Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Fit and The Shan

Yesterday, the fit hit the proverbial shan at work (though I suppose the fit is also proverbial). I'd overslept for no good reason, finally arriving at work around 11:15am only to rediscover that the fax/item I should have responded to last week (or the week before that or the week before the week before that) finally made its way to the ears of my boss.

So not good.

Yeah, in a lot of trouble. Way behind on many, many things. Very ugly.

Good parts: I'm still here. I finally went through my office and now know what I have to get done. I did some things yesterday. I'm doing more today. Things may be improving. No one actually yelled at me very much.

It always fascinates me how, even when you turn the corner (assuming I have indeed turned a proverbial corner), things have to get worse before they get better. There is no magic shortcut to go from bad to good. It's always a progression that undoubtedly dips into "worse" before turning upwards towards "better." I wonder why that is.

Monday, September 15, 2008

When is a movie poster not a movie poster?

When the MPAA says so. Kevin Smith's response is dead on, though.

Political Thoughts

Though I have strong feelings on politics and politicians, I'm not particularly well-informed so my passing interest isn't sustained and my dabblings don't extend to any great depth. Even so, I enjoy reading the occasional article or blog post.

Lately, the big discussion topic, of course, is McCain's selection of Palin as his VP running mate. I routinely feel as though many of the discussions miss the mark, however, since they're often focused on the superficial aspects and rarely delve into policy. Yes, she's a woman, and yes, she may have the odd position askew from the Republican base, but by and large Palin's positions and policies are in line with the conservative base. Regardless of her appeal, she's so conservative that I find it impossible to like her.

What always surprises me is how the "liberal media," a descriptor intended to cover every American news program not directly sponsored by an avowed Republican, and some that are, routinely fails to report and/or emphasize the pro-Democrat / anti-Republican stories. I might be tempted to use phrases like "fair and balanced" except it really isn't. By my internet perusal, I read ten times more interesting, fact-based stories (i.e., ones that actually can be supported by, oh I don't know, evidence) than ever appear on the news.

For example, the recent disclosure concerning military ops in Pakistan and US troops on the border being given permission to fire into Pakistan without provocation? That was reported about 21 min. into the NYC evening news with Katie Couric. The story lasted about 1 min. or so. With coverage like that, it's hard to believe we're privy to any news at all, let alone significant news such as, oh, our "recent" military involvement in Pakistan.

Admittedly I am a liberal and I'm annoyed when stories that interest me aren't reported or given much exposure, but you would think that I'd be less annoyed because it's a liberal media that is so clearly pro-Democrat. Or that's what I've been told.

Maybe I'm just becoming more cynical these days, I don't know. I actually expect the news media to give us news, preferably based on evidence and facts. Given that our country hasn't operated based on evidence and facts for the past 7.5 years, maybe my expectations are far-fetched. Probably just the scientist in me who wants to see a more scientific approach. Probably means I'm un-American or some such. Or that I'd like to see more accountability for those in charge who routinely and knowingly operated contrary to or in purposeful ignorance of facts and evidence. Could also just be my cynicism. Who knows?

While I have hopes for the election this November, I'm not very hopeful that the world will change and all will be right (not that it ever was, of course). I'm hoping for improvement, namely some forward movement that is more progressive than we've seen in a long time. Maybe some positive foreign relations and an improvement in the general attitude and view of America. Maybe a more inward-looking position that seeks to address our internal problems before attempting to impose our collective national will on others. Maybe I'm out of my gourd.

I'm pulling for Obama and hoping that America remembers some of the things that have happened in the past 8 years. You know what they say – those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I don't think we can afford to repeat this history. I'm not sure we'll still be here afterwards if we do.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Where It's At

It's been a while. I don't see the infrequency of the posts improving in the near future. Work is shite, which means things aren't going well and, thus, I'm not doing well. Addicted to World of Warcraft once again. Still playing board games. Living in denial and ignorance whenever possible.

I wish I could tie the frequency of posts to a positive or negative trend in my life, but there really isn't much correlation. When I'm good, I may post about the good. When I'm bad, I may post complaints and rants. The absence of posts isn't a good indicator one way or the other.

One reason posting is light is that I cannot and/or will not write about some things. As it happens, these unmentionables are the most salient and influential aspects of my life these days. Unless my stance were to change, which I don't see happening any time soon, these unmentionables shall remain unmentioned and you, random reader, shall be left in the dark.

Suffice it to say I'm relatively unhappy, I seek escape whenever possible and I'm screwing up as much as ever. In other words, not good. I keep waiting for that magical switch to flip and for things to magically get better except it's just not happening. We shall see what happens. One of the worst parts is that even if things were to improve, there would be a sharp period of badness early on. No way around that, though. Ah well.