DadJack.com Blog

That’s what Lucy and Bing call rewinding… “Back-Forwards.”  If something particularly amusing happens on TV I hear the chant of “back-foreward it, back-forward it!”  (This can happen multiple times during the “mini-movie” Banana on The Despicable Me DVD)  It’s always great to see them enjoying something and really laughing, so I never mind back-forwarding.

Now in life it’s a different story…  It seems like I have been back-forwarding for years now.  Unemployment, divorce, unemployment again… and then again, it’s been a lot of rewinding.  I briefly felt like life might be on “play” again… I had a job, was able to pay my expenses and have a little left over to enjoy time with the kids, and that was OK.  I’m not looking to fast-forward or even skip a chapter ahead, at this point I’d be happy with “pause”, just maintaining life where it is right now.

I know that it takes true perseverance to get up after being knocked down…  But I also understand how exhausting it is to repeatedly get up just to be knocked down again.  It sometime seems that no matter how much you dance around the ring you just can’t avoid those knock-down punches.

I’m not trying to get rich or build an empire… just keep a 2 bedroom apartment in Burbank, make the payment on a small import car and keep some food in the fridge, who thought that would be so hard?

I did have a nice long weekend.  The kids and I were able to get a lot in and we saw a bunch of friends we hadn’t seen in a long time.  The unusual hours I had for the past year had really kept me out of touch with many of my friends. The kids were able to get some swimming in, which is like winning the lottery to a 4 and 7 year old…  They’re still upset that I moved out of that horrible North Hollywood apartment because it had a pool and a hot tub (Bing is a man of leisure, he enjoys a nice hot tub and a snifter of apple juice!)

The podcast continues on… Although Stench had a minor relapse over the weekend and we were almost back on “Just jack Pods”…  which are painful for everyone!  Alina still joins us often (she is feeling much better!) and we may have a live pod event soon!

I’m sure everyone knows by now, but if you haven’t checked out Groupon yet you should… They have great deals, the kids and I have done so many things we have purchased there.

And if you haven’t yet, check out my guys Tony and Kris….  Besides being great guys and country music insiders, I love that they bucked the system and started their own syndicated show after being let go from Clear Channel San Diego.  Go Tony and Kris!

Rock on, Jack

Memorial Day weekend is just a few days away!  I’m excited for summer to start… Although it would be so much better if I had a job.  I was extra bummed to lose my job when I did because I was in the process of planning a little vacation with the kids… Needless to say that’s off the table now.

I have been giving much thought to the “American Dream” lately.  There was a time when I believed in the American dream, I thought that someday I could better my situation and achieve some success.  I used to work with people who held similar positions as me, had them for a long time and made over 7 figures…  Must of those people are out of work now or have drastically reduced those salary to something followed with a lot less zeros.

There isn’t that feeling that I can gain ground, get promoted… or even get a job now.  The dream has been replaced with a desperate desire to just be able to maintain my current lifestyle without having to give up anymore.  And I know it’s not just me, I have heard from some of you who have been out 2, 3, even 4 years.  There was a time when I thought you could get into a company and work your way up… now it’s hard just to get in and if you do keeping that job for any extended amount of time is just a difficult.

It would be nice to have the illusion back that we can all achieve the American dream…  As shallow and untrue it may have been, it was nice to have a glimmer of hope.

Enough of my whining.  My Sister and I took the kids to the Long Beach Aquarium yesterday for a sneak peek of a few new exhibits.  The kids always love it there and the new stuff was cool… They got to touch jellyfish!  They have really done a nice job with that area of Long Beach, you can go a make a day of it down there with the great selection of restaurants and attractions.

I was bummed for Ron (Insana… the host of the show I used to prooduce) this morning, another one of his CNBC colleagues passed away.  Mark Haines passed yesterday, so thoughts to his family.

The pod is on the mend… Stench is doing much better, no longer medicated or hospitalized, he just needs to stick to his diet.  Alina is also getting her voice back and feeling much better… And she told us on today’s pod that she be  on a new British reality show, so fingers crossed for her!

OK, go get your white pant out of mothballs and polish your white shoes!

Rock On, Jack

Blurry girl looks at blurry fish

Bing sees a crab (he doesn't like them!)

Bing runs from a ray

nice smile

Shark from below

Til the rapture, so I guess all this job searching is kind of a waste of time!   But seriously, what are these nuts going to do when they are not taken up on Saturday?

I have been catching up on movies I have yet to see this week.  Grown Ups (It was really bad.  I usually like those stupid Adam Sandler comedies, but this one seemed like it lacked effort, like they didn’t even try to make it funny.  Especially disappointing were some of Chris Rocks lines, I would have thought Rock would have protested the truly lame dialog and come up with something funnier… in the extra features they said they ad-lib’d.), Easy A ( I thought this one was good, funny and smart) and It’s Kind Of A Funny Story (  I liked this one too, funny, heartfelt and true to what really happens in the mental ward of a hospital.)

All this Sperminator, love-child talk got me thinking… One, it’s sad that this is the behavior that we more and more frequently see from our celebrities and politicians.  Two, it sucks that “family values” have been hijacked by intolerant, right-wing nuts.  I firmly believe in Family Values, not those preached, but the sanctity of marriage, the importance of family and the societal value of having at least a modicum of moral fiber.  This has been lost in modern society, we now devote all our attention on the amoral, making them celebrities or amplifying the fame they already had.  It’s sad, I sit here and rack my brain to think of anyone who has gained fame recently through being a good person, loyal to their mate or an upstanding citizen… The public has no interest in them.

I understand the “wanting to look at the car crash effect”, but at some point you have to excelerate past… it’s seems like we’ve turned off and parked right next to the wreckage.

Sorry, I’m still upset about the failure of The Insana Quotient, we really did try to deliver true news and political coverage without bias or exaggeration …  And we quickly found out there was no audience for fair and balanced news, the listening audience wanted the slanted/extreme variety of fair and balanced that is found all over the radio and cable TV, it is very disheartening.

OK, enough of my whining… About now you’re probably thinking it was better when he didn’t post as often!  I promise I’ll cheer up on the next post!

Rock on, Jack

Here’s a video I finally got off my phone (Lucy can be heard yelling “You’re going to drop your phone” during the video) of us riding that thing that drops you at Pacific Park at The Santa Monica Pier.

Last Thursday I lay in bed trying to fall asleep, the kids playing with Grandma in the living room, knowing the next day would be my last at work. As I tried to drift off I thought about past “lasts” and how more often than not we don’t know they’re coming. Some arrive quickly, without warning, others slowly evolving.

I don’t remember the night before we were fired from the morning show, I know we were on Christmas/New Years vacation, but I didn’t lie in bed knowing I would be fired the next afternoon. I don’t remember my last night truly being married… I remember the night before my marriage legally ended, I prepared a shirt and tie, gathered all the necessary papers and tried to sleep knowing the following morning it would, with a few words from a judge, be over. A marriage is one of those things that disintegrates slowly, so pin-pointing the last night we were truly a couple is almost impossible.

Some lasts are exciting, the last day of high school, knowing that when you wake the next day your whole life will change.  That energy of the unknown and hope is something I will never forget.  And there are those planned lasts like actually planning on changing jobs, the last night of being single before getting married or the last night in a home before you move.

So as I lay there in the darkness, kids laughing and running around, I know that would be the last night I go to bed as the Executive Producer of The Insana Quotient and hope that it will not be long that I am resting my head preparing for something new.

I have been using some of this unwanted down time to get caught up on some recent releases I hadn’t had time to watch, this week Red Box has a great deal, each day you can text DEALS to 727272 and they will send you a special offer… so far I have received a free rental the last two days, you can’t beat that.

Stench is out of the hospital and back on the pod!  He was in the hospital almost all of last week suffering from diverticulitis.  He seems to be recovering well and is back to true form.  Alina has been having medical issues too, so we wish her a speedy recovery… Without Alina who would we torture on the pod?

Have a great rainy spring day (If you’re in L.A.).

Rock on, Jack

Have a Corona for me, I still have a little more than a week of getting up at 1:30am so no fiesta for me!

It been weird being at work this last week knowing I won’t be here much longer.  People treat you differently, they try to be very positive even though you can tell they’re thinking “oh, crap. what is this guy going to do.”  I’m trying to look at this a positive development, hopefully I will find something with slightly better hours and I can live a more “normal” life.

The podcast is chugging along.   With over a 1000 shows under our belt it continues on.  We just created a new hotline to send texts and voice mails  916-67-BACON… So if there is anything you ever want us to know hit the bacon line!

It seems to me that it is lining up to be a weak movie summer, as I look through all the summer film previews there is not much to be excited about…  I do want to see the Hangover 2 and I hate to see it, but Cowboys v. Aliens looks like it might be interesting.  I’m hoping we get some surprises and there is a reason or two to go to the movies, there is still something more enjoyable about seeing a great film in a theater instead of just popping on the Blu-Ray while the dog barks in the other room and the kids jump on you.

Rock On, Jack

First it was Stretch, then Jamie and now I have entered the world of the unemployed.  Come June first the Insana Quotient will end and so will my one year run as Executive Producer of the show.  The show just never gained the momentum that the company who syndicates our show had hoped for.  There is no bad blood between me and anyone associated with the show or syndication, it just didn’t work.

I am saddened by the fact that a radio show that dealt with finance and politics with a fair and balanced (and I don’t mean that in the Fox News way) approach could not succeed in today’s market.  It is obvious that unless you pander to some lunatic fringe you cannot make it in radio today.  As much as people claim they want civility and true information, they majority who tune in really listen to outrageous opinion, insane ranting and extreme bias.  And as we have seen early on in this 2012 election cycle this is the way it is likely to go on for the foreseeable future.

It was truly a pleasure working with Ron, he is an extremely intelligent person with a great sense of humor… I will miss spending my middle of the nights/early mornings (depending on how you look at it) with him.  When you work these strange hours you form a brotherhood with your fellow early risers, one of which was industry vet and great radio talent Bruce Chandler.  I always knew there would be some lively conversation and commiseration over late night freeway construction with Bruce in the kitchen during commercial breaks.  If you must lurk the halls of an empty office building while the rest of Los Angeles sleeps I can think of no one better to do it with than Bruce.

Now I need to figure out what is next for me!?!?  I know I don’t have much time to do this!  I am still recovering from a year and a half stint of unemployment before this job, an expensive divorce and a whole rash of other financial issues, so it’s not exactly like I have a next egg to survive off of for a while… Heck, I barely have any straw, let alone a nest.  I am very grateful that I worked for a stand-up company that gave me advance notice on the show cancellation and didn’t pull the old radio trick of calling you in after the show and sending you home with your last check, so I have a month to try and get something new going.

I by no means want to sound like I’m crying “Why me,”  I know many of you have been in the same boat or are currently and I know it’s hard out there for everyone (especially with gas being at almost $4.50 a gallon right now!)  I was hoping for a bit of a break after a very hard 4 years… But I guess that’s not going to happen quite yet!

Rock on,

Jack