I had no idea I had any influence over people. None at all. I was wrong! Isn’t that scary? Because we’ve been hanging around for three weeks with rumors of layoffs, and no word from management, I figured it was time for some civil disobedience. Nothing major like a “naked @ work day” or anything, just something small to show our chagrin. I decided to stop shaving. It lasted for about 10 days. On day six or seven, someone commented on my shaggy appearance, so I let them in on my idea. They apparently told some other people, and by the time the layoffs actually happened, there were six or seven of my fellow employees following in my footsteps. How freaky is that?
Author: Kevin Lawver
Web developer, Software Engineer @ Gusto, Co-founder @ TechSAV, husband, father, aspiring social capitalist and troublemaker.
So it begins and ends.
I lost my favorite project manager today. He’s not dead, and he was kind of pulling for it, but damned if it doesn’t feel like he’s dead. I feel like having a funeral for him. “Poor Jim, he was taken too soon.”
And best yet, we have a big meeting @ 5, so I can’t even leave early.
Bastards.
Today could not suck more.
Today could not suck more. Sorry, but it had to be said.
Because everyone needs a laugh
Because everyone needs a laugh – chickenhead.com
I’m an active blogger today…
I’m an active blogger today… but we’re all waiting around for the ax to fall, and who wants to work on something when you could get escorted out of the building at any minute? Here’s random thought of the day #3:
My wife is a college graduate with a degree in political science. This means she gives bad news very well. She can also get me to agree with her on just about anything. Recently, she let me in on a little secret that she probably shouldn’t have told me. If she doesn’t agree with something I say, she’ll say, “I don’t know what I think about that…”. The ellipses is intentional because she trails off at the end and waits for me to change my mind, which, because I’m a man and not a political scientist, I usually do. The funniest part is, now that I know about the trick, you’d think that I’d see it coming. Nope! She pulls it on me all the time and I still fall for it… what does that say about me?
It takes all kinds… This
It takes all kinds… This halfwit in the North Carolina legislature forwarded an e-mail to all the members of that hallowed body stating, “Two things made this country great: White men & Christianity.” Ok, nice thoughts there, my man. Way to bring people together. And, the lunacy continues: “Who came to this country first – the white man, didn’t he? That’s who made this country great.'”
It makes me wonder how far we’ve really come. We like to think we’re enlightened and progressive. We think maybe we’ve got this race-relations thing handled and everyone’s happy. Still, every day, we see people like that moron slapping us in the face with the fact that change moves slowly.
It’s taken over 150 years for evolution to become mainstream, and for it to be grasped as a viable scientific theory. It took several hundred years for people to come to terms with the earth not being the center of the universe, and then a couple more to grasp the shape of it. It’s been 35+ years since the beginning of the civil rights movement, and 134 years since the 14th amendment was ratified.
How can we expect everyone to come to the realization that we’re all equal, and probably all related a lot closer than we ever thought? How can we, when people like the “honorable” Mr. Davis refuse to open their eyes?
It’s frustrating, and it gets worse the more I think about it. Real change takes generations, not laws. It takes slowly tweaking society and ideas over decades and sometimes centuries. I honestly think we’ll get to a place where color does/doesn’t matter and people are treated equally at least in the eyes of the law. I’m just not holding my breath.
It’s official. It’s not 500
It’s official. It’s not 500 or even 1000, it’s really 1700. That’s 1200 from right here in lovely northern VA, and 500 from the west coast from iPlanet. I don’t really know what to say. I’ve done this three times before, all at AOL, and well, it sucks. I think it sucks worse this time because of the overwhelming number of my friends who are sure they’re going to get the boot. That, and the fact that these rumors have been swirling for the better part of three weeks with no official response. Yes, we live in interesting times, my people…
I was here at 7:45, a full hour before my normal start time because I got all of three hours of sleep last night. You know, every time I think I’ve become this Clint Eastwood hardass meanie, something like this happens. I’m one sensitive quivering bowl of jell-o who doesn’t handle this kind of stress very well. No matter how much I put up this front as the-guy-who-acts-like-clint, I think everyone knows. I’m not really fooling anyone. I’m Stuart frickin’ Smiley – and dammit, I’m good enough, lucky enough and stupid enough to admit it.
If I didn’t feel like
If I didn’t feel like working yesterday, I really don’t want to do anything today. I think maybe I’m coming down with something. I can’t seem to get rid of this headache, and I slept for 10 hours last night and I’m still tired!
Weekend Movie Reviews
This weekend, we saw American Pie (me for the second time, Jen for the first), State and Main, and I finally finished watching my new copy of Akira.
Before I get into the reviews: Yes, I know these movies were in theaters months ago. That’s what happens when you have a kid. You watch movies on video instead of going to the theater. So, shut up.
American Pie: This movie was really funny the first time I saw it. I’m not sure what happened with the second viewing. It just wasn’t that funny. Jen didn’t even laugh all that much. It still had its moments, like the scenes with Eugene Levy, the Pie and Finch’s toilet adventure… it just didn’t ring true like it did the first time.
State and Main: I love David Mamet. I adored The Spanish Prisoner and Vanya on 42nd Street. Now you know where I’m coming from here, and won’t be disappointed. I really liked this movie. It wasn’t terribly deep nor did it have an important message to share. It was funny. William H. Macy was great as the producer, coddling, tough and an ass when he needed to be. The whole cast was fantastic. But, my favorite part of the movie had to be the relationship between Rebecca Pidgeon and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It wasn’t overtly sexual, and just rang true for me. It was nice to see Mr. Hoffman in a non-gay role (hello, Talented Mr. Ripley, Fabulous… anyone else paying attention?), and he really pulled it off. Ms. Pidgeon played her attraction to him very understated, and I just loved it. If you’ve ever hit if off with someone, you’ll recognize the feelings there. It was great fun.
Akira: I saw this a long time ago on a bad VHS copy, and didn’t really like it, but remember the animation as something special. SO, I bought the DVD at Price Club for $14. This is a very Japanese movie. If you like Anime, you’ll love it. If you don’t, you’ll probably hate it. Could you sit through Princess Mononoke? Yes? Then get Akira. If you couldn’t, don’t bother.
I would love to get
I would love to get some work done today, but I can’t. I keep starting things and then putting them down. I’ve written a couple hundred lines of code that is just shell for something that will actually do something. I started something in PhotoShop, and it’s just sitting there, half-started. I have a new page in my text editor sitting there waiting for me to bring it to life.
Well, it ain’t gonna happen today, folks. If something NEEDS to get done, it will. Unfortunately, I have nothing that HAS to get done today. I have a lot of stuff staring me in the face that I can’t start on yet, but nothing I can do RIGHT now except clean-up and documentation. Clean-up and documentation suck, so they never get done.
Maybe I’ll start something else…