Instead of a group of mini posts I thought I'd just combine some things into one. The general quietness of life has resulted in fewer things worthy of posting about, but just to confirm that I am still alive and blogging, I thought a summary would be nice.

Been interviewing for a job as an Instructional Technology Analyst for a company called Collegis. Basically they're a for-profit version of CDH and the ITC program, and they staff the IT division at universities which can't (or aren't interested in) providing their own support. This particular position would be at Loyola Marymount University in Westminster (about 15 minutes from my apartment), and would be supporting instructional technology needs for the College of Fine Arts and Communication. The interviews have gone quite well I think...

...But so did the interviews for the two UCLA positions I applied for. 0 for 2 though, which was actually a bit depressing given my history with UCLA. Thus, while it's nice to have a good interview (as happened yesterday) I'm definitely not anticipating anything from the Collegis interviews.

My most pressing task at the moment is to write my conference paper for the annual Society for American Music conference taking place in Cleveland late next week. I'm speaking about the heavy metal tribute bands here in Los Angeles and so I've been spending a lot of time going to see shows. I'm particularly interested the scene's Metallica tribute band, Creeping Death, and I was able to speak to most of the band members this past Saturday night. I then proceeded to "sing" myself hoarse during CD's set. :) At this point I have no idea what the paper's going to look like, but the title is: "Scream For Me, Tarzana!: Subcultural Dynamics and Performance Practices in the Southern California Metal Tribute Scene"

Oh, and I bought a 20" iMac about six weeks ago. Perhaps not the most fiscally responsible thing to do at the moment, but I can justify it to you in many ways. If you want me to. Love the iMac though.

I've also jumped on the Netflix bandwagon. Since I've probably got more time on my hands than most people I figured it might be nice to try. At only $20/month you really need to check out about four movies each month to make it worthwhile. In the six weeks or so that I've had the account I think I've rented 12 DVDs. The selection is ok and I'm by no means a movie buff, but it's nice to know you can just rent whatever and take advantage of the return strategy. It's definitely harder to browse for movies though, like you (perhaps?) do in a brick-and-mortar shop. That's how I usually find movies to rent -- I just wander up and down the New Release aisles at Blockbuster or Hollywood Video until I find a title (or pretty box) that looks interesting. With Netflix you pretty much have to know what you're looking for ahead of time. Sure, there is a rudimentary browse feature on the Netflix site, but you still have to begin by browsing some sort of category. Nevertheless, the best thing so far has been to reconnect with The Young Ones. I've gained a new appreciation for the comic psychosis of Alexei Sayle... :-0

There are also two new photo albums up on the PeteOfTheStreet Pics page. After the most recent rains I returned to a few spots on the Los Angeles River and I've added those pictures to the end of the main L.A. River album. Also, this past Sunday I visited Disney's California Adventure theme park with some friends.

Well, I think that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the summary!