Life marches on

I've come to my Blogger dashboard several times over the last two weeks and simply stared at the blank page. I've been holding out on you, and for that I extend my apologies. The quest for a job in Denver has consumed me. The waiting became nearly unbearable for awhile, as I waited for a group of hiring managers to decide my fate. Alas, the company I had a final interview and presentation with in Denver offered the position to someone else. Once the news came, I was calm and collected. I didn't have the best of feelings about the company or the group I interviewed with and in the end it was best that they made the decision for me.

Friday, two weeks after the face-to-face interview, I had a final phone interview for the other position I was being considered for. I have much better feelings about this one and afterward felt content in my performance. I had similar feelings after my interviews 3 1/2 years ago for my current position and am hoping my instincts serve me well.

After the stress and anxiety I piled on myself two weeks ago that resulted in a case of the hives -- yes, hives -- so much for my cool-under-pressure guise, I was an itchy mess. Now I'm cool as a cucumber and have faith that things will fall into place as they are supposed to.



Meanwhile, while trying to live in the present, I've been listening to State Radio's Us Against the Crown -- and loving it. It's a lively mix of alt rock and reggae that definitely gets the spirits up. I first heard the State Radio song Keepsake in an episode of Weeds late in 2007, promptly downloaded it and added it to a playlist but hadn't explored the band further until last week when they were recommended by Aime Street, a paid music download site I frequent. Us Against the Crown and Year of the Crow are available for purchase for just $5 each at the site. There are also tracks from each album available for free download.



Since ditching cable, I've been revisiting the box set of the HBO series Six Feet Under and have never been more thankful for having purchased it on an impulse while strolling through Costco a couple of years ago. I was a huge fan of the series which ran from 2000 to 2005, in fact I consider it one of the best television shows of my generation. The stellar writing, acting and camera work made it so much more than a TV show. It was like sitting down to watch a one-hour film every Sunday night. This cinematic feeling can be attributed to the creator and executive producer Alan Ball of American Beauty fame.

Six Feet Under's characters were relatable, even if you don't want to admit it, and the setting was unique in a family run funeral home. Each episode began with someone's death whose funeral the Fisher family would attend to. The pilot episode's first death is the family patriarch, Nathaniel Fisher. After getting hit by a bus in the new hearse on the way to pick up the elder son Nate from the airport on Christmas Eve, he drifts through each season visiting, aka haunting, his family when they least expected him but oftentimes when they needed him most. The subject matter was at points shocking and introduced themes and stories that, before Ball, had never been on TV. The theme of the show is that everything ends, everyone dies, and in the series finale, which I revisited last night, that theme proves itself in a perfectly lovely way.

Trust me when I say the series alone is worth the Netflix subscription. Many episodes are also available on HBO On-Demand. I promise that if you watch the first season you'll be hooked and will be scrambling for the next. You can read more about this fantastic series here.