Archive for July, 2004


State of the Union

7/17/2004

Every now and then I will come across something on the internet that makes me sit back and say “Whoa”. I found something concerning a strike that happened at SBC (phone company). Whether the strike is still going on I don’t know.

I am not going to state my personal opinion concerning unions and strikes. All I can say is that I have friends that are very pro-union and also have friends that are very anti-union. Both sides are very adamant about their positions.

Anyway, the following excerpt comes from here. Read and learn.

From: (deleted)
Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 11:50 AM
To: (deleted)
Subject: Work Stoppage picketers

Please share the following information with your managers. Any questions…give me a call.

* Car pooling is strongly suggested. This reduces the number of vehicles passing through the picket lines and provides better security for passengers. Approach picket lines so that you turn right into the driveway. This will reduce your chances for an accident and help with traffic control. You must yield the right of way to pickets. Anticipate that they will attempt to delay your access. While approaching the picket line, and while driving through the driveway, look for foreign objects on the ground that could damage your tires, i.e. nails, thumb tacks broken glass etc.

* Have passengers in your vehicle watch the pickets while you’re crossing the picket line. Drivers need to focus their attention on the pickets in front of, and in the immediate vicinity of their path. The front seat passenger can watch the right side of the vehicle. The left rear passenger can watch the left side of the vehicle, and the right rear passenger can watch the back of the vehicle. Be observant for pickets throwing items at your vehicle. Look for employees who may be standing close to the vehicle with sharp objects that might be scraped along the side of the vehicle passing through a bunched picket group.Look for pickets that might try to throw something under your tires.

* Look for employees who rapidly approach a vehicle to simulate being struck. Watch for pickets who are falling or lying in front of your vehicle. This is often combined with feigned injuries from an alleged accident. If a picketer claims that you struck them with your vehicle please make sure that you or the Building Site Coordinator takes the following steps. Ask the picketer if he/she is injured. Make a note of their physical condition. Offer to call for medical assistance. Call the police and have them respond to a report of a person struck. Do this even if the picketer doesn’t want the police called. This is for your own protection. Don’t forget you are personally liable for any injury or claimed injury to pickets. Most likely the police department will send medical assistance. Make sure that the Building Site Coordinator contacts Asset Protection and he/she should begin to gather the facts and taking statements from witnesses. Do not become involved in a verbal exchange with other pickets or make any statements to anyone other than the police department, Asset Protection or the Building Site Coordinator. Make sure photographs are taken of your vehicle to document or dispute damages. Call your insurance company.

* Avoid verbal confrontations with pickets. A certain amount of verbal hostility from pickets is expected and in most cases not unlawful.

* Pickets may photograph or videotape you. That is not unlawful. However, you are not allowed to photograph or videotape pickets. Taking photographs or videotaping pickets could be viewed as intimidating or coercing the Union’s right to engage in protected work stoppage activity and is prohibited.

* Do not provide escort service through the picket line.

* Be calm, professional, and in control at all times.

* Report any verbal, physical threats or assault or damage to company or personal property immediately to the Building Site Coordinator.

* Do not debate the merits of the strike.

* Do not argue, bicker, or use profanity.

* Do not physically touch anyone or engage in any fights.

* Do not threaten anyone.

* Do not attempt to arrest anyone or take the law into your own hands.

Like I said: Whoa.

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From the skies

7/18/2004

Ariel photography is just plain cool. There is just something about it that puts your whole life into perspective. No matter how big a problem or issue in your life is, looking at one of these will just make you go “darn.. everything is so little.” So, no matter what it is in your life that you may consider a “big deal” right now - just take a look at one of these photos. It makes everything seem a whole lot smaller.

By the way, you can look up your address here: http://www.terraserver-usa.com/address.aspx. If your house was built previous to 1991, it will be in there. :-)

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Do you lead or clean up?

7/18/2004

“…Like I’ve said before, in 20 years all that will be left in corporate America are CEOs and janitors.”

The above states what is probably one of my all time favorite quotes, from one of my all time favorite web sites. It is amusing but at the same time holds a very loud ring of truth to it.

If you’re a regular reader of the site I linked above, you will fast realize that most major companies outsource almost everything concerning corporate functions. Why? One reason: Cost effectiveness.

The average pencil pusher makes around 30 to 50k annually in the USA just about anywhere you go. Pencil pusher jobs are things like Finance, Billing, Information Technologies (that’s what I do) and so on. Before 1990 (roughly speaking) it was typical for most major companies to have large departments for the aforementioned. These days there is no reason to have that anymore. Departments that were once 100 people strong can now be handle the same tasks with a team of 10. Eventually, those tasks will be able to be handled by a team of 2.

Is this good or bad? Most people would say it’s bad, and they would be right, BUT.. at the end of the day, it all depends on one thing: How do the investors feel today? If they feel good, the company makes more money. If they don’t feel good (and bail), the company loses money, and therefore has to cut costs to stay alive.

I myself have dealt with corporate downsizing more than once. The first time it happened to me I was pissed off more than you could imagine, but over time, you deal with it. You have to, because as a cube-dweller you have no voice.

The quote at the top of this entry just reminds me that being a corporate idiot gets you nowhere in life. And yeah, corporate people are idiots. Someday soon I shan’t have to deal with the idiots any longer, and that will be a very happy day. (grin)

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Back to the basics

7/21/2004

Well, as certain people will now know, I went back to the way my old blog was on the old site. I was able to transfer everything over here to the new site. I tried using a new blog but I just didn’t like it, so this one will stay (yeeeee). :)

You will see references to my old site here and there, but that’s going to be my “pro” site as soon as I get it designed and done. Everything personal will remain here.

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Bouncin’ ’round (heh)

7/21/2004

After bouncing my blog around a few different domains, it has now found a permanent home. I needed to find somewhere that none of my friends knew about so I could write freely without being “checked up on” by people I know (some of who I don’t want visiting my site at all!!)

Yeah, I know.. Eventually a friend of mine (or two) will find this site, but at least it will take them a while.

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Stripping down

7/25/2004

This has probably been the boldest move I have ever done, but.. I’ve decided to make this web site almost 100% text based. I have come to a point where I am absolutely sick of web design, and almost darn near hate it at this point. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s arguing with my own site. Screw that. I buckled down, downloaded all the original templates for the software that powers this site, then stripped those down after that. The result is what you see now, and I like it. This thing loads so fast now it amazes me. I bet it would even load quick on those poor souls out there who still connect using dial-up (hehe).

I’ve come to the realization that blogs are not supposed to be graphically based. They should not be full of ads or banners or other stuff. They should contain the one thing people come to your site for in the first place: the blog itself. (duh??!?!)

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Internet Exploder is junk!

7/26/2004

Let me say first that I am very diligent about eliminating spyware from my computer. I run Ad-Aware, Bazooka Spyware Scanner and a few other programs to get rid of any instance of spyware programs that may pop in my computer from time to time.

Recently, my Internet Exploder started having random pop-up windows with advertisements appear. Ran Ad-Aware, updated it and it found nothing. Ran Bazooka Spyware Scanner, updated, and it found nothing. Ran a few other programs, nothing was found - yet the popups still appeared. Seems to only happen when the browser is running.

This pissed me off something fierce because I try so hard to not have any spyware at all, and now I have pop-ups happening but I don’t know where they’re coming from. ARARHARHGHGHGHGHHH…

So I said “to hell with IE, I’m using FireFox instead!” Been running it for a few days now. Guess what, no popups. As a matter of fact, I’ve had absolutely no problems with annoying ads at all, this browser is a beautiful thing. (grin)

I have this browser installed on both my computers and it’s staying. I removed the icon for IE from my taskbar and will only use it if a particular site has to have IE in order to view properly (fortunately there aren’t too many of those).

Long live FireFox, I hope it stays around for a long long time.

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Yeah, that’s annoying

7/27/2004

There are some things that when they occur instantly rub me the wrong way. On the way in to work, I came off the highway and stopped at a stop light. The moonroof was open so I could hear what was going on around me. A turtle* pulled up behind me, blasting the song “Feel like a woman” by Shania Twain - which is one of the most god-awful songs of all time. My instant opinion of her: She wouldn’t know a good song if it came up and took a shit in a litter box. Of course, she was bopping her head back and forth, and also started TAILGATING me after the light turned green. I swear to God, one of these days I’m going to buy me a 1978 Ford F-150 and weld 6″ drainage pipe to the rear for my bumpers. Next time sometime tailgates and plays a stupid song, they can kiss solid steel after I slam the brake, I watch their airbags deploy and then I scoot on my merry way - with nothing but a small scratch on my “bumper” while their front end is totaled. (grin) Sounds sadistic I know - but that’s how much crap like that pisses me off.

*Turtle: Skinny female idiot driver between ages of 17 and 25, always wears “turtle” style sunglasses and drives a crappy 4-cylinder car (such as a Toyota Corolla). Loves to tailgate. Can be seen in most town intersections across the USA.

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Got the blues

7/29/2004

This Friday I’m supposed to go out with a friend to a see a blues band, and I’m really looking forward to it - but I’m trying not to get too excited about it. This is because every time one of my friends wants me to go out anywhere to do anything, something always comes up and I have to stay home, again. It’s never me that has the excuse not to go out. It’s always the person who invited me to go out that has to cancel or suddenly change plans.

The last time this happened was about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Spiderman 2 was playing in the theaters, and a friend said “Hey, we should go, can you make it Friday at 9pm?” “Sure” I said. And sure enough, Friday comes around, and my friend calls me at 6pm and left a voice mail saying “Oh, hey, change of plans, the show is at 7pm instead of 9pm, call me when you get this”. Bear in mind that after I leave work I get home at 7pm, and when I got the call at 6pm I was still at work so I couldn’t call back. So I couldn’t make it. Then the guy has the gall to tell me how great the movie was afterwards. Yeah, thanks for telling me the great movie I missed because you decided to change plans at the last minute.

The last time this happened (previous to the movie fiasco above) was when some dopey broad (who I will mention in my next entry) tried to set me up with her sister. She chatted me up saying how great she was, and then suddenly decided for me not to meet her and gave a very lame excuse why. But I’ll write about that later.

Situations like the 2 mentioned above happen to me all the time. I swear to God I must have some sort of curse where people love to ditch me for some reason. So you can probably understand why I don’t get too excited when anyone schedules anything with me. It’s not that I’m being pessimistic. Me being ditched just seems to be a normal occurrence. Blah.

But on a positive note, I think I will be able to go see that band Friday, because the person who invited me doesn’t ditch.. usually. :-)

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Going IM crazy!

7/30/2004

I recently decided to start using Yahoo Messenger and ICQ again in addition to using AIM. Right now I’m running all 3 programs separately but will probably download Trillian and manage them all that way instead. I was using that before a long time ago but stopped for some reason. I will probably go back to using it again, because it’s just better to have all your IM stuff in one program instead of having them float all over the place. (grin)

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