Some of you may or may not know that I have a bit of a shoe ummmm... fetish? Anyway, as a kid growing up I always wanted a pair of Florsheim Royal Imperial longwings. I figured having a pair was a sign of having made it in the business world. Anyway, by the time I entered the business world the Florsheim brand was a shadow of its former self and the Florsheim Imperial line was no longer the wonder that it was so I thought I'd never be able to enjoy a pair of those long admired shoes from my boyhood. Enter eBay! I found a pair of new old stock (NOS) Royal Imperials that had been sitting in a storage room for 20 or so years. How cool is that? They had just a few issues from having been in the box that long, they were a little stiff, had a couple of spots on them and some marking from where the tags were on the insoles all those years. I was very worried abou the rather slick soles, I wanted these to be daily drivers, so I took them into the cobbler and had some work done on them, new rubber heels and sole guards to extend the life of the soles and give me some grip on the ice and snow. The guy who did the work was amazed by the shoes, he said he hadn't seen a pair that well made in years. Now, these aren't the nicest shoes I own from a dressy perspective, but fuck if they aren't just what I wanted. My Mantellassis will come out to play when it is nice and dry and safe outside, but the Imperials can have all the winter fun. I've included a picture for your edification, I didn't get the new shoe trees I ordered for them before I left on my trip, so I'll repost when they're properly treed.

So I was cruising through the LJ flora and fauna and came upon a post from someone tangentially connected to me about a Career Quiz that asks you a bunch of questions and recommends careers based on your answers. It is located at Career Cruising under their MatchMaker quiz. Interestingly enough my #3 career happens to be the one I am in, I guess that's a good thing. The number 4 career just so happens to have been my father's and the number 11 career was my mother's. Now that's a little more interesting. Hmmm... nature vs. nurture?

( careers )

It's been awhile since I posted about albums that are currently in heavy rotation in the soundtrack of my life, so I thought I'd update with my rating on a scale of four stars:

Maps - "We Can Create" - ***
Interpol - "Our Love to Admire" - ****
Cold War Kids - "Robbers & Cowards" - ***
Low - "Drums and Guns" - ***
Spoon - "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" - ***+1/2
The National - "Alligator" and "Boxer" - ***
David Dondero - "The Transient" - ****
Wilco - "Sky Blue Sky" - *** (it's a little uneven or it'd rate higher)
Schubert - "String Quintet in C Major" the Adagio - ****
Bruckner - "7th Symphony" - ****
The Chemical Brothers - "We Are The Night" - ***
Daft Punk - "Human After All" - ***+1/2
The Killers - covering Romeo & Juliet on Live from Abbey Road - ****

That ought to give you something to listen to. . .

Now normally I don't rant about stupid celebrities because, well, it would take too many hours out of the day. I am making an exception in the case of Mr. Ethan Hawke, fucking moron. First of all I read his shit novel The Hottest State which was wannabe hipster schlock. But that's not the reason for the rant. He was interviewed recently by Entertainment Weekly because he's turning his shit novel into what I am sure will be a shit movie. As a part of his interview they asked for his "Must List", things that he believes people should check out because he really enjoyed them. I was excited to see Wilco's Sky Blue Sky was one of those things as you all know I am a big Wilco fan. Then I read his comment, the fucking twit:
Hawke, a fan of frontman Jeff Tweedy, loves Wilco's latest. ''It starts with a happy little guitar riff and the line, 'Maybe the sun will shine today.' I felt like, 'He's happy!' And I thought, 'I am too!' Corny, but I love him.''

Uhhhh... wow... what an utter misunderstanding of that song. Do you know anything about Jeff Tweedy you jackass? How about you listen to the second line? Here is the first verse for your edification:


Maybe the sun will shine today
The clouds will blow away
Maybe I won’t feel so afraid
I will try to understand
Either way


There's nothing happy about that song twit, it's hopeful, but not happy. The song is about accepting the situation you are in, hoping for the best, but working to understand and live with the fact that the best might not be what you get. It is a beautiful song filled with hope and longing and some self realization, but happy? Happy?

I was recently in Boston for a company all hands meeting. It was quite interesting. I rarely get to spend time with my peers, so that was nice, and it gave me an opportunity to meet everyone who works in our organization, we've really grown in the last 15 months since the previous meeting. I had to give several presentations to the entire group, about 250 people, and felt like I spent most of the three days up on stage. I got to bond with my boss's new boss and spend some time with with boss as well. Always good to make sure people know your name and your aspirations. They are very interested in bringing me over and giving me a job that would make me a peer, or slightly higher in the organization than my boss. She's fighting the move, imagine that. There is a lot of drama and politics going on in the organization at the leadership level right now, and I'm actually still interviewing with the local consulting company, who knows what will happen in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, ( Bazzton pictures )

So Friday afternoon I left for my first actual go-away on vacation type vacation in quite some time. A week at the Grand Geneva Golf Resort and Spa is just what the doctor ordered. The main building of the resort is a very nice take on prairie style, or as they refer to it Frank Lloyd Wright inspired. The resort itself is very nice, the room is wonderful with a great view of the golf course. (I'll post pictures later) It's serene, quiet and comfortable. I can feel the batteries recharging already. Definately need this after all the nonsense dealing with a particular account team for the last six weeks. I'm seriously contemplating a new job.

8:30 tee time tomorrow morning!

I've driven through southern Illinois twice in the last few weeks on brief trips to StL. Tonight as I drove in the moon was hanging low in the sky, big and yellow and orange. Same as last night as I was awaiting a friend in the movie theater parking lot before seeing Harry Potter. It never fails to amaze me watching the moon rise through the sky, changing from an orange, to a pale yellow to a stark white as it does, quite peaceful really. Last time I drove down I stopped to take a conference call and grab some lunch at this gas station/Quiznos off the highway. As I was sitting in the car waiting for the call to start I saw an older guy on a bike ride up to the Quiznos. I looked closer to see the bike was a Trek 5200, a rather expensive road bike. I thought the guy looked a little familiar, and the bike was the right model, and really, how many people in Southern Illinois are there riding around on a $2000 - $3000 bike? I bugged out on my conference call and hoping to talk to the guy, but wasn't able to catch him quick enough. I wonder if it was Mike Magnuson, author of Heft on Wheels a favorite book of mine. Too bad I didn't catch him! That would've been a cool coincidence.

So, a week and a half ago I made a sojorn to Omaha, only the second time I've been there. Previous trip lasted less than 24 hours, as this one was supposed to. I got trapped there by the very nasty storms that swept over the plains, but that's neither here nor there. I was pleasantly surprised by the city. You fly in, quick taxi to the gate and then by the time you get in the rental car you are practically in the city proper. The east side of the city has a bunch of new buildings, including the Qwest Center which they're hoping will lure a hockey or basketball team to the city. It's very nice, not at all what I expected. They have an area on the east side called the Old Market that has a bunch of pubs and restaurants with outside seating and cobblestone streets and it was relatively bustling for a Wednesday night in Nebraska. Pretty cool. The building I had my meetings in was definately an extension of the Mies van der Rohe school of design, which impressed me. The city was much more expansive than I thought, with clusters of buildings in three areas across the expanse of the city itself, spread over about 15 miles across. I couldn't help but think to myself that this wouldn't be a bad city to kick around in for a few days.

Hell week is here, and well, it's hell. St Louis, Dallas, Chicago and then Minneapolis this week before returning to Chicago again friday night. One slight problem, fucking Dallas decides to have Old Testament rain tonight. No hotel rooms in St Louis, no cars to rent, no flights out to Chicago tonight. Fah Q!

Had to get that off my chest. Last thing I needed right now was this sort of nonsense. I am liable to maim a few deserving people in Minneapolis on friday.

On an interesting and almost related note, I'm interviewing monday with a consultancy that "guarantees" in-town work for their consultants. How timely.

Had to drive to Detroit last night so that I could handle someoneelse's problems today. Let me just say that hiring/promotion quotas in consulting should be outlawed as a matter of course. The meeting today was just insane, that people in senior positions could have a complete lack of understanding of how to position something based on value versus price astounds me. The only good thing is that I have nothing on my calendar for tomorrow as my Dallas trip got postponed til next week. I'm going to take a leisurely drive back tomorrow. Wednesday through Friday will be meetings with the leadership team so I can tell them what they should be doing only to watch them promptly go in the opposite direction! ;)

In golf news I cut my putter down 2.5" and took .75" off my driver. Club customization is so much fun! I've got a tournament this weekend, hopefully all this hard work will pay off. Supposedly I should be able to legitimately get down to low teens handicap with my current swing. Chalet Hills here I come!