OMG

I'm going to be on this call FOREVER.

Meanwhile, another example of the evils of Microsoft.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/26/microsoft.ad.gaffe/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

I so should not...

*headdesk**headdesk**headdesk**headdesk**headdesk**headdesk**headdesk*

I SO should not be looking at the prices of Video Capture devices and Hard Drives. 69 for a decent vc device, 80 for a 1TB hard drive... *sigh* I'm NEVER gonna get to archive my old videos, and they'll sit there until they're completely demagnetized. =/

I pose a question: If I were a Villian...

If I were a villain, what kind of a villain would I be?

The concept is so foreign to me, I'm trying to wrap my brain around it. Sith lord? Man who kidnaps fair maidens and locks them in a tower?

Whenever I play games like Fable, or Might and Magic, or Knights of the Old Republic... the games that let you choose a good or evil path, I almost ALWAYS play the good-guy first, then have to go back and play as an evil character just to see how it would have turned out. I don't know HOW to be evil. Okay, I DO, and I've done some pretty rat-bastard things, but I've grown and learnt since then. I put away the last of my deviancies when I got engaged, and I really think I life of crime would just be an unattractive lifestyle for me... I can't imagine hiding who I really am and what I'm really all about... What would you all say? Corporate shark? Serial scalper? ...Supreme burglar? Radio talk show host?

Wait, check that, It just came to me. Cyber-terrorist.

well, twitter's blocked at work now...

Well, Twitter's now blocked here at the office, and silly things I used to be able to tweet are now for naught. But I couldn't let all you star wars fans go without, so I'm creating a blog just for this link. Enjoy.

http://io9.com/5323912/what-if-greedo-really-shot-first

Workplace turned upside down

I'm LIVID. No, seriously livid. Everything I knew about the company I worked for has totally been turned upside down.

There have always been 2 constants at 2wire. Through mass layoffs of Agents or team leads or Loosing a night manager, After loosing our ENTIRE level 3 department, there have continued been these 2 constants. Frustrated customers, and Robin McCull.

This guy used to ran the training classes before he became a supervisor. He's got more knowledge about the way things work at the company in his pinky, his LEFT pinky, than all of management. The guy everyone went to if they had a question that no one could answer.

You've gotta be Sh*tting me. "Performance issues"???!!! What a f***ing way to say "we don't want to keep paying you what you're making", especially when the important numbers are through the roof!

No I'm Pissed. This is the supervisor that fought Blood, tooth, and Nail for me to get promoted after a year and a half on the job. Whose team I almost didn't leave to join Southeast. I likely wouldn't WORK in IT today if it wasn't for this guy. And my company let this man GO?

Maybe I'm taking this personally. So what. God knows lately I've been frustrated with some of the "brighter" decisions forced on us by our clients recently. WE ARE NOT OUR CLIENTS. But we're starting to act like it.

Rob, I've never known anyone to fight like you for the people who've worked for you. Don't let this take the wind out from under you, Don't stop fighting for yourself. You're too damned good a man to let this affect you like most of us might. You keep fighting Damnit, and get the job you deserve. You DO deserve that much.

Berating the troops

There's a practice in modern day business that has been borrowed from the military, a very ineffective practice often used by inexperienced leaders and supervisors. Berating the troops.

Explaining to your most senior troops all the ills they are performing, and rather than offering to help them achieve higher standards, telling them you don't believe their level of surprise or concern over their current level of achievement, is a telltale sign of someone trying to achieve a leadership role with absolutely no idea of how to go about it. This is especially common with Sergeants given a new command; those that have not had much interaction with their troops.

Rather than trying to get to know their troops, they decide that barrier needs to come up. That's fine. A level of division is not necessarily an unhealthy thing. Still, many senior troops watch as sergeant after sergeant flies by, making the same mistakes. Many a Private-First-Class goes through a slew of sergeants before themselves being made a corporal under a new command.

Any Lieutenant will tell you in these situations, the sergeant, oblivious to the situation, is under as much scrutiny and under as watchful an eye as the privates... more so, in fact. What most fail to realize is they will not accomplish the goals to improve themselves if they are adverse to the differences in personality of their troops.

Some of us in this world outlast many sergeants. And if we are content in our position, we will be joyous in times of plenty, and patient in times of tests. Hopefully, both Private-first-class and Sergeant come out improved. If not... well, Fortunately, the military isn't the only path to self-improvement.

Ode to ER

Release me from the shackles of my weeklong prison

Wing my flight into the celestial realms of relaxation and comfort

Ebb the tide of my strain and discomfort

Wash away the weariness and turmoil

Make hasten the refreshing spring of reunion with my beloved

let soar the joyous song of exhiliration and praise

Nestle me in the bosom of comfort,

And if thou canst not, at least let me ride the winds of change.

Change from a struggle day in, and day out

Until at last, the pattern has come full circle,

and I must needs return to the toil of my labours

But until then, O sweet release, come early,

And send me home from this weeklong commission

For of a certainty, it is friday,

And the longing for home is upon me




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ER is the Early release system at work that allows us to leave work early. Apparently, my ER button's broke, because there are no calls coming in, and I haven't received my e-mail yet. =p