My girlfriend and I went to Leeds Festival last saturday. We ended up blagging our way onto the side of the stage to watch The Offspring (excellent), Thirty Seconds To Mars (terrible) and My Chemical Romance (horrible).

We also saw Deftones who were brilliant.

My first day on the job today, and also my last. I don't have ridiculously high expectations for how I'll eventually make my living, but I'm not going to continue working at a place I know will only make me completely miserable. So it's back to square one.

Grad school is looking like an increasingly probable option at this point.

That fucking sucks. Sorry to hear it, Blondie, but I'm a big believer in doing something that you like (or at least don't hate). Grad school is cool. I jumped in right after my first degree and don't really regret it. Of course, I'm now in my late 20s with no "real" work experience and am probably "overqualified". You know what...I still don't regret going back.

I think that's awesome, Blondie. Good for you. Don't settle for a job you know you'll hate just to say you have a job. That's ridiculous.

Ed - What did you get your degree in? Also, get a job you dirty hippie.

Just set my outgoing voicemail message to "Not here. Call you when I am".

I'm off on another week-long bicycling adventure! I hope my knees hold up.

-I've already started planning next summer's ride too.

Computer Science, yoah. I hope to join the washed masses soon. Sent out a few applications and expect to be contacted next week about an interview. Hope that my eventual employment goes better than Blondie's.



Way cool, awfy. I suppose this means you're still in peak physical shape. Good to hear.

Currently realizing how annoying it is to drive and park everywhere.

Personally, I think it's better to suck it up and work a crap job (like I'm doing) until you come across something better. It's more honorable than sitting at home and collecting and stealing the hard earned money of folks like myself. Man, I'd be so much better off if I could just cash my check before Uncle Sam took a cut.

But then you wouldn't have roads to drive on

How so? Ideally roads should be private or handled by the states. Even at a federal level monies can be collected for roads and other infrastructure w/o bilking taxpayers. Cut defense spending for starters. There's also corporate welfare and other "bailouts" that are an issue.

People have been led to believe that federal taxes are used for "the greater good". The federal income tax is used almost exlusively to fund perpetual war and empire. The IRS was created at the dawn of Wilson's WWI folly. What a shocker!

This post sounds quite bitter and more than a little presumptuous. I have no idea what Blondie's financial situation is (and frankly, it isn't my business), but I think you're making a pretty large leap in just assuming anyone without a job is collecting money through some government sponsored program (unemployment). The guy's a recent college graduate. Tons of recent grads have difficulty finding a job and many of them aren't collecting unemployment.

Also, stealing? Wow. Those programs exist for a reason, and I think it's another huge leap to accuse someone of milking the system, or stealing money, by simply using it for it's intended purpose. If you don't believe in the system itself, that's fine, but that's no reason to take shots at the people who do use the system. Direct that bitterness elsewhere.

I'm not collecting unemployment. Bondurant's hostility doesn't apply to me, for the reasons Pete mentioned.

In America, it's always Americans versus Americans... guess who loses? With a little bit of clarity, we could help improve our situations - but, alas, this is America, where the individual has the freedom to public acceptance if they have money and a job. I'll never understand people's irrational ire towards the homeless or the unemployed. It always seems to be a reflection of their disappointment with themselves.

Agree *completely*. Why do people get so offended by a homeless man asking for change? Assuming he's not violent of course, if you don't want to give any, move on.

because they are reminded of the pettiness in themselves.

Well, I just got back from bicycling across MN. 296 miles in 5 days and I couldn't have asked for better weather.

They have "The Woodchipper" from the movie "Fargo" at the tourist info center in Fargo. Awesome.

Also, I made use of the "Lake Wobegon Regional Trail", a true jewel of Northern MN.

-Could someone tell me how to load a photo or two? Some of you post such nice pictures and I can't do diddly within the 64k limit. (I do have a photobucket account, but am a bit of a trogolodyte)

Most photo editing software (like Google's Picasa) allows you to "export" the images in a compressed format and at a smaller resolution. You can get the size down pretty dramatically this way. Personally, I'm not a big fan of image hosts so I avoid them when I can but if you'd like to go that route it's usually as simple as uploading the photo to the hosting site and then sharing the created link for the photo.

This is in the visitor center of Fargo, ND. Exactly which part of the movie "Fargo" occurs in Fargo again..?

It would appear to be the 'real-deal'.

I'm going to watch that movie again soon.

Car broke down the other night round two in the morning, about a mile from home... on the one night I didn't bring my cell phone. Had to push my '05 Jeep Liberty a couple hundred feet down and off the road, grabbed my stuff then walked home. Got to wake up my dad at three in the morning telling him I'd killed the car. You know, for a Jeep that thing is really fuckin heavy; may be the diesel engine but whatever is was it wasn't much fun.