11:27 am - Sun 7/17/05
It Slices, It Dices...But Does It FAX?

Fri 7/15/05 (3:12 p.m.)

Well, you know that audition I thought went well, but �nothing came of it�?

I got the callback after all.

It was yesterday; at the original audition, they said callbacks would be Tuesday, so I assumed my chance had come and gone (Though now, knowing what I know, I always hold out a slight bit of hope for something like this happening).

It was for Virgin Mobile, and if I'd gotten it, I would have been one of the �true believers� at a tent revival meeting, with �Brother Reggie� preaching the virtues of �Pay-As-You-Go�, or "Paygoism", as I think they were calling it.

When I read the premise, I thought �I could see how this might offend some people...�. Then I realized I didn�t care.

That was at noon.

I had another audition, for Genworth Financial, at 3:00. Nothing too interesting�I was brought in with another actor, and we had to pretend to be watching a tennis game�which is the kind of audition that often leaves me feeling depressed afterwards, since they feel like even more of a crapshoot than ones that involve some kind of acting.

But of course, if I actually book the gig, that "depressed feeling" will go away in a hurry...

I think this is at least mildly interesting: The Genworth Financial spot is the second commercial I�ve auditioned for starring Andre Agassi (The tennis game I pretended to be watching is between him and his wife Steffi Graff, in the imaginary country of "Farofflandistan", or something to that effect, where the rules of the game are a little...different).

A year or two ago, I auditioned for a commercial--I forget the product--where I would have been his next door neighbor.

Anyway, callbacks for that are supposed to be next Thursday and/or Friday.

I was disappointed not to get the Virgin spot--It seemed like fun--but I�d probably be better off getting the Genworth thing�Virgin was just cable (In all likelihood, because of the potentially offensive content), while Genworth was for cable and network.

(Cable spots don�t pay nearly as much as network, going back to the days of cable's infancy--SAG didn't see the writing on the television wall, let cable rates go for a song, and has never been able "to put the genie back in the bottle". So that being the case, the �Holy Grail� of commercials is a �network national�, the longer-running, the better; get one of those and it can be a life-changing event. Unfortunately, they're becoming harder to get than they used to be...and I doubt it was ever exactly �easy�.)

One �little chore� I didn�t �fit in� was setting up my new AIO, which was purchased at my friendly neighborhood Staples yesterday afternoon.

But more on this and other borderline-interesting developments later. Right now, it�s time to head off to the worksite, where I�m hoping to make it through another �Harry Potter� night.

Wish me luck...

Sat 7/16/05 (1:50 p.m.)

Well, �Harry Potter Night� kind of sucked, mostly because somehow, even though this is the sixth book in the series, and they�ve all been pretty successful thus far, Borders in general (And our store in particular) once again seemed caught off-guard by �Pottermania�. Can�t imagine how that can happen year after year after year, but somehow it does.

But it�s history now. And while management�s half-assed �organizing� of the event frustrated the staff�At least one to the point of tears (It wasn�t me, if you were wondering)�So far as I know, everyone who wanted the book got the book, there were no fatalities, and hopefully, this will be my last �Harry Potter Night� as a bookseller.

Well, I�ve made progress on the AIO�I cleared the area where it�s going to go, and got it out of the box�so I expect within the next couple weeks, I�ll have it plugged in, a couple weeks after that, I�ll have downloaded the software, and before the year�s out, I�ll have learned how to use it�s various and sundry functions.

But I�m feeling a little cranky right now, so if I don�t at least try to catch an extra �Z� or two, some customer this afternoon is gonna pay...

Sun 5/17/05 (11:40 a.m.)

Well, I'm a little ahead of schedule on the AIO: After I got home from work last night, I set it up, and downloaded the software.

So far, I've printed with it (Which was fine), and copied with it (Which was not quite as fine, I think due to "Operator Error"), but have not faxed or scanned with it.

I feel a bit overwhelmed at how complicated it is (For the record, I've never owned a fax machine, and have maybe sent three faxes in my life), but I guess that's what the "User's Guide" is for.

(I think I'm going to call the bookstore and get the fax # there. It'll be good practice for faxing them my resignation...)

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