What can brown do for you? Sara

So we left off with me learning the ropes on Pen 9 and trying new techniques. Everything on Pen 9 was moving along nicely. I couldn't complain anymore, as long as everyone showed up to work it was going to be a nice day. Walk around talk to old friends and new ones. Since Pen 9 was on top of Pen 8 I would always see their pick-off Sara.

Now females at UPS were very rare. It is a very hard job to be an employee there. Whether it be the work or just dealing with the guy attitudes. Anyway, Sara was a funny girl always in a good mood, unless the missorts were high. I can still see her yelling at me to fix the missorts in the back, even though I wasn't there anymore. All she wanted was for me to get on my radio and yell at someone.

Her boyfriend worked on the same belt as her. He was a solid employee. When I needed something I just called him and he would do it. Phil would get mad that I was stealing his workers, but they never got backed up.

They were two of the most reliable employees I ever saw there. They were responsible and always thought of others not just themselves. That's pretty big considering they were in their early 20's. They were what you thought of when you said UPS.

I still remember coming in that Monday morning when Shon was waiting for us. He told us how Sara had died over the weekend. It was a shock to me. I couldn't believe someone who wasn't even 25 could have died. I just saw her on Friday smiling and joking around with everyone. Apparently, her and her boyfriend were at a wedding reception (made it worse I suppose), when she started complaining of chest pain. Next thing she collapsed. I never found out how she died or why. But did it matter? 20's gone.

Her boyfriend took some time off and I remember seeing him when he returned. I simply asked how he was and if he needed anything. He was trying to be strong, but I could tell it hurt bad.

It was surreal to walk by that pick-off everyday and realize she was gone. It hit our pens pretty bad, unfortunately the world kept spinning and we had to move on.

Tags explained

Ok so what I am trying to create here is a blog that everyone can follow. For that reason I am "tagging" most of my threads. Most of you have noticed, now let me explain them.

Spotlight: This is the one that started it all I guess. These posts will spotlight the artist/genre of the week. I will try to post videos of the songs and my playlist for the week.

What can brown do for you?: Turning out to be my favorite posts actually. These will focus on my 5 years at UPS. I am trying to go in order, but I won't be able to stay linear forever.

Venting the Anger: Just me complaining about something...usually school related. But seriously, anything...comic books, tv, movies, music...you name it I will give my opinion.

Thoughts Without Words: Similar to Venting the Anger, except I try not to get to upset. Just share my thoughts on a specific topic.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: anything related to T.V. Usually, I talk about my favorite show and why. Maybe even throw on a video from Youtube or somewhere else.

That's where I am at. As for the titles, most are song titles. I liked the songs, so now I use them as titles. Obviously, my UPS one is the old slogan. It was either that or Moving at the speed of business. I didn't like that one...plus this one has brown in it which makes you think of UPS.

Spotlight: Megadeth

ok, I am in the middle of giving my thoughts on Megadeth, so I won't be too long today. Let me say that the first part of Megadeth's career (pre-Risk) was filled with thrash classics. Most fans will tell you that KIMB, Peace Sells, SFSGSW, R.I.P., CtE, Youth, and CW are their best. Most will tell you up til CtE actually. Their first 5 albums are classics. I'm not gonna tell you they aren't. All I can say is to give their post-Risk career a listen.

Most kids are caught up with Hangar 18 because of Guitar Hero. And I'm not going to complain. but listen to other songs off of R.I.P. then. I would have to say my favorite thing about CtE-era Megadeth was how the rhythm guitar had that hard crunch sound...yeah kinda like Metallica. But seriously, listen to the opening riff of Symphony of Destruction and Angry Again...killer.




So next week, I will highlight their last two albums and give you what I think is a good playlist of the last 3 albums.

Playlist for the week:
Monday: Last Rites/Loved to Death, Peace Sells, Mary Jane from KIMB, Peaces Sells, and SFSGSW.
Tuesday: Hangar 18, Holy Wars...Punishment Due from Rust in Peace
Wednesday: Tornado of Souls, Rust in Peace...Polaris from Rust in Peace
Thursday: Countdown to Extinction, Symphony of Destruction, Angry Again from Countdown to Extinction and Hidden Treasures.
Friday: Blood of Heroes, Family Tree, New World Order from Youthanasia

Venting the Anger: Spring Break & CSTs

After reading yesterday's post on the CSTs, I started to get upset about the timing of them. Now I understand that we have to give them on a certain day based upon X% of the school year being completed, but why do we give them right after Spring Break? Seriously, we come back on Monday and Tuesday we start testing. Why? Do we really think that the students are going to study during their break? We work so hard to get these students ready for the tests then all of that momentum is ruined by having a week off.

But once again...that doesn't matter, they need to be proficient.

Thoughts Without Words: CSTs

So it is that time of year again. And we are all scrambling to find ways to motivate our students to try better on their tests. No matter what we say about how their scores help the schools some students don't care. Universities (for the most part) aren't requiring a certain score to get into college. The only thing we use them for is to get into honors or AP classes. So what about the student that is never going to take an AP or honors class?

I know that we should hope they try their best. But some won't unless there is some sort of motivation that directly affects them. Gone is the days of doing what's right and in it's place is the "me generation". Normally, I would say fine don't do anything it's your test. But not in this day and age. Now all of a sudden, we are directly responsible for the scores. What if they are having an off day? Family problems? High school drama? Doesn't matter they need to be proficient or advanced! What if they don't try in class? What it they haven't done one assignment? What if they blow it off? Doesn't matter they need to be proficient.

So our math team decided to give some add on some % points onto their final grade based upon their CST scores. This is the one factor that seems to motivate all of the students. You might have the rare A student that will still figure that the test isn't worth squat, but this should hit most of the students. Thoughts?

Megadeth...better with age?

Ok so this week and next week is my two weeks of Megadeth. Now a little back story on Megadeth. Their first 4-5 albums were really solid thrash metal albums. They were never as epic as Metallica's, but better than most. I was never a big fan of Peace Sells (like most), but I did love KIMB, SFSGSW, and of course R.I.P. In 1992, they released Countdown to Extinction, which ended up being their Black Album. Factoid: the album debuted at #2 on the Billboard, it was beaten out by Billy Ray Cyrus' Achy Breaky Heart...yep that fad song.

Anyway, for me, after CtE it kinda went downhill. Youthanasia was too mid tempo paced, which we found out later was on purpose because their producer said that a certain tempo/time was needed for the album to sell. So we had songs that were slowed down and others that were sped up. Cryptic Writings was a pretty good album. It was better than Youthanasia because it wasn't a one speed album. Dave Mustaine said that this album encompassed their whole career. Classic thrash songs were their (She-Wolf, The Disintegrators, FFF, and Vortex), Youthanasia style songs (Trust, Almost Honest, A Secrect Place), and some new rock style (I'll Get Even, Sin, Have Cool Will Travel). It worked for me.

Unfortunately, Trust and Almost Honest were big radio hits, so they tried to re-create the sound for Risk. Risk is a good rock album, not a Megadeth album. It has it's moments...mainly Insomnia, Prince of Darkness, and Time. Other than that...horrible.

I should mention here that Megadeth has never had a stable line up. Through the period of R.I.P. to CW it was the same band. Risk introduced a new drummer. So after Risk there were rumors that Dave was going to pull the plug on Megadeth and start a solo career. They made an album, sent it to Capitol Records, then he changed his mind...thank God.

The World Needs a Hero was released in 2001. It was hyped as "the return of thrash" for Megadeth. It wasn't the return everyone was expecting so people knocked it. But let me say that the album is full (read full) of guitar solos. I am talking 2 minutes worth on some songs. Listen to Return to Hangar (sequel to Hangar 18 from R.I.P.), When, Dread and the Fugitive Mind, Recipe for Hate...Warhorse just to name a few. Megadeth was able to balance thrash songs with a rock under-tone. Something that would continue on the next two releases.

Next up, Dave injures his arm, disbands Megadeth, then...

What can brown do for you? Pen 9...the beginning

So I left off with me and the rest of the guys in the back getting banished sent to load side. I wanted to go back to the sort aisle so bad. In fact, the 1st week I was on load side, my pickoff didn't show. So I had to go up and be the pickoff. Now I didn't know anything. So I would stop the belt or send the package to the wrong loader. I knew that they would need to bring Robert M. out to run the belt because he knew it like the back of his hand. They did and I was able to go back to the aisle for the day. Well, that didn't last because I was pulled into the Bill's office (current building manager) and was told to find another pickoff and train him becuase I couldn't let this happen again.

It was at that point when I realized I was going to be out there for awhile. So my next plan was to show just how bad the back missorted. I thought " they moved me because of missorts, so let's show them that nothing has changed." Made sense. So I did daily tallies of the missorts, which ranged from a couple hundred to a thousand one day (found out they had like 3 new sorters up there that day.) Tom (who was the new unload/sort full-timer) would look at them and ask what they were. I told him that most were from Rancho (pen 8) and he said that those were transverse missorts. I said earlier that if the packages didn't get pushed to the far side that the packages could go to the wrong belt. Now when I was in the sort aisle no one called this a transverse missort. It's kinda like a mortal sin and sin...it's all a sin to me. SO Tom scoffed at the problem and then pointed out the number of Upland (pen 9 my belt) packages that were going back to the sort aisle. This day, there was close to 100 packages that were gathering in the back.

That's when I realized Shon (my full timer) was right when he told us, "take away their excuses, then they have to listen to you."

I had to find out why/what packages were going to the sort aisle. So I did something that was never...literally never done in the building. As a load side sup, I turned off the return belt...just the bottom belt actually, not the sort aisle one. It was unheard of. My loaders were pissed and in the beginning Shon was a little worried. You see there was a time during the sort, usually 15 -30 minutes before the sort ailse was clean, that we "put up divertors". This would allow the bottom belt to run, but no packages go to the sort aisle. So when we put up divertors, I turned off my belt. Now I was training a new pickoff (Mark), so when he was done on top he came done and moved around all the packages on the bottom belt. It was a mess the first couple days, but (once again not joking) there were like 5 packages on the bottom belt. It was a thing of beauty.

That was when I realized load side isn't that bad, but you need to be willing to try something new. I ended up doing some other "new" things, but I will get to those later.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Justice League Unlimited

This is the show that was made for people who grew up in the 80's with Superfriends. It was their way of apologizing for the Wonder Twins, Wendy & Marvin, and the fact that the Justice League called themselves Superfriends.

The entire DC animated universe started in 1992 with Batman: The Animated Series, after Batman was released. Gone was the campy Batman of the 60's and in came the dark, mysterious, detective we all know and love today. So the show airs for a few years and gets a spin off of sorts with Superman in 1996. Then when it looked like this new universe was done enter The New Batman Adventures, which moved Dick Grayson from Robin to Nightwing (how cool is that?) and introduced a new Robin in Tim Drake. Then Batman Beyond followed showing an old Bruce Wayne recruiting a new Batman. For me, BB was very under-rated and it gave us a great movie in Return of The Joker.

Then enter Justice League, which orginally focused on just 7 members (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Hawkgirl, and Green Lantern.). Then after 3 seasons it became Justice League Unlimited. I can go on for days on how good the show is. Seriously, during the last season of JLU they were using storylines from the original B:TAS...for you non-math majors that's over 10 years ago. Simply awesome. The themes were more adult oriented not in a rated R sex way, but in a more mature storyline. For example, when Solomon grundy is brought back to life Hawkgirl must kill him after he saved her life before. Good stuff high drama...not for kids.

The best thing I liked about the show was how they really brought the comic characters to "life". Batman doesn't get along with everyone, just like in the comics. In fact one of my favorite moments came in the end of the second season of JLU. The Justice League is going to turn themselves into the U.S. Government and well let's just say Batman doesn't agree. Go to about minute 6 for the scene.

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Happy Easter

Well it was a busy day at our house. Church, grocery shopping, visit wife's friend for lunch, then over to her parent's house for dinner. Oh yeah and in all this our dear little daughter didn't sleep at all. All in all though a great Easter.

As for Lent, well I didn't give up fast food completely. I modified it so I didn't eat any fast food fries or onion rings, and I gave up all soda as well. So basically I could eat the food...just the main meal though. It was an interesting experience, one that makes me want to give up soda for a very long time actually.

What's on tap this week? I figure I will talk about some state testing, UPS, and of course a spotlight...this week and next on Megadeth. Should be a great week.

Spotlight: Anthrax

Ahhh Anthrax. The ugly step-child of the early thrash movement. They were recognized, but maybe not enough. They didn't have any groups bashing them for being satan worshipers (Slayer), not drug problems (Megadeth), or alcohol issues (Metallica). They jsut went about their way making solid thrash metal. They weren't taken too serious becuase of it too. They had their classic Among the Living. But for me, Anthrax lost the party/good/fun metal with Persistence of Time.

Longer songs, darker lyrics, and more technical music made this an instant classic with all thrash fans. Alot of people still think of Among the Living as their best...I would disagree.

I am a huge fan of the John Bush era of Anthrax. See after Persistence of Time, Joey Belladonna left the band, was fired...whatever the reason, and John Bush of Armored Saint joined. He brought in more of a guys metal. Factoid: John Bush was asked to join Metallica as their singer early on in Metallica's history. His first album, Sound of White Noise, really brought Anthrax to the public. Songs like Only, Potter's Field, and Black Lodge are all metal classics.

Their follow up Stomp 442 was just as good...if not better. But unfortunately, their record label didn't push it as much because grunge was the "in metal" so they felt it wouldn't sell. Stomp 442 was an interesting record because Scott Ian was the only guitarist on the album. Dimebag Darrell did some solos, but it was mainly Scott. To make for the loss of a guitarist their drummer, Charlie Benante, really stepped it up. The drumming on the next few albums were fill of drum fills and some insane beats. Another factoid: Charlie actually writes most of the riffs for the songs. Just listen to a song like Riding Shotgun or Tester to see what I am talking about.

If Stomp 442 got no love, then Volume 8 was abandoned. They were dropped after Stomp 442 and signed with a small label. Well a few months after Volume 8 came out *bam* the record company folds. Volume 8...gone. Out of print for years, it was recently released. Volume 8 is more of the same style, but was missing something for me. I will say this though Crush and Inside Out are classic metal songs. They are so brutal and intense...so good.

Next album...We've Come for You All. This is probably my favorite Bush era album. It takes all the strengths from their last 3 albums and they bring it together for this one. Insane drumming - listen to Nobody Knows Anything, killer riffs - What Doesn't Die, great chorus - Any Place but Here. A little death metal drumming and guitaring comes into play with Black Dahlia as well. Not to mention the return of a lead guitarist.

After that they went ahead and re-recorded some songs from their pre-Bush catalog, voted on by the fans...no complaining there. I was pretty pumped to see some Persistence of Time songs on their (Belly of the Beast & Keep it in the Family). Listening to the re-recorded versions made me realize how much better Anthrax sounded with Bush on vocals.

Unfortunately, Anthrax got on the "reunion" band wagon. In a nutshell, a 2 year reunion tour with Joey and the other guitarist, but no new album. Bush was left on the side line. After the tour was over and no album was planned they asked Bush back, but he declined because of the way the tour went down.

So what's next? Well Anthrax just announced a new singer. Who knows how good he will sound. But I need that style that John Bush brought to the band. Hopefully the riffs and drumming will still be there.


BTW, pick up Return of the Killer A's and Greater of Two Evils for a good mix of Anthrax music.

Playlist for the week:
Monday: Riding Shotgun, Belly of the Beast from Stomp 442 & The Greater of Two Evils
Tuesday: Hy Pro Glo (remix), Potter's Field (remix), Crush from Return of the Killer A's
Wednesday: Fueled, Black Lodge, Only from Stomp 442 & Sound of White Noise
Thursday: What Doesn't Die, Nobody Knows Anything, Anyplace But Here from We've Come for You All.