Gainfully Unemployed

June 19, 2006

Welcome back...or maybe you should be welcoming me back. It's been a
tough 2-4 weeks as I've had a major change in direction and pace lately. I'll
get to that in more detail later. But first I want to thank everyone for the
shout-outs on my 50th column and to those wondering where the hell my
51st column is... Here it is. That's where. On with the column.

As I mentioned, it has been a strange month or so. I normally do not like to
talk work on my column, but since technically it isn't considered work
anymore, I guess I can. Without mentioning specific names or the
companies involved, me and a few of my fellow coworkers became victims
of dirty office politics. First, we got this piece of shit asshole who came in
and thinks he's the god of recruiting. He does have some good ideas and it
works in insurance recruiting, but it will not fly in informational technology
recruiting. But this guy was such an arrogant prick with zero IT recruiting
experience, that it was hard to buy into his crap. I tried and I lost tons of
productivity, so I reverted back to the way that is productive. I was
chastised for this, but at the end of the day, it's about the bottom line.

A few weeks ago, I was in a golf tournament for the company. This new guy
tagged along and acted very jealous of me for being one of the two people
from the company chosen to play. He kept making comments like "I can't
believe I'm at a course and not playing." I wanted to tell him to go home
then, but I was trying to be nice. I just don't like when people, especially
adults, throw a pity party for themselves. He brought nothing to the table
that day and we'd have been better served with him sitting in the office
making calls and asking people "what they want to be when they grow up."
I'm serious. He really asks grown men that question.

Lastly, I recently became unemployed because of an unethical decision that
three of my coworkers decided to make behind me and another coworker's
back. My company got blackballed for their decision to breach a contract
and be deceitful to a vendor. They actually got blackballed from 20
different companies for that one bonehead decision. Since me and another
coworker have history with the company that the contract was breached
with, it was suspected that we ratted them out and we were released from
the company. That isn't their story, but I know it to be true. He was let go
for "production" and I was let go because "the company is moving to a
different model", which is total bullshit because in the past two weeks, we
were the most productive people in the company.

This company is destined to drive themselves straight into the ground.
They have started from scratch so many times, each time letting go of the
key people that helped them get to the level they are at. Greed and
stupidity are factors sitting in high places right now and I actually feel sorry
for anyone gullible enough to get into that organization right now. I'm glad I
am out, honestly.

Time to step off of the soapbox. Sorry to anyone who already knew that
story. Now here comes what hopes to be more fun stuff.

Has anyone checked out the new

mega-band. These are established guys, so they all have their own way of
doing things.

The next guy I wasn't so familiar with, Evan Seinfeld.
Turns out he's the bassist and founder of the group
Biohazard. I am familiar with their stuff, but they
never did it for me. Something tells me they
brought him in because his wife is porn star Tera
Patrick. They even ran a porn shoot out of the
house one day in lieu of practicing.

Jason Bonham is the drummer. He's mostly
famous for being Led Zeppelin drummer John
Bonham's son. He is a very good drummer
and actually toured with Zeppelin for a while.
He's also one of the more mellow guys in the
group.

In less than two weeks, I am heading down to the Myrtles Plantation with my
buds from Monroe, LA, one of which includes the editor and owner of
Rockpileproductions.com. The Myrtles is a haunted plantation in south
Louisiana. I have never stayed there but I have talked to someone who
took the tour. They said there is a mirror somewhere on the tour that had
several people not finishing the tour. I don't know what that's about, but I
cannot wait. We are actually staying the night. I have heard people have
experiences such as the feeling of someone tucking you into bed, moving
the bed, opening windows/doors, taps or footsteps. Who knows what could
happen? But it should be fun. In fact, I've been watching "Ghost Hunters"
on SciFi for months in anticipation.

I'm getting ready to do a summer movie review soon, but I want to check out
some stuff in the theater first. On the list is X-Men 3, Superman Returns,
The Breakup, Talladega Nights, and Clerks II (which I am somewhat
pessimistic about, for some reason). If any of you see these before I post a
movie review and they reek of sucktitude, please let me know and I will just
rent it instead.

Until next time, help me put the "t" in employment and throw one up for...

T-BONE!

In 2004, Nugent was a guest on the
VH1 program Forever Wild, hosted by
Sebastian Bach (former lead vocalist
for the band Skid Row); they did some
shooting and walked around the
Nuge's cabin in the woods.

Also in 2003, he served as host of a
VH1 reality television program called
Surviving Nugent in which city
dwellers, such as model Tila Tequila,
moved to Nugent's Michigan ranch in
order to survive such "backwoods"
activities as building an outhouse and
skinning a boar. The success of the
two hour show spawned a four part
mini series in 2004 entitled Surviving
Nugent: The Ted Commandments.
This time it was filmed on Ted's ranch
in China Spring, Texas. During
filming, Nugent injured himself with a
chainsaw, requiring 44 stitches and a
leg brace.

In 2004, Ted Nugent made a guest
appearance on the cult television
series on Adult Swim, Aqua Teen
Hunger Force in the episode "Gee
Whiz".

In 2005 Mr. Nugent was also the host
to a reality type show entitled Wanted:
Ted or Alive where contestants had to
compete for money as well as win
opportunities to go hunting with 'Uncle
Ted'. The contestants had to kill and
clean their own food to survive.

Attracting attention for his outspoken
statements on issues ranging from gun
politics to biodiversity, Nugent has
been a regular guest on such
programs like Larry King, Howard
Stern, and Politically Incorrect.

He is currently appearing on VH1's
reality show SuperGroup, with Scott
Ian (Anthrax, guitar), Evan Seinfeld
(Biohazard, bass), Sebastian Bach
(ex-Skid Row, vocals) and Jason
Bonham (Bonham, UFO, Foreigner,
drums). The name of the supergroup is
FIST later changed to Damnocracy.
Captured on film by VH1 was a rare
Nugent duo with guitar phenom Joe
Bonamassa at the Sand Dollar Blues
Room for a 45 minute blues jam.






	Legend has it that the Myrtles Plantation house was built on Tunica Indian burial mounds in 1794, by General David Bradford. Supposedly General Bradford was the first to see a ghost at Myrtles - a naked Indian girl - who is still occasionally seen today. Eventually, the house belonged to Bradford's daughter Sara and her husband, Judge Clark Woodruffe. Legend says that a slave woman named Chloe was owned by the Woodruffes, and was the Judge's reluctant mistress. Eventually, the Judge seemed to tire of Chloe and she feared what might become of her so she took to listening at keyholes to learn her possible fate. The Judge caught her one-day and had her ear cut off in punishment. Because of that, Chloe always wore a green turban. Eventually, Chloe devised a plan for insuring her place in the household. She would save the family from a mysterious ailment! So, Chloe poisoned the birthday cake of the eldest daughter with Oleander leaves, intending to nurse the family back to health after the leaves made them sick. Unfortunately, Sara and her two daughters died from the poison, only the Judge was spared since he had not eaten the cake. Chloe was terrified and fled to the safety of the other slaves. But, the slaves knew hiding her could result in all their deaths, so they drug her out of hiding and hanged her in a tree. Her body was then weighted and thrown into the Mississippi River. The ghost of a turbaned woman has been seen at the Plantation ever since. The Chloe incident is not the only tragedy that the Myrtles has borne through the years. In fact, there have been at least 10 homicides or suicides on the property through the years. During the Civil War, a confederate soldier dragged himself through the front door where he died from his wounds. Legend says that he left an impression of his fallen body that could not be removed and that the spot even resisted cleaning, stopping mops before they could cross the area or filling the maids with dread as they approached. In 1927, a man was killed during a robbery of the plantation, and it is said that his ghost roams the property, as well, ordering strangers to leave. The Woodruffe children have also been seen and heard on the property, laughing and playing. They have even been spotted perched in the chandeliers or peering at guests from the foot of their beds. Startled visitors to the Myrtles have also reported seeing a Voodoo priestess, chanting over a little girl. And, even odder still, some have seen a ballet dancer, complete with black tutu, who dances about a foot off the ground. Some folks haven't seen a whole ghost, but have seen disembodied hands or candles floating in midair. Strange sounds also seem to abound at the Myrtles. The grand piano has been known to play by itself. People have heard crying babies. Others report the sound of a man staggering up the stairs in the dead of night and collapsing on the 17th stair. (This has been attributed to the ghost of William Winter, who staggered up the stairs as he was dying of a gunshot wound in 1871, and collapsed into his wife's arms on the 17th step.)



		They were cones!