Resource for Michael Montez

Goodbye TDP

Friday was my las day at TDP. It’s been a great 2+ years, but I feel I have given all I can give. One thing I will miss about TDP are the people. When I started there, we were 16 strong. When I left we were 40+ in the US office. In the beginning, we had to do everything, but for some reason we didn’t mind. I don’t know what happened, but it’s not the same. So like most of my relationships, it is over.

But back to the people. As normal, we had a going away happy hour at The Whaler. Aidan and I were both leaving this week. Aidan may be the best singer in the world. I think we should have a Aidan Vs. Toby karaoke death match.

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What’s that smell?

So it’s my last week here at TDP, let the countdown begin. When I arrived at the office today I noticed a smell that was not me (this time). Sort of a rotten egg smell, the kind that smells like eggs area rotting.

About ten minutes ago, our IT manager came up to tell us that there is a “situation” in the battery room and if the fire alarm were to go off, we need to get the hell out of the building ASAP. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

Now you might be thinking, a battery can destroy a building. Yes and no. A single battery is very harmless. But we are in one of the largest server facilities on the west coast. We have a cluster of about 2000 car batteries located in one room. That’s a lot of acid.

So if you see that a building burned to the ground and your internet service is suddenly very slow, that was my building.

View Larger Map

UPDATE: They evacuated and then shut down the building at 11:15 am and we were sent home. Here is a slideshow of the time between evac and leaving. Enjoy the show and the song.

Posted in mindless crap, techology | 2 Comments »

Memorial Day Watching

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend and I wanted to point out two movies you might “enjoy”. These movies will get you thinking about this war we are currently involved in. Please take the time to put these in your netflix queue or you can watch online.

No End in Sight
“The first film of its kind to chronicle the reasons behind Iraq’s descent into guerilla war, warlord rule, criminality and anarchy, NO END IN SIGHT is a jaw-dropping, insider’s tale of wholesale incompetence, recklessness and venality. Based on over 200 hours of footage, the film provides a candid retelling of the events following the fall of Baghdad in 2003…”

Alive Day
“In a war that has left more than 25,000 wounded, ALIVE DAY MEMORIES: HOME FROM IRAQ looks at a new generation of veterans. Executive Producer James Gandolfini interviews ten Soldiers and Marines who reveal their feelings on their future…”

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Slacker

For all you out there who push 50+ hours a week, please take a state mandated 15 min break and read this article from Fortune magazine. I will now tease you with a few pull quotes:

“Consider that for most industries, the U.S. can’t hope to be the low-cost producer in a global economy. With innovation now our main competitive strength, creativity is crucial for anyone who wants to move up.”

“But it’s really, really hard, if not impossible, for the human brain to come up with fresh new ideas when its owner is overworked, overtired, and stressed out.”

“On the organizational level, what you get is, everyone is so focused on running flat-out to meet current goals that the whole company is unable to step back and think.”

Put this article in your bookmarks and read it on the plane or during your next vacation.

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Moving On

I have decided to leave my position at The Design People, Inc. I will be freelancing as well as job hunting.

I also just got back from my first “Free Weekend” in Vegas. Toby, Jung, and I were chilling for a few days. I had a few great sessions at the craps table, vow (once again) to never play cash poker games, and finished 5th and 1st in two poker tournaments.

Posted in About Me, Las Vegas, poker | 1 Comment »

It’s Peanut Butter Jelly Time

Here’s the original Peanut Butter Jelly Time link:
http://audiomuffin.com/ohno/

Here is Eva’s interpretation of the same song:

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The Urge to Splurge

So I have made some suggestions for you about your free $600, you may be asking me what am I doing with my $600. I will be replacing my eyeglasses. Yes, that is a $600 task when you get quality frames, quality lenses (with extras), and don’t have vision insurance.

The Lenses
I have a really messed up set of eyes. Doctors have referred to them as “shaped as a football”. Translation, strong prescription equals thick lenses. This hampered my ability to look cool as I was wearing “coke-bottles” on my face and a sturdy frame to support them. However, modern science (vs. old science I guess) has created the Hi Index and Polycarbonate lens which allows for thinner and lighter glasses; at a price.

If you are not a glasses wearer, you may not appreciate the “feature” that is Anti-Reflection Coating. Imagine seeing a reflection (in the lenses) of you blinking. Every look through a window and see your shape in a ghostly shape - no anti-reflection coating on that window. On the plus side, sometimes you can see behind you when danger is approaching.

The third and final fun feature on my new glasses will be Transitions III coating. This will turn my eye wear from glasses to shades in a matter of seconds.

The Frames
This is where you can go from expensive glasses to over-priced glasses. Sure the cheap plastic frame will get you through the days and nights with no regrets. But when you are looking for design, well, then you are talking about cash. I won’t go into why things that are well designed cost more than things that are not, I’ll save that for another post. So here are some frames I have been looking at:

http://oakley.com/pd/5183/17181
http://oakley.com/pd/5613/18813
http://oakley.com/pd/5185/17187

I’ll look at more frames when I visit my eye care professional. No, it’s not a Lens Crafters.

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Fuck the World (part 2: How to spend free money)

So a lot of us are getting $600 of “free” money from our good uncle Sam. It’s an attempt to stimulate the economy. But how can we spend this mini-fortune in a responsbile manner that truly stmiluates the economy of these United States of America? Here are my suggestions:

• Eat Locals - If you are eating out, go to Joe’s Pizza instead of Pizza Hut. When you buy from small shops, you are paying for employees and taxes and other things you use in your area. When you buy from Pizza Hut, you are giving your money to YUM Brands and paying for lawyers, multi-national marketing campaigns and new ways to make sure no one in the store actually makes a living wage. Same thing goes for grocers. If you have a Jons or something in your hood, try shopping there. Also consider buying your veggies from a farmers market rather than Pavilions.
• Service Me - Consider spending your green-backs on services rather than products. I know we all want the new iPhone, but don’t use your free money for that, instead, hire a gardener to come to the house once a week. Or have the plumber come out and fix that which is broken. Get your car detailed (or tuned up), buy a new suit and have it tailored, get something custom made (cloths, art, etc). Use your money to stay at a nice hotel and eat really good food. The point is this, don’t spend your free cash at Wal-mart (or Best Buy), spend it at Mama’s Massage and Nails.

Free money is great, but the point of this check is to stimulate the economy. The best way to do that is to spend it with small companies who hire employees and pay taxes. Giving $600 to MegaCorp isn’t going to stimulate anything except a stockholder.

Posted in life lessons | 2 Comments »

15 seconds

That’s how long it took me to download a song from iTunes today. I was watching Step Into Liquid this evening and an old 90’s song was used early in the movie. I totally forgot about this song so I fired up the notebook and started searching for the song. The song is Touched by V.A.S.T. I totally forgot about this song but to hear it again brought back some killer memories of when I was at Cal State Fullerton and working late on ad projects.

So I headed over to iTunes to buy the song. I don’t buy music or steal music much anymore. When I did, it took me a long time to download a single song, about 5 min per megabyte. Today, it took 15 seconds for a 4 minute song. I call this progress.

I like the song but the video kinda sucks. If you want to remake the video, give me a call, I have some ideas.

Posted in entertainment review, techology | 1 Comment »

Movie Night - April ‘08

So Saturday was movie night. The peeps from 81st Street (minus Toby, plus Jung) gathered ’round and watched a film. This month’s host was Brian (and Kelly). The bulldog busted out his spices from The Rack and kicked out some killer chicken bites, Mac ‘n cheese squares, chili fries, and meatloaf on a cracker. Add a few beers and some Mojitos and you have a warn, homey feeling in your belly.

That was the perfect feeling because this month’s movie was Coming Home. This was my first time for this film. It was great. It’s a Brian all time favorite and I have managed to recommend it to all the peeps here at work.

Thank you Brian and Kelly for hosting the first movie night and for getting the band back together.

Thank you for reading my rant. I was watching TV and reading the LA Times on Sunday morning and I had to write that. A part 2 is on it’s way.

Posted in 81st Street, entertainment review | 1 Comment »