Globex Corporation Newsletter

It's my first post from Residence #27 people. The Laramie Count Public Library was OK for making updates to this little pointless corner of the 'net, but since I can now post in my underwear (or less - shudder), I should be a little more natural, posting from the comfort of my own home. Below is something I've been working on since I moved here, a list of firsts, written as much so I could remember them all as anything else. Still, I wrote it, so you have to read it. That's the wawy it works, I don't make the rules. As an added bonus, there's a snazy little graphic included, just one more thing I couldn't do at the library, and that I hope to be able to do a lot more of now.

So, without further Apu, an odd collection of firsts from Residence #27.

First Blog Post Written - Technically this one you're reading now, but you won't have seen this until I got my home 'net connection. Until that time I was posting at the Laramie County Public LIbrary conveniently located 0.41 miles from Residence #27. I'm limited to 30 minutes at the stations at the library, so those posts most likely lack the hard-hitting and critical insight you've come to expect from The Globex-Corporation Newsletter. My apologies.....

First Song Listened To - Hello City from Barenaked Ladies' debut album, Gordon. Actually, Gordon is the first thing I listened to after moving into Residences #20 - #27. The only reason I didn't listen to it at earlier residences is that it didn't yet exist before 1991. Hello City is the first track on Gordon and, no, I didn't choose the song because of the title, it's just a really great album.

First Song Played on Guitar - The Brian Wilson by Barenaked Ladies. Also from the album Gordon. Geez, you'd think a theme is developing here. TSA and I played it a lot, and I always liked it, both playing it and hearing it.

First New Song Learned - Diamond by Rapid City's own Abby Someone from the album Nervous Breakthrough. Yup, I already learned a new song. I always liked Diamond, I actually got to play it with three-fifths of ASO one time, doing the opening guitar part on harp. I found the chords for the song on ASO's website and played it a few times, but it went from a C chord to a C minor, something my stupid fingers don't do very well on guitar. I transposed it from the key of G to the key of C, turning that C & Cm into a more finger friendly F & Fm. I capo it to the fifth fret, making it in the key of F which matches my voice a little better as well. I added a little harmonica and voila! Sounds pretty cool, actually.

First Guy I Got to Know at Work - Richard, the security guard who started the same day as I did. Oddly enough, I recognized Richard when I got there. He used to work security at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas. I've spent quite a bit of time as the Hard Rock, primarily because it would be really hard for them to get all of their money back from me, but it's only fair to give them the chance. One of the guys from my shift actually lives in the basement level of the building I live in, so I got to know him a little bit too.

First Meal in Cheyenne - Some turkey platter at the Village Inn down on Lincoln Way. Pretty good and it was a special deal where I got a half a slice of pie with it. Actually, the only meals I've ever eaten at a restaurant in Cheyenne were two at Village Inn and two at Arby's.

First Meal Made - It's hard to make meals when you're moving into a new place. My first meal at Residence #27 would have been turkey and american cheese on Wonder bread (not homemade? What was I thinking.....) and some Lay's potato chips. The first meal that required some actual cooking was a box of Rice-a-Roni (the San Francisco treat...) after my first day at work. OK, still not real cooking. How about a cheeseburger on a homemade bagel (see below) and roasted potatoes marinated in basil, oregano and balsamic vinegar? Now that's more like it!

First Bread Baked - Basic Egg Bagels. I love bagels, and I thought it would be nice to have a little bagel sandwich before going to work my first week. I'm truly not a morning person, coffee and a bagel sandwich is about all that kept me going working first shift that first week. The first actual loaf of bread baked was a french loaf that baked during the AFC Championship game.

First Purchase in Cheyenne - A bunch of groceries at the Safeway by the Capitol. I moved a lot of grocery items with me, but I still needed a few things like cooking oil. I thought I'd only pick up a few things, but I ended up spending over $20.

First Mess I Had to Clean Up - A package of large pearl chinese tapioca came open in my box of grocery items that I moved. Somehow, tapioca ended up all over the floor in the kitchen. Actually, not that much ended up on the floor. A worse mess was the second one, I knocked over a whole big mug of coffee while getting ready for work. I kept it off the floor, but it was all over the kitchen countertop. I didn't have any paper towels, so I sopped it up with a towel I had used the previous day to cover the rising bagels.

First Thing I Watched on TV - NFC Divisional Playoff Game, Washington Redskins at Seattle Seahawks. Actually I didn't watch much of the game as it was while my Dad and Nephew were helping me move in. The TV was set up pretty early on, though, because the New England at Denver Game was on later that afternoon. Everything was into the new place by game time.

First Beer - A Coors Light at The Green Door, a titty bar downtown. Oops, I hope my Mom doesn't read this.....

First Stage Performed On - Central Lounge about a mile from my house. A little welcome thing was sent out via email at work with a little stuff about all new employees. Mine mentioned Jeopardy!, music and brewing (no mention of my quest for global domination....). Someone came up to me and asked me about each of those three things. Michelle in the tape library is in a band and told me that Jack in Master Control was playing at Central Lounge on Saturday night of that week. So I joined Jack and his wife Margi on stage for a good portion of the evening. Fun time.

First Band I Went to See - Nite Fire, or something like that, at The Hitchin' Post on Lincoln Way. Your typical classic rock cover band, though the lead guitarist was awfully good. I'd been told by Jack to check them out. They were good, but I probably should have been in bed as it was the first time since the move that I'd been awake past midnight ..... or 1am ...... or 2 am .....

First Thing on My Wall - A picture of me and the Chonger. I'm not a cat person, but me and the Chonger, well, that was sort of a different deal.

First Movie Seen in its Entirety at Work - The Transporter was the first movie I QC'd during my training. It was your basic action/adventure piece of crap, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be.

First Time Staying Late at Work - Ninth day, I needed to ingest Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys into one of the servers. At a little over two hours duration, I knew it wouldn't be done until about 15 minutes after I was supposed to leave. Good movie, though and it undoubtedly qualifies as First Good Movie Seen in its Entirety at Work.

First Game at Work - Charlotte vs. Richmond college basketball. OK, I didn't have any rooting interest, but still entertaining. I can't believe they pay me for this.

First Pay-per-View Event handled at work - WWE: Royal Rumble my first Sunday night. It wasn't that much different than stuff I've handled other places, but I did get to play with a Deko, to make an Encore slate, so that was fun. By the way, Ray Mysterio, former tag-team partner of the late Eddie Guerrerro won the Rumble even though he, along with Triple H, was the first wrestler in the ring. Maybe the finest example of blah, blah, blah.......

First Service Outage I Was Involved In - Something on one of the business channels called Heads Up! Reading. It wasn't my fault, and actually everything looked OK from where I was sitting, it was leaving my position like it was supposed to, but wasn't mapped to the proper channel. Does it turn you on when I talk technically?

First Cool Job Related Perk - Getting to watch the Super Bowl in Hi Def. OK, it's not seeing a T-Wolves/Kings game in the company box at the Target Center, but I'm living in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for Christ's sake..... IMPORTANT NOTE!!!!! Due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to watch the Super Bowl in old fashioned NTSC like the rest of you folks. I still got paid to watch it, though, and did little else that day. As an added bonus, I got to see Lingerie Bowl III, available on PPV, but free to operators at large national satellite broadcast operations.

First Actual Cool Job Related Perk - I got a free checking account when I presented my ID at the local branch of a national banking chain. Otherwise it was $100. $100!!!!! They're going to get access to a large percentage of my money when I'm not using it and they wanted to charge me money for that. Unbelievable! Mojo Nixon said it best:

I hate banks, just can't stand 'em
Give me a shovel, man I'll plant 'em
Six feet under is where they belong
I Hate Banks is the name of this song
Think I'll rob myself one or two
I hate banks, well, how 'bout you?

It goes on and on, but I think you get the idea.

First Time Oversleeping - Oops, forgot to set my alarm on my last day of working mornings. I had been getting up at 6:45am to get to work by eight. It was more time than I actually needed, but gave me a chance to have some coffee while watching the morning news and maybe make some breakfast. I got up at 7:07 that day, and still got to work in plenty of time.

First Person I Met Who Look Almost Exactly Like Someone Else - Jason Bott, one of my supervisors, bears an uncanny resemblance to Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies. I met him during the interview process, but he had a full beard then. Now he's trimmed down to a goatee, and looks like a Gordon-era version of the BNL guitarist.

That's it, thanks for reading!

BOJ