Fack you!
*sigh*
I’m about as interested in hockey as I am women’s basketball. Or professional poker.
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Author: sean
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Record deficit
No, I’m not talking about some government.
Of motivation to write lately. Function of having had to do lots of it at work, the place where I normally write being down for several days,
Went up to meet my mom’s new dog, had late lunch/early dinner. Now some motivation recharge. Maybe.
People are crying over the beggin’ station cutting shows that nobody wants to watch. They’d put on something like Jersey Shore, but it’d probably be about Mennonites or Quakers peddling antiques from a quaint roadside stand in some Northern hellhole. Waiting on that Ken Burns special detailing the history of Scrapple.
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And today really is Tuesday
There’s an interesting meme going around with Rebecca Black, complete with hipster glasses, saying “I liked Friday when it was still Thursday.”
I wanted to write a lot this evening; better than doing a load of laundry, but neither is happening.
Instead, watching true crime shit on the DVR and drinking Belgian beer.
(*taptaptap* Is anyone at all reading this?)
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Feels like Tuesday
Going nuts trying to get little projects finished here, there, everywhere. What’s suffered? My writing. That said, I feel more productive lately than I’ve been in a long time, in spite of being quite lazy this past weekend.
http://ms.about.com/od/livingwellwithms/a/suffering_ms.htm
I’m not sure who she is, but she describes things I have trouble articulating pretty well. The odd thing about that description is that I haven’t felt well in so long, it’s difficult to classify exactly how I feel on a given day. Some days are worse than others, certainly, but I think the last time I felt really normal would have been probably 1997. Obviously, I’ve accomplished a lot since then, but…..
Enough with that. As the title says, it feels like Tuesday. I know it’s Wednesday, but the Monday holiday screws things up a bit.
Tracking back to Jesio’s IYRTP column on AltDaily…..
http://www.altdaily.com/blogs/news-blogs/opinion-blogs/if-you-read-the-paper-wed-june-1.html
My comment is at the bottom. I think there’s reckoning going on in the “journalism” racket. It starts with higher education, something they have been blissfully ignorant of for years. Suppression of unpopular ideas on campus is nothing new; it’s only a story when it starts happening to the people who are supposed to be the watchmen get the axe — the same people who’ve been hesitant to do the job they claim to do, all the while obscuring where they get their livelihoods. Think “Green Week” on NBC when GE owned it. So, what’s a consumer to do? Get information from many different sources, accept that every single one is biased, and reach your own conclusions.
I drive people nuts when I say things like that, I know. I’m biased, you’re biased, everyone has preferences and biases. The work I do these requires objectivity — part of what I have to do is try to set aside my preconceived notions, and accept whatever the numbers tell me. It ain’t easy sometimes to set aside those biases, and it’s important to put them out there at the start, but……
A realtor always thinks it’s a good time to buy a new home.
Your barber thinks you need a haircut.
Your dentist thinks you could use a full cleaning.
And so on…..
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Is you feelin’ that?
Or, seeing, rather, because I’m not seeing it all that well.
Went to the neurological eye doctor today. The verdict? Not good, but probably not getting worse, much as the neurologist who initially diagnosed my MS thought.
Because I’m doing so much in the way of analysis lately, I’ll break this down into pretty bullets that look good on a slide
Good:
- My corrective lenses haven’t changed much since my last prescription last December
- I can still drive
- I know what’s wrong with me, so they can attack my body if it decides to attack my optic nerves again
Notsogood:
- 20/60 in the right eye, corected
- 20/200 in the left eye
- No driving at night
Not much more to say about it. What will this affect? Oh, not a ton. I’ll be even more of a homebody after dark. Big deal, right? And I need to get more used to public transportation. So, when’s the Tide start rolling, again, HRT? When does the Amtrak station open near Harbor Park?
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Is you feelin' that?
Or, seeing, rather, because I’m not seeing it all that well.
Went to the neurological eye doctor today. The verdict? Not good, but probably not getting worse, much as the neurologist who initially diagnosed my MS thought.
Because I’m doing so much in the way of analysis lately, I’ll break this down into pretty bullets that look good on a slide
Good:
- My corrective lenses haven’t changed much since my last prescription last December
- I can still drive
- I know what’s wrong with me, so they can attack my body if it decides to attack my optic nerves again
Notsogood:
- 20/60 in the right eye, corected
- 20/200 in the left eye
- No driving at night
Not much more to say about it. What will this affect? Oh, not a ton. I’ll be even more of a homebody after dark. Big deal, right? And I need to get more used to public transportation. So, when’s the Tide start rolling, again, HRT? When does the Amtrak station open near Harbor Park?
I know I’ve been ignoring this, but, well, lots of shit going on.
First, shortly after I wrote that last entry, things really went to shit with work. Company missed payroll again, and one of the three people in my office quit because of it….
The office closed down Thursday.
I’m now working in Richmond until I can find another job. Had considered starting a biz w/ my boss, but….have now come to the conclusion that that’s just not a good idea(tm).
Girl and I are still together, over a year now. It’s odd how we work, but we do work. And I really am in love with her. I think I will probably be making some gemological investments soon, as she’s pronounced that she really does want to be my wife…..
And I say again, what the fuck, over?
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Getting back up to speed…..
I haven’t written anything, really, since September. There’s lots of reasons for that, but I haven’t really felt like writing. For the most part, my life has been living hell, mainly because of work. The only thing that’s kept me from swallowing a shotgun is that I really have met the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. She’s wonderful in ways I can’t begin to describe. So, to catch up, I guess what I’m going to do is compartmentalize my life into three areas, and go into them sequentially — work, love, everything else.
So, let’s start with work…..I’m just going to use initials, instead of real names or pseudonyms. I have trouble keeping up with the latter, anyway. Excuse the stream-of-consciousness, but I can’t really help it.
I mentioned in my entry on 9/22 that the contract I’d been hired for got cancelled. To me, it wasn’t all that big a deal, because I was already working on these research projects we’d gotten contracts for. The guy (RB) who’d originally been hired to manage the research projects took over my slot on the other contract. No big deal, really, except that he, in essence, got promoted ahead of me, even though I’m more qualified, and is making more money than I am, even though I have just two years fewer experience, but I do have a degree, and he doesn’t.
Who it was a big deal to were the three people who were working on that contract, RB, WB, and BG. Because there were a lot of things to wrap up with the project, they had work until about the end of October. I, meanwhile, was up to my ears in work with the research projects, as well as writing proposals for new projects. In the span of six months, I wrote probably close to 300 pages of technical papers.
I guess that’s probably a good enough excuse for not writing here….
Anyway, things around the office at that time were pretty darn miserable. My boss, thankfully, was out on travel quite a bit, but, the company missed payroll repeatedly, and basic needs weren’t being met. I wrote about my trip to Phoenix back in September — I filed an expense claim for that trip, as well as another short trip, two days after I got back. I’d filed another claim a couple of weeks before I left, most of which was around $300 in priniting costs incurred on behalf of the company president, preparing presentations for a briefing they were going to do. All told, the company owed me close to $800.
After a month of not getting reimbursed, I started getting really pissy about it. I talked to RB about it several times, as well as the office assistant, MK. I kind of snapped at my boss one afternoon, and he called in RB to ask wtf was going on with me….why my attitude was so bad. RB told him about my expense checks….that I’d been working 60 hours a week, and struggling to make my bills, because the company hadn’t paid me. From that point on, my boss has been totally different to me. I really haven’t had a problem with him. Maybe he felt guilty about pukin’ in my car, but I don’t think that’s it, really. I’ve bailed the guy out on a lot of stuff, and I think he finally realizes that. Maybe I’m not the sunniest person around, but I do get the job done, and done well.
In October, too, I interviewed for two jobs. One I could have had, if I’d wanted to take it. The other I bombed the interview. The one I could have had, I ended up not taking for two reasons… One, it would have ended up being about a $10k paycut after I calculated in the costs of my benefits. The salary wasn’t too much different, really, only about $5k less, but they didn’t pay for a lot of things that are included in my current job. The other reason I didn’t take it is because I thought I wouldn’t like the work, and didn’t feel like I could commit to staying in the position for the long-term. One of my friends is part-owner of the company, so I just told him the truth about it. He actually had offered me a job, previously, but the radio station beat the offer. I really regret now, not taking the job. I stayed, partially, also, because I’d been promised a considerable end-of-year bonus from my current job. What I’d been told was that the previous year’s bonuses averaged $10k. I figured, hell, I can stay around through the end of the year, and get the bonus. It can’t be that bad….
But, actually, it is. MK quit the week before Thanksgiving, which really cramped what I was doing with the research papers. While she didn’t contribute a whole lot in the way of content, she was excellent at making sure that my writing explained the concepts, and was easily understandable. When she left, I was really on my own as far as the writing goes — the other people in the company can barely read, much less write.
One of the last things that she did with me was attend a meeting with a large defense contractor. Let’s just say that they’ve built spacecraft, and tons of aircraft. With us in this meeitng was a guy the company president had found who he was wooing to become “Vice President of Business Development.” After the meeting with Defenseco, this guy and I got into it the first time. He used a bullshit buzzword term when talking about our research projects, and when it came dribbling out of his peniswrinkle mouth, my boss visably cringed. (I say penis wrinkle, because this guy looks like a dick. Seriously.) My boss (who, at the time, was the only corporate VP), was also unimpressed. We recommended to the president that they not hire walkingdick. He got hired, anyway.
Walkingdick has proceeded to make lots of people in the companys’ lives hell, focusing on meaningless symbolism bullshit, while earning lots of money, and not actually winning any business. Oh, yes, but he’s “raised the profile of the company,” and “fostered important relationships.” Fuck all that. When your company is failing to make payroll, none of that shit matters. What matters is getting contracts and bringing in revenue.
And I’m stopping for now……more later….
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Oh, what a crappy two days!
So, Friday was the company “team-building” exercise. This year’s fun? Charter fishing out of Hatteras.
Popped off of work around 1:15 Thursday afternoon, picked up my boss at his house in the Jeep, which I’d spent about an hour cleaning out the day before so it didn’t smell like an ashtray, and head to Rodanthe (where the beach house was).
On the way, my boss asked me to stop by an ABC store to pick up a bottle of rum for Hurricanes. I figured there’d be about fifteen people there, so a 1.75L bottle wouldn’t be too much (and might not even be enough).
Got down with relative ease, and others started showing up.
Then the drinking began.
Big bottle of Jack. Big bottle of Virginia Gentleman. Hurricanes. Bacardi Limon. Jameson’s.
I had a few shots to act like I was playing along, and nursed some Jameson’s on ice for effect.
My boss, on the other hand, got completely shitfaced. I did make a deal with him, though. Since the other four people in my office don’t do shit, and I do their work, he should fire them and give me their salaries. He okay’d it. 🙂
Anyway, we had to get up early on Friday, so people started retiring early, like 9:30. I finally rolled into the room I was sharing with bossman around 10:15, after I got off the phone with the girl. 🙂 I sent her one last text message, wandered out to the pool room outside the door, bitched at people to keep it down, and finally laid down. After five minutes of trying fitfully to sleep, I hear my boss rustling. Then I hear a gag……and power puke.
EEEEW.
I just kind of rolled out of bed, out of the room, and shut the door behind me.
Talked to the guys playing pool until they quit, then tried to sleep on a love seat in that room. Grabbed maybe 45 minutes of sleep, until someone came through to use the bathroom and woke me up. My legs were starting to cramp up, too, and now the odor was starting to waft out from the bedroom…..
I retreated to the Jeep, and slept there for about a grand total of an hour and fifteen minutes. At least it was quiet, and didn’t smell like vomit.
Departure time for Hatteras was 0430. And, of course, boss was riding with me, again. Before we got out of the driveway, I had to pull over for him to power puke again. Managed to spray the inside of the door, too! Thanks, boss!
Luckily, he didn’t puke any more on the way down to the boat.
Got on the boat, and as soon as we got out of the inlet, things started getting rough. Boss starts scarfing down a bunch of fruit he’d bought. Yeah, good idea. Less than an hour out, he’s hanging over the side…..which he did several times throughout the day.
I got seasick, too, but didn’t alternate my time between sleeping in the cabin, and hanging over the side like he did. I only barfed twice, as opposed to like eight times.
Caught some fish, brought home lots of meat. Got to fight with a white marlin for awhile.
Dropped boss off, hosed off the door better, and headed home. Lit a cigarette to mask the pukey smell in the Jeep. Home, shower, fish to freezer, then over to girl’s to help her with whatever emotional crisis she’d gotten into at work (she forgot to tell someone that somebody had called, and got bitched out, etc. etc.). Finally got some solid food again, as she wanted Wendy’s. Choked down some chicken nuggets and was okay.
Yeah, that all pretty much sucked. I need a fucking raise.
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Election Notes
Alright, I suppose I need to write about what happened Tuesday….
To preface this, I did vote for Bush, but anyone who’s been reading for a few months would have figured that out by now. To me, both parties are too committed to big government — doing things for people that they should be responsible for themselves. On this count I will castigate President Bush. I think the Medicare drug benefit was a step in the wrong direction. No, it’s not as bad as a full-blown socialized health care system, but it’s a step in the wrong direction, nonetheless. When it gets to the point where the main goal of voters is to take money from other people to pay for services to benefit themselves, this Republic will collapse. If you need health care, pay for it. If you want to minimize your financial risk, buy into a group plan. Any legislation regarding health care reform should be aimed solely at making it easier for the private health care industry to function profitably.
Sorry, that was a bit of a tangent….
– Since sometime this summer, I’d thought Bush would win the popular vote. I was very concerned, however, that he’d lose the electoral vote. As it turned out, that was very close. I’d told people that Bush needed to have 296 electoral votes wrapped up to avoid legal challenges. I was *almost* right. I do credit Senator Kerry for doing the right thing, and stepping aside when it’s virtually impossible for him to win. I think, that he lost the popular vote by such a margin plays into that. The Democrats were very vocal that Bush didn’t have a “mandate” in 2000, because he lost by 500k votes. Kerry lost by seven times that.
– On Kerry himself…… The Democrats need to take a hard look at why they weren’t able to win, despite Bush’s widespread unpopularity. The answer, hard as it might be to swallow, is that they were too angry and spiteful. They could have won if it weren’t for the venom. I think they realized that, partially, during the primaries, which is why Howard Dean lost. But their choice of Kerry is very telling. Really and truly, there were only five candidates worth considering (Sharpton, Moseley-Braun, and Kuchinich are fruit-loops who can never be elected nationally….Graham is too old.). I’ll run them down individually, in order from worst chance of winning to best.
John Edwards: He’s so purdy. Unforunately, his class-warfare venom is reminiscent of Huey Long. His asshole lawyer side can come out from time to time. He showed that during the Democrat debates. He showed that during his debate with Cheney. And he certainly showed that election night with his curt statement.
Wes Clark: Military pedigree that makes him intriguing, and probably was the one backed most by the Clintons. Clark, however, had zero political experience, and it showed when he was campaigning. Not the most dynamic speaker in the world. He spoke very highly of Bush before he decided he wanted to run for president. Got into the race very late. And then there’s that little problem with his military record, where the Secretary of Defense relieved him from command, and forced him to retire early. Oops.
Dick Gephardt: National recognition from his years as majority whip and minority leader. Would turn out the union votes. Strong midwest support. Boring as hell, and quite possibly made out of plastic.
Joe Lieberman: By far, the best-qualified candidate in the field. But he sounds like Droopy-Dog when he speaks. And the biggest problem with him is something the Democrats need to address and fix within the party. Lieberman could never head the Democratic ticket because of his religion. I think the Republicans probably have the same problem with minorities. But the virulent anti-semitism that exists within the liberal elite ranks, as well as in minority communities needs to be addressed. Being anti-Catholic was acceptable in the late 19th century, and it took until 1960 for one to get elected.
So, that brings us to Kerry. Long political career? Check. Liberal pedigree? Check. War Hero? Check. He’s our guy!
But they didn’t vet him very well. As the President pretty well pointed out, Kerry has been a model of inconsistency during his stay in the Senate. His views are “nuanced,” his supporters argue. But that’s bullshit, and they know it. How is support of capital punishment only in cases of terrorism nuanced? In the debate on capital punishment, you either think that the government should have the ability to deprive someone of life (whether you think the government shouldn’t have the power to fight off tyranny, or whether it’s religiously-based…there aren’t a lot of in betweens) or not. So many of his “nuanced” views turned out to be like this….working both sides of the issue, so he can never get pinned down.
Then there’s the war thing. I think the questioning of his actual actions in Vietnam were inappropriate for the most part. That said, he provoked those people by making a scene of it at the convention. His post-war activities, however, are fair game. I’m still curious as to whether he received a dishonorable discharge initially. Animosity over Vietnam remains high, and his testimony before Congress didn’t win him many friends among his fellow veterans. In other words, they should have expected this. It wasn’t off-limits to begin with, and they ratcheted up the scrutiny by having the Vietnam love-fest in Boston.
Then there’s his record in the Senate. Some of his past positions are just indefensible. The Republicans really hammered his opposition to Desert Storm. He’s supposed to have credibility when it comes to fighting terrorism and despotism when his record shows he won’t stand against it, even when the rest of the world is? The rest of his wrong positions were just icing on the cake. For any position he took, people were able to find an instance where he was on the other side. This is a problem for any candidate who has a long record in the Senate. I think it’s part of the reason why governors have an easier time winning the White House. Thinking back on it, I guess JFK was the last senator to win the presidency?
So, you have a candidate with a spotty past, chosen in desperation. Is there any wonder why he lost? Without Iraq, and the discord surrounding it, Kerry probably would have been lucky to win five states.
Now, special venom to a few different people/groups….
Moveon.org. Weren’t y’all formed to get people to move on from the impeachment controversy with Clinton? You’ve outlived your usefulness, and you aren’t helping people get over things, rather you’re just incendiary. Putting up *multiple* commercials comparing Bush to Hitler is just insane. And remember, any time you pull the Hitler card, you’ve lost the debate. So, Moveon.org, I implore you to Goaway.org.
Various Celebs who tried to affect this election with star-power. Shut up and sing. Just because you have a platform, doesn’t mean you have anything insightful to say. I am willing to give you one pass on this. Second time, I’m withdrawing my support. Keep this in mind, y’all. If you do it again, mark my words, you will not get another dime of my money.
John McCain, Russ Feingold, George Bush, and the US Supreme Court. I fault all of you for the situation with the 527 groups. The only answer to campaign finance reform is unlimited private contributions, with full disclosure. Any group who wishes to buy ads may do so, but they have to disclose all of their funding. McCain-Feingold needs to be repealed as soon as possible.
George Soros. I don’t know much about you, but all of it seems shady. I hope you feel good about blowing that much money on a failed cause. Is that legitimately earned money? Or did you make it on an insider tip? (For those of you who are unaware, Soros pled guilty to insider trading in Europe) If you truly are a man without a country, I hope you’ll go bother someone else’s.
Michael Moore. God, if I knew where to begin. There are a few things to remember about you. First and foremost, you fundamentally hate America. I don’t know what kind of country you’re seeking, but it doesn’t resemble an America envisioned by either major political party. You have a wonderful mastery of the art of lying by omission. You did it with Bowling for Columbine, but Hollywood rewarded that with an Oscar. You also did it with F9/11, before it was even released. You played the victim card when Disney wouldn’t distribute the movie….except you failed to mention the part about Disney having told you this beforehand. You misconstrued the 2000 Florida election controversy. Gore did not win under every recount circumstance — that’s just a lie. If there is a hell, a special place is reserved for you.
Soon, I will write about what Bush should now do. He has an historic opportunity to really make changes that’ll pay off in the future. He squandered that opportunity after his first election, instead focusing on things where the federal government has no business.
To all my liberal friends, I give you until midnight Sunday night. Bitch, whine, moan, scream, whatever until that time. You’re entitled until that point. I’ll put up with it. After then, imma ride your asses. 🙂