Below C Level

I have come to accept the fact that I will never be a "C-Level" executive. Nope - never a CEO, CTO, CIO, CSO, CEIEIO. Why? Several reasons;

1) I refuse to trivialize people. I work in a very technical environment. We have processes & procedures for almost everything. The way to kick off an action is thru our trouble ticket system. It's very easy to open a trouble ticket; you send an e-mail. So, why do my C-Levels, send ME e-mail to open a ticket for them?

2) I am not afraid to spend the cash NOW for expansion in the future. My mother used to say; "Sometimes you need to spend money to make money." So true. If your sellable item is space, and you are running out of space, you need to expand your facility - right?

3) Play hard or go home. Every business type has a list of "must haves" for day one if they are going to be taken seriously. For example - a grocery store wouldn't stay open long with no refrigerators. A gas station would quickly fail with no pumps. The idea that you can start an enterprise by skimping on the essentials and back fill later is rediculous and will bite you in the rear in the long run.

4) Boards of Directors RARELY know what the Hell I am doing. If you opened a hospital, would you populate your BoD with actors? If you were opening a security firm, wouldn't it be nice to have some security professionals on your BoD?

5) No cronyism from failed firms. When a firm fails it's, generanlly, for one of two reasons - bad management or failed sales. So, just because you worked at XYZ does not mean you have to hire the staff FROM XYZ - especially if that staff was the group that failed!!!!! Seriously - would you hire Bernie Ebbers to manage ANYTHING????

6) Suits. My God I hate wearing a suit or necktie. Seriously - what does the suit represent? I've heard fools say it's a show of respect. TO WHOM?? And what does that really say? "I recognize you as a superior being so I am going to dress myself in layers of cotton & wool during June in Washington DC." Seriously - WTF? Do cops on duty wears suits? Fire fighters? Soldiers? Sailors? Airmen? Marines? Hells no! I really MUST question the sensibility of a man that ties a noose around his own neck every morning. Besides, when the Zombies attack - they will be attracted to wool & silk. Good luck running in those shoes, lunchmeat!

But, is the cat really worth that?

Let me just say that if you need to ask that question then I seriously hope you never breed.

I have a couple of wonderful cats; Daphnie & Smokey Joe. Smokie Joe I inhereted from this guy:
http://kelvinmeeks.blogspot.com/

Kelvin landed a dream job taking him away from Virginia to Seattle and couldn't find housing that allowed pets on his short time frame. So, Joey took over my life.

Joey is simply amazing. He has this sense that he knows when something is wrong with his humans. He'll wander into the room, plop down next to you and purr away, making himself very available for much petting & scruffing. He'll roll over on his back and squirm about & purr. When he's stressed, he sneezes. I think he's about 14.

About a year ago I took him in for his very first "senior physical." The vet walked in with the file, looked at this massive (20 POUNDS!) "old" cat and I could tell by the look on her face that she was about to write Joey off.

That's when Joey's cat sense kicked in and stood up, perked his tail up, looked her right in the eyes & purrrrred.


The vet went htrough her whole checkout routine; felt his joints, took his temp, took some blood, x-rays - the works. At the end of it all she was astonished. The only "problem" she could find was a bit of tarter on his teeth. He was proclaimed the healthiest 20 pound cat she had ever seen. But, he had to loose weight.

OK - fine. So, off we went, looking for a "diet food" he'd eat and we settled on some of this new fanlged, crazy, low grain food. More meat, less filler. Little did we know that we had condemned Joey to great pain. It seems that over the six months he was on the diet (lost 6 pounds!) he was also accumulating Struvite crystals in his bladder. This past Friday, his bladder became blocked and it was off to the vet.

For the most part, Veterinarians are good folks. There are Vets that are "bad" just like there are "bad" doctors. Then there are Vet practices that are down right evil, prey on your emotions and run up the bill. Joey is very lucky in that we have a very good vet.

Joey's doc and I had a very serious discussion about treatment & the cost. Crystals are very, very treatable. Usually a simple diet change is all it takes and cats live on very healthy & happy - crystal free. The hard (and expensive part) is getting them unplugged & keeping them unplugged long enough for the diet to work. How expensive? Well, let's jsut say that by the time this is all over I will have run up a bill that is equal to a down payment on a decent auto (no - not like in a BMW, think more like a five year old Datsun).

Which gets me back to the title of this post: IS the cat really worth it? Well, yes. But then, how do you put a value on life of any kind? Especially a life that has been so full of love & devotion. You can't, and, of course, you don't know Joey.

Now, if Joey was 20 years old, half blind, deaf and miserable, we'd be having an entirely different conversation. But he's not, so we are having this one. How deep into debt am I willing to go for this cat? Well, I think $1 invested in Joey will bring a MUCH greater return on investment than $1 in the stock market.

I plan on wakeing up with Joey for many, many more years to come.

Wanna Feel Important?

Wanna act like a Big Cheese? Wanna waste hours & hours of your peoples' precious time? Hold a frakking meeting!!!!

So, click on this, You only need to watch the first 5 seconds.....

DirecTV Ad

OK - see mister "walk in looking pissed and announce 'It's gonna be a late one, people.'"? See him? He needs to be fired, taken out back & given a sock party. Why In The HELL should any of his reports be forced to cancel their plans because Boso the Feces Head can't get a project planned/done/updated/whatever during normal business hours???? Is this guy a moron that can't use a day planner, or just a douchbag that has no life of his own and needs to inflict that misery on others?

The meeting is as old hat & washed up as the suit and power lunch. All of these are vestiges of a bygone time where wearing a suit showed the world that you "had arrived." Give me a frakkin' break. In this day and age of e-mail, PowerPoint & Excel if you need to hold a meeting - you are a really BAD communicator - REALLY BAD.

So, let me tell you about my "perfect meeting room." It's a windowless, concrete box. It has ONE door, next to which is a basket into which are placed all pagers, crackberries, cell phones, etc. Once inside there is a meeting table that is about four feet high. All lighting is halogen and there is NO Internet connection as the room has no CAT5 jacks nor does it have "signal" to any damned thing. There are no chairs, mats or any other comforts - no water, softdrinks or access to restrooms. Can you say "Hello!" to the 30 minute "meeting."

Do meetings just happen at work? No. Tonight I was called to a "mandatory meeting" for a HS band trip (for my girl child) to Boston. Was it necessary? HELLS NO!!!!! It was a frakking recruiting ploy for the Band Boosters!!!!

STOP IT I have NO time for frovel...frivou.. stupid damned meetings. If you have something to tell me - frakking hit "Send."

This is NOT the way to go

Today, the Obama Administration voted to tax AIG bonuses (and other, more than likely) at 90% for the Fed. Add on state & local and it hits 100% real fast. Think this is right? Think this is good? Wait until it bites you in the pocket book. What this legislation really means is that when the Government needs cash - they can jack YOUR tax rate on a whim.

Have fun with that. I'm taking my bonuses in Zimbabwean Agro-Cheques.

Weight, Bailouts, Stimuli, Other News and They Wonder Why Some Folks Think They Are Animals.

So much to comment on......

Weight

It is truly the mark of a small mind when, instead of discussing a person's talent or debating their points of view, one directs their comments to weight. The recent coverage of Jessica Simpson & Meghan McCain's "weight problem" has me almost physically sick. Seriously - is this ALL you can come up with?

Let's start with Jess.



Ummmm... seriously? Fat? I can has a break nao? Any girl you can't play rugby with is not worth a second look.

















I'm finding it hard to find a good full body shot of Meghan. So, I'll steal one from GQ:



Now, keep in mind she was called "fat" by this gunch, Laura Ingraham:



Ingraham may be an intelligent woman. But by degrading her commentary to Meghan's weight, she invalidates herself. Which is fine, she has no clevage.

Anyway - if Jess & Meghan are fat then I am all for fat girls.






Bailouts & Stimulus Packages

Can the Government get it more wrong? Please? There is a basic truth about money - it likes to flow and, like good fertilizer, it does no good unless it's spread around. I am certain that Mr. Prez is listening to his advisers but he needs to learn how to spot a bad idea when it bites him, which is what these bailouts have done (See: AIG Bonus Plan).

Sir, if you want to get this economy rolling again, you have to get copious amounts of cash (or something that acts like cash) into the hands of Joe Consumer. Why? Joe will do one of two things with it; save it or spend it (which is why I like the idea of vouchers - they have to be spent - more on that in a bit). When Joe takes the currency to the retailer, he buys goods & the retailer stays in business. The retailer then buys more stock from distributors who, in turn, order more stuff from manufacturers who then buy raw materials & components from suppliers. At all levels people are employed, draw paychecks & then continue the cycle of spending. You are also employing the shippers & haulers of the world and contributing to the enterprises' bottom lines which encourages investment.

If you simply hand cash to the Wall Street Dorks that got us into this mess the BUCK STOPS THERE. Cash, Sir, does NOT flow "down."

Can you use this idea to further other agenda items? Yes - this is where the whole voucher thing (rather than cash) plays in. Give me three vouchers:

* $18,000 towards the purchase of a NEW vehicle. Heck - even restrict it to a new hybrid vehicle, or one that gets more than 30 MPG. Don't care!

* $50,000 voucher towards alternative energy for my home. Watch me hire a solar energy specialist to get me off the grid and reduce my carbon foot print. Which is closely related to . . .

* $35,000 voucher to replace all of my crappy builder grade windows with better insulated & installed low-e windows.

How many people did those three vouchers keep employed? Come on Barack - you got elected on "Change" - let see some change in the way Government THINKS.

Other News

* Evidently I am getting a dog. My cats and I will be in the basement playing Fallout 3.

* Medications that artificially reduce your heart rate & metabolism are not good for your mid section & over all fitness.

* The New FaceBook Sux.

They Wonder Why Some Folks Think They Are Animals

Lastly, the KaosBlog sadly notes the following stories from various sources, all out of Iraq:

MSNBC which reported that in the last minute of a soccer game, a member of the away team was driving down field and was about to kick the game tying goal when a home fan popped up & shot the player in the head, killing him.

The Mail Online which reports the stoning death of a 17 year old girl for loving the wrong boy. It took eight men a half hour to kill her while Iraq security forces looked on.

The Independent Women's Forum who reports the beheading of Nahla Hussein al-Shaly, a Women's Rights Activist in Iraq.

4,259 of America's finest have died to liberate this?

The Endorphin of Giving

Our neighborhood has a forum. We log on to discuss, berate, belittle, snark on and, occasionally, help out each other. Recently a post was put up about a Mom & three kids who had just made it out of the Battered Woman's Shelter and needed basics. Being the geek-pack rat I am I asked if she needed a PC. The answer was "yes."

So I gathered some spare parts and a couple from other folks on the street and created a PC much like the one I sold for over $1,500 a while back. I loaded Windows XP Home (LEGAL, thank you) and a few other things. Then gave it and a high def flat screen away.

It felt great. Oh, I got great Karma points, but who cares? The act of activly doing something that might help out another person was - euphoric.

Feeling down? Oh, there are so many ways to feel better & do good.