One Office Fan’s Completely Biased View of the Strike ( … or how you can help the writers of The Office)

Turn off your televisions and get out a pen; or in support of “new media” — write an email.

The people who bring us The Office each week are picketing outside the set, on a vacant cul-de-sac in the middle of nowhere with no media attention. Why? Because the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers can’t come to an agreement about the amount of money the show’s writers should receive from DVD sales, and/or “new media,” a blanket term for shows that are downloaded or streamed on the Internet.

While new media might not seem like a big of a deal right now, it will be in the future. One day, you’ll park your flying car in the garage, float “Second Life”-style to your couch, and have the biggest urge to watch “The Injury.” In less than a second, your home’s central computer will download it to your 200-inch television.

Your DVD player will be rotting in your attic next to your original limbs.

The way it stands now, the cast and writers of The Office won’t be paid for the download. Sure, it looks like they make decent money, but what if by then, one of them has thrown it away on gambling and booze. This could mean bail money. And more importantly, it means income for working writers throughout the WGA who don’t make what a writer on The Office makes. The level of need isn’t the point. It’s partially their money. They created the show.

When the strike started Monday, the AMPTP reminded writers they can resign from the WGA and continue to work without losing their benefits, and demanded all other workers show up for their non-writing jobs. Instead, showrunner Greg Daniels and other actors on the show joined the picket line in an attempt to shut down production on The Office.

As a fan, it might seem like we are being punished with the show out of production. We’re missing out on Michael being an idiot. Possibly, Jim and Pam’s first fight. Maybe, Dwight and Angela’s reconciliation. And definitely, the hilarious black man. This could mean the end of Season 4.

But, it’s part of something much larger: true teamwork, and the only power they have to try and end the strike quickly, and pave the way for future deals with SAG and DGA.

The AMPTP and studio hoped to buy more time by getting The Office to stay in production. This would allow them to find alternate programming like reality shows, sports, and game shows. It wouldn’t help end the strike, only ensure we spend the rest of the season watching “The David Copperfield Show” or “Are You Smarter than a Studio Executive?”

With The Office out of production, in two weeks, the studio will be forced to end November sweeps in reruns.

Don’t watch the reruns, or any alternative programming. Turn off your television and spread the word. Take the remote from Grandma if you have to. Do not let her watch “Deal or No Deal.” You’ve been promising to take her to bingo; now is the time!

Demand what you want to see. You know the impact you can have — your campaign got the Season 2 finale supersized! You’re basically responsible for Pam not getting married. You are powerful!

Here is what you can do to support the writers on The Office:

Write polite, but firm letters to the AMPTP and NBC/Universal. Let them know intelligent viewers are not going watch anything but the television shows we have received from the talented people in WGA.

Just, whatever you do, please do not threaten to burn anything to the ground.

• AMPTP contact form
• Universal Studios
  100 Universal City Plaza
  Universal Studios, CA 91608
• NBC Studios
  3000 W. Alameda Ave.
  Burbank, CA 91523

From officetally.com

We came home tonight to find our DVR dead.  Caput.  No display.  No lights.  No response.  

And The Office starts tomorrow.

*cries*

one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week one more week

I will be repeating this to myself non-stop for the next seven days.  That way, my time will be constantly occupied and I will be unable to kill anyone.

The last couple of weeks have been... something else.  I feel like I need a week-long nap to recover from all the change, hustle and bustle.  Thankfully I have today and tomorrow off, because, well, nine shifts in five days.

Sunday the third was Travis and Trevor's graduation open house.  Jeff went to work early in the morning as usual, and promptly returned right away.  His douchebag of a boss "fired" him.  I say "fired," because I don't know what else to call it; it was without reason, cause, or even permission.  The day before, the club's general manager had sent an email to Jeff, his boss, and the owner of the club complimenting Jeff on doing such a good job and setting a good example for the entire staff.  The next morning, Jeff walks in and his boss says "The restaurant is going in a new direction and you're not part of the plan."  Within two hours the gm was at our apartment consoling Jeff.  He said he was sorry about the situation, he didn't know what happened or why, but it was Jeff's boss's decision and he had the authority to fire at-will.  And he got Jeff a nice severance package.  I don't know what's going to happen there; the gm knows what an ass Jeff's (now former) boss is and hearily dislikes him.  Over the five years that we were there, they had to take disciplinary actions against him many times.  He wouldn't work enough, so even though he is the head manager of the restaurant they made him punch in and out so they could keep track of his hours (doesn't work so well, though, when he would punch in when he got there and never punch out, meaning his quitting time was registered as the time the computers were shut down at the end of the night).  The man's wife had to drive him to and pick him up from work every day for four years because his license was suspended for that long for multiple DUIs.  There's an endless laundry list of shit like that about him, like how he would charge items to the restaurant credit card that would be used once at work and disappear that night, never to be seen again, or how he was fired from the restaurant that he managed in the off-season for stealing, but I think I've ranted about it enough ;).

Anyway, we had a week of vacation, going to the beach, cleaning around the house, sleeping in, and by the following Sunday we both had new jobs.  We are working 45 minutes north of town at a restaurant that is very similar to Jeff's brother's.  It's a small place in an old resort inn on the lake, with a view of the Sleeping Bear Dunes from the dining room.  Jeff worked a couple years at another restaurant that the owners used to have.  They are two older ladies who live in Chicago but have had vacation property up here their whole lives, passed down from family.  It just so happened that we called them about jobs the very day they were submitting a help wanted classified ad in the paper.  Providence or coincidence, whatever, it worked out.  So for now we are driving to work and back, 45 minutes one way, but with our days off are packing up the apartment and looking for places to the north.  Unfortunately we may not be able to find anything up there until September.  In the summer rentals are a good 400-500% more expensive than in the non-tourist-seasons.  But we'll keep looking, and working.  I am so pumped to be working with Jeff again.  I don't know, a lot of times people question how we can stand so much of each other, but we've been together for six and a half years, and I still love being with him 24-7.  Never get sick of it.  Plus, the new place we're working is awesome.  Zero stress, most of the people are awesome (Jeff knew a lot of them, because like Jeff many came from the owners' other restaurant), and when you work a double (as we did four out of the last five days) you get an hour-and-a-half break between lunch and dinner and you're more than welcome to take advantage of their beachfront property.  Plus when you do a double you get to eat there free.  Anyway.  The only downside is the apartment is now trashed, since in the last five days we spent a total of maybe 35 hours there.  Enough to shed our sweaty work clothes, shower, sleep, get up and go back to work each day.  But I seriously love making tips and having cash in the pocket every day.  Jeff had to take a pay cut; this is a pretty small place and he was making bank at the club (enter tangent: we theorize that Jeff's boss is angling for more money for himself, since he eliminated Jeff's position rather than hiring somebody else to do the job, so he will argue that the budget will benefit and some of the salary that used to be Jeff's should go to him) but hopefully I will be able to make up the difference.

So that's what I've been up to.  A whole lot of work.  We have today and tomorrow off, then it'll be five days in a row again.  But only seven shifts (for me; eight for Jeff).  And I'm sick of typing.  Ciao.

WELLINGTON (AFP) - Nine-year-old Jack Russell terrier George is being honoured with a posthumous bravery medal for saving five New Zealand children from an attack by two pitbulls.

The medal from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) comes after US Vietnam veteran Jerrell Hudman said he was sending his Purple Heart medal to George's owner after hearing of the dog's bravery.

George, who had a heart problem, won fame after defending five children from the pitbulls in the small North Island town of Manaia a week and a half ago. The two pitbulls rushed at the five children on the street, prompting George to charge the much larger dogs as the children escaped.

The Jack Russell was badly mauled by the two pitbulls and later had to be put down because of his extensive injuries. The two pitbulls were also put down.

The SPCA medal is usually awarded to people for their bravery in defending animals.

"George was a very brave little dog who almost certainly prevented severe injury, if not death, to at least one of the children," SPCA chief executive Robyn Kippenberger said.

"It's truly tragic that he paid with his own life for his instinctive act of courage."

Hudman, 58, of Austin, Texas was a US Marine for 30 years and said he decided to send his Purple Heart to George's owner Alan Gay after reading the news on the Internet because the dog was "a little warrior".

The Purple Heart is awarded to those killed or injured fighting for the US military.

It's sad that George had to put down.  It's also sad that they mentioned the pitbull attack but didn't mention their owner(s).  They are the real villains.  Pitbulls are as sweet as any other dogs unless they're trained to be aggressive.