I ended up just taking today off. I’ve only gone to the work computer once to check on things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obviously I’ve been looking at email, etc..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And trying to get through this protection racket. Essentially what I’m having to do at this point is do the exercise, then wait until the clock is nearly expired before I mark it as complete. Lamesauce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I absolutely hate that I have to do this in order to keep working a few more years. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, I’d like to stay at it a for a few more years. No, I don’t know if I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, I’m not sure what else I’d do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Write. It’s what I do. Sometimes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s about the only thing I have to spill out these thoughts bouncing about my scarred brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I used to speak more, especially when I was on the radio. That said, when I was 21 years old, I had problems with my diction speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hell, I was nicknamed “John Wayne” by some of the folks on my high school football team. (Where there were six Sean\/Shaun\/Shawns. My parents wanted to give me something distinct, so they gave me the most popular boys’ name of the 1970s as a first name, and the second most-popular name as my middle name….)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ll admit that the nickname could have been due to my lack of running speed, too, but I’ll just say that it was probably a lot more about how slowly I spoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2005, I finally moved into a situation where I was doing on-air work beyond really just live assist for network programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2005 was about the time, in the wake of John Kerry’s rollicking success in the 2004 race, a bunch of the hipster progressives decided that they could probably do talk radio better than the conservatives could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I listened. It was unspeakably awful. Beck did a bit that he was going to air an abortion. I should have known it was a complete bit when his bumper for one of the segments was Rooster<\/em> by Alice In Chains, but….he ended up playing as segment of Al Franken and his giggling sidekick as the “abortion.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where I was living at the time, AA were on a very low-power AM stick, but the programming was just atrocious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the time, one of the flagship shows was “The Young Turks.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n I paid attention to it a bit, as it was marginally more entertaining than Al Franken, or Rachel Maddow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it was terrible<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since Air America found its well-deserved death, the show has bounced around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the podcasts I listen to had a death watch for them a few months ago. Somehow they’re still around, even after their hopes and dreams for a public execution for treason evaporated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The entry from the archives I have is here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The talk radio business is a strange one, but it’s gotten tons stranger since Air Amerikkka showed up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turns out they took a “loan” from a charity funded by the City of New York. Details<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, their flagship, WLIB-AM, now has lower ratings than before they went on the air. Of course, the folks over at the Daily Kos won’t ention that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please excuse the typo I see there. Chances are that I hammered that out on an ancient laptop in bed, or in a dark radio studio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I tried to find their meltdown on Election night in 2016 as their prophet lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n7\/30\/05 – 7\/30\/2005<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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