Run Away
I'm heading out of town tomorrow morning. About 5am, so I may not remember actually leaving town. I think as long as I hit the road by 5:30 I'm okay, but the extra time puts me on the front of the boat at Anacortes so I have a good chance of hitting Customs in the first wave getting off the boat.
I'm taking off two weeks. I'm hoping to spend a lot of the time writing. I've several scripts and a story I want to spend some time on. We'll see how that works. In any case I'm looking forward to it. I'm enjoying work but feeling a little burnt out. The long break followed by the holiday weeks will be a blessing whether I get any writing done or not. I've a couple off-beat vampire ideas, one a spoof homage, the other darker and more cutting and allegorical.
I plan to do some meditating as well. Where do I want to go? Various interpersonal relationships where they are evolving or going. As always I'm dealing with the deep feeling of betrayal I feel towards our government and the democrats craven lack of guts to try doing anything meaningful or risky.
Accountability is irritating me at the moment. I've mentioned how the CS department
at UW shut me down when looking into graduate programs because they looked on military experience and references with disfavor. I talked to them both in 1995 and 1996, while looking at the display of Reagan and Bush pictures (in the biddle of Bill Clinton's years).
My state senator heard about this through an aide at my Kiwanis club and followed up until the moment the CS department lied and said they'd never done any such thing, at which point he dropped it. He is now the gop party chair for the state, so his credentials of unquestioned loyalty to corporations and other conservative groups over people is in no danger. Same thing when I was being threatened by the power company, which desperately wanted to cut down my trees. I'm appreciative that his office followed up both incidents, disappointed that the idea of challenging or even doubting the denials (of liars) was not given an electron's worth of thought.
It seems that any business or official organization can lie with impunity. Their victims on the other hand, are always assumed to be whining liars. Go figure. A lot, I suppose, is image.
Microsoft is a good example right now. Like w they are further victimizing their victims in a bizarre effort to exonerate themselves.
My experience working in Microsft IT is pretty neutral. My direct managers were almost always great, while the upper management was either crooked or icompetent. An elite few were both. I suspect most people who've heard me talk about my time at Microsoft remember the good or the bad, but generally not both. I often find myself thinking one or the other too. When I'm thinking about people like Bob who I adored working for I don't generally think of the large group I was in that laid off three people, who also happened to be the only people over fifty or the ITG (Infrastructure Technology Group) director who reported to Bill and awarded an eight figure contract to a company for which he was a majority stockholder, which failed.
To restate, my experience was pretty balanced, as are my rememberances as a whole. Some days I remember the incompetence, corruption, or disregard for customers. Others I remember the great bosses, products, and atmosphere.
I'm going to suppose this is generally how we think and react to things. Any one incident will most likely have a positive or a negative slant, but over all it is pretty even. Of course there are Oscar the Grouches and Pollyannas, and they balance each other out as well. How is it then, that corporate type entities which prove themselves to be predatory over and over and over seem to always get the benefit of the doubt?
Is there anyone out there? The republican party as a whole worships the dollar to the point they are downright spiritual about the need to remove all oversight and social responsibility for the rich, then tax and spy on every aspect of the lives of us peons. People of integrity (and I suspect our state AG may be one) are wonderful exceptions.
Democrats on the other hand aren't willing to take a possibly unpopular stand, so they embrace the lowest common denominator too. Democrats don't institionalize graft as does the GOP, so there is the illusion of a higher moral path. The problem is we have still to pray for and rely on the rare individual with integrity. I believe the lack of blatant pandering in the democratic party makes them slightly less corrupt, while the lack of any moral courage on their part makes me unwilling to argue strongly on their behalf. Clinton, the front runner is a poll sitting joke. She doesn't pretend to stand for anything unless redundant polls show it to be very popular. She is no more dedicated to the positive aspects of her party than dick or w is to their's. She appears ready to say anything, true or false, to garner power. I don't see a really big distinction between her and w, and I crave for something very different. Not another tool of the military industrial complex Ike warned us about. That is why I don't support Ms Clinton. She appears to be in politics to get what she can out of it, and I want someone who is in politics to make a difference for the better.
I'm taking off two weeks. I'm hoping to spend a lot of the time writing. I've several scripts and a story I want to spend some time on. We'll see how that works. In any case I'm looking forward to it. I'm enjoying work but feeling a little burnt out. The long break followed by the holiday weeks will be a blessing whether I get any writing done or not. I've a couple off-beat vampire ideas, one a spoof homage, the other darker and more cutting and allegorical.
I plan to do some meditating as well. Where do I want to go? Various interpersonal relationships where they are evolving or going. As always I'm dealing with the deep feeling of betrayal I feel towards our government and the democrats craven lack of guts to try doing anything meaningful or risky.
Accountability is irritating me at the moment. I've mentioned how the CS department
at UW shut me down when looking into graduate programs because they looked on military experience and references with disfavor. I talked to them both in 1995 and 1996, while looking at the display of Reagan and Bush pictures (in the biddle of Bill Clinton's years).
My state senator heard about this through an aide at my Kiwanis club and followed up until the moment the CS department lied and said they'd never done any such thing, at which point he dropped it. He is now the gop party chair for the state, so his credentials of unquestioned loyalty to corporations and other conservative groups over people is in no danger. Same thing when I was being threatened by the power company, which desperately wanted to cut down my trees. I'm appreciative that his office followed up both incidents, disappointed that the idea of challenging or even doubting the denials (of liars) was not given an electron's worth of thought.
It seems that any business or official organization can lie with impunity. Their victims on the other hand, are always assumed to be whining liars. Go figure. A lot, I suppose, is image.
Microsoft is a good example right now. Like w they are further victimizing their victims in a bizarre effort to exonerate themselves.
My experience working in Microsft IT is pretty neutral. My direct managers were almost always great, while the upper management was either crooked or icompetent. An elite few were both. I suspect most people who've heard me talk about my time at Microsoft remember the good or the bad, but generally not both. I often find myself thinking one or the other too. When I'm thinking about people like Bob who I adored working for I don't generally think of the large group I was in that laid off three people, who also happened to be the only people over fifty or the ITG (Infrastructure Technology Group) director who reported to Bill and awarded an eight figure contract to a company for which he was a majority stockholder, which failed.
To restate, my experience was pretty balanced, as are my rememberances as a whole. Some days I remember the incompetence, corruption, or disregard for customers. Others I remember the great bosses, products, and atmosphere.
I'm going to suppose this is generally how we think and react to things. Any one incident will most likely have a positive or a negative slant, but over all it is pretty even. Of course there are Oscar the Grouches and Pollyannas, and they balance each other out as well. How is it then, that corporate type entities which prove themselves to be predatory over and over and over seem to always get the benefit of the doubt?
Is there anyone out there? The republican party as a whole worships the dollar to the point they are downright spiritual about the need to remove all oversight and social responsibility for the rich, then tax and spy on every aspect of the lives of us peons. People of integrity (and I suspect our state AG may be one) are wonderful exceptions.
Democrats on the other hand aren't willing to take a possibly unpopular stand, so they embrace the lowest common denominator too. Democrats don't institionalize graft as does the GOP, so there is the illusion of a higher moral path. The problem is we have still to pray for and rely on the rare individual with integrity. I believe the lack of blatant pandering in the democratic party makes them slightly less corrupt, while the lack of any moral courage on their part makes me unwilling to argue strongly on their behalf. Clinton, the front runner is a poll sitting joke. She doesn't pretend to stand for anything unless redundant polls show it to be very popular. She is no more dedicated to the positive aspects of her party than dick or w is to their's. She appears ready to say anything, true or false, to garner power. I don't see a really big distinction between her and w, and I crave for something very different. Not another tool of the military industrial complex Ike warned us about. That is why I don't support Ms Clinton. She appears to be in politics to get what she can out of it, and I want someone who is in politics to make a difference for the better.
3 Comments:
Good point about Microsoft. Oh, and I do remember the balance you have about your perceptions working for them. I have neither love nor hate for the corporation though there are plenty who work (or have worked there) that I do feel either love or sadness for. Is it wrong to laugh at the sad?
And you're preaching to this choir on Hilary. Years ago I thought she was possibly unelectable due to the strong emotions she elicits from members of both parties, but particularly the independent voters. Since then she's proven to be an adept politician without the same charisma of her husband (which is what carries him through life - not his policies).
PS - Have a great time. I'll see you upon your return.
Thanks. I'm getting a good rest, and getting in some writing.
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