My fight with the Post-Gazette

The PG is the only newspaper (besides the City Paper) that I can stand reading but lately I have been growing extremely angry with them. They have taken every single chance to knock down WVU over the MBA scandal. They got their point across, the President is gone and we are trying to move on yet what do they do go and sue WVU because they didn't provide all the phone records of the President to them. This after everything is over. Well here is my email to the PG, and their response.

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I have always been a fan of the PG.. I NEVER read the Trib. I must tell you I am growing very impatient with the two of you and the PG's CONSTANT defamation of West Virginia University. Every day for the past two to three months it is a different story of slander toward the University. As an alumnus of WVU I was disappointed in what happened with the MBA "scandal" but it is over. The president has stepped down, the provost took one on the chin that he probably didn't deserve and there is a new president and new board members. Why is there a necessity to sue the university over phone records? You got your scandal, front page news for months and proved your point. Do you both feel a necessity to continually bash WVU? Is that what you live to do? I find it bad enough you didn't respond to my first email and now I feel compelled to tell you that you and the PG deserve to have a lawsuit brought against you. I am sick and tired of you tearing down a great University that offers great education at a low cost in what has been continually voted one of the best small cities in America to live. I would really love to know what the PG's reasons are to continually attack WVU. I bet if I turned over a few stones at the PG I could start a huge scandal and hand it right over to the TRIB, what do you think would happen then?

I would appreciate a response from the both of you on what your reasoning and intentions are. You have reported the story, it is over.. why can't you move on to something else? I do not see how those phone records make any difference now and why you need to waste money and time of both the University and the PG by filing a lawsuit. Maybe I will start putting in FOIA requests for your phone records and see how the PG responds. Do you think they would send me an exact copy of your cell phone records?

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Dear Mr. Bond: Patti Sabatini shared with me your email to her, and I think it appropriate that I, rather than she, respond. I appreciate your taking the time to write, and to express your frustrations and to ask the questions you ask. The Post-Gazette continues to cover the WVU story for the same reason it covers other stories of public importance: to inform the public, as best and as fully as we can, of the truth of what happened. We do not cover stories to “get” a scandal, to create front-page news, or to “prove a point.” The story involved, and continues to involve, questions of great public and general interest about the actions of high-ranking governmental officials. We continue to report on those questions. The Post-Gazette and I believe that our reporting on these questions have strengthened, not damaged, West Virginia University, and while you are free to disagree with that, I can tell you that many of your fellow alums agree. The Post-Gazette welcomes vigorous discussion of the questions you raise, and I send my response in that spirit. Sincerely yours, David Shribman Executive Editor

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now what I find interesting is that he responded from his aol address, not the pg one. Not to mention his claim about strengthing the view... um yea, I have been told my degrees are worthless because they give them out for free at WVU.
anyhow I wrote this response with no return from Shribman

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Mr Shribman,
I appreciate your timely and kind response. I am glad that this time someone from the PG did response since the last time I wrote about the same thing I received no response. Don't get me wrong, I do see why you reported the story initially, but my opinion is the continued stories about the same thing. To me if feels like you are just trying to keep it in the forefront. You are correct that I do not believe that the reporting has strengthened the University because I can tell you from personal experience what I have heard since this came out. I constantly get told that my degrees are worth nothing because they were just handed to me without any work. That is the image of WVU now. I am not saying that is the newspapers fault entirely, because there was bad judgement made and I was as embarassed as anyone to watch it go down. But, my point is why does this have to continue. The university has taken action, the community and alumni are trying to move past this yet there are still frivolous lawsuits against the U for phone records. I would hope that the PG would consider after this is all over spending time with the new President and the actual students and alumni of WVU so we can tell our story. Every alumnus has pride in their university, I just want to someday see the other side of the story told. I would also like to meet these alumni that agree that the reporting has helped because I can tell you the local alumni chapter does not feel the same.

Once again thank you for your response. I do appreciate your time and effort on explaining your views and also listening to mine.

Best Regards,
Bryan Bond
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Finally my friend blogged about something similar, which made me happy seeing that she and I have never spoke on the subject.

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Fair and Balanced Jul. 29th, 2008 at 12:09 PM
OK, I don't exactly follow college sports (I went to a a small school on purpose because I was kind of burned out from hearing about so damn much football in high school), but since I've been in WV, I'm still reading the Post-Gazette, and damn if it doesn't seem like the Post-Gazette really has it in for WVU. I mean, obviously the whole "investigate the governor's daughter's MBA" was a little over the top, but I'm thinking of the subtle digs, such as this:

WVU again picked to win Big East football title
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
By Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Despite a new coach, new tailback and rebuilt defense, West Virginia University's Mountaineers once again have been voted by Big East media as the favorite to win the conference's 2008 football title -- a seemingly safe bet after winning four of the past five.


In other words: "Despite the fact that you'd be a sucker to pick WVU to win the Big East, they've been picked to win the Big East."

I read somewhere that newspapers' attempts to be unbiased (which are often weak at best) just go completely to shit when it comes to local sports. I don't think I need to even touch on any Steelers coverage to prove that fact. I mean, I guess I don't have a problem with the coverage of world events being less unbiased than, say, professional football coverage. Or even high school sports coverage. I think it's kind of interesting that it goes so very far when it comes to sports. ----------------

So I pointed it out to the PG and we shall see what their response is.. Probably nothing as usual because Pitt can do no wrong and WVU is nothing but wrong.

Weekend.. $$ and more

Well the weekend was WAY too quick. DMB was awesome at Hershey. They really put on a great show.

Some Personal Stats

60th Show - 1122 songs heard, 146 of them unique
Too Much - 37 times seen
Ants Marching - 24 times seen / 13 as a closer

thank you antsmarching.org

Songs I still want to hear::

HALLOWEEN!!!! - 0 times
Best of Whats Around - never enough
Last Stop - Never Enough
What You Are - time to bring it back


On to other things. I am pretty frustrated right now about money in general (who isn't). I can deal with what I have generally but it is tough because I know SS is struggling and wanting to do more things like a long vacation etc.. and I wish it was just easier. Looks like I am going to have to trade in 2 free flights to get 1 due to the high costs of flights right now. It is just frustrating.
Hopefully things will happen at work.. I was told we were getting a restructuring of our pay so I hope that means more $$.

It has rained so much lately.. we really haven't had much summer at all and it pretty much sucks.

Worst Flying Experence EVER

So I am sitting at the gate (in the plane) in Indianapolis and I have been on the plane now for over 1 hour and 15 min. This is the 3rd ground hold I have been on this week...

I left Pittsburgh yesterday at 3:45 so I was on the plane around 3:30. We taxied out and they put us on a ground hold because of traffic in Philly. YES I HAD TO fly to Philadelphia to get to Indianapolis. So I sat on the plane for over an hour. We finally took off and I arrived at 5:50 in Philly. Luckily the next plane was only 8 gates away so I sprinted down the concourse to make my 5:55 flight. They let me on and then sure enough... another ground hold. This time for maintenance. They had to replace an O Ring (NASA anyone?) so we sat for well over 1.5 hours. So now I am at 2.5 hours of sitting and I don't get to my hotel till almost 11pm when I was supposed to be there at 8.

That leads us to today. We got on the plane about 3:30 I fell asleep(I have developed a new talent of sleeping on planes) and taxied out. Then we sat and sat and sat. Now we are back at the gate because we had to get more fuel and we still are sitting. It is almost 5 pm and we should have been in decent but I am still sitting here. Which now of course I won't get home till 8 or 9. So at 5 pm it will be a total of 4 hours of ground hold. I really should have just driven. It is absolutely ridiculous to be sitting here. They are claiming weather but who knows.

Needless to say I am completely frustrated. Not to mention the only reason I flew here was for one damn meeting. ARGGGH. I fly a lot and this has to be my worst experience yet.


*** UPDATE

It is now 8:32 we have landed in Pittsburgh but here is the kicker.. we landed at 7:30. We barely beat a storm in and now all the jetways are closed and therefore we have been sitting on the tarmac right in front of the damn gate as storm #3 passes over. I won't kid you though the storms are nasty and now the plane is really rocking from them. I have been on this plane for 5 hours now for a 1 hour flight and I must say I am very close to the end of my rope. I doubt I will get off of here until well after 9pm.


**** UPDATE 2

it is 9:25 and I am still on the damn plane and the 4th wave of storm is rolling through. Needless to say I am ecstatic

***** UPDATE 3

So they brought out the "lightning truck" to guide the plane into the gate. I guess they had only done this before with the 737 size plans so it was a first. We finally got off the plane around 10pm. BUT we had to wait another half an hour for them to bring our bags. We all had to gate check because of the small plane so we stood around and waited for another 30 min for the bags. I could have drove home quicker!

Weekend Hangover....

I had a rough weekend and had my first crying/breakdown session in a long time. Piper got into some cookies and made a mess right when SS and I had worked a bunch of stuff out. Well she made a mess and I was worried it would just set things back to square one. With that on top of Fathers day and everything else I just lost it. I guess it was good thought and somewhat therapeutic. Now it is back to the grind.

Heading to Indy today and coming back tomorrow. Then some meetings around here. Fun Fun..

So hopefully I can get in the state of mind to impress these clients because I have been working on it since November!!!

Randoms

• Have I ever mentioned how much I love sitting in airports? So I got excited because I was able to take a earlier flight home (5:30 instead of 6:45).. then we don't even take off till 6:15 I mean come on! It was a beautiful day and still delayed. BTW USAIR is going down fast. I had 40 employees of USAIR on my Southwest flight because there isn't any room on their flights. They are also now charging for EVERY BAG. It is ridiculous
  
• My best friend has joined the divorce club.
  
• He also made a great comment that when you go to the bar there should just be a section called the I want to go down on you section... that way it takes all the work out of it. I think that would work out real nice that way you only have to buy drinks for candidates rather than posers.
• I hate little snide comments.. I really do.
  
• Quick trip to Philly.. hopefully I can get more local appts soon.
• Farmers Market is open!!
  
• Buccos are one under 500 and LaRoche still sucks ass

At the order of Judge Rufus Peckham...

I have been sentenced to community service... the "punishment" actually blogging! Yup that's right.. and damn it I am going to try to do it again. Maybe I should start talking about all the different places I am visiting, because I am seeing a lot of airports! :)

Anyhow today is an interesting day in my life and no I am not making a 6-9 joke (DWIGHT!).. Today is not only my wedding anniversary but also the anniversary of SS and myself. I wanted to celebrate it a day early (last year and this year) because of the stigma today has but unfortunately I don't think we will be celebrating two years. More of that to come later.. my stomach is turning enough today to actually talk about it.

Work is actually really good. I won't have any good "office" stories for everyone because now I work from home and travel and don't have to deal with the politics. Granted they made for a great rant here and there but I will find something like the fact US AIR charges 125 bucks to check 3 bags... ugh

I am really glad the WVU scandal is over and I must say the Post-Gazette's stock dropped significantly for me. I swear they were out for blood, the papers in WV didn't cover the story as much as they did. Finally the last article talked about other scandals at other U's b/c we all know they happen everywhere. I just wonder if something like this happened at Pitt that they would come down with the same scrutiny. I must say though I wasn't a Garrison fan from the beginning (the guy he beat was my old boss at the U when I was there) and hopefully this time they will get it right.

PENS... made me proud.

Buccos .. chugging along much better than I thought. very impressed with things lately.

Women.. well the issues are there but aren't they always?

This weeks trip: Heading to Philly.

Its HOT!!!

Don't burn the day... oh yea add 2 more DMB shows to the list so now at 59.

*knock* *knock* is this thing on?

Wow.. its been since the end of October that I have written. I guess that means things have been good... which they have. SS has moved in with me and work is work, not bad. The big 3-0 bday is coming up on Monday which is quite scary but I will be able to spend it with lots of my friends so that will be good. I am going to try to blog more especially since I have been traveling so much it will help me keep a record of all the places I have eaten and visited.

So hopefully I will start updating this more regularly

Back in the Saddle (hopefully)

It has been a real long time since I have written in this blog so I figured it was about time to start again.

I am sitting here at the Sands Entertainment Expo Center in Las Vegas Nevada at the AAPEX show

The new job is going great, I have been traveling like crazy... Sunnyvale, CA ; Charlotte, NC ; Ramsey, NJ; Vegas etc..

I am staying at the Rio this week, first time I have been to that hotel but it is so great to be in Vegas. The show has been super lame as only 7 people have left their info for us today. Southwest also lost my tripod so I don't have a great setup today. It finally arrived a few minutes ago to the airport.

The week should be good since I am staying till Sunday. SS is coming out tomorrow night to hang out and we are staying at the Rio until sat then staying at the Golden Nugget on Sat night. Should be a great time.

So Much to Say..

Lots going on.. since the last time I posted I saw DMB 3 more times.. that makes 57 shows. Went to my usual stop at Post Gazette Pavilion and then went to Alpine Valley.

I finally have a job, I will be working for my friend Jim Clark and Konica Minolta. I will be traveling a lot which will be tough, but the opportunity and money are too good to pass up.

I have been hanging out during my time off, playing xbox, messing around with my house, visiting Chicago and SS etc. It has been a nice break, but I a ready to get started back in mainly b/c I am going broke :)

I guess there wasn't as much to say as I thought, the usual banter about Dave Matthews Band kicking ass and my general life boringness.

WVU football starts on Sat.. and I can't wait!!

Happy b-day shout out to my fav. bald friend Jimmy Stancamp.

Recap of the last few weeks

So, I am officially unemployed (sort of). I am working a little at MAGLEV setting up a computer lab and a few friends have offered me some work so I am going to talk to them about that. Bombardier called and told me that it would be the end of the month before I would hear about the system engineer position but they just called yesterday to tell me that they want me to come in for a possible position in the Advanced Engineering group.. so that is tomorrow. Looks like I will be at Bombardier in one role or another so that should be good.

MAGLEV has been treating me well over the past couple weeks which is all I wanted for 6 years. I would have never left if I would have been treated this way the whole time.

SS was here for a week and even though I worked we had a good time.. saw some movies, went to Kennywood which was a real good time.

I went to a wedding a couple Saturdays ago and got to see so many people that I hadn't seen in years. It was so nice to see my "adopted family" (very close friends that I have always called cousin and aunt and uncle etc..). The wedding was at Ohio University so I got to see a little of the campus and hit a bar after the wedding with everyone. Had a real good time. It is really hard to see people out drinking and dancing etc.. when the last time you saw them they were 12. One of the girls has grown up to be probably the most beautiful african american woman I have ever seen.

It is weird not going to work every day, but really I have only been away from MAGLEV for one day since I came in Tue. and Wed. It should settle in more in a couple weeks.

SS and I have been fighting this week, actually just not even talking since Sat. and it is coming down to a difference in opinion which seems to be the same difference over and over again. It is tough and part of me just wants to back down and let her have her way, but I just don't feel I am wrong and that is one thing I don't get past easily. Who knows where this is going to go, right now it isn't down a good path.

DMB this Friday!!!! So excited to see the boys.

Bonds hit 756 last night and I enjoyed it. I am in the innocent until proven group with him and if he is found guilty I also want to see how many of the pitchers he hit the hrs off of were juicing.
I got pretty choked up last night when he thanks his dad and got upset. Dad loved baseball, he was one of the best little league coaches out there except when it came to me. He was always worried that it would look like he was showing me preferential treatment so he did the exact opposite. I was really good at baseball, but I just grew to hate it. I rode him forever about that and looking back at it I kinda understand why he was like that towards me, but it is still hard to swallow. I still miss him dearly and it really made me break down last night.

I am proud of myself that I am not freaking out about the job thing. I have a few moments on Friday where I was thinking what the fuck am I doing, but really I think it is all going to work out.

It better at least or my mom will jump off the bridge.

Maybe I will just win the powerball tonight and it won't be an issue... yea right

T minus 9

It is so very funny that I am now the most important person in the world around here. People are actually asking for my opinion and such not to mention there is already a TWO page list of things I have to teach people how to do. I think it is funny that they are coming to the realization of how much I did here. I think they are really going to shit when I am not around to do things that just got done that they didn't realize or took for granted.

No word yet from Bombardier but it has only been a couple days so I am not in freak out mode yet.

SS is coming for almost a week so that will be nice as I have been super bored and truthfully just sitting around my house playing video games and watching movies.

This weekend I watched Minority Report for the umpteenth time, Apocalypto (which I enjoyed), my normal Saturday morning 90210 marathon, The Kill Point (which is filmed here in the burgh), and Entourage.

Is it bad that I want to be Ari. Seriously, that would be unreal.

One of the kickball teams I umpire had cross dressing night last night. The guys actually wore dresses, I was dying laughing.

I talked with one of my Dell reps today and she cracks me up. She always has good stories about boys that she has gone out with etc.. she just got back from Italy. I am so jealous it is my dream vacation.

I am worried about my friend Dan. He continues to fight for this "marriage" of his that just makes him miserable. I don't think he is ever going to end it even though they break up for months on end (but continue to live together). He gets mad when I tell him to get rid of her, so I have backed off. I told him though he needs to decide if he is going to be all the way in, or all the way out.. because there can't be any "in between".

Well it finally stopped raining, I guess I didn't have to water my plants this morning. Maybe I will get outside to do something tonight... who I am kidding I will sit in my chair and do nothing, it is what I am best at.

D - Day

That's right folks... today is the day. My normal staff meeting went terrible as another employee decided to bring up something that has no business in the meeting. The VP said that he could talk about it, but when it was my turn to talk he told me I wasn't allowed to and had to talk about it outside of this meeting.

SO... I am resigning. I am so done with this place and have been for a while. I have an interview today, and a few things brewing on the back burner but I am putting in my resignation today.

2 more weeks, then I have another week of vacation left that they will pay me so I need to be in a new job in 3 weeks. So cross your fingers and hope for the best b/c I just can not work at this place anymore.

It is really sad to think 6 years ago I thought that I would actually get to build maglev and work at a great an innovative place for the rest of my life. Then I got to see why US Steel and Westinghouse didn't make it.. they let people be in management that are now management here. Tells everything.

Interview at 1pm today. Wish me luck!

A new milestone .. 1001

Yup that's right, Sunday I heard my 1001 DMB song live. It was my 54th show. Now mind you I have only heard 139 *Unique* songs but I think 1000+ is pretty cool. It was a good show @ Toyota Park which is where the Chicago Fire soccer team plays. I did get to hear a new song, first time ever played, called Falling off the Roof. As always there was drama during one of my fav. songs.

We had this interesting pair in front of us that did nothing but make out the whole show, I mean it was quite disgusting. Well this girl got pushed into us by a bunch of dudes and SS yelled at the dudes easy b/c she was getting the crap pushed out of her. Well the douche in front of us thought SS was talking to him and started turning around giving her the stare down and then called her a bitch to his GF. Well this is when I got mad. I tapped him on the shoulder and said excuse me is there a problem. He goes yes there is a problem. I said listen here buddy, we weren't talking to you when we said easy we were talking to..... and told him the rest. I said turn around and enjoy the show. His gf then told him see, I told you so.. which lead to a huge fight with them, she was crying, he left and punched me in the arm on the way out (but before this he shook my hand and apologized originally). He never came back b/c I was ready to throw him down the stairs when he punched me. Anyhow... drama as always during Seek Up, but I got to hear it and I'm happy.

So I have 2 more shows so far and hopefully 2 more but we shall see. I did enjoy it though, as always going to a DMB show just kinda takes me a way for 2 hours which is nice.

Whats been going on...

So a quick recap of the past week or so.

I was off work for a week... 2 days sick and then the 4th holiday -> the weekend which was nice (Except the sick part).

The 3rd SS and I went to AJ & Suzi's house for a picnic. It was a good time and rather calm compared to parties past.

The 4th started with the Pirates beating the Brewers and a concert by Big & Rich. Then SS, JS and I headed over to Calico Jack's Cantina. This place was pretty sweet. SS had a fish bowl drink and JS and I had these HUGE Margs that lasted us the whole night. We got a prime seat outside and had a great view of the fireworks. I finally checked something off my list (along with SS&JS) as we all rode the mechanical bull. Let me tell you did we pay for it. All of us have these huge bruises on our inner thighs. Mine is still nasty looking, but it was fun.

The 5th SS and I hung out at the house watched tv, movies etc..

The 6th We headed to Chi-town and went to dinner with Dick and V (her parents).

The 7th we went to a wedding

The 8th.. well that is what the next post is about :)

So not a bad little week if I do say so myself.

Help me find a new job

I am completely fed up with this hell hole. I have a potential deal lining up to sell a shit load of software that the company gets paid back 40% so we sell 1 mill we get paid 400k. Well if I do it i see ZERO dollars unless I switch to a commission only salary. How fucked up is that.

So, my resume is on my website http://www.bryanbond.com

Some of my skills

Degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering
Microsoft Certified Engineer
IT - Can manage install etc.. any windows based network and some linux
Web Design
PHP programming
MYSQL, MS SQL databases.
Project Management

and so on... so if anyone sees anything out there.. hook a brother up.

Its on Bitch!

While I don't have time right now to do research, trust me my friend I will respond to this

Just a few comments my friend:

Listening to Heath Ledger talk history about West Virginia is like listening to Evgeni Malkin talk about the history of Pittsburgh.

Thats comment one, the rest is on the way.

oh and eat shit PITT :)

AHAHAHAHA - as if I needed more things to make fun of PITT about

What the fuck is that thing??? Looks like some sort of cat that got scalped!

That is just too funny, my buddy PUMA told PittGirl that it looked like a rabid golden retriever.

This is what I think whatever the hell that thing is would sound like :

Happy B-day West Virginia

(This is a reproduction of an article from a long time friend of mine Mike Swisher. I thought he did a nice job. )

Today is the 144th birthday of the Great State of West Virginia. It seems like only yesterday that West Virginia was just a little pup of a state, split from Virginia thanks to that little conflict known as the Civil War. Today, West Virginia is all grown up and Open for Business thanks to the governor. Let's look at a few historical facts about the great state, shall we? These are all supposedly true:

• The first brick street in the world was laid in Charleston, West Virginia, on October 3, 1870 on Summers Street between Kanawha Boulevard and Virginia Street.
• The first patent for a soda fountain was granted in 1833 to George Dulty of Wheeling, West Virginia.
• Mother's Day was originated in Grafton, West Virginia on May 10, 1908 by M. Anna Jarvis. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mother's Day as a national holiday to be celebrated on the second Sunday in May.
• West Virginia has the second lowest cost of living rate in the United States.
• Bruce Hardwood Floors in Beverly, West Virginia has the world's largest hardwood flooring plant.
• The first spa open to the public was at Berkeley Springs, West Virginia (then Bath, Virginia) in 1756. Berkeley Springs has more massage therapists than lawyers and is the only place in the United States to boast, "George Washington bathed here."
• West Virginia University played the University of Pittsburgh in the first football game ever broadcast on the radio in 1921 on KDKA.
• The pepperoni roll was invented in the 1920s by Guiseppe Argiro, owner of the Country Club Bakery in Fairmont, WV. The first pepperoni rolls were sold to coal miners working near Fairmont.
• The first organized golf club in the U.S. was opened in 1884, when Oakhurst Links was constructed in White Sulphur Springs, WV.
• The first political speech broadcast over radio in the U.S. was given by the Democratic nominee for President, John W. Davis, in 1924. Davis broadcast his speech from the front yard of his home in Clarksburg, WV.
• On June 20, 1863, West Virginia became the 35th state in the union, the only state born out of the cauldron of the Civil War and formed as a result of a Presidential Proclamation.

Sopranos Spoofs

Here are 2 video's making the rounds at YouTube.. I saw the first at the Pirate game Sat. and from what I hear it is very popular.. the second is Hillary Clinton's (I love Bill.. thanks Kelly!!)

Even my XBOX has a blog!

Check it out here