captkevman

Great question. I never considered this, since I’ve always considered Sonic a “fast food” place. But upon further investigation, it looks like it’s not inappropriate to do so, so I’m jumping on the “tip the carhops at Sonic” bandwagon.

Ask me anything

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/captkevman

I documented my progress in decorating an Astro Boy birthday cake for my youngest son’s birthday.

UPDATE: Video should work now. (I had it set to “private” by mistake.)

Back in December, it was decided that my services at my employer were no longer required. This, despite the fact that I excelled at what I did and was a valuable resource to my team. Someone decided that for whatever reason, I wasn’t a good fit there anymore. I tried to fight it for several months prior, but when it became obvious to me that I had the choice of either spending my time defending my job or actually doing my job, I chose the latter, and made arrangements to “mutually agree” to end my employment.

I figured I couldn’t fight it (at least, not without compromising my professional principles), so I may as well just make the best of it. Since I was pretty good at my job, I decided to start my own consulting business and keep doing it, even if they wouldn’t let me do so at the company I so adored.

And it really wasn’t a big deal. I’ve been building a business and learning a lot. But today, the fallout started affecting a lot more than just me in a very obvious, very ugly way.

My daughter is almost ten years old, and is struggling in fourth grade. For the past six years, we have been working with specialists — both medical and academic — to manage her ADHD issues to ensure her success in school. Since first grade, part of that has been trying a variety of different medication combinations that will allow her to concentrate in class with minimal impact other aspects of her life. We finally found the right “mix” about a year ago, and while not perfect, it’s helped her tremendously.

Losing my job meant changing insurance plans, to the one my wife’s employer currently uses. When we went to refill our daughter’s prescription last week, the new insurance company refused to cover it, and demanded that we use an alternative medication instead. I went to pick it up this morning, and the cost of the medication is over $100.

Nevermind the fact that we have no idea how this new medication will affect our daughter (it’s one of the few she hasn’t yet been on).

Nevermind the fact that we’ve spent years finding the right balance of medications for her.

Whatever is best for the insurance company’s bottom line, damn the consequences.

Before today, I was just looking at my dismissal as an inconvenience, and an opportunity to do my own thing, with a “que sera, sera” attitude toward the whole thing.

But now that it’s f*cking with my family, I’m pissed. Maybe it’s my fault for not fully understanding the consequences. But whatever the reason, I’m now faced with the fact that I’m starting over playing roulette not only with my family’s financial/medical well-being, but also with my daughter’s academic success and emotional health.

I don’t know who to be more angry with: myself - for not fighting harder for my job, Big Insurance - for getting in the way of my daughter’s/my family’s well-being, or those responsible for dismissing me from my previous job without justifiable cause.

All I know is that we’re looking pretty much screwed. And it’s because of me.

Dammit.

I’m doing some cleanup on my iMac’s hard drive, and I ran across this. It’s labeled “..response_blogpost,” although I really think it was an email to a high school friend. Although it cuts off toward the end, it’s an explanation to my friend as to why I panicked at the thought of attending my high school reunion in August 2008, written just a few days afterward.

Hey D:

I often trivialize my life in conversation. Although I have no unusual drama or tragedy in my life, and I consider myself generally blessed, I’ll sometimes say things like:

(When asked where I’m from)
Well, I was born in Virginia Beach General Hospital, and this is as far as I’ve come in 37 years.

(When asked about my job)
I’m 37, and I work at the mall.

Of course, I know that it’s my choice to stay in Virginia Beach / Hampton Roads, and I know that my job is more than just a retail clerk in a mall shop. But I sometimes use self-effacing humor; I guess I always have.

What currently gnaws at my soul has nothing to do with job or status or material success. It has more to do with self-assessment, and I’m just coming to terms with the fact that, for the past 20 years, I have neglected to be who I really am.

It was that revelation that kept me from going to the reunion. I just needed time to work it out in my head.

When the chance came for me to see you and some other folks the night before the reunion, in a setting less immersed in nostalgia, I was grateful for the opportunity. I figured I could handle the smaller dose, and I did. Mostly.

I knew that there were words out there — words that were lurking in the shadows like ninja assassins, waiting for an innocent, well-intentioned conversation to be initiated before they sprung out at me.

The first was a blade in the side:
“Are you still playing music?”

Ouch. Kinda expected that one, but it still stung.
“No. I sold my keyboards back in college.”

Then the sucker punch:
“So what about art? Are you still painting and stuff?”

That one took the wind out of me.
“No, not really. Well, not as much as I like, but I’m trying to start to reconnect with that side of me again.”

The final assessment to my feeble replies was the same for both inquiries:
“Oh. That’s a shame.”

I could take it one time, maybe a few times. It’s only natural to expect to hear these things. But I couldn’t handle hearing them over and over and over again from everyone. And until I heard them last Friday night, I didn’t know just what it was that I was afraid to face.

I was afraid to face myself. I was afraid to see — afraid to accept — that I had neglected to nourish my own soul these past two decades.

I made a couple of bad choices early in life, just after high school, and somehow I got it into my head that I would pay for them the rest of my life. My life unraveled at 21, and I was so emotionally scarred, I just gave up.

I’m compelled to share this for a couple of reasons:

1) It may help to explain my frame of mind - if I seemed dismissive or distant in Summer 2008, this is probably why; and

2) looking at the writing, I can’t really believe I wrote this. Not that it’s great or anything…but it’s a fair sight better than what I feel I’m capable of doing now.

Then again, that (and this whole post, for that matter) could be explained away by the fact that it’s currently 3:12 a.m. as I write this.

(that is all)

I’ve gotten that question quite a few times over the past few weeks regarding my departure from Apple. The quick answer is simply, “I’m not really sure.”

The long answer is still a bit puzzling to me.

I’ve never given the store or my customers and my teammates anything less than my very best. But I guess somewhere along the line, the demand for tech support increased beyond what management felt I could effectively deliver. I never really saw things that way, but that was a perception that I could not change, despite focused efforts for most of 2009. Eventually I realized that no matter what I did, I would always be perceived as the anchor that dragged bar appointments down.

I offered to step aside as Genius, hoping I could transition to another position, but I was told there was no other position for me at the store. I was informed that I would be terminated (there were some other HR issues - brought up by me, but nothing that involved anyone other than me - that needed to be resolved before that could happen). I asked instead if I could resign, and management accommodated that request. For that, I’m extremely grateful.

I’m not one to toot my own horn, but personally, I feel I was a valuable asset to the store and to my team. I’m a competent technician, and my customer service skills are exceptional. The reason I’m good at my job is that I love what I do. I love Apple’s products and philosophy, and I love taking care of its customers.

I still don’t really understand why management felt that me not being part of the store team anymore - in any capacity - was the best solution, but the decision was management’s to make, and I don’t bear any ill will because of it. It’s their job to do what they feel is best for the store.

You can take the geek out of Apple, but you can’t take Apple out of the geek. So I’m going to give this independent consultant thing everything I’ve got. I’m hoping that my customer service philosophy, new flexibility from not being tied to Apple directly, and my passion for the products and my expertise, will translate into a successful business. I hope to be able to continue to work closely with the store to provide great solutions to Apple’s customers for the services the store isn’t set up to provide.

Freaking awesome night with Jake!

We went to see Devo in concert at the 9:30 club in Washington, D.C. last night, and it was amazing. We got there early enough to claim a spot by the stage, and I bought a tour t-shirt and an “energy dome” (“flowerpot hats,” for the non-Devo fans). After a mildly humorous opening comedy act, Devo performed their Freedom Of Choice album in its entirety, with several encores afterward.

We hung around a bit after the show — half because I had heard they came on for a final encore in their street clothes the night before, and half because I didn’t want to get snarled in post-concert traffic.

As we were waiting, we saw that the band was meeting some fans on the balcony. So after Jake got his swag, we started to head upstairs. Jake was met with a club staffer, who informed him the balcony was closed to the public. Dejected, Jake told me he’d wait for me outside while I excused myself to the men’s room.

When I came out, I saw Jake just outside. I turned and saw the stairs up, and I asked another staffer if the meet & greet was invitation-only. He said only “guest passes” were allowed access, and, as if on cue, the female half of an older couple (early-mid 50s, maybe?) who happened to be standing right there looked at me and said, “I would love one of those hats to take home for my daughter. Would you like our guest passes?”

Would I? HELLZ YES! Thanks so much, nice (drunk?) lady! Here’s my hat. I’ll get another online!

So, we ventured upstairs with our newly-acquired guest passes, and we made ourselves over to the band, which by that time was only Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale. I introduced myself and Jake to Mark, and spoke with him for a few minutes — he couldn’t have been a nicer guy. Very gracious and very kind. After we spoke, he started to walk off to the back room, when Jake called out, “Mr. Mothersbaugh, would you please sign my Energy Dome? And could I please get a picture with you?” He graciously accommodated Jake’s request:

I wanted to get my photo taken with Mark, but he looked like he was weary from the previous barrage of folks, so I decided I’d try to meet Jerry instead. But when we got over to Jerry, he was involved in a conversation with another fan (who was much cuter and much more female than either of us), so we decided to go ahead and leave, rather than awkwardly interrupt.

So we left. I finally saw Devo live after 25 years of wanting to do so, and I shared it with the best possible person I could have shared it with. Score a big check mark on our Geek Cred cards.

Check out the photo set on Flickr.

Halloween 2009 - Pearl Jam covers DEVO at their Philly show.

(via krazieekimx0x)

A meme is born...

It was only a matter of time. Surprised it took this long.

This leaves me feeling confused, disoriented, and somewhat violated.

[I was gonna also say: WTF?! - but I think that’s a given.]

(linked via @MattBalara via Twitter)

the wayward cartoonist #007

“Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?” - Felicia Day and the cast of The Guild

Gaming geeky awesomeness.

OK, this movie looks pretty badass.

listening to "Weezer - Pork and Beans (official video)"