta say that despite some really emotional ups and downs, things are settling into a status quo that’s tolerable. So far, I’ve had one rejection — which is okay since the job really wasn’t a good fit. But, you know, when you’re looking for work, there’s that constant pressure of just finding something, and figuring that you’ll just take it to lock in a steady income. After that, then you’ll have the luxury of looking for the ideal job. But it never really works that way, does it. Rather, it’s more like find a job — any job — and then work, work, work at it, get comfortable and occasionally see what’s “out there” by looking at ads or talking to people. The next thing you know, you’ve been at that “temporary” job for years. Okay, maybe it doesn’t work like that for you, but that’s been my experience, and I really hope I don’t repeat it.

I wanted to add that I’m sorry I haven’t blogged in awhile. One would think being, um, “between jobs” means a surplus of time. But for some reason,that hasn’t been the case, and thus, my bloggy activity has dwindled to very little. My apologies for not visiting your blogs, but I plan to be more active in the coming weeks. So with that, here’s a late “Random Sample” for your weekend!

“Nolita Fairytale,” Vanessa Carlton (Listen) She’s the more ethereal Michelle Branch, and according to Jefito, the better singer of the two. He was pretty ga-ga over this album when it came out last year, but I’m not all that taken by it. This tune is catchy, but my problem with it is toward the end when she sings a “La, da, da, da, da, da” on a vocal overdub. What’s my problem? I think it’s stupid. But…maybe you’ll like it.

“A.D. 1928/Rockin’ The Paradise,” Styx (Listen) Dennis DeYoung could easily be a motivational speaker. He’s got that “C’mon! You and do it!” attitude, he uses words like “futurize” in songs, and he’s so theatrical that I can just see him in a cage match with Tony Robbins — and DeYoung winning ’cause he’s got his Mr. Roboto garb on. Oops, wrong album. But hey we’re talking imaginary cage matches, so DeYoung ain’t gonna bring a knife to a gun fight, right?

“Fade Away,” Texas (Listen) Probably the most underrated album in Texas’ catalog. This was the follow up to their debut, Southside, and, to me, it’s a much more solid album because the playing is a bit looser, but more mature. Plus, there’s a nice little keyboard hook right at the beginning of the song before the vocals kick in.

Thanks to all who have been so supportive during this rather unexpected economic downturn in my life. I’ve never been a fan of Ronald Reagan’s politics, but he did make a quip back when he was running against Jimmy Carter, and it kind of sums up losing one’s job: “Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.” But hey, I said no sour grapes, right? Right.

However, I want to do a late random sample that’s not so random. You know when it’s Labor Day, some radio stations play songs about working? Well, I was curious if there were any songs that were about getting fired, and I found a blog that listed 10 songs — three of which I actually knew.

So, here’s a little gallows humor for those 50,000 of you who got your walking papers last month — and into this month.

“Alienation’s For The Rich,” They Might Be Giants (Listen) Oh, I know this is painful, but hey, I think we’ve all been there when you gotta knock back a few after the bloodletting: But I’m working to make it better/With a six of Miller High Life.

“I Love My Boss,” Moxy Fruvous (Listen) This song reminds me of They Might Be Giants in style, and since pop cultural references in lyrics are always welcome in my book, I thought these were somewhat clever: Bosses through the ages prove/They’re the ones who make it move/Bewitched would have an empty plate/If it weren’t for Larry Tate/Clark Kent reached the highest height/With the help of Perry White/And if we may be retrograde/Speak the name Reuben Kincaid.

“One Trick Pony,” Paul Simon (Listen) And for those who feel like they have that one special thing to offer the world– even when the world seems finished with them — here’s Paul Simon’s ode to you: He’s a one trick pony/One trick is all that horse can do/He does one trick only/It’s the principal source of his revenue/And when he steps into the spotlight/You can feel the heat of his heart
Come rising through.

Well, I’ve been kind of quiet for the last week or so. Quite a bit has been going on in my world. The biggest piece of news (for me, anyway) is that I’m no longer employed at my old job. Yep, after 11 years working at the same radio station, I was downsized.

Sorry, but no sour grapes from me. I had a good run of 11 years at the same company, but because of money (or lack thereof coming into the coffers), I was “let go” — along with two of my other co-workers. Sure it stings, but I’m not going to go on a tear about how unfair the world is, or any of that stuff. Rather, I wanted to say that I worked with a lot of really wonderful people. I mean it. They were genuine, funny, hard working, and very talented. There were many good times at the company, but there were days (and weeks) that were very stressful. By far, though, my favorite “era” was when I was doing a morning show with my good friends, Carolyn and Ramzi. Carolyn was the morning show host, I was the news/traffic guy, and Ramzi was the producer. During the summer of 2005, it was, by far, some of the best moments in radio for me. We worked hard to build an audience during that spring and summer, and it paid dividends in terms of ratings. People thought we were funny, informative, and real. And that’s because we liked each other and it showed on the air.

Alas, “all good things must come to an end,” and that’s what happened in the fall. Our triumvirate was broken up for a number of reasons, but it sure was fun while it lasted.

If you’ve been reading this blog for some time now, you know that I blogged under an alias (i.e., “Py Korry”). I did it for a number of reasons, but mostly I wanted to shield my identity from my professional world. A few years ago, it was probably a good idea, but now it really doesn’t matter. If you spend just a few minutes following links, doing a Google search and the like, you would notice that “Py Korry” and “Ted Asregadoo” appear side by side an awful lot. And unless you’re really an idiot at this whole Internets thing, you can pretty much figure out what that association means.

Anyway, the long and the short of it this: “Hello! I’m Ted Asregadoo. Nice to meet you.”

The local paper runs these online polls everyday, and today’s was kind of interesting. Here ’tis:

Which of the following would be the hardest for you to give up for a week?

Cell phone

MySpace or Facebook

Mp3 player

Email

Dessert

Other

I listed Mp3 player ’cause it seems I’m always listening to music. But guess what the top two choices were? Yep, cell phones and email. Guess what the least popular choice was? Mp3 player.

I feel so alone…

So…

I had this long post on Cary Grant almost finished and I accidentally deleted it. Rather than try to recreate the post, I’ll just go over the highlights…

• We had a Cary Grant film fest at home this weekend.
• Indiscreet, Charade, and To Catch a Thief were screened.
• The best of the lot was Indiscreet.
• Charade is noted because it’s a film where Grant is pursued by a younger woman (Audrey Hepburn).
• Grant never said “Juday, Juday, Juday,” in a film, but he did do it as a prank during the making of Charade –though there aren’t any outtakes on the DVD.
• Even though Grant was reluctant to do the film because of the age difference between the stars (he was 59 and she was 34), he married Dyan Cannon (who was 27), and had a kid with her a year later.
• 

• The kid (Jennifer) grew up, became an actress, and was in a number of films and TV shows — including a few appearances on 90201 as Steve’s girlfriend, Celeste.

Well, that’s the long and the short of it. But there’s one last thing: the music Henri Mancini created for the film, Charade. It’s got a James Bond quality to it, but what I like is what Mancini does with the percussion — before the James Bond sounding guitar kicks in. It’s got early ’60s cool written all over it!

So, here’s the main theme (Download), and here’s a sample of the witty back and forth between Grant and Hepburn in the film (Download).

Sometimes she’s called “Big Sis,” sometimes she’s called “Sneaker,” and sometimes she’s called “Waan,” but today’s is my niece’s 26th (!) birthday. It’s hard to believe that much time has past, but here ’tis! Seems like not that long ago when my brother was knocking on the bathroom door to say, “Um…you’re an uncle!” The next day, I passed out bubble gum cigars at school (It was my senior year in high school) and bragged to all my friends about the new addition to our family.  Now look at her.  All grown up!  She’s “Internet shy,” so no pics.  Sorry!