The World of Scott Mindeaux

Did the Disappearing Act Again…

Well it seems that I have fallen off the edge of the earth again… I have not posted on my blog in quite some time and I am REALLY, REALLY sorry. As many of you know I also have a food blog – FoodieInDisguise.com. I have been concentrating on posts there and neglecting my life outside of food.

Let’s see, the last thing I wrote about was about Downton Abbey and Torchwood. Who would have thought how much attention Downton Abbey has been getting over the last couple of months. American fascinated about the life of aristocrats and their servants. They even won a couple of Emmys! I am anxiously awaiting season 3.

Since my layoff, I have spent all of December, January and February looking for work. It is rough out there!! There ARE jobs. Lots of jobs actually. But you’re competing with hundreds of applicants. If you don’t get your resume in right away, it could get lost in a stack on a recruiters desk or stay unread in the HR managers email. You have to play this game of not being too early for fear of being buried, but not too late that they have already selected their first run candidates.

I went out on a few interviews. Some good, some bad. I applied for a position as a Jr. Mac Administrator position for a well known geographically based iPhone app that helps you located “people and friends” that a nearby. You know, the app wiht the black and yellow skull logo. Well I went into that interview and I wasn’t prepared. I totally fucked that interview up and the sad part is that I did know all the answers. I had been so out of practice, I literally forgot the answers. Out of practice you ask? Well, I haven’t actually been doing IT support work since November 2010, just before I took responsibility for moving Ignite to their new 30,000 square foot building. After successfully moving the company, I took more of an operations/facility role. So in essence, I haven’t been practicing Mac Admin for over a year. When I got there they also asked me a slew of OS X Lion questions. We were still Snow Leopard at the agency and I didn’t have any game with Lion in a corporate environment. Sure, I used it at home, but not like I would if it was deployed at the office. So, obviously I didn’t get a call-back. I knew I messed that one up. In hindsight it probably was a good thing. I struggled for a bit about how to explain where I worked. My duties and actual job would probably always be overshadowed by the fact that I worked for “you know who”. Let’s all be real here, that app is not as innocent as the iTunes store describes the app. [smile]

A couple more opportunities came across, some out of state and some in-state but in places like San Diego, San Francisco and the East Bay. I even thought about leaving IT again and pursuing something in culinary. Unfortunately, those opportunities were far and hard to find.

Being on unemployment sucks. Things have been very difficult lately. Rent and Cobra alone is more than what I take home in unemployment. I had already struggled thru some of my savings when I was out on medical leave last summer. I even had to sell things on Craigslist just to make ends meet. So where are things?

Well, let’s just say an awesome opportunity will be making itself known on March 1. It’s exciting and I can’t wait to see what that will turn into. Details after I hear back!

So what else has been going on? Ugh. I have gained 15 pounds back. I went from 275 to 227 and back up to 243. I think I went into a tailspin after the layoff and went back into bad habits. I started slacking off from going to the gym and eating all the wrong foods. I have started to get back on the diet (modified Paleo) and started going back to the gym again. It will be nice to have a routine again when the March 1 thing comes through. So let’s see how fast i can get myself back to 227 and then keep steady for a loss below 200!  Can I do it???

I am so behind on some of my cable shows. I had to stop paying for cable since I didn’t have the money for it. So I have missed a good chunk of shows from Bravo, Cooking Channel and The Food Network. It has been 3 months since I have watch a cooking show. I’m having withdrawals. Yes I have found some content online, but nothing is more relaxing for me than waking up on a Saturday morning and watching The Barefoot Contessa or an episode of Eat Street. I heard there wasn’t much to miss on LOGO, but I have missed out on the Housewives in Beverly Hills, Atlanta and The OC as well as a Season of Tabitha taking over something!

So stay with me whoever you are. I hope I still have at least one reader on my site. I have been blogging since 2000 and it has been a fun ride so far. Let’s fill the rest of 2012 with some positive news and a leaner me!

Filed under: IT Tech Support, Just Too Gay!, Mac Stuff, Personal Log

I Want To Be in America… Olé!

I watched last night’s episode of Glee and I have to say that I’m a big fan of the musical West Side Story. Last night they performed a wonderful version of “America” from the Leonard Bernstein creation.

Last night’s episode was a bit shattered in story lines. The main storyline surrounded the “first time” for couples Blaine and Kurt as well s Finn and Rachel. It’s a touchy subject to bring up first time intimacies between teenagers. So let’s take a look at some issues. Let’s be clear that it is my impression that the show’s creators intended the primary audience for this show to be adults. The problem with this is that the show is about being in high school. While it is nice to reminisce about our past, it is probably safe to assume that the next core audience is high school students. Some of the subject matters that Ryan Murphy has touched on in the show are definitely “current” issues, but probably for consumption by an adult audience. I applaud Ryan Murphy in his attempt to bring the issue of not only “first time” sex on Glee but also that he is bringing up the subject with a young male gay couple as well.

I remember my first time and I wish it was in a private, special moment like Blaine and Kurt. Now with that said, I’m not saying that my first time was not private and that it was loud – it just wasn’t “special”. I wanted my first time to be special.

I do want to touch base on one of the side stories and that was one of Karofsky making a return to the school. Blaine and Kurt sneak off to the nearest gay bar in Lima, with bad boy Sebastian from the Warblers. There Kurt is watching Blaine having a good time on the dance floor when a baseball capped dude walks up to the bar and says “you better keep an eye on him…”. It was school bully Karofsky, now in a different high school and dealing with the fact that he is gay himself. A lot of the anger that Karofsky had while at McKinley was frustration over coming out and trying to figure out who and what he was. I recall to moments in my teenage years where I lashed out about things that were way off base and I honestly have to think that it was about not being able to express who I was to anyone. That kind of built up frustration can be very difficult to deal with. Karofsky said he liked coming into the bar cuz he had be comfortable with who he is and that he was accepted there. It was very cute that he made a nod to the bear community in saying that he was a “cub”. Karofsky still has feelings for Kurt. I think he always had and that was driving him crazy. Sitting int he bar, they both exchange words and you can see the look in his eyes that he is happy to see Kurt. Let’s see if something develops between the two later in the season.

So let’s keep with the theme of the bar. Blaine gets wasted (another subject that is facing high school students) and tries to initiate something intimate with Kurt in the back seat of the car. Kurt says no and holds his ground. Blaine gets pissed off and walks home. Probably for his good as it gave him time to re-evaluate what he was doing. We find out later in the episode that he indeed understand what he was doing and that he was truly sorry for what he tried to do. I do find it very weak that in apologizing to Kurt that Kurt decides that is the “moment” he has been waiting for and go back to Blaine’s house. For me personally, I would have waited for something to come along, not an apology from my boyfriend and a kiss. But that is just me.

So I’m going on a complete tangent here and going to touch on the subject of Puerto Rico and “America”. I had to do some research and this is what I found out. Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States in 1898 in the Treaty of Paris where control of the island was turned over to the United States. It was then in 1947 that Puerto Rick gained more autonomy by being able to elect their own Governor. However to this date, the citizens cannot for for the Presidency – while being US citizens. The timeline in the musical for West Side Story takes place in the mid 50s. We have two groups living in a burrough of New York where we have the Puerto Ricans and the “whites” of the neighborhood. This is our modern day Romeo and Juliet. Maria falls in love with Tony both on opposite sides and being in rival gangs. We have the rooftop scene with maria’s sister, Anita leading a discussion about living in America. I have always loved this song from a musical perspective and every time I hear it, my inner dancer takes over and dances.

My last note is about Coach Bieste and her newfound love interest. You go Coach, let him make you feel like a lady and let him pamper you!

 

Filed under: Just Too Cute!, Just Too Gay!, Personal Log

Get Outta My Way…

[HTML 5 compatible] I was surfing around the net and found this video by Jeremy Lucido. He and his buds put together a tribute video to Kylie Minogue’s “Get Outta My Way”.

Her song makes you want to dance no matter what you’re mood is. Wasn’t in a good mood tonight and this got me out of my funk. Oh, it’s not like the guys in the video didn’t help… [smirk]

Don’t worry..it’s safe for work… [smile]

Get Outta My Way (Boys) Tribute from Jeremy Lucido on Vimeo.

So below is Kylie’s original video….do you agree that Jeremy’s is better? Unfortunately the video may not be HTML 5 ready, so if you can’t view it on your iDevice, click here and your iDevice will bring you to your You Tube app: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rtGyv54qeA

Filed under: Just Too Gay!

GLEE – Preggers

This was another fun-filled night. Lots to deal with. Pregnancy, a continuing false pregnancy and Kurt comes out to his dad.

So the fun stuff? Kurt starts off the episode with Britney and Tina in their rendition of Single Ladies, Kurt’s dad walks in and catches them in the act…

Coach Ken brings the football team to Will to help them learn to dance so they can relax on the field.

Next in the last few seconds of the football game, Finn pull the Ring On It maneuver.

In the last clip, Kurt comes out to his dad. His dad says he’s proud of him.

My coming out to my parents wasn’t as joyful, but I do know they still love me.

Here are some little video snippets: (all rights FOX…blah blah…)

Kurt, Britney and Tina perform Single Ladies…

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Puck protests as the team learns the moves to Single Ladies

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Finn calls for the Ring On It play and Kurt comes out to his dad…

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OH…and we find out Quinn’s baby is actually Pucks….

Filed under: GLEE, Just Too Gay!

GLAAD’s Top Chef Invasion

It was a perfect day for a battle! Cooking battle, that is. Today, GLAAD was holding their Summer Fundraiser and today we have Chef Jamie Lauren and Chef Rich Sweeney from Top Chef Season 5 battling out in front of GLAAD supporters and foodies. My friend Tim came with me to the event as I was attending as Press for my food blog, Foodie In Disguise.

For those of you who recall, Richard and Jamie were 2/3 of Team Rainbow. Patrick packed his knives in the first episode. Emceeing the event today was Paul McCollough. Some of you may remember Paul as a contestant on The Next Food Network Star. He owns and manages a catering company here in Los Angeles.

Richard and Jamie started the event with a Quickfire Challenge; dice 4 onions, chiffonade basil and slice 2 oranges Imperial style.  The Quickfire was neck and neck but Richard prevailed. Next was the real challenge. They both had 25 minutes to create their dishes. Richard was making a Watermelon/Cucumber Gazpacho and Jamie presented a Tomato Salad with Feta and Watermelon. The judges for the event were Robert Gant, Elizabeth Keener, Wilson Cruz and Edison Briones. After the judges did their tastings, the VIPs at the event also got to taste the dishes and vote.

So who won? Who was presented with the big GOLDEN WHISK??

It was an audience tie, but the judge’s vote but Richard ahead and he wins the Top Chef Invasion Challenge! Congrats to Richard. The Watermelon/Cucumber Gazpacho was wonderful. Lite and sooo tasty!

More pictures to come!

Filed under: GLBT, Just Too Gay!, Top Chef!

How’s The Weekend So Far?

What a weekend! On Saturday I spent most of it running from store to store looking at various zoom lenses. I’m attending a fundraiser event later today up in Los Angeles benefitting GLAAD. The event is co-sponsored by Bravo and it’s called Top Chef Invasion. Chef Jamie Lauren and Chef Rich Sweeney will be battling it out for the guests. Former Next Food Network Star contestant Paul McCollough will be serving as emcee for this event.

Later today, if I wake up, I have to head up to LA just a tad bit early. I’m still looking for a lens case to hold my zoom lense and I also need a lens hood.  More importantly, I need to find a nice shirt to wear to the event. I’ve never actually attended a fundraiser like this before. Lots of Hollywood star power will be there as well as other celebrity chefs. I’m covering the event for my food blog, FoodieInDisguise.com.

Hopefully I’ll be able to find a lens case there. Thanks again go out to my friend Ian at work who graciously lent me his Canon camera at the last minute to cover this event. My friend Tim is attneding the fundraiser with me, then we’re supposed to attend this Stepehn Schwarz event at the Ford Theater in LA.

Hopefully I’ll make it back to the OC in one piece – translation: stay away from the hosted bar!

Friday I took the day off and worked on the food blog and interviewed a team member from a new Sur La Table that is opening up at South Coast Plaza. Later I did some shopping and then headed over to my sister’s place and hung out with them. I hung out mostly with my nephew Dallas and the little one, Jessica. This is probably the first time that she has hung out with me without mom in tow. She is a HUGE Dora the Explorer fan and it is amazing how she can find the one Dora item in the store and focus on it.  She is so adorable, she if fast approaching her 3rd birthday. Dallas is doing well and entering his junior year. He’s started his prep for the SATs and he showed me his practice book from collegeboard.com and I almost had a heart attack! It brought back such bad memories! I was able to answer quite a few questions from the verbal section, but the math stuff, omg….did we really learn all that and then what did we do with it after it?? It was nice hanging out with them and with Jessica, who incidentally doesn’t  call me Uncle Scott, she just calls me Scott!

Well if you are going to be at the GLAAD Top Chef event today, make sure to say hello!!

Filed under: Family, Just Too Gay!, Top Chef!