One year ago today, I started my 11,000+ mile trek that I oh so cleverly named “Scoot 66.” This little ride on my Vespa lasted three months took me across 25 states and changed my life all around.

Most of the folks who read this know all about my trip. And I’ve jabbered on and on about the trip, so I’ll spare you.

Just thought it would be fun to mention that one year ago today, I left central Pennsylvania to have the most wonderful time anyone could ever have.

From time to time, when I run out of stuff to say, I’ll give a little mention as to where I was a year ago. Hopefully this won’t be my last trip around the country on two wheels. In face, I’m betting it won’t be.

You can read all about the trip here.

Would you believe that I applied at Barnes & Noble? It’s true, I did. I submitted an application and resume and signed up for one of their group interviews.

I figured that my decade or so of experience as a clerk, manager and owner of a bookstore, would make me an easy pick for some nice hiring manager. But apparently, that’s not how it works.

Let me be clear, I didn’t want to work at Barnes & Noble. But, this being the economy that it is, I’m applying many, many places. In my resume, I list my qualifications, my experience and all the other resume stuff. My application had my references.

When I got to the group interview (which, by the way, is an incredibly dumb way to hold interviews) there were only three other people. I thought this was perfect. If anyone had bookstore experience, more than likely I’d have more.

As the interview began, the woman conducting it had lost both my application and resume. In her mind, I just showed up. I wasn’t really prepared for that.

The session progressed and she asked several questions about different retail and book-related situations. Now, it’s been about a decade since I interviewed for anything. I can’t say that I was amazing, but my answers drew upon my many years of managing and owning a store.

The other folks there gave some good, but pretty generic answers. I gave very specific answers about the book industry and about dealing with book-reading customers.

While I wasn’t prepared for this hiring manager to lose my resume (and really not care that she lost it), I believe I held my own.

After the interview, two of the other folks applying had to finish filling out their applications. They didn’t even finish them! Another had to change availability. But I guess having an incomplete application is better than having none (even though B&N are the ones who lost it).

I had to ride home, fill out the application again and print out the resume again and ride back to deliver it.

She acted like I was lying about submitting the application and resume. Nevertheless, I resubmitted them and figured that my decade of experience in the book industry would at least get me a real interview, rather than a group interview.

Oh, I was wrong. I recently got a little letter from Barnes & Noble stating that while it was a “pleasure” meeting with me, Barnes & Noble doesn’t “have a position that matches my skills and experiences.”

Really? Which skills would those be? Which experiences am I lacking that would automatically disqualify me from an actual interview? I have over ten years of experience working, managing and owning a bookstore. Seriously, how could I at least not get a real interview?

What kind of skills do I lack? What sort of experiences should I have had?

It’s weird. I’m certainly not mad that I’m not working at Barnes & Noble. I don’t really want to work there (but would if offered the job, of course). Mostly, I’m just baffled at the whole thing. They lost my resume, didn’t care that they lost it and then didn’t even get the opportunity for a real interview.

What the crap?

When I give myself schedules for writing, it doesn’t usually last very long. In this case, the Bhagavad-gita Comparison posts (and the Godzilla posts) are going to be bumped back to “semi-regular.” They’ll still post on Sundays (and Wednesdays for the Godzilla stuff).

It’s not that I’m not enjoying either, but I’ve found myself with less time and other projects. Basically, I’ve scheduled myself away from practicality.

As far as the Gita posts go, I’ve already covered my favorite verses, so now I have to dip into ones that I’m not as familiar with. That’s a lot of hit and miss. Not ever verse is “good” for these comparisons. Some verses are basically identical across the four editions, and really, where’s the fun in that?

But hopefully I’ll still keep things moving right along. The Gita post for tomorrow will probably not happen, but if it does, it will be later in the day.

As the weather turns warmer, I remember to this time last year when I was getting ready for Scoot 66. This makes me a bit nostalgic (for last year, which I guess really isn’t nostalgia, but who cares) and I start looking at some of the thousands of pictures I took on the road.

I’ve also been working on some ideas for pictures, new techniques, etc. I tried some new things and some stuff based on old things and came up with these eight pics. I don’t overly like some of them, but that’s how it goes.

Here are the experiments…

As some of you know, I’ve been into 1950’s era short educational films lately. This isn’t really a new thing, I go through this every few years, rediscovering some pretty amazing slices of history.

One I just came across not too long ago was one called America for Me. It was produced by Greyhound to get folks to see the country on a bus.

There’s even a story in here. Amelia the school teacher is writing a theme about America and is all excited about seeing the country. Her friend, Taffy, who she meets on the bus, is sort of 1950’s flirty/slutty. She tries to get her hooks into Tex (John Archer) who is sitting across the aisle from her, but Tex likes the school teacher. Taffy eventually falls for a G.I. played by Robert Nichols who played Joe, the wormy guy from This Island Earth.

Along the way from Gallup, New Mexico to San Francisco, Portland and into Canada we see the sites with Amelia, Taffy, Tex and the GI (who does have a name, but I can’t remember it).

Tex tries to win Amelia’s heart, but he’s too fresh for her tastes. “He really gets my goat,” says Amelia. Tex is fresh though, I’ll give her that. On the way to San Francisco, he offers to show her “how to really open that golden gate.” Seems a bit too forward, Tex.

So here you go. Please watch this. It’s about 30 minutes long and has two reels. The first is below and the second is right below that. It’s well worth it, trust me.