The Post with my new job
Last Monday began the new chapter in my life as I switched jobs and started working for Arrow International. To give you a gist of the company they have 3 main buildings in a 5 mile radius with corporate headquarters across from the Reading Airport. I had to go there on Monday morning the 20th to go through orientation.

They talked to us about the history of the company and then took our pictures for our id badges and gave us a tour of the facility. (They have a gym there solely for employees). The first person I met at the place was the other person they hired for the position I started in. She is an older lady (probably late 40's) and very friendly.

After lunch we were sent to the building where we will be working which is next to The Works in Reading. I met with the worldwide director of customer service (the guy i interviewed with). He had us sign some paperwork and then introduced us to the department. It is basically 12 women and then me. They gave us an overview of some things and then my day was done.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent learning how to do the job I will be assigne dto do along with some other various tasks. I also met the women just down the hall from me who work in the international department (5 more women).

Thursday in the afternoon I had to do more training as they put us in a class where we went over Arrow's policies on ISO training. Corporate compliance basically. One of the main topics--insider training---it's bad if you didn't already know. That session was long and boring and generally pointless to me.

Friday was the lady with whom I'm training's birthday and they brought in bagels, cake, and fruit (which is a regular occurrence) One of the ladies I work with said, "See there are advantages to working with an office full of women. there will always be food to eat." She also asked later about my girlfriend status. When I told her I was single she said, "When you have a girlfriend she will have loved you working with us--we'll have you so trained."(Oh joy!!!)

My benefits--oh man are they great---At my old job I paid 10 dollars a week for helath insurance. No dental, no vision just general health. I set up my benefits with Arrow and get this. I have full health insurance, free dental, free vision, added an extra 70,000 dollar life insurance policy on myself, and got limited legal coverage(basically they can advise me on issues and help me with contracts and transactions) ---the cost out of my paycheck a week---9.89----all that for .11 less than what I paid for just regular insurance. I should mention I was paying 25 dollars a month extra for vision and dental with another provider.

This week has been learning more and more about the job and I have like 3 more weeks of that before tey turn me loose to be a liasion between customers, sales reps and the information they are seeking.


The funny par tof the whole time is the lady I'm training with can not remember my name. She has called me Keith, Dave, Brad--everything but Brian. I said to her, "Seriosuly there is 1 guy on the whole floor. If I can remember 17 womens names you can remember one guys name."

It has been a whirlwind--it's been fun and I can't wait to see where the future goes from here. I've said it before and I'll say it again until you believe me.When things re rough--keep your head up and plow through. You'll find the light at the end of the tunnel.

See you peeps
- posted by Brian @ 3/29/2006 04:46:00 PM

 
The Post with me reviewing The Hills Have Eyes
Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes is a highly respected, minorly overrated horror film from the splatter-happy 70’s era. The original had a family encountering a bunch of cannibalistic rednecks out in the wild and then battling for survival. The new version of this movie has a family traveling into the desert and doing battle with a family of genetically altered mutants who were created during the nuclear testing done by the government in the 40’s.

We get what has become commonplace for horror movies at the beginning. We are introduced to people who are out in the middle of nowhere and meet up with our mutants in a battle that doesn’t end well for the government testers. The opening credits are great as we get the back story of the mutants in a video that is spliced with pictures from real-life victims of genetic mutation (thanks to Cehrnobyl). Then we are introduce to the family that is far from perfect but are together driving across the desert to San Diego to celebrate the parents 25 th wedding anniversary.

They set out on the wrong road after pissing off the gas station attendant and before long there car and trailer are totaled and they are in the middle of a battle zone.

This movie does a rare re-make thing by improving upon the original but sticking pretty much to the same story. The bad guys are more well rounded as characters as are the family. The blood flows freely in this movie as well and the directing is a thing of beauty as the director (I’m blanking on the name of the guy but he did High Tension—a very polarizing horror film) gives the movie a gritty but realistic feel avoiding the normal glossy look of these films.

Where the movie really hits a home run is in the trailer scene, which is sort of like the one in the original, but is much more dark and violent here. In fact, there is one thing that admist all the carnage was shocking and had me screaming to myself, “Someone help them.” The villains in this one are more demented and more psychotic than in the original (more scary) and they have a clearer purpose. The one thing I thought for sure they would lose from the original, but they kept (and I’m extremely happy they did) had the crowd cheering. Let’s just say this—EVERYONE in the family is fighting for survival.

The director gave horror fans what they want, gruesome deaths, fleshed out villains, and characters whose fate we truly care about. The ending felt a little flat to me but I can forgive it this one time. Hills Have Eyes is the kind of horror film we need to have made more so we can finally get rid of the taste of the never-ending stream of teen slashers
- posted by Brian @ 3/25/2006 04:13:00 PM

 
The Post with me Reviewing Brokeback Mountain
I know the movie has been out a while and it's been almost two months since I've seen it but it makes its way to video in a week and I felt it was good to give everyone a heads up.

Brokeback Mountain is as lush and sprawling a masterpiece as the Montana countryside it was filmed on. It single-handedly launches Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams, and Jake Gyllenhaal into the upper echelon of actors while rescuing Ang Lee after the debacle known as The Hulk.

Ledger plays Ennis del Mar, a quiet unassuming cowboy who is trying to make some money so him and his wife can get married and have a base for a great life together. Gyllenhaal is Jack Twist a regular on the herding mission which the two are seeking work. They get jobs together from a rancher (Randy Quaid) to herd sheep in the mountains for the summer. One is to stay in camp, while the other is to camp out with the sheep at night to keep them safe.

Jack tires of camping out with the sheep and him and Ennis switch jobs. One night they drink too much and Ennis decides to stay at the camp and sleep outside by the fire. Jack tells him to come in and sleep because when the fire goes out he will catch cold. Ennis wakes up in the morning and is shivering as Jack predicted so he joins Jack in the tent. At one point Jack pulls Ennis’ arm around him to snuggle and Ennis wakes up pushing him away. They struggle for a minute before they begin making out and then having rough (but tastefully shot) sex. The next morning they see a wolf has killed one of the sheep so Ennis swears this was a one time thing.

However for the first time both guys are happy with and they begin fooling around most nights out on the trail. The rancher catches them one day and orders them back to the ranch a month earlier than expected. The loss of this job freaks Ennis out and he starts a fistfight with Jack which ends with both men bloodied and swearing at each other. Jack hopefully asks Ennis if he’ll be back next year and Ennis says he won’t which causes Jack to angrily drive off. Ennis sensing he has lost his lover steps into an alley and begins crying and throwing up.

The two men then start lives without each other. Ennis marries his sweetheart Alma (played wonderfully by Michelle Williams) and they have a few kids living above a Laundromat. Jack pursues being a rodeo cowboy and meets Lurleen Newsome (Anne Hathaway). They marry and Jack eventually takes a job with Lurleen’s rich father’s business.

One day Ennis gets a postcard from Jack and Ennis writes back that he would like together. After much waiting Jack arrives and Ennis rushes out to meet his “fishing” buddy. They hug passionately and move into what they think is a secluded spot and begin making out. Ennis wife starts to come out the door and sees her husband making out with another guy. She begins shaking with grief and anger but says nothing when Ennis tells her he is going fishing for a few days. As the years go forward Jack and Ennis continue to see each other every few months where they meet up and head to Brokeback Mountain for a week. Eventually Alma can no longer hide her grief and she divorces Ennis. When Jack reads about this he comes up to see Ennis but Ennis tells him he can not see him that weekend. Feeling rejected Jack drives to Mexico and picks up a man.

As time moves on the bond between the two grows stronger which causes problems when they don’t know what the next step is. Jack wants to move to a ranch somewhere and be with Ennis for life but Ennis rejects him numerous times. Ennis finally reveals that when he was little his father showed him the body of an old rancher who had been thought to be gay. He'd been tied by the penis and dragged until dead (The movie implies Ennis’ dad did the killing).

They argue further. Ennis mentions that the next time he sees Jack it'll have to be November. Jack is angry at this, because their next planned meeting had originally been in August. They argue, Ennis saying he has a job. Jack retorts that they could have had a real life together, instead of the ritualistic trips to Brokeback Mountain. Jack mentions how he occasionally goes to Mexico for some sex, and Ennis, overcome with jealousy and frustration, says he'll kill Jack if he goes to Mexico for more pickups. Jack says that a couple of "fishing trips" each year is not enough for him, and then says, "I can't quit you." Ennis explodes, and says that because of Jack, he's "got nothing" (meaning he lost his wife, barely sees his children, has no friends, and is only intermittently employed in low-paying jobs). Ennis breaks down and starts to cry, and Jack comforts him, and the men lovingly reconcile. We then see Ennis cradling Jack in a tight hug (in contrast to earlier shots of Jack being the one who is affectionate) and the two men part, promising to see each other in November. However, come November, Ennis gets a postcard from Jack, except the postcard has been stamped "Deceased."

That event plunges the movie into its entirely depressing, but ultimately satisfying final act. Which I won’t reveal much about since it would ruin the impact of it.

Brokeback Mountain is a heartbreaking story of forbidden love and the lengths we go to to keep something alive knowing full well that it might not be looked favorably upon. My problem with the film is this. We’ve seen a story like this before, which makes me wonder if the movie would’ve gotten as much attention as it did without the gay angle. What works in its favor is the performances of the four leads, as they perfectly portray their roles in the stories. Ang Lee finds the right mix of loud moments along with the quiet interludes which really grabs the viewer and takes them on a roller-coaster throughout which is saying something in this day and age of explosions and CGI.

Too many people have unfairly refused to see this movie based on the content and that is unfortunate. The movie doesn’t really show anything overtly graphic and when it shows sex scenes they are very tastefully done.

Is it a classic? Probably not. Is it a socially important movie that is worth going out of your way to see? Absolutely.
- posted by Brian @ 3/25/2006 03:17:00 PM

 
The Post with a few quick notes
I have been off the radar in here for a while and will be for at least a couple more days. I've spent the last week trying to get everything situated with my new job and getting a handle on what my new schedule will be like. So bear with me til the weekend when I have a fireside chat about my new job and what the hell I'll review two movies.

I want to very quickly say that a lot of my Millersville peeps have been offering congratulations to me as of late and they have expressed happiness for me with the job switch. Seriously, as I've said before--You guys (and girls) are all the best and I would do whatever I could to help you people out until the day I leave this earth.





Last but not least--do not screw with me anymore because I've got the best legal counsel that 1.96 a week can buy (I get legal coverage through my job--seriously legal coverage.)
- posted by Brian @ 3/22/2006 04:34:00 PM

 
The with my old and new jobs colliding
This is a totally true story from Monday ngiht. Names, places, and dates have not been changed--Screw the innocent!

(Scene is my room at 4:35 pm. Dad walks in with a ringing telephone.

Dad: Here it's Arrow International calling.

Me: OK! (hits talk button on phone) Hello!

Woman: Hi may I please speak to Brian Hansley?

M: This is he.

W: Hi Brian. This is Christine King the staffing manager at Arrow.

M: (curiously) Ok.

W: We have a question for you regarding something on your resume? When you apply at Arrow we do a background check including employment history.

M: Right.

W: There are some discrepancies between the hire dates on your resume and when they have you listed. You have listed that you worked there until 2/06. They have you listed as still being employed there.

M: Yes I am. I'm really sorry when I filled out my application I wasn't thinking and for my end date I wrote 02/06 because that's when I was filling it out instead of present. That's my mistake. (I say relieved thinking this is a silly minsunderstanding)

W: Ok. That's no problem. Now for your start date

(Brian furrows his brow)

W: You have listed March 04. Are you sure that's when you started there?

M: (quizzically) Yes I am.

W: Were you a temporary employee or something there for a while?

M: (curiously) Nope. I was a full time employee from the moment I started there.

W: Do you have a calendar to verify this?

M: ( growing more frustrated) I don't remember the exact date I started but I know it was a little over 3 months after I graduated college. I graduated December of 2003 and I started there March 2004.

W: You're positive of this? There is a big difference in the date you gave us and the date they gave us.

M: I'm 100% positive I started there in March of 2004.

W: They have you as starting in December of 2004.

M: Well they don't keep very good records there. I know that for a fact.

W: Is there any way you can verify this?

(thinking, I remember I keep my pay stubs in a folder in my closet.)

M: Can you hold for a second?

W: Sure.

(I begin to page through a year and a half's worth of pay stubs trying to find the oldest one I can. Finally I find one that helps.)

M: OK sorry bout that. I have a pay stub from them for the pay week March 27th 2004 to April 4, 2004 so I was there at least before the 27th of that month, which is what I have written down.

W: Ok. I'm glad you keep good records of that kind of stuff. I'll call your employer back and straighten this all out and you'll be all set for Monday.

M: Good. You had me worried there for a minute.

W: It's ok, we were just wondering why there was a 9 month difference between the two dates.

M: Well I'm wondering why there is too, so we're in the same boat.

W: Ok well you have a nice day.

M: Thank you, you do the same.

W: Thank you! (seriously this is like the happiest, nicest lady I've ever talked to in my life.)

M: See you Monday

W: Bye Brian.

(two clicks and the phone call is over.)



Postscript: How in the world can a company be 9 MONTHS off in a start date. I filled out an application there and everything with my information when I started and one of the questions was the date I was filling out the application. That is sad on so many different levels. I'm so glad that when I punch out Friday that I won't have to think about that place again. Sure there are things I will miss there (talking with Leon and Perry, working with Homer) but this storyline in my life has gone as far as it can go.

If you listen real carefully between 3 and 4 on Friday you will hear someone scream in joy. That is me leaving that place forever, and becasue I'm a big soft bitch I'm sure I'll cry over it out of joy.
- posted by Brian @ 3/14/2006 05:23:00 PM

 
The Post with my Oscar Predictions
First off, thanks to all of you that have wished me the best with all the current good things happening. Believe me when I say I'm even more excited than you think to take this next step in tbe work field.


Now Oscar predictions which I'm almost never right on. Nominees are listed, who I think will win is in bold. It's just the major categories:


BEST PICTURE
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
Good Night, And Good Luck.
Munich

Crash might steal it but I still think the power and beauty and outright complexity of the story Brokeback Mountain leads to the victory.

BEST ACTOR
Philip Seymour Hoffman Capote
Terrence Howard Hustle & Flow
Heath Ledger Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix Walk the Line
David Strathairn Good Night, and Good Luck.


Hoffman earned rave reviews for his protrayal of Truman Capote and opened many eyes as he moved from supporting actor to the front line of actors.

BEST ACTRESS
Judi Dench Mrs. Henderson Presents
Felicity Huffman Transamerica
Keira Knightley Pride & Prejudice
Charlize Theron North Country
Reese Witherspoon Walk the Line


Walk the Line will win something and since Joaquin won't win best actor Reese wins best actress. She took a character that many people knew and filled it with equal parts happiness and pathos. She is the driving force in the story and the moral center of Cash;'s life and the movie.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
George Clooney Syriana
Matt Dillon Crash
Paul Giamatti Cinderella Man
Jake Gyllenhaal Brokeback Mountain
William Hurt A History of Violence

Clooney did all the things that win you this award. He gained weight suffered a major injury and gave his best performance ever.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams Junebug
Catherine Keener Capote
Frances McDormand North Country
Rachel Weisz The Constant Gardener
Michelle Williams Brokeback Mountain

The pick I'm least sure about because this is where the upsets usually happen. I still think the power and scope of Weisz's performance wins this for her though.



BEST DIRECTOR
George Clooney Good Night, and Good Luck.
Paul Haggis Crash
Ang Lee Brokeback Mountain
Bennet Miller Capote
Steven Speilberg Munich

Again Brokeback Mountain was gorgeously shot, and the most lush heartbreaking film in years. Should be plenty



BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Jeffrey Caine The Constant Gardener
Dan Futterman Capote
Tony Kushner & Eric Roth Munich
Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana Brokeback Mountain
Josh Olson A History of Violence

The fact that History of Violence isn't in the best picture nominees is a travesty. The Academy tries to make good by giving it the win here.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Woody Allen Matchpoint
Noah Baumbach The Squid and the Whale
George Clooney & Grant Heslov Good Night, and Good Luck.
Stephen Gaughan Syriana
Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco Crash

Crash needs to win something too and the interweaving storylines of racism in Los Angeles was amazingly done.
- posted by Brian @ 3/05/2006 02:25:00 PM

 
The Post with my double announcement
Ok so I've been promising an announcement in here for awhile and now everything is settled so I am free to give the big news.

First off, I did trade in the Cavalier that I wrote about a few weeks back on the purchase of a 2003 Chevrolet Blazer. I was sad to see the old Cavalier go but the company offered me 1200 dollars a 10 year old car with 115,000 miles and that only had a blue book value of 520 dollars trade-in. It was too good to pass up. The new Blazer is great and I still have yet to figure out everything in it, but it's coming along. Most importantly the Sirius radio was switched over and it is great to listen to commerical free radio in the new vehicle. Seriously buy Sirius.

Now the other announcement.

After two years of waiting and hoping, and feeling let down, and wondering why I spent the money to go to college--I was hired today by a company in Reading to work as a customer relations representative. The company is Arrow International and I will be helping places get set up with the medical supplies that best fit their needs. It isn't necessarily what I want to do but it is a great launching point apparently to other positions in the company.

The lady I talked to was excited to hear I was so excited and she said I was higly recommended by the people who interviewed me. Hopefully I can do the job well enough now to stick there for a while.

Here is the link to my new company if you want to read up on them:

Arrow International


So a car, gainfully employed, and 15 pounds lighter than I started the year----This is the year of Hansley
- posted by Brian @ 3/02/2006 02:56:00 PM