Intellectual Poison

From a post on MetaFilter, Kristin Larsen has a chronicle of photos from the same places taken before 9/11 and after. Its a pretty moving series.
Tags: nineeleven, 9/11, before and after, tragedy, terrorist

There's a new commercial for a medicine called Zetia that looks like a resident doctor going on rounds with a bunch of med students. And instead they are filthy shills for some fucking pill. Its a surreal ad really because they are all making the motions of the reisdent and student but the words are pure marketing drivel.

As in, one guy says the disclaimer about side effects like he's having a normal conversation with the resident. The tone of the ad is misleading, the message is muddled and the bottom line is that they are sowing confusion while marketing their pill.

It is marketing that attempts to delude viewers into a false reality. That within the construct of the ad, the reality they present is normal and believable. There's just something about the ad that rubs me very wrong. Like they are subverting a tradition for their own shill perhaps.

This ad is intentionally misleading and shouldn't be allowed to air. Its also confusing, misleading and, well, stupid.
Tags: marketing, lies, zetia

The MS iPod (link is to video).

Also, Haloscan's comments are fried up and crisp right now. They'll be back eventually. Sorry. Fixed. Or running again, whatever.
Tags: spoof, Microsoft, Apple, iPod, YouTube

Thank you for publicizing your belief that a woman has no right to choose what happens to her body and trying to make abortion for almost any reason illegal in your shitty state.

Thanks for making my vacation destination selection that much easier by putting South Dakota on the "Heeeeeeell No!" list. Not that having an unapologetic-leadfoot, motorcyclist-killing asshat like Bill Janklow as your Governor and Congressman is any great endorsement to begin with.

Please, moron states, keep announcing your hatred, dumbassity and other defects. Its good to know even if it does make me sad to think how ugly and repressive parts of our nation are trying to be.

By the way, did you know that South Dakota is ranked #1 in removing children from their parents and #52 for governmental accountability? Go figure.

Note, not that there was any damned chance I was going to South Dakota in the first place so they're not really losing anything, just another citizen's respect.

And this will be the first test of Sammy "Strip search that 10 year old" Alito to see if he's a good little GOP justice and will help return the US to the era of the robber barons.
Tags: South Dakota is not my America, abortion, assault, Alito

Stop using Internet Explorer, go get yourself some FireFox. Seriously folks, IE is like hanging out in the pee-filled kiddie pool of the internet. Its slow, lame and vulnerable to exploit. Get FireFox and get with the program.

But it is important to show some restraint in installing all those cool FireFox extensions or you could end up like this.
Tags: Internet Explorer, kiddie pool, FireFox

We went to a soggy birthday party for a four year old yesterday up in the hills above our town. Aside from the dreary rain and the inability to use the bounce-house, it was a great time.

Graydon had a ball chasing the bigger kids and sitting with the littler kids. He gets this happy look and charges along with the crowd even though he has no idea what's going on or where they are going. But he sure is an enthusiastic participant.

The funniest moment for me was when they played some musical chairs and Graydon wanted to play but doesn't know how at all. So, instead, he ran around the opposite way from the kids playing the game hooting and laughing and having a grand old time. To the point that other parents in the room were laughing at him as well. He gets this set smile and then charges and charges and charges. Its pretty amazingly adorable.

That and his habit lately of wearing his porkpie hat around the house is hilarious. Especially when he's only wearing a diaper and the hat.
Tags: birthday party, baby boy, enthusiam

One of the benefits of not being stuck behind my desk all day right now is that I've been able to take in quite a bit of the Olympics this time around.

And while the US stars aren't doing especially well in the games, the games themselves have been quite compelling and entertaining to watch. Last night's Women's Curling Final was excellent and went down to the hammer to steal the End and the win for the Swedes. It was good sport.

Alot of the news in the US seems to have been focused on this "rivalry" between Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick over the Men's Pursuit race that Shani Davis opted to not participate in. Why? Because the race was the day before the biggest race of his entire life, the one thing he'd been training for his whole life. And he didn't want to be distracted from that goal, nor would he want to chance an injury or even overexertion before his race.

And Chad Hedrick was less than enthused with Davis' decision and called him on it publicly. Which is very, very lame. I understand the team mentality that Hedrick's argument is based on but the basic reality is that Davis got himself to the Olympic Games for his own reasons, regardless of the team, he got there for himself first and foremost. The Pursuit race shouldn't have been run early in the speedskating schedule, that was a mistake on the planner's part. But faulting Shani Davis for keeping himself focused on the goal he had been focused on for his entire life is unfair.

And I just read the report on the US Men's Curling team taking the bronze for the first ever Curling medal for the US! Canada looks to be a lock with a seven point lead right now.

Other events that were great fun to watch: the final of the Men's Biathlon Individual 12.5 k Pursuit and witnessing Vincent Defrasne charge through the pack and sprint for the win was sweet. I don't if people realize how hard it is to shoot accurately when your heart is thumping. Biathlon is far more difficult than many people think.

And the snowboarders are just fun to watch anytime. And it helps that they are generally really great, funny and cool individuals when they are interviewed. Fun loving folks with the right attitude about the games, I think.

I can honestly say that I've really enjoyed watching the good sports, the good sportsmanship and the sometimes surprising finishes.

It sure beats thinking about the nightmare that is the American political system. And baseball is just around the corner too!
Tags: Olympics, controversy, speedskating, Shani Davis, Chad Hedrick, curling, Vincent Defrasne, biathlon, snowboarding, baseball, spring training

Two thumbs up for VW's next series of ads, Un-Pimp My Ride.

As a follow up to the "Make friends with your Fast" commercials, VW is on a roll. Excellent stuff.
Tags: VW, commercial, unpimp my ride

And on that note, I'm going to go and take my pup out for a walk.

Today is two weeks from when I quit my job, today would be the last day of my notice, if they'd kept that door open. But I'm kind of glad they didn't as it has been nice to have a break from work for a little bit.

Not much has changed since I left. I've been sick, had a bout of food poisoning, played some cards with friends, recreated my resume so that its about ten times better and watched alot of the Olympics. But I have thoroughly enjoyed not having to get up and go to work every morning. Especially with Graydon getting four eye teeth in at once and being up until all hours of the night crying and moaning.

And I scouted another property yesterday. The location is good, in the sunny part of the canyons, but the terrain is, from reports, too steep to be really feasible for construction. But where one door closes, another opens and I'm scheduling a walk of another plot of land soon. And I'm able to put time in house projects to cross them off the list. There's plenty to do, I just wish I felt better so I could do it.

Oh yeah, my father's second wife wants to get in touch and "catch up". I think I'll take a pass on that action as the woman was less than kind when I knew her as a child.
Tags: update, work, projects

Mark Morford went on vacation to Cabo san Lucas and has come to a not overly shocking conclusion.

Americans are incredibly fat and getting fatter.

Here's an excellent snippet

I know it is related, furthermore, to the ridiculous American idea of excess and entitlement and supersizing, of deep-fried everything, of a savage detachment from our bodies and the ingredients in our foods, a sort of willful ignorance, all coupled with a voracious hunger for something we've lost, a spiritual vacuity, a lack of true nourishment even as we stuff ourselves to death. I know.

Which makes me think about dying of dehydration while floating in the sea. We know more about how our bodies function today than ever before. We know there are good and bad cholesterols, we know that some fats are good for us while others are poison.
Tags: Morford, America the fat

I have now been part of the unemployed for more than a week now and have gained a little broader perspective on the entire ordeal of my last employer. And I've had the opportunity to get together with my ex-coworkers a couple of time for a cocktail or two and some disclosure.

The cocktails were nice but the disclosure and gossip made the hangouts alot of fun. And the company intel I got was all but priceless.

Let me recap for the newcomers. I worked at this company for almost four years and was, by far, the longest term employee there. The company held its biggest event yet earlier this month. That event was coordinated, planned and run by me, nearly on my own but with lots of "management help" from the executives. I did the show, we got excellent reviews across the board, my boss never bothered to thank me and then decided that she did not need to pay me the commissions on the sales I'd made for the event.

And that was the final straw and I quit. I've since learned that what she did isn't very defendable in the eyes of the law (a polite way of saying she's not behaving in a legal manner).

Anyway, because of schedules and conflicts, I got together with various subgroups of my old coworkers twice last week. All but the top three, which is pretty much what I expected given the manner of my departure. It would have been alot less fun if they'd been there anyway.

Among the more interesting (and truthfully, funny) things I learned is that they are seriously considering not replacing me and tossing my job onto the rest of the people's shoulders. Same thing with the other person who was able to finish out her two weeks before leaving. They aren't replacing people when they go. And they can't seem to understand why more and more people are going to go now. They're being given more and more work with less and less benefits and absolutely zero respect from the CEO. Why would anyone put up with that?

They are, apparently, incapable of recognizing burnout or preventing it and perhaps part of their model is to burn out their workers and replace them rather than keep them (I'd imagine it is substantially more expensive to keep training new employees rather than retain old ones).

My unsolicited advice to all of them was to keep looking for other work, keep their options open and jump when something presents itself. One of them asked me if I thought the place would get better and I laughed at her. I explained to her that, over the course of my time, the company made more money but the trickle down kept getting smaller and smaller. Less paid vacation days, less bonus money, less of everything, except work. Always more work. And they never wonder why they have such a tremendous turnover rate, especially for such a tiny shop. Overwork and a contemptuous boss make for a pretty short term employment usually. I still can't understand how I lasted almost four years in such a corrosive situation.

And it feels more and more distant with each day. A good distant really because my emotional charge isn't so packed anymore and I can be alot more calculating in what I do and how I do it. I've got my plan and I'm working it until it doesn't work and then I'll go to the next level.
Tags: work, squeeze, exploitation

It isn't news to anyone who's seen the news in the last several weeks since the publication of that cartoon that has set off a conflagration across the Middle East and the world.

The demonstrations are increasing, the death toll is climbing and moronic posturing politicians are resigning. There are powers that be behind these demonstrations and protests that want this to escalate into an Islam versus Christian smackdown of global proportions. Today, in Indonesia, they attacked the US Embassy because they said they believed the publication of the comic was orchestrated by the infidel USA. Who needs proof when you've got fanaticism?

Its a comic. Get over it. And please stop burning everything and killing people. It is a comic. Not even an especially offensive one. Please stop using its lameness as an excuse to destroy shit. You are behaving like sleep-deprived children.

What we need is someone making an action comic strip about the way overblown reaction to this stupid thing. And, another ironic aspect, is that the more comical the overreaction, the more like the cartoon they are demonstrating against they become.
Tags: comic, protest, demonstration

I've been thinking about the terrible landslide tragedy in the Philippines, what an awful way to die.

And I keep thinking that there is some morbid irony in excavating the dead from a landslide only to rebury them in a mass grave.
Tags: landslide, death, irony

Seasons are starting, pitchers and catchers have reported, arms are getting loose and strengthening up, the game is afoot.

And each year I play at least three or four fantasy baseball teams because its a fun way to stay involved in the game.

So here's my offer to you, want to get a free fantasy baseball league going? Drop me an email (you should remove all of the xxx's) and say yeah and I'll get you invited to a private but free fantasy league. Twelve's the limit so say boy howdy sooner rather than later.
Tags: fantasy, sports, baseball, league

Its been something I've wanted to do for as long as I've known it existed, major league baseball spring training. The concept is fantastic, the interaction with the players is unparalled and, hell, its in Arizona. I've put time in there and know it reasonably well, though it has been a few years since I was there.

But we are scheduled for a short stay in the valley of the sun. After much wrangling of travel sites and comparisons of deals (hint, some of the package deals make their margins on the car rentals) we ended up with a damned fine deal as far as I can tell. How's under $1100 sound for three to fly to Phoenix, have a room for three nights and a car for three days and tickets to two games?

Yeah, I thought it sounded like a pretty decent deal too.

And we'll be able to get some really excellent up-close baseball action which will be a total blast for Graydon and for me as well.
Tags: baseball, spring training, vacation

So, Dick Cheney didn't report the fact that he shot a guy in the face and chest with a shotgun for 18 plus hours because he was concerned about the guy he shot.

Orrrrrrrrr, he needed to make sure the alcohol in his system was gone before the cops got involved.

Last I checked Dick Cheney isn't a doctor and didn't attend to the guy he shot in the face and chest.

Yes, he took the blame and that damned near must have killed him. But the spin continues anyway. I heard them say Whittington, the guy Cheney shot in the face and chest, was 90 yards away when any idiot who's ever used a shotgun knows that the spread pattern that far out is totally different than it is closer in.

As many people in power tend to do, Cheney thinks you and I are absolute morons. And he had to be forced to speak publicly about shooting someone in the face and chest. Think about that. Think about all the other bullshit these jackwads are doing and then just add this cherry on top.

Which is more plausible? That Dick Cheney was sooooo concerned for the guy he shot in the face and chest or that he had more than the single beer he's already copped to and that there was a "significant amount" of alcohol in his system which would go to impaired function and he'd be likely subject to criminal negligence charges. Which would look really bad since he's already lost his chief of staff to scandal. More scandal is pretty well inevitable at this point.

Thanks for re-electing these fucktards, America.
Tags: Dick Cheney shot a man in the face and chest with a shotgun and had to sober up before reporting it to the cops. Plausibility, Deniability, Defendability

Wang Manli of the People's Republic of China is a short track speed skater. With a manly wong, perhaps.

Is it wrong that one of the most fun things about the games are the names?
Tags: Olympics, best name, speed skating

Here are 15 newly released photos from Abu Ghraib that demonstrate the depth of the depravity and torture visited on POW's. Warning, some of the photos are graphic and grotesque and they are apparently not the worst of the lot.

Is it any wonder that Al Qaeda is recruiting more and more furious recruits everyday while our own recruitment numbers are missed month in and month out?

These photos make me very sad to call myself an American. The acts being carried out by American soldiers are war crimes. Its beyond Lynndie England and the powers that be are going to have to burn a much higher value ally to make this stink go away. For the time being. The Sydney Herald (the link above) will release the rest of the 60 photos soon.
Tags: Iraq War, Abu Ghraib, POW, torture, prisoner of war, terrorism

You can put me down as a fan of curling, the sport where they slow launch big smooth rocks down an icy alley to bash into the other guys stones. Or gals' stones.

Its sort of like a winterized version of bocci but they get to look super cool when they do that glide launch.

And it does not hurt that the US women's team is adorably cute. The Japanese team wasn't too shabby either.

Least interesting event: any form of figure skating, the attraction is completely lost on me. I'm not saying they are not athletes, they certainly are but the sport is just boring to me. I bet the subjective scoring system has something to do with that. I like hard numbers, not fuzzy judging.

Event I'd like to try at least once: Luge or bobsled. The rush and tunnel vision has gotta be pretty sweet.
Tags: Olympics, curling, figure skating, luge, bobsled

Being out of work is hard, its hard to keep track of what day of the week it is. Its hard to actually get around to putting on pants. Its hard to remember that this is just a transitory phase from one shitty working situation and moving to, hopefully, a much better and more lucrative and rewarding working sitution.

But I keep thinking today is Wednesday. I wonder if the food poisoning and puking have anything to do with that?

Happy Valentine's Day, now I'm going to go lie back down and read my Motorcyclist magazine an watch bad tv.

Oh yeah, one last thought for the morning. I first heard the term "retrenched" for someone that had gotten fired while living overseas and love it. Its perfectly descriptive as in you have been tossed back into the trenches to battle with the other peons for a position that isn't in the trenches. I wasn't retrenched though, I retrenched myself (and even did it publicly!).
Tags: out of work, what day is it, unemployed

Okay, so everyone's heard about Chickenhawk Dick Cheney on a bird slaughtering trip (its been noted that hunting and what people like Cheney do are not the same thing) and the fact that he shot his hunting companion.

And then they waited 18 plus hours to report the crime. And it was only reported because of a tip from the land where the guy got shot.

So now we have the Vice President demonstrating appallingly poor gun safety and shooting his partner and then waiting almost a full day to report it? Why? So they could try to concoct a story that doesn't make Dick Cheney look like the utter fucktard he is.

There are basic gun safety rules that anyone who touches a firearm should be taught and should know.

But I guess just like the laws of the land don't apply to King George and Queen Dick, I guess regular old gun safety rules and guidelines don't amount to a pile of beans next to him and his big sexy gun. I wonder if Dick was stroking his barrel when it went off? Or did he have such a bloodlust for the little birdies that he didn't recognize that his buddy was in his gunsights and not a little bird?

Either way, more signs to these asshats holding themselves above the law. My question is whether anyone would have heard anything about it if Cheney had killed his hunting partner? The fact will remain that they didn't report the accident for alot longer than usual and, when they did, they blamed the victim. Nice folks, eh?

It sure would be refreshing for one of this asshats to actually admit that they screwed up and did something wrong instead of always, always, always blaming the victim or someone else or laying it on some underling scapegoat. Zero respect for Dick Cheney. But that's nothing new, the guy's a professional asshole.
Tags: Dick Cheney, gun crime, coverup

In many ways I feel like I've just been liberated from a prison in having resigned earlier this week. The oppressive atmosphere had really begun to pervade my consciousness and it felt like being locked into something when I was really not locked in at all.

Or appreciated or fairly compensated.

I've had some time to think and think about what I'd like to do in regards to closing the last chapter of my life with my last company. They owe me $5K on top of whatever pay, vacation, whatever other money they owe me. That money is owed to me in spite of a verbal agreement to the commission structure.

Because of the precedent of the previous conference and commissions for the sales during that event, it will not be hard at all to prove, if I have to, that they owe me the money.

And the longer I thought about it, the more I decided that I want that money. It is mine. I did earn it, it is mine and I'll be damned if I'm going to let my cheapskate boss pocket my money and think nothing of it.

My next step is to give them the opportunity to consider the ramifications of being sued for the money. And all of the bad publicity such an ordeal could bring them. Which isn't the route I'd like to take either. I'd much rather they just cut me a damned check and then we could go our separate ways alot more amicably.

We'll see how that course runs and then decide if the stakes need to be booted up to the next level wherein a lawyer gets retained and official letters get sent. And nobody wants that.
Tags: work, earned, commissions

This is a real spam that I just deleted from my bulk mail box and it has got to be the funniest I've read in a long time.

"Former President Bill Klinton uses Voagra!"

Well, I hope he gives him a nice big buner.
Tags: spam, funny

Short version, I quit my job today. Hey, here's the entire dialoque.

"I'm quitting."
"Okay."
"Do you even want to know why?"
"No."
"Okay then."

And I hadn't thought of it this way until just now but its a perfect metaphor for my nearly four years of working there. She never wanted to know, she just wanted it done. And if it wasn't done then she'd narrow her face and get all nasty looking and demand to know why it hadn't been done.

The straw that broke this camel's back? Reneging on $5000 in commissions I earned from sales for the company's big event. I either let her walk over me or I stood up. And today I stood up.

And here's a theme song for the day.

The longer version:
I've been working my butt off for the last three and a half months for this major company event. Since the marketing manager left, the burden of the planning and execution as well as the running of the show itself, fell on me. And I did it. I kicked ass. I did, in effect, three jobs and did all of them well. I was both sides of the show coordination and my usual PR duties. That's a hell of a lot of jobs for one person.

But the show was a complete success (and yes, I do note that I'm being intentionally cryptic as to who I worked for and what I did as I'm not really all that into exposing myself to a lawsuit, yes, she's that lame). Let me back up just a little bit though so you can get a better idea of the situation.

The leadup to the event was highly stressful and the company only replaced the marketing person a few weeks before the event. Too late to be of great use in the planning but would prove invaluable in the execution. And, for some reason, my boss, who I've been working for and with for almost four years, for some reason she decides that I'm going to be the target of her capricious assaults of whim. These are when she demands you stop what you're doing and do what she tells you to do, regardless of what you are currently doing.

Only, the last few weeks, I started telling her no. When she demanded (literally demanded like a petulant 8 year old) that I hang up the phone I'd been waiting on hold for 20 minutes to confirm the delivery of insurance papers for the entire office and it was the last day to make sure, I told her that I wasn't about to waste 20 minutes on hold to appease her that moment.

Anyway, so she decides to try and convert me to her whipping boy. But I made a deal with myself that I would see the event through and see what happened on the other side. Well, here's what happens on the other side.

After delivering on my job with better press coverage in 2005 than ever before, after delivering on my PR work for the event, after also undertaking almost the entire rest of the event and then the event being a major success from every quarter. From food to content to location, all things I either chose or was a major part of the selection process. It was my baby and I kicked ass at it and that was good for me.

It will also be good for the company with a rough estimate of about a million bucks in new business resulting from this event. Not too shabby especially considering it made money on the front side too from the registration fees.

And part of this deal, aside from me running it and organizing it and being responsible for it, was that I earn a commission on the sales I did for the event. Only my now ex-boss cheapskate ass decided that "We weren't doing commissions" this time. After all of the mother fucking hard ass work, long hours and it was an astounding success? The company stands to make a million bucks and she's going to rip me off of $5000 that I earned? How in the hell she had the gall to even say it is just truly amazing to me.

Oh wait, this is after she didn't even bother to thank me for the event and how well it had gone. Everyone else (except for the sales asshole) said more than once how great the show had been, what a resounding success it was for the company and how fantastic a job I did in coordinating and executing the whole thing. Speakers from the show told me, attendees told me, there are blog entries about how great the food was, media stories that have come out of the thing and more. And I didn't do a good enough job to warrant the day after it off much less my commissions that I earned.

It was the last straw that made me instantly have no choice but to quit as soon as possible. And I did. I rode my motorcycle home at lunch, got my truck and went back to clean out my desk.

When I got back, there was a company wide meeting, all 12 of us. Monthly deal where everyone says what they're doing. I'm seething, of course, but contain myself and do my moment and then go to my office and start packing it up. I went next door to talk with the president, who is a man I respect and trust because he has earned both, and I told him that I was quitting.

It caught him completely by surprise and I explained my immediate reasons to him, the larger reasons (the fact that the company was going to be hamstrung as long as she was calling the shots and did so by hunch rather than logical business process and more) and then let him ask a question or two. We talked about a two week thing but we both recognized that two more weeks in the office was just not possible given the situation. He did recognize that I deserved the commissions and would talk with the boss lady and see what he could do.

Which is smart, of course. It is money I did earn and one of the very few people you really want to leave your company angrily is your publicist. Publicity works both ways, there's the good kind that we can turn on and off. And there's the bad kind that makes companies change names and relocate or fold altogether.

No, its not just about the five grand, though it would be a good help, its about having enough and just not taking it anymore. Its about not allowing it to happen anymore, its about standing up and saying, "No, fuck you."

And it felt good to do. I hope more of the people in the office do the same thing. It wouldn't take very many more before the place caved in upon itself and that would be cathartic to watch. Evil should destroy itself eventually. At least its nice to think so.
Tags: quitting, time, stand up

or, So, Kicking Ass and Taking Isn't Good Enough Anymore?
There are alot of good lessons that can be taken out of an experience like I've had over the last couple of days. Among them are numerous excellent resume enhancing skillsets, a rather sizable set of new business contacts who had all seen me in action running the biggest event in my company's history for a couple of hundred people, emcee'ing said event. Adapting and overcoming issues and obstacles to keep the show running, keeping things close to on time and delivering on a promise that I made to myself to see the process through to the end.

I did all of that. I did survive the show, I survived the entire thing and came out better than I went in. Which is nice and all. And maybe I should just stop there. But the reality is that, if you bust your ass and do two people's jobs for a few months on end and come out smelling like a rose then hey, maybe your boss should say thanks?

Maybe I just expect too much.

And, while my fantastic drive out of San Francisco at 5 on a Tuesday was a long one, I still had a bit of aggravation to vent. And vented it was. So now I've got a more objective viewpoint of my situation.

Which gives rise to a plan. And plans can even evolve (or be intelligently design so that they are implemented) into action. And action can result in, well, results. Hurrah!

The details of which I will not be discussing here until I've broken with my current place and am no longer hamstrung by concerns of a backlash. But there is a plan in motion and I'm dedicated to making a couple of major changes in my life to smooth out the rough spots and return my little family to a more peaceful and happy place.

But today should be interesting after I took yesterday off. I wasn't given the day off, I just went to work, emptied out my truck and then left for the rest of the day. I no longer really care, if my boss wants to knock a sick day off or take a vacation day, that's fine. But, after putting in the hours and making the event work as well as it did, the fact that I wasn't just automatically given the day off is ludicrous. And very, very telling.

And it makes me decision process alot faster and easier. So thanks for that, "Massa Bahs". When work becomes a daily debate to go in or "be sick" then its time to move on, no? Unless things change very drastically today and tomorrow, I know where my path is leading me.

And, by the way, I'm well aware that I'm taking a reasonably substantial risk in even posting this now, before the fireworks, but, as you might guess, I really no longer care all that much and am more concerned with where I am going than with upsetting the assholes who have pushed me there.
Tags: summary, wrap up, success, work, event, not enough, never enough, greedhead, boss, contempt, moving on

One of the many cool shots I took during the two and a half day ordeal that was my company event.

Upsides included a pretty amazing view from the 34th floor out towards the China Basin.

I don't know the name of this building but it looks decidedly quite different at eye level than it does from street level 350 feet below. And it looks pretty excellent in the first rays of the new day as the sun broke over the horizon.

I got the sunrise about a half hour before the lower floors. That was kind of cool. But there was that voice in the back of my head saying "Dude, you're in a skyscraper in San Francisco, what in the hell are you doing 350 feet up in a skyscraper in earthquake central?"

But the hotel apparently has a counterweight system or means of coping with a shuffling earth underneath it.

But still.

More shots to share. And more to come.
Tags: San Francisco, skyscraper, sunrise

I've been busy with round the clock stuff so this had to wait until today. And I've seen a bunch of reviews about the game and the halftime show. Most have been to the effect that both were lame and the spectacle of the SuperBowl creates a hype that can almost never actually be lived up to.

Kieth Olbermann's observation that the fact that the commercials have become part of the draw is a pretty indicator of just how warped the entire sordid affair is now.

I watched the game in a bar up in the city with a bunch of co-workers as we prepped for the event (which I'll post about later). And, aside from the noise and distractions, I enjoyed the game for the most part. I missed a bunch of plays but saw the trick touchdown to Hines Ward and the game went about as I'd expected and hoped.

The halftime show was alright. I couldn't really hear Mick singing, which was fine upon replay later, and I kind of liked the rippling tongue dealie. But I did jokingly ask for the bar to change it to the Puppy Bowl.

The best part about the SuperBowl for me was seeing Joey Porter interviewed by The Best Damn Sports Show guys (which, by the way, the show is terrible now and pretty well unwatchable and I caught this just as I was flipping channels). Joey Porter showed some real class when he was asked if he had anything to say to Jeramy Stevens, the wallflower who spoke out and then dropped the ball. And Joey didn't lower himself, he basically declined by saying hey, he just lost the SuperBowl, no need to kick a man when he's down.

And I'm glad that Jerome Bettis could retire as a complete champion. The Steelers are actually a pretty easy team to like. From Big Ben to Hines to Randle El to Joey to Jerome to Polamalu and even Bill Cowher with his perma-scowl and spit flecked persona. I'm glad they won and the game was decent enough to work for me.
Tags: SuperBowl, Joey Porter, Steelers

Well today's a big one, lots of planning all gets to find out if it was worth it and our show goes off well.

I'm hoping for well, it would be much nicer than the alternative which would be that the show sucked. Sucking wouldn't be a good thing so we'll try to avoid that, ya know?

Anyway, send wishful thoughts this way if you feel like it.

But I did get to enjoy the SuperBowl last night so that was kind of cool and nice. Especially since the Steelers won, as predicted and ordained. Good action!
Tags: work, event, D-Day, Steelers, SuperBowl

I just saw an ad for a Finding Nemo on Ice show and I've gotta say that this one wasn't really thought out very well. Fish live in water, not solidified water. Fish and ice have more to do with going to market than anything else.

Nemo on Ice is what I'd expect to find at a sushi restaurant.

If my posting is light over the next couple of days there is a good and valid reason for it. I'll be in San Francisco for the next couple of days and I'm looking forward to the event but I'm not going to jinx myself by talking about it yet.

But I will have some totally bitchin' photos (from when we toured possible venues) to share, I'm sure. There's nothing like a floor to ceiling window 35 stories up, is there?
Tags: Finding Nemo on Ice, sushi, San Francisco, business trip

This one hit me on the way home last night for some reason.

Effection - hoping that your cuddling and snuggling turns into somethnig more.
Tags: effection, fictionarium, new words, inventing language, NWotD

One of my favorite new words today, not political at all. Just cool.

Urbal - the smell of the inner city, i.e. urban aroma.
Tags: urbal, fictionarium, new words, inventing language, NWotD