You Only Go West Once

I Blew It, Capice!

westernmigration — Fri, 07 May 2010 04:29:15 +0000

Well another trip to Colorado for an interview and another position not attained. I guess i kind of made it clear during the interview that i had reservations about the position. I also realized that my heart wasn’t completely in it because of my less than over-the-top presentation. I think it all started after a conversation with the Regional Coordinator about some of the programs that were in the mix and others that weren’t. It would have been a tough pill to swallow to just leave a passion of mine back east to work on some new endeavors. I was very happy with the whole process and i have to thank the RM Region for having me out a couple of times to try it out. I honestly feel like i was better suited for the Cherry Creek position i first interviewed for. The whole process just seemed natural.

What does this all mean now. Well, it looks like unless the most amazing opportunity that could ever arise (and yes that is harrison oakland) comes up then Izzi and I are going to stick around Philadelphia for another year. At least i have my Pavement tickets and I don’t have to miss Cang’s visit.

Ill leave you with some pictures of the Superior store.

View of the rockies from a window in the Whole Body department.

a view of the Whole Body department from the left

a view of the Whole Body department from the right

John Elway Gets To Keep His Spot as BMOC

westernmigration — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 01:30:29 +0000

I started this blog to track my progress as I attempted to move out west. Well, it wasn’t until this week that the first steps were taken. Izzi and I decided that I’d she didn’t get into Harvard that we would start looking at locations out west where I could continue my career as Whole Body Team Leader @ Whole Foods Market and she could teach economically and socially disadvantaged youths the glories of English. After we heard the diappointing news from Harvard I started combing through the job bulletin at work. There seemed to be a few positions open that I sent Izzi’s way for review; West Orange NJ, Hadley MA, San Rafael CA, and Cherry Creek CO. After some initial research we began looking at the prospect of Denver. We discussed the pros and cons and Denver started to look really good. I e-mailed the store and got a response from the Regional Coordinator who wanted to talk. After a brief discussion, which went really well, I told him I would make a decision after I spoke with the Store Team Leader. Her and I played a bit of phone tag and eventually connected. The conversation was good and she asked me to come outh the next week. I agreed and she booked my travel arrangements. A few days later I was on a plane to Denver with an action plan and a dream of the grand Rocky Mountains. I arrived at night and went straight to the store. I got to chat with the BCM specialist a bit before the store closed then went to my hotel. The next day I got up early and went to the store to work. I met a few more TMs and they were great. I was asked to check out another store while ther so I drove out to Superior around midday. It was a pretty drive toward the mountains. The store was pretty and everyone was very nice and accomodating. Superior is about 30 miles outside Denver. It’s a much slower pace than the city and driving to work would be a necessity. It’s not really what I’m working toward right now. I drove back to Cherry Creek again and sat down with the Store Yeam Leader for a chat. We saw eye to eye on many aspects of our business. This was starting to look more appealing. Oh, I forgot to mention the enormous amount of hard work that would have to be put in to clear out the drama, the excessive inventory and right the ship towards the horizon. But I started to feelore confiden about the task, the relocation and the potential success. I went to the hotel and began to rework my action plan and write a list of opportunities. The next morning I got up and checked out of the hotel. I headed over to the Capitol Hill district for breakfast. It was a fun mix of Hispanic, young metropolitan and young artist. The interview was at 1 pm so I had to get back to the store shortly after my meal. The panel was 6 people who all asked inviting questions which I met with honesty, accuracy and just the right amount of charm. They responded well and thanked me for interviewing. I was pretty confident that I nailed it. I had to go straight to the airport to make my 6pm flight. I got the call at the airport from the STL that they were going with the other candidate. She said they felt I was great, answered all their questions excellently and that they had no feedback for me. She said the other candidate had the advantage of working the store for a while and had developed a good relationship with the store and the team. She told me that the Coordinator and the STL of the Superior store would like to talk. I guess I could listen. I’m disappointed I was not successful. I am proud of what I did and that I did very well on the interview. The practice is great. I’m going to go back to the deck and see what pops up. Maybe something better will cross my path and I’ll end up exactly where I supposed to be.

Brigham Young’s Utopia Amongst The Peaks…

westernmigration — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:50:30 +0000

isn’t quite as attractive as it must have been in the 19th century. Don’t get me wrong the mountains are beautiful. The houses are mostly 1 story bugalow style, which i love. If Kenny Powers lived here he would say: “Going on missions on the reg, eating fast food on the reg, smoking crystal meth on the reg, banging my wives on the reg”. Well at least tonight after dinner i can hop over to Velour and check out John Vanderslice live. Yes!

no fast food here...phew!

I Don’t Know What Joseph Smith Encountered On His Trek To Utah That Was So Arduous…

westernmigration — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:16:27 +0000

But he should have taken a 747. I arrived in less than 4 hours. All I got was a tired ass from the tight seating. Oh and I got scolded by the first class flight attendant for storing my carry-on in the compartment above first class. I guess it was worth mentioning. I’ll never do that again.

The Irony Of Poor Dental Hygiene And No Insurance

westernmigration — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:17:19 +0000

When I think of America I think of a few things. Freedom, multi-culturalisic values, and corn. It seems that in order to assimilate youself into our free society you just have to shop at Target. I’m not a Wal-Mart shopper but I don’t understand why Target doesn’t get shamed the same way Wal-Mart does. They carry most of the same products but generally sell them at a higher price. The customers are the same. I even heard a customer say “so, this is what a white people store look like”. As if only white people shop at Target. The other day I saw two Buddhist monks getting there picture taken outside the South Philly Target before going in to pick up the most auspicious graphic t “Irish I had a beer”. But what was most worth noting was the Asian lady with 15 six-packs of 24 I’d. Mountain Dew’s’ 4 gallons of milk and 4 fridge packs of Lipton Brisk Iced Tea. Need proof, here it is, instant American. Take ten years off my life please!

If I Could Pick You Up…

westernmigration — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:07:24 +0000

How could my life be more complete? Kenny singing “Into The Night” by Benny Mardones, my favorite song of all tiime. Somebody else sung “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” but left out the “fucking”, lame.

What God Hath Put Together Let No Man Cut Asunder

westernmigration — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:01:21 +0000

My cats are putting me into cuteness overload!

Call Forth Your Spirit Animal

westernmigration — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:28:09 +0000

My STL was telling me about his morning yesterday where he interacted with a customer who’s watch was fast and was demanding to be let into the store. At that moment Ken was more concerned about something else. Our neighborhood has a hawk that seems to like Whole Foods Market’s all natural offerings. Fitting. Between our entrance and exit doors is a patch of ivy along a wood lattice structure built into the wall and awning. Its filled with small birds, sparrow or swallows or the like. Lately the hawk had been fling down towards the entrance and picking off the small birds. Yesterday was one of those days. Ken was telling the customer that we weren’t open yet and that she should be careful because this hawk was cracking open bird skulls right next to her. she didn’t care. “It’s 8:01, Let Me In!” she demanded. She eventually sneaked in through the exit doors and rushed back to the bakery for her pastries and coffee.

Later that day i went out back and noticed that the hawk was hanging out by our dumpster perched on a concrete half wall. I spoke quietly to the bird, “if i call on you, spirit animal, you will know what to do”. One day when i see that customer in our store demanding attention i will shriek out the call of the hawk and it will come swooping down and shred her shoulders like an iron gym and i would have avenged your broken spirit ken. all hail the Marlton Hawk.

I’ve Been Blackened or I Think I Made A Huge Mistake

westernmigration — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:29:25 +0000

Awhile back i posted a video of my playing of Metallica’s Blackened from the video game Rock Band. I have never made any claims as to my skills as a lonely basement dwelling video game fanboy and apparently the internet constructive criticism elf never warned me about doing as such. i recently received a comment notification via email about a member who actually had been desperately combing YouTube looking for mind-blowing clips of guitar based video game virtuosity only to stumble upon my less then satisfying performance.

“Kooves666 has made a comment on Blackend (metallica) Hard Level:

fuck you pussy, get a life

You can reply to this comment by visiting the comments page.”

who could resist but follow up on such an eloquent statement.

i replied: “i appreciate the criticism. i will look into it.”

i also noticed that much earlier i received a comment about the video.

“ghostavenging666 (7 months ago)
buy a real one ;/”

i apologize to the entire YouTube community for wasting bandwidth with such utter trash. i was actually pleased with how i had been progressing in the game. serves me right.

22:47:36 MGS4 “Lobster”

westernmigration — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 05:22:52 +0000

22 hours 47 minutes and 36 seconds later Metal Gear Solid 4 : Guns Of The Patriots is completed! Amazing game. Raiden was sick. I wish i had a way to record all the amazing moments in this game. Its more of a movie than a game but when you did play it couldn’t be better. After i defeated the final beast and killed Liquid i had to sit through almost 2 hours of cut scenes to get to the credits. Well worth the wait. When they tallied my scores i was left with some animal icons to define my performance. Lobster, Pig, Jaguar, Duck, basically that means i completed the game even though i got my ass kicked and alerted every enemy to my wherabouts at all times. oh well, better luck next time. I’ll leave you with this video of Raiden kicking Gekko ass!