Ayo Technology.

Here's something interesting. Our radio station is located in the middle of a concrete jungle. We're about 2 miles from downtown Sacramento and we're surrounded by other industrial establishments...Interstate Plastics...Dome Printing and Publishing...a junkyard...you get the idea. There are no farms. There are no pastures or areas conducive to raising farm animals. So of all of the random animals that could have shown up in our parking lot, and are subsequently now declaring it their turf...no, not a stray cat...not a rabbit...but a rooster and a hen.

This morning we had a stand-off.

The problem with having them in our parking lot is that they hover by our back door like, "let us in, bitches." At 4:45 in the morning when I'm half asleep and clumsily trying to find my way from my car to the door at work, I don't expect them to be blocking the door. Not only do they scare the shit out of me, but they are mean little fuckers and they make noise at me when I try to shoo them away.

It's probably our own faults. We feed them and give them water. We've evern built them a makeshift chicken coop out of a cardboard box and some hamster cage shavings. I can't help it...I have a bleeding heart for animals. Now they rule the roost...in fact, when I pulled in this morning I'm pretty sure I heard them listening to Run This Town by Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye. We've even named them. Cledus and Shirley. Cledus doesn't treat Shirley well but she's loyal to him.

Anyways...

A lot has happened in the past 3 and a half weeks. I mean, a lot. I guess I should back up a little to the week before my birthday. Now, I'm not trying to play the "woe is me" card because I realize that there comes a time when you (i.e. me) have to stop expecting people to make a big deal out of your (my) birthday. While I recognize that I am past the big "milestone" birthdays, I still expect a select few individuals to, at least, acknowledge when it is. In Northern California I have 4 good friends...these are people I hold to a higher standard than other people in my life. I understand that they all have their own lives and nobody is perfect...people forget things sometimes...that's fine. But the 4 people I am close with, I expect to remember.

I'll make a long story short and just tell you that 3 of the 4 close friends I have out here...forgot. That's 75% of my good friends. Nevermind the fact that social networks like Facebook make it virtually impossible to miss friends' birthdays. In fact, I had friends from middle school (who I haven't seen or talked to you in years) acknowledge that it was my birthday and went out of their way to "write something on my wall" which is a Facebook term for those of you living under a rock.

I'm not going to lie, it hurt my feelings.

I spent my 28th birthday (a Friday night) watching a Lifetime movie with my dogs. And somewhere in the midst of feeling sorry for myself and recognizing that I have no life...in between Part 1 and Part 2 of "The Two Mr. Kissel's" starring John Stamos...I decided that it's time to officially quit California. I've been thinking about it for a year now.

I've applied for two jobs in North Carolina and Friday I had a great conversation with potential employer #1. In just under 20 minutes he seemed to have definitively made up his mind about me (which is either a really, really good sign or a really, really bad sign). Potential employer #1 is a job in Wilmington, NC. I haven't lived in that area for 10 years now...going back would be strange, but that's where my brother and sister-in-law are so it might not be that bad.

Potential employer #2 is in Charlotte. I don't want to jinx myself by making assumptions about either of the possibilities so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

I also recently lost my cell phone. Not a good feeling when you don't have a home phone and your cell phone is your only means of communication. I dropped it in the parking lot at Trader Joe's...apparently...and some good samaritan gave it to a manager who then attempted to call every contact in my contacts. He finally got a hold of my friend Jenny in Seattle and she sent me a message on Facebook. Right before I was getting ready to go on a panic-stricken wild goose chase, trying to retrace my steps from the day before...I got an e-mail from Jenny that she had talked to the manager at Trader Joe's and he informed her my phone was waiting safely at their store for me to come pick it up.

Whew. The power of technology. I could have spent all day scavenger hunting my way around Sacramento looking for my phone...but one Facebook message and the problem was solved! Amazing.