Panic! At the Disco

Wow. What you're seeing is your government standing up for you even if it's the wrong thing to do, and then dropping the ball and leaving things in a mess. They've heard the voices of their people and they are responding. And boy oh boy are their people pissed. They are emotional and irrational, and willing to crush the entire system in order to set the system right. And after saying no, they're going on election recess.

People would much rather see their investments tank than bail out billionaires for their bad decision making. Initially people would have not paid any mind to the poor getting thrown out of their homes for taking a sketchy mortgage. Now it's trickled up to the middle class, and the middle class is getting hosed. Mostly people are looking at what they've done, said "I'm doing nothing wrong, why do I have to help people who are failing? Why do I have to take that risk? I didn't risk before, why am I being forced to risk now?"

There is a significant psychological component to this, this is true, and most people get it. But they aren't moving forward until, metaphorically speaking, heads are on pike staffs outside of the Capitol Dome. And if the system falls apart because Congress goes on recess, their heads should be right next to them.

More importantly, the references to Chicken Little or the Boy who cried "wolf" may not be 100% accurate but people are tired of eight years of "if we don't do this we're all dead." I'm fortunate. I don't have a mortgage, have significant cash in savings, and can eliminate my debt in a hurry. I also know that many others, well, are not.

A long shot is that the 371 billionaires in the U.S. could come up as heroes and bail out the government by each making a $20 million donation. But they got rich presumably by taking good risks. This isn't a good risk and everyone knows it.

When people are identified for prosecution, maybe then people will endorse the deal. There's a sense of cruel vindication. You lose, you don't get bailed out- you lose your shorts and go broke. That's the deal that the people want to see.

If the financial system can't take that, then the system is dysfunctional and there will be more pain coming.

Who's To Blame for the Banks?

Always, always, ALWAYS beware of partisan politics. They rely on misinformation, half-truths, and blind partisanship to survive.

Yes, the people that caused this mess did so under Republican rule. But the ability for them to do the things that cause what they're calling a financial crisis was initiated and approved by a Democrat.

Pay particular attention to what caused the Acts to be written, and then in turn what caused them to be repealed and ask yourself... why?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass-Steagall_Act

Cue: Drop, Other Shoe

When I handed in my two week notice last Monday, I felt a deepening sense of dread the entire weekend. Dread because I knew the people for whom I work were going to take the decision personally.

Nothing was initially said, but I did not accept that nothing would be said. Their displeasure would be released, I was certain of it. I had nothing more than a hunch and prior experience to base this on.

They realized something was amiss when, after I told them I was leaving, that my primary customer knew as well- because they were one of my references. That generated a look upon realization of "you sneaky bastard."

Yesterday, I was called into the office and "feelings were expressed."

After telling me that had I approached them first, they would have been happy to see me go and would have provided great letters, I nodded. When they finished, I countered with a simple "you didn't make me feel comfortable with that option and the decision I made at the time was solid." When I explained my reasoning, they retreated from their indignance and were conciliatory. "No hard feelings" was said enough times to attempt to mask the hard feelings.

Tick tock. Three more days to go.

Hope vs. Abandon Hope

We were in a store, when I happened to notice what looked like an unpackaged Obama-bobblehead on the floor. It wasn't actually a bobblehead, but a statue with a disproportionately large head. Nothing wrong with that, except the surroundings were strange.

1) It was facing the corner
2) On its left was a giant red plastic devil mask
3) On its right a pile of plastic signs "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here"

Every now and then, the doll would bust out with "Can we do it? Yes we can!" if you got close enough.

This felt... wrong to me. I mean, isn't it a fairly strong metaphor to put Obama in the corner, not facing anyone, even if only an effigy?

I point out to the clerk, and ask "don't you feel weird putting Obama in (and motioned to) the corner, especially with all this evil stuff?"

"No, it annoys the customers. It has no off switch. It doesn't shut up. ... Actually, it kind of reminds me of a 98 lb. version of O.J. Simpson."

I laugh my way out of the store. The sound of Obama's voice annoys the customer, juxtaposing his message of hope with Dante's Inferno. The sound won't ever stop, and after awhile the whole Obama message could be associated with a suspected murderer. But the real punchline?

This was an independant book store in the People's Republic of Berkeley, California. So blue they are indigo, possibly ultraviolet. Or more like red, and not Republican red. Green, and not money green. Too bad pink's not in the rainbow, because they've got that too. The only reason Obama would not get all of the votes in this town is because he's too central, too fascist, not true enough to the people's cause. Not liberal enough, not progressive enough.

I'm glad I saw this before I leave.

Corporate doublespeak, meetings and fatigue

I hate business meetings.
I really, really hate business meetings.
Invariably, these meetings turn out to be a big circle jerk, fingers get vaguely pointed to blame someone for some wrong doing, promises get made to improve the situation, and nothing comes of it. Business meetings are every bit the futile, soul-sucking exercise they're intended to be.
I hate business meetings.
In my not-quite-so-new job, I monitor alarms on government and military two-way radio equipment. The unfortunate part is the hours: I work overnight four nights a week.
So, whenever I have to attend a meeting, I have to attend it at 7 a.m., right as I'm supposed to leave.
I really, really hate business meetings.
Yesterday morning was a great example of the soul-sucking corporate meeting. Everybody from the overnight shift was present, as were a few folks from the day shift. Essentially, the meeting was called because some folks, myself included, screwed up in opening up a few trouble tickets and/or following up on tickets.
Luckily, I still have the FNG (Frakkin' New Guy) label, so I haven't come remotely close to getting canned....yet.
The meeting started with everyone seated around a rather generic-looking conference table in a rather generic-looking conference room, with two supervisors present and another on a conference call with the rest of us. The department head was also on the call.
Right away, the department head said "this was by no means any sort of disciplinary action." Right. That explains everything.
The meeting continued with examples of trouble tickets that various folks had screwed up, either by not following specific customer requests or by inputting a site ID incorrectly. Certain customers have different IDs, for the same site, based on how they want a particular alarm to be addressed. Once that was explained to everybody, this particular problem all but vanished.
Problem is, one of the customers who recently complained had been affected by recent hurricanes. Naturally, this meant more trouble tickets were opened, therefore, more errors happened than usual.
In the meantime, fresh off a 10-hour shift, the overnight folks were starting to nod off.
I really, really hate meetings.
I understand their purpose, really. Everyone's accountable to somebody else, so management has to demonstrate they're doing something to correct a problem, lest someone higher up the ladder decide cuts are needed.
I just don't like sticking around for something when I'm about to fall asleep.
Of course, the meeting disintegrated into a discussion of other problems, real or perceived. My personal favorite problem was about how burdened the overnight shift is because we have to handle monitoring alarms, opening cases and dispatching those cases to the appropriate technician. First and second shift only have to monitor alarms and open cases.
Normally, the overnight shift is pretty slow. There's exceptions when there's bad weather or when there's a major telco outage, but usually, it's pretty slow. In the last week, I read the last two books in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series and started reading a new book....while still doing my job.
Have I mentioned that I hate meetings?
I hate it even more when people ask questions in meetings. Questions only serve to drag the meeting out, keeping me from sleep. I like sleep. I don't like meetings.
Thankfully, the department head had another conference call to make, so the meeting adjourned at 8 a.m.
The catch? We have to meet again in a few weeks to see if there's been any improvement.
I hate business meetings.

Tragedy in City Council, continued

So they've found the accomplices. One was a German national, 9 months pregnant looking to score some drugs, and she was the getaway driver. The other was trying to identify a dealer to have him hit by the shooter. The shooter's name, Henry Don Williams, is out as is his checkered past. They've got the shell casings and the accomplices. Just a matter of time now.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/16/BA2612UCIB.DTL&hw=garcia&sn=001&sc=1000

It's both sad for the death and inspiring to see how the community has rallied around the death of this man.

What was revolting was that there was actually a small segment of the populace that said he deserved it for being in that place at that time. You know, visiting with a girlfriend in a driveway of a suburban residential area. Some even placed the blame on the girl. Never mind that she volunteered everything she could, including things not requested, in order that the police find the lowlifes that did this.

I have nothing other than contained rage, sadness, and empathy for the man's family and friends. I will do what I can so that he lives beyond his time on Earth.

It's Official

I resigned my job today. My last day is September 26.

I accepted a job in Rockville, MD starting October 27.
Updates will follow as they become available.

Tragedy in City Council

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/02/BAEK12MJSP.DTL&tsp=1

This is a local, legal matter here. This one touched me deeply.

Here we had Matt Garcia, 22, councilman for the city of Fairfield. Fairfield is a bigger city, 100,000 people, with Travis Air Force Base. It has cheaper housing and became a commuter city to San Francisco. Just over the hills from Napa. The area is arid, dry, and pleasant. Just outside of the real desert.

How did a 22-year old become a councilman for a city of 100,000? He saw what was going on in the town, didn't like it, organized a campaign to beat a status-quo representative, and with hard work and elbow grease he won. As far as politics go, it's a standard yet inspiring story.

What was going on in town that he didn't like? Gangs and a lack of development. The city was not developing in a positive manner. He saw the gangs taking areas. He didn't see his government standing up to the gangs. He wanted to change it.

The problem wasn't that he wanted that change, but that the gangs didn't. There are many un-PC, taboo things to say here, but one of these is well known- the gangs here aren't always run by citizens of our country. Identifying the gangs and their members is immediately libeled (yes, libeled) as being racist. Even in the glaring face of common sense, it is racist to consider illegal aliens (not a perjorative, a LEGAL TERM) that break the law AS CRIMINALS.

These gangs are more violent, they have cause an upswelling in crime, and our current system tries instead to understand these people as opposed to treating them for who they are- invading guerillas, foreign nationals taking unsanctioned criminal action in a foreign land.

And for Matt's desire of change, he was slain. Shot in the back of the head. The media won't say who shot him, they may not even know. But for someone who desires the reduction and removal of gangs in their town, does it really take a genius to offer a guess?

I am sad for the loss of this young man. Even if I disagreed with his politics, which admittedly I don't know, I nonetheless mourn a man who tried to do the right thing in an inspiring way. I can only hope another like him takes his place.

UPDATE (9/4): The FBI and California state investigative services have thrown their weight into the search and manhunt, and witnesses have reported the identity of the assassin, a latino or light skinned black male, late teens early 20s, 5' 9" or about. The news repeats like a drum that the police are not ruling out assassination as motive, but in typical California style they won't use offensive language (a targeted assault, honest to God, is what I heard).