Job interviews...don't

Since the unemployment lines in Portugal keep getting longer (by the way, are the 1000 new graduates already working?) I leave you with some advices of what to avoid doing during a job interview, based on true stories:

- When asked "what would you bring to the job" don't reply "If you hire me, you're hiring nothing less than 100 percent pure stud". Well, unless you're auditioning for a porno movie role or something like that;
- Start crying;
- Argue with the hiring manager, get up and leave. And, call later to see if you got the job;
- Bring your kids with you;
- Show up with your mom, for moral support;
- Say that you only want the job for the employee discount;
- Ask for directions to another interview;
- Remove your hearing aid;
- Forgot what position you are applying for, but still want to know how soon you could have the hiring manager's office;
- Say the interviewer must be busy because his office is really messy;
- Come in wearing pajama bottoms and flip flops;
- Arrived in a revealing shirt. Again, unless you're auditioning for a porno movie role or something like that;
- Open your comment with a dirty joke;
- Inquire about the location of the company's security cameras;
- Admit you would not pass the mandatory drug test;
- Bring wine to the interview and offer the hiring manager a glass;
- Make a pass at the hiring manager.

And I take this chance to share two situations I know happened in portuguese companies:

- Wet your pants, seconds before the interview even starts;
- To throw up your breakfast in the interview's table...

In a nut shell, if possible try to be yourself...if not, lie, fake and make up as much as you think necessary! Nervous, what's to get nervous about? The most it can happen is you not getting the job.

Today I slept like this...

Effort, dedication, devotion and glory...that is my team



Add it a bit of luck, emotion and, most of all...heart. That's tonight's game!

The dream goes on and on...and I doubt that I get to be 35, with games like this one, before I get some sort of a stroke! Ah, and thank you for making me cry...this way it's a pleasure to do so!

And hurray for Sporting Clube de Portugal, my club, always!!!

That's globalization for you

A portuguese blog links an australian website, that reported the incident a polish man suffered after being squashed between two indian elephants in Norway...

Give me five!

This post...is just meant to take advantage of this moment:

05:05:05; 05-05-05

UnBlog the book

Portuguese biologist, stripper and writer Leonor Sousa just launched a book, called «Same time, tomorrow - a biologist's diary», where she describes her experience as a biologist in the Tropical Medicine Institut...oh, it seems the name of the book is actually «Same time, tomorrow - a stripper's diary» and is about her experience as a stripper in the «Champagne Club»...

I only find the title of the book weird because I don't know what a stripper life has that can be more thrilling to write about than the sexy and erotic world of studying benthic foraminifers or angiosperms, but well...that's ok! She must know best!

Den end nau...Alf!

Proceeding with the posts about tv series that marked my youth, I would like to share the stories related to one that was/is one of my personal favorites. The adventures of a friendly (and insatiable) lil' alien from the planet Melmac, with 10 vital organs of which 8 are stomachs, named Gordon Shumway, alias Alf (Alien Life Form), born on the 28th October 1756 (just 249 y.o., just a child...), that lands on the Tanner's (your typical american family) garage, changing their life for good...

Let's start with the parents, Willie e Kate. The father, played by Max Wright, is on downward spiral. Now 62, Willie has seen a lot more of state prisons that he would like, arrested and booked for drunken driving. In January 2000, he was arrested in Hollywood and in September 2003, he ended up loosing driving privileges in New York State for 6 months following a guilty plea to a drunken-driving charge. Wright was visiting his adult daughter upstate when he ran afoul of local authorities by getting to know a few mailboxes and a traffic sign more intimately.

The mother, Anne Schedeen, spent many years without disclosing her age to the public. We know now she is 56 y.o. Got out of the movies in 1996, and now works as an antiquer and decorator, we can't found a single photo of this red head on the Internet that is more recent than this one...

About the Tanner children, let's start with good-looking Lynn (Andrea Elson). As so many famous teenagers, after loosing her bracers, she suffered from bulimia. Now a 36 y.o. beautiful woman, Andrea is a vegan enthusiast that ended up marrying one of Alf's production assistants.

Little Brian (Benji Gregory), now aged 27, had his own grandmother for an agent, started up on a Fantasy Island episode (and no, he was not the little man who waved at the plane) and starred in episodes of The Twilight Zone and The A-Team. When Alf was cancelled, Ben said it was a relief. He didn't want to do any more shows, but he didn't regret any of it.

What about the Tanner's neighbors, the pesky and nosy Ochmonek? Trevor, or John LaMotta makes a living playing Shakespeare, in Elm Shakespeare Company... who would say? His wife, Raquel (Liz Sheridan), now aged 76, besides playing Jerry Seinfeld's mother, she was once, imagine that, engaged to James Dean...

And Alf himself, you wonder? Have you ever wondered who was on that furry suit?
Well, in the 4 years the show was on, there were no more no less than 3 aliens. While Alf's voice was Paul Fusco's, now 53 y.o, the long-nosed alien's shorts were filled by hungarian midget Mihaly 'Michu' Meszaros and a 5 years old Abraham Verduzco, that later ended up working in movies as El Mariachi or Desperado, both starring Antonio Banderas, on very small roles (can't even get a picture of the guy)...

To end, as the ol' Alfer would say...
"My life is history. I'm a cursed melmacian, I belong to the room of the goshdarned".

Den end nau...Family ties

By Gotinha's special request, here's a post concerning this tv series that we followed thru 7 years (1982 - 1989) and where we met the boy who would be the Back to the future saga's hero, Alex P. Keaton or, if you prefer, Michael J. Fox. Being played again until a few weeks ago in portuguese cable tv, here is the data on how the Family ties cast are, nowadays.

A lot has been said about the best known Keaton, in this last couple of years, specially because of him being diagnosed with an early rare case of Parkinson's disease, in 1991, while he was only 30. Michael J. Fox ended up opening a research center to help studying that awful disease and, by November 2000, it had already raised 50 million dollars. The small actor (1,64m tall), is from Canada and, since 1988, married to actress Tracy Pollan (Alex's first girlfriend). About his future wife-to-be, he once said "One day she came back from lunch with bad breath and I said 'Whoa, scampi for lunch?', and she said 'You are the rudest son of asshole I have ever met in my life' and I was immediately attracted to her like 'Who is this woman?!'"
Michael wasn't the first choice to play Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties. He was only chosen after Matthew Broderick, who was originally considered for the role, refused to have a long-term TV obligation. Ah, he does play the guitar, since he was 8, being the famous Back to the future scene, one of the funniest he ever made. And, by the way, the J in the middle of his name stands for...Andrew.

About the Keaton parents, Steven e Elyse, Michael Gross e Meredith Baxter, they actually were born on the same exact date, and are now 58 years old...each. Besides that, Gross stars in 4 movies called Tremors, which, in what quality is concerned have...none, but who tv's are so friendly of showing us, from time to time.

Sweet and dumb lil' Mallory Keaton, played by Justine Bateman, suffered, as so many of them young sex-symbols, from anorexia and bulimia for 10 years. She is now on her forties and looking well.

Little Jennifer, or Tina Yothers, now a healthy 31 years old woman, besides showing up in a episode of Southpark, is also a chucky brunette, singing in a band called Jaded, that launched its first album, Confessions, in 2000.

Adorable Andy Keaton (Brian Bonsall) is now a 24 years old "dude", got a black armband tattoo and plays in a band called the Late Bloomers, since 1998.

Of Ellen Reed (Tracy Pollan) we already said she married Alex Keat...sorry, Michael J. Fox, from whom she has 4 kids. Before that, she had already dated Kevin Bacon. Actresses...

Alex's next girlfriend, psychology major Lauren Miller (Courteney Cox) ended up being, next to him, the one who become the more successful, starring in Friends and in the Scream trilogy. Before that she had been a model, done commercials (was the first person to ever say "period" on American TV, in a Tampax commercial) and starred as the girl Bruce Springsteen pulled from the crowd to dance with him in the 1984 music video "Dancing in the Dark". Now, the 41 years old blue-eyed beauty has obviously not lost qualities!

Trash sculptor and Mallory's boyfriend, Nick Moore (Scott Valentine), now 47 years old, was about to screen test for a role in the feature film, "Lords of Discipline" but was accidentally hit by a truck on September 17, 1981. After three years of convalescing, he left New York for Los Angeles where he landed the part of Nick Moore on the hit series. Of course, the accident may have influenced his character's particular use of the english language. In 1988, he featured in May 1988 edition of "Playgirl" magazine.

And my favorite character, Irwin "Skippy" Handleman, or Marc Price (the spitting image of my college buddy and big friend, Ricardo Rocha, in his teenager years), is now 37 years old and, let's face it, the same nerdy face ever!

You know, something's they never change!

Happy birthday, Hubble



Some of the best images from this 15 years old teenager's life.

The truth is (really) out there...

desBlogueador turns to the dark side...

Today, the conversation unBlogger, in its downwards spiral (without return), previews a special post which will become, without any doubt, another wonderful reason (not) to visit us. From now on and, if possible, everyday, we will post images from celebrities who disappeared from tv, in the age limbo (put satanic laugh, here…)!

For a first time occasion:

Do you remember Michael Knight’s boss, in the tv series that made us discover who was going to be the future Mitch Buchanan (damn the casting crew)? His name was Devon Miles and spent his time in that big black truck where the car driven by David Hasselhoff would go to change oil...
Well, the actor who played it, Edward Mulhare, died at the age of 74, on the 24th of May, 1997.
And the hot Patricia McPherson, who played KITT’s mechanic (yeah, right!!!)? Well, nowadays she is a merry fifty -something. This was the babe then, and this is the lady now.

Resuming: We are not getting younger, that’s for sure!

Existential question

These last few days I was forced to get a new hard drive for my PC. Today, at lunch, I started doing the math and got pretty concerned with the results:

Well, if the new hard drive is something like 10 cm wide and reaches a 7200 rpm speed...

Disc perimeter = 2 x PI x radius = 2 x 3,1416 x (0,10 m / 2) = 0,3142 m;

At 7200 rpm: 7200 x 0,3142 m = 2,2619 Km/minute = 135,72 Km/h.

This being that I am in Madeira Island (a speed limit of 100 Km/h on the freeway), having my PC at home (inside a town) and near children, is it possible for me to get a speeding ticket?

There's smoke...

Live from Vaticano


The first images have arrived and the conversation unBlogger can announce, in a exclusive news flash, that we have, for the first time in history, a north american pope, Cardinal John Krusty. Exclusive photo...here!

A weekend in a telegram-post...

A nice Saturday walk on the island - STOP - a emerald coloured sea and a shinny sun - STOP - a daughter getting more beautiful everyday - STOP - Benfica's home draw - STOP - a very good day - STOP

Sunday at home - STOP - hard disk gone to meet his maker - STOP - 6 hours of opening and closing the computer - STOP - son of a b***h, c*** s*****r, a*****e - STOP - why don't you go and make a nice horse a b*****b - STOP - what a shitty day - STOP



Just to get the mind refreshed, put the pedal to the metal, it's just another Monday!

SPORTING CLUBE DE PORTUGAL...my team, ALWAYS!

To the heros that kept the dream of seing the UEFA cup on portuguese hands, once more, alive.



To them, I can only give...my thank you!

Mister Laden, you are not allowed to play with that...

After seven years (SEVEN!!!) of negotiating, the United Nation's approved a project bill, 28 pages long (at an amazing average of 4 pages a year) to forbid the buy and usage of nuclear weapons by...terrorists!!!

I guess it's time that someone explain Mr. Kofi Annan & Friends the concept of "terrorism".

905...906...907...

He is da man!!! For the 4th time, and I bet it won’t be the last one, desBlogueador leaves you with the latest adventures of this true modern day American hero. Henry Earl, the same. The one and only!
Though currently Henry is out of the prison (at least he was, by the time I posted this), it is most likely that 5 minutes later the situation has changed. That’s why I’m going to leave the numbers do the talking:

Alcohol related offenses:: 905
Number of days spent in jail:: 3370

Average # of days per year spent in jail: 240.71
Average duration of incarceration period: 3.72 days
Average duration of time not spent in jail: 1.63 days

(Un)useful links:
Fan site
Rap sheet
Music video
Theme song

Some people are just giving awards away...

First of all, I would like to thank, and I'm sure I speak for the entire desBlogueador team, God. Without the universe's creation, I guess this moment just wouldn't be possible. Then, our parents (after all, there are 12 of them) and the remaining of our numerous families and our many friends, without which the number of visitors would lower to a number multipliable by 6, I'm sure. I would also like to thank my colleagues, that give some quality to this blog (although not that much) and, before the music that cuts my speech kicks in, I thank Eng. António Vitorino, Dr. Pedro Santana Lopes, George W. Bush, the lady that works in the corners coffee shop, the boy that happens my work's gate everyday, and, in special, to the bald man that I ran into this morning. For the constant inspiration that his shinny "nuca" is. I also would like to thank the Gazeta dos Blogueiros team, though I think that they must look at their evaluation standards or, if not that, at least leave the alcohol. Let's be honest, to give an award to such a blog...just doesn't look right! I also advise them to get a good psychiatrist, quickly.

Being as it may, thanks...

Mutual KO technical draw

Fact 1: A portuguese international soccer player, with a big status in his club, following a unworthy but clean defeat, starts shooting in the most unlikely direction, regarding his opponent players will of winning the same game, complaining of them being too "pumped up" to win it and talking about certain "3rd party incentives" and an unusual spirit to win, as if that wasn't (or should be) the normal way of things. What for? He might as well be shut!

Fact 2: A club's president calls the press, before a very important game, and in which it's club (and mine) can consider itself helped by the referee's work, starts shooting in every directions, as usual, talking about scandals and more scandals, some that he, in his own words, doesn't even remember exactly in which game it happened. What for? He might as well be shut!

At least on this subject, the absurd one, the 2nd circular championship is tied, and definitely...bottom leveled!

Identifying nicks?

There is something I just can't understand. The nicks we have in MSN, for instance, should be useful for other persons to identify us, when we log in, right? So, why do people insist in signing in with nicks like:

- I'm going on holidays to Hawaii! Just look at how lucky I am, la la la...;
- Hawaii was canceled. Just my bad luck, I'm going to have to stay here, like any ordinary portuguese, la la la...;
- My life just isn't the same, love you very much, Manoel;
- Congratulations, Cindy!;
- There are people so stupid, I'm not in the mood to stand this;
- Love is such sweet sorrow, when you lose someone you love;
- Love is a fire that burns without being seen...;
- My soul hurts, goddamit!;
- I'm here, ho ho ho;
- Follow the white rabbit;
- Be careful what you say, because things you say can turn against yourself and then you loose the ones you love and you don't know what to do, you bastard! Have you seen the shit you got yourself into?;
- What the eyes don't see, the heart doesn't feel;

And then they get very upset because: "I'm here for a long time and you don't even speak to me!". And I'm supposed to guess who they are? Do you truly believe I click on every single weird nick that pops up, just to see who it is? Bah!

P.S. - Upsy! I think some of my friends are going to be offended with this post...or then again, not!

Driving in Madeira Island is a semi-sexual experience



Being that, in a half-hour ride, a guy spends most of the time going in and out of holes...