Death of Away

It’s vindicating for me to see the death of the Away Network. I hadn’t even been there two weeks in 2005 before realizing I was working with so many incompetent people. While I stayed there, miserably, for more than four years before I was unceremoniously dismissed, the constant disfunction and poor management, not to mention foolishness by the parent company, ultimately led to its closure a few years ago.

The advantages of working there? I made a living, though I was perfectly capable of working elsewhere. I followed in the footsteps of my colleagues who mooched free trips off of PR agencies and traveled the world (little did those agencies know just how little influence our website actually had). I learned some new systems, got some different work experiences. For that, I can’t say my time there was a total waste, though it was by far the darkest, most painful period of my life.

RIH, Away.

When Trouble in Childhood Predicts the Future

I kept a journal when I was a kid, from about 1989 to 1992. While re-reading it recently, I came across a name I hadn’t seen in years. This person had a very unusual name – first and last – so I looked him up. What I found horrified me. He died several years ago in a jail cell, about two and a half hours after being pepper sprayed, and then Tased by police.

Black male, large, early 30s. Dead after dealing with police. Sound familiar? Only Al Sharpton didn’t come to his funeral, there was no national ‘discussion’ about this and no one protested.

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No Hitter!

Some die-hard baseball fans go their entire lives without ever witnessing a no-hitter in person. While I’m no die-hard fan, I knew the significance of being there to see Jordan Zimmermann no-hitter as the Washington Nationals beat the Miami Marlins, 1-0 on Sunday.

Even better, I was there with my cousins, Brian Meyers and Justin Aiken, and Justin’s son Christian. None of us will forget that.

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