Virgin Fest 2008, wrap up!

I left for the show a little later then expected, but made it. I hung around the entrance of the race track trying to buy a ticket. Last year it only took like 10 minutes to get into the show. This year it was a bit longer, about 45 minutes. And I paid $50, which was still about half price. That's life. I missed KT Tunstel, the opening act I wanted to see. I did catch the next group Gogol Bordello. I was surprised how good these guys were! They were very energetic and kept the place rockin!

This year I found a spot by the VIP area and stayed there. It had kind of a seat, so I could sit down or stand on the seat to see over the crowd. This gave me a great view to take some pictures. I think the pictures this year came out a lot better then last. Also unlike most concerts, the sun was right onto the stage, which made things very bright and clear.

The next group that came up was Lupe Fiasco. Some of the people around me told me they were good. They weren't very good. They did some kind of hip-hop/R&B thing that really wasn't good. And they kept messing with the stage monitors, which destroyed any pacing that they may have had.

Then came Bloc Party. These guys were okay, if you like shitty music. They were professional and all, but I just didn't like their music.

Finally, The Offspring! I was afraid that they would load up the set list with their new album or the one right before it, NOPE! They played all the classics a couple off of 'Conspiracy of One' that I really liked, and ended with Low Self Esteem!


A mushpit broke out, and all in all, the best time I've had at a show in a while, just rockin' out!
After The Offspring left, the place cleared out, FAST! I guess the kids weren't keen about seeing Chuck Berry. Well, I should have went with them. This is what happen:
The Silver Beats came out first. When I read this on the program, I thought this was Chuck's backing band, but no. This was a Japanese, Beatles tribute band. I guess they played cheap. The music was fine, but it was just the wrong venue for this group.

So Chuck finally came out. I know he's old, and he looked every day of his age. But I was hopeful. Well, it went bad. He started every song like it was Johnny B Goode, and then sing a different song, but destroy the lyrics. This went on for all the songs he did. I was just hoping he would wrap it up and get off the stage. Then it got worse. He said something like, "For the last number I want to let some girls up here on stage! Four on the left, four on the right, and four in the center. Security, help them up here!" Well, it was actually creepier then it sounds. And none of the girls wanted anything to do with it. Finally the rounded up a bunch of them. The song went on, and he left the stage while the band was still playing. What a mess!


Then waited around for the Foo Fighters! They were good. The crowd was into it, the whole bit. I'm just not a big Foo Fan. I watched them for about half an hour and rolled out.



I wanted to beat traffic. So that was my show. The weather was great! And I can't wait until next year!

No Party

Long in short of it, there won't be a Young-fest 2008. There are just too many things going on right around that time of the year. We are adjusting to Rebecca still, and have not been able to get everything up to speed where we want it. So for this year, we are canceling the party. We may still have a small family gathering that day, but nothing major. So that's it.

On the job side, there are so many things going on. I haven't made a decision. Let me bring you up to date.

Library of Congress - It seems like their contract situation is in order. But I am concerned that it really doesn't do anything for my career.

Andrews AFB - I had an interview on site on 8/7. I guess things went well enough. So well that they made me an offer on the spot. It turns out that it is with General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT). But it's not major money. And I'm not real keen about commuting down to Andrews AFB when I am in town. I told them I would let them know by Monday.

USDA - They were suppose to be working on an offer, but I haven't heard anything this week.

Census - They got back with me on a low offer. I rejected it out right and told them what I was expecting. I thought that was then end of it, but on Thursday, they called me back to try to convince me to accept a lower amount. They gave me their top amount. I don't think I'll take it.

Another company in the mix - I was contacted by a company that has a contract with Unisys working to secure our borders. This work is all in Arizona. At first I wasn't going to accept it, but they seem to be paying a lot. So I jumped through their hoops to see where it will go.

This whole process is really weird. I go back to the dating comparison. I have a fine steady job now, that pays pretty decent compared to other people in the world. This is list a stable marriage. But it seems like there are better companions out there for me, and I'm not sure if the one I have is so bad, or the others would be so good. This makes my head spin!

The only other thing that I have going on is that Heather asked me get on Facebook. I did. And amazing, its funny to find other people on there that you know. It pulls contacts from your e-mail contact list, and found a bunch of people that way. Also I found a couple of people at work on there.

Saturday, I am off to the Virgin Mobile Festival. I should have a bunch of pictures to share.

I was a Bachelor for the weekend...

...So what! As of late last week I had a decent weekend planed. With Teri out of town I planned to get together with Heather on Saturday, and go to the Black Crowes show with The Donk on Sunday. This got totally messed up!

First off, Heather called me Friday evening to see if we could get together that evening. Well I was in the middle of making dinner, and planned on helping Teri pack so I couldn't. But she said she was going to call me Saturday morning. She didn't call.
Saturday night I ended up going to Hollywood, MD and played poker with Cindy. I didn't win, so it turned out to be a shitty night.

Well at least I had Sunday right? WRONG! The STUPID Donk called and canceled the show. He offered me the tickets, but I didn't want to go solo. It was suppose to be a guy thing. But he is so busy with his messed up marriage, it's not funny. So basically, this totally blew my whole weekend.

I ended up picking vegetables in the garden all weekend. It needed to be done, but I sure would have liked to do something FUN!!!

This has put me in a rotten mood since then. Last night the baby didn't go down until late. And she got up early. I didn't want anything to do with anything, but I eat breakfast, and went up to check on her. She needed to have her diaper changed which I did. I am halfway though doing this when Web comes into the room acting like he is about to puke. I run him out, and Rebecca starts crying. I snapped and yelled, "SHUT UP!!" I didn't need to do this. But I am just so bored with everything going on.
I am seriously considering canceling the party this year. I can care less about seeing any neighbors, I see them all the time anyway. And there isn't anyway else who would come to the party that I care to see. It's just a lot of money out the door for a crappy time.

On the job front:
Progress is being made on the Census job, but they are trying to low-ball me on the salary. Tough, I'm not going to work for scraps. They WILL pay or I don't accept it. 1513: I just got an e-mail, they are stuck on the low ball. Doesn't look good for this one.

The job at Andrews is making progress. I have a face to face interview on Thursday.

I told the folks at the USDA job that I am interested, but understand that there is a funding problem and I need more info. The HR woman said she is working on an offer.

I haven't heard back from the Library of Congress folk. But on my other office phone, it looks like the tried to call last week. They should try to contact me some other way.

Vaca Update:
So the whole Myrtle Beach trip is completely out of control! Originally it was going to be Cindy, Teri, Rebecca, and I. Well then Cindy asked to bring Candice and Tabitha, then little Kurt, now big Kurt. And my poker play is so bad lately that I don't want to play in a cash game on the gambling boat, and be stuck out there for 6 hours!
I told Mary that I don't want to go out on the boat, but would pay for a night for her and Bill in Myrtle Beach. She didn't want to do this. She says its because of all of Cindy's crew. Whatever!

This is why I am in a shitty mood as of late!

Teri and Rebecca go on Vacation

The weekend of August 2-3, 2008 Teri took the baby to Virginia Beach to be with her folks. They had a good time! And Rebecca liked going into the pool!

Interview stuff

See I told you I would try to post more often....

No, didn't break up with Teri, but I have been interviewing a lot. And it sure seems like being on a dating show. Everyone is nice to you, they all tell you that you are great, the smartest person in the world, etc. I'll explain the recent interviews, and give each a grade rating.

On 7/22 I had an Interview at the Library of Congress. This would be a slightly different role then I currently have. This position holds the title of Security Assessment Engineer. It seems okay, but it seems like just the same ole Government Contractor song and dance. And they aren't even ashamed of it. They don't have a contract in place, so we'll have to see how it goes.
** As of August 1, I haven't heard back from the LoC.
B

During this week I was contacted by headhunter that I worked with a couple of years ago. I didn't have a very good experience with the headhunter's company, Convergence, so I was a little leery. The job he is working for the Census Bureau. I'm still a little bitter about this job, but I would a least talk to the people.
I had a phone interview on 7/23. That went pretty well. It's bringing up a new data center that isn't at Census proper, but at a Harris Corp property in Largo. I think I could do the job so I went forward. On 7/28 I went for an interview at the location. Unfortunately the technical people who were suppose to show up, didn't show. This was a major waste of time.
On 7/30 I had a phone interview with the technical people. I guess they were ok, but seemed to be a little bit of a hard-ass kind of attitude. Not sure if I'm keen about them.
At this point if they made me an offer, I would only accept it out of spite, and make them PAY big time.
C+

A few weeks ago I was contacted by this contracting company, Genesis10. We talked about a job, that was a short term contract, like 6 months. If I were to take this job, I would need to make some money out of it. So I gave them a relatively high dollar amount. I didn't think anything would come of it. Well lo and behold, they are making me an offer. I had a bunch of questions, so I had lunch with the Program Manager today. This inspired the title of the post, he was working his best to convince me to join their company! The contract was awarded, but they don't have a start date. This means there are funding issues. The job would be working with the USDA in downtown DC.
B+

Finally, I was contacted by another contractor working at Andrews Air Force Base. At first I thought this may be on of these fly by night companies that aren't around very long. It seems that they are actually decent size. And the job is interesting where I would have to travel overseas a few times a year. I would also be the lead network person, so this makes it more interesting. The problem is having to go to Andrews on a daily basis when I'm in town. But we can see how this works out.
B+

So there you have it. That is what is going on in my job search.