What I've been doing instead of blogging

Monday, July 23, 2012

Ignoring speculation about the Aurora, CO shooting

My Hot Daughter routinely likes to attend the midnight premiers of geeky films. So I was unsurprised when I came downstairs on Friday morning to find her still awake. And once I saw the news, I was profoundly grateful, as well. She easily could have been in that theater, and my family and I are all immensely relieved that she went to another location, instead, while simultaneously realizing that it was purely a "luck of the draw" outcome. Black Swan Events are like that.

I'm already sick of the news coverage, though - pundits drive me insane when something like this happens. This freeze dried whackaloon took a semiautomatic assault weapon designed for the Armed Forces and used it for its intended purpose - to kill people in large numbers. I'm not interested in how our so-called political leaders want to use this event to pursue their own ends, nor am I even remotely interested in the political or religious agenda of the freeze dried whackaloon. From where I sit, I don't give a shit why he chose to do what he did, because in many ways it doesn't really matter. No sane person sprays bullets into a crowded theater.

I think the always thoughtful Roger Ebert said it best in his blog entry The Body Count.

Oh...so this is what competence feels like

When I was Global Dynamics headquarters last week, we identified a number of issues with my on-boarding, mostly related to network access, required applications, and other matters of IT support. Each time, I created a ticket with the internal IT organization, and within two hours someone had not only gotten back to me, but in all but one case, resolved the issue to my complete satisfaction (the last case required my business unit to buy a Visio license, so the delay was ours, not theirs). Compare this to my old gig, where being without my primary production tool for three days was really no big deal, why are you complaining so much you uppity bitch? As my friend Ken notes, if I had known this was going to be my experience, I would have jumped ship for a lot less money.

Setting a new standard in poor land navigation

I swear to Cthulu, my land navigation skills are laughable. Complements of Google Earth, here's an arial shot of the complex where I was visiting last week:



My hotel is the complex there in the middle, and the building where my extended team resides is one of the ones on the left. I didn't have a car this time, so I was supposed to walk over to the building at the beginning of the work day. And I got lost. I got lost to the point where I had to call my teammate to come get me, to my enormous embarrassment. Yes, I realize how stupid it is to get lost on a road that's a big circle around your hotel. I'm sure that particular incident really reinforced their wisdom in deciding to hire me. Not.

Hanging out with the ladiez

The Amazing Anne had a ladiez get together this weekend up near Leadville, CO, and I drove up Saturday morning to participate. There was the usual suspects in these sorts of get together - food, alcohol, food. We also took a two hour hike and got rained on, although the views were pretty spectacular. Since all the beds were taken by the time I arrived on Saturday afternoon, I chose to sleep in the top portion of this awesome playhouse, built by the Grandfather of our hostess. It was like camping out, only better, because indoor plumbing was within 20 yards.Who says I'm not an "outdoorsy" type? Besides everyone, I mean.


All in all, I had a pretty awesome week, except I didn't get to see the Smart Man much, which tends to make both of us feel odd and cranky. We're turning into that couple, the ones who really prefer not to be away from one another. And I can think of worse things.

3 comments:

Anne C. said...

Yes, so outdoorsy. The playhouse also had electrical outlets so she could read her Kindle during her pre-sleep routine. ;)

I'm so glad you had a good time! I had a blast and was a little depressed this morning, since the break was over. :)

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Janiece said...

*TONG*